betreuer

zoë's great friend alisa came to visit this week. alisa was her afs betreuer while zoë was in germany (in the u.s. this is the liason, a contact person who can help the exchange student with any difficulties that come up; in zoë's case, alisa was a steadfast friend and a constant in her life through that year's ups and downs). she is spending three months in the u.s. doing an internship in michigan, visiting american friends, and spending some time with her own u.s. host family in virginia. she was in maine for four days, and they turned out to be mostly gorgeous, sunny and bright. she and zoë spent a lot of time exploring portland, speaking some german, visiting cafes, and even a day hiking up mt. megunticook and wandering around camden. yesterday we did the cliff walk so alisa could see some serious rocky coastline before she left town.

alisa was a joy to have around. mark spent the last day attempting to convince her that she should probably enroll at usm and live in zoë's room.

below, the mädchens model their dirndls, recreating their famous bavarian dirndl photos of 2009.