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Another Accidental Adventure...
Being in Switzerland, it was only natural to decide to head up north during my free week to visit my friends in Berlin and my brother in Leipzig.... especially after I discovered Mitfahrgelehgenheit. Mitfahrgelehgenheit is basically a German ride-share internet-based group. So, I searched through and managed to find myself a ride from Leipzig to Zurich, and after extensive promises that I would be there for sure, I was desperate to get a ride from Switzerland to Germany, especially as the flight tickets started to shoot up in price.
I gathered all the courage I had and started going back through the Mitfahrgelehgenheit posts that I had initially not asked for one reason or another. I found one. I had not opted for this person, as the email was curt and impersonal. I could not read the person and there was not hint of personality, or well, anything really. Oh, and it was a 'call only' request. I did my best to prepare my three consecutive German phrases. "Hello. I'm calling about the ride-share. Do you speak English?" After discovering that the person on the phone could not speak a word of English, or French, or
Spanish.... I mustered up a "one minute' request in German as I ran up the stairs to John and passed off the phone in a desperate panic, gasping out the explanation of my rash phone-call with no back up plan for not being able to communicate! Luckily, after a few short moments, the whole thing was arranged and I was to meet this man at a train station at a certain time and be on my way...
Good in theory, but there were a few flaws. The first was that he was not there when I arrived. Nor was he there half-an-hour after our departure time. I kept walking up to strangers and asking if they were Andre. I was starting to get quite disheartened. I used my people skills, and after people watching for a while, I picked a nice young couple to quickly explain my situation to and ask if they would use their German and their mobile to help me sort out the situation. After a hurried phone call, they assured me that Andre was just around the corner and they were on their way. Now, Andre did appear shortly after, but his demeanor and communication
were troublesome at best. He was pacing around and shoved my stuff in the trunk, but made no apparent attempt to leave. I kept doing my best in German to ask questions "One more?" but then he would just rattle off an answer that was far to lengthy and complex for me to follow, so I finally bunkered down by the car and waited. Andre was clearly frustrated and suddenly seemed to have a solution. He grabbed his phone, made a quick shouting phone call and proceeded to gesture to me that all was well. A few short minutes later, the fellow I had borrowed the phone from earlier reappeared, and Andre immediately tried to stuff him into the car.... the fellow protested and we all realized the mistake.... Andre had assumed he was the other passenger we were waiting for, but the poor innocent stranger was simply the guy I had asked to borrow his cell phone and help me... I was profusely apologizing, and Andre did not bother to do the same, but rather was irritated that he was not the right guy....
We waited in silence and eventually the third party arrived. He also had no
English, but we were stuffed in the car and off in no time.... unfortunately that was not the worst part of the experience. As soon as we were on the road, Andre rolled up all the windows (yes, in 35 degree heat, with three people in the car and no air conditioning) and then proceeded to chain smoke.... And, again, that was not the worst of it! Soon after we started rolling I realized that we were not going to be stopping for toilet breaks, and I hid my tempting water bottle and tried to keep myself distracted. Now, I did quite well at distracting myself and not hot having a fit at the lack of restroom stops, until we rolled into our seventh hour of driving (straight) and the engine suddenly stopped on the auto-bahn! It just goes to show that you should never think that things couldn't get worse.... after an hour of waiting and trying to get an idea of what was happening, I was eyeing out bush possibilities for an emergency toilet when I suddenly realized the other ride-share passenger was talking to a car he had waved over. A second later, he was sprinting back
to the car and stuffing a few bills in Andre's hand while he grabbed his bags form the car. I ran over and started flailing my hands in attempted communication and Andre looked at me, then said "Berlin" with a small shrug and pointed to the car my fellow ride-share passenger was climbing into, I ran over and stuck my face in the rolled down side pleading "Ich? Ich - Berlin? Ich?" roughly translated into "I? I - Berlin? I?" And after a questioning glare from the driver, the other ride-share guy finally explained that I was English. A quick smile washed over his face and he nodded, so I proceeded to run back, shove some Euros into Andre’s hand, and enter the car of bliss. Air conditioning, roomy, new, smoke-free, and I sat smiling in the back all the way to Berlin.
