Little Happenings: Dinner in Gelesenkirchen

So by the end of September I was mostly in the swing of things at school – still haven’t sat in on the 10th grad classes I’ll be helping with, and the teachers still aren’t quite sure what to do with me – but I’ve picked up a pattern and started helping with Model European Parliament (you guys it’s so fun I am probably more excited than the kids).  My mentor teacher invited me to go to Gelesenkirchen to have dinner with one of his old teacher friends.  This is notable because 1) they made lamb, WHICH WAS DELICIOUS and 2) the teacher friend’s son is studying English and super interested in America (upon my arrival the teacher friend told me that his son was so excited to meet me and had so many questions).  He asked the golden question that all American ETAs were prepared for at Orientation: “My friends and I have heard that all Americans are fat, own guns, and think America is the best country in the world.  Is that true?”

I wasn’t surprised that I got the question, only that it took me 3 weeks into the assistantship to get it and that it wasn’t a student of mine that was asking the question.  But anyway, it was great to talk to him, as he was the same age as my students and so it was great to have a preview of what sort of questions their sweet teenage minds will conjure up, and it was also good practice for coaxing self-conscious language-learners out of shyness.

Another really interesting conversation over the course of the evening was about my teacher’s friend’s father, who was a POW in Alabama during much of World War II.  He was drafted into the Army in 1943 and sent to North Africa.  Lucky for him, Germany surrendered in Africa a few weeks after he got there, and he was captured and spent the remainder of the war working on farms in the South.  They were transported by bus in the middle of the night so that Americans wouldn’t realize who they were or where they were going, and the guy said even after the war his father loved America and ate cornflakes every day for breakfast.  I found this story totally fascinating.  I’d actually heard of German POWs working on farms in the South; while I was at UA one of the German grad students was writing about Germans on Arkansas cotton farms.  But most people haven’t heard of it, and I think it’s actually really interesting, especially that guy’s story.  I know from my dad’s stories that picking crops all day is definitely not easy, but I bet it definitely beat fighting on the Eastern front.

Ritter Sports

(Please note:  I started writing this on September 17th.  I fail at blogging.  Sorry.)

Another week down in Germany, and in that week I have (kind of) a schedule down at school, made an appointment to get a visa (look out soonest possible date October 30th!), started watching The West Wing on Netflix, and done many other exciting day-to-day things.  But another week in Germany means I also had another really weird, really great weekend in the Ruhrgebiet.

It started off pretty chill, Saturday morning Susanna and I went to the farmer’s market outside the Bochum Hauptbahnhof, and then we explored our neighborhood in Bochum.  On the other side of Universitätsstrasse there’s a hip little quarter of the city with boutiques and, among many other cool little cafes, a to-go/delivery cocktail service (not kidding… I’ll give y’all my reviews as soon as I try it out).  So yes, we walked around there for a bit, and then met up with our cohort of other English-speaking TAs in Dortmund for a night out on the town.  I regret to inform you that our night was not filled with the sights and sounds of Scotland’s finest football fans, but we had a very nice time hanging out in the city center.

Sunday was my wacky day this weekend.  We (Susanna and I) started at the Alsenstrassenfest (a block party on Alsen Street), which had a huge flea market and I scored a super duper cute winter coat for 15 euro.  I am extremely proud of this purchase.  Then, we headed to the Herne Mittelalterfest at Schloss Strünkede (translation: a renaissance/Middle Ages fair/festival at the Strünkede Castle in Herne) and met up with fellow Fulbrighter living around Dortmund (and for me, a fellow Southerner) Gabby.

Schloss Strünkede – check out that sweet moat

Another view of the castle

I have never been to an American version of a Renaissance fair, so I can’t really give you any insight into how good or bad it was.  I can tell you that it was really cool to be at one of those things on the grounds of an actual castle that was actually around in the 12th century.  Granted, the Herne Schloss isn’t particularly grand or imposing, but it is quite lovely and it has a moat.  Anyway, at the Mittelalterfest I experienced a great many sights and sounds, including a shirtless, with a metal-esque vibe, Mittelalter bag-piping group (I always wonder what sort of life circumstances would lead one to become a member of such a group.  I’m a bit disappointed in myself that I did not find them and hear their story).  For the record, the band is called Furunkulus.  I would tell you to Google them but I have not done so, so I can’t guarantee what your results will be.  One of their fans told us she had been there all weekend and had gotten married at the castle’s chapel a few years ago.  She told us it was a really small venue, but it was amazing to get married where so many other brides had been walking down the same aisle for 500 years.  Then she showed us her autographed CD  and told us to drink the Schwarzbier because it is super strong, and would therefore lead us to enjoy the fest more.  Her information was interesting but we declined following her advice.

One more castle picture. Seriously, how nice is that?!

One of my favorite parts was a little Ritterturnier (tournament of knights), which was a little performance about jousting and fire (I think there was a love story and avenging death in there somewhere, but it was all auf Deutsch so not super sure on that one).  While the action was certainly intriguing, the reason I liked it so much is because I was watching these little kids watch it (wayyyy less creepy than it sounds, you guys).  There were these boys across from me in the front row who delighted in every sword fight, fist fight, and explosion, but as soon as someone “died” their sweet little faces turned from pure happiness to pure horror.  It. Was. Hilarious.  At one point, a little boy that had been cackling suddenly started sobbing as one of the actors collapsed right in front of where he was standing.  Ah, to be young again.

Ritter tournament!

My second favorite part was the castle museum.  It housed many cool artifacts from centuries past, but nothing beat the skeleton of a Riesenhirsch (an awesome giant reindeer).  It was quite majestic.  Check it out:

According to Wikipedia it’s also called “Megaloceros”. Try to get on its level. You can’t.

After visiting the Megaloceros and some of his friends, it was time to go back to the modern world (as much as we could say that we had left it).  I promise to update more soon on my weekend trip to Berlin, Fall Break trips to Southern Germany (including Oktoberfest!) and Northern France, and life in general in good ole Bochum.