It's now Thursday the 5th. I leave where I've been for six months and head to Karlsruhe for the Mid-Term Conference. On Monday, I'll meet my 'new' family and begin settling in to the Alps. Time seems to have flown by much quicker than I would have preferred. I feel like there's so much that I haven't done but needs to be done before I leave here, but that won't happen. Oh well, such is life.

During my last week of work, I would label bottles in the morning and then head out to the vineyard's in the afternoon with Heiko. He has been out there all the time trimming the grape plants. My job was to pull the branches out of the wires and lay them in the middle of the rows. I enjoyed going out and getting fresh air and sunlight, it was a welcome change from the bottle room. The weather was good too, though it got colder as the sun got lower in the sky.



This past weekend was my last chance for the two-hour trip to visit Tim, Heidi, and Gustav in Bammental. The visit also brought a really swell birthday present. On Saturday, Tim and I travelled down to Sinsheim and the shiningly new Rhein-Neckar-Arena. We were going to Hoffenheim's first match of the second half of the Bundesliga season. It was also the first Bundesliga match in their new stadium.



The visitor's were cheering for Energie Cottbus, who come from the city of Cottbus which is almost in Poland. They were rowdy and began setting off flares. It all made for a great atmosphere.







Continuing with the momentum they carried into the winter break, they won in a dominating fashion 2:0.

On Sunday I bid them farewell and headed back to Wintersheim.










Later in the night, Kristen, who was a trainee in Kassel, came down. She and I both had some days off yet to use so it worked out well. On Monday, we went to Worms. Tuesday we went to Speyer.

Going to Switzerland, I need an entry visa since tourist status ends after 90 days of arriving in Europe. So yesterday, she and I went to Frankfurt and the Swiss Consulate. There had been some miscommunication in theh email received that had the directions of what I needed to do. For instance, the email said it would cost about 40 euros, so I took 50 along, planning to use the extra 10 for incidentals during the day. The visa cost 60 euros. Then, the email said nothing that I might have to go back the next day to pick up the finished visa. I would not have been happy to go back again, especially on a day like today. Fortunately the man understood and told us to come back at 4 that afternoon. Luckily it was finished. We spent the time waiting wondering the streets of the old city, walking along the Main River, and eating Doner Kebaps.

That should bring you all up to date. Lunch will be soon, then I head to the station for a 2:21 train. I'll meet another trainee on the way and we'll navigate our way through Karlsruhe to the conference center.

Here's my new address for those of you who missed it the last time around. Mail rocks.

Jon Huber
c/o Familie Fellmann
Ruteli <-------------- put an umlaut over the u...you know, those two dots
9633 Hemberg
SWITZERLAND

Here are some pictures of me during the ski weekend that I recently acquired.





Until next time,
Jon