Once in Berlin, my incredible friends, Claudia and Akira, met me. We spent the evening staying up way to late and catching up over a late dinner, and then drifted off to sleep thinking of all the things we could do the next day. We woke up late and had a lovely brunch, more time just
Free book exchange...
the best invention ever!relaxing and chatting, and then we were off to see the neighbourhood. From coffee houses to markets and churches, cobblestone streets and shops with an old-town artistic feel, I was in heaven. We picked up some sausage and set out for the typical German sunny-day-activity of having a BBQ in the park. We stuffed ourselves with meat and sausage, market dips, and picnic snacks and watched the sun set.
The next day was a full tour of the city, walking from sight to sight and soaking up the city of Berlin. We wandered the old markets, and ventured through the streets, up winding church towers, and into the main museum island of incredible buildings. Pausing only for falafels (the best in town) and then timing our day perfectly to head back to the local pub for the German football match - what an evening! I had the German flag on my arm, and found myself thoroughly enjoying the soccer match!
The last day I was meant to be in Berlin, I joined Claudia at the International School for a day of teaching. It was great to see the classes, and we had a lot of fun, I was
a helper for the students who had German as a second language and were excused from the test that day, and then I did a few activities I started in English and adapted to German. It was a lot of fun for me, and just on our way our, we paused at the office to thank the Head of the School for letting me come for the day and I found my head swirling with a sudden job-offer and interview set up for the following day. I hurried home and sent on my resume, cancelled my ride that evening to Leipzig, and called Mark, my brother, to let him know of my delay. That evening, the Head of the School had received my resume and did a phone interview with me, and then next day, he observed me teaching. So, with revised plans, I found a last-minute ride-share to join and I was off to Leipzig, for a day, to see my brother.
This time the ride share experience was amazing. The driver could not have been more pleasant or kind, nor the passengers. As we arrived in Leipzig, we all knew each other's plans and everyone was shocked
that my brother was not meeting me at any train station and that I was to follow a dodgy hand drawn map on a scrap piece of paper through the town of Leipzig... so, after each passenger offering to help me get there, the driver decided to simply set her GPS and deliver me to the door. Ironically, she was unable to locate the building, so had me call him and ask him to come find me as we were on the street, renewing my faith in mitfahrgeleganheit.
The evening was relaxing and we chatted into the night, wandering over to the near-by park for some evening views of the lake and park. The next day we had a marathon Leipzig experience, which ranged from our morning bike-ride through town, checking out all of the churches and statues. Then we were off to an opera-singing lesson, where I got to sit in for the lesson. Then we paused for lunch, and I was off on foot to explore the city in the afternoon. Later, Mark took me for a river-float in the dingy into the early evening. We decided after an hour or so to opt out of the
long float option so that we could grab the bikes and cycle to the park half an hour away for a sunset swim... and then back home for the best part of seeing my brother... hanging out, cooking, and enjoying the company.
The next day came all too quickly, and I found myself cycling alongside Mark to the train station for my rendezvous with my next mitfahrgeleganheit experience. Mark loaded me onto the train and even ran with it, waving goodbye and making me erupt into laughter on the train, and then I promptly got lost at the station, and after a fifteen minute hike, managed to find myself at another information desk, where they felt sorry enough for me they called the ride-share driver, and in no time he appeared, finding me by the desk and carrying my bags to the car. It was perfect, young, interesting people, good music, lots of stops, and a great atmosphere.... and I was delivered to the airport (to save on time and money with the trains to Niederglatt...) and then I was back just in time for my last day in Switzerland.... too many goodbyes for me, from Berlin, to Leipzig,
to Neiderglatt - you know what they say "Dire adieu est mourir un peux"... But, with all the invites and possibilities, anything is possible!
More to come...
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maciucaru3000
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OMG
OMG SO AWESOME