5th November 2005 - Day 33

Never have I woke up so early here.

I woke up at 0600 this morning so as not to miss the bus and tram to the Hauptbahnhof. Yesterday, I drew up a time schedule to make sure that I will leave on time. Here, I shall replicate it.

0720 Bus 30 leaves
0710 Leave the hostel
0700 All preparation done
0640 Breakfast
0620 Pack lugguage
0605 Wash up
0600 Wake up

I managed to catch the bus and subsequently, the tram, to the Hauptbahnhof. But I was early by 45 minutes. That's how it works when the public transport have a strict schedule to follow. The next bus comes 30 minutes later and I would be late if I took that bus.

It was a quiet train ride, until an Indian lady started talking on her Handy. I suddenly see so much sense in banning the usage of phone on the buses here.

After an hour, I changed train at Mannheim and continued my journey to Riedstadt- Goddelau Bahnhof. When I reached, nobody was there. I was a bit disappointed but worried at the same time because my Gastfamilie might not have read my last email. Anyway, as I was making my way to the Ausgang, I felt the familiarity of the train station. It had not changed a bit.

Right after I made my exit, I saw Cornelia and Kayleigh. I was really happy to see them. Cornelia was telling me how the lousy the weather here for the past few days was. "Du hast die Sonne mitgebracht!", she said. Then it was a ride down the familiar stretch of road to their house.

I took a brief look around. The house didn't change much. Everything is still pretty much the same. But they had the kitchen renoviert and the carpets changed. The computer is now in the Keller instead of the master bedroom. It was amazing. I still can remember where all the switches are located after a year.

I saw the teapot set which I gave them as a present last year on display in the cupboard. The photo which I sent them last year was also in the living room.

The people didn't change. They are sill as nice as they were last year. I really felt lucky that I had them as my host family for the language course in Darmstadt last year.

Nice and cosy fireplace

I then played some board games with Kayleigh, Lia and Luca. It was quite interesting even though it's games for kids.

Of rabbits, carrots and holes

Lunch was quite simple. Chicken sticks, steamed potatoes and baked beans. But it felt good. We continued playing some more games in the afternoon. Then I followed Geoff and Cornelia when they brought Boomer out for a walk. Speaking of Boomer, he doesn't recognise me. Last year, he was so afraid of me when I approached him. He doesn't bark as much too.

Geoff and Cornelia walking Boomer

The neighbours and the big dog that weighs as much as me

After the walk, we went back and had Kaffee und Kuchen. I suddenly forgot that I am now an exchange student at Karlsruhe. I thought I was still having my german language course at Darmstadt! That was how much I enjoyed my time here with Familie Smith last year.

Dinner was pizza. I helped a bit in the cutting of ingredients. It was funny, the girls asked their mother about her previous relationships when she was younger and made fun of her. Of course, I couldn't understand everything.

The top left corner is mine!

I spent the later part of the evening playing Triominoes and watching a bit of TV. Then I had a conversation with Cornelia. She's really patient, speaking slowly and using sentence structures that I know. That helps a lot in my understanding. She said that my emails were sometimes komisch, using the wrong Zeitformen or sentence structures.

Maybe I spoke too much deutsch today. I'm having problem typing this entry in English.

So, I'm going to sleep in this familiar bed. It will be a good night's rest.