German Relaxation
April 6
Bianca showed me Hamburg today. Once again I left my camera in my baggage so I don’t have pictures of the city though. She actually lives a bit outside of Hamburg in the suburb of Harburg so we took a train into the city and saw a bunch. We saw St. Michel’s Church and the harbour (2nd biggest in Europe apparently which is a little strange considering there is no sea nearby but only a big river). We walked through the old underground tunnel that goes under the river and so saw the city from the other-side. We saw the Rathaus (city hall), statue of Benedict (real important guy), the main street with shopping… I ate a very large bratwurst just because one must. And some other things which were apparently important but didn’t leave an overly strong impression on me. We then took the train back to Harburg and met Saundra (Sauny) for cokes at a pub. I know both Bianca and Sauny from when they came on exchange to our high school for 3 weeks. Bianca stayed with me in my room for 2 of those weeks. I took them all over the sights and sounds of Philomath and Corvallis so it was their turn to try and show me up. Well… Hamburg is pretty big, but I must say – it’s no Philomath downtown.
We went back to the apartment so I could meet Bianca’s little brothers and then met up with some more of her friends and went to “the Dom”. Which is like a really big fair with rides and games and stuff except like every other booth is food, all mixed in with the carnival games. There was so much food – mainly crepes, sausage, corn on a stick, crab sandwiches on brutchen, and lots of German sweets (bah, I’m so British!) oh, and lets not forget plenty of beer – this is Germany after all. We walked all around it – went in a “fun house” the boys went on a couple rides… we all ate some stuff… it was pretty cool except fairs aren’t really my thing – large crowds and bright lights and all. Her friends were nice but spoke mostly German so I didn’t talk a lot because well… I don’t speak German. This is a picture of Bianca and her boyfriend Tim at the Dom. Tim’s older and quite nice. I liked him best of all of her friends.
After the Dom we walked down an apparently very famous street called “the Kiets” which is mostly a lot of porn-shops and strip clubs and prostitutes. I didn’t really want to go their based on their description of a street full of “bars and sex shops” but it was apparently very important to them that I saw it. Yep, there it was, all the sex you could want. Terrific.
April 7
Bianca and I walked into Harburg with her mom and the dog Babsie, a German Shepherd. Bianca and I took the subway around and went to the mall. She got me this very good soft serve icecream that she likes a lot – they mix stuff into it, kind of a glorified blizzard, and we had McDonalds. I think it’s funny because Europeans think all Americans eat is fast-food, but so far as I’ve seen, at least within the circles I run it, Europeans eat waaay more fast food than anyone I know back home. Anyhow. Then we got my train ticket, went back to the apartment to get my stuff and hang out for a little more, and then Bianca took me to the train station and made sure I got on my train safely. I love Bianca she is really incredibly sweet – we have kind of different interests and style and stuff but she is a really great girl, it was really nice to spend a couple days with her. She reminded me that she had made me pinki-swear to come visit her when she left our house 2.5 years ago, and I never really thought I would, but God worked it out. Go God.
So I got on the train and all the changes and everything went smoothly and easily and after 3 hours or so I was re-united with my most beloved German couple in the whole world – Mr. and Mrs. Wadim Schellenburg. I love Helga and Wadim (pronounced Vadeem! Seriously Dave Jackson! Get it right!). I seriously think they are the cutest people in existence. They live in a flat on the bottom of Helga’s parents house in this darling little German town up on a hill. We had a leisurly dinner and just sat and talked. It’s so nice to be in a real home with people I’m really close with and just be comfortable. They put me up in the upstairs part of the house where Helga lived before she was a married woman so I have my whole own bedroom and bathroom and sitting room all to myself.
April 8
Right now I’m sitting in my big comfy bed – it’s so nice. We haven’t really done anything yet today except I’m working on washing ALL of my clothest as they are all totally filthy and we had a real nice classicly German breakfast this morning. This evening we’ll go to her sister in law’s birthday party. I love my Schellenburgs and they love me. We are a happy little family. Helga would hate me if she knew this was the picture I was putting in here of them but it’s the only way to get across some idea of just how cute this kids are. I mean… look at them! They are good looking too though. I’ll put in another picture some other time that shows them as good looking.
