For lunch, we stopped in Metz. Metz used to be a heavily fortified French city that was renowned for its military power. Now, it's just a fun historical place to visit for lunch. There were authentic French restaurants, inauthentic French restaurants, Italian, Spanish, and lots and lots of bakeries. So I went to a bakery for lunch and bought a portion of ratatouille. It was cold (which I was not expecting), nor did the bakery believe in giving out forks (no one in my group got one), but it was delicious. If I could, I would eat it again, even without a fork.
The rest of the bus ride was spent sleeping, listening to music, playing card games, and playing Mafia. It was a great way to solidify group bonding before we arrived in Bietinghim-Bissigan. When we arrived, the host families were all standing around the parking lot holding up signs with names on them. We unloaded the bus, grabbed our suitcases and instruments, and began to walk along the crowd, searching for our name. I found my family quickly, and they rushed me home to show me my bedroom, the bathroom, the toilet, and dinner. We had meat, cheese, vegetables, and bread for dinner that night. Little did I know that I was going to consume more bread in the next 48 hours than I had consumed in the last year. After dinner, we talked for a couple hours before we all decided we were tired and wanted to go to bed. I fell asleep with a warm blanket over me and the sounds of a home murmuring outside my door.
I woke up the next morning at 7:30 (because it was the one day I could sleep in). I wandered downstairs to find Frau packing to go to the grocery store. She offered to take me, I threw on some shoes, and I got my first introduction to German life. We passed a flea market on the way to the deli, which resulted in a conversation about the differences between flea markets and farmers' markets. The deli is a small store that clearly specializes in meats, sausages, and cheese. So far, my host family had mostly spoken English to me, so when the butcher began to rapidly talk in German, I was taken aback. Luckily, no one expected me to answer, because I didn't know what to say, much less what to order. As Frau was ordering, she would also show me the different sausages and meats behind the counter. I had never realized that there were so many different types of sausages, but we only bought three before heading to the grocery store. The grocery store was kind of like Aldi's in that you had to pay for a cart, but it was different from any grocery store I had ever been in. There was only food. As we shopped, I kept wondering where the rest of the store was, but the lack of non-food items meant that there was space for a greater diversity, which was fascinating. Once we bought our produce, we went to the bakery, where we arrived as the bakers were pulling bread out of the oven. They had dinner rolls and sweet rolls and pretzel rolls and even whole loaves of bread. Frau ordered some of the family's favorites, and then we drove home, where we unpacked the groceries and ate breakfast.
That afternoon, we went to the zoo. This was my first time going to a zoo, so I was really excited to begin walking around and seeing the flamingos, seals, black bears, and poisonous snakes. We also went to the Schmetterling House, where we saw all types of butterflies. They fluttered peacefully in their artificial forest, hanging out under leaves or gazing out the windows of their greenhouse. We also saw a couple of butterflies hatch from their cocoons. They looked so confused and disoriented. I understand why the zookeepers allow them to hatch in a smaller cage before releasing them to the join the more mature butterflies.
We also saw the seals eat supper, which involved quite a show. The seals have been trained to leap out of the water onto the rocks (which I'm pretty sure were taller than I am), to sing, to race, and to come by name when called. The water sloshed out of the pool as the seals were performing for supper, and I was impressed. Who knew seals were that trainable?
After spending the entire afternoon at the zoo, we went home to eat our own supper. The only performance necessary was to set the table, but with 5 people moving at once, it was easily as impressive as the seals. We spent all of supper discussing American politics, German football, the weather, religion, and we discussed these and many other topics late into the night.
Sunday, I woke up to a quiet house. It didn't stay quiet for long, because Herr is a pastor, and we were going to church. However, today's church was special: it was a yearly meeting of all the churches in the area. Breakfast played host to an interesting discussion on the differences in denominations of Christianity, but it was cut short by the time. We all hustled to the car and sped into the open country. We passed beautiful winery fields that scale the steep hills with ease, quaint villages that have somehow been untouched by time, rivers that skip joyfully along the banks, and a nuclear power plant.
We arrived to a very crowded auditorium building. There were people mingling on the sidewalks, in the lobbies, in the auditorium itself, and in any other nook or cranny they could find. Some of these people have not seen each other in a year, and they were determined to talk now. I was a bit overwhelmed but still happy to be included, even if I had no clue what anyone was saying. Luckily, there was a translator machine I could borrow for the service, so I was able to understand the majority of it.
Lunch was another time to socialize, and I met many family friends, acquaintances, and a few random strangers while we ate sandwiches, carrots, and popsicles. At two, I picked up another translator machine for the next part of the conference, which was a celebration of the retirees from ministry service. There was one guy who has served for 76 years, and he was one of three people briefly interviewed about his career and spirituality. It was fascinating to see how different denominations carry out a worship service, and I left with a lot to think about (which I always consider a sign of a good service).
The barbeque was excellent. The smell of slightly charred sausages wafted out over us as we (the people of the United States) greeted friends while silmataenously introducing our host families to other Americans. There were at least five tables filled with food, and it was all gone by the end of the party. While the barbeque was a way for the band directors and chaperones to check on us, it was also a way to reintroduce each of us to the band. My host family already feels like home, and so that reintroduction was necessary because we're all a little different now. This difference will influence how we play and the bonds we have spent two weeks building with each other. But more importantly, the barbeque was about eating some amazing food and spending time with amazing people.
That's what this entire weekend has been about: spending time with amazing people. My host family is as supportive and invested as my own family, which is a key part that is always missing when I travel. While they have learned more English from me than I have learned German from them, I can still say Danke for everything you have done so far. You've given me a whole new world.
