My First Real Weekend - A Rousing Success

Friday Night - An Authentic German Birthday Party

Those of you who have been keeping up are already aware that I had a guest this weekend, Julie from Leipzig. On Friday night, Julie, Teri, Emily and I went to a birthday bash that was thrown by one of Emily's German flatmates. Not only did I have a great time, but this was a great opportunity to get a real feel for the social atmosphere of the German youth.

It's English Time!

After a nice tram ride, we arrived in the part of the city where the party was being held. We were not 100% sure of the location, and none of us had handies (mobile phones) with which to contact the hosts. Thus, we were forced to wander about the area for a good hour or so before finally locating the party. We knew the location was directly on the Elbe, so we used the cycling path to search for it. As we were walking, we saw a group of about five ten-year-olds with an adult on the path. One of them jumped out from some trees and yelled at us, "It's English time!" I found this to be absolutely hilarious, and it made the search well worth our time.

We Find the Party At Last

I find it difficult to relate the location of the party to anything I have ever seen in Americaland. It was a wooden cabin type thing with tables and chairs, a kitchen, bathrooms, and an outdoor area with a fire pit, grill, etc. It had the feeling of a hunting lodge (or better yet a building of a summer camp, considering I have never been to a hunting lodge). Apparently is was being rented by those throwing the party. As with much of this particular blog entry, I am still waiting on photographs taken by the people I spent the weekend with. It will be updated once I receive these photographs.

Shots of Fire

The atmosphere of the party was great. The language barrier was not a problem, as everyone was happy to speak English with us and fascinated to explore our cultural differences. There was, of course, German beer to drink at the party, yet we also prosted to several shots which contained vodka and Tabasco sauce (pictures to come). I was surprised at this and thought that if anything, this would work the other way around, as I have always considered hot sauce to be a very American artifact. As it always turns out when drinking in a foreign country, we became more and more arrogant about our cultural differences as the drinks went down. For the most part, this is always fun for both parties, yet the Germans seemed a bit disconcerted when Julie repeatedly apologized for what we did to Dresden in World War II, and I suggested that we prost to "English Time" (they laughed once I explained the inside joke).

A Long Walk Home

Thanks to our impaired mental faculties, we never really made it to the tram on the way back. As is the rule of thumb in Dresden, we followed the Elbe back towards innere Altstadt and then turned inwards towards the University. This walk took a grand total of 90 minutes, the time of the walk being 3 am. Although I enjoyed seeing new parts of my city, I could tell Julie didn't exactly feel the same way as she was attempting to hitch hike. Altogether, we had a great night experiencing the culture of the German youth in the most authentic way possible.

Saturday Night - "Bawlin'"

Neustadt - Je S'Adore!

Four-story buildings kiss narrow streets to form vibrant canyons of human life. The ground level is packed with establishments to cater to every subculture--punk, gay, goth--anything goes. Bicycles struggle to pass through unbroken crowds of people who fill the streets armed with bottles of the finest beer. The aura of life fills the streets unperturbed by oppressive puritan laws.

Apparently, if I am ever to write a short story set in Neustadt, that is the first paragraph. Perhaps it goes without saying that I was extremely pleased with what I saw on my first night-time outing to Neustadt, the part of Dresden which any tourism pamphlet would tell you is home to the city's vibrant night life. Thanks to my friend Alex's willingness to show me the more punkified areas in the cities of Baltimore, MD and New Orleans, LA, I can say that the Neustadt scene absolutely decimates anything I have seen in either of the two aforementioned cities. We went out for Indian food (one of my ethnic favorites) and when we passed the restaurant later in the evening, the area in front of it was absolutely packed with 100+ punks in full uniform and drunkenness. Differences in open container laws aside, my experience in America is that men with guns would arrive to a scene like this in a haste to find any excuse to interfere with their right to live. I did not see any law enforcement throughout my entire night in Neustadt, because apparently it is legal to be young and in public here.

