The train journey to Mainz was interesting, my train to Frankfurt was running really late so I missed my connection and had to wait half an hour for the next train to Mainz. While on the train, I got accosted by some young and very drunk German guys wearing lederhosen who were walking around trying to sell things from their tray of dodgy wears. It took me a long time to persuade them that I didn't want to buy their last candy g-string!
Hauke met me at the station and we went straight back to the currywurst stand, where I proceeded to eat the most spicy currywurst that they have, something that Hauke had said I couldn't do way back in December when I bragged about my ability to eat spicy food! I finished it, although it brought tears to my eyes and my mouth was in agony for a little while afterwards. This time he refused to video me, he doesn't like proof of him losing, so there's just a photo of the remnants!
We took the tram home. In most places here in Europe the transport ticketing system is really different to NZ and most people buy a longer-term pass. On trams, they normally just jump on without the driver checking tickets, and only occasionally do ticket controllers get on the trams or buses to check, so I've got quite blasé about buying a ticket myself, especially in Mainz where they cost about $5NZD. This time, we got caught out, as soon as we got on an authoritative guy said something to Hauke about his bike, we should have cottoned on then but didn't until three controllers started moving through the tram, so we stood up to get off at the next stop, which being only 50m away from where we had got on was really suspicious. They got to Hauke just as the tram stopped and he took his time getting his pass out, allowing me to jump out of the tram when it stopped, but even then the guy was asking me for mine, holding up the tram, and I slowly started trawling through my bag for my wallet, hoping that they wouldn't want to hold the tram up too long. Luckily they didn't, and another guy just asked Hauke if I lived here and then let us go. Phew! We had a really long walk home. So I might start buying tickets again now...
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| Feli, me and Hauke |
Hauke had just finished his exams that morning, so we were heading out to celebrate. We had a few drinks at home, and then a few more at Feli's house before we went to Nora's birthday party. Because neither of us had drunk in the past month, we were a wee bit messy even by then, and there we finished a bottle of Cuarenta y Tres, a Spanish liqueur. After this introduction, I don't think Cuarenta y Tres and I will be the best of friends!
We headed with some of them to Schon Schön, where I've been a couple of times and danced for a little while, before we left them and went to Red Cat, where Hauke works (read: also gets extremely cheap, extremely strong drinks). As I've said before, Red Cat is synonymous with us drinking far, far too much and consequently suffering exceptionally the following morning, and this night was not an exception. We left after maybe a hour, with my lack of German I thought that the bouncer was actually kicking us out, which considering Hauke works there would be a good indication of the state we were in, but apparently he was just making sure we didn't fall down the stairs. We walked most of the way home, a long trip that only I can remember and is best forgotten anyway.
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| Hauke, Nora and I |
So Saturday was a write-off. I was awake really early, and spent the day reading the news and cleaning Hauke's flat, but he was in worse shape than me for once and barely moved until the early evening. We didn't leave the house until after six, when we just went to eat at the asian place here that I think makes the best thai food in Europe (it's still nothing on Satay Kingdom) and then for a walk, before he went to work and I went for a run and then to bed early.
Yesterday morning I took the train to Frankfurt, to catch my pre-booked train from Frankfurt to Luxembourg. I should have looked more closely at my ticket though, because the train actually headed back through Mainz anyway, so I wasted several hours training into Frankfurt and waiting around.
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| Messy...thankyou Cuarenta y Tres for this stunning photo |
I'm looking forward to getting into Luxembourg and settling down again. Part of me really loves traveling around and seeing new places, and doesn't want to be limited by working in one place, but the other part of me is ready to have somewhere to call home again, and to start putting down some real roots. The longer I am over here the harder it is to reconcile the over-achiever, involved in a million things and feeling like I was going somewhere in life old me, with the transient, involved in nothing, with no consistent support network and with no intellectual stimulation or sense of achievement new me. Hopefully I can make some friends and get involved in some projects in Luxembourg, and start learning German, to start to feel more like me again.
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