Germany, Story 1 (of... ?)

Here are the stories you have all been waiting for. For the past 10 days, I was off visiting my family in Nettlingen, Germany. Nettlingen is a little town, like very small, about an hour (depending on how fast you drive... heh) south west of Hannover and about 3 hours south east of Berlin.

I've thought long and hard about how I am going to elaborate on my final 'hurrah' before I embark on a completely different journey as I learn every last detail about the human body. I've decided that I am going to tell this story in many parts as there was much that we did, and I also decided to keep the details more to a minimum and tell more about the funny, exciting, and moving experiences from Germany. Something that I probably won't say too much is that we did sit around and do a lot of talking. It was really cool getting to know these people, and sort of learning about our history, and establishing the relationships that we hope will last. As I said previously, our families lost contact in the war and for over 50 years, we knew nothing except a couple of the stories my grandfather told his kids when they were younger. Stories of a hotel and restaurant. Stories of a small town and a bowling alley. Apparently my grandfather was something of a story teller, so many, especially including the bowling alley, weren't believed. When my uncle saw the bowling alley in the hotel a couple years ago, he knew then that this was the place my grandfather spoke of and had visited twice in the 1910's as a boy, and our family had finally been reunited.

To wet your whistle, so to speak... here are some stories that are to come:

Food
Berlin
Driving on the Autobahn (yes, me driving)
The Tour de France
Water skiing
Searching grave stones for more of our family


Today's story is about the first day.

Arriving in Berlin at 9AM local time, we got off the jetway and it finally hit me. I haven't used my German in about 6 years and I needed to start remembering even simple phrases. We rented an Opel (similar to chevy) station wagon and drove to the town of Nettlingen, where we were greeted by Monika and Siegfried, who are the people of my parent's generation. Dinner was steak and mushrooms; Usually I am person that doesn't like mushrooms, but these were actually pretty good, and they were fresh. And we started drinking. Beer. Pear Schnapps. Beer. Astenbecker. Beer. (Schnapps is a lot stronger in Germany and Astenbecker is like grain alcohol or something. We have nothing like it in America) Keep in mind, besides that little nap I got in the afternoon, I did not sleep on the plane, and thus by 10PM that night, I had been up for something like 30 hours. We had lots and lots of fun talking with our family, giving presents and just hanging out.

Ok, I promise this gets better.

Around 11:30, Kate and I head back to the hotel and decided that we needed to walk around some. So we headed out to the pond that is in town, and we some people around our age drinking and talking and having fun. Naturally, I stopped and starting talking to them. And after a few drinks, many of you know I get talkative, and I start speaking more German as my inhibitions of speaking the language are gone. 1AM comes, and they all say that they wanted to go swimming in the Freibad (local pool). So we decided that this was an amazing idea. We hopped in a car, drove 2 minutes and went swimming. There were about 20 of us there and Kate and I were a little concerned about hopping a fence and going swimming in a pool that was obviously closed off (barbed wire over the fence). I then remembered at Mike's bachelor party the same thing happened and went forth with it. After a little while, I got out of the pool and started talking with people (broken German and broken English, but the ideas got across) and around 2:30, we decided that it was probably a pretty good idea to go to bed. This time, we walked. Finally, Kate and I headed up to the room, and decided it might be a good idea to not really say anything about our little adventure on the first night.

Breakfast was at 10 o'clock the next morning and the partially jet-lagged, partially hungover, partially way-too-tired-because-we-stayed-up-too-late Kate and I showed up to breakfast. Naturally Kate went back to bed, but I sat around with the cousins some more. Later in the day, Iris, a cousin (in-law) who is my generation, said that she was taking one of her kids to the Freibad and wanted to know if we wanted to go. Sheepishly, Kate and I said yes, conveniently leaving out the fact that we had been there the previous night.

While there, Iris and Kate went to get some ice-cream and while walking back to our towels, she says to Kate "I hear you swim here last night?" Kate said no with a smile, and Iris responded "Well my friend's daughter says she goes swimming with an American here last night." Like I said in a previous post: small town America, everyone knows everything. Of course then Kate says we were swimming, and we all have a laugh, now that half the town knew about our adventures. Iris said her husband, Mark (my cousin) did it all the time before they were married and it is essentially a right of passage for Nettlingeners. So we fit right in.

