I was born in Dusseldorf and that is why they call me Rolf!

Hey all! I got to go to Dusseldorf last night (hence the post title--by the way, The Producers? They don't like it here very much. Duh.) and it was AMAZING!!! I've been through the fashion district of NYC, but I've never really seen $1000 shoes and bags and watches before. I did there. We walked around a lot through the food district--so many people that it was a very good thing I'm not clostrophobic--and finally found a table in a Restaraunt. I had Wienerschnitzel, a SMALL beer (because my father was fed up with me just having Radlers) (it was a dark beer or dunkel Bier, which I like better than light beer or helle Bier) (Oh, and for those of you who don't know, the drinking age here is 16, not 21, so I AM drinking legally people!), and then we walked and had ice cream in an outdoor Eiscafe (almost all of them are outdoors anyways) overlooking the Rhein River. Amazing, beautiful. It was so much fun. Today I get to go to a party (thrown by AFS, nothing radical) and so I'll be speaking mucho Englisch today, rather than the Deutsch I speak with my family.

About my family (because I haven't said much about them): I'm only with them for about the next 2 weeks, but I still should tell y'all about them. I have two parents here, Andrea and Peter, who are very nice to me. Peter has a big sense of humor but speaks so loudly that if I'm not understanding what he's trying to say for whatever reason it sounds like he's yelling. Andrea is the easiest for me to understand. My sister, Anika, is 14 and has graciously opened her room (and her computer, containing the Sims 2 auf Deutsch yippee!!!) to me, and she speaks more Englisch than the rest of everyone, which still isn't that much. Jen (pronounced Yen) is my brother, and he's 16. He's the hardest for me to understand, but besides my mother he's been the most welcoming. Despite the language barrier (and the fact that he talked low and sort of mumbly, like Leo from Keine Panik) he's still taken the time to show me some of Solingen, including the best Eiscafe around (mmm, Schokospagettieis). One or both of them walk me to the Bus every morning for school. Anika tends to run off and giggle with her friends, introducing me only if it's necessary, but Jen has introduced me to friends of his and helped me to speak with them. My parents are paranoid about thieves, but I've been smart and nothing has happened (I suppose I should add a 'yet' here). One of the girls in meine Sprachschule has had her Busticket stolen; she dropped it and a guy picked it up and walked off with it. But so far I've been lucky.

Being on the Bus is funny and annoying. I'm always getting stared at. Even once I stopped wearing Flipflops (they don't wear them here--believe me, I was bummed) and bought some deutsches Kleidung they STILL stared at me, and do now. All of us in Sprachschule are having the same problem, and no matter how differently we try and sit, walk, or wear clothes it keeps happening. Here we are 'Amis', a term that can be used affectionately or in a derogotory way (it was used towards me in that way yesterday on the U-Bahn--the subway) and we can't escape that. The people here just know. I don't know how to stop it, none of us do, and it's really frustrating.

Well, ok, I'm ending here. I miss y'all!