Deutschland (II)

I’m fairly certain that I caught a German bug on Halloween because the next day I was disproportionately sick for about four drinks. Unfortunately we had a full day ahead of us. One of Dee’s aunts had planned out the entire day for us. So I dragged my half-dead self out of bed around 9 and by 10 we were at her aunt’s house waiting for everyone to assemble. Although I don’t speak German, I did understand everyone looking at le saying ‘alcohol’ and giving me the pity look. Luckily most of them were outside already when I stumbled to bathroom to empty myself out.

I’ve already mentioned that Germans are crazy drivers, and uncle Willie was no exception. We piled into their mini-van with aunt and uncle in the front, Dee and I and her cousin Dinah in the middle, and her two other cousins Celina and Kristina in the back. I felt like death the whole 45 minute drive to breakfast where I couldn’t eat anything. Another fifteen to the Rhine River, which we crossed in a ferry. Despite my wretched state I did appreciate the beauty of the place. But my wretchedness overcame me soon after we parked on the other side and Dee’s whole family got to see me puke bright green into a sewer. Then I felt like a true ass because as her aunt (who was really nice) was holding my head, her camera fell into the sewer. Luckily they were able to fish it out and clean it off so looking back it’s kind of funny.

The first part of our day we just walked through the little streets of this town. Although I looked and felt like hell, some part of me enjoyed it. Our next stop was a really big statue on the side of the mountains lining the Rhine. Really amazing views, and as I was glued to a bench Dee took some nice photos for me. And as we were leaving my body decided to empty out again. I told Dee and she yelled to her family, “Don’t look she’s gonna blow again!” Thanks Dee.

Then it was in the van to drive to some more mountains to a former monastery. We didn’t spend much time there but the grounds were really pretty. After this we drove to a little restaurant to meet up with another aunt. We just had drinks, but they wanted to bring us there because the family butcher shop supplied meat to the place. Back in the ban for ridiculous mountain driving. I think Dee and I both had the same wondrous yet scared shitless expressions on our faces the whole time. This windy road led us to ‘Buena Vista’, a Mexican restaurant. So I tried my first enchilada in a German Mexican restaurant.

Her aunt told us that we had one more stop to make; we were going to visit her grandmother. So we drive back into their small town, nothing unusual about that. We stop in a driveway and get out and go through the gate, and I notice that there are no lights on in the house… strange. Also strange is that we were going into the yard and not towards the house. And that’s about when I realized that the ‘yard’ was full of tombstones. Oh! Right. Her aunt’s grandmother would be really old if she was alive, we’re just visiting her grave. That was little unexpected. Her aunt apologized for not fore-warning us and possibly spooking us. After this little adventure we finally went home so I could sleep off whatever was wrong with me.

Le lendemain (the next day), after breakfast we went for a walk with aunt Edie through the back and farm roads of Wopenroth (their town). We walked maybe three or four km, and it was really cold, and the fog made it hard to see really far, but what we could see was really pretty. We saw lots of farmland, and got up close to some cute cows too. On the way back we passed some walnut trees and then had fresh walnuts with maple syrup when we get back. One of my new favorite snacks.

Now normally lunch time isn't exactly blog-worthy, but this one is. Her aunt had been cooking a big pot of pasta sauce since the night before. C'était énorme! Delicious tomato sauce filled with peppers, onions, garlic and olive oil. She also had salad with homemade salad dressing, also quite delicious (and that's from someone who, as a general rule, doesn't like salad dressing). I think I gained about five pounds in that one meal. And sorry people, but there's just no way to describe the incredibleness that my mouth experienced during the meal. oh and I almost forgot, there was homemade, very chunky apple sauce as well, which tasted like a really good apple pie without the crust.

After lunch, and a little time of not being able to move, we drove to yet another relative's house. We only stayed a few minutes, then piled back in the car with a cousin (3rd I think) and her mother, then we went off to the Mosel River. First we stopped in a very old town. We really only walked around and window shopped, but it was still nice. Aunt Edie bought us each a champagne filled chocolate...I'm pretty sure if you ate three or four you could catch a buzz...ridiculously strong and not that tasty (the chocolate was).

