For several days there has been an annoying group of children at the Jugendherberge. All day and night they would run up and down the halls screaming, laughing, jumping and being just plain stupid. Annabelle and I actually complained once because they kept knocking on our doors and then running away. And not just knocking really. They would slam their fists on the door and then sprint off. We had to come up with our own secret knock so we wouldn’t keep opening the door for no one. It was driving everyone insane. We started fighting back eventually. The best moment was when Annabelle, Chris, Yanal and I were on the elevator. We had just been joking about Yanal yelling at the kids in Arabic if they tried to get on when the elevator stopped at the 3rd floor on the way to the 5th. When the door opened several loud children began to shove their way onto the tiny elevator. Yanal puts on a serious, borderline crazy-eyed, face and began to slowly walk towards them while he prattled on in Arabic, gradually getting louder and louder. They kids booked it back out of the elevator! It was so funny! Throughout that day and evening we stood up; Annabelle yelled at them in English to stop knocking on our door, and when they did it two minutes after she said that I opened the door and screamed something in Deutsch along the lines of “Shut your f#$@ing mouths” and then slammed the door (one of the kids looked like he was going to crap his pants when he saw his death in my eyes) and then TJ and Emma wrapped toilet paper around their faces like mummies and harassed the kids in the hall a bit. It was great.
After the Yanal incident some of us went to a cookout on the school campus. It was a lot of fun to mingle with the German students and have delicious grilled food and free drinks! We ended up staying for a long time and drinking and laughing with the other students. They steak they had there was fantastic, and the salad was to die for. They also had this grilled slab of cheese you could eat and it was heavenly! Afterwards we walked all the way home, which was lovely and felt great after we stuffed our faces.
The next day (Wednesday) we had our final. It was intense. Six pages long plus an oral exam. There was one entire section of the test on Rotkäppchen that blew my mind, and not in a good way. I had no idea what I was doing! But thankfully, Frau Weber said we all passed. Regardless, we were all drained after that exam, and it was relaxing to meet up at 2:00 to go bake some Brötchen. Finding the place was weird though. It was very sketchy and for a hot minute I thought Bo was taking us to our deaths where someone had paid him to deliver a bunch of students to the ghetto where our bodies would be used in various experiments. It ended up being a lovely building with many lush plants in the surrounding area. It was all very natural. When making the bread we even ground the grain there. It was fun kneading the dough and making various spreads. We even made hand-made salads and dressings.
While the bread was baking we were taken on a tour of the grounds by the head honcho, Frank. He showed us the old building that had once been used as a classroom or recovery room for sick patients. Those who had lung problems could lay down and the windows would open and they would get clean, fresh air even though they were in the middle of the city. We also saw many gardens where they grew their own fruits and vegetables. There was a zucchini the size of my arm! I wanted to eat it so badly.
Eventually the food was ready and we feasted upon our brötchen and salad. It was fantastic. My favorite spread was one that was made with a yogurt-like base and had many herbs and onions in it. There was a delicious mustard salad dressing that I was in love with as well, and the homemade peppermint tea was addictive. After the dinner we had some cake the women made for us that contained a little coconut, strawberries, rhubarb and something else. Maybe peaches or apples. It was amazing.
It rained very hard on the way back to the hostel, but we didn’t mind. Several of us got together as a sort of celebration of being finished with our final exam in one of the hostel rooms and we danced and talked and had a great time!
Today, after class, we went to the area of the Elbauenpark. We went into the Schmetterlinghaus (butterfly house) and saw several lovely plants, birds, fish and insects. I loved it in there and wanted to stay longer.
After that we went rock wall climbing! I almost didn’t do it, but I’m glad I did. I tried all three heights, the largest being 25 meters. The shortest one was bizarrely the most difficult, and the mid-sized one was easiest. I wish I had made it to the top of the largest one but my arms got so tired. I only made it a bit over half-way before I had to stop. I physically could move no more. It was so much fun though! I really enjoyed it and I’m glad I took the opportunity.
I’m exhausted now though. It’s been a physically and mentally draining week so far! I look forward to sleep tonight and our good bye cookout tomorrow evening. :-)
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