April 9-11
It’s been a delightfully uneventful 3 days. No big sights or crazy train rides just lots of good company, good food, and good rest. You have to have busy times to really appreciate the quiet ones I think and I will say I have definitely enjoyed these ones. Not that we’ve been totally idle, my favourite couple has kept me thoroughly entertained even though they both began University on Monday. On Saturday I went to breakfast with Helga at an all you can eat buffet in the big city Bielefeld. Then we walked around town for a while but it was actually snowing so we didn’t stay out long. In the afternoon we went to the grocery store to get what I needed and then I cooked them one of my favourite American meals. It was great to be cooking again. I really missed being able to cook, and the food turned out great if I do say so myself. We had twice baked potatoes, corn on the cob, pork-chops, and huge banana splits for dessert. Mmmm… my mouth is watering now just thinking about it. That evening Helga and Wadim had a prior engagement so I stayed home and took a bath. It got so relaxed that I almost fainted when I stood up. It was glorious.
On Sunday we went to church and then went to Helga’s brother’s house for lunch. He and his wife and their 3 kids are just lovely. We’d already gone to their house Friday night for Helga’s sister-in-law’s 40th birthday party (which was a lot of food and even more family as Helga has 7 siblings). In the evening we went to the big swimming pool or… swimming centre (as there are several different pools there) with friends from their church. For any Oregonians reading this it was much like Splash…
On Monday I went to University with Helga for the day. I stayed in the cafeteria and read the rest of Screwtape Letters (excellent book. Highly recommend it), then we went to town during her break and did some shopping… I stayed in town a while longer when she went back to University and then I met up with her there later.
Tonight we’re going to eat crepes and watch a movie. Sounds perfect to me.
Bianca showed me Hamburg today. Once again I left my camera in my baggage so I don’t have pictures of the city though. She actually lives a bit outside of Hamburg in the suburb of Harburg so we took a train into the city and saw a bunch. We saw St. Michel’s Church and the harbour (2nd biggest in Europe apparently which is a little strange considering there is no sea nearby but only a big river). We walked through the old underground tunnel that goes under the river and so saw the city from the other-side. We saw the Rathaus (city hall), statue of Benedict (real important guy), the main street with shopping… I ate a very large bratwurst just because one must. And some other things which were apparently important but didn’t leave an overly strong impression on me. We then took the train back to Harburg and met Saundra (Sauny) for cokes at a pub. I know both Bianca and Sauny from when they came on exchange to our high school for 3 weeks. Bianca stayed with me in my room for 2 of those weeks. I took them all over the sights and sounds of Philomath and Corvallis so it was their turn to try and show me up. Well… Hamburg is pretty big, but I must say – it’s no Philomath downtown.
We went back to the apartment so I could meet Bianca’s little brothers and then met up with some more of her friends and went to “the Dom”. Which is like a really big fair with rides and games and stuff except like every other booth is food, all mixed in with the carnival games. There was so much food – mainly crepes, sausage, corn on a stick, crab sandwiches on brutchen, and lots of German sweets (bah, I’m so British!) oh, and lets not forget plenty of beer – this is Germany after all. We walked all around it – went in a “fun house” the boys went on a couple rides… we all ate some stuff… it was pretty cool except fairs aren’t really my thing – large crowds and bright lights and all. Her friends were nice but spoke mostly German so I didn’t talk a lot because well… I don’t speak German. This is a picture of Bianca and her boyfriend Tim at the Dom. Tim’s older and quite nice. I liked him best of all of her friends.
After the Dom we walked down an apparently very famous street called “the Kiets” which is mostly a lot of porn-shops and strip clubs and prostitutes. I didn’t really want to go their based on their description of a street full of “bars and sex shops” but it was apparently very important to them that I saw it. Yep, there it was, all the sex you could want. Terrific.
