All of the preconceptions I've been given about the reserved nature and privacy of Germans have been blown out of the water in one afternoon. While on a walk with Shay to explore more of our little Hedersleben we ran into an older couple out walking their 3 dogs. The older man, Erhard, had a heavy accent and a slight lisp making his German hard to understand, but with time I was able to understand more and more. On the bank of the "Bach" or small river flowing through the village we introduced ourselves as American students coming to study in Germany. Because I have more experience with German, I acted as translator for Shay and myself. The couple talked with us over where we come from and how their dogs thought Shay was their granddaughter. I'm not proud about the amount of times I had to say "Wie bitte?" or "Was?" in order to understand but this was my first conversation with a native German in their own language. To our surprise they invited us to their home as guests for coffee and cake. However, before we could go into their home we returned to the monastery on a path they pointed out to us to make sure that it allowed. One of our head teachers ensured us that as long as neither of us go alone we are free to visit them. So we walked out the gate of the monastery to the home of the Nelius family and knocked on the large wooden gate. Erhard and Annarose excitedly let us in and showed us their home. He is a mason and described to us the process of building the extension to his home. They raise guinea pigs, rabbits, and pigeons all on their property for reasons I wasn't quite able to translate. Erhard showed us the rooms in their home that they rent out in summer; however, no one currently stays there. After the tour, we sat down in their back lawn to drink coffee and eat cake. I never drink coffee, but there's no chance to refuse when given such an opportunity. We sat and talked about a variety of topics such as: their granddaughter, the history of the monastery, their own family history, and of course their wonderful dogs. Most interestingly they showed us the letter written to them 2 years ago from a 15 year old and two 16 year old boys from America. The students in the past befriended the Nelius' just as we have now. I felt such a warm happiness to be welcomed by such friendly people. The part Shay and I are most excited about is that we were invited back to their home to celebrate Erhard's birthday with them. We plan to bring a gift and a letter thanking them for their kindness just like the American students in the past have. Finally, the time to return the the monastery had come so they sent us off with gifts of pens to write with, fresh tomatoes, chocolates for Shay, and seeds to plant the same flowers growing in their garden. On our way out the gate Erhard and Annarose declared us friends, which in German culture is not a title given lightly. It was a great experience and if any future students have a chance to meet these wonderful people tell them "Euere Freunde Shay und Ryan sagen Hallo."
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