After listening to her cousin's mother tell us that every other building was really old for about four streets we went back to the car and took a long scenic drive along the Mosel River. The river cuts through some low mountains, and on almost every possible useable part of lard there were vineyards. They went up the side of the hills/mountains, even in really steep places. For the hundredth time I'm sure, my pictures give a much better description than I can.

Once we got back we stayed at Peter and Krista's house for a while (Krista and her mom were the ones that came with us). We had some wine and tea and pie (cherry was delicious). Back at aunt Edie's we watched a movie and had some dinner. Later on we got ready to go out again, and around 10h30 Dee's cousin Dinah came to pick us and Hannah up. We took another semi- long and very frightening drive through the fog to Frankfurt to a club. Then we had to wait in line for awhile. Surprisingly we got in though I was doubting we would while the bouncer was glaring us and our ISIC cards down. But we got in, and it was crazy: four bars and three dance floors in one place. Oh and lots of German that we couldn't understand. I asked for a kamikaze, and they gave me a shot with regular, lemon and lime vodka...not what I wanted... oh well.

We only got about three hours of sleep before we had to get up to get ready for the airport. Everything went fine except for one thing. For some reason the customs officers had a problem with my visa and wouldn't let me into the departure gate for a good ten minutes. I was getting pretty scared by the time they let me through. But finally, to Dublin!

Vacance: the Second Leg: Deutschland (I)

Once we stepped off the train, we were reminded of one very important fact: kein deutsch (I don’t speak German). After finding our way to the ausgang (exit) we spent about fifteen minutes looking for the right bus stop. The bus took us to Hahn Airport, and was supposed to take 1h45m, but our driver managed t in 1h15m. Oh boy. Let me tell you all, I thought I was going to have to cash in my repatriation. He was an absolutely crazy driver, and we were the only ones on the bus. Later on we found out that all Germans are fucking insane on the road. Once at Hahn we had to wait or Dee’s aunt Edie to pick us up. By the time we finally got back to her place it was about 11pm so we just got settled in and went to bed. But guess what folks, we had real beds! At home our beds are just pieces of foam, and at the hostel in Amsterdam they were closer to stone, but these… She also had nice sheets and big thick comforters; it reminded me of my gramma’s house.

Wednesday (31 octobre), well actually every day we were there, we didn’t have to worry about finding something to do. Dee’s grandmother is from Germany and a lot of her family lives in one town, and they all wanted to see her and take us places. So Wednesday after breakfast we headed off to Idar-Oberstein with her aunt Edie. For those of you who, like me, don’t know a thing about stones and jewelry, this is a small German town that is world renown for jewelry-making and dealing stones (like diamonds, lapis lazuli, etc). She took us to the gemstone museum, which I thought would be slightly boring but turned out not to be. People have made some amazing things with stone, examples of which you can find on photobucket.

After this we had lunch and walked around the town a little bit. Also in this town is a church that was built into the rock face of a mountain/hill. There are stairs to get up to it, and also the mountain is sort of tiered with lanes and houses on each one. It was a really beautiful thing to see. The drive to and from this town was also beautiful thanks to the German countryside.

A little while after we got back we took a very short drive to where more of Dee’s family lives, and we a met a bunch of them because a little cousin was having a birthday party. Now the Germans have it right in this respect. At this party, there was no pizza, no snacks, and no finger foods. There were two different things on the tables: coffee and cakes. There were three tables, and each one had two different types of cake. I had a piece of mostly chocolate marble cake with glaze, and two amazing pieces of German chocolate cake with frosting that had the consistency of a light mousse, but tasted like hot fudge and made me want to eat myself sick (but I didn’t). Eventually we escaped the cakes and made it back to aunt Edie’s. We relaxed for a while and had dinner there.

