Weddings, Berlin & Germans in general

Hi everyone!
So sorry its been a while since my last posting, but this is the first chance I have had to get online again. I promise to make it up to you. :-) Thank you so much for all your comments - what a thrill to hear from you all!

Cheryl: You will definitely get your wish for a loooong posting this time.
Heather & Bill: I'll put in an 'executive summary' for you [grin]. Hope you are enjoying sunny Queensland!
Skye: I promise I will buy you a Farmers Union Iced Coffee the second you walk off the plane in Adelaide.
Bruce & Liz: More green grass than you can imagine here...with poppies and daisies in the fields. Gorgeous!
Stefan: I will write LOTS more about my time here in Germany...in English. Aber...deine English ist sehr gut!
Allison: Lots more 'language adventures'...but I'm getting braver.
Amber: Good luck with the defacto stuff...I presume they 'found' your papers?
Elena: Oh yes....I'm definitely happy. [big grin]

Executive Summary

For those of you who say "get to the point woman...stop waffling on..." [grin] here is an 'executive summary' of the last few days. We caught the ICE train (fast one) to Berlin last Tuesday evening, and were picked up at the Ost-Bahnhof by Tobias (the bride-groom's brother). Went to Strausberg the next morning where the wedding was being held and checked in to the hotel, then went to join the guests for champagne outside in the gardens. The wedding was beautiful and I'll explain in more detail further on in the posting, however while it was very similar to Australian weddings, there were marked differences...many quite amusing! :-)

Back to Berlin the next day and the combination of jet lag, travel and all the excitement was beginning to catch up on me so we had a fairly quiet afternoon just chatting to our hosts...Hartmut and Marina....and 'kaffeetrinken' in the sunshine outside. On Friday we had to go into the city as Norbert needed to have something for work notarised by the Australian Embassy. On Saturday we took a scenic boat trip around the many canals of Berlin (more than in Venice) to see the sights, and on Sunday we spent a lovely afternoon strolling through some gardens looking at amazing displays of multi-coloured tulips.

And then we caught the ICE again back to Fulda, which brings me back to today! And nothing much happening today except I have the washing machine on and I have yet to do the breakfast dishes. [laugh] That's about it!

But for those of you wanting to know more of the details, read on. I will also upload the photos I took while in Berlin so click on the link 'more of Marlene's photos' on the right and it will take you where you can see them all. Just click 'next' at the bottom of the screen to go to the next page.

Tuesday - We travel to Berlin

I spent the morning getting ready to go....ironing and trying to fit everything for 2 people into one suitcase. Sort of did it...but the fact that I had an extra couple of plastic bags for 'my stuff' doesn't really count, does it. [grin] The joys of train travel though, as one doesn't have weight issues and you can take as many bags as you can carry!

Took the local bus to the Fulda train station then had a 10minute wait and it was straight onto the ICE. The ICE trains are the really fast ones, and we don't have anything like it in Australia. They look like a bullet and although we were flying along at 250kph, apparently they can go even faster than that when the lines are really good. Here is a photo of me on the train, drinking wine and checking out the view. What a life, hey??!!

We travelled through to the Ost-Bahnhof which is in old East Berlin...its a bit further on than we needed to go but apparently parking is easier there than in the Haupt Bahnhof....the central one. Which was a good thing because as soon as we got there I saw a familiar face coming up the platform - it was Tobias, coming to collect us. Tobias is Norbert's cousin's younger son and a few years ago he came to Australia for a month-long trip where we climbed Uluru etc.....so I got to know him well. [smile]

He took us back to his parent's place (Hartmut & Marina) where we settled into the spare room and got an early night.

Wednesday - the Wedding!

I was really looking forward to this day and it was one of the reasons I came to Germany earlier than I had planned. What a wonderful opportunity to celebrate with the family AND experience a typical German wedding! The wedding was in a little place called Strausberg which is about an hour out of Berlin....in what would have been East Germany. We were driving with Rolf (Hartmut's father) however Tobias was in front of us and supposedly leading the way...except he missed a turn off the Autobahn and we got hopelessly lost!!! [laugh] Luckily we had left ourselves plenty of time so with the help of a few passers-by, we were finally on the right track again after meandering through several small villages. Great opportunity to admire the local scenery though!

Finally arrived and checked into the hotel. The wedding was being held in the gardens of the hotel and many of the guests were staying for the night as German weddings finish quite late. It was a 12 noon wedding so I had thought it might be all over by early evening. Heaven forbid....not a chance! ROFL

For all the ladies out there for whom this is important, the colours of the wedding were apricot and ivory, and the bride wore a strapless gown covered in crystal embroidery, and with a short train. There were no attendants however their son Lucas (about 9 months old) 'carried' the ring with the help of his Uncle Tobias. Here is a photo of the bride and groom....Sebastian & Jessica.

Now....you don't want to hear about the whole wedding because so much of it is similar to eddings in Australia - you know, lots of photos...champagne...eating...laughing...dancing etc. So I will just tell you about the aspects which were surprising and interesting.

First of all, there is no such thing as a 'church wedding'. You can have a wedding in a church but you must have a civil ceremony as well because the church one isn't legal, and a minister is not legally allowed to marry anyone.

The first ceremonial aspect is where the bride and groom share bread with water...and I think salt or something. I guess it has a similar meaning to our sharing of bread and wine. Then they have a large sheet put in front of them with 2 hearts drawn on it. The bride has to use scissors to cut out the hearts and then they step through the hole in the middle.

After that comes the sawing of a tree trunk. No kidding!!!! The bride and groom have to grab each side of a saw and cut through a large-ish tree trunk. Talk about not being dressed for
this type of work!

