"Down here at Cape Spartel is the celebrated cave of Hercules, where the hero took refuge when he was vanquished and driven out of the Tangier country. It is full of inscriptions in the dead languages, which fact makes me think Hercules could not have traveled much, else he would not have kept a journal."

-"The Innocents Abroad," Mark Twain

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

DIRNDL! (And my Long Weekend)

Are you feeling the heat? The past few days have been abnormally hot for us... the shorts have made their debut and my lack of a tan appropriately noted. Today, being the 1st of May, was a holiday here, and we had school off yesterday as well, making for a lovely long weekend. Because of this, I had the chance to wear my new Dirndl! (See below) We have also gone hiking, biking, melted, seen a palace (Schloss Hellbrunn, for those who are interested) with its fountain gardens, watched the May pole (Maibaum = May tree) being put up, visited the zoo, and ate Mexican food!

The fountains at Schloss Hellbrunn are not ordinary fountains! They were designed to cure the guests of melancholy - you do not know where all of them are and can expect to get wet! 

Beautiful planted tulips on the palace grounds...

...and beautiful wild flowers as well!

Recognize this? It is where Liesl and Rolf meet together in The Sound of Music! (I am on the left, my "Grandmother" in the middle, and Ella on the left.)

I have a Dirndl! Thank you SO MUCH to my wonderful host family!
 The huge pole behind me is the May pole, where a group of men guarded it for the night against members of neighboring towns who could try to cut it down!

During the raising of the pole, a group of children danced together in  Dirndl and Lederhosen :)

The view while hiking on Tuesday...

and passing the church (which is build into the mountain) built where Saint Wolfgang had a house and lived in recluse! 
As for an update on my wrists, I do not have it bandaged in any way anymore, I have been able to play briefly twice now, and I will be going to physical therapy this week to see if I can get exercises to help it. Thank you for all of your prayers!

Just to go ahead and let those of you know who don't already: from May 15 to June 2, I will be traveling around Europe and attending a district conference with other exchange students! During this trip, we will be visiting 20 different places (yes, in 17 days for the trip itself), so I will try to blog a little more often to get in as much as possible.

If you ever have any questions, suggestions, or requests, feel free to send me an email or let me know in the comments!

XOXO,
mary beth

P.S. Ella made muffins again :)