Hand auf den Tisch

The weekend before fall break, I traveled to the island Sylt with my host family. We left immediately after school in the car. We drove to a train that would take us to the island. Basically I traveled to Sylt in a car, on a train, across the sea. Is it just me or does someone else find that extremely cool?

Their house on Sylt was beautiful. Technically it belongs to Lorenz's parents, so no pictures allowed, sorry! It was a nice small cottage, with room for seven people to sleep comfortably. It had a thatched roof and it was made of red brick. It was very similar to their house on Führ. When we first arrived the house had that unused smell to it, but that quickly changed once we got settled. 

Each night we went out to eat. The restaurants were amazing and I loved both meals. I would have to say the first dinner was most interesting though. I had the whole kitchen discussing different translations of german words. Apparently a waiter had been listening to the mini German lesson Lorenz gave me, and then ten minutes later came back with the kitchen's opinion. It was really cool to see them so invested in my language learning haha. 

Each night we stayed up late playing Rage and Phase 10 Master. They are card games that I will definitely be bringing home with me. 

I know that German table manners and American table manners are different, but it really hit me at breakfast one morning when Antje said to Greta, "Hand auf den Tisch!" This means "Hand on the table," which for me is backwards. I've gotten into the habit of sitting on my left hand when I'm not using it so that I don't accidentally rest it on the table, or worse my elbow. Now, I'm having to erase those habits and instead leave my hand on the table. Elbows on the table? Totally fine. It's really bad manners to sit with your other hand beneath the table. Although German manners seem to be opposite of what I have grown up with, I am trying my best to change my ways, if only for a year. 

I went on a two hour walk with Lorenz and Antje to the beach. The beach seems to go on for forever. It was so beautiful. I took lots of pictures. 

Sylt was really beautiful. More than it is beautiful, however, it is expensive. We went shopping for a winter coat for Yoreme and I thought maybe I could find a couple of warmer shirts. Well I found some the only problem was the price that seemed to never drop below 90,00 Euros. Needless to say, I didn't buy anything. 

It reminded me of the movie Robots.

Perfect place for wedding pictures... if only it wasn't sooo windy.

This picture was in the house and I thought it was funny.