Titan arum and Papa Joe's Jazz Club

A lot has happened since my last post about Maastricht. I'll do my best to cover all that has happened, but I will inevitably leave something out! The days have been going by so fast, but I've been enjoying every minute of it. It's hard to believe I've already been in Germany for a month now.

The week that started after the trip to Maastricht was the last week for one of my classmates, Barış, who would be going back to his home in Istanbul. At the end of the week on Friday our whole class had a potluck breakfast as a going-away party for him. Some of my classmates brought foods that were typical in their home country. My friend Manuel (from Spain) brought Tumaca, a classic Spanish spread for bread. He prepared it the night before and it was really delicious. My classmates from Iraq brought a very sweet pastry for breakfast. I wish I could tell you the name of it, but I forgot to ask! It was really delicious, and luckily, there was enough to go around for seconds! Here's a picture of my class during our potluck breakfast.

After the party ended, a small group of us traveled to Cologne's Botanical Garden. Our teacher had told us that there was a special exhibit there, something that only happens every two or three years. Upon arrival, we were all blown away by the number of different plants, trees, and flowers represented at the Garden (come to find out, the Garden boasts 10,000 different species of plants). There were three separate greenhouses representing two different biomes. One of the greenhouses was a 'desert' biome and had hundreds of different cacti from all over the world. Some of the cacti were short, some were soccer ball shaped, and some were brushing the ceiling 15 feet up! The other two greenhouses contained thousands of different forest plants; this greenhouse had many plants originating from Central and South America (and all were expertly labeled). It was actually kind of interesting walking into this greenhouse because the conditions were so much different from the outside weather in Germany--stepping foot into this 'forest' greenhouse reminded me instantly of the climate back home. It was so warm and humid I actually found it hard to breathe. I had never really thought the humidity in Louisiana was so bad, but that wasn't until I had such a stark example to compare it to! It was in the 'forest' greenhouse that we all saw "the special exhibit."

We walked through a maze of ferns and bushes until we found the BIG flower. No wait, scratch that...the BIGGEST flower. Seriously, the botanical garden had the largest flower in the world. It's called the titan arum and originates from Sumatra. It can grow 3 meters tall, but here's the catch: the flower only blooms once every 2-7 years (this flower in Cologne is on a 2-3 yearly cycle, but some can be on a 7 year cycle). It takes so much energy to produce the flower that it goes into long periods of 'hibernation' until it is ready to bloom.

We got to the garden a little prematurely for the bloom, but the plant was still impressive nonetheless.

At this time the titan arum is about 8 feet tall

 After seeing the titan arum we all went our separate ways for the day. Once I got back to the house my host brother, Jannik, told me that he was going out with some friends to Cologne's "c/o Pop Music Festival." He invited me along and I met some of his friends from school. I found the concept of the festival to be pretty cool. The festival took place over four nights in various venues all across the city. Some venues were actual concert halls and bars while others were clothing stores and make-shift businesses. Some, but not all, of the concerts were free and sponsored predominantly by the city. It so happens that one of the venues we went to during the night was a high-end clothing boutique for women. The concert was extremely crowded, but they had free gummy bears so I couldn't complain. It was a fun night in all.

Two days later, on Sunday, my host mother showed me an advertisement in the newspaper for a party downtown celebrating a local jazz club's 40 years of success. The club is called "Papa Joe's" and has had upwards of 15,000 concerts since its inception. The advertisement promised a free concert and street parade, so naturally I went! I showed up about 30 minutes late, but really that meant I was perfectly on time. I walked in to the already crowded club, found a few inches of standing room and made camp. Within minutes one of the waitresses came up holding 12 fully filled glasses of beer and asked if anyone wanted the "40th anniversary special." I dug in my pocket for 2 euros and tried it. It was really good! I ordered a second for the heck of it. The band that was playing was quite good also. Notable was the song "Route 66," sung all in English by the German band. Then, when the party moved into the street......

Yeah, they played a New Orleans classic! They made a few nods to New Orleans during the anniversary, and although I didn't stay until the end, I'm sure I would have heard some more references to the Big Easy. The street parade was really nice because, when I closed my eyes, I thought I was back in New Orleans. The atmosphere was just really great the whole time. And, come to find out, Papa Joe's has a jazz concert every night....for free! I am definitely going again in the future. I'm going to try to make it to a few of their "New Orleans Nights." Yeah, they actually have a few bands which play New Orleans classics exclusively. I nabbed one of the programs, and come to find out, one of the New Orleans bands is named "Red Beans and Rice!" 

Next post I'll talk about the international dinner with the immersion program, playing tourist in Cologne (I finally saw the Cologne Cathedral), and my purchasing of a road bike.