Weekend in Kiel

Sometimes I think that my life has become pretty normal since moving to Germany. There’s a comfortable rhythm to the day-to-day in Hannover that occasionally makes room for a cool vacation. Then it’s back to the usual. And then I find myself hanging out with a bunch of Eastern Europeans at a Cameroonian party in the far north of Germany, and wonder how in the world I got there.

I spent the weekend in Kiel. My Polish friend Kaska lived there before moving to Hannover and wanted to go back for a visit. She invited me along. I don’t think I realized until we got there that it would also be a German language immersion weekend for me; except none of the people that we spent time with are actually German. Kaska used to coordinate programming for international students at the university in Kiel, so a lot of her friends were/are students who worked in that office. We stayed with Sasha and Taras, who are Russian and Ukranian, respectively. The rest of the crew from various former Soviet countries. They all speak to each other in German, usually.  Except for the occasional English break with Kaska, I had to keep up. And I did surprisingly ok. It was a little exhausting and I know I missed out on some jokes, but I generally understood what was going on and didn’t talk too much. When I did, they were really patient with my elementary school vocabulary. It was more consecutive hours of listening and speaking German than I’ve ever had to do before.

Kiel is not an attractive town, but it has a nice personality. That’s what you’d say if it were a person, anyway.  There’s no Old City or beautiful church or castle to look at. But there’s a big working harbor and a lot of seagulls. Kiel is located on the Baltic Sea, near the channel that connects the North and Baltic Seas, and from Kiel you can take a ferry to Oslo, Norway or Gotteburg, Sweden. There is a big shipyard there too, and a lot of crazy cold weather surfers who drive around in VW busses. On Saturday, Kaska, Sasha, Taras, and I went to the beach to walk around. The town we went to is called Kalifornien, which everyone thinks is pretty funny. If they really wanted you to think you were in California, they’d have to spell it right, and make the sun come out, and raise the temperature by about 30 degrees. But it’s good for a laugh anyway. The ocean was so calm there that my first glimpse of the Baltic Sea reminded me more of one of the Great Lakes than of  an ocean.  It has something to do with islands that act as breakwaters and ocean currents and such. Here are a couple of photos (you can always click on them to make them bigger):

Along the harbor in Kiel. Sasha is the tall one, Kaska is the small one, and Taras is the guy.

Then there was the Cameroonian party. Cultural nights are one of the programs sponsored by the international student office where Kaska used to work. We happened to be in town during Cameroonian night. Kaska was a bit like a returning celebrity, but the Cameroonians were definitely the center of attention. They had come to Kiel from universities all over Germany to have a traditional dance performance and fashion show and a play and of course a dance party. I had not been to a college party since, well, college. I know it sounds like I am waaay to old, until you realize that people in Germany go to school for a long, long time. College is basically free and the government even gives you money for your living expenses while you study (more on the German education system coming up in another post).  Kaska has a legendary friend who studied for something like 59 semesters. I don’t think that’s common, but it is impressive. He was not at the party, unfortunately. The Ukranians, the Germans, the Cameroonians, however, were there, all well over 21, dancing in the university cafeteria. And then it was 3am. Funny how these things happen.

Now it's back to laundry, groceries, homework and German class. The normal routine has resumed here. Next weekend, though, I will be celebrating Thanksgiving with some Australians and Germans and a couple of people from California... the real one.