just sipping on my tea in a little cafe

Hey all,

It's Danielle this time. I've been feeling a little guilty about letting David do all the blogging so I decided to fill you in a bit on what we've been up to. Hope you all are doing well and enjoying summer. We are still acclimating to life in Germany although things are getting a bit more familiar now. We have finally finished all of our German beaurocratic duties as foreigners which have included registering as residents, getting health insurance, opening a bank account and aquiring visas. Of course Germans are very meticulous and methodical and all of these requirements have not come without tons of forms to fill out, huge lines to wait in, and many rubber stamps being pounded (Germans seem to be mesmerized by anything with a seal on it). Luckily I am considered a citizen of the EU through my British citizenship and David has been granted a German green card thus making things a tiny bit easier. We have also finished our first week of language school which was tiring but amazingly we learned quite a bit in just five days. I am finally able to order my own coffee. We are also in the midst of looking for bicycles as this seems to be the transpotation of choice here. Germans are really into being green, and will go to great lengths not to waste or polute. So much so that you cannot get free grocery bags at a grocery store. You have to bring old ones with you to reuse or you have to pay quite a bit for new ones. We are also getting to know the other fellows on the program who are all really nice. The other night the Russians through a Russian party to educate us all about Russian culture. Of course it could not have been complete without canned sardines, herring, beets, potatoes, and several dozen rounds of vodka. We also hung out in Koln (Cologne) a bit which is the neighboring city of our tiny city Bonn. There we experienced a traditional German brauhas (brew house) which was just about as crazed as you could possibly imagine. There was yelling and screaming, beer sloshing everywhere, and of course numerous dishes containing every part of the pig you could possibly imagine. I left feeling a bit quesy. I think that about covers everything up until now. As per requested: Shout out to Rebecca. We miss everyone and think of you all the time. Cheers!