And it gets better. At dinner that night, the cousin who runs the hotel, Peter, told everyone that Kate and I went to the Freibad last night. We all then laughed even more and we asked how in the world he figured it out, and he said that he overheard us the night before as his window overlooks the area where we were hanging out.

It was just real funny in that on the very first night there, we met these random people, went swimming, didn't say anything about it... then the whole freaking town knows. From that night, we knew that this was going to be an amazing trip.

So that is the first story.

We had so much fun, and when I get back to Richmond (still in Baltimore now) I will start putting pictures up so you can see the fun we had.

If you want to hear about this, keep posted. If you don't. Oh well.

still waiting,
-wait

Wedding and Germany (my roots)

After yesterday's driving debacle, today was more of a "I wish there were a couple more hours in the day" kind of thing. A lot of today was spent furniture shopping. And suit buying. And book buying. And food buying. Oh, and it was every bit of 100 degrees as well. Needless to say I'm wiped. But, I have a nice long plane ride tomorrow where I will be able to sleep away (hopefully).

This past weekend was Mike's wedding down in Harrisonburg. Arriving Friday evening at Harrisonburg Baptist Church for the rehearsal, I got all caught up in the events of the big day. Mike and Erin walked down the aisle (a few times) and I began to recognize that this was one of my first really good friends to finally tie the knot. Yeah, I have had good friends get married before, but Mike was one of my roommates senior year and there were many a late night spent with him doing crazy antics or shooting the breeze until late hours. After the rehearsal came the customary "Rehearsal Dinner" or as his mom liked to call it, the "After rehearsal dinner" Either way, there was some incredible food, and all of us just got to hang out in a real low key environment before the wedding.

Around 10 o'clock the wedding party plus a few other Harrisonburger's caught up at one of the local joints in town - Dave's. This place was sweet. Pitchers of beer cost $6.75. I almost fell off my seat I was so excited. We sat around and talked for a couple hours and eventually made it back to Mike's house in preparation for his big day.

The wedding itself was a really cool service. They exchanged vows and rings, they kissed and all of that stuff associated with weddings. I was at the back of the church in the lobby (or whatever) when Erin was getting ready to walk down the aisle. All of the sudden she was like "FLOWERS!!!" as she realized she didn't have her bouquet of flowers. Since all of the bridesmaids were well on down the aisle by this point, it was up to one of the usher's to pull through in the clutch. As the flowers were closest to me, I turned around grabbed the bouquet and gave them to Erin. Disaster averted. The last thing she would have wanted to was to walk down the aisle on her wedding day without flowers. And because of me, that didn't have to happen. (Of course, if I wasn't there, I am sure someone else would have come through in the clutch. I would hope.)

A mere 25 or 30 minutes later, Erin was walking back down the aisle (flowers in one hand, her husband's hand in the other) as a newlywed. After the recessional, Mike and Erin actually went back into the church and excused each row, talking with everyone who came to the wedding. This was a pretty cool idea I think. It took awhile, but at the same time, I like it because they got to see everyone who was there and thank them for coming.

After the wedding of course comes the reception and this did not dissappoint. At a country club, we were entertained by a live band which consisted of some of Mike's guitar teachers and others who were really incredible. Mike even went up front and played a few songs. In another cool thing, they had a cupcake-cake. It was layers of cupcakes. Really cool. We were kind of curious as to if they were going to take the top layer of cupcakes and save them for the 1st anniversary, or if they would just save 2. We never got a resolution to our question, unfortunately. At the reception, we were all able to catch up with some more old friends and just have a good time overall.

I eventually left and made my way back to Richmond so that I could make it to Baltimore on Sunday. (Well Baltimore, then DC, then Baltimore.... all in a day's work).

Tomorrow I head off to the land of my roots. My uncle sister and I are headed to Nettlingen Germany which is the town where my ancestors are from. My great, great grandfather started a hotel in the 1800's and he had 2 sons. Because of premogeniture, my great grandfather was awarded nothing and at the turn of the century decided to come to America and start a new life for himself. With a friend, he opened a fur business in Baltimore which remains today. My grandfather worked there, my uncle and dad worked there, and as you all probably have guessed, I won't be following in their footsteps as medical school is now on the horizon.

