May 30th - June 8th: May 30th, a Wednesday, was taco Wednesday. After such a hearty meal, what better to do than hit up the movie theater (Kino auf Deutsch). Luckily, and with a little pre-planning, their small local theater (with only 4 screens!) was showing Sacha Baron Cohen's The Dictator in English! Worked for me, as I found Borat and Bruno highly hilarious.
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| Das Kino |
The theater was the most adorable thing ever. It looked nothing like a movie theater on the outside, just a regular little shop. It was Svea, Jannik, Jonas, and I, and they thought it would be funny to have me ask for our reserved tickets. Yes, reserved tickets for a movie that is not going to sell out. Why? Because that's what you do here. When you are going to the movie theater, you reserve your tickets and subsequently your seat. There's no such thing as 'first come, first served'. Your ticket has an assigned seat, and you must sit in that seat. I think I prefer it the other way around. Anywho, the lady spoke no English, so it was a total fail. We ended up getting our tickets (after some confusion in which the lady thought none of us spoke German, blah blah blah).
I was excited to get a bucket of buttery, salty, fresh pop-corn and enjoy the movie. Slight problem.. they eat their popcorn sweet! Yes, they pop all their popcorn with sugar, and the only non-sweet popcorn was bagged like chips, and looked like it had been sitting on the shelf for ages. I opted for M&Ms instead... I did end up trying some of Jannik's popcorn, which they swear is God's gift to earth, and I can confidently say that I'll stick with salt and butter.
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| I wanted to press it so bad. |
The actual theater was cute as well. Very small, but spacious. No cupholders, instead there's like a little table of some sort in front of you where you set your food and drinks on. Also, on the table is a little red button. For what? When you're in the middle of the movie and still have a half a bucket of popcorn left, but run out of soda, you press the button and a worker comes to you and takes your order! No need to leave the theater, no need to miss Tom Hanks knock his tooth out with an ice-skate or Leonardo DiCaprio fade, blue-faced, into the ocean. Also, you can have pizza delivered to you in the theater! Americans would probably abuse both of those luxuries, so I don't see that transferring over anytime in the near future.
The movie was funny. Stupid, but funny. Something for my generation, probably. I did, however, find both Borat and Bruno to be funnier. Oh well. Previews for the new Spiderman (without Toby Maguire! *gasp*) and Prometheus looked promising, can't say the same about the new Dark Knight. Not the same without Heath.
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| 180 on the Autobahn, watch out! |
We decided to take the autobahn back home. No speed limit, I still can barely fathom it. We maxed out (in their little Skoda) at 180 KPH -112 MPH- which is probably the fastest I've ever gone and will ever go in a car. I'm surprised the wheels didn't fall off! All in all, it was an interesting night full of interesting first experiences.
Too much fun and too little work, right? That's what I thought, but apparently I thought too soon, because the next morning I woke up and was put to work. Cleaning the hen house, was probably the worst of all the chores. I swear, the thing had never been cleaned since its construction. The bird shit was inches thick on both the floor and the table, and I had to scrape it all away. If ever I wanted chickens before, I definitely don't anymore. I'll just buy my eggs at the grocery store, thank you very much. I didn't manage to take a photo of the 'before', probably because I was too concentrated on holding back from gagging to think of anything else. But believe me, it was bad. I think a total of 4 or 5 wheelbarrows full of crap I had to haul away.
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| My baby, Gardenia. |
I also got started on my own little garden. First I de-weeded the little lot, which was trickier than sounds, because all the plants that I had to remove were those annoying stinging nettles. I HATE THEM! At one point I literally thought my hand was on fire. I then opted to put on gloves (would have been smart from the beginning, ey?), but even then, they somehow managed to sting me either through the gloves or higher up on my arm. I ended up taking a shovel to the lot of them. Like the smell of cow manure and piss, I too won't miss those awful stinging nettles. After two-days work in my garden, it was time for plants! I'm quite proud of my garden, if you can't tell. So, at last count, there was 5 tomato plants, 1 cucumber (gürke!), and like 10 other plants that I don't remember.
