Aug 27 - Sept 2 (long overdue!)

It has been forever since I wrote in this Blog and I still need to add in photos, yikes! So let me see, where to begin. When I last wrote in this Blog, I had talked about my IKEA adventure and about how Professor Schultz had taken me on a great tour of Geisenheim and the surrounding towns. The following week (August 27-31st) was for the most part pretty normal and uneventful. On Tuesday I met up with some friends at the Bootshaus restaurant for some drinks. These were some other students I had met the previous week at the Institute’s summer fest that I think I wrote a little bit about. It was nice to interact with some other students, even though I am no longer a student myself. And I must admit, it is SO nice not to have to come home and have homework or have to study for an exam. I think I can get used to the non-student way of life. The following day we had a mini celebration for a Jana, another grad student, since she had just submitted the first draft of her PhD dissertation. We celebrated on the main plaza of the campus with some glasses and a few bottles of sparkling German wine. Unlike in California, it is perfectly normal and legal to drink alcohol without a permit in public. I must admit though that this was a bit strange for me, since drinking in a public space is something you normally do in Vegas or maybe at a sporting advent. Don’t get me wrong, I am definitely not complaining, and I think it’s a great. Did I mention this was also at 10am? Too bad we didn’t have orange juice to make Mimosas.

On Friday I took the train to visit Christian and his family. Christian lives in Bechteim, which is small town just south of Mainz and a bit north of Worms. Even though I had just seen Christian a few weeks earlier when we took a road trip to France, it was great to see a familiar face. I don’t know if I mentioned it before, but Christian and I found it very weird to speak to each other in German instead of English. For us English is our common language, and now speaking German just feels strange. I use the word “speak” loosely, as some would not call what I say in German actually speaking, but its close. When I arrived at Christian he showed me around this winery and house, and it was definitely great to see. I thought that he just had a winery, but he and his family also have a lot of agricultural land that is not for vineyards.

We had dinner that night with his family which was perfect. I had the opportunity to try many typical German dishes, which was definitely eye opening. In Germany it is typical, although not always practiced, to have a warm lunch and then a smaller cold dinner. Basically the reverse of what we do in America. So for dinner with Christian’s family we had bread, sausage, cold cuts, and an assortment of other German treats. The best and most delicious of which was Mett. Mett is ground up pork mixed with loads of garlic and other herbs. It pretty much looks just like hamburger meat before it is cooked, which makes sense since Mett is served uncooked. That’s right, its raw. When I first saw it, I thought that someone had take out the wrong tuperware container and that the meat was really meant for tomorrow’s lunch. That idea was quickly abandoned when I saw Christian put some on his bread and take a nice big bite. I couldn’t very well refuse something I was being offered, so I figured when in Rome… To my surprise the meat was SOOO tasty, once I got over the fact that is was raw pork of course. Mett is definitely a must if you visit Germany. Just be sure it is fresh, ok? Another German delicacy that I was less impressed with was Schmalzbrot. Schmalz is a spread, like butter, that you put on bread. But if you think butter is not healthy for you, then Schmalz is even more deadly. Schmalz is pretty much straight fat/lard served with paprika, salt, or onions on bread. I had to give it a try, but I don’t think I will be partaking in it again.

After dinner Christian and I went to the Backfischfest in Worms, which was pretty much a large carnival type fair. The festival had lots of fair rides and games for kids and adults. The festival was also home to a wine tent, where only wines from the surrounding area were served. The wine tent was pretty big with about 10-15 different stands serving wine from the neighboring towns. Christian’s wine was of course being served at the Bechteim stand among with many other very tasty wines. It was great being at the festival with Christian because he pretty much new everyone there. We went around to several of the stands to say hi to his friends, and were constantly served glasses of wine for free. I met several of his friends from Bechteim and we all had a great night together. We ended up staying there until about 2:30am or so, and luckily we had secured a ride home earlier, because there was no way we could have found our way home. If I learned anything from this Festival it was that Germans love to drink with each other, they know how to have a good time, and that they LOVE to sing every song they hear. For me the singing was absolutely fantastic although I did not know 80% of the songs. These sing along songs are known as a “Schlager” and can be in German or English. When I say everyone gets into it, I mean everyone. Every person is either singing or dancing. It is so great.

The next day Christian took showed me around his vineyards before I took the train back to Mainz. In Mainz I met up with Sonja, Thomas, and Jason at another Volksfest in Mainz. This one was much smaller but definitely just as fun. I stayed over at their house that night and the next morning we went to small market in the neighboring town of Nieder-Olm. A good portion of the festival in Neider-Olm was put on by local students (teenagers), and it is something that they do every year. The kids really seemed to enjoy putting the festival on, especially since it was something they could all be very proud of.

I forget to mention this before, but earlier in the week another guy arrived at our house from South Africa. He is staying here for one month and will be working in the cellar to learn about German wine production. He works in Stellenbosch and is in charge of a cellar there. He seems like a really nice guy, and I think he will bring some more life into the house for the next month.