Hi there!

I know, I know, it's been a while. I'll try to make up for it tonight. Where did I leave off? Oh yeah, we were in Noordwijk, not really sure where we were headed next. Can you guess where we went? That's right! Nowhere!! We loved Noordwijk so much that we ended up staying for the entire rest of Tim's time in Europe. For the last couple of days we rented bikes, which was a lot of fun and a great way to get out of town and see the countryside. Phil introduced us to geo-caching, which is basically a world-wide scavenger hunt based on GPS. It was a lot of fun and gave us a sort of goal instead of just wandeing around randomly. One of the ones we did was a multi-stop cache that involved giving us a whole tour of a park (although I could have done without being introduced to the stinging-nettles and blackberry brambles).

Like I was saying earlier, I really really enjoyed being somewhere for longer than a couple days because I actually got to know people and talk to them over the course of quite a few days. By the end of our stay I almost didn't feel like a guest anymore. At the Jungle Boogie they had on our last night, the only people that got dressed up were the staff, the 3 of us and 1 or 2 other guests :-P I enjoyed myself SO much!! In fact, I liked it so much I might be heading back. I'm thinking of going there to work for the fall instead of going to an Austrian farm to volunteer. It's the same sort of deal where I would get room and board but no money, but I would make a bunch more friends than if I was in the middle of nowhere on an Austrian farm. On the downside though, I wouldn't be in the Alps. I still haven't completely made up my mind. Who knows, maybe I'll do both!

Anyways, that leg of our trip ended on Saturday morning, when Tim had to head into Amsterdam to catch a flight on Sunday. Phil and I left also, said goodbye to Tim and were off to Germany! 7 very long hours later we were in Erfurt which is between Frankfurt and Leipzig. The hostel we were staying in was a HUGE shock considering where we had just come from. Quiet, not very many people and very very large. I was sort of nice to have the whole dorm to ourselves, but I was kind of lonely after being in such a small, social place for so long.

Sunday morning, after a bit of a confusion with the trains, we made it to Leipzig, only having missed the first half of the first hockey (a.k.a field hockey in North America) game of the day. I had no idea what I was going to, but it turns out it was the first day of the European Championship where the winner qualifies for the World Cup next year. It was incredible!! I saw 4 games of hockey that were one thousand times better than anything that is ever played in Nova Scotia! Phil (who is WAY more into hockey than me) informed me that the first 3 games were going to be blow-outs, but it turns out that the exact opposite is true! The second game, Spain vs. Poland, was tied 1-1 until time was up when Spain got about 10 short corners in a row and finally managed to convert to score and win the game. The Germany game was definately the most fun to be at since we're in Germany and got to cheer with the 3000 fans or so. The last game, England vs. Belgium, was good too though partly because Phil just lived in England for a year and knew a lot about the team and partly because they have quite a rivalry, which made for a well fought game. All in all it was a GREAT day and I wish I could have stayed to watch more of the tournament!

Unfortunately though, all good things must come to and end. This morning we got up early again and headed back to Frankfurt, where Phil was flying back to Canada. From there I took 3 more trains all the way to Ludwigsburg to find Steph. I'm so excited to see a friend from home and I get to stay here for a whole week!!! The family she lives with is really really nice and very generous. This weekend they're going away and leaving Pia, the 6 month old girl with the two of us. I'm pretty excited. Although a lot about this place makes me excited: free laundry, a chance to relax and be with a family for a while (it may not be my family but it's still nice) and many many other luxuries that I haven't had in 2 months.

Anyways, that's all for now. My posts from now on are probably going to become less frequent seeing as I'm really not going to be moving around a whole lot anymore. It's a bit scary to me that I've been here for a whole 2 months now and I'm now actually on my own and have to start fending for myself. But I'll manage, and I'm sure I'll enjoy it whereever I end up :-)

Until next time!
Kaila