Speaking of plants... can rhubarb grow in Florida? I hope so, because it's delicious! They make some desert from the stem, its quite sour, but then they top it with this yogurt-type mixture, and it's actually really good. I'll have to ask for the recipe! This whole experience has made me appreciate good food, which hopefully carries over once I return. I really need to learn how to cook..
Left: One of the more hotter, 'summer' days in Bunsoh - 14.5°C/58.1°F; Right: My favorite rhubarb dessert! Yum!
Oh yeah, back to the hen house (aka hen hell). After the two hours spent in there, I think I reeked of bird crap for the next two days.. even after I scraped my skin raw in the shower. I coughed all night long from all the dust and God-knows-what that I inhaled, and my nose blew black burgers (from all the dust) for the next few days as well (was that TMI?). However, I did get that hen house in pretty good shape. It's a shame the hens could care less.
Here are a few pictures of my masterpieces: a semi-cleaned hen egg layer thingy inside the semi-cleaned hen house, and the aftermath of cutting Max's hair (another task). He had to have lost a whole Abby, and still looked hairy as hell. They need to take a razor to him.
Here are a few pictures of my masterpieces: a semi-cleaned hen egg layer thingy inside the semi-cleaned hen house, and the aftermath of cutting Max's hair (another task). He had to have lost a whole Abby, and still looked hairy as hell. They need to take a razor to him.
We also finally made it out to the North Sea during low tide! So basically it was just a mud pit, pretty slippery too, I almost fell twice. I wore two layers of shirts, a sweatshirt, a jacket, a scarf, gloves, jeans, and two socks and still was cold! There's no escaping it. Afterwards, on the drive back from the North Sea, we stopped at an ice-cream shop. Like, seriously. I did, however, indulge in a double scoop despite the fact that I couldn't feel my fingers or nose. Flavors: rhubarb and waltmeister. I wanted to try something new, something different, and also because they didn't have: peanut butter and chocolate, cookies and cream, cookie dough, chocolate chip mint, or anything remotely popular in the States aside from the three regs - vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry (erdbeere). Rhubarb was really good, though!
The rest of the week was filled with chores here and there, about 20 games of Qwirkle and/or backgammon (the mother prefers board games over television) and a countdown to the Euro Cup kick-off. The chores were relatively light, however. Clean out the family car, tidy up the garage (that was actually a rather lengthy and strenuous task that required Jannik's help), mow the lawn, and vacuum throughout the house. The mowing bit I found tough as well. First off, I'd never used a lawn mower before in my life! Secondly, the grass was about knee high, and the lawn mower is old and on its last leg, so that mixed with tall grass caused it to shut off every three minutes. I spent most of the time pulling on the crank chord. My arm was definitely sore the next two days! Oh, and it doesn't suck the grass up in the bag that well. It was just pretty disastrous altogether. I'll leave mowing to the men in my life. Like I said, I'll take up cooking, and he can mow. Please.
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| Quote for the day: "The wisdom of life consists in the elimination of non-essentials." |
I actually wasn't all too excited or anything for my 21st birthday, seeing as it's not a big deal over here. Just a month prior Laura, Alex, and I got totally wasted (sorry, mom) in Dublin, and we were only 20 then... These people have been drinking beer (legally) since they were 16, and alcohol since 18. To them, I'm years behind. I was, however, excited to see if my parents got me at least one of the two presents I requested. One, a male Pug puppy or, two, the Travelocity traveling gnome (don't ask, it has something to do with my obsession with The Amazing Race). Unfortunately, I only received one of the two... no puppy, just Harlem the Gnome Trotter as I aptly named him.
Birthday morning, the boys and Svea came into my room with chocolate brownie muffins (with peanut butter icing) and sang 'Happy Birthday'. Later a few of Ute's friends dropped by and dropped off flowers, gifts, and cake. It was actually pretty nice! One of the gifts I got was a jar of peanut butter. I will officially be known as the peanut butter girl in Bunsoh, and the funny thing is, I barely ever eat peanut butter back home in Orlando! Haha, oh well...
