The Adventure Continues

For my first point, I just want to say that I renovated my blog to fit the German theme. I hope you like it.

It has been a very adventurous three days, indeed. On Saturday, Richard took me around the city center and told me a ton of history about Hall. It was extremely interesting and incorporated everything from the Romans, to the founding of the city, to a great fire in the 1600s, to the Reformation (via Johannes Brenz—the guy whose house I am inhabiting), to the renovation projects. It was simply amazing.

After that history lesson, my Rotary contact Herr Mahl stopped by to say hello, give me information about the Rotary Club in Hall, and to chat. He is an awesome guy and we talked for about an hour before he invited me to lunch. He spoke in English for the vast majority of the first hour we were together, but the more time we spent together, the more we spoken in German. Richard and Oskar (Herr Mahl insists I call him Oskar) then spoke to each other about a few random happenings around the region. The subject of lunch came up and Oskar invited Richard and me to lunch. Richard gratefully declined and said that Oskar need not spend money on us. He then invited Oskar to eat with us in the house. Oskar politely said that he would love to take me out and make up for the fact that he didn’t meet me in Stuttgart and help me get to Schwäbisch Hall. Apparently this is the normal thing but he didn’t hear about my arrival until too late.

Why detail that discussion? Well, let me tell you, that was a spectacle to behold. The two men spoke SO QUICKLY about everything that I barely knew what was going on. I only caught a few words of every sentence and had to clarify once it was all over. It was like watching the most polite debate I have ever witnessed. I know Germans love their food so I’m guessing invitations to eat together are a big deal. I will never forget just standing there, trying to comprehend their conversation, by head bouncing back and forth between the two like I was watching a tennis match.

Anyway, Oskar took me out for my first meal at a German restaurant. He gave me five or six other restaurants to explore and showed me a good map of Hall. We walked about 5 minutes to a place called Sonne, which means sun. I later learned that this is an excellent example of fine Schwäbian cuisine from the people at the Goethe Institut. We talked, a mixture of German and English (mainly German and English when I got stuck), and he taught me how to order and ask for a table. I was delighted to have a tutorial on my first run through! We both ordered the Rahmschnitzel, which is schnitzel with a kind of mushroom sauce, and it came with Spätzle (delicious German egg noodles) too. We also received a salad, too. The salad came first and had everything from lettuce to cabbage to carrots to sauerkraut and potatoes. I have to tell you, the German potato salad is phenomenal. It is hard to describe, but it is like nothing I have seen in the US before. Delicious.

The Rahmschnitzel was also fantastic, and I could not have asked for a better dining experience for my first time out in Germany. Also, as you can imagine, the beer was amazing. I had the Hefe-Weiße wheat beer. The vast majority of the beer in Restaurants is the Haller Löwenbräu, so unless I mention I different brand, I’m sticking with that one. Mid-way through lunch, Oskar’s wife, Jutta, and his two kids came to join us. It was a lot of fun to meet and talk with them too.

After lunch, Oskar wished me a good day and told me to contact him if I had any problems. Also, I am meeting with the Rotary Club on Friday night and then going to dinner with his family again Saturday night. Cool stuff. It was an awesome afternoon.

That night, Richard and I went out to a place called the Blauer Bock, which means the Blue Ram. It was also delicious, and I enjoyed another beer and great food. After dinner, Richard and I headed back and we retired for the night.

Sunday, hmmm Sunday was full of yet more adventure. After breakfast with Richard, I set out to walk past Comburg to see what I could find. It was a beautiful day, and the snow was falling everywhere. I know the snow isn’t going to last forever, so I had to go take advantage of it while I can. I walked all the way past Comburg and saw another smaller church called Kleine-Comburg (small Comburg). On my way back, I got some amazing views of Comburg from the other side not previously seen from a distance. That view had fewer trees and gave an even more grandiose glimpse at the castle. Pictures are in My Photos on Facebook here: Facebook | Your Photos - Germany--The First Few Days

I saw a huge open hilly area I can only guess was a park of farm field during the more accommodating months. Again, my explorer genes went crazy. I went to check it out and I had no idea what I was getting into.

After trudging through the snow up the hill, I saw some people sledding (if only I had the right clothes!!!) and realized that the path of matted-down snow was ending and a forest was beginning. I kept on walking as the snow got to be about 40 centimeters deep (lower to mid calf on me). There were small pathways in the forest, but none that had any fresh footprints. Keep in mind it has been snowing furiously this entire time, too.

I kept following one trail that led me up a huge hill where the tree line suddenly stopped. I was standing on the edge of a huge field covered in snow. I could probably see two or three miles to my left and right. In the distance I did see two people hang gliding off a small mountain. In the snow. And arctic wind. These Germans are crazy. Turning back towards the forest, I had about four new trails to follow. I took them all, one by one, until I could go no further and had to turn around.

The first one led me into the woods until I got to a small circular opening surrounded by dense woods. I followed deer tracks on that path, and there were easily enough tracks for four or five deer to have been on that trail. Because it was snowing so much and the tracks were rather fresh, the deer couldn’t have been there more than 30 minutes before me. After being forced to turn around by the lack of walk-able woods, I took the next path. It led me to another opening at the very top of the hill that overlooked Comburg. (The picture at the top of the blog is from the view on this hill).

I then realized that the other two trails I had not yet taken led to this field, too. I found two lookout towers/chairs in the field and climbed them to get a better view. After this, I decided to head back to the house. My shoes and the bottom parts of my parts were soaked and I made my way back across the fields and woods through the deep snow. It was definitely a successful adventure.

Monday I had my test for the Goethe Institut. I bought some amazing pastries for breakfast from the bakery on the way to the school and then started the process. First was an introduction/reception one-on-one with one of the teachers. They welcomed me, gave me a binder full of information, and we had a short discussion (auf Deutsch) about me, where I’m from, and why I’m here. Then I moved to the interview, where I had to talk back and forth about myself again, but a little more in-depth this time. This was actually testing my German skills. Finally I took a 70 question test and was placed into my class. (More on the class in the next post.) After receiving all of my necessary items and information, I was sent on my way until the next morning.

I then went to the bank and opened up an account, which was the next thing on my to-do list. I now have my German bank card (Maestro Card); this is a very good thing. My next stop was the phone store to get my new phone number set up. I now have it, but for some reason I have no service anywhere. I am going to ask about that either today or tomorrow.

The rest of the day/evening was rather uneventful. I had met a few new people at the Goethe-Institut, but only well enough to know their faces. The only thing that did happen was Bärbel’s return. She came back from her trip, and Martin, the youngest son, came back from Dresden for a few days. We all had dinner together, and Martin and I talked a little bit about Dresden and sports. He invited me out for a few beers any time that I had time. Unfortunately he had to leave before we could go out, but he gave me his contact information in case I wanted to come to Dresden. I now have a place to hang out and sleep in Dresden. Very cool.

Saturday, Sunday, and Monday definitely gave me a taste of the interaction I was craving. Each day I get more comfortable with my German, but each new encounter is a new challenge and a new adventure. There are sometimes when I just wish it would be easier to do things, but through all of the embarrassment and pep talks to myself, I’m definitely growing a lot from this experience. Each day I seem to enjoy it more and more. I went to bed Monday night excited and apprehensive about the day to come.