Not many times have I been woken up at
6AM to throw water balloons at small children. But throw I did.
That was during my second day in
Germany’s Saarland, specifically in the small city of Homburg. No, not Hamburg.
Homburg. An industrial town in Southern Germany, this was the first of our
three destinations in as many days. The family who welcomed me there had a
wonderful house, complete with three rabbits (quite appropriate, since I’m just
now reading Watership Down). The even
better surprise was the cake that was waiting for me: the vanilla cake with
tart lemon frosting was moist and delicate. Together with my host mother
Birit’s coffee, it was a match made in heaven.
The first night, we
all went to the city center for a so-called “public viewing” of the world cup
match between Germany and Denmark. Now that
was a German experience. Crowds of people, German flags as far as the eye can
see, and, of course, endless quantities of beer. Luckily, Germany won, so we
didn’t have to avoid angry fans in the streets later on.
The next morning,
however, was unlike anything. I was awoken at 6AM to be driven to school with
my host brother, Max. I was told that apparently, this was the senior prank
day, when the senior class would play a trick on the school. This year, the
theme was Harry Potter. Which, of course, means gathering the entire school in
the gymnasium and then pelting them with water balloons and water gun fire.
Right? Well, in Homburg, that’s precisely what it means! Luckily, my side had
the upper hand (we were on the balcony), so we were really shooting fish in a
barrel. Oh well – I guess I’ll always be “that mysterious extra senior who was
reluctantly throwing water balloons into the crowd.” Luckily, that’s the role I
was born to play.
Even
stranger was meeting the rest of the Dins at 8AM to go on a tour of “American
Traces in Homburg.” Led by an extremely zealous and enthusiastic fellow (plus a
stout local in historical garb), we were given the impression that the US’
founding fathers, the North’s victory in the Civil War, and perhaps Democracy
itself were all attributable to Homburg’s existence. You learn something new
every day!
Our
second stop in the Saarland will be familiar to the Dins of 2010. St. Wendel,
Germany, hasn't changed a bit since two years ago, and neither has its
missionhaus, where I spent a second night of my life. Night three was in the
quaint town of Eppelborn, home of the Big Eppel (hah hah). That venerable institution was our
performance venue. So having thoroughly explored Germany’s Saarland
over the course of two tours, we headed on to Luxembourg.
Luxembourg:
now that’s what I call a city. It’s
still the storybook kingdom it was two years ago, and just as last time, we
were there for the merryments of National Day. Other highlights included our
performance at the US embassy (an absolutely gorgeous building) and our typical
performance at Circle Monster (or really, Circle Münster). But I’ll take this
opportunity to finish this post with a small culinary tour.
The meal at
Circle Monster was really something special – we started with an appetizer of
small vegetable salads and cured meats.
The highlights included the paper-thin
prosciutto and the refreshing cucumber salad on the left. The carrot and
kohlrabi salads also helped to cut the saltiness of the meats, making for a nicely
rounded appetizer (and a filling one, besides). The entrée was well-received by
all: steak and potatoes.
The meat had a nice
char on the outside, and the red wine sauce was a classic choice. Finally, the dessert
is something I’ve yet to understand. Surrounded by strawberry and passion fruit
sauce was a delicately-shaped mountain of ice cream, dusted in some sort of
orange powder. Inside were layers of vanilla- and rose-scented ice cream,
marking a rich and sweet end to a delicious dinner.
The next
day had, of course, the obligatory visit to the chocolate spoon café, where one
can get a block of chocolate on the end of a spoon and melt it into a cup of
steamed milk to create your very own hot chocolate. For Grant, this was a
veritable wonderland.
That
evening, Rafic and I decided to go for a more adventurous dinner, venturing
into a restaurant advertising brochettes.
We ended up with an
appetizer of foie gras on crostini and a sampler of four different brochettes
(duck, beef, chicken, and pork). The whole experience was fun, since the
skewers came hanging over a flame. The pork was perhaps the tastiest, with a
spice rub over tender chunks of loin. Mmmm.
Dessert, of course,
came afterwards – I had a waffle with Nutella. Simple, yes, but who could ask
for anything more? Oh, and of course some steamed milk.
Anyway, thus my
second stay in Luxembourg came to a delectable end. If only every stop could be
so tasty.
