A Memorable Reunion

A former German exchange student is reuniting for a couple of weeks with her Washougal host family.

Karin Tetzner spent her junior year at Washougal High School from 2006 to 2007. Nettie Morris was her host at that time.

Tetzner’s high school experiences included playing softball. She continued to play softball after she returned to Germany.

As a student at WHS, Tetzner took riding lessons from LeAnn Hunter, owner of Rolling Hills Stables, in Washougal.

During Tetzner’s most recent visit to Washougal, she visited Hunter and helped tend to a leg wound on one of the horses. Tetzner works in an animal clinic in Hammah, near Hamburg. She treats cows, dogs, cats and rabbits.

Tetzner, 25, attends the University of Veterinary Medicine, in Hannover. It is a private university, founded in 1778.

“There are 250 seats each year and about 10,000 applications for these 250, so I am very happy to have gotten in right after high school,” she said.

During Tetzner’s current visit with Nettie Morris and her husband, Rod, they attended the Oktoberfest celebration Friday night, at Amnesia Brewing, in downtown Washougal.

Tetzner has never attended Oktoberfest in Germany. She lives approximately seven hours from Munich.

Tetzner enjoyed the Washougal version, particularly the performance by the King Brothers, which played dance music from the 1970s and ’80s.

“The brat and sauerkraut were also good,” she said. “The red cabbage needed more apples.”

This visit has also included salmon fishing in the Columbia River, clothes shopping, relaxing and visiting the Bonneville Dam, Carson Hot Springs and Fort Clatsop in Astoria, and Seaside, Oregon.

Tetzner and the Morrises also attended the Sept. 28 Washougal City Council workshop and meeting. Rod is a former council member.

Councilman Dave Shoemaker, an Army veteran, greeted Tetzner in German.

“Es gefelt mir Sie kennen gelernt zu haben,” he said.

It meant, “It is my pleasure to have met you.”

Tetzner replied, “Danke gleichfalls,” which meant, “Thank you, it is so nice to meet you.”

Tetzner also told Shoemaker that his German is still good.

She started learning English as a fifth-grader in Germany.

After the Morrises got married in August 2013, they visited Tetzner’s parents during their first week in Germany. Tetzner was taking exams at the time.

She had previously brought her parents to Washougal.

The Morrises’ honeymoon also included a visit with another former exchange student from Vietnam, and her husband, in Rome. Then they visited Naples and returned to Germany where Tetzner gave them a week long tour of the Black Forest, Berlin and other places.

Nettie maintains communication with and visits all of her former exchange students including a resident of Brazil.