New Neighborhood!

I am now living with Eva and her family for the rest of the week. Change is always difficult, but this was a very fun and exciting new home to live in and her family is wonderful. Eva is very interested in art, and their house is decorated with various sculptures and paintings made by Eva or her mom, who is an art teacher. It is so wonderful to be surrounded by such talent!

I explored the neighborhood briefly after school was out, and on my run I found a wonderful set of carriage roads and trails. It has become so hot here (low to mid 90's and sunny!) that it is not easy to find shade, but the dirt roads and trails wind through tall trees, so not only is it shady but also occasionally breezy. At certain points throughout the road, there are clearings. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the trails that I was running on ran parallel to the roads that I ran on while staying with Christiana's. I could see the vineyards and sections of the road from where I was running last week, which was on the other side of the valley from where I spent every afternoon running. On the way back to Effi's house, I saw a pack of mountain bikers too. Although it made me really miss my bike, I knew that it was a good thing because it guaranteed that I had found a wonderful location where many people enjoy walking, running and biking. A little bit of exploring isn't too bad after all!