Finally.....The Easter blog..

Easter is probably my favorite holiday and for me, Easter here in Germany was quite special. Rolf and I took a couple days off from work/school to take a long weekend and headed up north to visit the parents. Rolf had last seen his parents over one year ago and I had never (obviously) met his parents. So, yeah, it was the first time. It's always a little bit nervewrecking when one gets introduced to the parents, but I feel there was slightly a bit more pressure in this circumstance given the fact that Rolf's parents are German and speak Deutsch.


It was really my duty to learn what I could so that I could be able to communicate with them. I could see the relief in Rolf's mom's face when I opened my mouth to mutter the little that I learned in the two months. Since I have been here in Germany, I haven't been able to practice my speaking and listening much. Sure, I go to the store and bakery; but I relay only words and I hardly ever get the chance to exercise conversation. The weekend was the real intensive course. I was concentrating on grammar and the proper cases (which makes the German language incredibly difficult) and I was understood! That's the most important part!


Besides the language immersion, I love Rolf's parents. They were so welcoming and open which really made me feel comfortable and at home. We had all sorts of activites that we did together. Lots of cooking and eating.....


It was so interesting for me to see the home that Rolf grew up in and see the streets that he walked as a kiddo. I was able to meet his former heavy metal band members from back in the day. They still have the long rocker hair, dress in all black....I was trying to imagine Rolf dressing the same way......We got to know one another through discussing politics and culture. Ya know, just typical heavy metal talk. It felt as though they were brothers to me. I had already learned so much about them through Rolf and it was so wonderful to have finally met them now. They still have their own band and even now they play some of the songs that Rolf wrote back when he was 17 years old!


One night we went up to the attic to pull out the ol' photo albums and humiliate Rolf looking a pictures of him as a toddler. Rolf's dad even dragged out the home videos......I haven't laughed that hard in awhile...The selected video was an old, grainy, first-ever-video-camera clip of Rolf having his diaper changed....He was fussing and crying......And then, his mother had the curteousy to give the audience something to talk about and then showed the dirty, loaded diaper to the camera.....I was crying I was laughing so hard. I was teasing Rolf that I was so thrilled to come all the way out to Germany to see his poopy diaper. Classic.
Rolf lived along the coast and the weather allowed us to enjoy the sun, walking along the Suedstrand eating bratwurst and pretzels. Unfortunately, we didn't have the time to visit the "Ship in a bottle" museum.....Why?........