"Travel Bar" leads straight to New Jersey

The best part about being surrounded by people speaking a different language is that the moment you hear your own, you approach the speaker, introduce yourself, and become the best of friends--no questions asked. I can't say I have any friends from America that I initially met on the basis that we speak the same language.

We found a very cool bar in Neustadt called the "Travel Bar" (actually it was in German, but it's hard to remember words from languages that are not your own, as they are merely a noise represented by a hodge-podge of letters). The theme was international--we drank in a booth that resembled some sort of hut. After a glass of wine (shut up, some times you're just in the mood for wine) we perked up as we heard English off in the distance. That's right--English Time! We met four guys who are members of the Rutgers State University Glee Club."


A "Glee Club" is an all-male choir, apparently, the the Rutgers club is one of the top-ranked in the country. They were in town thanks to a several-week-long European tour. We had a great time with our fellow Americans. And yes, they serenaded us in the bar. The bartender even cut off the music while they were doing so. We made plans to see them perform the next night (failed--details follow in later subheading) and to go out drinking again (success--details follow).



Will I ever get tired of seeing this on the walk home after every night I go out drinking in Neustadt?

Heading explained: Apparently people from Jersey say "Bawlin'" while making the hand motion of shooting a basketball (confirmation, Mike?)

Sunday Daytime - Day Trip to a Castle in Konegstein

On Sunday, we took the train to a town about 40 minutes away to visit a castle upon the hill. We had originally planned on taking a steamboat up the Elbe on the way back, but we unfortunately missed the last one by 20 minutes. I was under the impression that this was going to be a go hiking and climb around ruins kind of thing, but it was much more on the Museum side. Admission was charged, and beer and soft ice cream were abundant.



I have always felt that you can learn more about culture from observing real-life cities and towns than you can in any museum, so I have to admit I enjoyed seeing how the Germans live outside of larger cities more so than the castle itself.



The above is an image of Konegstein taken from the fort. As you can tell, Germans have no idea how to do this whole "small town" thing, so I am going to offer some advice. First of all, why is the town confined to a small area, while the surrounding landscape is permitted to continue to exist in its natural form? Haven't these people ever heard of Manifest Destiny? It is our God-given mission to explore every square inch of the "frontier" and then pave it over with strip mall parking lots. And how are large corporations supposed to profit off of the townspeople? I need to see some giant signs-on-sticks and billboards--that's how it should be done. It's almost as if they're permitted to retain a sense of local character. This is simply unacceptable. Every tree in that picture is just a wasted could-be parking spot for a big box retailer.

Let me justify the bitterness of the above paragraph by mentioning that tomorrow night, the Blacksburg Town Council will meet to discuss Ordinance 1450 (limiting big box retail) which will forever determine the shape of our town. Maybe some German people could attend the meeting and talk some sense into everyone.

Sunday Evening--Reunited with our Jersey Friends

After we got back from Konegstein, we had dinner in the middle of Altstadt. This was the single most disappointing moment of my weekend, as due to a scheduling mistake, we had to miss the Rutgers Glee Club performance. We arrived at the church literally as they were walking off the stage. They thanked us for our sincere effort to attend, and we made plans to meet them later in the evening to have a few drinks.



So we went out for a few drinks in a bar in Altstadt (it was getting late, we had just walked back from Neustadt to meet them, and nobody felt like walking back over the bridge). We paraded into a not-so-crowded bar as a group of fifteen rowdy Americans. We had a good time, said our goodbyes, and went our separate ways. Not, of course, without first being serenaded on the streets of Altstadt by our choir friends. Many people waited around to listen, as like I said before, they are amazing singers. We even ended up exchanging information with an English-speaking young person who stopped to listen. Once again--you speak English? Friends for life!

Conclusions and Farewell

I could really write a lot more about this weekend, but alas I am getting bored of writing and I am sure only my very favorite friends and family members have actually read down to the point of this paragraph. I will leave you with another random, beautiful picture of Altstadt.