MONTAG - 24.MÄRZ

The weekend was very eventful. It may take some run-on sentences and lots of blabbing and uninteresting diction and bad grammar and horrible spelling to describe everything, but I guess that's the way of the blog. Of course, I don't want to leave anything out. The hotel I stayed in was very nice - breakfast "inklusive" - and the room was very small and clean. It was in a small foresty-hilly area which I can't remember the name or location, but I think it's the only hotel in the area where Cathy lives. Saturday was Frankfurt-day; we visited the Wolkenkrazer (Skyscraper) Museum and I got to show off my skyscraper knowledge to Cathy who tried her best to stay interested. We also pointed out the famous Tech-scrapers of Frankfurt, a few of them done by KPF (where I worked in New York) while sipping on coffee, talking about art and architecture. We walked around for a while and it started raining, the uncomfortable cold drizzle right in your face type of rain, and we had to flee to the train station. We both wanted to go back home and dry off, but of course, there was a traffic jam with the trains, and Cathy had told me earlier this happens a lot on weekends. It took us a few hours to get home and we had to switch trains just about every stop. For dinner, I was taken to a spanish tapas restaurant just a little outside of town with more names I can't remember. We had to take a round-about detour because some accident we couldn't see closed the entire road. Anyway, the food was amazing, with very strong flavors, and I think the waiter didn't charge us enough for the food because it was only 37 Euro for the both of us - after three rounds of tapas and two rounds of drinks. At some point Cathy looked at her watch and almost jumped out of her chair - "We're going to be late for church!" - we had planned to go to a 10 o'clock Easter service at the Protestant church and it was already 10 till. So she left me to pay the bill as she fetched the car, and sure enough, we arrived 5 minutes late. We walked up to the main vestibule and I let Cathy open the door first. It was very dark and we could hear the sermon very clearly as the door opend. But when she peeked in, she realized it led right to the alter! Very slowly, she closed the door as the service went on, being ever so quiet. Luckily, I was quiet too, but I had an urge to laugh, because it was my first time going to church after a liter of beer. Then, we went around back to the "main" entrance (the design does not make sense) and were ushered in as normal and given candles. The sermon included typical Easter verses auf Deutsch so I could understand a lot of it and it was very nice.

So how can you beat a day like that? Easy, you spend a day with Tom. On Sunday, we picked Tom up from the airport at around noon and we headed straight to Mainz for an awesome soccer match. On the way, I caught him up with all the family news and he talked to me about his studies at Iowa University. He really liked it there and it was surprising to hear about such an interesting place in Iowa. But the soccer match was awesome! Bundesliga 2, Mainz vs Hoffenheim, Mainz is third place and Hoffenheim is second place (just barely), only six more games left, the top two go to Bundesliga 1 next season, they are fighting for pride, for glory, and for rights to play in the best league in Germany, Mainz - a team legendary for always being 2nd or 3rd best, having one of the most popular coaches as well as the most loyal fans in the land, Hoffenheim - a city half the size of Lima, with a club coming out of some rich guy's pocket, and becoming one of the most un-forseen forces in the Bundesliga, beating Bayern München last year. The game was tied 1-1 and I missed the second goal while I was in the WC. Afterwards, Cathy dropped Tom and I off at his apartment in the center of Hofheim and I got to meet Steffie, who is really nice and outgoing. Then, we went out to dinner to a great Italian place and talked like a bunch of Americans.

Today was lazy. I slept in. We ate. I took a train to Köln. Couldn't find the youth hostel. Found the youth hostel. Talk to classmate. Sleep.