I was also contemplating titling this entry "back in the world of beautiful gentlemen" but decided that this statement is the most relevant right now.
I didn't sleep on the plane and that may have been the root of my problem. Kate picked me up from the airport - she's an amazing soul who rented a car with her boyfriend for the occasion. They made sure I was safe and sound at the hostel before disappearing to return the car and run a few errands. Kate spent time in Edmonton last year - she was on an exchange for a year with us. I'll see more of her later in the week I am sure.
Had a nap yesterday and then headed off to an outdoor concert with Bernd. Bernd and I met almost three years ago now on the first leg of the Drama department-LMU exchange; he was in their show
Ursonate in 2005 and returned last fall with
Romeo und Julia. We're both in the same phase of life right now - done the classes part of the degree and trying desperately to write that silly thing called a thesis. We both agreed it should perhaps be a four letter word and only mentioned when absolutely necessary. It's a holiday here right now - on top of being Mother's day yesterday it was the first of a two day celebration of Pentecost. Translation: most things are closed. The concert was free and very good - it's the PfingstOpenAir at the Theatron, part of the celebrations for the weekend. We saw bands from Nuremberg, Vienna, and Wales to name a few. Next to the bands people watching was my favourite activity. There was a young girl with downs syndrome who got up on the lower platform to dance - she made my day. That was the best example of rocking out without a care that I have seen in a long time; I just couldn't stop smiling as she made up dance moves and then showed them off to anyone who was paying attention. I have enough understanding of German to follow some conversations, I can usually get the general gist of what is being talked about but when slang comes to visit and they start speaking quickly I am lost. I still listen to conversations and try to follow when I can - but when I clearly don't get something it all degrades to teasing me. :)
Jet lag bowled me over around 10 - so it was back to the hostel for the little Canadian while the others went off to party some more. The cane has been an interesting accessory - much better than crutches I can tell you that much. But otherwise I get a lot of looks from people - probably because I am half the age of anyone else seen using them. Ah well - it makes my life much easier and perhaps I'll get bumper stickers for it or something.
I stayed up for as long as I could - trying to get my clock to set itself as quickly as possible. The nice thing about being on vacation? The time seems to crawl rather than race by, and that is just fine with me. It's teaching me to take my time and savor things as they come. I spent most of today in bed and then was off to the Hauptbahnhof (main train station) - to grab my weekly transit pass and dinner.
There's an Aussie who works here leading a beer garden crawl yelling out instructions about beer to those folks sitting at the bar. He just finished the lecture about the alcohol content for the Americans and Aussies in the crowd - reminding everyone that he has no desire to drag anyone out from a pool of their own vomit and stuff them in a cab to get back here by the end of the trip. I wonder if he'd have to give that lecture to the Canadians in the crowd - our alcohol content is about the same or just a little bit less if I am not mistaken.
As for the "beautiful gentlemen" title - it's true. It reminds me of being back in Valdosta, Georgia - sure didn't open my own doors if I was ever in the company of someone else. Same philosophy applies here. The showers and bathrooms are down a set of stairs from the dorm room and damned if a beautiful soul who works here hasn't helped me down them almost every time. My stubborn streak takes a mild beating when someone races up the stairs to take my cane and wrap an arm around my waist to help me down and on a few occasions has waited to help me back up the stairs afterwards. It's sweet and flattering, but... well, you know me - you can imagine the look on my face. :)
Tomorrow night I'm off to see some theatre and some friends - otherwise tonight it's probably going to be an early night again.
Tschüss!
Germany's Flag
Map of Germany