who lived with her family in a red brick house. When she left for a while, she packed up her home and took it with her. She unpacked it in a pink house surrounded by roses, hedges, and a picket-fence gate.

home for now

My guest family is lovely. Here in Germany, you have to be careful to say exactly what you mean, and lovely is just the word for them. Actually, I haven't met Leo yet, but he's married to Sabine, which is a very good sign. There's something very homey about slipping through a swinging picket gate on your way to see the world (in my case, the darling harbor city) and then again on the way back. 

Everyone loves flowers in Kiel. I've seen at least four times as many flower shops and nurseries as I have grocery stores.  Since it's June in Kiel, and just starting to be really warm, roses are everywhere. Our street is quiet, but since today is Saturday, the street is lined with cars; across the street there is a garden, broken up into plots, and today families are stopping by to garden. The gardeners are everywhere; they grow flowers from the tiniest specks of dirt in front of their houses in the city, and lean out of their windows to plant flower boxes. 

Leo and Sabine's name fits so perfectly amongst the flowers and trees in our corner of Kiel. (Schönwälder means "beautiful forests"). I wonder if  having such a nice name makes you nice from the beginning? Sabine has already fulfilled one of my dreams, to eat Rote Grütze, which is stewed red berries, served with vanilla sauce. 

To study abroad, I had to follow some dear friends' advice and bring my home with me. I unpacked it in the attic room. (I haven't unpacked anything else yet; I grabbed what I needed most).