So with that, YAY! I'M LEGALLY ABLE TO DRINK IN THE STATES! WOOT WOOT! PARTY WHEN I GET BACK!
We arrived in Hamburg about midday, chilled in Diekmann's flat for a few hours, and then made our way to the city centre to watch the football match on the big screen. These people are crazy about their soccer over here. It kind of baffles me why it hasn't ever taken off in America. Perhaps because we have real sports like basketball and American football? Haha, only kidding, I actually really enjoy soccer.
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| Nicolas and Christian at the public viewing |
Off all the people that were in our 'group' (a bunch of people met up with Diekmann at his house and we all journeyed to the city centre together), only two bothered to speak with me in English - Nicolas and Christian. I'm not sure if the others knew I didn't speak German or if their English was poor, but oh well, I was just happy I didn't have to stand, watching soccer for 2 hours, completely silent. They also bought me a beer for my birthday, nice guys.
Happily (for Germany), they beat Portugal one to nil. And during that one goal scored (by Mario Gomez!) I literally thought the people were going to go mad. These people get more excited over a goal than anybody I've seen get excited over a touchdown by their team in the Superbowl.
The male toilets were hilarious, by the way. I don't even know how to describe them, except just a big, long, metal sink outside (with a barricade to keep it private from those not peeing). That's a bad description, but oh well. And, like the United Kingdom, you have to pay to use the restroom here too. What a hassle. Sucks if you really have to go and don't have a euro on you, what do you do then? Hm..
Anywho, after the game we went to one of the girl's flat and they sat around and drank for a few hours. At this point I was kind of bummed, it's my 21st birthday and I'm starring at a blank wall. I mean, no point in drinking, it's not going to make me understand German any better. I was also getting tired, and just wanted to lay day. However, that wasn't going to happen anytime soon. I learned that the long way. After about 2 or 3 hours there, they decided they wanted to go 'downtown', so we followed. Everybody, by this time, had changed their outfits from Germany soccer jerseys to clubbing clothes. Except for me, of course. I wasn't informed that we'd even go clubbing?! Once downtown we followed Diekmann into a few bars and then finally into a club. I'm not sure if Jonas and Svea saw the complete discomfort and lack of enjoyment on my face (although I tried my hardest to appear as if I was having a blast!) or they, too, weren't prepared to club the night away. Either way, they ended up getting the key from Diekmann and directions back to his place, and we (finally) parted from them.
I wanted to find Beatle Platz, which is a bar where the Beatles performed before their explosion. It was also featured on The Amazing Race, which is the real reason why I wanted to go, but the city centre was packed. It seemed as if the whole of Hamburg was there. We did pass by the Reeperbahn, though, which, if you don't know, is a famous prostitution street. There's a big metal gate in front of the street that prevents people from being able to look down it. On it, there's a sign that reads: Access by boys under 18 years old and women FORBIDDEN. Svea and I did sneak a peak behind, though, and spotted a prostitute just sitting in a window! Strangest thing I've ever seen. Probably just a dose of what Amsterdam's Red Light District will be like, however. Weird...
After taking the wrong metro, not getting off on the right stop, and missing another, we finally made is back to Diekmann's around 5 AM. I slept like a baby. Not the best birthday ever, but a very memorable one at least.
June 10th-13th: Back in Bunsoh, everything went back to normal - chores, sandwiches for dinner, and that dang rooster waking me up every morning! I did, however, get some very exciting news... my bestest friend Chase decided to take vacation from work and come travel around with me starting July 3rd! So, due to that, and the fact that this trip has cost way more than I originally budgeted (money well spent, though), I rearranged my itinerary and moved my return date up almost a whole month! The new plan is that I meet him in Pisa, and from there, over the next two weeks, we will travel to Rome, Amsterdam, Brussels, Paris, and back to London (Yes! Platform 9 3/4, here I come.. for real this time). Back to Orlando mid-July. So, my last two weeks or so with the Tödters I spent a lot of time trying to keep up with online classes and rearrange my travel plans, which still are up-in-the-air as I type. I just have to find my way to Pisa by 1 PM on July 3rd... hopefully.
