Winfried and Evelyn Strauch, from whom we are renting an apartment, have been wonderfully accommodating. The apartment is clean and orderly, all very German according to Stephanie. The only weirdness is that the bathroom is not exactly in the apartment, but rather in a hallway that connects the courtyard/parking area to the rest of the house. The door to the hallway is locked while we are here, but still it is a little strange.
Evelyn is a city guide on the weekends. She has already directed us to some fantastic sites, and tomorrow we are planning to go to the caves above town where beer is stored during the summers. Yesterday while talking with Evelyn, she apologized that the building was only 200 years old and that the third floor is only 100. Both of us started laughing and had to explain how our 50 year old house is considered “old” back home. One of the churches here was originally built around 1,000 AD.
Winfried is a public health doctor. His evening project is to re-finish furniture for another apartment that they are renting. He does not speak as much English as Evelyn, but he is a very nice man and has fun playing with Max. We bumped into him in the alley today carrying a case from the Fassla brewery next door. Apparently a case is only eleven euros and it is FRESH from the vat!
School starts on Monday, and I am getting more into the German language rhythm already. I think Winfried and Evelyn and the lady at the bakery will be my main practice people. Today, we met a Brazilian couple (Andrea and Moacir), who had just finished a two week course at Treff Punkt. They had nothing but good things to say and highly recommended participating in the out of class activities.
Auf Wiedersehen!
PS. Pictured is the Alte Hofhaltung (Old Palace). Max loved running around this courtyard.
