Fifteenth Day in Dortmund

Sept. 15th, 2012

No sleeping in on this Saturday. I was up at 8:00 AM to catch a train into the main station. We were meeting for another class excursion, this time to Düsseldorf. The trains were not as packed this time, but I did have to stand the whole ride there. Once we were off, we went straight to a famous shopping street in town. The Königsallee or King’s Street is known for its expensive shops and restaurants. We passed Cartier, Gucci, Armani, Louis Vuitton, and many more. There weren’t that many people in the stores (I wonder why?) but I did get a kick out of gawking at all the fancy cars parked on the streets. Once we were done with that, the tutors took us to the Parliament building. Düsseldorf is the capital of the North-Rhine Westphalia state. 

We then toured some buildings designed by Frank Gehry. They reminded me a lot of the city of Whoville in Dr. Seuss books.  

  

After we got back from the city, I went to Carl's apartment for Turkish food and board games. I got to meet one of their friends, Dieter. His full name is Wolf-Dieter. If my first name was Wolf, I would totally go by that, but to each his own. He was very nice and also studying to be a teacher like Carl and Ann-Kathrin. He doesn’t watch Saturday Night Live, so I couldn’t ask him if he got tired off all Mike Myers references. 

It's time for Sprockets!!! 

We played Triominoes (or Triminey as Ann-Kathrin calls it), which was basically a game of Dominoes with three sides. Ann-Kathrin won both times, much to everyone else’s dismay. Then we went to pick up the Turkish food. I ordered a Dönur and it reminded me a lot of the Greek gyros I’ve tried back home. Carl told me the difference is the type of meat used. Turkish Dönurs use chicken or beef, while Greecian Gyros usually use pork. I also got to try some of their freshly baked bread and baklava. Both were heavenly.

After that, some more friends came over. The first to arrive was Matthias, or Matze, who is studying Engineering in Bochum. He didn’t speak a lot of English, but we made do with pantomiming and a lot of translation from Carl and Ann-Kathrin. Thomas came over as well. He is also an English major at Dortmund. We all played a board game similar to Yahtzee. I didn’t want to say, but I usually suck at Yahtzee and always forget the rules. Thankfully, Ann-Kathrin was sitting next to me and helped me along. It turns out that the game I don’t know how to play is one of my best. I got two Yahtzees (all the dice rolled turn up on the same side) and they were both all sixes! I couldn’t believe it. In the end, my score was 403 and Dieter, who came in second, scored in the 200 range. All in all, a good game, I think. Haha. 

After that, we all sat around talking and comparing and contrasting America and Germany. Dieter knew what Bojangles was, so we both raved about that to the others. The only comparison over here is KFC and it’s subpar at best. I really want a Boberry biscuit now. It was a fun day, and I was happy to meet Carl and Ann-Kathrin’s friends. More board games and fun to come!

German Word of the Day: Der Tisch- "Table" When playing Yathtzee, make sure the dice stay on der Tisch.