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| They use Mercedes for everything here, including transporting cows! Also: police cars, taxis, garbage trucks, and cement trucks. |
Anyways, as I may have mentioned in a previous post, the father of the family has passed away about a month prior to my arrival. He worked on their farm, maintaining the land, cows, etc. It really is a lot of work! Now that he was no longer around to do it, the boys are doing their own thing, and Ute has a job (plus, it's too much for her to do), they decided to lease out the land and sell the cows. Negotiations and such were going on all throughout my stay, but it wasn't until the last few weeks that things actually started to take place. Slowly, the cows started to dwindle away. Kind of sad. We went from around probably 130 cows to, when I left, only 15 (and they were set to depart any day).
With the cows no longer there, that means that milk was no longer there. So Ute had to actually buy milk from the store. Something regular to me and my family, but something I don't think they had ever done! And they drink so much milk! Probably because there was a constant supply, but they drink it with breakfast, lunch, and dinner. So, when she came back from LIDL she had to have had at least 20 1L cartons of milk. A funny site to see.
A negative about the removal of the cows is that the flies started to bombard the inside of the house. There were always flies in the house, even before. I mean, when your house is attached to a barn, it's to be expected. But the presence of them had to triple after the cows left. Annoying as hell, too, those little insects. Ugh, I hate them. I became pretty effective at killing them, though. Either with the fly swatter, electric shock machine, or even catching them with my bare hands. So, if you ever have a fly problem, I'm the one you should call.
I told Ute that she should purchase one of those sticky strips that catch the flies. Probably not the most sanitary thing in the world, but rather effective. I'd rather have that than live flies buzzing around, landing on my food and in my drinks. However, these Germans are extremely environment and animal cautious, and she claimed that the sticky strip was 'mean' because it didn't kill the flies immediately and that they would suffer. To me, it's just a fly, I could care less. That's probably the American in me coming out - not cautious at all, haha. Although, I think I want to recycle when I get back. We'll see...
Left: My favorite cow. Named her Hermione. Sad to see her go. Right: Fly swatter and electric shock fly killer, great inventions.
June 14th: Wow, this post is getting rather lengthy! Almost a month full of stuff to write in here. No worries, it's almost over! Anyways.. Ute's friend, the wife of another farmer, is an English teacher at an elementary school in a town right outside of Bunsoh. We had made arrangements really early in my stay for me to accompany her to school one day and participate in the English lessons. Sounded fun, so I of course said yes. As I was in my final full week at the Tödter's, the lady (I forgot her name...) came and picked me up on a Thursday. She spoke very good English, which I learned she picked up while be an Au Pair in Chicago for a year about 10 years back. Her favorite TV show was FRIENDS, so we hit it off just fine. She did warn me that the children are in their first few years of English and therefore can't speak much of it, but that they all know I am coming, and are excited to meet a real American (talk about pressure for representing all of my country, haha).
Anywho, the kids were great! Class was fun. They were learning their farm animals and mastering counting. A real difficulty Germans have with the English language is the pronunciation of 'th' as in 'the', 'thirteen', and 'thirty'. It just seems so easy to me! But try explaining how to make that sound to someone... hard task.
June 14th: Wow, this post is getting rather lengthy! Almost a month full of stuff to write in here. No worries, it's almost over! Anyways.. Ute's friend, the wife of another farmer, is an English teacher at an elementary school in a town right outside of Bunsoh. We had made arrangements really early in my stay for me to accompany her to school one day and participate in the English lessons. Sounded fun, so I of course said yes. As I was in my final full week at the Tödter's, the lady (I forgot her name...) came and picked me up on a Thursday. She spoke very good English, which I learned she picked up while be an Au Pair in Chicago for a year about 10 years back. Her favorite TV show was FRIENDS, so we hit it off just fine. She did warn me that the children are in their first few years of English and therefore can't speak much of it, but that they all know I am coming, and are excited to meet a real American (talk about pressure for representing all of my country, haha).