Around 10pm, Dee did my face and we joined her cousin Hannah on a trip to a nearby town. In case anyone didn’t catch the date, it was Halloween and we were going to a party. It was in an old airplane hangar, and there was a band, Paddy Goes to Holyhead (we later learned they’re quite popular). Her cousin apologized because the drinks were expensive at 2-3€, and was astounded when we told her how much we pay: 5-8€. But it was a fun time, and the band was good. We ended up buying two of their cds and got free lighters. They’re German but have Irish sounding music and Irish accents when speaking English, they also sing in English. Since neither one of use spoke German, we thought it would be fun (and it was) to say our few random phrases to people as they passed us. These phrases are: kein deutsch (no German), wilkomenn (welcome), and salzt und pfeffre bitte (salt and pepper please). We also shook the people’s hands while saying this to them. Most people just laughed and brushed it off, but one guy actually started talking to us because he knew both English and French. We ended up jigging (not a real jig though) to a couple of songs. After the band was done Dee and I took over the stage, and I even got to dance with their electric fiddle player! All in all it was a really fun night and we didn’t get to bed until 4am.

Vacance: the First Leg: Amsterdam

We arrived on time, 11h15, and I learned my first word of Néerlandais: Uitgang = sortie = exit. Yay! Canals run through the city and some buildings are right on the water, as in open a window on one side, look straight down and see canal. The whole country is actually below sea level if I remember correctly, and hence the name 'Holland' ~ 'hollow land'. It was very strange being in a place where I didn't understand any of the signs or native language. But thankfully owing to the ridiculous amounts of Anglophones that visit, almost everyone speaks English. I heard a lot of English, though sometimes it took a long time to realize that it was actually English coming from an Irishman’s mouth...so I think we might be a little screwed when we get to Ireland.

Most of the city seems really dark, I think it might be because the streets are kind of small, and the buildings are kind of high, dark-colored and right on top of each other. Although the streets were dark, the open places (French style) were pretty, and so were some of the big city buildings. Our hostel was right in the red-light district, so it was close to everything, but not on a really crazy street with the actual red lights on the buildings. We met a group of Australian students who are also studying in France, but in Lille (up north).

Our first day we just walked around a lot. I tried falafel for the first time. It wasn't bad, but I think I'm set with it for at least a month. The pigeons in Amsterdam are incredibly fat, and they reminded me of my cat Mindy with their fat, round bodies and their little heads. After walking around some more we stopped at a coffee shop and people-watched for a while. I've got to say, the people in Amsterdam are a step-down from France. They're a little better with the smell, but in the facial area... not so good. Although there are ton of tourists.

That evening we went to Madame Tussaud's wax museum. They had a live-actor section with a Pirates-like theme and Dee screamed so loud at one point. It was a lot of fun. Later that night we took a walk around the real red-light district. We walked down one street, then crossed a canal and walked back up the other side. Then we got adventurous and decided to take in a sex-show. It wasn't hard core or anything, but it was pretty hilarious, especially when the SM and the 'Caribbean dancer' woman found victims in the audience.

The next day, Sunday, we walked around some more until we decided to figure out the tram to get to some museums a little ways away. We managed to get tickets, get on the right line, and get off near our first museum... the Van Gogh Museum. It was four floors big: the bottom was an exhibit on Barcelona, the top showed mainly his influences. I took a picture of a Monet, and then two minutes later some one else got yelled at for taking a picture. So I have only one illegal photo, and it's not even a Van Gogh. Only about one and a half floors were actually Van Gogh, but it was still nice.

Our next stop of the day was the Anne Frank House. Not recommended for people with walking problems, or those who have difficulties with stairs, or vertigo. I was on the smallest and steepest stairs in my life, and there were four floors. It was really interesting though. You can go in all of the rooms, and they explain each one. They also show what it looked like when they lived there, and had artifacts and quotes and stuff like ID cards and newspapers they read. It's not as depressing as we thought it would be. They also had two videos to watch, one of Miep, and another of a woman that knew Anne both before and at the concentration camp. It was very much worth the 7,50€ ticket.