Over the years from when my great grandfather left Germany, our familes lost touch (email wasn't exactly popular) through both of the wars and in the 1940's we lost complete touch with our family. 50 years later, in 1997, my uncle, the one who is going with me, randomly called up (well, he had done tons of research) Germany asking for Siegfried [last name is the same as ours, so I won't divulge] as he was the last record that we had. The man who answered the phone said that he was not Siegfried, but that was in fact his father. Needless to say, we have been reunited.

My uncle and his wife have been over there a number of times, my grandmother went over, other aunts and uncles have gone and I have been there before as well. My sister, though, has not been there yet. Everytime we go, we are welcomed with open arms and hearts. This makes my sister somewhat concerned, especially since essentially the whole town knows we are coming. It's a lot like small town America, where everyone knows everyone and is in everyone's business. So something like "the crazy American [last name]'s are coming" sets the town in a frenzy. I'm pretty excited.

Being that it is now nearly 1AM and I have yet to pack, I am going to head out. I won't be posting when I am in Germany (at least I think not) but I plan on taking lots of pictures so I should have some interesting posts when I get back... Depending on the computer situation I might be able to post everyday, but I doubt it. If you feel so inclined, check in say about Saturday. If I haven't posted anything, don't expect anything.

Auf wiedersehen!

noch wartend,
-wait

Passport extravaganza

So I'm an idiot, plain and simple. I drove up from Richmond this afternoon because I have to get some things done in Baltimore before I go to Germany on Tuesday. I am sitting at dinner with my family (our second family dinner since Christmas) and my sister joking says "You remembered your passport, right?"

My face turned white. The last thing I wanted to do was get back in the car, drive 2 1/2 - 3 hours, pick up my passport and turn back around and get back to Baltimore. I quickly weighed my options. If worse came to worse, I would have driven back and forth from Richmond. Luckily for me, however, Ian was home this weekend and I thought he might be able to help me out. I first thought that maybe he could overnight my passport to me. The postal service has those "Gauranteed by 10 or it's free" things. Viable option maybe. However, the whole "or it's free" thing scared me somewhat. Had I in actuality received my package for free, that means I would not have the opportunity to board my plane to Germany, and therefore would have completely missed my vacation. So I decided that having my passport at the whim of the postal service wasn't exactly the best idea.

Another option would be for Ian and I to meet halfway in between Richmond and Baltimore. This idea seemed very plausible, however inconvenient for Ian it may have been. So I called Ian and told him about "situation" (read: how dumb I am). I offered to drive to Fredericksburg... for those of you unfamiliar with the area, Fredericksburg is probably about halfway in between DC and Richmond... I offered thinking that even if I only had to drive to Fredericksburg, that wasn't nearly as bad as getting all the way to Richmond.

As I talked to Ian, he came through like a champion. He said that he has some friends in DC that he could stay with for a night, and that why doesn't he drive to DC and we meet there instead? Thrilled at the prospect of only being in the car for 2 hours instead of the complete 6, I said that was an incredible idea and that I was thankful. Hopping in the car at about 10 o'clock, I made the round trip to Alexandria (over the now open new Woodrow Wilson Bridge) and drove the last 30 minutes with the windows down and U2 cranked.

I hope that you all enjoyed my venture this evening and realized there are some people out there dumber than you. (Who forgets their passport when going abroad???)

still waiting,
-wait

Oh, and as an FYI. I will do my best to make another post tomorrow night about Mike's wedding (which was sweet) but if I don't get around to it, that means you won't hear from me for about a week and a half since I will be in Germany (passport and all). Tchuess!

Ocean City and Poison Ivy

I just had a really long weekend. Like really long. But for the most part it was a ton of fun.

I left Richmond at around 430/5 on Friday evening heading north east to Ocean City MD. My friend Mike is getting married this coming Saturday, so for his bachelor party we headed up to the best city in America, Ocean City, HON! I rolled in around 1015 Friday night and joined the crew who had been drinking for awhile (they got there around 3). We hung out for awhile on the balcony and looked down (we were on the 4th floor) and saw a pool at the condo place next to ours. We thought it would be a brilliant idea to go swimming in that pool, after hopping the fence, of course. So 2 of the guys and I went over to that building, dropped down from the 3rd floor on the deck of the pool (which was on the 2nd floor). We took a quick dip, and ran back across the street to our place. There were a few more details involved, but I don't want to bore you with everything (and I need to save face, let's be honest).

