Reading (For Dummies)

Sprechen sie deutsch?

Saturday night, shortly after my last post, my roommates showed up. Yes, I said roommates. I'm only supposed to have one, but like I said, there were women's shoes in the hallway when I first got here.

My roommate(s) are Roland and Martina. Martina actually lives on the 10th floor of my building, but she spends all her time down here. They are both really cool people, as I've been discovering.

Sunday night, Martina made us a big and very tasty salad for dinner. Roland is not so big on vegetables, so he ate some sliced pork and bread instead.

Yes, I definitely smell a pork product of some kind

Then, the mistake started happening. I suggested we have a little wine with dinner. I had already had a half liter of beer with Roland....he does not drink wine, and Martina had a glass. I drank the rest of the bottle. Then, they suggested we go to a bar, where I drank another 1.5L of beer (the good 6% variety too). I vaguely remember coming home, going to bed, then waking up at 6am wanting to hurl.

I kept my dinner down, though, and went back to sleep - until about 1300 (I went to bed at 1:00am). We had agreed, while drinking at the bar apparently, to go visit the Czech Republic on Monday to pick up extra cigarettes for R and M (you can only take back 2 cartons each, so my body along for the ride would give them each an extra tax-free carton), so we went down to the train station. Something sweet about being a student here is that we can take the Dresden Strassenbahn to the republic for free! As often as we want!

The Czech Border

After the 1.5 hour train ride to the border, we found it was closed, sadly. The Border pictured above is across the Elbe River, and there was no ferry running. I suppose we could have swam, but 1) the current is mighty strong, 2) it was 4 degree celsius on Monday, and 3) good things always come in threes. So, we hopped back on the train, hung over, tired, and without cigarettes.

Roland, trying his best to look cheerful on the train

I suppose I mind all the smoking in the house a little...as I said *everybody* here smokes, while the US is upholding cool lawsuits that may eventually kill off the habit there. Still, as I said, they're nice people. So long as I shut my door and open my window, I have no trouble hanging out in my room. Well, okay, maybe a little trouble.

Andres came over Monday night, after the Czech disaster, and we all chatted it up about what's wrong with America. Andres had very broken English compared to Roland and Martina, but he had the most to say. It was a very stimulating conversation even with him constantly asking them for words, and having to explain everything in small language. I too, was having to do the same thing...but I really enjoyed it.

Andres' Band

Andres is also in a two-piece German Heavy Metal Political Emo Band. They sing in German (and their website is in German, though you can invoke the 'fish by clicking here), but the music is very melodic for "Heavy Metal." A lot of their instrumentals remind me of Ted's old band. Weird thing for German music to remind you of, eh?

But Andres comes from East Berlin, literally raised under Communism in its stronghold. He longs for the day when communism works. "In practice, it will never work, you know," I said to him. His quick reply, "And democracy is working really for your country, ja?" Touche.

Posted by reid at October 8, 2002 08:09 PM