I could scratch through one of the things on my list to do while in Texas today because I went tubing on the Guadalupe in New Braunfels.  We decided that it would be a fun thing to do with the Germans.  Jorn (from Kersten's village in Germany) who's been in town for a couple of days, is hard to impress.  He doesn't like American breakfasts, root beer, or insects. But he does like Skittles, iced tea, Denny's and outlet malls.  He wasn't impressed with the state capital building even though it is three feet taller than the nation's capital (*wink*).  I love showing off the silly things about Austin, but it wasn't until we took him tubing that he really seemed to enjoy himself. 

real photos to come

To those of you unfamiliar with tubing, you rent an inner tube (preferably one with a plastic bottom laced on), a tubing service drops you off in the river, you float, and then they pick you up at a given point downriver.  It's relaxing, especially if you rent a cooler tube to fill with your beers.  Though sometimes you'll meet nice people on the river who will give you a beer.  Thanks stranger!  Two minutes in the back of the dropoff van we were dying.  The heat was unbearable and being squashed next to 15 strangers made it even worse.  We decided unanimously to be dropped off as soon as possible, which meant a 4 hour float.  Whatever, just get us out of here!  So of course I didn't put on enough sun screen and got totally burnt in weird places... the tops of my feet for example.  I always do this.  A little while into the float Kersten, his sister, and Jorn all floated off to speak german unaware that many of the residents of New Braunfels also speak german.  At one point they were badmouthing something about America when somebody replied to them in german. You got to be careful in this here town.

After the float we all piled back into the van a bit more friendly with each other.  Alena and I crossed our fingers when a stranger asked the Germans with a hint of hopefulness in his voice, "Y'all like Texas?".  I'm so glad Jorn said he did, because I think that the stranger would have been personally hurt if he said he didn't.

listening to: Erasure - Chorus (don't worry Nigel, I won't bring it with me!)