Suzie Visits a Brewery and France

March 1, 2006

After looking at my last update that I wrote just a little over a 
month ago, I realize how much has happened in only a month. It's 
absolutely amazing. I guess I'm really learning to live life to the 
fullest. I have, from this last month alone, more than 700 pictures. 
I've seen my first dog sled race, my first opera, my first brewery, 
my first South African musical, visited Marina's family in 
Neumunster, went to Saarbrucken, celebrated my birthday, and went to 
France. All in one month: exhausting. :D As I'm writing this I'm 
sitting in my bed with tissues all around me and the smell of 
Eucalyptus wafting through my room. But on to the good stuff.
    So, January 28, found me and my host parents up in the mountains, 
watching dogsled racers wind their team in between hills of snow and 
spectators. From little five year olds to old men, they skillfully 
navigated their gorgeous dogs. It was amazing to watch. Before 
actually going and watching the races, we walked around the camping 
area of the mushers. Dogs lay on straw all around. Big dogs, small 
dogs, white, brown, speckled, with blue eyes, brown eyes, every type 
imaginable. They yapped at their chains in excitement. Especially up 
by the starting line. For teams of 6 dogs, they needed three people 
to keep the dogs in one place before the race actually started. We 
stayed there all Saturday watching the dogs race through the snow, 
drinking Gluhwein and enjoying ourselves.
    So, my first opera. That was quite an experience. The Magic Flute, 
by Mozart was being put on in Siegen on February 4. The only thing 
is, that Siegen doesn't have an Opera house. But we do have a lot of 
old abandoned warehouses. So that's where they decided to show it. 
Unfortunately, anyone behind the tenth row couldn't see anything. The 
stage wasn't very high, and all the seats were at the same level. 
Even more unfortunate than that, anyone behind the fifteenth row 
couldn't hear much, because the acoustics were so bad, and with such 
a high ceilinged room, they only had a very small orchestra. So, 
sitting in the 27th row, you can guess our experience. It wasn't the 
most amazing. But when able to catch glimpses of the stage, and when 
able to hear the music floating down to us, It really was amazing. It 
was the Magic Flute but more modern. It was like the remake of Romeo 
and Juliet with Leo DiCaprio. It was really awesome. The costumes 
were amazing too. Papageno, the "comical sidekick" has a rainbow of 
dreadlocks with the Three Ladies dressed as Secret agents. It was 
really a great performance, I only wish I had been able to enjoy it 
better.
    My first trip to a Brewery, there was nothing disappointing about 
that. My host sister, Ala, works at our local Brewery Krombacher, 
giving tours, so we were able to tag along one day as she gave a tour 
to a bunch of already drunk Sauerlanders.  The factory was amazing. 
Bottles wiz pass your head as you walk down the designated walkways, 
getting cleaned, filled, and labeled. They said every machine was 
going through about a hundred bottles a minute, and that wasn't full 
production. The high season is around Christmas when everyone drinks 
a lot. So you can just imagine how fast these bottles were going. I 
was almost surprised there weren't a couple flying off the assembly 
lines and hitting the wall or something. Then we went to where they 
actually brewed the beer. In a very hot room that smelled sour and 
dank, were huge conical  shapes with pipes reaching into the ceiling. 
Inside gallons and gallons of beer were being made. It wasn't a small 
town brewery. Krombacher is one of the largest (maybe even the 
largest)  brewery in Germany.We learned about the different brewing 
techniques and how everything has to be the perfect temperature: 
really hot at first, and then really cold. It was really interesting.
    The next highlight was the musical "In the Ghetto". It was put on by 
a traveling South African group, so even though they spoke English, I 
hardly understood a word. I went with my third host family and was a 
bit surprised to find that this play was in the same warehouse as the 
Magic Flute was. Lucky for us, we were in the 22nd row this time. 
Whoopdidoo. But actually, we found seats in the fifth row after 
intermission, so we were really able to enjoy the show. It was about 
students in South Africa, the violence, drugs, and everyday life. The 
second part of the show took place in a neighboring village where the 
cast put on spectacular dances. What I couldn't understand was 
definitely made up for in the dancing and singing. They jumped and 
leaped over the stage, sometimes animal costumes and sometimes in 
traditional Africa clothing. I was really impressed.
    So the next day, found me in Neumunster with Marina and family. Due 
to bad weather, we stayed inside most of the weekend, playing German 
games and watching movies. On Saturday we did make it outside for a 
little bit of shopping, partying, and a visit to the hairdresser. :) 
I now sport a European hairstyle. o yeah baby. After going back to 
Siegen, I met up with a friend from the US, in Bonn. We had fun 
walking around Bonn for hours, looking for a specific shop (that we 
never found). But it was fun nevertheless.
    So, birthday time. I woke up to my host mom singing me Happy 
Birthday in German as she led me into the kitchen. There it was 
decorated with lit candles and a big Herzlichen Gluckwunsch sign und 
presents. :) For my birthday present, we're driving up to essen at 
the end of the month and going to see Phantom of the Opera. I'm so 
excited. And yes, this time it's in a real theatre. But the whole day 
was a surprise. People I hardly even knew came up and congratulated 
me. I had a storm of packages, emails, and telephone calls. I felt so 
loved! Later that afternoon, my host family and I left for 
Saarbrucken, a city on the French border, to visit my host mom's 
parents. They were celebrating 40 years of living in the house that 
they built. Quite an accomplishment. So I'm going to fast forward 
through the weekend, saying that we had a big party for the house on 
Saturday, after a day of shopping. Sunday we went to Nancy in France. 
France is absolutely gorgeous people. If you've never been there, I 
highly recommend it. Even though the weather was bad (in the twenties 
and cloudy), we walked around seeing the sights. In the middle of the 
city is a huge, umm, I guess it used to be a kind of palace. Today 
its City Hall, and Opera theatre, a hotel, and a tourist attraction. 
But it was so beautiful. Everyone was white stone gilded in gold, 
with elegant fountains and gates adorning the courtyard. It was 
amazing. We walked around Nancy trying our best to gain the "French 
experience". We ate eclairs (and they are sooooo much better in 
France than in America) and went to a cafe that served only tea after 
walking in a park and my host cousin waltzing with her dad on a 
pavilion. I felt so French! I even tried out my language skills (I'm 
learning French in school) and realized how inadequate they are. 
Yireh and Maria, I commend you guys. Between how fast French is, and 
how only a quarter of every word is spoken, you guys must have had a 
very hard time. Later that night, we went to a Dirty Dancing Party to 
celebrate Fasching. I don't know what it's called in English, but 
it's the same holiday that they celebrate with Mardi Gras in New 
Orleans. We had so much fun. And now I'm back in Siegen, with the 
sniffles and writing you guys an email, that is in truth, way too 
long. It snowing so hard outside, I can't even see out the window. I 
wish you all a wonderful week, and miss you all sooooo much.
Suzie