and when going into battle, they sang of him first of all heroes

This will likely have been my last destination weekend for a little while. My homework sits piling and there’s that edging feeling implying that I ought to begin my thesis paper; I’m suspecting that 30 pages will take a little while to write.

I’ve spent the last three weekends travelling to various locations with my dear friend Leslie. Most who read this blog have an idea of who Leslie is, but for those who don’t, I’ll clarify. She is a dear friend and former classmate from Canada who is over in University Mannheim for German exchange. We met only last winter in the Intermediate German II course, and also had Contemporary German together taught by our visiting teaching assistants (who better to teach about the state of Germany today than two Germans themselves?). Of the students from my German program over here (all of whom are also friends), Leslie is the closest geographically; not that that is the only reason why I travel with her often. Certainly it helps, but I am very glad that she is close by because it is only magnifying the friendship we started back home. Fortunately we have very complementary personalities, and also share a lot of the same Canadian morals and ideals (although I think that I notice that latter fact more now because we are among a completely different culture). Leslie came approximately 3 weeks earlier than I to Germany, and was the first of all of us here now to arrive. I have to give here especial credit for the fact that this is her first time over to Europe and she managed to do it of her own will. Few people have the courage to do that. 

The first weekend of these consecutive three was our trip to Berlin, which I’ve already written about. The second weekend I visited Leslie’s home turf: Mannheim. It was not my first time to Mannheim since I have been here. The first was to see Leslie again for the first time since she had left. We went out dancing and to meet her numerous new international program friends. Several hail from Norway. The second was last weekend for Oktoberfest. When I had first arrived in Germany there had been talk of my possibly visiting Munich for the celebration, which would have been amazing; but as the weekend approached it proved to be increasingly difficult for anyone in this house to make it there. Tom did manage to go to visit with friends, at the table that the group of them reserve each year (and as you can likely imagine, reserving a table is incredibly difficult); but I am also told that he had to sleep on the kitchen floor of his friends’ flat for lack of accommodation space. Mannheim’s Oktoberfest, while I was warned would be small, was still amazing fun and a little chaotic. The most important features of the night were the good friends, the beer, and the carnival rides. I don’t recall Oktoberfest in Kitchener ever having that many fun rides, and really, all that I needed was the one beer tent to dance on tables with my friends in while having a “Maß” of beer (which is a unit of measurement; 1 litre). I’ll also note that I enjoy carnival rides much more, and am more likely to do the ridiculous ones, after I’ve had a beer to calm the nerves. I also become much better at bumper cars in that I can actually steer without getting caught in a corner. I think the note here is that I over think things too much when I should rather just be doing; I need to work on that. Mannheimer Oktoberfest was also the fateful event that saw Leslie losing her camera. There is still a small degree of hope left that it will be found when they dismantle the rides this week, but it is unfortunate that we lost the pictures that were on the card from that night, as there were some great ones. All in all, a great evening, with one other note (you had to know it was coming, Leslie), we managed to get lost heading back to her student dorm. Somehow we ended on the wrong street car and wound up on the other side of the river from where we wanted to go. When we got off in Ludwigshafen, it was suggested that we walk back. I of course had no idea where we were so I followed Leslie, who walked us in a giant circle back to the same station we got off on! Ha-ha. We eventually got the right streetcar home... at 3am. Leslie always says that she is directionally challenged, and while she did lead us well in Berlin on our last day, she’s now cancelled it out. Next time, Leslie!

Just this past weekend Leslie finally came to visit me in Wetzlar. There may not be a lot to do around Wetzlar, but it is nice because I am living with a young family. Saturday was Mia’s birthday party with a witch theme. It is common here for children parties to have different themes, and thus Mia’s was full of costumes, witches brew and a pirate cake. Leslie arrived later that Saturday night, after the 10 children had gone home, and she and I headed to the local bar in Muenchholzhausen (the bedroom community of Wetzlar that I live in) to meet with my other au-pair friend, Caillin. A night out with Leslie is never boring. The three of us had a couple of drinks together and ordered some fries, after which one of the old bar flies proceeded to move closer and closer into Leslie’s space. At one point he offered to help her to finish her fries, then put her napkin closer to her face, saying that it was for wiping it, and then (although I didn’t see this part), put his hand randomly in front of her face. Ha-ha! We labelled it “the German hand!” I don’t know how Leslie doesn’t laugh out loud during these. The bar tender, whose child attends the same kindergarten as Mia, helped to shoo the man away. I think that this may be his regular behaviour. The Sunday following, Leslie and I went into the Altstadt with Tom and Mia. For a few hours, Leslie and I explored alone, during which she also agreed that it is an adorable little place. We had a coffee in the old building where the seat of the Holy Roman Empire’s highest court (Reichskammergericht) once was located, and where famous German author Goethe also was as a trainee (before he took to writing). Leslie and I also cooked for the family that day, making fajitas (which the Germans know, but confess have never mastered) and also Nanaimo bars out of British Columbia. It was my first time making and eating this dessert, but delicious!! On Monday I had the day off work and Leslie and I headed to Kassel to meet up with our friend David from Berlin. He actually lives in Kassel and attends the University there, so he offered to show us around. If I had to pick a city to compare it to, I would choose Collingwood. It is very large and scenic, with several hills to climb up, particularly one with a large tribute to Hercules (“Der Herkules”). The only main difference was that Kassel is larger and has a greater population, likely because of the University. There also appears to be a very large Turkish population there (much to the bane of the local Germans) and so there isn’t a street corner without a Döner stand. I will never eat a Döner. Ew. The weather was phenomenal and so at one point we laid out on the lawn of the local palace (now a planetarium) and I felt for a moment like I was at the Guelph campus on Johnston green. Then I opened my eyes and saw the very symmetrical palace and landscape, appearing straight out of the Jane Austen novels, and I was brought back to the reality of my situation – not that I’m complaining about laying on a lawn in Germany. Leslie and I trained back late, after which there was a small fiasco with the bus in that it never came. Although while waiting another bus driver (who was also foreign) hit on Leslie and insisted she take his number so that when she got a new cell phone (have I mentioned yet that she’s also lost her cell phone) she can call him. Ha-ha. That was really, really difficult not to laugh at during. He was very forward (“Do you have a boyfriend? Because I don’t have a girlfriend.”) and completely ignored me until he needed a piece of paper, or whenever he was trying to compliment Les (“She’s really sweet, don’t you think?” – no duh!). Poor Leslie. She IS very sweet, to the point where she’s cornered into taking down phone numbers. Lucky her to have lost her cell phone! As THAT bus pulled away we did burst out laughing, then took a short cab ride to my house. Leslie took a train back to Mannheim early this morning. I adore that kid, and I’m glad that we’ll be returning to Canada on the same day (everyone else is staying the full year).

Der Herkules

Former seat of Reichskammergericht

And here I am now, sitting in my apartment trying to recall everything about this past weekend and also planning to put the rest of my free time into my assignments and placement. I’ll likely not travel again on my own until late November and early- to mid-December, when I hope to visit both Freiburg and Mannheim for one more weekend, and then up to Visbeck to see my relatives (I met them all for the first time 2 years ago; I’m very excited to go back and to spend some more time with them). There’s still the possibility of travel with the family I work for, but until then, its work, work, work. I need to save some money here too. 

-Candles