Monday Kay and her friend were supposed to arrive, so Dee and I ate breakfast and stuff and waited until they did. More walking around, resting at a coffeshop, then a pizza place (the third time at that place for Dee and I), and a bar. We also went to the Sex Museum, which was funny. By 10pm we were all back at the hotel and ready for bed.

Tuesday morning we all had to pack up and check out. We had a wonderful breakfast at this place next door. Dee has some sandwich, Kay had the best omelette I've ever tasted, and her friend had a pancake (read: crepe) with bananas and chocolate sauce. I, my friends, had the best damn breakfast: pancake (plate-sized crepe), with creamy ice cream, a big mound of slagroom (whipped cream) and chocolate sauce. Oh god I was in heaven. And on top of finishing mine, I helped Kay with hers!

We managed to find and get on our train just fine. It was four hours long, but arrived on time. Around 8h30 we arrived in Deutschland, and that's all folks.

Vacances: Pre-Trip

The next week we calmed down a bit and finalized most of the plans for our trip. Tuesday we went to a free showing of "Un Verité qui Dérange" or..."An Inconvenient Truth" in English with French subtitles. They showed it at Polytech and hey, no surprise, it started 45 minutes late. Afterwards we went with JP and Sou to our friend Gilles dorm room for fajitas. Holy hell am I glad I don't live on campus.

Going back in time to Tuesday afternoon... crazy story. I finished up at the computer lab after class, and went down to the tram stop. The next one wasn't for 12 minutes. Five minutes later Dee shows up. So we wait another seven minutes but no tram came and the wait time went up to 20 minutes. No way. We go over to the bus stop and wait at least another 10 minutes. I didn't have to actually get on, the mass of students behind me just pushed me on. It was ridiculously full. About 2/3 of the way to our stop, the bus is trying to turn into a roundabout, and this car is trying to squeeze by on the right (remember, just like in the states, buses take wide right turns), so the bus hits him and he gets super pissed even though it was his fault. Really funny. But it took us over an hour to get home.

Thursday we packed and ate a bunch of food and finished a bottle of champagne. Friday we both got up early to go to our 9am classes. After my class I had a little bit of time to go back and finish packing and cleaning up a little bit. I couldn't find the paper on which I wrote things we wanted to do and directions so I spent some time tearing up my room looking for it and ended up leaving about 15 minutes later than I meant to. I actually left at the time I told Dee I would meet her up at the centre-commercial and we didn't find each other until fifteen minutes before our train was to leave. But we got on the train with everything else and then I left my scarf on the navette (I believe). We arrived on time and made it to the Charles de Gaulle airport just fine. Then we hit a streak of bad luck and waiting in line. To make it short: we waited to see our flight on the departure board and when it didn't after about an hour we asked someone who told us we were in the wrong terminal. So, to the other end of the airport where they had even better news... our flight had been cancelled thanks to a cabin crew strike, and they didn't have any more flights to Amsterdam until the next day. The first terminal we were in had some flights, so back we went. It took about 20 minutes to get there and then to find the ticket counter. Once in line we waited over two hours to get to the counter. During this time Dee and I went insane. We had a small picnic, and sang many, many songs. All of that to find out that all the flights to Amsterdam until Sunday afternoon were either cancelled or booked. Maybe we could try a train? Fine. We found a train for the next morning at 6h55 out of a different train station. We took them for 101 euros each and went back into the city to the other train station. It was after 11pm when we got there. We had dinner and decided to try to stay up all night in either a bar or a club. This didn't quite work and after dinner and coffee we went in search of a hotel. We went to four of them before finding one with an open room and wasn't too expensive. We slept for about five hours before waking up and getting back to the train station. Our train arrived on time, we got on ok, and it left on time.
And now commences the story of our vacation.

