Oktoberfest at Papala Pub...

Happy Monday everyone! I hope you all had a fabulous weekend... I can't believe how quickly ours went! First, let me start off by saying that today's blog has taken me all day (or so it seems) to write... I started it this morning, and then I had to stop because I had to meet Brian for lunch. After I got back from lunch, I started writing again, and then got interrupted by some woman who knocked on my door. She apparently wanted to inform me of something, but the only problem was that she didn't speak any English whatsoever... It was quite an interesting conversation, to say the least! She tried to explain something to me and even when I said I didn't speak German, she continued to talk to me in German... Lovely! She then invited herself into the apartment and walked down the hall to the bathroom and turned on the sink faucet and pointed to it.... At that point, I was still not sure what she was trying to get at. She then pointed to my washing machine (which was in use at the time) and back to the faucet, this time she said "nein" (which means "no") as she pointed to the faucet. I began to realize that she was trying to tell me "no water". When I asked her if that was what she meant, she vigorously shook her head yes! :) Although I was quite proud of myself for figuring that out, that's about all I was able to understand from the rest of the conversation! (She was saying words in German and making gestures, while I was just throwing words out in English in the hopes she would understand what I was saying... It was quite a conversation! :)) She then went on to hold up three fingers and she kept repeating something with "heute" in it... I had her write it down in the hopes that I could understand it if it was in writing... Still no luck. I think she eventually got frustrated and she just gave up... and she left. After she left I called Brian to see if he could decipher the message, and all that we were able to come up with was that we think that the water will be shut off at some point within the next few days for either three hours or three days... I guess we'll eventually find out... Great!

Anyways, back to the story of our weekend... Brian and I didn't exactly follow through on our original plans for the weekend, but we somehow managed to stay pretty busy. On Friday evening, we ended up not going over to Konstanz to celebrate Oktoberfest... :( All of the people who were supposed to go decided not to, so instead, Brian and I decided to go get a bite to eat at the restaurant down the street from us (Papala Pub). When we arrived, we found out that they were having a miniature version of Oktoberfest... The place was decorated with the Bavarian flags, lights, etc... Very fun! :) Instead of the regular menu, they were serving authentic Bavarian dishes and they had a menu printed up that had about 6 different food options... Well, being that Brian and I don't speak German, we had no idea what the menu said... We were able to decipher two of the options, but that was about all... So, when the waiter came back to take our order, we simply pointed to something on the menu and prayed that it was something we would remotely enjoy! :) When they brought the food out to us, we found out that we had ordered some type of pork (we're thinking it was ham???), some type of stuffing molded into a ball, and saurkraut... And, just like all of the other German food around here, it was covered with some type of "sauce"... Fortunately, it ended up being pretty good... And thankfully Brian and I had decided to split a meal, because it ended up being ALOT of food! :)

When we first arrived, we sat down at a table, which was meant for more than two people, but it was the only one available. Well, soon after we got there, the place started filling up, and seeing that we had two people sitting at a big table, the waiter started sitting people with us... How awkward is that?! I can't say that I've ever had that happen before, but I found out that it's pretty common around here... Very odd! The first two people sat down on the end of the table and apparently they were very hungry, and in no mood to chat being that they made absolutely no attempt to talk to us at all... They simply sat down, ordered food, and when it came out to them, theydevoured it within minutes, and then left to go stand by the bar... Interesting... :) Now, the next couple to sit down at the table was a different story... They immediately came in and sat down at the table, along with their two dogs... Yes, that's right... two dogs. Apparently, dogs are allowed virtually everywhere in this country! Restaurants, stores, libraries... you name it. The couple was very friendly though, and they introduced themselves. At that point, we had to try to explain that we "sprechen nein deutsch" (speak no German). Well, the woman claimed that she knew a "little" English, but the man didn't no any... So, she started to talk to Brian and I in her very limited English and our very limited German... Let's just say that there was alot of gesturing going on! :) Well, the woman then informed us, in so many words, that she and "her man" had just gotten married a few weeks ago... Now, this is the best part... She asked if we wanted to see pictures, and we said sure, not wanting to be rude... She then proceeded to go out to her car, and bring back her Wedding album for us to look at... Great! :) So, we ended up sitting and going through all of there wedding pictures... Afterwards we informed them that we had just gotten married in August, and she asked us where our wedding pictures were at. Now, unlike her, I don't tend to carry my wedding album around with me. :) But, we were able to pull up a couple pictures on my iphone to show them, and she was very excited to see our pictures. :) After that, Brian and I decided to call it a night. Trying to hold a conversation when neither person speaks the same language can be pretty exhausting, so we thought it was time to head home! :) Before we left, the woman asked us if we go there every Friday... When we told her that we just go every so often, she then blurted out "7:00" and pointed to the table... Not understanding her, Brian and I just smiled and nodded. She then repeated "7:00, Friday, we see you." and then she pointed at the table again. So, we're thinking that we just made a date to hang out with them again next Friday at 7:00 at Papala Pub... Great! :) Needless to say, it was quite an interesting evening! :)

For the scoop on Saturday's events, I decided to post it seperately... The events of the day are deserving of their very own blog... Enjoy!