Guess I should change "today" to "the last 36 hours", because it really all started with the Faschings party in Kuckuck (our student bar), which I should rename to "the best party of all time". Seriously, it was one of the top three I've been to here in Germany. We threw a kitchen party for the people in our dorm who are moving out soon, which was low-key but a good time, since we got to say our final goodbyes to the 4 people leaving us for their home countries (2 of them) and for other living spaces (the other 2). We bought t-shirts and wrote messages on them:
T-Shirt signing and chatting prior to the Faschingsparty in Kuckuck
Since it was Fasching, most people played along and wore a costume. Early on, I had planned as dressing as Pippi Longstocking, but I wasn't sure if Germans would know the reference. But much to my surprise, Pippi is not only THE children's book in Germany, but also in most of Europe. Almost everybody who saw me sang the theme song to the TV show in their mother language. I think I heard that ditty in Turkish, Bulgarian, German, and Italian last night. Other notable costumes were Elif, Clara and Susanna dressed as snowflakes, and Julian as the bubble wrap guy from "Dude, Where's My Car" (haven't seen the film myself).
The three snowflakes: Susanna, Clara, Elif
Julian as the bubble wrap dude
Pippi after the party
We danced late into the night and had a generally wonderful time. Sometime around 3:30, I could be spotting running around the student village in my costume, wired braids bobbing, trying to outsmart the cold 0 degree weather. Didn't work so well - should have worn a coat.
Since I had a great time Friday, it was poetic justice that not only made me have to get up early this morning to visit Jeff's relatives (early? Okay, 9:30 AM), but also to just barely miss the train, causing us to wait another hour for the next. Actually, it turned out not to be a bad deal, because we got to eat breakfast and didn't really miss anything in Wernau. So the reason we were going to Wernau in the first place, besides to visit Jeff's relatives, was to watch the big Fasching parade. Apart from having to drag my butt out of bed, this sounded like a ton of fun, because I'd never seen a Fasching parade before, Wernau isn't very far away from Tuebingen, and I adore Jeff's relatives in Wernau and hadn't seen them for a year and a half. So, despite wanting to sleep in, I went.
And I'm so glad I did. There were a plethora of things that made me extremely happy today at the parade, a few of which I will list here:
1. The aggressiveness of the paraders. These people were relentless. Freed by the anonymity their masks provided, any of the creatures in the parade could grab you, the innocent bystander, and do whatever they wanted to you, the least of which was painting your face, cutting your shoelaces, dousing you in confetti, or bopping you on the head with a pillow-like object on a stick. Many people were dragged into the parade, messed with, and then tossed back into freedom:
PWNED!
The worst I think I saw was when Jeff's cousin Clarissa was kidnapped by a man who put her on his troop's float, and then they literally fed her body through a small tunnel with a spiderweb-like net on the other side. When the men on the other side caught her and set her down on the street, she was covered from head to toe in a net that they quickly tied off. Clarissa had to hop her way back to our group, covered in this net she couldn't escape. It was hilarious and reminded me of the trees they sell here at Christmastime:
Viennese Christmas tree lot. These were all over Germany during the holiday season as well.
2. Ladder escapades. A troop of witches broke the line of spectators and headed toward an open window that had two people looking out of it, watching the parade progress. The witches were carrying the shoddiest ladder I believe I have ever laid eyes on. To me, it looked like a giant Lincoln Log with small twigs serving as rungs, and I very well thought the contraption could lead to somebody's death, or at least a very serious injury. Undeterred by things like consideration for their personal safety, the witches laid the ladder up against the building, and three of them climbed up and into the window. The closest anybody got to injury was when the guy at the top thought they were done and let the ladder go as another witch was climbing, but he soon figured out what was up and took hold of the ladder once more.
3. Smurf Noob. This little guy was across the street from us the whole time, and he was one of the main reasons I stayed through the entire 2 1/2 hour parade. What genuine hilarity! I can't do anything but post the picture of him, because words just don't do it justice.
AHAHAHAHAHA. This is the Smurf Noob.
4. Anglicisms. Today's crowd of teenagers near us had some mighty fine misplaced English expressions to yell out. This happens a lot in Germany, because apparently English is cool, so I'm used to it now. However, you gotta make a point about it in your blog, when you hear the following all within a 2-hour time span:
(as a witch snuck around behind the line of spectators and pounced) "Attack from behind!"
(as a gremlin-thing was hitting one of the young female spectators on the butt with a wicker shovel-thing) "Spank the monkey!"
(as three of the guys line up back-to-front, as if in a spooning fashion): "We're making a sandwich!"
That last exclamation was made by, of course, the fat one, which makes it funnier, and then the words themselves lends evidence to the theory that European men are inherently gayer than American men.
Okay, well I'm getting tired, but I do want to finish my story. I ended up coming back to Tuebingen around 8:30 because my friend Peter from Hungary leaves Monday for home, and I wanted to meet him for a drink and say my goodbyes. (Jeff stayed in Wernau to get a little more time in with his relatives.) Turns out that he was invited to a birthday party at the dorm of Niko, a German guy that I met at the beginning of the year but never really hung out with, although we do have quite a few friends in common. So I met Peter at the train station and we took off for Niko's. Ended up being quite a good party, mostly because I got to spend some quality time with Peter and got to know Niko a lot better.
(Side note - Niko studied abroad at UMass all of last year, and we dicovered tonight we have a lot in common, from musical tastes, to a love of the Pacific Northwest, to missing the same things about America.)
It was also good because it was a party whose guests were mostly German. You probably wouldn't believe me unless you've studied/are studying abroad in Germany, but this doesn't happen as much as you might think- you usually end up hanging out with the international crowd or other English-speakers. I found another guy, Johannes*, who I could speak German to really easily. He didn't believe me when I said that I came from the US - said you couldn't hear it when I spoke - which for me is always a confidence booster. I think the ethanol helped, as well. For Peter's benefit, we took some pictures of the people he and I knew best at the party, which was him, me, Niko, and Gary from Switzerland.
Peter and Gary are hilarious.
From the left: Peter from Hungary, me, Niko from Germany, and Gary from Switzerland.
This is our best photo. We all look raging hot, in my humble opinion.
Okay, time to go to bed, for I am going to yet another Fasching Fest tomorrow. It's in Rottenburg, a small town near Tuebingen, and since I was allowed by the people who invited me to bring a guest, I'm bringing Peter with me. So I guess tonight wasn't goodbye, after all. But tomorrow will be.
