Made My Day

Some days I can't even explain the happiness I take from my daily life in Germany. Yesterday was one of those days. I was especially in a good mood because Jeff had just come to visit. He was sleeping at Chelsea's place and Mike had stayed the night too. I woke early to shower and await their call. At noon, we all headed into town to our favorite bakery/cafe'. Padeffka will always hold some of my favorite memories with Lisa. It's in that cafe' that she's heard some of my most interesting thoughts and stories. It's there, we spoke of our families and friends and our wishes and hopes for the future. And Jeff got to enjoy it's delicious assortment of breads and pastries. He even told us he was no longer allergic to chocolate, and I immediately offered our hot chocolates for him to sample.

After an hour or so of relaxing, we made our way into the Altstadt, always a favorite place for me. He exchanged his money and we bummed into Hannes in front of the bank. After quick introductions, Hannes let us know he'd see us later tonight for dinner and we said goodbye and headed to Nonnenhaus--a small grocery store in town. Jeff sent a post card to his girlfriend and we picked out a few good looking drinks for that night's soiree before heading to Lisa's Wohnung where David was wonderfully preparing vegetarian and meat lasagna. 

A few problems occurred regarding planning our trips with Jeff, as well as his solo adventure to Berlin on Saturday, but with a little help, we managed to figure everything out. Mike organized the trip to Berlin for Jeff and ended up hitching a ride there himself. Hannes graciously offered to call his friend in Berlin to have the boys stay there until Tuesday and Lisa found a cheap alternative adventure since Amsterdam wasn't going to work out. We ended up booking a flight to Budapest for three days ^_^

After a great dinner with splendid company, we all took our own part in cleaning up. While I cleaned up the table and set the chairs straight, I got a chance to thank Hannes for his help. When I helped stack the dirty dishes by the sink, I got to watch Chelsea and Lisa place slices of eggplant on David's back as he was lying on his stomach on the floor and wasn't giving us the satisfaction of moving. And while I got my chance to wash some of the dishes, I got to get to know Nazario just a little better than before and realize what a nice and enjoyable guy he is. Since he's not only Italian, grew up in Germany and is involved in his church in town, I couldn't help wishing I could take him home for Kara ^_^

Later, around 10pm, we all ended up walking to the Irish pub near the Brechtbau Theater, called Saints and Scholars. We set up shop on a table outside and I met up with Dagmar, a friend from Black Comedy, who encouraged me to get a strawberry daiquiri with her....a great choice I soon learned, haha. Chelsea, Mike, Jeff and David showed up next, after hammering out the details to the Berlin trip, and soon our table was crowded and full of people laughing, drinking, hugging, taking pictures and catching up. Some friends I hadn't even planned on seeing walked by the pub and decided to join us for the night and some friends called and wanted to know if we'd still be around later so they could join us.

Well, the night ended slowly. Jeff and Mike left first to get some sleep before their journey and then a few others followed shortly after. When Daniel showed up at midnight after work and dinner, it was only Dagmar, Maria, Hannes, Oliver, Nazario, Chelsea and I. So we spoke mainly of theater and film, all in German. When I'm outnumbered to Germans in my company, I always speak German. It's nice to know that after a long night, a few drinks and a lot of fun, I can still carry a lengthy conversation in German without too much help.

By 1am, Daniel, Hannes, Chelsea and I were left. All headed in the same direction, we walked up the street and tried to say our good byes. But, as what commonly happens to me when I'm spending time with such interesting people, we ended up talking on the corner of the street for another hour. Chelsea and Daniel talked of Whose Line is it Anyway, and I talked to Hannes about his adventures when visiting his mom who's lived in Afrika for the last 6 years. We parted ways at 2am and Chelsea and I walked home listening to our iPod.

There's nothing in life more enjoyable than company with people you know you're going to miss someday.