We spent Saturday on the beach, playing cards, and then I spent a couple hours in the water (which was freezing) riding the waves in. Unfortunately we had 1 boogey board for 9 people. So there was lots of body surfing. After about 2 hours, the waves were getting pretty big (around 6 feet) and by now there were only 2 of us left out there. (He had the board). The guard then starts whistling. I don't look back because I wasn't that far out (had been out farther) but when he didn't stop, I looked back and he started waving. I turned back around thinking it wasn't me, but the whistle came back and I realized he was probably whistling me in, so I rode one more wave in and got in. I was starting to get cold, so really it was ok. I took one really hard spill, where I got dropped by a wave and landed on my elbow, which threw out my shoulder for a second. I actually needed to sit out for about 10 minutes while I got range of motion back.

Saturday night we got all you can eat crabs. As a Marylander, I represented. I taught a few of the people, and did my fair share on accumulating the carnage. I am not sure how many I went through, but they brought about 4 trays over, and each tray had about 2 dozen crabs on it. There were 4 of us eating, so I didn't actually eat 100... but there were a lot. My proudest moment might have been that I wore a completely white shirt, and ended up with nothing on me. No stains, nothing. And if you know both me and about eating crabs like Marylanders do, you will know that that is quite the accomplishment. We went back to the condo/hotel and hung out there the rest of the night, falling asleep around 3/4.

I wake up the next morning at around 9 and start driving towards Baltimore. Around 1230, I pull into my parent's house, and break out the hedge-cutters to start cutting our hedge. This may sound like not much, but let me set this up for you. I begin by dressing up in jeans and a long sleeve shirt, tall socks, tennis shoes and gloves. Yes, even though it is 90 degrees. I then hook together about 4 100 foot extensions cords end to end and string them out to the hedge. When the hedge is cut, the shortest area is about 4 feet tall, and the tallest is around 7 feet. That of course means I need to break out the ladder. It is probably around 200 feet, then goes around a corner, and then goes another 100 feet further. So we are talking around 300 feet of hedge. Keep in mind that I need to cut the sides of this as well as the top.

And then the fun part. For about a 150 foot stretch of the hedge (yes, about 1/2) the hedge is laced, nay 1/2 full of poison ivy. So essentially when my parents say "Hey Wait, it's time to cut the hedge," what I hear is "Hey Wait, it's time to get a real nasty case of poison ivy." I mean it's fun and all... but ok, it's not at all. So I spent about an hour and half working on the hedge, then came in, watched the world cup, then spent the next 2.5 hours finishing the hedge. It was a freaking blast. Let me tell you.

I'm not sure what I enjoyed more, the fact that I cut my weekend short in Ocean City, or while I was out there cutting the hedge, my mom comes out and just sits there and watches me, and tells me I need to cut it in a different way that was safer. I told her that if she wanted it done a certain way, that she could do it herself. She went back in the house after that. After dinner with my parents, I hit the road to Richmond, and finally at around 1:30AM I pulled into Richmond and climbed into bed and it felt amazing. So there's my weekend... kind of a "this then this then this" but sometimes that the way it needs to be. Plus I'm tired and don't feel like being too witty and just wanted to relay what I've been doing.

I also have a story about my getting called for jury duty, but I'm tired and don't feel like writing much more.

Still waiting,
-wait

July 4, 1999

As I sit here on my 25th 4th of July, I realize I thoroughly enjoyed my day. I woke and and found the Tour de France in full swing on OLN and turned that on (ok, I didn't 'find' that it was on, I knew it was on and turned it on right away) It was an exciting morning on the course with a breakaway lasting all but 2km of the race. Unfortunately, however, one of the "new" favorites left the race in an ugly crash that left him with a broken collarbone. Alejandro Valverde was probably succombing to some of the heat (it was 99 degrees, with a road temperature of 122 out there) and someone in the peloton may have tapped his brakes, sending Valverde into this guys rear wheel, and thus to the pavement, snapping the right collarbone. Oddly enough, he wasn't the first to break his collarbone on this day.

