Düsseldorf

I have learned maybe 14 German words in the last 6 days. One complete phrase I have learned: "Ich will schwarz sein."

I now have aspirations of living in a foreign land long enough to where I am forced to learn the language completely. This was originally a good part of living in New Mexico, but I have a feeling that I would have stayed part of the white culture too much.

Our friend Lars has gone back to his native lands. We had fun touring Berlin and Dusseldorf while 11-year-olds checked him out.

Of all the culture in Germany, I learned most about the sweets. They have chocolates with nuts, something akin to an ice cream sandwich but not frozen, toffees, kit kat like bars but better, flakes in chocolate, weisse crisp, cookies dipped in chocolate and Riesen (Giants). It's kind of like the Burgess' house in Florence (AL not IT) on steroids. My blood sugar level says more sugar than blood.

Tomorrow we are going to Köln (Cologne) to see a huge cathedral and a place where they make chocolates! I like stuff like thus, but my experience has mostly been through the magic of TV. It should be cool to see it in person. For safety's sake, Matt will carry a defibrilator pack in case I go into a sugar coma induced by the coma troll.