Day 4: Osnabrück & Brain Sausage
I hadn't slept well. For all my bragging about not generally having jet lag, I screwed myself up with sleeping 12 hours the night before. I woke up at 12:30 am Again, I was up thinking about different things: German vocabulary, job, just about anything. To relax, I watched a couple episodes of Arrested Development. Even so, I could not fall asleep until 2:30 am or so.

I guess the important thing is that I have been awake and lively during the day.

The alarm went off at 5:25 and I was at the breakfast table at 5:45 and we picked up Julia at 6:10 to take the 6:36 train to Osnabrück. If you get the impression that I'm driven by times, understand that Germans are extremely punctual. It's in their genes. With a bit of effort, I can bring out that aspect of my blood's heritage.

I walked by a Nord See, a national chain that sells fresh fish (to go) on one side of the entrance and little fish snacks on the other. I thought of Mark. He loved the place and woofed down the fish sandwiches with a tall beer every opportunity he could get.

SIDEBAR: MARK

Speaking of Mark, Julia casually told me that he and his new boyfriend had visited two or three months ago. My first reaction was, "Oh God, now he's trying to steal my German host family from me. Or ruin relations like he had with my mother, for example. Julia made her allegiance very evident and assured me that I was their friend first and foremost. It's natural he was going to come back to Germany as he loves the place. I should be happy that he has the means to travel, as he was supposedly so financially destitute after the break up.

Anyway, moving on to pleasant times. Unlike other cafés, the NordSee one was not very crowded, which was perfect to get a coffee and a "Seelachs Filet Baguette" and to pull out my laptop and blog a bit.

THE HUNT FOR INTERNET



For some reason unbeknownst to me, there are very, very few Internet cafés or wi-fi spots in Germany. Is it because people do not have laptops? No interest in the Internet? I think back to some other recent cities that I've visited-Riga--Kraków-Prague-they all had a large number of places to get hooked up.

I bought lunch for Julia at a sit down Arabian restaurant. Actually, it was a low sit down place (with low couches.) Again, it was nice to talk with Julia, this time without interruptions from Mats.

CELL PHONES

She went back to work and I thought about my cell phone situation. My Sony Ericsson T610 phone had been one of my favorites of any I had had. It sync'ed perfectly with my Powerbook laptop, was easy to navigate and allowed me to read my email in a very nice way. It was small and reliable.

But, in recent months, after two years of faithful service, it had begun to drop calls. I had considered a replacement, possibly one of the new Motorola RAZR. But everyone has one of those, and the predictive text and interface on a Motorola are not as good as on Sony Ericsson models.

Earlier in the day I had bought a plug for the beloved T610 phone. Just for fun, I had gone into a couple of "Handy" (i.e. cell phone) stores to price certain models. The "Phone House" had some beautiful new models. The Sony Ericsson model, D750i really caught my eye. Sexy, a much improved T610. Kind of like if you found out a person you were really interested in had a cuter, smarter and more sophisticated younger brother.



The guy at the store had several customers but made some time to show me the phone. He put his SIM card into it and showed me how it worked. He complimented me on my German, with a smile, turning on the charm.

Now, I didn't have a list of approved iSync (i.e. Apple OS X) devices, so I asked him if I could try it out with my Powerbook. I pulled it out and launched iSync. After a couple of tries, he was able to configure the phone and 30 seconds later all my contact and appointment information was on the phone.

"OK. Ich nehme es." I told him l'd take it. I left the store with it and it killed me that I had to wait until after it was charged to use it.

The price also killed me. Despite the fact that I had kind of planned on spending an huge amount on a cell phone, I hadn't put it in my budget. Well, this is something I'll use multiple times per day and I'll really enjoy it. And I'm really not planning on buying any clothes or trinkets this time.

As a side note, later that night, Peter, always the practical one, reminded me that I could likely recover the built in tax that I paid. I may get up to $50 back, which would be cool (and make it seem less like an impulse purchase.)

WAITING ON JULIA



After a quick 3 Euro beer, I took a few pictures and at 4:30, I waited for Julia back at IMAG, the company where she was spending the day.

Although Germans are extremely punctual, Julia is not always. I waited a half hour outside the door, in the cold. That didn't bother me as much as the fact that there was a automatic teller machine next to the door and as people approached the machine, several people looked back, thinking "Who the hell is that? Why is he waiting there? Is he going to rape and pillage my friend? Can I watch?"

Julia and Alexander were interviewing a potential worker and it ran late, so she we rushed across town, passing the Christmas market, to catch the 5:09 train:



Deutsche Bahn was a bit casual and were 5 minutes later returning to Peine. (Have I mentioned that Germans are punctual?)

I liked the sign:



RETURN AND DINNER

Sören picked us up and brought me back to the parent's house. Soon, Marita had a steaming plate of sausages and Grünkohl, some kind of greens, with nice potatoes.

I ate a few bites before asking what kind of sausage it was. They explained that it was Brägenwurst, a traditional food to eat with the Grünkohl, made from Hog's Brain. I looked at the plate and kind of smiled a bit. Kevin would so be freaking out if he were in this situation.

It was quite nice. A bit on that fatty side, but delicious. I kept on eating as they explained that not much Hog's Brain was wrapped in the sausage, in fact, it was possible that there was none in there. It was just a name.

I smiled as I smeared the last bite into some mustard and shoved the tasty morsel into my mouth.
- posted by Matt @ 4:13 AM