more Advent[ure] in Germany

SO, where did I leave off? Sonja come over. Ok. I should write these more often; I think I’m forgetting all of the funniest stuff and just remembering the big events. No good. I know the following Saturday had something funny about it, but I can’t exactly remember what it was. On Sunday the Americans went to Salzburg. I got up early and went to Alter Peter near the Marienplatz for Mass. Mass is always good, but the church was nearly empty, as usual. It seems so illogical that these magnificent churches, gilded and beautiful are hardly used. I get to wondering what they must have been like when they were first built. Were they full of worshippers? Or were they always this way?

Afterwards I had plenty of time to wait for my buddies to get to the train station, so I went to Burger King for a coffee. It was pleasant, although I spent a good deal of the time listening to some young guys (probably still drunk from Saturday night) arguing with the staff about the cost of a breakfast meal. The police were called. Their strange German fashion and the 80’s music videos playing in the background made the whole situation seem surreal. Like the world is falling apart. There are a lot of people who’ll tell you that it is, but those same people would also like you to think that it should be surprising. To the Christian who lives every day as if it’s the last one that God will give him, its not so much surprising. We already know that this world wasn’t built to last.

I met everyone on time and we got on the train. The trip lasted a good two hours. When you only know 6 other Americans your age in Germany its pretty easy to be friends with all of them. So there was pleasant conversation and general all around cheeriness. We got to Salzburg and the first thing we did was eat a Döner. You have to eat a Döner in every new city you visit. It’s the rule. The Salzburger Döner is about the best Döner you’ll ever find. At that point our group of 15 split in half between those who eat Döner and those who don’t. The non-eaters went on into the city and all of a sudden I became the leader of the Döner eaters.

Though everyone in the group had been to Salzburg before, I was the only one who had any ideas on where to go. I remember vividly every moment that I spent being lost there with Barb last winter. I led people around the gardens, to the sound of music steps, across the bridge, then up to a monastery where some monks make good beer. Unfortunately it wasn’t open yet. I took people up on the Salzberg. We had a good view and good fresh air. We climbed back down by the Volkstheater and found the Christmas market in the heart of the old town. We split up for 45 minutes so that each could go Christmas shopping. We all really liked the market itself. The scenery is wonderful and the market is laid out well. Its not as crowded and dirty as some of the others I’ve been to. The only problem I found is that the goods are all the same as in Munich, just a little bit more expensive. I didn’t end up buying anything.

Thereafter, we went to the birth house of Mozart. It looked like a house, except with a sign out front. Not that impressive. By this time the monastery brewery was open, so we knew where to go. That was fun. We drank a Maß and then went on with our day. I took everyone to the Red-light district and showed them where the GI ran into a building trying to get to a whore-house with his tank. They were amused. I felt like I remembered everything I had read in the tour book 10 months ago. I was tour-guide extraordinaire. Then we just walked around and got to the train station and had a bite to eat. That was the end of that.

The following week was pretty much the same as every other week. On Thursday night Christoph took me to a military orchestra advent concert. That was fun. They played Christmas favorites, but also traditional Bavarian songs. They even had Alpenhorn… the big horns in the Ricola commercials. Afterward we stood around outside while he talked to this General and that Commander and a couple of Oberstleutnants. On Friday the Count and Countess of Plettenberg (Gudila’s parents) came over. They’re funny. Friday night I went to a couple of bars with four of the Americans. One of the bars was a deat-metal goth bar where the beer is really cheap. It was a good time, but we really didn’t fit in. I do really like my American friends. I don’t remember exactly how used my time on Saturday, but most of it was good quality family time. It was a good, comfortable weekend.

On Sunday afternoon I traveled via ICE to Stuttgart and then via S-Bahn down to Böblingen for a training in Hypermesh preprocessing. I know you just got goosebumps just reading that. I would too. When I got into Böblingen I walked to my hotel. I had a little bit more luggage than I knew I’d be needing, which made the walk a little bit miserable, and I was happy to finally arrive, check in and collapse in my room. This is a four star hotel, and from the lobby it looks like it deserves every one of them. My room was a little less than extraordinary. It looked like every other nice hotel room I’ve ever been in in Germany. I think the only one that was ever better was the Crowne Plaza in Berlin, where I stayed two years ago. In any case, it was nice and clean and had a big bed and a TV. I don’t watch TV at all in Feldafing so I was excited to flip on CNN. That was exciting. I knew it was a four star hotel and that it had a sauna and a fitness room, so I brought my running shoes and work out clothes with me. The room was right down the hall from my room, so I went to check it out. It turned out that the “fitness-room” was no more than a rowing machine and some sort of thigh master thing from the 70’s. Not impressive. That was a let down, but I was still happy to have some time off from Feldafing.

I went for a walk around the town on Sunday night. Naturally I looked for the old city, and the easiest way to find the old city in any European town is to look for the church steeple. I found the church at the top of the hill and as I approached I heard something like a women’s chorus. It was lovely, so I went to a door and opened it. I peered in and saw a sink and the back of a person wearing a choir robe. Oops. I must have found the door to the dressing room. Good going. I went to the other side of the building and tried another door. I found myself at the back of a full church. At the front was an orchestra, a big people choir, a little girl’s choir and four opera singers. Right next to them on the stage was a sink with a door behind it. Good going, Matthew. I always knew how to overdo an entrance. On the way home I found a Chinese place. I really got a lot of food for my money… or maybe its just that you don’t get your money’s worth anywhere in the Munich area, but I was happy. I sure do wish it were possible to get cheap food (or cheap anything, for that matter) in Munich.

The seminars started daily at nine and ran til 5:30. There were four other people at this seminar and we shared a little conference room with computers. The instructor crammed so much information into those days. It was all in German, and even though I understood what he was saying, I was burnt out at the end of the day. It was really intense and I found myself rather frustrated at times with the computer. That made it all the more sweet when I went back to my hotel every night and took a bubble bath while drinking Andechs beer and watching Top Gun on my laptop. I don’t think I can possibly get much more decadent than that. There isn’t much more to say about the seminars.

I came back to the Munich area on Thursday night and went with all of my luggage to Paul’s place for our Thursday night talk series. Bible study from 6 to 7, then cooking and eating until 8, then a talk with more of the community members, then finally a small men’s group. Very good. It was very fruitful. I got home at about half past one, thanks in large part to the trains. On Friday I went to my lecture at the TUM and then on to a community prayer meeting at the parish hall. It was nice, there was gluhwein and afterwards Teri, Andrea, Daniel and I went to a bar where I enjoyed my first glass of scotch in far too long.

On Saturday morning, a whole bunch of little kids came over to stick candy all over a house that was to be delivered to a children’s home. James wanted to see what life was like at the Prinz von Bayern household so I invited him to come. It was pretty crazy. I felt sick to my stomach just looking at the house with all of the candy and powdered sugar. It was really something. When the action was mostly over the house got quieter and I think it was uncomfortable for James, who always has something going on. I’m used to the slower pace by now, but he left to go shovel his host-mom’s sidewalk. I don’t think the family-centric atmosphere and the humble (albeit large) house was quite what he expected from royalty.

Stuff has calmed down by now and I’m going to try to spend the next week preparing for Christmas and Ben and Katie’s visit. It’s going to be quite a Christmas break. The house is going to be full of guests and absolute madness. I can’t wait.

Oh, and my bathroom’s floor is heated. A very nice feature.