La Semaine Folle

The week after our weekend in Paris, Dee and I experienced an absolutely insane week. Monday we took my sister with us and JP to our bar...always fun times there. And guess what people, I found a beer that I would prefer over chalk! Bière blanche (later note: it's 1664 white beer). Before that we had all gone out to dinner with ma grand-mère. My sister had gotten something with bbq sauce which I spread all over my pizza... How I've missed bbq chicken pizza! Tuesday night the four of us just hung out in my room. Wednesday however...oh boy. JP and his friend Gilles came over to hang out with the three of us, and everyone but my sister experienced their first power hour. Around 11 we left for the Polytech, and the party for students. I think we had more fun than most people there. French girls need to loosen up. Thursday morning my sister and grand-mère left for Paris, so it was just Crazy and Insane left to their own devices. Thursday night there was a party in a bar for the Erasmus students; so we went anyways. Nothing too crazy, jut out later than we had anticipated. I found out that people all over Europe like Grease, and therefore the medley, and most know the dance moves too. Friday night we had two engagements to attend. First we had been invited to our bar by a bunch of Portuguese that were all meeting there. We were also invited to Dee's host-sister's apartment for a birthday dinner. We weren't sure who would be there, but I don't think we were expecting nine other people there. Most of the time we were confused and lost. But we did manage some conversation and laughs. Around 11pm we headed for the bar. Definitely one of the most fun times I've had while out here. A little before 3am we went back to the girl's apartment, even though we had said we would be back by 1. People were just leaving, so we said our bonsoirs and three of the guys were nice enough to walk us back to our place.

Saturday morning/afternoon found Dee and I on a train to Paris. After completely circling Gare du Nord we found one of the four subways in France. It was yummy. Then we found our way to a museum near the Moulin Rouge and spent quite some time wondering around inside. After we traversed Paris following bad directions to the Catacombs. We asked four people and none of them even knew what we were talking about. Finally we texted our friend Sou and gave us the right directions. By the time we got there it had been closed for an hour. Oh well.

After this little adventure we had dinner and then met up with JP and Sou. They took us to Sou's sister's apartment, where we met about five other people. So we had snacks and drinks and the reason for this little fete was that it was Sou's birthday. At some point we went out in search of a bar. It was very late and very cold, by the time we got there I was 3/4 of the way into turning into an icicle. The way back was just as bad because we didn't really know how to get back, so we walked, then took a bus, and eventually a taxi. We stayed at her place that night. Sunday around 13h we headed back to Orleans with Sou and JP.

So that concludes ma semaine folle. It was quite the week I must say, and was a lot crazier for me than I made it sound. I do believe that I'm a little changed because of it.

Paris

12-15/10/07

Finalement! I had been waiting for my gramma and sister to come to France and Friday was the day. I had one class, texts littéraire, and there was a control continue, which I bombed. But after, I went to Dee and Kay’s second class because they were exposés. Kay was first with the history of women’s rights in the US. She did quite well, I’m proud. Then Dee talked about alimentation in the states. At the end of hers, she let everyone try some authentic American food, sent by her mom. She had fluff (which some of the other Americans hadn’t seen before), dried blueberries and cranberries (both native to North America), EZ cheese, mini Reese’s cups, and Oreos. I think everyone was a little weirded out by the EZ cheese, but quite a few students tried some.

After that we bought some pain au chocolat (and a jambon beurre for me) and hopped on the tram. Dee went home and Kay and I headed to the train station… à Paris! We got there ok, got a little lost looking for the metro, but made it to their hotel only half an hour after we said we would be there. The guy at the desk said we were the first to arrive…what? So we went up to the room and waited. I didn’t want to go out, but I didn’t really want to stay in either. So we flipped channels until we heard a knock. They were hungry so after they got all settled in we went out to eat, mais sans Kay. She went to an Ani Difranco concert, which was quite amazing I hear. When she got back we walked around for a little while with my sister, who is now probably addicted to french pastries. She was pretty freakin’ excited about the McDonald’s near the hotel.

Saturday we took the open bus tour around the city. We saw all the famous shit: Eiffel Tower, Arche de Triomphe, Champs Elysée, and la Place de la Concorde. We also visited Napoleon’s tomb, Notre Dame, and the Rodin museum.

