Hagen and Hamburg

Though these past few days have been a whirlwind of travel, I do not feel disoriented nor exhausted. My only explanation for this is that I must simply be used to such inconsistencies. I feel as though I can fit in and meld into any situation now, without too much adjustment. Everything is streamlined, including my personality!

I spent the last two days in Hagen, where I was scheduled to meet a new client, and catch up with the friends I had made in the weeks before.

After that, the plan was to continue up to Hamburg where I would meet an old friend from back at Ballet School (Idyllwild Arts Academy) named Braulio in Hamburg.

Here’s how it all happened:

I arrived at the train station in the late afternoon. Stephan Mock (an extremely friendly guy who was eager to work on his english skills) picked me up and brought me to his home. I had planned either to stay at the local Hostel, or take the train back to Siegburg for the night, but he was nice enough to offer his couch as a free alternative, and I leapt at the chance.

We spent a good part of the afternoon looking at his photos from various class trips. I enjoyed every minute of this, as he had funny stories about almost all of the characters in the photos. It was humorous, also, to see my newly acquainted friends in their less mature forms. We both howled in laughter as one particular photo showed an almost direct contrast in the appearance of one of the people I had met.

In time, the others joined, and we all convened at Michael “Michi” Timmerman’s house, the house I had spent a whole two weeks at earlier. It was so nice to see everyone again. I had only been away a short while, but the isolation that came from not speaking conversational German in Siegburg was a great burden to be rid of, and I was soon laughing and smiling along.

It could be assumed that I am simply faking my knowledge of the German language when I am seen smiling and laughing at a complex joke that I obviously didn’t understand. To some extent, I suppose that is true. But my constant desire to laugh, coupled with the general human ability to sense the emotion of others without verbal assistance is what drives my enjoyment. I don’t always have to understand it.

And so is the way of timeless friendship.

Soon we were pulling up at the “Roadstop” bar and grill (I don’t know what the German name was, but in America, it would have been called a bar and grill). They had said that they served American food, and styled the resteraunt to seem American.

As I stepped into the crowded building, it was like stepping over the border back into Anywhere USA. At first, I couldn’t put my finger on the situation. These were German people, with German waitresses, German beer, and we were IN Germany. Finally, I understood.

Everything was so BIG.

The restaurant was bigger (and the ceiling higher) than any German restaurant I have eaten in. The tables were large and circular, with high-stools flanking their circumfrence. The portions were gigantic (though in the US, they would be considered typical). TVs everywhere were showing American football (it looked like it might be reruns, though I don’t know much about that sort of thing).

I had forgotten what it was like in the US. I sure remembered now.

I began to feel uncomfortable. Slowly, the feeling of being in an oversized corporate society was taking over. “What could these German people be feeling in this environment?” I wondered.

“They don’t have any room for us” Michi said. I breathed a breath of relief. I was eager to return to the European air, and the world I had escaped to. This “back to the homeland” feeling was stifling.

We moved on to the second choice. This was either the “Bluebird” or “Bluejay” (or something like that) restaraunt. I can’t actually remember the name.

I quite liked the decor of this place. Modern interior design, mixed with traditional European “pub”-like elements made it a really fun place to be, and look around in.

I ordered a plate of “bufallo chicken wings”. I was houngry. The last place I had eaten chicken wings (the “Buttercup bistro” in Oakland, California) had resulted in a terrible experience. I thought I’d give the Germans a chance.

Soon the food arrived. The wings were indeed good. The buffallo sauce was not draped over the wings in the typical “Dennies” American fashion, but instead the sauce was placed in a bowl to the side. This was nice, as I could adjust the taste and spiciness to my liking.

The night was very enjoyable, with much laughing and fooling around. I got a chance to practice some of my German (heartily encouraged by Carole who had spent time in the US and Australia. Carole has a friendly demeanor and is always readily to patiently explain a German phrase to me).

After the restaurant, we paid a visit to another friend of theirs. His house was huge, and I jokingly speculated that it must have been a hotel in a past life. No one contradicted me.

The night continued onward, and during the time, I was not bored for a single minute. When my head fell against the pillow, I felt nothing but contentment and a feeling of thankfulness. It really touched me to be a part of this group. In some ways, it was the first time I had really felt that I had peers. So “danke meine Freunde!”

The next morning came quicker than I would have liked, and I soon found myself on the doorstep of my newest web-client, Martina. We had organized a meet time in Hagen (where she lives) and here I was.

Before I had removed my finger from the doorbell, a resonating series of barks arose from inside the house. I love dogs nearly more than I love humans, and this one was no exception, though this dog’s constant jumping and barking, teeth bared, into my face was making him a challenge to pet.

In time, it seemed he began to trust me, and within a few minutes, he was resting his head on my foot as I exchanged pleasantries with his master.

We talked of many things. I expounded on my opinions of the world, and she seemed to agree with me. Her command of the English language was very good, and she communicated quite effortlessly about what she did for a living:

“I am a video producer, I make videos independantly and for television”.

“Awesome” I thought to myself, “I’m in.”

