New Year's in Germany 2010

Dec. 29, 2009

I woke up sore as can be from moving Ale’s stuff but I quickly packed and headed to the train station Gare du Nord. Germany here I come. I was so excited to see my friends I had made in my university in San Diego. My train was scheduled to leave Paris around noon and arrive in Köln, Germany where Mayina would pick me up at the train station on the platform. I guess I was too excited that I completely forgot about meeting on the platform so I headed down to the inside of the train station where for some reason I thought she would be waiting. Nope, I looked around and no Mayina. Hmmm well I figured I should stay put by the phones until she came by, and yes I tried calling her cell but these tricky European phones work differently in each country so I could not figure out what the German lady was saying on the other side of the phone. Anyways I stayed put waiting. After about 10 min, Mayina found me and we had a movie-like meeting where we are both running towards each other. Apparently she had a message for me over the loudspeaker telling me to go to the Information center. I didn’t hear it. Finally together we went to meet Shukri and the three of us walked around. Them pointing out the important things to know about Köln and I starring in amazement. The cathedral of Köln was the last landmark we went to and it was gigantic! It’s really impressive when looking at it in person. We met a really nice priest who gave us information about the cathedral and told us to “Enjoy life, not to worry about anything else in life but to simply enjoy it,” why can’t all priests be like that. I think I would go to church more often if that were the mentality. After leaving the cathedral we got a ride to Bonn, Germany where Mayina and Shukri live. We ate amazing Afghan food prepared by Mayina’s mom and it was time for sleep.

Dec. 30, 2009

We woke up and headed to the car rental to drive to our rental home near the North Sea. I heard the name of the town where we stayed at probably a thousand times and yet I still don’t know how to spell, pronounce, or even begin to say the name of the town. All I know is that it started with a K and we were in the middle of nowhere. So at the rental car we were presented with a couple of dilemmas that are important for future blogs. Dilemma #1: We only had the rental car until Saturday and we were supposed to be back Sunday.

Dilemma #2: We did not have winter wheels because they cost more and they told us if we were to drive on any kind of snow we would be charged more just for not having winter wheels so to be safe we decided to pay extra for the winter wheels. Better safe than sorry even though we weren’t expecting snow.

So once those issues were straightened we headed to Dusseldorf where we picked up another friend, Marina. Once on the road many things started to present obstacles that made it hard for us to get to the house. I was completely still jetlagged. I must have taken like three naps so I don’t think I noticed how long it took us to get to the house as much as everyone else. Many things contributed to our lateness, Shukri’s navigation system didn’t work at points with no service so we got lost various times, then snow and lots of it, and lastly traffic was a major issue in our delay to get to the house. So we made it and once again I was reunited with Alla. How I missed so many nights that we went out to party in San Diego with this girly. That night I met new people and we had dinner, drinking games and girl talk. It was fantastic!

Dec. 31, 2009

Happy New Year’s Eve! We woke up to a great breakfast and ready to throw firecrackers and fireworks. We began to drink in the morning, true German style. Our crazy stories and games made it a really fun day indoors. The girls started to get ready for dinner, we all dressed up to celebrate the coming year. A little before midnight we headed outside to throw some fireworks. I had no idea this was so big in Europe, it’s very similar to Mexico. After we threw some fireworks I noticed a far away city that was also setting their own fireworks all in a line it looked pretty spectacular. What came after the fireworks was the best part of the weekend. We all headed back inside because it was so cold and we began to drink even more. The two games we played this night were ideal for our mental states. The first being TUCK and the second Charades, Tuck involved numbers and sequence and Charades was just hilarious. We went to bed around 6 am January 1^st.

January 1^st, 2010

Happy New Year! Our late/early night/morning made it very difficult for us to rise and shine at decent hours. Our goal for today was to visit the North Sea before it got dark. So we headed out around 3pm and made it there in about 10 min. It was sooooooo cold. I was wearing a tank top a long sleeve a sweater a coat a scarf a head covering, jeans, long socks that went up to my knees then some cozy socks on top of that and my boots. But I made one grave mistake. I wore no layer under my pants on my thigh area. If felt like sharp needles were stabbing me in the thigh. I have never experienced anything so cold in my life. I wanted to walk to the edge but the coldness didn’t let me. I sat in the car while the others walked some more. I did however manage to take Mister Hobo on a little photo shoot. This was our last night at the house and we spent it drinking the rest of our alcohol and playing Charades.

Jan. 2, 2010

We left the North Sea this day and it was snowing. SNOW, the day we leave go figure. I love snow well loved snow. So at that moment I was ecstatic to see the snowfall but when we started driving I wasn’t feeling the snow anymore. It made us slower to get to places meaning traffic. We decided to make a quick stop at Primark a discount store that carries clothing and items similar to H&M at a fraction of the price. There really were some great things for very cheap. Getting there was a mission. There was unbelievable traffic because of the snow and we then got lost going in circles very near to Primark, the girls all started speaking in German louder and louder and I decided I wasn’t going to say a word. To get to Primark we had two cars, we were leading the other car and unfortunately the other car didn’t have winter wheels, luckily remember we did get our winter wheels. We had a minor fender bender but we finally made it to Primark. Letting go of getting lost and the accident we were like children at Disneyland. We all separated to look through the store and I have to say, I was excellent. I spent 34 euro on 7 items. I think I did great. So we headed out to eat feeling accomplished. Now the next part I’m a bit ashamed of. We ate at McDonald’s. Yes, I know totally embarrassing but it was definitely different. It tasted different and of course it was more expensive because of the euro. But hey I’m hoping that will be the only time. To my defense it was because it was around the corner and open. The ride back on the Autobahn was really scary driving back to Bonn. It was snowing so hard that the roads were not being cleaned in proper time and we could not see where the lines were on the roads. So Mayina drove at a speed that would keep us safe and we finally made it to Bonn at 5 in the morning. A trip that should have taken us 5 hours took us about 13 hours but we made it home safe because of Mayina’s careful driving and for that I’m eternally grateful!

Jan. 3, 2010

Shukri took me back to Köln where I was to take my train back to Paris. I bought a first class ticket back because it actually ended up costing me less than a second class so they fed me on the train. I have to tell you, the trains in Europe are amazing!!!! They will take you anywhere in the matter of hours and they are very comfortable. It really is one of the most efficient ways to travel throughout Europe. That doesn’t say much about the food they feed you because the food I was fed in first class scared me. It was fish at noon with some kind of jelly substance on top of it. It was weird; I’m sure some French concoction. Although most of the things on my plate did not look so appealing I tried every single thing. I remembered the pact to try new things so I did. First came the salad, I was safe there. Next came the green peas, not too bad. Next came the mushy substance next to the fish, ewww not so great. And lastly the fish with jelly substance, double ewww. It left an aftertaste in my mouth that was quite unappetizing. I tried to get rid of it with bread. When I finally arrived in Paris about ½ hour late because of the snow, I greeted Ale and she quickly told me she was crippled. Her self-diagnosis was somewhat serious but with rest it would have gone away and not hurt. We will call the illness Philangee. So that night we stayed in and relaxed.