Breakfast, Bond, Bombs, and Ballet

Nov. 25th-Dec. 1 

Wow! I cannot believe I've been here 3 months already. It feels like just yesterday I was packing up the car to go the airport. But! I will stop being sentimental and get to the interesting stuff.

Sunday, Gergei had us over for breakfast. He was cooking Hungarian eggs and advised us to bring our appetites. They were very good. Scrambled eggs with lots of different sausages and onions mixed in as well as fried lard. Yes, you read correctly, fried lard. I felt right at home with all the fattiness and cholesterol mixed in to the food. Afterwards, I think my stomach had expanded to twice its normal size, but now I can say I've had authentic Hungarian eggs. It was really nice of Gergei to have us over, I will have to invite him over for some equally delicious and fattening biscuits and gravy.

On Monday, Lena invited me over to her house for dinner. She lives in the city, but I was proud of myself for managing to find it on my own. Of course, I did get on a train going in the wrong direction, but that's normal, right? Lena cooked chicken pasta that was delicious. I could get used to having people cook for me every day of the week. We talked about different Christmas traditions and what we wanted for Christmas. After dinner, she took me down to the Dortmund Christmas market for a cup of Glühwein and a tour of the booths. Glühwein is kind of liked a spiced/sweet wine that is a Christmas tradition. I sipped some of Lena's, but I think I like apple cider better. There were also vendors who had chocolate covered everything: coconut, strawberries, almonds, etc. I got some pineapple that was really good:

Tuesday, I went with a few friends to see the new James Bond movie, Skyfall. We found a movie theater that was showing the film in the original English, but with German subtitles. However, this theater was also located within a train station. It was the one of the oddest movie experiences I've ever had. There was only one screen within the whole theater, but it looked pretty normal. However, every 15 minutes or so, you could hear the trains coming into the station. This was not that noticeable during the action sequences, but it got kind of annoying during quiet scenes, when, all of sudden, there would be the sound of screeching wheels and a conductor's whistle. Oh well.

On Thursday, my boss at my internship invited me to an exhibition opening. It was about gift shops in museums and the phenomenon of buying fakes and souvenirs of famous works of art. There would also be a guest speaker on the subject. It sounded really interesting, and I was looking forward to going. However, I was a little late to the opening and managed to sneak in toward the back. I had been there about 2 minutes when maybe 20 police officers came rushing in. Someone who looked to be the captain made an announcement (in German, of course) and everyone gasped and started getting their things together. I had no idea what was going on, but was a little freaked out. I found someone who spoke English and he told me that some construction workers had found a live bomb from World War II and they were having to evacuate everyone within a 5 block radius. The German word for this is "Blindgänger," which means dud. This 5 block radius included the museum, a lot of residences, and two hospitals. It was kind of chaotic going out on to the street, my new-found friend also told me that the police were going door to door telling people to evacuate. It was like a step back in time. He also told me that they may be able to continue with the speech and exhibtion if the police gave the all clear. I decided that I did not want to stick around one way or the other and made my way to the train station. It reminded me that even though the war ended over 60 years ago, the remnants still remain. It was an interesting and unique experience, one that I can't say I want to relive again. Here's a picture from where they found the bomb, you can see the museum in the background:

Here also is a link to an article about the bomb, it's in German, but you can kind of pick out the gist of what was going on: Blindgänger.

On Friday, I went to see a ballet. My language teacher is also part of the Dortmund Opera House and had a small part in Der Traum der Roten Kammer or The Dream of the Red Chamber. It's based off a 17th century Chinese novel.  It was a lot of fun. I got a discount because I am a student, but this fact also put me in the balcony. I was squinting the whole time trying to pick out our teacher. It was one instance where I really wanted some of those fancy opera glasses.

Oh you fancy huh?

Nonetheless, I really enjoyed the ballet. The dancing was magnificent, and I had a good view of the orchestra pit as well.

That's all for now, Schüss!

German Word of the Week: Die Ananas - "pineapple" Ananas is delicious, especially when dipped in chocolate.