The day continued by watching the Nathan's Hot Dog eating contest, and the Italy/Germany World Cup game. Lots of good TV on this day for the 4th. I then headed off to Kim's for the pool and some more food. Thanks to Courtney (Kim's roommate) I learned that plain potato chip are for "whitey's" as she put it. She laughed really hard when she realized I actually heard that. But I grilled, so she can't complain. And finally on my drive home, I saw fireworks over the horizon.

So while this 4th was nice and relaxing, there is one 4th that sticks out in my head as the best one ever. It was the summer of 1999. Many of you don't know me, but for those of you that do, and for some background for those that don't, in the summer of 1999, I biked across the country (started in Seattle and ended in New Hampshire. We cheated in that we took a ferry across lake Michigan, but otherwise, it was all bike from the Pacific to the Atlantic)

On this particular 4th of July, we were in Montana on one of our longer days. Well, for me, every day in Montana was a pretty long day. Not as long as the ones in Washington as I was quickly getting in shape, but still. So anyways, that morning we had woken up to some rain, so packing everything up wet wasn't exactly "fun" so to speak. That morning it started off pretty dry, and we stopped for lunch in a small town, and then the skies opened. It rained for the better part of the afternoon. It was raining so hard at one point, that we actually all stopped and hung out under an overhang in hopes that the rain would let up a little. It was getting a little depressing in that waking up wet, biking wet, and going to bed wet isn't exactly... well you get the idea. So once the rain let up some, we hit the road again, and the skies actually started clearing up some, and as the afternoon wore on, there were tons of clouds still around, and partial clearing allowing for the really amazing oranges and reds to reflect off of the clouds to create colors you never thought possible. I remember suspending my down-trodeness, if only for a minute or 2, and taking in the amazing sites I was able to see.

Riding along, I saw ahead of me that the group was beginning to congregate, and when I joined, I found out that someone had stopped us. This person's name was Jane. Jane is a name I can't ever forget because she told us that she had seen us in the supermarket earlier in the day (where we stopped for lunch), saw us as we huddled under the overhang, and then was driving home later in the day and recognized us on the road. A cyclist herself, she offered her house as a place for us to stay for the night. This was awesome as it was. She then told us that we would have an opportunity to sleep inside. Amazing. She then she would cook dinner and breakfast for us, and that if we wanted, we could all go with her to a barbeque, have some beers, and watch the fireworks with her friends. Words couldn't possibly describe the way we felt that night.

For someone to offer their house and food to us, is something I won't ever forget. It's people like that who leave a lasting impression on people's lives. Jane could have kept driving when she saw us coming down the road with the sun finally peaking through. Jane could have stopped us and said "good luck." But she didn't. She is one of the more memorable people that we met across the country, and I won't ever forget her. (Oh, we didn't make it to her bbq, beer and fireworks with her friends. We were biking across the country after all).

It's amazing to my how I can have such a vivid memory of this day which was now 7 years ago. But somehow, I don't think I will ever forget that. Jane is a person I won't ever forget.

And as the complete opposite, my worst 4th of July was the year before on my bike trip from Seattle to San Fransisco. Let's just say primitive campgrounds, rain, and ramen. Not a good combination. And that's all I feel like saying about that.

Here's to some great 4th's in the future!

still waiting,
-wait

Tour de France 101

It's July, and you know what that means?? That's right the Tour de France!! (You were probably not expecting that one). I am sure many of you know about the tour, but if you don't, it is essentially a race around France. There are different aspects of the race, one being time trials, another flat stages, and finally mountain stages. They are all interspersed. There are about 20 stages for the race, and if you win one of the stages that is considered to be an enormous victory. To be the overall winner of the Tour de France means that you have the best time over the entire 3 weeks; you could have not won any stage, yet still be the winner of the Tour. The reason for this is because there are riders who specialize on the flat sections and then can't do the mountains, and then also vice-versa. So therefore, the rider who usually wins is typically very good at all aspects of the race.

Each rider belongs to a team and generally each team has a team leader who the team surrounds around to try and get them to win. On the days that aren't time trials (there are about 3 time trials per tour), the riders typically ride in what is known as the peloton (that's that big group of riders you always see if you have ever quickly flipped over OLN. Then there are usually a few (5-10) riders who make a sprint at the beginning of the day and try to finish the race before the peloton; however the peloton usually catches them before the end. The peloton is important because it allows riders to be in the slip stream of the riders in front of them, thus saving energy. In the more important stages, a specific team will get together and use some of the riders as what are called domestiques. These riders are the ones cutting the wind for the team leader; usually by the end of the stage all of the domestiques have been worn out and it is up to the team leader to take away and get the best time. So as much as cycling is an individual sport it is also a team sport.

