VIEW OUT OF THE WINDOW FROM FRANKFURT, GERMANY

Dear Nata, Lena N, Lena S, Sasha, Oksana, Yura, Masha, Irina, Anya, Zhenya, Olya and Valentina Saenko,
Thank you very much for your very warm message (even though it is
very cold where you are!).  We have enjoyed the Space Flight Project
with the Cosmonautic School in Siberia and are pleased to join you

and think it is wonderful that you use such an idea to discover how
other people see their world.
       I (Margaret and I am not married so you can use Ms. in English) teach
English online and have students from 18 countries (beginners) and love to hear from them and what their world looks like. Using email has brought me closer to so many other wonderful people in the world. And Stefan has learned very much from using it.
     On the 30th of January, 1998, we are looking out the window of where
our computer is into the garden in a small town called Griesheim, which is 33 kilometers south of Frankfurt. It is very cold for us now at -10°C because just 2 weeks ago it was very mild for January...10-14°C. Many early blooming plants had started to grow and now they must be very surprised.
      There is still a little snow on the grass and a couple of birds are hopping around and then suddenly one flys into our window.  Birds still do not understand about glass!  It's OK and then I see a cat sitting under a bush watching the birds.  A mother goes by with several small children all bundled up warm but they enjoy sliding in the little snow and ice they find on the sidewalks and laugh. The laughter of small children is so sweet.
       It is foggy and everything has a very mysterious look and we are happy to be inside and warm.  We see a huge spider web left from the summer between two trees, that because of the cold is visible. We think it is amazing what spiders can do...the geometric shape glistens when the streetlight comes on and very soon it is dark.
      Our black cat, Nina, jumps up on the windowsill and meaows to come
back inside. She has a fur coat and is cold!!  Now we can see new snowflakes floating in the light of the streetlight, coming through the fog.  Everything is very quiet and still.
      We are looking forward to Spring and much longer days when the birds
come to nest again and sing their beautiful songs, the bees hum going from flower to flower and looking at the stars and the moon at night and wondering what other people on the other side of the Earth see.