We discussed many things, her new website included, and before I had a chance to check my pocket-watch, it was 2:30pm.

“I must be going.” I said “I have most of the details now, and the rest you can email me”.

The walk down to the “Bahnhoff” (train station) was much easier than I had expected.

I bought my train ticket, and called Braulio to let him know the time.

“OK, I’ll be there!” I heard from the earpiece of the payphone.

I don’t have a cellphone anymore. Frankly, I’ve learned to detest mobile phones. Home phones are ok, though it seems any device that has the capability to shatter your thoughts into a million pieces when, at some arbitrary moment, it decides to ring, is not such a good idea.

I have been using payphones and skype-out. This seems to work quite well.

My train was scheduled to depart in 10 minutes, and I walked confidently to the platform. The LCD showing the arrivals of the trains said nothing of mine, but sometimes these sorts of computer errors happen, even in highly organized systems such as this one, so I didn’t think much of it.

30 minutes later, I was thinking of nothing else. Almost hopping up and down with anxiety, I realized I would have to try to get another ticket, and hope that Braulio could bend his plans to meet me.

It turns out the train never came. I was quickly given a schedule for another route, this one direct (and faster) though still arriving later into Hamburg. I was hungry, and anxious, and I gazed hungrily in at a bag of chips in the platform vending machine. My hand automatically reached into my pocket, and clutched upon 50 cents. When I inserted the coins and pressed the corresponding number however, my meal was halted in mid-fall. It seems the corners of the packaging had caugh on one of the shelves as it was falling.

Not one to waste good money, I realized I would have to buy another bag of chips to get this one to fall. Ah well, I was pretty hungry.

The second bag of chips got stuck further up.

With just 50 cents left in change, and nothing in my stomach, I feverishly pushed the number of the chips compartment once more. To my relief, the third bag was the charm, and it knocked the others to the bottom of the compartment. I retrieved them and hungrily tore into one.

Unfortunately, they were terrible.

I don’t like wasting food, however, and finished off each of the bags.

The train soon arrived, and with a sigh of relief I sunk into a window seat. Just a three hour ride away from meeting up with Braulio and, hopefully, eating some real food.

Fate wasn’t finished with me for the evening though, and as the train began to move, a little German man walked up to me and pointed anxiously as he said something in German. I didn’t understand him and told him so. He said in broken english “Das ist…mi…seat”.

Realization flooded through me. I had never quite been able to figure out which seats were reserved, and which weren’t on these trains. I had bought the cheaper “unreserved” seat ticket, and thus was required to find a seat that WASN’T reserved.

I moved one seat over, and let him sit down in my previously occupied space by the window. He seemed appeased, and so I assumed the seat I occupied was not reserved.

“mein Deutsch ist nicht sehr gut, aber ich verstehe, wenn Sie langsam sprechen” I informed him. In English, this basically means “My German isn’t very good, but I can understand if you speak slowly”. This is true, for the most part. The intention of the words mixed with the parts I understand usually provide enough evidence for me to figure out the meaning.

“Its the same with my english” he told me, “But I need to work on it for the job”.

I noticed that he had not stopped smiling since he had sat down. I decided that if he wanted to learn english, than I was darn well going to do my part and let him practice.

We talked of many things. He told me he was an “IT specialist” and worked with Deutch Telecom (the biggest telecommunications company in the country). I told him I had also worked in IT, but was a computer programmer and journalist by trade. He seemed excited by this, and many nods and winks were substituted for verbal communication when the topic of Google’s new browser “Chrome” came up.

With this friendly German man for company, the train ride seemed to whiz by, and we were arriving in Hamburg. I bade him goodbye and looked around for Braulio.

Hmmm…he was nowhere to be seen.

I went to a payphone and called him.

“I’m here, where are you?” He said.

“Erm…I don’t really know. Where are you?”

“I’m looking at you.” I heard as the phone went dead.

Soon we were embrassing the way two friends do after not having seen each other for a long time. A very nice french girl who was also a dancer was with him. She doesn’t seem to speak much english, or German. In fact, throughout the evening, I kept speaking German to her without realizing that the accent I was hearing was of a different type.

We rode the S-Bahn to the neighborhood where they are staying (they happen to be roomates, with one other American dancer named “Nick”) and made our way up the stairs of his apartment building into their “place”.

Its quite nice, with a different room for each of them, and a communal kitchen and bathroom.

Braulio had been thoughtful enough to purchase my favorite chai tea during the afternoon, and I nearly swooned at this gesture. We drank a cup, and discussed – with much tossing back of heads to laugh – the exploits and experiences we had had for my short time at Idyllwild Arts Academy nearly 2 1/2 years ago.

The night was certainly another one of the best, with much commiserating and laughter.

As I write this, it is the next morning. I am waiting for Braulio to return from Dance rehearsals to guide me around the city of Hamburg. I have some work to do, but wanted to fill you all in on the past few days.

Until I post again, make sure (ALERT: corny cliche ahead) to follow your bliss.

If you liked this post, you might like these:

1. I need less stuff.
2. “Fun Park”
3. Relaunch

Tagged as: Germany