We celebrated our friend's 30th birthday on Friday evening... Very fun! Not only did we have fun hanging out with friends, but we learned a little about the German culture in the process. Our friend received a bonsai tree as a gift from his coworkers. At first, I just thought that he liked bonsai trees and that's why he received one as a gift, but it was explained to me later on that there was actually significance to the giving of the bonsai tree. Apparently, German males have a "list" of things they need to fulfill upon turning 30... Among the things included on that list are marriage, children, buying a house, and planting a tree (not necessarily in that order... :)). The bonsai tree that our friend received represented the "planting a tree" portion, so he has now officially started crossing things off of his "list" of things to accomplish in life. :) Now, all the he has left is to buy a house so that he can actually plant his tree, get married, and have children... No pressure there! :) Now, I'm not entirely sure if this is something that is done throughout all of Germany, or if it's just something that's significant to the area in which we live. Either way, I thought it was quite interesting. :)
I also learned that the person who is celebrating their birthday is responsible for bringing a birthday treat to share with others. For instance, when people have a birthday, they bring cake/cookies into the office to share with their coworkers, or they invite guests over and then provide the dinner. It's so completely opposite of how we do it in the U.S.... where everyone else brings treats to celebrate the person's birthday. Therefore, on Friday night, our friend was the one who purchased all of the drinks for everyone who attended his party... It just seemed very strange to me. :) Either way, the party was alot of fun, and it turned out to be a cheaper night than we expected. :)
Brian and I spent Saturday running errands and getting things ready for our upcoming vacation... woohoo! We also went to the play on Saturday evening with a few of our friends. (Well, actually... I worked backstage and selling tickets while Brian and a few of our friends watched it. :))
Sunday was a very exciting day for us... We found out that the theater in town is showing not one, but two English movies this week... yay! They're showing Star Trek and Illuminati (Angels and Demons). Now, it isn't very often that the theater shows English speaking movies, and when it does show them, it's usually only one. So to have two English movies at the same time is a very BIG deal! :) Well, Brian and I, along with our friends Matt and Maciej, took complete advantage of the opportunity, and we went to see Star Trek last night. (It seems so strange to say that I willingly, and very eagerly, went to see Star Trek. If I was in the U.S., I never would have considered going to that movie!! :) But, the fact that I'm desperate to see an English film made all of the difference! :)) And I have to admit, the movie ended up being pretty good. :)
I also got a good laugh out of the German movie experience... The movie was scheduled to begin at 8:15, but it didn't start until 8:50... Similar to the last time we went to the movies here, we waited for about 10 minutes after the start time, for the previews to finally start. After watching a few previews, they turned the lights back on and we had to wait for the ice cream man to come in and sell his ice cream. And, then after he finally left, we had to sit through another 3 previews, before the movie finally started. Needless to say, that would never happen in the U.S. (and if it did there would be ALOT of ticked off people!)... But, it's a completely normal movie-going experience here in Germany. Gotta love those little differences in culture! :)
On that note, I have to finish cleaning, head to the gym, and then head to the theater to work backstage at the play this evening... Fun, fun! :) Have a great Monday! Miss you much!
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