Anyways, this weekend I got the wonderful oppurtunity to go on school choir trip to Norderney, a tincy wincy little island off the north coast of Germany.
I and about 40 other students, ranging from 9 to 17 years old, participated in this trip spending the weekend singing and struggling against the (as Germans say) Arsch-kalt weather that plagues the tiny island (and most of Northern Deutschland) year-round. On Friday morning, all 40 of us and a few teachers took off by bus towards the Norddeich, about a 3-hour trip. There were only 6 people there from my grade; therefore, we made the joke the entire time that we were only there so we could babysit the little ones. Nevertheless, we had a wonderful time enjoying the freedom that came with our age and also getting to dive a tad back into our youth as the kids pulled us along into their shenanigans.
We spent most of the bus ride talking about everything and nothing, and I forced my German friends to read some English aloud, which, of course, was absolutely hysterical.
Eventually we got to the Norddeich, where we would be taking a ferry across the North Sea to some good ole' sunny beach relaxation.....ha, not a chance. On the boat, because of the wind and the ridiculous coldness of the air, I wore an undershirt, under a shirt, under a sweatshirt, under a coat, with a scarf, gloves, and a cap and hood, and was still so cold that I was forced to cuddle with my classmates. And also for the first time in my life, I saw WILD SEA LIONS, which was pretty darn cool, they were doing absolutely nothing, just chillin' out (chilling, ha, cold, ha), but even when a sea lion does nothing its still quite wonderful (you might be able to see that I like sea lions). I will be honest to say that I never got the oppurtunity to ride one, but I promise, before I leave this realm, I will have ridden a wild sea lion, oh yes I will.
After a forty minute ride, we were finally on Norderney, and got to the Jugendherberge. That means, "youth hostel," which is a very basic hotel-type vacational sleep-place. I am not sure if these sorts of hotels are popular in America, but I would say they are a very popular and cheaper alternative to hotels in Germany. It was nothing fancy, and when I say nothing fancy, I mean that our bedroom came with no towels, handtowels, shampoo, body or hand soap (yes I did have to go three days without the oppurtunity to wash my hands in my bathroom, but that doesn't mean I didn't wash my hands at all, I just washed them with soap...less often than someone should). But to be honest, I liked how simple it was. There was no expectance of formalness, you could be as loud as you want in the hallways and no one would complain. It was an attitude of, "Okay, here is your room key, have fun, we'll leave some breakfast out for you, and I will see you when you give me the back, bye!" which, considering my occasional aversion to human interaction in a second language, I really enjoyed.
On Friday night, after a pretty long hour-and-a-half of singing English Christmas songs (why English? The depth of English in this coutry is an interesting and troubling topic that I will dive into sometime in the near future), the six of us crazy kids went down to the beach in what was probably 30 degree weather. Despite the desire to amputate both legs, I had a really, really wonderful time there. We just frolicked around in the blissful silence of the crashing waves, spinning around on the beach, running away from the incoming tide, and singing horrible German oldies. After that, we all walked hand in hand through the city, forcing the island inhabitors, who are normally customed to a quiet life, to listen to our loud and seemingly obnoxious serenade. I kept wondering the entire weekend, "Why would anyone want to live on such a small island?" It is forty minutes from the mainland, is not especially beautiful, and experiences some really cold (understatement) weather. But that night held all of the answers. Walking the through the streets at night, you could almost hear the silence, and by that I am trying to describe that feeling when it is so quiet, that you feel like any sudden sound my disturb the natural order of things. It was so, but at the same time, no matter where you were on the island you could always hear the faint and gentle sound of water rushing up on shore and then back down again. That night, I slept like a baby.
On Saturday, we decided that we were going to eat breakfast on the beach, so we got up pretty early for a Saturday, packed our German breakfasts (which consists of 80% bread and 20% more bread) and made our way Artic-bound. I sortof...forgot my jacket. Here is a picture of the struggle.
It was quite difficult to enjoy any time here...so I just picked up a few shells, ate my bread, and made a mad dash for heat (not to mention that I did put a hat over my face, so the others had to comically lead me back to the hostel)
Nevertheless, it was still pretty darn beautiful. After another round of singing we went back out to the city, where I experienced my first German Subway, ate chocolate the size of my head, some cool piggy banks (with names on the piggy banks representing the purpose of the piggy bank z.B. Hochzeit, oder Urlaub)
Then we were forced back into another two hours of singing (to be honest the singing wasn't that bad, because the Choir conductor is absolutely wonderful, and there is nothing better than hearing a bunch of ten-year-old's singing Yesus Krist instead of Jesus Christ). We were all too excited afterwards to go through another round through the city, so instead we all just hung out and let the kids exhaust us death. I really cannot adequately describe the cuteness of the little girls coming up to me and asking me the most random questions, they kept stealing my shoes, and playing tricks on me. Perhaps German kids are cuter than American kids, or perhaps are kids cute everywhere. I wish I had known how cute and small I was when I was 10, if I had, I would have used the fact much more to my advantage.
On Sunday morning after breakfast and noch mehr singen, we went to a local church to perform during a mass. It was a really beautiful Church, built in 1867 and complete with a pulpit and wooden model ships hanging from the ceiling. The mass was in German, so I understood about 20%, but still, it really was a wonderful experience.
After the mass, I helped the teacher-chaperones schlepp (ooh learning Yiddish too!) the kids to the beach one last time and also so they could eat waffles to their hearts' desires.
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| They be too school for cool. |
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| This sixteen-year-old, contrary to her belief, is in fact also a cute ten-year-old. |
Because Koalas make everything better.
Contrary to popular belief, we were not in Holland.
So just like that, our short little vacation was to an end. I slept on the bus ride home and was welcomed back into the arms of my host family, who kept making jokes about how wild and crazy the party that the had in my absence was. And now, I have Thanksgiving next week, and more adventures soon to begin!
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