Oh the Weekend!

This weekend Emily came from Roedermark to hang out. Friday we took the bus to Darmstadt. There my roommate, Jessica, from orientation met us. Jessica is a teaching assistant at a Berufschule in Darmstad and living with a family in Griesheim, which is just outside of Darmstadt. The three of us got some ice cream and walked around. I really like Darmstadt. There is a lot going on and there are a lot of neat stores and restaurants. Jessica had to head back to Griesheim relatively early, because she was going out with her host family. Fortunately I think Jessica and I are going to get together for dinner sometime this week.

Emily and I decided to take the bus back a little earlier, so we could get to the grocery store before it closed. After running to the grocery store, we walked around town and looked for someplace to grab dinner. We ended up going to the Italian restaurant and both had great meals! Emily thought the restaurant was excellent, and she spent a year studying in Florence. After dinner we walked back to my apartment. We had a somewhat late dinner and were walking back around 10pm and there was no one out and basically no noise in town.

Saturday ran some errands around Gross-Bieberau. While we were at the post office, I ran into one of the 6th graders from Frau Oess's 6th grade class (one of the classes that I think I will be working with semi-regularly). It was exciting to see someone that I recognize and that recognized me as well. That afternoon we took the bus to Brensbach for Apfeltage (Apple Days). There had been a lot of advertisements in the newspapers, so we thought we'd check it out. Brensbach is a little, cute town. The festival was rather small, but was fun to see. There were some live musicians and lots of little booths set up. Emily and I each had some Apfelwein (apple wine) and Apfelkuchen (apple cake). The picture above is of a man making apple cider in Brensbach.

Saturday night was Kneipennacht (bar night) in Gross-Bieberau. We made some dinner for ourselves and then headed down to check it out. I thought it might be a good opportunity to meet some people in town. There were a few people walking around. We went to one bar and had a drink, but no one was really interacting with anyone other than those seated at their table. So we decided to come back to the apartment and watch a movie.

This morning we went to mass at Sankt Andreas here in town. After mass we made a nice breakfast and hung out. Then I road the bus with Emily to Reinheim where she caught a bus back to Roedermark. It was really nice to have her here for the weekend. In addition to having someone to spend time with, it was nice that someone got to see what my life is kind of like here.
This evening I bought my flights home for Christmas. I will be home from December 22 to January 13. I'm really excited. Emily and I were going to try to fly together, but it didn't work out.