The school system in Germany is so different than in the US. And even though I'd like to explain it to you all, even after getting it explained to me about 5 or more times, I still don't really have a good grasp on it. Just know that they don't have elementary, middle, and high school, their setup is extremely different. Even their school days are different. I think they are a bit shorter, as well. Kids will go to a class for 45 minutes and then have a 15 minute break to recess, and that's how the whole school day goes. Also, a teacher doesn't have an assigned class as they would in US elementary schools, nor do they have a classroom. The kids have a class room, and the teachers rotate around. I thought that was so strange, it just seems much easier if the teacher had their own specific class, but I guess this works for them, obviously.
The girls clung to me the whole time. I ended up having to play tag and hide and seek with them. As well as swinging on the swing and letting them use my camera. It was all fun and cute, though. Oh, and I also got to join in on the rehearsal of their upcoming play. I had no clue what was going on! It's funny when you have a bunch of 9 and 10 year olds directing you around because they understand everything and you don't. At the end of the day, everybody lined up in front of me with their notepads and wanted my phone number. And a few of the girls all gave me a sheet of paper with their names and phone numbers. Awh. I'll send them a postcard from Orlando, they'll probably like that..
The two English classes I sat in on. Crazy kids!
May 15th-20th: Filled with uncertainty. Originally I wanted to to leave on the 15th, then the 18th, then when I found out Chase was coming and had to reorganize my itinerary mixed with finding the cheapest transport to my next stop - Berlin - I ended up settling with the 20th.
The days leading up to my departure went by fast, although I did start to get a bit sad and nervous (to be going out on my own again) the closer it got.
Germany won their next to matches against The Netherlands and Denmark, and advanced into the knockout round, so those were fun to watch. Other than that, my finals days were filled with homework, stressing over my itinerary and money, cleaning the now empty cow stables, trying (and failing) to drive a tractor, backgammon, Qwirkle, and another visit to the North Sea (this time at high tide). We did make it to the Turkish restaurant for a final döner dinner. Yum. Before I knew it, it was Wednesday, my things were packed, and I was about to be on my way to Berlin, Krakow, and who knows where else before meeting up with Chase in two weeks time.
Final goodbyes with my family were great. They all came to the train station to send me on my way. Ute bought me a present, turned out to be some juggling balls, which I found to be awesome! If I failed to mention it, one of my online UCF courses I was taking over the summer was a class called 'Basic Learning Processes' required for my psychology minor (I hate psychology!). An assignment was learning how to juggle. So for the first two and a half weeks of my stay, Jonas and Jannik attempted to teach me how to juggle, and you would always find my wandering around the house throwing objects into the air. If anyone is concerned, I did *finally* end up mastering juggling! The gift was so fitting.
I invited them to come to Orlando next summer, maybe they'll be able to make the trip! I'm sure the inverse in weather will be just as much as a shock to them as it was to me. And maybe, sometime in the future, I'll find my way back to Bunsoh, Germany to check up on them. It was a blast and a real learning experience.
The days leading up to my departure went by fast, although I did start to get a bit sad and nervous (to be going out on my own again) the closer it got.
Germany won their next to matches against The Netherlands and Denmark, and advanced into the knockout round, so those were fun to watch. Other than that, my finals days were filled with homework, stressing over my itinerary and money, cleaning the now empty cow stables, trying (and failing) to drive a tractor, backgammon, Qwirkle, and another visit to the North Sea (this time at high tide). We did make it to the Turkish restaurant for a final döner dinner. Yum. Before I knew it, it was Wednesday, my things were packed, and I was about to be on my way to Berlin, Krakow, and who knows where else before meeting up with Chase in two weeks time.
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| Ute, Niklas, Jonas, Svea, Jannik (and myself in the back) |
I invited them to come to Orlando next summer, maybe they'll be able to make the trip! I'm sure the inverse in weather will be just as much as a shock to them as it was to me. And maybe, sometime in the future, I'll find my way back to Bunsoh, Germany to check up on them. It was a blast and a real learning experience.
Left: Can't drive stick, what made them think I could drive a stick-shift tractor? Right: Yes, a US mailbox in Germany...
Adios, Bianca.
