I made juice early in the morning for Oma, Zane and myself. Oma came down just as I was leaving to Armin's to help him make beer, Zane was lost somewhere in the depths of his mind, curled into a ball, half exposed and half buried beneath the blankets. I left the juice on his night stand and took the car to Armin's without waking him.Armin was having breakfast when I arrived, he was happy to see me, "Lisa and Manuel are still asleep." He said with a laugh. "Yeah? Is that normal for them?" "Ohh yes! Happens most of the time." I had a mango and some water then helped him carry some pots and equipment into the garage. A short time later Lisa and Manuel came down for breakfast as well. They were quite surprised to see me. "Aren't you tired after last night?" "Not really.. But I was lucky" I said, with a rather humorous tone, then I joined Armin again in one of his many man caves, spread throughout the kit house he built himself. I've brewed beer a few times myself but Armins methods are far in advance of those I've used. It was a pleasure to see him work, and actually get to know him much better. We drank beer that he had previously made and talked about all kinds of things he's into. The five hours I spent making beer with my Uncle Armin is the most time I've ever spent with him alone, before that it was probably only 20 minutes! Crazy!!Before the batch was ready to poor I had to leave to buy Veggies from Edeka and return home to make more juice and get Zane for a meeting with Luisa Green a good friend of mine that I was introduced to through my mom. Luisa has had dyed green hair for over 10 years, is a huge Doors fan and is very skilled with baking. Her dream is to open a bakery in Amsterdam and live there. I can't wait to go their when she opens it up. Louisa's mom and my mom have been best friends since they were in Kindergarden here in Beitighiem, they both ended up in design. She's a clothing designer and my moms a website designer. Zane and I walked over to Luisa's place and chilled out, listened to the Doors, talked about travel and ordered up some Pizza from the local delivery place. Louisa had just gotten back from Amsterdam with her friend, who has had blue dyed hair for some time as well, they were both tired from their journey so we took our exit que and walked home. The next day we had a very early 2pm dinner at Armin's with Dani's father Ludwig, whose nearly blind, mostly deaf, and loves to talk about the past in terms of how it should have been the future. "Back in those days we knew what needed to be done, not like now, then we knew, now we've forgotten. We should be like we were then." The past really does have a long hand into the future. Living in the present, free from the clutches of the whats come before, or whats to come. It's a freedom few enjoy, fewer still for very long, but some have mastered it, we call these people enlightened, and rightfully so!After dropping Ludwig off at home, where he lives alone despite being blind and deaf, Zane and I watched Strange Days, a very interesting science fiction film with Ralph Finnes, written by James Cameron, that has aged without loss of credibility or interest from the passage of time and advancement of technology, as most dated sci-fi films seem to do. Tomorrow we leave Beitighiem and head for Austria, were Zane's girlfriend Zuzka will pick us up and take us back to her home of Bratislava, Slovakia.
Oma's 78th Birthday
I woke up early to make Zane and Oma some carrot apple juice. It was a crisp morning, enjoyably so, I thought. Oma and I ate together while Zane continued to hibernate in his way, whenever possible... I had Musli and Oma toast with coffee, and of course, the carrot apple juice on top. I brought Zane his juice in a german beer mug, thought it would do the trick.Oma and I drove to the post office for our rail tickets to Karlsrue, they would only sell us 5, 1 way tickets, so we drove to Beitighiem train station and I bought them from the machine beside the tracks. For cheaper too, I think..Upon return, Zane had had enough sleep and was ready for action. So I took him on a walk around the perimeter of town. We went up the stairs and through the alley next to the church and my kindergarden, where Incidentally I was offered my first cigarette at the age of 11 m, but flatly refused, and continued to do so for the next 11 years, until one drunken night I lost a battle against peer pressure and succumbed to the darkness. We went to the the center of town, then around the outside near the event grounds, soccer fields and shooting club. When we got back we made mini cheese pizzas from the freezer, Oma keeps all kinds of nice frozen foods in her freezer in the basement. She has them delivered by a sort of catering company that makes each food themselves for certain regions in Germany. When I was younger I used to think that it was scary going down there with the huge water heater the size of a room, spiders and cob webs, bottles of strange brews and racks of sharp and dangerous tools. Not to mention how dark it is. It still looks like that today, with a few newer additions to the decor, but still with the same feel. Some things never change, others very slowly, especially in Germany.My Uncle Armin came over with his wife Dani and my cousin Lisa. In true German style they brought with them pre dinner desert, a homemade coconut cake with Mango gelatin topping, and her new age (78) written on top, made of hardened sugar. When we approached the time of our reservation, They left us with whatever remained of the cake and went home to change before the main course. We all met at Saba, http://buergerstube-saba.de/index.php/en/ a restaurant made to look like a cave. Its one of the fancy places to eat in our little town. You know, special occasions only. I drove the three of us there, a journey of no more than 4 minutes, depending on traffic, and sat down some 5 minutes before Armin and company arrived to join us. I ordered a Flankuchen, and they brought me a flamkuchen... The last time I was here I ordered the same thing and they brought me the same different thing. Zane got a steak that oma suggested for him and he loved it. I suppose its just my bad restaurant karma from my terrorizing years of youth playing itself out, It's got to happen. Overall though dinner was a pleasant affair and passed quickly. I drove us home and we all Skyped mom in America, who was already talking to Michelle, my older sister on the phone, so she was put on speaker and we had one of those funny three way communications that the digital age has made possible. I gave Oma the necklace and bracelets that Michelle had intrusted with me to bring to her and then Zane and I started to watch a movie, but I went to bed as soon as I figured out the entire plot of the movie in 5 minutes and didn't care to prove or disprove my theories..