A day as a tourist

What an awesome day I'm having. Something happened (at the end of this story) that has never happened to me in my life, and it makes me want to pay it forward++.

It's Saturday and my husband is at school all day long for their high school musical prep/rehearsal (Grimm!). I was almost talked into going with him to run errands in Wuppertal and enjoy the shops that do not exist here in the country, but I stayed. (Because in my opinion the only thing worse than a high school musical is its rehearsal.)

I decided to take a bus to our city center (city is too strong a word) to run some errands.

I ride the bus seldom enough that I forget how to do it properly and make mistakes. But as the bus flew us through the countryside, I found myself really enjoying it because I was sitting up so high, with so many windows, it was like I was on a tour bus! We passed horses, cows, villages, and people shopping like crazy cuz tomorrow is Sunday.

As we passed TP's place, I noticed they still have rebar as corner posts in their grazing strips, so apparently the injured horse did not convince them to stop using rebar as posts. Or they simply have not removed all the rebar from their property yet. I can hope.

My first stop was the bookstore because I want to find a nice card for my dad, who doesn't have a computer anymore (rumor is he buried it in the yard after justified paranoia about data protection). He sends me cards every few months and I wanted a nice one. Sadly, I found no such card for him, after looking at over 100 cards. I wanted a Christian theme, but that is impossible here. So I got him a postcard with our "city" on it (and our watershed, and our castle, and cathedral).




This is the city center, and this is the traffic circle that the bus didn't bother to go around, he just goes right over the top of it. I love that. Cuz I do that too, in our village.

Then I went to the drug store and tried to find this lipstick my sister showed me in America - it's a true "all day" lipstick that you have to keep your mouth open for 60 seconds on application or your lips will stick together forever. No idea, so I just bought a color I liked in another type.





Then I was hungry and walking past this Greek place I'd heard good things about. I ordered a big salad and funnily they brought me a side salad to start (!?). And bread, twice, which I sent away twice. They also gave me an ice cold shot of ouzo, which, there's nothing better on a sweltering day.

And I mean sweltering - it's so humid this morning I could stare straight at the sun through the haze and not go blind. It was like looking at a full moon, but it was the sun, really. And another good thing today - I got up at 7:30 and cleaned my pasture before the horse flies woke up! Yes!

Update: I just checked. The humidity for 7:30 this morning was 97%, so, I was basically breathing water.

As I enjoyed my salad I wrote the postcard to my dad and realized how much I looked like a tourist.

And I must say I really enjoy being a foreigner in Germany at times, especially around other foreigners. The restaurant owner came over and talked to me and asked me all about my life, and I told him how we enjoy the feeling of safety here, we don't even lock our house. He said, "With all these immigrants from Romania, you really should lock up, they'll rob you." I thought how funny, he's not afraid to sound racist though he's not German! In fact, his German was so accented I only understood half of what he said.

He tried to give me a free coffee or another ice-cold ouzo and I said, "Yes please!" So refreshing.





I was wiping the sweat from my face with my napkin and thinking of that movie, "Do you sweat when you eat? If so, you're fat."

On the sidewalk people were greeting each other and shaking hands and there was so much friendliness today, exactly what you'd expect in a small town.

And also as you'd expect from Europe, the sidewalks were full of people sitting in outdoor cafes eating ice cream and drinking coffee. I couldn't believe how many people sought to sit in the full sun, on purpose. Humans photosynthesizing.

After copious goodbyes and handshaking, I found my way to the Aldi and bought some groceries, stuffed into my back pack. Then I had to go to the toilet badly, ugh. I noticed there is a brand-new sports bar adjacent to the bus station (what is it called when lots of busses come to one place?).





I walked in and asked the owner if he has iced coffee. Nope, no luck. This is Germany. Ice cubes do not exist. I said, "Normal please" and very gratefully used his bathroom. And for the first time in my life, I appreciated that German restaurant/cafe bathrooms only have cold water at their sinks for handwashing.

This huge TV was playing what must be Germany's MTV - I was enthralled. I don't have TV reception at home, so I have no idea. After chatting with the owner a while (he had this special machine that connects to a bottle of Jagermeister and keeps it at almost zero degrees, I'd never seen such a thing), I finally left for my bus.

Now normally I just start to walk home and walk until the bus catches up with me. My favorite horsey shop is on the way and I wanted to say hi to the owner. But no way was I walking one extra step today.




I had to pass this weird flat-iron building to get to the bus station.

At the bus stop, I squeezed past this young hipster with earbuds in to read the schedule and suddenly he turned to me and said, "Where are you going?" I said, "Dabringhausen" and he said, "This is your bus." Really? It had a different number but then the number switched right there.

I reached in my jeans pocket to get my carefully counted out small coins (what better way to get rid of pennies) and he said, "Are you paying?" I got confused, why is he asking me if I am paying?

"Are you paying?"

"Um, yes?"

He said, "I'll cover you."

He held his cell phone to the bus payment area and said, "I'll cover her." I was shocked. I said, "Thank you" in the most formal language, calling him the formal "you" even though he's probably 17.

No stranger has ever paid my fare. I couldn't believe it.

I was high from happiness all the way home, and as we stopped to pick up a couple of girls, I realized that short-shorts are back in style. Go for it, girlies, if you dare!

The two blonds got on (wearing almost nothing) and the one said, "I'd like to buy a 4-ride ticket for my friend here." Then they went to the stamp machine to validate the ticket but they started having trouble, like I do sometimes, and started discussing ----in American English. "I can't do it. It won't work. Try it sideways. OK that's it."

I thought how strange, an American chick out here in the sticks.

Then my stop was coming so I pushed the button (remember when you had to pull the string?) and walked to the back door (exiting at the front got me in trouble last time).

The two girls were sitting by my exit and I said, "You're American?" to the one girl.

She said, "Yes."

"Where from?"

"Kentucky." For a split second I almost said, "So sorry" but remembered to be nice and said, "Hey, last week I found a Kentucky quarter in my purse, with the horse on it, ya know?"

She smiled and asked where I was from.

I asked what she was up to in Germany and she said just visiting for 3 weeks.

I told her, "I hope you really enjoy yourself here!"

And before getting off the bus, waved to the guy who paid my fare. Who was he? Does he know me?

I am certain the moment I got off, the other girl was, "WTH was that, what did she say? What did you say? What is 'quarter'?"

And I'm certain the hipster said to himself, "dude." Cuz he was sitting right there by the exit door too.

I was grinning as I departed and saw old Frau Harkemann with her walker across the street, staring at me with her mouth open, shocked, "SHE rides the bus?!" I shouted Hallo to her and before I could make it home, another neighbor wanted to chat and let his dog smell my butt.

We have a birthday party to go to tonight, which fills me with dread normally, but I think this good day will not stop.

My dad drove a Metro bus most of my childhood, into his retirement. As a kid we'd ride with him for fun, and I have some awesome bus memories (he really let us use that bus as a kiddie park). I know I've mentioned it before, but right before he retired, I got on his bus and just rode with him for fun.

I really prefer driving, but today I enjoyed bussing again.