Well then, on with the story. (Finally)
The next day was Christmas Eve. I don’t remember whether I’ve already mentioned this or not, but in case I haven’t, I say it again. The Germans actually celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve. I’m not sure why, but that’s how they do it. We woke up early (noon) to have a large and very good lunch. Then Rolf’s grandmother invited us to go to church with her. I didn’t really want to, but when they told me that the church was 800 years old, I decided it would be interesting to go. It was an evangelical church. There we sat for about 2 hours or so and did normal church stuff like singing (I didn’t sing) and listening to the pastor. That was followed by a Christmas play put on by some kids, then it was finally over. The really interesting part of the whole experience was the church itself. It was basically 1 large room that everyone sat in. It wasn’t heated and was very cold. I put some photos of it up on the photos site here.
After church, we came back and put up the Christmas tree. For those of you who read the last entry, I was off by a day. We actually put the Christmas tree up on Christmas Eve. Anyway, a couple of hours after we had finished putting up the Christmas tree, Rolf’s friend from the village went home (he had come after we got back from church) and it was time to open gifts. I felt kind of bad because Rolf’s parents and grandmother had gotten me quite a few things actually, but I didn’t have anything for them because the package with their gifts hadn’t arrived in Oldenburg by the time I left. I ended up forwarding their gifts to them after I got back to Oldenburg. I got some cologne, a book about Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (the state/province they live in), 25 euros, and a whole bunch of chocolate from them. I was very pleasantly surprised that they had gotten me so much and of course I thanked them thoroughly for all of it. That night, we had a large dinner consisting of what Rolf’s family normally has for dinner on Christmas Eve. I’m not exactly sure what it was, but it was some sort of very chunky soup that was really really good. After dinner, Rolf’s parents, Rolf and I all went into town to an old tower that used to be part of a castle. Every year there is a band that plays Christmas music from the top level of it. There was a large crowd and we also met up with a couple of Rolf’s friends there. That lasted for about an hour, then we went back to Rolf’s house. For the rest of the night, we just sat around and took it easy.
The next morning, which was Christmas morning, we had to get up by noon again because some of Rolf’s extended family was coming for the day. Rolf’s aunt and her family as well as his grandparents (all on his mom’s side) came over. We had a very nice lunch with them. For the most part, we just sat around and talked with them. They, of course asked me a whole lot about the US and what I thought of Germany and the typical questions that get asked and of course also wanted to see photos of home and of my time in Japan (which I naturally told them about). Somebody at some point decided that Rolf should take me and his 2 cousins that were there around the area on a driving tour, so we ended up doing that. That took about 30 minutes and I took some photos of the 800 year old church we went to the day before which you can see on the photos page. After we got back, we had coffee/tea and cake at 3 as is custom for them (we had coffee/tea and cake everyday at 3).
We also had a really nice dinner. They left shortly after dinner and Rolf and I got ready for the plans we had that evening. That night several of Rolf’s friends came over and, as the Germans do, drank a lot. The little sister of the guy from the village that was over at Rolf’s on Christmas Eve also came over and was the designated driver, so she didn’t drink anything. After a couple of beers and a couple of glasses of whiskey and coke, we all went to his ex-girlfriend’s house. There we sat around in their basement and drank more. More people came and we had quite a large crowd. The best part about that was that we had a ping pong table there. Ping pong when you’re mostly drunk is quite the experience.
After a few rounds of ping pong and when the alcohol had finally run out there, we decided to go to their favorite club called Apollo. There I was introduced to a guy who is planning on studying abroad in Wyoming next year. I also met another American, who was just as surprised as I was to find another American in that tiny town in the middle of nowhere Germany. I was also introduced to a girl who was on the German equivalent of America’s Top Model or whatever the show is called (the show is called Germany’s Top Model…imagine that). She placed 2nd or 3rd. I don’t remember. Anyway, we were there for several hours until about 5 am. We then went back to Rolf’s house which was about an hour drive. Just as we arrived at Rolf’s house, one of Rolf’s friends who had put his jacket in Rolf’s car, but had stayed behind at the club because he was catching a ride with someone else, called him and said he had left his jacket in Rolf’s car, but really needed it the next day. I got out at Rolf’s house and went to bed, but that meant that Rolf had to go to back Apollo and back home again, which was another 2 hours round trip. By the time he got back (around 7:30 am), I was already asleep.
I think that will do for now. Part 3 will hopefully come quicker than part 2 did.
