Goodbye, Marburg; Hello, Harry Potter

The last two days have been extremely long days. After waking up yesterday morning, I took a train to Gießen to meet up with Ginger. We had a nice little lunch at Mr. Jones' Cafe, and we talked about our futures as usual. You need smart, creative people off of whom to bounce ideas, and Ginger is always good for this.

Aside from getting stung by one of the many annoying bees (maybe it liked my beer?), I had a good time catching up with Ginger after her recent adventures to Spain and France. Sadly, this was also our last time hanging out together in Germany until who knows when. But, for sure, we will meet up again sometime.

I headed back to Marburg and went straight to the hospital to visit my friend, Gerdi. She was doing much better and was quite happy to see me. I brought her a little present from home (Knott's Berry Farm jam). Good stuff. We had a nice chat and honestly it's quite sad that I won't be coming back to Marburg every month anymore. I know Gerdi was sad too, and she has told me repeatedly that we have to Skype so I won't lose my German. Indeed!

By the time I left the hospital, it was nearly 4 pm, so I headed down to the river to meet up with Sarina and friends. Sarina had her final exam in sociological theories or something like that. I know she did not like it one bit. Haha. When I arrived, she and her friends (some of whom I knew from previous visits) were celebrating already. The plan was to grill by the river (I'm always down for grilling), but it started to rain soon after.

So we all crowded under the bridge and grilled there! 'Twas fun! Whenever I hang out with Sarina, we speak in German, so it's great fun for me. In comparison to some of my earlier visits to Marburg, my German has gotten much much better. Although several of the students said my German was better than their English, I would have to disagree, since they've been studying English since forever. It's nice to hear that my German's gotten much better though—they said I'm like 99% fluent. Haha. I'm not.

I took a few pictures though, and in this one, you can see Amir working the grill. He did a great job.

We ate steaks on bread. So delicious! I, of course, also brought a packet of Nürnbergers. :)

Around 8 pm, we headed into the Oberstadt to meet up with Elena and Katha, who were still studying for their final exams. But they were so kind as to meet up with me for a drink, since they knew it was my last visit to Marburg. Thanks, guys!

As we walked, it was strange to think that only 11 months ago, I was just starting out in Marburg, nervous about having to speak German full-time. Nearly a year later, I walked down the same streets, chatting away effortlessly in German with my awesome German friends.

We had a great time, and it was a lot of fun catching up over drinks.

Sarina and I tried to look gangster in our pictures, but we clearly messed up on the messages for the pictures. Haha.

And of course, out of all my friends in Marburg, Elena was the first one I met, and I'm really glad she and Felix came tonight as well.

I had my last pump refill here this morning then took a train back to Berlin. I made it back by 4:45 pm and promptly hopped on an S-Bahn to Hackescher Markt, where to my horror, I discovered that the M1 was closed due to construction, and I'd have to take the replacement bus. I had no idea where it was, so I started walking in one direction. Thankfully, it was the right one, but it was quite annoying because I needed to get home, drop off my stuff, print my lesson plans for English class, print the Harry Potter tickets, and then catch the tram again within 20 minutes.

Thankfully, it all worked out, and after two more transfers, I made it home at 5:45 pm. I actually got the printing going and then hopped in the shower. So glad I did because sitting on a train for four hours is like sitting on an airplane—you feel gross afterwards.

I made it to my lessons slightly late, but all in all, it worked out well. The lessons went well, and afterwards, Tamar and I actually went around the corner from her house to a little Asian restaurant. I had been planning on hitting up McDonalds (again) before the movie, but she told me that the Asian restaurant had meals for 3€. What?! Why didn't I know about this before?!

For 3€, I had pork in green curry sauce with red bell peppers, bean sprouts, mushrooms, and bamboo shoots. Yes, I thought about E.coli, but I think I'm okay. Seriously though, for 3€, that was awesome. It was a good sized portion too. For another Euro, I got a lychee flavored juice too.

That's when we found out the US had won its World Cup game against France, and we were watching the Japan vs. Sweden game. Looks like the final will be USA vs. Japan on Sunday in Frankfurt. I've been asked by several folks if I'm going to the game. The answer is no. Frankfurt is a good four hours away and would cost at least 60€ for the round trip ticket. Plus I read in a newspaper today that Frankfurt's actually Germany's most expensive city...I always thought it was Munich (um...sandwich and Sprite for $22?), but maybe I was wrong. Or maybe my German reading comprehension just sucks.

Either way, I took the bus to the Sony Center at Potsdamer Platz right after to meet up with Temneet and the rest of the UW crew to watch Harry Potter. It was great. Some students dressed up: we had Rita Skeeter, Professor Trelawney, and Bellatrix Lestrange. We actually had an extra ticket, because a friend decided she couldn't make it at the last minute (though it was also partly my fault for not realizing my new cell phone has the weakest memory space ever, and no one could text me 'cause my inbox was full). So I called up Stefan, and he saved the day by coming just in time to join us.

The sad news: I didn't realize we had to pay extra for 3D glasses, so we all paid an extra 1€. But I snagged a free pair for Stefan because I saw a guy who was just about to toss his 3D glasses into the donation box (where you can recycle your 3D glasses), and I was like, "Wait!!! May I have your glasses?" In German, of course. He looked at me with a bit of a shocked look and nearly laughed his answer: "Of course!" Too bad I hadn't reacted more quickly when his girlfriend had thrown hers in the box 20 seconds before that.

The movie itself was great. Action-packed for sure, but still with a few cheesy parts. I won't say anything else so I don't spoil it for people, but overall I thought they did an excellent job. I liked it.

Ok, it's time for bed. In another 8 hours, I'm taking a train up to Hamburg to spend a night at my buddy Anton's. Should be a chill evening of just hanging out. Then I will have a carpool ride back to Berlin on Friday morning.

Only a week and a half left in Germany, and I'm trying to pack a ton of stuff into this last week as I say my goodbyes. I also need to pack, period. Haha.

More as the adventures continue,

Sam