May 31st

First off, let me just apologize ahead of time in case any random "z"s show up instead of "y"s... German keyboards are pretty different than ours back home! Even though the keyboard is a bit difficult, Germany is SO beautiful. Last night, a group of us got to hike up a very steep hill to explore what was once a castle. Today, our German partners did not have to go to school until 9:30, so we got to sleep in a little extra. When we all got to school, we had a German lesson with one of the teachers. We played a little game of finding similarities and differences and then learned the differences and how to use müssen(must do), dürfen(allowed to), und können(can do). We also learned some history of Staufen and where the name Faust-Gymnasium came from. There is a story/legend that is known around here about a man, Dr. Faust, who had sold his soul to the devil in exchange for the ability to get gold out of iron. After the lesson, we went on a tour of Staufen where we got to see in person the cracks the buildings now have due to a geo-thermal heating attempt. It is really sad to see these gorgeous, old buildings slowly falling apart. The town was so pretty and perfect, it was like walking through a movie set. All of the shops and cafes were small and colorful and people walked or rode their bikes everywhere. The roads are so much more narrow here than in America! It is ok, though, because people really do not ride cars that often. Sandro and I did the math and gas is about $8.00 a gallon here so I guess I wouldn't really drive a car that often either! After Staufen, we went to Pfaffenweiler. We ate ham and potatoes under a small roof on a pretty hill. It started to rain, though, so our plans of touring the entire town were kind of ruined. Instead, we visited a museum and learned a little about the history of our sister city. Now, it is 5:18 (11:18 Jasper time) and we are back at our host houses waiting for seven o'clock when we will have a barbecue and hang out with the entire group in Pfaffenweiler again. I hope the next person picks up where I left off! Germany is amazing and I'm loving every second of it! (:

Jenny Price