Helgoland Day Trip

Helga and Wolfgang took Jana and I on a day trip to Helgoland, an island in the North Sea. It is a 3 hour boat ride to get there (and then also 3 hours back). On the way over it was rainy, so we sat inside in the restaurant level of the ship and only went on deck a few times for about 10 minutes (in full rain gear). On the way back, the sun was shining and I spent an hour sitting on the top deck in the back of the boat, watching Helgoland grow smaller and smaller, until I could hardly see it anymore and I could no longer stand the weirdness of large-bellied old men snuggling with their wives sitting next to me. Then I went back down to the restaurant area with Helga, Wolfgang and Jana and we ate cookies that Helga had packed (and carried around the entire day without eating all of them-restraint I have not yet learned).
We spent the last half hour on the front deck together as we approached Bremerhaven. Behind the loading decks you can see Bremerhaven primed for delivering its offshore-wind turbines somewhere offshore. The brochure I read said that Germany is planning to install 2000 (or maybe 5000) offshore wind turbines in the next few years. I told this to my companions and they shrugged. “We already have 20,000 regular turbines.” No big deal.

In between the going and coming, we spent 3 hours on the island of Helgoland. We first ate lunch, fish, fresh from the sea, the best food I’ve eaten in months. Then we hiked over Helgoland. The North side of Helgoland has steep high, red cliffs made of a soft rock. The land we were walking over is pastureland with high grass and pretty wild flowers.

The landscape is even more beautiful because of its rolling landscape. The landscape “rolls” more than would be natural (naturally I would assume it would be flat, like most things in this region). The island was heavily bombed in WWII (there was a U-Boat hangar carved into the island) so much that all the houses on the island were destroyed.

Herbal Tea

J, a woman at church, collects and dries her own teas. On Tuesday night’s Women’s Bible Study, she noticed that I had a cold and asked if I wanted some tea. On Wednesday she brought me a little bag of tea materials. At work, they have fill-your-own tea bags that I stuffed full of dried flowers and leaves and left to steep. The tea has a very mild taste and does not need sugar, honey or creamer. I think that drinking it makes me feel a bit better. I am very thankful for the church people who are taking such good care of me.

Today’s Vocab:

Erkaeltung=cold