Fall time!

Well, the weather here has just been getting colder and colder! They say it has been an unusually cold and wet summer and that September was more like October weather. I hope that doesn't mean October isn't going to be like November. Last week we had 3 days in a row in the low 70s and London and I went to the park every day--it was so nice! The next day it dropped to 55 and it has been around there for almost a week now. We have been breaking out the stickers and markers and play-dough like crazy and I have been trying to think of some new craft ideas to keep busy.

Well, we have such a wonderful family and are feeling really blessed right now. Our families are all joining together financially (in lieu of Christmas gifts) to bring us home for Thanksgiving so we can have a nice family holiday! We are really excited to visit and we will be attending church on November 28th so any CLF'ers who want to see us, be sure to come that Sunday and say hi! We didn't expect to be able to make a trip back so soon, so we are very overwhelmed with thankfulness.

Rainy Trip to Fulda

So 2 weeks ago Jason had a training for new English teachers in an old “West German” town called Fulda. The people at Inlingua, Jason’s employer, graciously allowed London and I to accompany him and we got to take a company car there instead of taking the train. London and I got to see the sites around the city center and had a great time exploring the side streets and hanging out at the park. The hotel we stayed in was walking distance to a nice cathedral or “Dom,” a palace with a HUGE garden, and lots of beautiful old buildings. It was really interesting seeing a town with an obvious lack of GDR buildings.

We stayed 2 nights and arrived on Wednesday evening, September 8. On Thursday London and I did a lot of walking and made it to the park where we found about 40 ducks. (Well, I didn’t actually count them, but there were a LOT!) We decided that we would get some bread and come back the next day. The next day it rained. Determined not to sit all day in our hotel room watching the German version of “Dora the Explorer,” “Backyardigans,” or “Strawberry Shortcake” on TV, we braved the rain and did our walking tour of the city, including spending about 40 minutes feeding the ducks in the pouring rain. We ended up thoroughly soaked, but it was so much fun! Here is a little video of our duck-feeding adventure.

This guy stood about 2 inches from London's foot the entire time, waiting for her to drop some crumbs.

We left town on Friday the 10th as soon as Jason was done with his session and stopped at McDonald’s for dinner on the way home. My mom said, “Sounds like you were on the way home from a trip in America!” They really like McDonald’s here. I think we have had more McDonald’s here (3 or 4 times) than we have in the past 5 years combined in the States. They also have 2 Subways in our town and we’ve seen Burger King and KFC around too. One of Jason’s students jokes that the best things come from America (I"m pretty sure he’s being sarcastic.)

Palace gardens:

Der Dom (The Cathedral):

This is the street in front of the cathedral. The wall on the right side of the street surrounds the palace gardens, the entrance of which is between the potted plants you can see a little ways in front of the car driving by.