Day 8: Welcome to Deustchland

So I woke up around 4:45 AM so I could check out and catch the 5:15 London-Heathrow Express. Except I almost missed it because I couldn't remember what entrance I was supposed to take to get into that part of the station, so I accidentally went down the tube entrance instead, and the connector to the station was locked and if not for some very kind janitor letting me through, I would be stuck in London right now. Anyways, even catching the 5:15 Express (which was the first of the day) was almost not enough to get me to my flight on time. The flight was supposed to depart at 6:30, and by the time I walked all the way up from the station to the check in counter, and made my way through a horrendous line, it was almost time for the flight to leave. So it was a very close call.

One news item I did catch on my way out of the hotel, though. The Spurs kicked the Lakers' butt in game six. That just makes my day. The only thing that could have been better was watching it with Chris and rubbing it in his face. Now, I'm just hoping Dallas can hang on and give us an all-Texas conference final.

The flight itself was pretty uneventful. When I got to Frankfurt, I got lost for a half hour or so, which wasn't fun since I had all my baggage. I was supposed to meet Grandpa at the car rental counter, only the signs led me to the wrong place, and even with everything in English, I soon became very disoriented. But I finally retraced my steps and found Grandpa. We got compact Mercedes—very funky looking. I guess the Europeans dig funky designs or something. Come to thin of it, all of the cars seem much more compact. Certainly they don't share the American SUV/pickup fetish.

My GPS system works great here. I guess the London maps were just messed up. Of course, too bad I don't have a complete map of Germany. The maps will only help when we're in big cities.

For lunch, we stopped at some gas station diner. I had goulash, and grandpa had a wurst. The prices here seem a little more reasonable than London, but still more than I would pay in America. I tried to order my food in German, and that didn't work out too well. I understood most of what the waiter said, but I'm sure my accent is horrible. It's been way too long since I've spoken auf Deutsch.

The scenery on the drive over was great. The landscape here is so different than anything I'm used to. I don't know if it's the trees or the hills or the way everything is so laboriously sculpted into the landscape, as if throughout the centuries of farming and habitation, nature and civilization have become one intermingled entity. On one hand, it seems almost unnatural, or artificial. On the other hand, the land usage is so efficient and clean. I mean, you start to get some of this feeling on America's East Coast, but it's not the same.

We got to Suderwalsede around 3:00 or 4:00 in the afternoon. That was way longer than we were expecting. It was like a perpetual traffic jam all the way from Frankfurt. Plus Grandpa was kind of frustrated with a lack of power in our car's engine. For those who don't know, Suderwalsede is the really small German village where my Grandpa grew up, and we're going to be spending almost all of the trip here. We've talked about going up to Denmark on Monday or Tuesday to do some research into the Nissen ancestry, which comes from there. But other than that, we'll be here the whole time. For those trying to find Suderwalsede on a map, good luck. You might be able to find its sister town, Kirchwalsede, on a mpa, and you probably will find Verden, the closest decent sized town on a map, but as far as the big cities go, it's about 30 miles southeast of Bremen. Which means it's a lot closer to Hamburg, which is where we flew in the first time I came here, but the tickets to Frankfurt were way cheaper.

Immediately when we arrived, Tante Freita (Grandpa's sister), who looks just the same as I remembered her, and whose German is just as difficult to understand, gives us Butterkochen. That's just the way I remember her, always giving us food. Basically, it was tea-time, and they always have some sort of pastry or cookie. Grandpa and Uncle Herman and Freita talked about the trip out here, with a little bit of input from me. I was able to respond to simple questions, like about my going out to London. But Grandpa also had to do a lot of translating. I don't know, I was pretty proud of myself for how much German I understood, considering how long it's been. And I'm sure it'll get better.

After that, Uncle Jurgen (Grandpa's brother) called up and invited us to see them skin the pig that they're going to eat tomorrow for some sort of village-wide party. And also to see them inflate a hot air balloon in a field just down the road. I guess someone paid for a hot air balloon ride. It was a cool thing, watching them inflate the balloon. I got a few pictures and some minutes of video. Very educational. Half the village must have come out, especially the kids. I'm sure they were wondering who the hell I was. And a lot of them were wondering about Grandpa, too. I wonder if they just assumed we were with the balloon people. But the good news is I got a business card from the guy who owns the balloon, so if I ever need a hot air balloon ride in Germany...

After that, we walked Jurgen back home, then came back to Frieta's and Herman's. It was dinner time. Meat and potatoes and asparagus. Man, it was good asparagus, marinated in some sort of butter concoction, I guess. They grow a lot of it, so it's understandable that they'd get good at preparing it. They're daughter and son-in-law and granddaughter (so I guess she would be my second-cousin or something) came over for it as well, and they seemed to be easier to understand as far as German goes, which I guess is the result of the gradual urbanization of the country—my great-aunt grew up in the country, so she's got a thick dialect, but her children grew up in a much more urbanized culture. Her daughter and granddaughter both actually spoke to me in English a couple of times, which was somewhat funny but also somewhat good.

So this is just a random thought, but you know who Freita reminds me of—on looks as well as personality and even somewhat her voice? The mother from "All in the Family."

I had actually started feeling a little sick last night. Mostly a headache and sore throat. Maybe it's jet lag or lack of sleep. Or maybe it's SARS :). Just kidding, of course. But at any rate, I'm going to sleep pretty early. As is Grandpa, who is definitely jet-lagged. It's like only 8:00 or so. We're sleeping upstairs in the guest bedroom, where they have a king size bed. So yes I have to share a bed with Grandpa, which is kind of weird, but at least it's huge. The room itself is just as I remember it from last time, whe Chris and I stayed in it. Except I can't remember if grandpa stayed in there too, or if he stayed somewhere else. But actually, the entire house is just as I remember it. Or at least, as I remembered it as soon as being there refreshed my memory. Furniture in the same places. Same smells and stuff. But anyways, good night.

Posted May 16, 2003 (02:38 AM) | Comments (1)