I woke up at five this morning to meet the bus at 6h30 in Lens. While they had told me that 6h30 was the meeting time, I was one of the first people to arrive, and we did not end up leaving until a little after seven. Unsurprisingly, I slept most of the busride.
We arrived in Germany a little after 11h30 to a warm reception by the Bottrop Rotary club. I surprisingly remembered some faces from the group that had come to the Passation de Pouvoir in September. I was almost immediately introduced to Sabine Brambring, my host mom for the weekend, and Rob, a Canadian. To complete the first activity on our list, we walked along the Rhine to a restaurant where we had a typical German beer-tasting and ate a lunch of fish.
The Eurovision was in town, so we saw a long parade of Europeans in costumes. We even saw West-Point students in the mix. The Eurovision Contest is an international song competition, and today was the finale. Unfortunately, the crowd from the Eurovision parade watchers blocked me, and I got separated from the French group. I was not competely lost; however, I was completely confused the rest of the afternoon following the Bottrop Rotary group's German tour of the city. It was so nice because we passed a spice shop, which smelled heavenly, and I mentioned that I had been craving cayenne pepper, especially since the French hate spices. Sabine then went in and bought me some fresh pepper! She's such a sweetie pie!
The Eurovision was in town, so we saw a long parade of Europeans in costumes. We even saw West-Point students in the mix. The Eurovision Contest is an international song competition, and today was the finale. Unfortunately, the crowd from the Eurovision parade watchers blocked me, and I got separated from the French group. I was not competely lost; however, I was completely confused the rest of the afternoon following the Bottrop Rotary group's German tour of the city. It was so nice because we passed a spice shop, which smelled heavenly, and I mentioned that I had been craving cayenne pepper, especially since the French hate spices. Sabine then went in and bought me some fresh pepper! She's such a sweetie pie!
After the tour at 15h30, we had two hours of free time. I went with Rob to the shopping center, and we walked around aimelessly. We went into two trinketey shops where we saw the most bizarre objects ever! You know your life is complete when you have seen a toilet bowl brush with a handle in the form of a gun. We then went into a mini supermarket, and I interrogated Rob on everything I saw since I understand zero German.
When our free time had ended, I went home with Sabine and Bernd Brambring, and we prepared in ten minutes to go to dinner at a restaurant. After the appetizers, the lady sitting across from me discovered that I had been a vegetarian a few months before coming to France (I'm not allowed to continue vegetarianism here.) and insisted that I get the vegetarian menu with her. Apparently fish is vegetarian in Germany. It was very yummy, but I also would have been fine eating the duck that everyone else got because that smelled wonderful.
When our free time had ended, I went home with Sabine and Bernd Brambring, and we prepared in ten minutes to go to dinner at a restaurant. After the appetizers, the lady sitting across from me discovered that I had been a vegetarian a few months before coming to France (I'm not allowed to continue vegetarianism here.) and insisted that I get the vegetarian menu with her. Apparently fish is vegetarian in Germany. It was very yummy, but I also would have been fine eating the duck that everyone else got because that smelled wonderful.
No comments:
Post a Comment