Rested in this suburb of Hamburg, in a time zone nine hours later than home, I and my German-speaking sister walked in a hilly, treed area near the house she is to watch until late August. Humidity was high, we took shelter under leafy trees during rain, and we saw a deer, smaller than deer I see back home in Canada. Out of the woods, we stopped in the suburb for a hot dog whose wiener was longer than its bun. We ate on a bench in a pedestrian-only street, watched the world go by, and then she had coffee and I had a rum ball, which we ate sitting on chairs at a sidewalk cafe on that same street.
The house owner is still here but planning to go for a holiday; hence my sister's presence. The owner is a special education teacher, speaks fine English, and told us the challenges of her job, challenges which echo challenges that teachers face in Canada. Her niece is here, studying toward a doctorate in chemistry, and working in a laboratory. A neighbor, a nurse, has visited a few times; she towers over me and I am six feet two inches tall. She is six four at least. The house cat catches and eats mice in the yard behind the house, a yard which has a fish pond whose fish elude her by staying in the centre.
Now to supper, in this brick house in this quiet neighborhood.
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