But it gets worse. They celebrated a particular tradition called 'Polter Hochzeit' which sort of translates as 'noisy wedding'. And you throw crockery against a wall. Hey....would I joke about stuff like this??? [looks aghast] Here is a photo of me in full-flight, throwing a plate against the stone wall. All the guests brought their own crockery - we brought our plates all the way from Fulda. After there is a huge mess on the ground, the bride and groom are given a shovel and broom and they have to clean it up. Sort of signifies working together I think. That was bad enough but the young German guys here are just as mischievous as Aussie guys, so when the bride & groom had finished they upended the bin and the poor couple had to start all over again! [laugh]

The eating and drinking pretty much continued throughout the day although the actual 'wedding feast' began in the evening with lots of extra guests arriving for the eating and dancing...which went on until the wee small hours of the morning, I lasted out until midnight but then just had to get horizontal or I would have fallen down. :-)

Thursday - back to Berlin

The night was too short but we had to be up and checked out of our room in the morning, so went downstairs for a wonderful German Früstück....or breakfast, and then packed up again. Just one more little thing for the 'lucky' couple to deal with first....the young'uns had wrapped their car in glad wrap. Completely. And Norbert had tied cans under the car - he likes to join in the fun! [grin]

Anyway, we drove back to Berlin with Hartmut and Marina...to find that we were locked out of the house. Now this involved getting a locksmith on a public holiday so not exactly an easy or cheap exercise to get back in, but finally we were sitting out the back enjoying coffee, cake and sunshine.

That night we walked to a local Italian restaurant which was interesting. I speak just a teeny bit of Italian and first of all it was strange to hear these Italians speaking fluent German. But I addressed them in Italian and then found that I was getting my German, English and Italian all mixed up!!! [chuckle]

I think I'm doing OK with the 'Deutsch' though, as I'm hearing it all around me now. When I first started learning, my goal was simply to be able to understand enough to keep up with the topics of people conversing around me...and I find that I am able to do that. Framing sentences myself is still very difficult but I at least know what everyone is talking about and can add a phrase or two. Its all good! [beaming smile]

Friday - Into the city via U-Bahn

The U-Bahn is the underground here - Skye you would know that it is very similar to the London Underground except the stations all have unpronounceable names. :-D Norbert has been trying to get an ABN for some time now so he took his passport, Medicare card, Aussie drivers' license etc into the Australian Embassy to get copies signed and notarised to send back to the Australian Tax Office. Its really hard doing stuff like this from a distance! Anyway, you could really tell the Aussies who work in there, from the local people. I mean no disrespect whatsoever as the German people I've come to know are friendly and hospitable and absolutely lovely people. However there's this 'thing' which is hard to explain, but Norbert has been telling me for some time.....and now I've experienced it myself. They are different when it comes to authority. They seem to just accept it and also like to have it...together with all the accoutrements and privileges. People in positions of authority are very formal, referred to my last names ONLY, never smile, never make allowances or show flexibility, and seem to wear a uniform with extreme pride. Nobody questions this, and nobody ever 'bucks the system' or asks WHY something is done a certain way. I noticed it in the Embassy where the way we were met at the door was markedly different from the Aussie guy behind the counter. And I'll explain further on in this post where we had a run-in with another 'official'.

Anyway, we just hopped off and off the U-Bahn for the afternoon, exploring the city a bit and having lunch, then back home again. I don't have photos of the day because I forgot my camera. Norbert showed a deep regret when I told him I'd left it behind. [rolls her eyes] :-D

Saturday - Boat trip on the Canals

A lovely day! Last time I was in Germany we went for a short boat trip, but it was winter and the scenery was grey. But I enjoyed it so much that I wanted to do it again so the 4 of us hopped on one of the canal boats and set off on a 4 hour tour. There are more bridges in Berlin than in Venice although a lot of people don't know this....one can travel a long way by water, and its a wonderful view of all the buildings and interesting architecture. The difference between what was East and West Berlin becomes obvious, and many of the new buildings are amazing! It started out sunny and warm although there was a rainshower or two...,but we didn't let it worry us.

Sunday - Flowers, flowers everywhere!

The last day of our stay in Berlin and our wonderful hosts took us to a gorgeous park! I couldn't get over the swathes of brightly-coloured tulips everywhere!! It was sooooo pretty and so relaxing. At one stage we were sitting on rocks by the lake, enjoying coffee and listening to jazz music being played. Can you picture it? Wish you were here? [heh, heh]

But then it was off to the Haupt Bahnhof where we had to catch the 6:30pm ICE bound for Fulda. We said goodbye to Hartmut and Marina but we hope to catch up with them again while we are here - AND I think we may have talked them into coming to Australia next year!!! Woohoo!!! [jumps up and down with excitement]

The end of the day should have been uneventful except it was spoiled by one of those previously described 'German official types'...a female train conductor.... who decided that the ticket Norbert had bought for me was incorrect and that he would have to pay a fine. She just kept on an on!!!! Wouldn't listen to reason and didn't seem to care that we were visitors from Australia....just that we were 'breaking the rules', according to her. I wondered what she would have done if I had been alone because at least Norbert could understand her ranting and raving...I would have been distraught! Luckily Norbert sorted something out, but its a pity as it marred what would have been a perfect day.

Monday - and back to routine

I went back to sleep after Norbert left for work...what a life!!! [big grin] But then I put on a load of washing and made some lunch. This will be the longest blog post by far for a while as the weekdays will all be pretty routine from now on, although we plan to do some sight-seeing on the weekends so I will definitely take photos and let you know all about that.

In the meantime, take care everyone and I hope to hear from you soon,
Cheers,

Marlene (and Norbert) :-)