Creepy, guy just walked past me who looks like Niel Patrick Harris…. I’m currently sitting at the Vaihingen an der Enz Banhof waiting for the express train to Köln. I could have taken the train at 7:11, but then I would have had to change in Kalshrue and Manneheim. The train at 7:55 however is an express train and will take me strait to Köln, this way I can type and sit, and possibly sleep on the train with less worries.
But back to this weekend even after returning from Switzerland there were plenty of adventures to be had. Saturday, in fact, was Mr. Abele’s birthday, and as such there was raspberry cake! I do like all of the fresh raspberries that are available here in the summer.
Sunday I didn’t do too much. I got up quite late and then spent most of the morning finishing the Dan Brown book lent to me by Noemie. I also attempted to figure out how to get to and from Italy. It is really frustrating to me that one is unable to make all reservations over the internet. In fact I spent quite a portion of Sunday attempting to figure out my trip to Italy. My week in Rome has become a bit of a capstone of my summer Eurotrip.
In the afternoon Chris’ parents and I went to a church party. The Ensingen brass band was playing at the local kindergarten and it appeared to be a fundraiser. There was lots of food for sale and games for children where they could win prizes. The music was really very good – mostly marches and typical brass band fare, but it was really quite pleasant to listen to. As we listened to the music we sipped sodas from the local soda bottler, and ate waffles. Mrs. Abele was actually quite surprised to learn that we eat waffles in America, she was even more surprised to learn they were a common breakfast food and that we even owned a waffle iron, though I did explain that the waffles most common in America are closer to the thick, Belgian version.
From the church fair the Abeles and I took a brief hike up into the vineyards surrounding Ensingien. It was a pleasant little walk, and from the top we were able to see down on Ensingen, Vaihingen, and almost all the way over to Stuttgart. We took a picture on the top of the hill in order to remember my visit to Stuttgart.
Returning home from the church fair Johannes and I sat down together in order to watch the opening match of the women’s world cup between Germany and Canada. I must say it didn’t really think it was that interesting. But then again, I’m not much of a soccer fan. Its been kind of funny watching the advertising for the women’s world cup. First of all it has had to be fairly heavy handed because very few people are really very aware of women’s soccer, and it has been trying to upgrade the image of women’s soccer, to what, I’m not sure. The women are pictured both with small children, and making war faces as they score goals. Are we going for feminine or bad ass? Johannes and I left the televised game about half way through to go to the local soccer game. Apparently every small town in Germany has two things: a brass band and a soccer team. The Ensingen soccer team was playing the only slightly larger Vaihingen an der Enz team. Sadly they lost, and it seems the whole town was out to witness it.
Monday morning the house was all up early as school holidays were over and it was back to school for the boys. Chris and Johannes were both sad to go back, but I was excited to spend the morning in class with Chris. The first class of the day was English, and my lord it was awful. This was possibly the worst teacher I have ever met. The class moved at a snail’s pace, the vocab presented was elementary, the pronunciation of the teacher was incorrect, and the literary interpretation could be seen as a face value one at best – simply wrong at worst. I can see why Chris has been complaining all this time about her, and it was all I could do to keep my laughter quietly to myself. I really would have liked to say something, but I figured I didn’t want to screw Chris over as he has this teacher next year as well.
From English there was a 20 minute break: unthinkable in American schools. Then we were off to Latin. I was rather excited about this one, but there was very little Latin done, and the teacher spent most of his time talking about himself and making vulgar jokes. In addition I am sad to confirm that looking at the portion of the Aenead which Chris was being asked to translate I was unable to understand much of it. I can no longer understand much of what I was once able to read, disuse quickly brings decay. I am finding however that the more I listen to German the more I think of Swedish words I once knew. I know I should really spend more time reading Swedish, and the more I travel the more I wish I could speak more languages. Its really rather awful being an ugly American.
Then about thirty minutes into Latin class the school was overrun by “arbiturians” (seniors) with water guns. Apparently the class which has been finished for some months hijacks the school for a day and puts on a show, but first there are water guns and balloons to attack the other school children (ranging from grade 5 to 13). I managed to keep fairly dry, all things considered. It was fun to witness the antics, though the show was neither as well planned, nor as humorous as I thought it could be, even excepting that I don’t speak German. Chris and I left before the end of the antics as the rest of the classes were canceled for the day. On the way home we stopped at the train station so I could make reservations from Köln to Roma.
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