Big Day

Today is a historic day in my journey, not because of anything baseball, language, or life in Germany related, but I have my first follower. Paul/Chet Rodenhouse has become the first person to "follow" the life and times of A-Ron in Germany. Paul I guess this means you are my number 1 fan...behind my mom of course, and i appreciate your commitment. I dont know what being a follower intitles you to, maybe an email whenever i update this thing or something, I dont know. Paul, I hope you are a trend setter and more people follow suit.



So this is a short week here in Germany, everyone gets Friday off so the celebrating of Easter can begin. And they do it in grand fashion here in Dohren. there is a town wide party with food and drink and a huge fire. I dont know when they start doing this, but there is what looks like a year's worth of tree branches and bush trimmings piled up in a field just outside of town. Its 15 feet high, 40 feet wide, and 100 feet long...an impressive pile of wood to say the least and on saturday it will be set a blaze. Friday is spent out at the field, reconfiguring the wood and setting up for the next day...beer is always involved when more than 1 German is occupying the same general vacinity with relativly the same goal, so they use this as reason enough to make friday a party. saturday morning is welcomed by returning to the field to clean what got dirty the night before and pick up where they left off when they got drunk on Friday. then the entire town gathers in the evening to share in the Easter celebration with food, fire, dance, and of course alcohol. Sunday morning is yet another time Germans get together so it is imperative that beer be involved while they clean up from the bash the night before. but the fun doesnt stop here, oh no, it continues with a ride to the neighboring town to join in their Easter fun which is just as crazy i hear. the weather is supposed to be beautiful this weekend so everyone is real excited about this year's party. Last year it snowed, which only served to push the people into the drink tent causing early exits and casualties of the night. My goal for this weekend is to take a bunch of pictures to document this historic event and also to make it out alive. Even the Germans are worried about it, so i know im in for a world of hurt if i try to keep up with them. slow and steady wins the race. Monday is a day off too and taken to lick the proverbial wounds of the weekend.



It wont be a complete 96 hour drunkfest for me however. On saturday, i will forego the 2nd in the line of parties and head to Hamburg with Hasi for the day. We are using all modes of public transportation to get to, around, and home from Germany's 2nd largest city. we will see the sights and hear the sounds as we wind through the streets on our tour by train, subway, bus, and taxi. we will visit cathedrals, castles, the capitol buildings, modern districts with shopping, and of course the local breweries. our trip will end at a cocktail bar for happy hour and free all-you-can-eat wings before hopping the train back to Dohren just in time to light the fire. its shaping up to be a great weekend full of adventure and drinken stories. I will also have my camera so next week's blog will be one you dont want to miss.



A-Ron