The people you meet
For some reason I always seem to get myself into the weirdest situations. You know those people that always have random strangers come up and talk to them? I’m one of those people.
My host sister and I went to Berlin. Before I was with my host family they had hosted another exchange student from Sweden. I don’t know what the circumstances were like, but it didn’t work out and she left after three months. At Christmas time she had written my sister a letter saying she would be here in Berlin with her German class for a week. We took the train into Berlin and the two of them met up. I decided I needed to do some gift shopping, so I let the two of them go off while I went shopping for gifts for my friends and family back in the USA. I found all kinds of great stuff, which I would write here except my family probably reads this.
I was a lot faster than I thought I would be, and I ended up having an hour to kill before I need to be back at the train station. The weather was great so I sat down at an outdoor café and ordered some coffee. When it was time for me to go, I asked to pay and the waiter came over and decided to make casual conversation. He asked if I was from Berlin and I said no, I was from America. He then got really excited and started asking me how I liked Germany and what I was doing here. As he left to go attend to someone he dropped my empty coffee cup and it broke into several pieces. He then yelled, “THE AMI DID IT! IT’S HER FAULT!” Ami is slang for American.
I started laughing and collecting my things, when another waiter came over and also wanted to talk with me all about America. I talked with him a while then said I had to go and as I was leaving yet ANOTHER waiter screamed “GOD BLESS AMERICA!” I laughed and said thanks then he said “AND THE AMERICAN PEOPLE!” I was kind of shocked by this. First of all, I am in East Germany and people never say anything referring to God, and secondly, the Americans aren’t what I would call disliked, but we aren’t exactly well-loved either. It was kind of nice to hear though.
As I was making my way back, this lady asked if I spoke English. All over this area of Berlin, there are people who beg for money. They are from another country. Anyway, women push around baby strollers with fake babies in them trying to get people to feel sorry for them and give them money. They always ask if you speak English. My host sister told me to just tell them I don’t. So, back to the story, this lady asked me if I spoke English and I shook my head and said no. Then she asked if I spoke German, I shook my head once again. Then she asked what language I spoke–and me thinking I was so clever– said French. I mean, what are the odds that a beggar person would speak 3+ languages. Boy was I wrong! She got excited and started spouting off in fluent French! I was thinking…oh crap! The only thing i rememberd from my 5 months of French was Je ne sais pas….meaning “I dont know.“ I kind of scooted away and was laughing my head off the entire way back.
Last little bit of info. Germany won Eurovision 2010!!!! Eurovision is like the Super Bowl of Germany…except it’s more similar to American Idol. Basically, all of the countries in Europe put forth a band or singer and all of Europe votes for who is the best. Obviously, they are not allowed to vote for their own country. Norway won last year, so it was held in Oslo, Norway. Germany won with Lena Meyer Landrut’s song Satellite. It was the first time Germany had won since 1982!
