on saturday, we drove to the blacoe's home in rothenberg. (does that not sound like a location from lord of the rings?)
bro. blacoe is from ireland so (luckily for me!!) he speaks perfect english. he is an amazing scholar...he's written books about the new euro system, various commentaries on the new testament, etc. etc. sis. blacoe grew up in germany but speaks great english as well. her family escaped eastern germany when she was only three years old. she is maybe the sweetest woman i have ever met.
they have three kids (only william is pictured here) and taught us all about delicious german chocolate milk that doesn't need to be refrigerated. brilliant! we also had taco soup for dinner the first night we were here (an "american recipe," sis. blacoe told me sheepishly :). brandon served in their ward for six months during his mission and got to be great friends with this family.
we stayed with them on saturday and sunday night, and went to the international frankfurt ward with them on sunday for church. elder robert c. oaks (the european area authority, for any fellow LDS nerds like me) is in their ward and sat right in front of me in sunday schule.
that night for dinner we went to altenstadt to visit the egidis. they were VERY welcoming, very hospitable...and very unable to speak english. seriously. we're talking not one word i could understand. (okay, i take that back. sis. egidi can say "i love you" in english.)
the egidis have two very cute boys, christophe and kai, and an older daughter elizabeth. we had homemade pizza and nussecken (my fave!) for dessert, but i just sat and smiled and nodded the whole time. kind of tough to stay interested in a conversation when you have no idea what is going on! i felt sort of isolated but tried to follow along the best i could. b translated for me once in a while but overall i just observed. brandon taught this family while he was in germany.
gotta give a special shout out to the nussecken...mmm. it's like a chocolate-almond pastry type thing that b got me hooked on in the states. even better when it's authentic!
and lastly, on monday we took the train to hagen to visit the gensters. simon genster is full-blooded german and was one of b's favorite mission companions. he and his great wife katrin live up north while they're finishing school.
that's us riding the bus to get more doners for dinner. this was also an opportunity for me to complete my quest for riding every possible mode of transportation on this trip (so far we've done plane, train, car, boat and bus...get me a motorcycle and i might be done). the gensters were great and let us stay in their lovely little flat one night.
we woke up to church bells ringing throughout the morning -- could europe be any more authentic? also, here's the view out their kitchen window; so pretty:
it has been so fun for me to see all of brandon's old stomping grounds and to meet all these kind people who mean so much to him. thanks to everyone for their amazing hospitality!
5 comments:
Sounds like you guys are having a great time--despite the occasional language barrier for you.
Glad Brandon and you have gotten a chance to visit some of the families from his mission.
Awww. I feel creepy making so many really lengthy comments... But I woke up to bells in Innsbruck - which is one of my favoritest things about my trip. It's like you woke up in Cinderella or something... Very awesome.
Yes, so hard to not be part of the conversation. But it looks like that yummy chocolate stuff made up for it!
Hi Brandon. I attend the Frankfurt Intnl Ward. I probably didn't see you there because I was out with my kid, who can't stay still. I recognize your friend as the Sunday School teacher. (I'm just getting to know people.)
how cool to be back with the old peeps--so fun lyndsey could meet them!!
Post a Comment