Stranger in a Strange Land: Reggae with a German Twist...

Happy Friday! Wow! It's been a very busy couple of days here... I've spent quite a bit of time visiting with friends, doing alot of bike riding, and enjoying the warm spring weather. :)

On Wednesday, my friend, Sarah, and I rode our bikes to the town of Immenstaad, where we enjoyed the company of other English-speakers in the area... It was a very nice group of women, and we spent the morning chatting away over coffee and rhubarb cake (which was quite tasty I must add! :)). Apparently they meet every week, so I look forward to more trips to Immenstaad on Wednesday mornings. :)

Yesterday evening I had the opportunity to join my friend, Maike, at a concert in Konstanz. Before the concert, we spent some time shopping at the mall (yay!!) and having dinner at a sushi restaurant (in case you haven't noticed... Maike and I love going out for sushi when we get together! :)). Afterwards, we headed to a club downtown for the show. The band that we listened to was called Jamaram, and their style is mostly reggae and ska. They were awesome!! They put on a great performance, and I would definitely go back to see them again sometime! In a way, they reminded me of my favorite band from Lansing, called Global Village. If you're interested, click here to see their website and listen to some of their music...

Although the band was great, the club experience last night was a little different than what I'm used to. People here have quite a different definition of personal space (meaning that they will stand so close to you, that you will actually be touching, and it doesn't bother them in the least! Meanwhile, it makes my skin crawl when standing that close to a complete stranger! :)) Needless to say, there were times throughout the night that were somewhat uncomfortable. For instance, while the band was on stage singing, the crowd began dancing... But not like the type of dancing that you would see at a club in the U.S.... Oh no. This style of dancing consisted of flailing the body and various body parts around every which way, with no sense of rhthym, and absolutely no regard towards anyone who was standing within a vicinity of, say, 5 feet. So, no matter where I stood, I was being hit on all sides by flailing arms, feet, legs, bodies, heads... You get the picture. :) I finally managed to back myself into a wall, next to Maike and one REALLY tall guy that wasn't from Germany either (the reason I know that is because he spoke English the whole night, with no hint of a German accent, and he appeared to be just as uncomfortable with the situation as I was! :)), where I proceeded to stand safely hidden away from flailing body parts for the remainder of the concert. Or at least until the end of the performance, when Maike turned to me, with a panicked look on her face, and told me to run for the stairs... And I, obviously, did what I was told! :) At the time I didn't quite know why we headed for the stairs... All I knew was that the lead singer was talking (in German) and one of the band members had gone out into the crowd and started to split the crowd in half, resulting in a big space being made in the middle of the floor. Now, I assumed (and remember that I had no idea what the singer was talking about while up there) that the singer and maybe some of the band members were going to do a short performance in the middle of the floor, so they were clearing the crowd out of the way... Oh, was I WAY off in my assumption!! Within 15 seconds of getting to the stairs with Maike, I heard the singer count down from 5, and then he started singing some extremely fast song... Meanwhile, the crowd went nuts and proceeded to participate in a mosh pit that took up the entire floor space!! People were jumping up and down, running back and forth, and flinging themselves at other people... Chaos!! And they were all loving every minute of it!! In the meantime, I was thanking my lucky stars that I was there with Maike and she knew enough to get me out of there before all the chaos ensued! :) Afterwards, she informed me that as she heard the singer talking about what they were going to do, she instantly thought of me and my issues with personal space, and she knew that I would freak out in a situation like that... So, she got me to the stairs, and out of harm's way as quickly as possible!! She's such a great friend! :) Overall, the night was alot of fun! It was definitely quite an experience... :)

Today has been a beautiful day here! The weather is warm and the view of the mountains across the lake is spectacular!! My friend, Eva, and I spent the morning visiting with our friend, Val (she's the one who recently found out she had cancer... They removed it, but now she's currently going through her chemo treatments...). It was great to see her, and she was in very good spirits, especially considering she just had a treatment on Tuesday! After our visit, Eva and I met up with her daughter, and we had lunch at a little cafe on the lakefront... We sat outside, soaking up the sun and enjoying the view. We talked about how we all felt as if we were on a holiday/vacation, and that it seemed odd to realize that we actually live in such a beautiful area! :) And, of course, before I headed back home, I took some pictures to share with you... Enjoy! :)

Well, I need to finish getting around. We're heading to Lindau this evening with my friend, Sarah, to attend an Expat Group Get-Together. There is a group of English speakers, in the Lindau area, that get together the last Friday of every month. My friend, Sarah, has gone to it a couple of times before, so she invited us along to join her this time. Should be fun! :) I hope you have a great weekend! I hear the weather is supposed to be nice for most of you back home, so go outside and enjoy it!! :) Have fun! Miss you much!