EuroLife: Day 21

We've had a busy, but fantastic, weekend. Michael and I spent yesterday hiking Jenzig, the highest of the local mountains, and today we went to Zwiebelmarkt. What is Zwiebelmarkt, you ask? Why, an Onion Festival of course. We went with about a dozen people that we met through our church. (They are featured in the first of today's pictures.) We really had a great time; picture some combination of a Renaissance Fair, a music festival with everything from American Blues to some dramatic German musical theatre, and--well--a celebration of onions. Zwiebelmarkt was in Weimar, and it was our first time seeing the city. It will be a must-see for visitors, it's really very beautiful. (Alas, Zwiebelmarkt comes but once a year.)

One particularly exciting moment for me is captured by the next photo. I am about half-way through Harry Potter und der Stein der Weisen, so my mind is once again immersed in Harry's magical world. Imagine my surprise, then, to see Hedwig sitting on the arm of a man at Zwiebelmarkt! I have never before seen a snow owl, and I could not believe how beautiful it was. Its eyes were unreal: enormous, bright yellow glassy eyes. We had some serious eye contact and, I have to tell you, I think that I would lose a staring contest with this guy. In any case, while I was looking at the owl, the handler said "Ein Harry Potter Eule, ja?" I felt pretty busted.

Something else changed today, as well. Up until today I have been in a bit of a bind. I am, by nature, a chatty person. It has been very difficult for me, when faced with friendly German folk, to simply stand, smile, nod, and direct all real conversation towards Michael. Well, today I just threw myself into it. I think it's because the people we were with were so friendly, and because they spoke some English with me as well. In any case, I had a lot of fun carrying on conversations in whatever German I could muster. Some of my attempts were, no doubt, more successful than others, but all in all it was a lot of fun. Let's just saw we all laughed a lot. Michael tells me that I will learn the language quickly because I don't take myself too seriously and I'm not afraid to try things out before I'm totally confident. It's a nice way of saying that I'm willing to make a fool of myself :) The only problem is that I sometimes get myself into conversations that I can't finish. I practice the opening sentences in my mind , then I start the conversation and the next thing I know I'm asking "wie, bitte?" over and over again. But it's a start!

I end with two funny, though wholly unrelated, items:

First: I had an absolutely delicious bagel sandwich for lunch today in Jena (also with the church crowd.) I was then told that the bagels are New York bagels. They are made in NY, frozen, and shipped to Germany. The truth is I'm a bit skeptical, but it would be funny if I were eating NY bagels in Jena!

Second: There is a truly terrible German pop star named Jimi Blue, and his top single is in English--very bad English. He's about 16, he sings and raps and mugs for the camera, much like the 16 year old pop stars in America. In any case, you really should watch the video on YouTube. The song is called "I'm Lovin (Little Red Hot Pants)" The link follows:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=oofq51smNHc&mode=related&search=