Last Sunday, my host family and I hopped in the car bat 8:00 am and set off on our journey to Nassau, Rhineland-Pfalz. At 10 am, we met my host cousins, aunt, and uncle, at the canoe rental place. After a short bit of instruction from the one of the people working at the rental company (which I barely understood), and getting equipped with life vests etc, we set off on our adventure down the Lahn River. I did manage to understand that the entire canoe route would be 20 kilometers, and that we'd be going through locks 6 times. After just a couple of kilometers, we arrived at the first set of locks. We waited for a few minutes, and then the gate opened for us to enter. Before they started letting the water out the other side, we all guessed how far we'd sink down. My guess was 3 meters. We actually dropped down about 5 meters, which is approximately 16 feet. This drop in water level occurred pretty gradually, so it didn't really feel like we went down that far except when I looked at the walls on the sides. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of the locks (or anything else from this day), because didn't bring a phone or camera for fear that it might get wet. If you want to see what the locks that we went through look like, here's a link to someone's youtube video of them: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1rpudBqUf8.
A little after 12:00, we stopped in Bad Ems at a little riverside park to eat lunch. This is when the rain started to begin. It started as a sprinkle, but as we continued down the river it picked up to a steady rainfall. Nevertheless, it was still an absolutely beautiful excursion. We passed some adorable little villages, and I even spotted a few castles perched atop hills. My pants, shoes, and socks were soaked by the time we reached our ending point in Lahnstein, but it was all worth it. Definitely an experience I'll never forget!
Since we did a one way trip, my host dad and uncle had to go take a train back to Nassau to get the cars. So meanwhile everyone else thought it'd be nice to find some warm place to get some hot chocolate or tea and warm up. Well pretty much everything in Germany is closed on Sunday afternoons, so the only place we could find was a Döner shop. We were planning to go somewhere else for dinner, so we just got sodas there. Not exactly warm and cozy, but it worked.
Once my host father and uncle arrived in Lahnstein with the cars, we found the place where we were planning to eat dinner.
I don't remember what the restaurant was called, but it was so cute. There were 3 tables, one of which was occupied when we arrived. The lady who took our orders (I believe the owner) informed us that she was the only one working that night. So she also doubled as the chef! The current theme at this restaurant was the food of Oktoberfest. I tried Semmelknödel, which was really good! I can't think of any American food that it can be compared to, but it's basically amazing dumplings with soup and a variety of cooked mushrooms.
School was pretty much the same as last week, so I won't go into huge detail on that. I ended up with 3 free lessons on Monday (I normally have 2 free lessons, but I got an extra since History was canceled) so I got to come home for a couple of hours in the middle of the day. In some of my classes (like Geography!) I can understand the basic ideas of what is being discussed, mostly thanks to some really nice classmates who help me when I need it. Then, there's other classes where I have no idea what's happening. I have my first Klausur (written exam) on the 28th, but thankfully it's for English class. This week everyone has a day off of school on Wednesday. I don't know exactly why, but I'll take it! :D
I think that's about all for this week. Only 2 more weeks of school until Ferien (vacation) now! :)
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