7/21-7/25: summing up

Okay, so now that I'm over a week out from what I'm writing about, I should record the rest of my Germany trip before I forget everything from the last few days.

Friday 7/21:
On Friday, Oma and I drove out to Freudenstadt, which is a rather touristy area way in the Black Forest to poke around the shops. The actual driving included such highlights as driving through a wicked hail storm and, on the way back, almost killing me speeding off to the shoulder to go pee in the woods. The shops were cute and kitschy as expected and we acquired some lovely souveniers and gifts and the like. Friday evening I had two options: go see Shrek 3 in the theater with Angelika or go see Bianca and Norman make fireworks for their friend's wedding. I chose the latter, and Oma tagged along. The fireworks were pretty cool, and I always like getting to hang out with Bianca and Norman. I rode with Norman in the car full of explosives, and Oma rode with Bianca. After the show, Norman decided he was taking me for a nighttime drive around Pforzheim to see how the city looks at night. First we drove kind of around it on the mountains to see all the lights and then through it, him pointing out all sorts of things. He even tried to get me ice cream at 1130pm, but they wouldn't give it to me, even though I was a visiting American. Alas. When we all got back to Monika&Jurgen's house, Oma and I kind of had a fight about spending my last weekend having no fun listening to very fast German about things that would be boring even if I could understand with random new family members.

Saturday 7/22:
I set my alarm for 9:30 to be ready to go to France (but only see the inside of someone's house all day), but Oma woke me an hour early because France was cancelled. Rejoicing, except for the hour early bit (and the feeling guilty 'cause it was cancelled 'cause someone was sick). We went with Jurgen to the jewelry museum in Stuttgart for the morning. It was really cool to see how everything is made and to understand most of the German I read on the exhibits (they were in German and English, but I read the German side first). It was an unexpectedly good morning.

Lunchtime took a sharp downturn, though. Anyway, to make a long and boring story short, I eventually got fed something vaguely satisfactory elsewhere and we went back to the house to meet Oma's nephew, Stephan.

He shows up, Oma drags me away from updating my photos, I go and sit in the recliner ready to be very bored for the rest of the day. But, I am saved! Monika peeks around the corner from the kitchen going pssssst and waving me over. She asks if I want to go shopping with her, which is, of course, a resounding yes. So we chat a bit in German and head out to the store. Brilliant escape. Everyone has figured by now that I am kind of sick of having my Oma glued to my side 23 hours a day, as much as I do love her. I got everything I had wanted at the store and disappeared downstairs to clean my room and start to pack when we returned. I hid until Monika called to me and said it was time to go over to find out what surprise Bianca and Norman had in store for me. All I knew is that they had a surprise for me, and I was perfectly content to be surprised, so I didn't ask any questions. We drove to Pforzheim, parked, walked to a store and entered, and I was completely oblivious still. It only half registered that we were walking into a book store as we went up the escalator. We stop at a counter and Norman's talking to the clerk and I'm still off in my own little world and then all of a sudden I have Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in my arms and I'm bouncing and flailing and hugging people and squeaking and all. Best. Surprise. Ever. Norman and I had talked oh so briefly on Friday night about how I would've been at the release parties if I'd been in America, and I hadn't even been sure we'd really understood each other. It was a two minute conversation, max. But! They are the best, and I now own the British version of book seven. \o/

Then I'm dropped off with Angelika and Heiko to go to a street fair in Schoemberg. Unfortunately it started pouring as we drove there and the weather didn't really improve, so we had some food and met up with Angelika's friends but didn't stay very long. I get shuffled back to Bianca (everybody wanted me on Saturday evening, I'd been so pissed when I'd not been allowed to go anywhere because of France and "getting back too late") to go to a concert of some of her friends/coworkers. Little tiny concert, and very cool. Also cool to just get to hang out with Bianca and her friends for the evening. Got her to explain the German school system to me, which still kind of confuses me, and had several really good conversations in our mix of German and English. I kept trying to talk to everyone in German and they kept trying to talk to me in English... very funny. But I managed to tell several little stories mostly in German (wine loosens my tongue, apparently) that people found appropriately amusing. It was a really great night. Bianca and I plotted and schemed for me to fake sick on Sunday so I wouldn't have to have a boring day of new family members then, either, knowing it wouldn't really happen but taking comfort in the scheming. I read the first chapter of Harry Potter and freaked out and put it away and went to bed.

Sunday 7/23:
Unfortunately I woke up actually sick on Sunday. The thing I'd finally been fed for lunch on Saturday was mostly made of cheese, and that's what I'm blaming for the foul mood my stomach was in. Thankfully Peter (another nephew of Oma's?) was late picking us up, so I had some time to try and coax my stomach into behaving. The day didn't turn out to be a total bust, either. Peter's younger two daughters (Stefanie, 12 and Julia, 13) were very excited to talk to me and show me their giant koi fishes and rabbits and rooms and tell me about their school and make doughnuts and play soccer and keep me from being too bored by the adults (and vice versa) for quite a while. The older daughter (Katarina, 20) was as uninterested/shy as I probably would've been at 20. My brain totally overloaded after a bit from the loads of very fast German, but I understood quite a bit before then. Clearly I should've been allowed to drink more wine while I was in Germany, as every time I did I understood much more. Its like it freed up big chunks of language in my brain that had been lost.

We all (minus Katarina, who had to work) piled into the car to head back to Engelsbrand so they could visit with the rest of the family. Everyone was over Bianca and Norman's, and I spent most of the time looking at Norman's photos and setting up a folder of ones I wanted to steal, and also pestering Paoli the cat.

Monday 7/24:
Monday morning Angelika took me into Pforzheim to do some last minute shopping. I got a German cd and picked up some gifts for people and played with Mareike while Angelika did her shopping. Back at the house I wrote (in German) and decorated thank you notes and fucked around some more with photos. Then we went to Angelika's for dinner (maultaschen... homemade dumpling thingums. and then crepes a la Bianca.) where everybody was gathering to say goodbye. Sad! Awkward goodbyes were exchanged. I left thank you cards in strategic locations for people to find once I'd left. Then packing and reading Harry Potter a bit and bed early.

Tuesday 7/25:
Up at 4:30 to catch my flight, ugh. Heinz and Roswitha and Bianca took me to the airport. Bianca cried when I left through security. Cute. I miss them. Read almost all of Deathly Hallows on the plane. Flightly was blissfully uneventful, even with the lady next to me who wanted to chat for an hour and a half when all I wanted to do was read.