Foggy Communication

This was week was back to the daily grind. Some of the things I did this week were the usual vacuuming, dishwasher duties, sweeping, and watering flowers. On Wednesday and Thursday, my task was to trim vines that had gotten out of control. That meant that I had to stand in a box on the forklift and be driven around by Heike, sometimes standing outside of the box reaching for whatever I could reach. It was fun.

Friday was a relatively bad day. Soon after breakfast, I was told by Heike that we would be harvesting grapes by hand Saturday afternoon and that I should take the afternoon off. Saturday I had been planning to go to Worms and walk around the city to find where my German classes will be. So, no big deal, I'll just go to Worms Friday afternoon. I had it all planned out, I would take a nap after lunch to recharge my batteries, then head to Worms and be back in time for soccer practice at 7. Or so I thought.

Apparently, Heike forgot that I would be taking the afternoon off so when Oma asked her if I could 'help' with the Dettweiler area of the cemetery, she said I could. I found this out just before lunch. After lunch, I get taken by Oma to the cemetery and my job was to pick up all the leaves in the plant beds. (The leaves are starting to change colors, so it was pointless to pick up leaves.) She then told me that she would be right back with the water hose so I could water the plants. Oma didn't come right back. I had finished picking up the leaves, taking them to the compost, and swept the walkway before she even came back. I thought that I would be 'helping' Oma, not her leaving me there to do everything when I had planned to be happily napping. Then I was left again by myself to water the plants and walk home.

Anywho, I made it to Worms on the train, even though I rode ticketless because the machine at the bahnhof wouldn't let me put my money in. It's funny that something designed to take money and give tickets was inoperative. Not a very good moneymaker for Deutsche Bahn. Worms was the city where Martin Luther was put in front of the Diet of Worms. It was easy to find the big statue.



I then went looking for the place where I begin German classes tomorrow night. After some searching, I did find it. Then I took the rest of the time to get acquainted with the area between the Worms Hauptbahnhof and the school, finding different routes to get between the two places. Soon I'll find the quickest. I was even able to have a delicious Doner Kebap! I then rode back on the train, ticketless again, and made it back for soccer practice.

Saturday I awoke to a cloudy morning, the vineyards around Wintersheim shrouded in fog.



Luckily, we set out to harvest and there was no rain to be seen through the entire day, though the fog hung around.





These vineyards were about 20 km to the north, above the town of Nierstein in the hills.







Today, the only thing on my schedule to was to go to the soccer match in Dorn Durkheim. I have been awaiting my papers to be cleared and then I will finally be ready and legal to play in the matches. I was told it will likely be another week. Hopefully. Anyway, I warmed up the goalkeeper and watched the match from the bench. It was an entertaining match with not as much violence as the last one I was at with both teams earning a point in the tables with a 0-0 draw.

Like I said, German classes will begin this week and go until January, meeting on Monday and Thursday each week. It will be interesting and I'm looking forward to it very much. It will be hard work, but I like challenges and this will be a monumental task.

I do not have anything yet planned for next weekend. I may go to Speyer, Trier, or Mainz. I'll find something to do. The weekend after that, Jordan is coming to visit. He's a good friend from Bethel who is also a pilot. He's studying for a semester in Barcelona and he found some cheap tickets to fly here. I look forward to showing him around Wintersheim, Worms and the area.