MUNICH VISIT

Sunday 11/27

I embarked on a journey to our neighbors to the north, Germany (a.k.a. “the land of chocolate,” according to The Simpsons). To me Germany is the land of my friends, the twins, “Nicky and Sandy” (*the German word for twins is ZWILLINGE = tsvillingah). Nicky stayed with my family for a few weeks in 1994 when I was a senior in high school under an exchange program my German teacher had set up with an all-girls school in Munich called the Bertolt Brecht Gymnasium (*a GYMNASIUM is not a place to work out – it is actually a kind of high school – has nothing to do with sports necessarily). So, the girls from this school came for a few weeks in the spring and then the kids from our school went for a few weeks in June. I didn’t get to go with our school, but I did go for a few weeks on my own after my first year of college. My family always thought I t was kind of funny that Nicky was paired up with us since my brothers are also identical twins. Well, so Nicky came one year and then Sandy came the next year! They have great memories of learning how to drive in our family’s minivan on the icy Hoffman Estates streets (they can’t learn how to drive until age 18 in Germany) and of country line dancing with my parents (yes, they got dressed up in cowboy boots and hats and everything).

They had a great time meeting other friends at HEHS like Angeline Colles, Melissa Ramos, and Rhiannon Kovacs and Heather (sorry, I can’t remember her last name). So then Nicky had come back to visit in 1997 and we had a great time playing pool and singing Karaoke at Melissa’s house and at the pool place in Hanover Park.

So, I graduated from Roosevelt in 1998 and moved to Texas and pretty much stayed here except for the occasional visit to Chicago with the occassional visit to the HEHS Deutschklub Weihnachtsfest (= Christmas party), where I was often to find Angeline and her family. In 2002 Nicky came to Houston to visit with her friend and since Houston is in the same state as Dallas, I drove down there to see her (yeah, well, it’s about a 4.5 hour drive, but at least you get to see that statue of Sam Houston when you get there!). So, we had a great time going to the Texas Road House and shopping at the super-fancy mall outside of Houston, and I stayed the night with her friend’s family, and we had a great time catching up.

Nicky and Sandy have always been great about sending emails! I always love reading their updates and seeing pictures, and I enjoy writing back and sharing my own pictures. Even though we didn’t talk on the phone a lot, the internet gave us a chance to stay in touch better. In March, 2004 David and I went to Prague with Sovik’s UNT Czech trip and we thought to try to get together with our German friends, but it was not to be since Nicky was moving at that time getting her nest all ready for her new bundle of joy, Leonie! But, I kept promising them that I was trying to get a scholarship to come studing in Vienna and that I would someday see them again. Finally I made good on that!

So, I was trying to figure out how to get from Vienna to Munich – it’s really not that far – probably 300-350 miles if I had to estimate – 4 hours by car. I tried the trains and they were actually a little more than I expected, so my friends Carly and Kim (the “Bobsy twins”) recommended Mitfahrzentrale (= mitt far tsentrAL) which is an online service you can use to find drivers or passengers to share a ride. I know what you’re thinking – it’s scary like hitchhiking, but it’s really very common here since gas (BENZIN) prices are so high, crime is so low, and people still trust each other. It is most common amongst students. So, I found this driver who would actually take me both there and back (amazing) at the end of November. He had feedback (like ebay!) and I got his driver’s license number, phone number, address, shoe size, etc… just for securtity and I told my roommate and David my plans. I felt confident about it so I went to the Hutteldorf stop on the U4 line Sunday morning at 8:30 and I met this nice guy named “Andreas.” I didn’t know what to expect in terms of car condition, but from our conversations on the phone he seemed like a normal guy. Well, his car was very nice – new, in great condition and a great ride. He was actually about 35 and super nice! He put my suitcase in the car and let me sit where I want, and even let me use his cell phone to call Sandy when we got close to Munich. Most importantly he got me to Munich safely. Then I had said last week that I would pay him for using his cell phone to call, but he wouldn’t take anything extra. We didn’t talk very much – just a little bit – he drove and I slept a little. I have to admit that I really enjoyed being in a car (being DRIVEN in a car!) and watching all the snow on the trees as we drove on the Autobahn. So, he dropped me off in Munich and Sandy came and picked me up.

Well, it’s a good thing that Sandy’s car is green with flowers on it, so that way I will never be able to miss in a parking lot! Hmmm… maybe I should do that to my car…

Well, it was so great to see Sandy, who just got married almost two monthes ago to Judith, her partner of seven years. In Germany, she explained to me, you can get married for certain civil/legal purposes, like in the case of injury the partner has legal rights to say what course of action to take, and in case of death, the partner has the same rights as other married couples. It is not called a marriage, but some sort of civil union/partnership. She told me they have it in Spain and maybe France (?), too. Judith and I became fast friends sharing a love of technology (she has Jornada 720!!! – she’s one of us, Greg!). She was showing me all kinds of cool techno-toys she has, like a super small external 80 gig hard drive that accepts all kinds of media cards so you can save your pictures on it if you’re on an extended trip. And yes, well I could go on and on since, as you know, I love technology, but na ja….

So, Sunday I had lunch with Nicky, Sandy, Leo (Nicky’s baby) and Thomas (Nicky’s boyfriend) at a German restaurant in Munich, and then I went back to Sandy’s house in St. Heinrich, where we caught up, looked at pictures and then ate dinner. Later we went to Sandy and Judith’s dance class in Munich. They were so great! Of course they are in the advanced class and they were working on the cha-cha that day. All the couples in this class were same-sex couples and they were all super! The teacher was very lively and not only taught the moves well, but also made it fun for everyone.

Judith showed me the photo albums she made from the wedding – they were so creative! She used Photoshop to do some really cool, tasteful effects and also some scrapbooking things, too. It was so impressed – she showed me how she did them on the computer so I am already inspired. It is so easy to see how happy Sandy and Judith are. They really have a home filled with a great deal of love – probably the most I’ve seen of any couple. That is also inspiring.

Monday we got up and Sandy made breakfast. We went to her office and I go to see where she works. She works for a telephone company as a kind of a quality control manager – she had to do a little work today so Nicky and Leo met us at her office and we went on our own. We left and ate lunch at CADU – “Café an der Universitaet.” I had Curry chicken and we caught up more. Then we went to the Alte Pinakothek – one of the art museums (the “old” Pinakothek). It was actually closed that day so we walked across the street to the Neue Pinakothek (the “new” Pinakothek) and saw the collection there. It was mostly works from the 18^th-early 20^th century, the later part of which is my favorite time period, so it worked out very well. I was excited to see the Honore Daumier Don Quixote original painting that I had written about in a paper I wrote about the Strauss tone poem by the same name. They had a really nice collection of Degas and Van Gogh, too so I was really pleased. We saw Degas’ the Sunflowers and van Gogh’s self portrait. I got a print of the Daumier painting in the giftshop and we were on our way. We met Sandy and I went home with her. Judith made us “extreme” nachos (and used the tabasco sauce I brought them!) for dinner. Nicky had to work a little in the evening from home – she works at an AIDS help center answering questions peoeple email to their center. Oh, then Judith spent several hours with me helping me plan my tour through Germany in March (she is a travel agent)! Oh my gosh – she helped me figure out the itinerary, map out the course, and check the train options and schedules – and Tuesday she’s going to find places for me to stay and check on prices for the train! She was so patient and helpful – I was so overwhelmed by how helpful and giving she is. What a great day.