Bookends

Hello everyone (all four of you)!


I apologize for not posting last week, I've been very very busy. Actually, I haven't been any busier than normal, I just just a little lazier.


To date, I've had four weekends in Germany (already?) and they have all been smashing. My very first weekend brought me to a fantastic jazz concert with Christian und Christine, I don't recall a single thing about my second weekend which means it must have been great, and now I will tell you about three and four.


The weekend of Oktober 17 and 18 was spent in Göttingen, about one hour north of Kassel. Christine grew up in Göttingen and her parents still live there. They kindly invited me to come with them for the weekend to celebrate her father's birthday. It was so nice to be with people, which I sure wouldn't have been if I had stayed in Kassel. That week, Maria und Knauffi were on vacation, and my roommate Qingqing hadn't arrived yet. So I would have sat in my apartment, thought about working on my paper, and felt a general malaise. Instead I spent two days with nine members of the Svenson family, played board games and legos with two German speaking kids, ate delicious food, discovered a new brand of Heffeweißen, learned a new card game, and saw a bit of Göttingen too.


Göttingen is famous for it's statue of the "goose girl" in the city center. Christine's mum told me that when students finish all their papers and graduate they walk from the Universität to the goose girl, drinking during the entire walk. When they arrive they are considerably less sober than when they began, so someone is charged with climbing up to the girl, putting flowers in her hand, and kissing her. Oh, did I mention that it's not just a little statue, it's high atop a large fountain? Right. As you can see from the photo, there were some drunk new graduates there very recently. I wish I had been able to see it.


Also, she is holding two geese. You may not be able to see that with the flowers wedged into her arms. I just wanted to clarify that; she's not called the goose girl as a commentary on her looks or disposition. As far as I know, she's never bitten any of those inebriated students, although I can't say none of them have never goosed her. (hey oh!)








Moving on, this past weekend I was invited to a show that Christian's brother Olli was playing. He is in a band that plays a lot of covers of punk and rock songs, but also punk and rock-like covers of pop songs. They played a few Britney songs, and I enjoyed them more than I ever had. The bar was called Fiasko, and it was packed. Christian and I were standing towards the back, but we had a little corner of the bar, so we were pleased. During intermission we got to go backstage since we are incredibly special and important. I met the members of the band and I asked Olli if I could play photographer at their next gig. He said sure, but he had no idea when the next gig would be. Well, I'll be waiting by the phone. After the show was over, we went backstage again and I talked a lot with Olli's girlfriend Kathi and her friend Daisy. I did my best to speak German, and they would answer me in English. It was good practice for all of us.


We all stayed backstage talking, and before I knew it, it was 5:00. IN THE MORNING. I don't think I have ever stayed out that late in my life. I got a little lucky because Saturday-Sunday was actually the day to fall back for daylight savings, so when I got home it was only 4:22, not 5:22. Yeah, that helped.


On Sunday I slept. It was great. I got up in the afternoon and got in the shower. However, I had forgotten that Sunday was the day my roommate Qingqing was arriving. Maria und Knauffi brought her in while I was in the shower, and so I had to dash around them in the hall in my towel saying "just a second! just a second!" while Qingqing looked confused and tried to shake my hand. Awkward.


Bizarre introductions aside, I think that she is very nice. She brought me a little gift, which was really kind. I had bought an ice cream cake for when she arrived, but I'm not sure if she liked it. It was cappuccino flavored ice cream, and if you don't like coffee, you might not enjoy it. She brought a lot of stuff with her, but she's staying here for two years, so I'm amazed she was able to bring it all without help. She got herself settled into her room, and I showed her our little flat. I introduced her to the vacuum, which she'd never used before. She asked if she could use it to clean her sheets, but I don't think it would work too well.


She started work right away, so I haven't seen her much. Her English isn't great, but I'm sure she'll improve, and I can imagine how exhausted and overwhelmed she must be. Plus, her English is way better than my Mandarin.


That's all the news from Lake Workbegon. I've been remarkably productive in my work on my paper. I'm not done yet, but I'm hoping to be done by the end of this week. I've got a lot of reading to do for my next class, and I don't want to be doing both.


Bis später!