A Letter to the S-Dude

Dear S-Dude,

(You know your name and I know your name, but on the internet it's good to be safe sometimes and not use it--instead you use a cool secret name.  Especially if you're still a rad kid and not a boring adult.  It's a rule or something.)

Last night Paul and I ate bugs.  But I'll tell you more about that at the end of my letter.  Yep.  Have to read my letter to get to the bug eating.  Sorry.  I'm tricky like that.

SO, I hear you're coming to visit us in Germany in a couple of months!  S-Dude, I have to tell you, this makes me really happy.  Because, S-Dude, you are a rad kid and are always fun to hang out with.  I thought you might like to know a few tips about visiting Germany--because it's kind of a different place, you know.

There's different money.  People talk in a different language, which means you usually can't understand them unless you also know their language.  There's no macaroni and cheese (but there is a McDonalds).   The chocolate is really good here (do you like chocolate?  I forget.).   Also, the streets are different.  They aren't big and flat and black like the streets at your house.  They are narrow and are paved with thousands (millions!) of flat rocks with lots of gaps in between them that are filled with sand.  Also, the light switches are really big and flat.  And there are no drying machines for your clothes so you have to hang them up in your house and wait for them to dry.  Kinda of weird huh?

BUT, there are also a lot of same-things.  Like, in Germany, there is snow in the winter and flowers in the summer--so that's the same.  In Germany, kids go to school like you do.  In Germany, there are doctors and dentists and shopping malls and grocery stores.  I know kids that really like to play soccer--and you know that game too.  People wear the same kinds of clothes and everyone likes mashed potatoes--just like in America.

I thought, for this first letter, you might like to know some German words.   These can help you speak and understand the different language here.  For now, there are just three short words to think about:

1:   "Hallo"   (You say it like HAH-low).   Can you guess what this word means?   It's really close to English.   ...   If you guessed, "Hello" then you're right!  You can say "Hallo" to anyone in Germany and they will smile and might say "Hallo" back.

2:  "Danke"  (You say it like DAHN-kuh).   This means "Thank you."  It's really useful.  When you buy an ice cream cone and someone gives it to you, you can say, "Danke."  Or, when someone says, "Hey!  You're reading this really long letter so well!" you can say "Danke."

3.  "Bitte"  (You say it like BIT-uh).  This means "Please."  Also really useful.  You can go into McDonalds and say, "Chicken nuggets bitte." and they will get some for you.

Okay, so here's the story about eating bugs.  We have a friend here who told us there was a German restaurant that served bugs to eat.  I said I didn't believe her.  She double-dared me to eat bugs.  (Also, did you know a lot of people in the world eat bugs?  In most countries in the world, eating certain kinds of bugs is the same as eating popcorn.)  So, I told her I would try it.  Paul came with me to help me be brave.

This is what we ordered:

Crickets

Dung beetles

This is how I felt before eating my crickets:

 And Paul was brave enough to eat the dung beetles!

This is Paul eating a beetle.  Really.  It's true.

The crickets were really crunchy and didn't taste like anything--I didn't really like feeling their little cricket legs in my mouth though.   I'm just not used to cricket legs in my mouth, you know?   One of our other friends got silkworms, and they kind of tasted like peanuts.  Paul said the dung beetles tasted like...juicy beetles.  So, I don't know.  You'll have to ask him more about that.

I hope you have a good week at school!  Let me know if you have any questions about Germany I can answer in another letter to you!

Heidi