Paris was full of Anglophones, thanks to the rugby matches: France vs. England and South Africa vs. Argentina. Unfortunately France lost. On the Eiffel Tower there was a huge TV screen, and I’m guessing they showed the match there. They were actually in Paris (hence all the other people). In the middle of the Eiffel Tower there was also a huge rugby ball. I’m sure it was absolutely crazy there, even though France wasn’t playing that well.

Sunday we did the Louvre. All day. I think I skipped two wings on two floors. In case you don’t know, the Louvre is fucking big, and it has four floors each with three wings. So that’s twelve wings, and Kay and I saw eight. Not bad…very tiring. I didn’t find the one painting I was hoping to, but they had a poster of it in the shop, so I bought that for myself instead.

The four of us arrived in Orléans around 8pm. My sister had brought the movie Anchorman, so Kay and I took that back to watch with Dee who missed us terribly despite her own amazing weekend. After story time JP showed up and we watched the movie together with peanut butter M&M’s. Yummy yummy in my tummy.

Another Drinking Story

I swear to you all I’m not an alcoholic. I realized when going over the week that I seem to always mention drinking. Here’s why: during the week nothing really noteworthy happens. I go to class, I do homework, cook, hang out with Dee and Kay and JP…sometimes watch a movie… that’s about it. We only drink on the weekends, and it’s usually only one night. So it may seem like all I’m doing is drinking but I’m really not. But here’s my story of the week.

Friday (5 octobre) was Foreign Friday again. This time we decided to get Indian food…to go. So we ordered our food then went to our favorite bar (Le Petit Barcelone) to have a drink while we waited. While we were ordering and waiting for the drinks, a man at the bar was staring intently at us. Kay and I sat down with our drinks, and the guy started talking to Dee. When she sat down she said that he had asked her if we all spoke English because he recognized our accents, and said that he was Scottish. How quaint. A few minutes later we saw our friend Fatima walk by, so we invented her to sit with us. She went up to order a drink and hugged this guy and started talking to him! Strange coincidence. So she sits and he stands and we learn the story (not unboring enough to put here). We reminded Fatima that we were supposed to a little soirée that night, and made her promise to come. She did. So we left, got our food, and went back to Dee’s to enjoy it and feel completely stuffed. Then we got everything cleaned out and decided to whip out our deck of cards to start a party with just ourselves. Fatima came soon over, and then no one. We were thinking it was gonna be a sorry excuse for a party, but then JP showed up…another card game. Then a girl from DAF came with her boyfriend, and then the guy from the bar…then another girl and her boyfriend…then one of our neighbors. So it was fun. At some point three other Anglophone girls and another frenchie showed up, but I didn’t really pay them much attention and they didn’t stay long, or play any games. I’ve gotta say, Kings with six people is more fun. All in all, it was a great night, and I have some funny photos. The next day I realized that I’m not very photogenic when drunk because I laugh and my eyes close. Oops. So that’s my party story.

Monday night we (along with every other foreign student in the university) were invited to a tour of the city, followed by a… thing with the mayor… and a little concert. We didn’t go on the tour, but we did go to the next thing. We believed that since it was with the mayor and we were getting ‘honorary wine’ that it would be a little classy… so we dressed up. We got there and it turned out that we were three of about ten students that dressed up. Oh well. Better off over-dressed. The mayor gave a little speech, he seems nice and he’s rather young. Then the president of our university gave a little speech. Then they let us loose on the wine… and space to ‘mingle’. It wasn’t so bad. We each two or three glasses of wine out of it. The concert was ‘Bach to Zappa’, and the group had five musicians: 1) French horn, 2) bassoon, 3) oboe and bass oboe, 4) flute and wood flute, and 5) bass, soprano, and Bb clarinet. Guess which one I liked the best. It wasn’t actually wasn’t that bad. I got some pics and two video clips (both up on facebook and photobucket). There was also a strange guy sitting next to us, which made it that much more interesting.