German Letter #6

Yeah, well I’ve been busy… that’s my only excuse for not writing just now. I’m afraid I don’t have much time to catch you all up either, so please forgive me if this isn’t as descriptive as usual. I stopped writing on Wed, so I’ll start with Thurs. Work went really well… I remade the resin and everything went perfectly. The gas mask has lost its glamor… it is just annoying now because it messes up my hair every time I wear it. My mentor was impressed at how on fire I was about getting things done. I was even a little ahead of schedule most of the time. I felt pretty confident when I left. Thursday evening was quiet… to be honest I don’t really remember what happened. Friday at work I did the analysis for my resin (ME02) and both the Festkörper and the Säurezahl conformed with the regulations that are laid down by the government and company. It looked just beautiful, like thick shiny milk. I filtered the resin and then washed the reactor parts again. I worked on the stirrer for another 45 min., but I couldn’t get it completely clean. Luckily Mr. Weick said it was just fine the way it was, so I quit.

In the evening Judith and Nathalie came over to the Northrups – Nathalie could only stay a little while, because she was going to see Pirates of the Caribbean 3. We watched the movies we had made together (as a church Young Womens group) when I was still living in Germany… we have all changed so much. My stomach ached from the bouts of hysterical laughter that exploded in the room. After Nathalie left Judith went to bed, but Giovanna and I stayed up to watch Pride and Prejudice starring Kiera Knightly and I-forget-his-name… I wasn’t in bed until 2:30 am. The morning dawned; I felt glued to my mattress and very heavy. Eventually I did gather enough will power to leave my repose and begin the day.

As I was eating some cereal the phone rang. It was Maria Büscher, who had talked to me last week about getting together sometime. She told me that Cornelia Gerlach, a girl I had known from the Colonge ward, was having a wedding reception today and that everyone was invited to come. We talked about transportation, and decided the best way to do it would be for me to take the train to Cologne, attend the reception, then go back with them to their house. After we spent some time together they would take me back to Wuppertal. I was a little nervous about taking the train. Maria looked up the schedule online and told me which trains I had to take.

I gathered my things and at one o’clock set off for the train station. I got on the train – it was a Regional Bahn, a double decker, and the quietest form of transportation I have ever used (I had forgotten how quiet it was). I read a little of Les Misrables to pass the time (I love that book!!). The only disturbing thing was that there were 3 drunk people in our car that were really disgusting… they had their bottles of bier out in the open. They would burp really loud and long and then laugh. Their speech was slightly slurred. They had two dogs with them and each of the travelers carried a huge camping backpack. Well, I’m just not really used to that. Anyway… I got off at the main train station in colongne and found the way to the correct platform. Just as I stepped onto the platform I saw my train leave. I had to wait ½ hr. for the next one, which would make me pretty late to the reception.

Finally the train did come. Chorweiler was announced, so I exited the s-bahn and looked around for trolly 15. I couldn’t find it anywhere. Maria had said that Chorweiler was really within walking distance of the church, but since I didn’t know how to get to the church I should take the 15 one stop to Heimersdorf so I could get to Forststraße where the church was. I went to a Kiosk, a small shop where they sell magazines and candy, and asked the old lady at the counter if she knew where Forststrasse was. She couldn’t speak very good German, but she understood what I wanted. She called a random guy over and asked him if he knew where Forststrasse was. He didn’t so he went over to ask his buddy. No luck there either, so the lady at the counter asked another customer, but his answer was a negative.

I figured my best chance was to use the cell phone the Northrups had lent me (thank goodness) to call Maria and ask her what I should do. I must have sounded a little scared, because they immediately offered to come and pick me up, an offer that I couldn’t refuse. I was in the middle of a pedestrian zone though, so I walked quickly to find a street that they could find on their GPS. The first one I came to was extremely small… it was called Osloer Strasse. Brother Büscher assured me he would be able to find it, and told me to wait where I was. I got a call a few min. later – the street was to small to be on the GPS… was there another more major street close by? I walked a ways down the small road and I did finally hit a bigger one: Athener Ring. Brother Büscher said he was already very close to the spot, and that it would only take a few min. for him to get there. I waited patiently, and got another call. He couldn’t find me apparently, even though he was on Athener Ring. He asked if there were any other streets intersecting with Athener Ring and I found one. Relief swept over me as I saw his car pull up. I hopped in and we arrived at the church within 5 min.

Cornelia looked simply gorgeous in her white dress with a misty veil and silver tiara. Her husband seemed to be very sweet… he is from Switzerland, and most of his family was there at the reception. I found a few people that I knew from Colonge there… some of them recognized me, some of them didn’t. It was so good to talk to each of them and catch up on their lives. The Gerlachs had a short program prepared with games for the young couple to play and pictures for us to see. The cake was scrumptious. We were some of the last ones there. Quick goodbyes were said, then Maria, Jörg, Elisabeth and I all got into the car and headed for Ikea.

What is Ikea? Ikea is where most of the Germans buy furniture and accessories for their houses. You can find almost anything there… it’s almost like a mix of Bed Bath and Beyond and Home Depot; the Bueschers needed some things for their new home in Solingen. Anyway, by the time we got to their house I was starved. Their house looks absolutely fabulous (minus the chaos in every room)… I had the impression that it was spacious and cozy. We ordered pizza… to my surprise they had me order a whole normal sized pizza for myself… I got one with broccoli, onions and chicken, and it was simply out of this world. I couldn’t eat the whole thing, but Maria explained that they like leftovers so she doesn’t have to cook as much. At 11pm they took me home. I was falling asleep on the way, even though there was a thunderstorm going on in the background. I was in bed by midnight and was out in 2 seconds.

Today has been pretty nice, but I’m still tired… it’s already really late, but I’ll keep writing since it’s a holiday tomorrow (Pentecost). We (the Northrups and I) were a little rushed getting out the door for church this morning, but we did make it just on time. Again I enjoyed just seeing people again, taking pictures and talking a lot. This evening Nathan made empanadas for dinner and I tried to write this letter. Well, now I’m done… I need some sleep, so till next time

Love,

Margaret