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(The first thing I noticed upon landing in Germany was how loud and confrontational everyone was in the trainstation food court, which I found very humorous in contrast to the very non-confrontational nature of Japanese society. This was also particularly surprising since when I arrived to study in Germany from America in 1994, I was surprised at how quiet and non-confrontational I thought the Germans were! I suppose it's all relative, depending on where you're coming from, eh?) I arrived at the Minden trainstation at 10:15pm and was greeted by Victoria and her father and we drove back to Rinteln (about 15 minutes away) and dropped my oversized and overstuffed travel backpack off in the guest room and wound up chit chatting with Victoria and her parents in their livingroom until 1 a.m. It was great to see Victoria and her family again, since my friend Gesine and I had visited the Scheffler house the previous December, which was the first time we had gotten together again since I graduated university in May 1998. (Victoria and Gesine both attended the EF International language school located on the CSU, Northridge campus where I met and befriended them during 1997 - 1998.) It was kind of funny to see Victoria, though, since she and I had seen each other just 3 months earlier when she and Gesine spent a month travelling through Thailand and then Japan where they stayed with me for a week and we traveled together through central Japan.
I admit it! I'm a snob! And damned proud of it too!!! ;-} Hehehehe. . . Since Christmas is celebrated on the evening of December 24th, stores are open only in the morning and close promptly at 1 p.m. and then everyone goes home to spend time with their friends and family, so I got an early start to my EuroShopping Tour 2000 and hit the streets with Mrs. Scheffler as she showed me around the downtown shopping district and pointed out where I might be able to find a nice full length winter coat, which was shopping goal numero uno! Mrs. Scheffler returned home and Victoria had some business to take care of with her friends, so for a couple hours I just walked around town browsing through the shops. I eventually found the PERFECT full length coat, but at DM 1,650 ($800), I decided it would have to wait until I got my first real job as a corporate executive! So I continued my little walk through the brisk, winter air and wandered around town aimlessly.
Victoria and I then met up around 1:30 at a cute little restaurant/pub around the corner from her house and we had a couple drinks, chit chatted, caught up on all the latest news with one another and returned to her home in time to get ready for evening mass in the local church. The Scheffler house is located directly on the market square in the center of town (all traditional German towns are configured the same way - a market square bordered with the main town church and/or usually the city hall building and various businesses and residences). From the 2nd floor livingroom window of their flat I could see the 5 p.m. outdoor mass taking place in the market square just in front of the church about 50 meters away. It was cold and rainy outside but still the townspeople turned out in droves to celebrate the birth of Christ despite the weather. The Schefflers and I, however, waited until 6 p.m. to attend mass inside the church, which was great fun! I'm not a religious person myself, but I do still enjoy the tradition of singing in a cold, stone church illuminated with beautiful lights and decorated in Christmas themes. After all, if people are going to celebrate Christmas commercially, they should at least pay respect to the origins of the holiday as well. Mass ended at 7 p.m. and we returned home to open up Christmas gifts which was a lot of fun. Along with exchanging and opening up a lot of gifts, I also managed to scarf down a seemingly unending stream of Lebkuchen chocolate-covered gingerbread cookies! (What can I say? I love to eat!) Christmas dinner started at 8 p.m. with the Scheffler tradition of reading forth the Menu du Soir, as prepared by Victoria, and listing one by one the entire series of courses included in the evening feast! Shortly thereafter, Vitoria's godfather Friedrich-Wilhelm (nickname Friwi) showed up and we all dined together and chit-chatted until 1 a.m.! I just love these 5 hour long meals! It was the first time that I had ever met Friwi and he turned out to be a really interesting guy, who also likes travelling, so we had some really interesting conversation together! Victoria and I turned in at 1 a.m. and due to my jetlag, I was fully awake again at 3:30 a.m. to the sound of a fierce little storm blowing through Rinteln. I ended up falling back asleep, then waking up again, then falling asleep and waking up again numerous times before finally getting out of bed around 10 a.m. and having a nice breakfast with the Schefflers before departing and driving to the Minden trainstation with Victoria at 12:20 to catch my train around 1 p.m. Humorously enough, I nearly missed the train because Victoria and I were chit-chatting on the platform when suddenly the doors of the train slammed shut (I guess I just figured the train would be in station for more than 30 seconds!), quickly said my good-byes and ran up to the front of the train and jumped in next to the conductor and was whisked away to my next destination - Berlin. Links Megasite / EuroTour2001 Links
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After
the 90-minute flight from Kansai International to Seoul, South Korea
and then the 12 hour flight from Seoul to Frankfurt, I finally
arrived in Germany at 6pm with just enough time to be able to run to
the subway and catch my connecting train at the Frankfurt Main
Trainstation downtown and settle back for the 3 hour train ride up to
the small town of Rinteln in northern Germany to spend two days with
my friend Victoria Scheffler and her family.
And
while I know most people would consider it extremely snobby,
sometimes I just get the biggest kick out of being able to throw back
my head, belt out a deep, throaty laugh and say, "Oh Darling,
it's soooooo marvelous to see you again! Where was it last time?
Germany? America? Japan? Bwahahahahahaha!!!!"
Rinteln
is a stereotypically quaint, centuries old German town complete with
the recognizable criss-cross German woodwork on the front of the
tall, pointed roofed buildings with cobblestone roads everywhere and
a cute little stone wall around the town, which centuries before
provided the town with a small deterrent against would-be invaders.