Sunny, Sunny, Sunny Days

Life Is Grand so make the best of every day, 'cause it could be your last; Beuel

Thursday April 7: It was so warm today! I believe it was 24 degrees. After class I really didn’t have a plan so on my way home I decided to bike along the other side of the Rhein so I crossed the bridge to Beuel. I decided to at least bike to Konigwinter where the Dranchenfels is. I started off on the Rhein bike train but decided to zig zag through the streets and share with the cars. I didn’t exactly know where I was going but the signs where helpful. The buildings along the way were very nice and old. Once in Konigwinter I circled around and finally decided to have a Döner. I walked   with the bike to the waterfront and enjoyed it on a bench while looking through a magazine. I biked onward for a bit then turned around. There was a strong head wind all the way back so that was a little bothersome with the wind whistling loud in my ears, although it was very sunny out. Once back, I felt very quenched so stopped at the grocery store for something. I came out with a bottle of chocolate milk and downed that. German Schocolad Milch tastes different...and personally I like home’s better.

The other side of the Rhein; Konigwinter

Friday April 8: On my bike to class there was a man standing by the water with his hands up doing  yoga; that made my day somehow. It made me feel at ease. Today was Alexa’s (from UK) last day in class, which is sad. No more English friend. Although we started off the morning before class making napkin flowers. Class seemed more at ease which was nice and our teacher Irene (for the last part of the week) is young so she sometimes tells us if there is anything going on. There is a flea market in Bonn tomorrow. During our break, Alexa had brought sweets so we shared those and took group pictures. Gloria and I exchanged photos from our trip to Xanten and I showed her some pictures from home; I think she found them very intriguing. After saying our goodbyes I biked home. It was very nice and sunny. I decided to finally visit a classmates house, Prilly who I had went with her and her daughter to Brühl that one day. She fed me some sweets and after a bit I headed over to Elke’s who was finally back from another trip across Germany.  We had a lovely dinner and went out for an Eis for dessert.   

Haitham, Katarina, Soo Hyunm Alexa, Isabel, Elfat, Gloria, Prilly and I



Isabel, Elfat, Alexa, Katarina, Irene (Teacher), myself, Prilly and Haitham





What a sight! Blooming Japanese Cherry Trees; Bonn

Saturday April 9: Got to Slept in, then headed with my bike over to Bonn because I heard there was a fleamarket happening. Took me a bit to find it, but where it was, all the Japanese Cherry Trees and Magnolia Trees were beautifully in bloom all down the street. The market was a bit disappointing, it was really spread out and it turned out to be more like people’s old, not interesting cloths or kids’ toys, and not much of interest. I did buy this pretty nice bad/satchel though. Julia was also in Bonn with In Zaire so I found my way back to her end and we stopped for an Eis in the hot sun and then parted ways and I headed back. Michael Wolters has just arrived back from Canada so I went over and had a lovely German dinner with Elke and Michael. They are really starting to speak German to me and it’s hard because half the time I have no idea what they’re saying. But Alles gut.



Run, Girls Run!

The Deutsche Post Marathon, Bonn

Sunday April 10: Today, I ran in The Deutsche Post Marathon in Bonn! Haha, well not the whole thing (I was seriously considering it though, but it was 50 Euro to sign up, I don’t have the right shoes, I’m not a natural born runner and I don’t particularly care for running and realistically, I never trained, even though I prefer those spur of the moment kind of things, and just end up killing myself) Julia, In Zaire, and Philipp were in it though. So I woke up early and biked over to the Wolters to have breakfast with them, then we headed to cheer on the runners. When we saw Julia and In Zaire coming I decided to run with them for a bit of the way (even though I’m pretty sure I wasn’t supposed to do that). They did the half marathon (little over 21 km) and Phillip was sharing the full marathon (little over 42km) with a few friends. After the girls had finished (did it in 2 hours, awesome job girls!) we met them for refreshments and a beer and then we had to rush back because I was going with the Wolters to their family friend’s child’s baptism in Aachen.  I had actually met the brother of the mother before so that was really nice to meet him again. It was also great because I was with almost the whole Wolters family, Julia came and we met son/brother Philipp there with his lovely girlfriend. I had never actually been to a baptism before (oh, actually my one niece was baptised), it was all in German of course and the old church was nice. (oh, just to confirm, there are two different Philipps I know, just so you’re not getting confused.) After that, we

Roman artifact in Rheinau Park

(the family) all went to see Philipp’s now-furnished Wohnung, apartment, palace (which I had only seen as they were moving in). Oh, is it even more gorgeous than before! And I finally got to meet the 60 year old turtle that lives in the garden, and boy is she a fighter for her age. She likes her territory (well I guess she would since she’s lived there for 60 years), and she actually chases you around, then when you stop, she’ll stay at your feet, checking you out, maybe biking at your shoe. Very amusing. They have decorated their apartment-palace wonderfully, some new furniture, but I love how they accentuate the old and authenticity of it, with all these wonderful old pieces! Then went home.

The 60 year old turtle in Philipp's garden



Roman artifacts, found in Xanten; Rheinau Park, Bonn