Day 3
The
day started like any other American-life day would start. I woke up, lounged
about, and achieved my daily routine I have come to know and love. One thing
was missing though, and that was the inability to use wifi. The data stick that
was bought the previous day only had instructions in German, so what was a gal
to do? My group and I knew no one yet, and many businesses around us were
closed down. It was time to think of a second option.
Upstairs, in the apartment complex, lived a man whose
parents owned the building. Sure, I didn’t know him, but desperate times called
for desperate measures!
“Guten
Tag! Sprechen sie Englisch?” [Good day! Do you speak English?] Fortunately,
this man did. I explained the situation, but he was sort of in the middle of
getting dressed for his day, so he kindly rescheduled assisting us, since he
was about to go for a midmorning run. I sadly walked back down to my apartment,
but something must have caught his eye. In a matter of 15 minutes, the pity he
felt towards me must have pushed him to knock on my door to come inside to help
with the predicament I faced. In no time at all, he had read the instructions
and helped to get the wifi semi up and running!
My
group and I chatted with him a bit more, and asked him all the questions that
were on our minds. He must have seen something in our lonely eyes, because he
graciously invited us to go out with him and his friends later on that night.
I
don’t know about you, but my curiosity of this foreign country made me want to
say yes. My group and I discussed it, and decided a night on the town was
exactly what was needed. Something that was pretty interesting to find out is
that when you go out to a dance club, you don’t have that aching need to punch
someone that comes up and grabs you without permission. Instead, they behave
like gentlemen that dance like Carleton from Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, or go onto
the stage and pretend the wall is their very best friend. Definitely a sight
that will not be forgotten anytime soon.
It
was still a little too early to do out-of-Germany traveling, so we had to
figure out another way to entertain ourselves. In the past couple of years, I
have gotten to know a few friends from different countries, and some I have
not. So, me being the impulsive person that I am, started contacting all the
people that have come to pass through the university I currently attend.
Fortunately,
my eldest brother had friends that lived close by, and I knew on a pretty good level,
so I decided to give them a ring. Ben, was the first to answer, and he was thrilled
to know I was in Germany. He decided to push back his studies to come meet up
and take me and a couple of others through the beautiful city. He showed us a
quaint place in the city where you can sit down and order desert. It’s just
like being in a restaurant except for the fact that their food shows the sweet
instead of the savory side. What did I get you might ask? Oh, you know, gelato
of course!
I think my workout routine either has to be stepped up, or I need to
get more steps in the day... Either way, I’m not giving up the rare delicacy I
have now come to love and rely on.
 |
| Ben and friends |
On
our way back from the city, the group I was with and I see a kid on a bicycle
do a flip and fall on the hard concrete. I kid you not, no less than three cars
slowed down to see if he was all right. A car that was closest stopped in the
middle of the road to get out and make sure he was okay. Our car slowed down,
and to see if the boy was also alright, but the other car beat us to it. While Ben was
looking to make sure the kid was unharmed, the car in front of us did the
same, and let’s just say this could have caused a major accident with a few
casualties if the breaks were not hit fast enough. All in all, faith in the
human population has been restored in my eyes.
In
the three or so days I have been here, I have come to realize something—the
German inhabitants are one of the kindest individuals I have ever met. They
don’t usually pry if they see you may need help, but if you ask for assistance,
or give them a hand signal or something, they are the first to stop what they
are doing and come give a hand.
So,
here is another pro tip coming your way: don’t be afraid to be friendly or ask
for assistance. The language barrier in this country is not a problem. Most
people speak English, and if they don’t, try to speak some broken German. They
are relatively happy to see that you are trying, and will still be kind and
help you out.
Day 4
Sunday
is supposed to be a day for rest. The streets are a lot quieter, the stores are
closed, and families are spending the day together. The culture here is much
more family oriented, and a lot more relaxed, which is something that is very
infrequent and borders to be seen as a novelty in the U.S. So that being said,
my day was supposed to be much more like a Sunday is supposed to be in Gemany,
but the thing about the cosmic balance of the universe, is that sometimes, you
can’t always get what you want. Who knew the Rolling Stones could be so
insightful!
Everyone
had a long night the previous day, so a little sleep-in was needed, which was
understandable since Sunday was supposed to be a day to just “chill out,” but
the group had other plans to watch a movie in Düsseldorf. It was The First Avenger: Civil War, and of
course you couldn’t miss it, so we decided on the 8:00 pm showing. We arrived a
little bit early to go see the Rhine, which is a European river that is rumored
to have a beautiful view. I still have to listen to rumors, because after two
hours of walking around aimlessly, it was not found and the time was up to look
around for it, so we started walking back towards the theatre.
Pro Tip: don’t walk around Europe on an empty stomach. You
start getting angry very quickly, and if food is not found fast enough, you
start to think even the tree leaves are edible.
P.S. Many tree leaves are NOT edible.
 |
| NOT the Rhine, but instead a random river |
Once
the movie finished, we wandered back to the train station and ran to make sure
we caught the train leaving in 3 minutes. Unfortunately for us, it was delayed 30
minutes. Then it was delayed again another 10 minutes and another time for 35
more minutes. At that point, we decided to go down to the attendant to see what
was going on, since the train back to Wuppertal kept disappearing off of our
map.
After
an hour and a half of that train dilemma, we ended back at the city center and
ran to catch a bus back to our place of residence, which is in the middle of
nowhere. By the way, there were no buses to get back and it was a 6-mile, 2 ½ hour walk back up the hill we live on. This unfortunate circumstance made
our group so much more close, like a teamwork exercise, or not…
Note to self: Six hotheaded people do not make for a good time.
After
an hour or so of aimless walking, we ran into people who could help us, if they
spoke English, which they didn’t…
So,
we were stuck a bit outside the city in the middle of the night with nowhere to
go, because no one had wifi or cellular data; great right? Nope!
But
sometimes the universe feels bad and throws you a booey, like those nice men
who didn’t speak English previously. The great god of night brought them back
with a phone in hand, and with it, someone who could help us out on the other
line.
Now,
I’m not one to know how to read or write in Arabic, but the name on the phone
call looked suspiciously like it was part of the Arabic language. I listened to
their talk, but it was not something I understood. About 10 minutes into them
trying to communicate, I asked if they knew how to speak Arabic in the Arabic language.
They all stared at me like I was a martian from another planet, then angrily
asked why I didn’t say I knew Arabic in the first place.
Sir,
how would I know you spoke Arabic when you weren’t actually speaking Arabic?
Brief note: men can be rather
dim-witted.
They
were speaking Kurdish amongst themselves, and went back and forth between the
two languages. My attention wavered when there were words that were not
understood. But overall, they helped get a couple of taxis and were interesting
enough to talk to on our way to find a taxi.
Moral of the story: use all of your skills in a place that is unknown;
you never know when you need to save yourself from walking and getting mugged
in a dark alleyway.