On the time trials - every rider is by themselves and there is no slip-stream. Therefore it is solely up to each rider to ride the whole time.

As for the jersey's you see, I am sure many of you are aware that the Yellow Jersey ("Maillot Jaune") is the coveted one - it shows that that person is in the overall lead of the Tour de France. However, there are other jerseys. There is the Green Jersey, which is the leader of the points. Briefly, there are different ways that you can earn points along the route: being the first one to crest a mountain, be the first across a miniature sprint that is on the race, and a few other ways. There is also a White Jersey, which belongs to the rookie rider who is the highest up in the standings. And finally there is the Polka-Dot Jersey which signifies the rider who is "King of the Mountains." This is the rider who has come across the mountains peaks in the best times.

There are lots of other intricacies involved in the race (for instance how much each sprint or mountain climb is actually worth) and the battling that goes in the peloton is much more significant than one would actually imagine. But I think that's enough explanation for now.

As for the specific Tour this year, there is one man that is noticeably missing (Lance Armstrong); so going into the race, it was completely wide open. Riders such as Jan Ullrich, Franscisco Mancebo, Oscar Sevilla, Ivan Basso and Alexandre Vinokourov ("Vino") all had such aspirations for winning the first Tour not featuring the Texan. However, on Friday, these 5 racers were declared ineligible for the race because of a doping scandal known as Operacion Puerta which is based around Dr. Fuentes who has been incriminated on doping charges. All of these riders except for Vino has been linked Dr. Fuentes and on Friday were withdrawn from Tour de France. Vino is known more as collateral damage because 5 of his team members were also taken off of the Tour for doping and therefore, he does not have enough team members to qualify for the Tour. Therefore on the eve of the Tour, his team, Astana Wuerth (formerly Liberty Seguros) was withdrawn. This is Vino's "just desserts" if you will as in the off season he switched teams for more money (and because his old team, T-Mobile, wouldn't commit to him or Jan Ullrich as team leader).

Therefore of the top 5 finishers in last year's Tour de France (1. Lance Armstrong 2. Basso 3. Ullrich 4. Mancebo and 5. Vino) did not even start this year's Tour de France. This Tour is thusly completely open as to who is going to win. New favorites have emerged, and there is a strong likelihood that an American is going to win the Tour again this year.


These new favorites are:

Floyd Landis (USA, (Team) Phonak)
Levi Leipheimer (USA, Gerolsteiner)
George Hincapie (USA, Discovery Channel)
Alejandro Valverde (Spain, Causse d'Epargne-Illes Balears),
David Zabriskie (USA, CSC)
Paolo Salvodelli (Italy, Discovery Channel, though really only if Hincapie falters)
Andreas Kloeden (Germany, T-Mobile)
Iban Mayo (Spain, Euskaltel - Euskadi) ... the google translation has his name as "Went May Ten" instead of Iban Mayo. It went a little far with the translation.

(Side note: if any of the companies see that I am linking their companies on my blog and you want to donate to me for advertising, drop me a comment. I'll respond. Don't worry.)

Of course, I could be completely off, but I would expect at least one of these guys to be in the top 5 when the race hits Paris. I do realize there are lots of American's in this group and it may be I have the American hope that an American will win; but these are some of the best riders out there (read: left) in the Tour. George Hincapie is the sentimental favorite (at least by me) as he has ridden in 11 Tours and was Lance's wingman for all of Lance's wins. To see him win would be nothing short of awesome. As of right now, he is the owner of the Yellow Jersey, and thus, if he keeps it for the next 3 weeks, he will be the winner. However, it could be that he loses the Yellow jersey, and then regains later in the race. Anything can happen.

still waiting,
-wait

Addendum: I noticed that there is no closed parentheses in the picture. I could go back and add that in, but it would take awhile, and let's be honest, I already spent 2 hours doing this, and I don't feel like changing the picture again... it took 2 times before I got it the way I wanted.