April 7
Bianca and I walked into Harburg with her mom and the dog Babsie, a German Shepherd. Bianca and I took the subway around and went to the mall. She got me this very good soft serve icecream that she likes a lot – they mix stuff into it, kind of a glorified blizzard, and we had McDonalds. I think it’s funny because Europeans think all Americans eat is fast-food, but so far as I’ve seen, at least within the circles I run it, Europeans eat waaay more fast food than anyone I know back home. Anyhow. Then we got my train ticket, went back to the apartment to get my stuff and hang out for a little more, and then Bianca took me to the train station and made sure I got on my train safely. I love Bianca she is really incredibly sweet – we have kind of different interests and style and stuff but she is a really great girl, it was really nice to spend a couple days with her. She reminded me that she had made me pinki-swear to come visit her when she left our house 2.5 years ago, and I never really thought I would, but God worked it out. Go God.
So I got on the train and all the changes and everything went smoothly and easily and after 3 hours or so I was re-united with my most beloved German couple in the whole world – Mr. and Mrs. Wadim Schellenburg. I love Helga and Wadim (pronounced Vadeem! Seriously Dave Jackson! Get it right!). I seriously think they are the cutest people in existence. They live in a flat on the bottom of Helga’s parents house in this darling little German town up on a hill. We had a leisurly dinner and just sat and talked. It’s so nice to be in a real home with people I’m really close with and just be comfortable. They put me up in the upstairs part of the house where Helga lived before she was a married woman so I have my whole own bedroom and bathroom and sitting room all to myself.
April 8
Right now I’m sitting in my big comfy bed – it’s so nice. We haven’t really done anything yet today except I’m working on washing ALL of my clothest as they are all totally filthy and we had a real nice classicly German breakfast this morning. This evening we’ll go to her sister in law’s birthday party. I love my Schellenburgs and they love me. We are a happy little family. Helga would hate me if she knew this was the picture I was putting in here of them but it’s the only way to get across some idea of just how cute this kids are. I mean… look at them! They are good looking too though. I’ll put in another picture some other time that shows them as good looking.
April 9-11
It’s been a delightfully uneventful 3 days. No big sights or crazy train rides just lots of good company, good food, and good rest. You have to have busy times to really appreciate the quiet ones I think and I will say I have definitely enjoyed these ones. Not that we’ve been totally idle, my favourite couple has kept me thoroughly entertained even though they both began University on Monday. On Saturday I went to breakfast with Helga at an all you can eat buffet in the big city Bielefeld. Then we walked around town for a while but it was actually snowing so we didn’t stay out long. In the afternoon we went to the grocery store to get what I needed and then I cooked them one of my favourite American meals. It was great to be cooking again. I really missed being able to cook, and the food turned out great if I do say so myself. We had twice baked potatoes, corn on the cob, pork-chops, and huge banana splits for dessert. Mmmm… my mouth is watering now just thinking about it. That evening Helga and Wadim had a prior engagement so I stayed home and took a bath. It got so relaxed that I almost fainted when I stood up. It was glorious.
On Sunday we went to church and then went to Helga’s brother’s house for lunch. He and his wife and their 3 kids are just lovely. We’d already gone to their house Friday night for Helga’s sister-in-law’s 40th birthday party (which was a lot of food and even more family as Helga has 7 siblings). In the evening we went to the big swimming pool or… swimming centre (as there are several different pools there) with friends from their church. For any Oregonians reading this it was much like Splash…
On Monday I went to University with Helga for the day. I stayed in the cafeteria and read the rest of Screwtape Letters (excellent book. Highly recommend it), then we went to town during her break and did some shopping… I stayed in town a while longer when she went back to University and then I met up with her there later.
Tonight we’re going to eat crepes and watch a movie. Sounds perfect to me.
posted by Pamela Joy at 6:46 AM
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