Arrival

I am delighted with my little village. Y has just shown me the route to the FZ from my apartment. It is one turn and then a long (2-3km) path.

As we were riding up my street before the turn, we passed a young woman leading a dappled pony. Just walking up the street the two of them. And just after that, on the left were a bay and a grey horse stading in a little paddock. Most of the houses have huge climbing roses on them, yellow and pink and white. The gardens are tidy and inviting, and somehow archtyipically (tupisch) old Europe, not at all British.

After the turn, there is a long stretch of fields, which begin with several pastures holding ponies and perhaps other delights to be discovered on morning runs to walks to and from work. There are horses everywhere, it seems. Heading the other direction from the apartment, still up Wolfshovener Strasse but towards Juelich, are more climbing roses, sheep, and a Gosthaus.

The path turns after the pastures, no longer paved, running along fields with rows of leafy greens, perhaps chard. And then, then is the forest. It is not the forest of fairy tales, but perhaps it will seem so at night. It is a pleasant and inviting green expanse flanking the bike trail. This winds through the woods, eventually running along the periphery of the Institute itself. It will make a wonderful running path, and off it I saw spurs with a sign I think means ``nature trail'' that I hope to explore in the coming weeks. As I walk (or ride) up, I think I will feel happy and excited.

I have seen lots in Juelich this afternoon that pleases me, from charming shops (all, of course, closed for the holiday), to a wonderful pond with ducks (which, of course, we fed), to a castle _with a moat_. We sat outside at a cafe that Y likes, having coffee (me) and regional bier (him) and something to eat. While the food we ordered wasn't brilliant, the coffee was, and the other food we saw ordered looked appealing. The desserts vertainly seemed so. Even better, though, to go with the very good coffee they serve little butter cookies and free wireless.

I was feeling a bit lost this afternoon, because communication is much harder than I'd expected. My landlady speaks almost no English, and I have essentially no German (words like "good" and "auto" go by very quickly in real time). I hear the word for beautiful "schurn" often, and it sounds lovely when said. But spending the afternoon with other English speakers, people that I know, and meeting a very nice woman who was also excited about the moat, have helped immensely.

I wrote this sitting outside the FZ while Y called the other arrival. We are now all inside at the cafe from earlier, drinking wiessebier and using the wireless! And waiting for S (one of "my" Germans).