28 March: The Most Famous Dog in the Neighborhood

First off: Happy Birthday to my dad! I won't say how old he is, but it is a significant birthday.

I saw Anya and her Frauchen again today and she (Anya's Frauchen, whose name I still don't know, I'm sorry to say) said that she ran into an older couple in the woods yesterday afternoon walking their Dachshund, and they asked her if she had seen me recently. Actually, they asked if she had seen Cody, which I thought was rather funny – they didn’t say, “Have you seen the American girl?” No, they said, “Have you seen Cody?” I guess he’s established quite a reputation for himself in the neighborhood. Anyway, I asked if the dog was named Tessie and she didn’t know, but I knew it must be, as I only know two Dachshunds in the area and the other one belongs to a couple who also lives on Nittelwaldstraße, so Anya's Frauchen would have known them. It’s true that I haven’t seen Tessie and her owners in ages, so I thought it was so sweet that they were inquiring about us! Anya’s Frauchen told them that she had just seen me and all was well.

I also met the woman with the little brown-and-white pointer on the way back from my walk this morning. I have had brief conversations with her in German in the past, and this time we talked for a few minutes and she mentioned that her friend that she usually walks with had been in a bad car accident and would not be able to walk for some time. She said that walking alone was somewhat langweilig (boring) and asked if I’d like to join her tomorrow, so I agreed to meet her at her house at ten past eight. She told me her last name and said to ring the bell at their house when I arrived.

I went jogging by this afternoon and happened to see Frau W coming down her front walk. She introduced me to her teenage daughter, whose name sounded like Ara. Her daughter was holding crutches so at first I thought it was Frau W's friend who was in the accident. I decided it wasn't appropriate to ask why she was holding crutches, but we chatted briefly and Frau W mentioned that her daughter would enjoy practicing her English with me. I told her that was great - she could speak English to me and I could speak my lousy German to her!