Early Impressions

Two things that struck me were all the yellow fields and the wind towers!
Both are energy production related. The yellow crop they call 'raps' is for making oil ( like for salads and cooking I am told) The tall wind towers which with their tall white slender bodies topped with their tri-blade fixtures are wayyyyyy more frequent than in Canada and can be found here and there mainly in groups like so many strange beasts gathered to cut the breeze. I was told that 15% of the country's ?electricity? comes from wind towers! Floating through the air was the delicious aroma of the raps and due to the unusually warm weather , spring had come early which was a pleasant sight and a contrast from the Canada I had left behind. One other thing was that the van that Torsten ( the father of the first family I was at) was driving was a Mercedes Benz and STANDARD. Manual transmission here is very very popular! They know the way to do it! Also it is my personal belief that the drivers are crazier than back home haha. But the roads here I love, it's like your closer to nature and in some places they have what the call and Allie (probably not spelled right) but think 'ah-lee' which is basically trees lining both sides of the road and hanging over the road! It's wonderful! I should put a pic up some time. So, there I was , finally traveling through the place I'd wanted to visit! Not talking to someone from there while in Canada, not looking at pictures but traveling through it, breathing the air, and taking in he sights. The family first family lives at the end of a little stone village road in a tiny village called Augzin which is basically just a collection of houses but very quaint and lovely. Their house used to be a barn and house attached to each other but now is renovated and the whole thing is quite liveable. The walls are of red brick and the roof of warm, old tiles or 'dachsteine' - roofrocks - . Being the last house it's very nice to have houses only to the east side but it's not exactly a party street and it's very pleasant. In the family are 3 boys and 2 girls. The oldest 13 and the youngest like 2. The father is an electrician for solar energy and has his own firm which has three employees.

On the way to Torsten's house we stopped at a bakery! yum! Picked up a couple of his kids from school and one of his worker's children and at last we arrived at the house, my first stay in Germany, at the end of a bumpy little stone road. I had arrived! (more to come)