China Fest, LD Haus, and Mundolingo

The day after our trip to the Pützchens Markt I made another bike ride to Bonn. The weather was absolutely perfect for a nice day trip. I made myself a big breakfast at the house before I left, relaxed for about an hour and then headed out. I've been able to shave off a few minutes on the hour ride every trip I make, but still I am trying to take in all of the scenery. Like I've mentioned before in previous posts, the bike path follows the curves of the Rhine river between Cologne and Bonn. Along the way I'll see a soccer field here and there, playgrounds with kids and parents, some small farms, and gardens. Here is a picture I took right outside of Bonn. I think it's a cabbage patch, but I'm not completely sure.

The ride is not the most photogenic I've ever taken, but when the weather is as perfect as it was this weekend, just being outside is good enough. The air was crisp and warm, and with a good pace the wind going against you makes for a perfect temperature. When I rolled into Bonn I spent some time just wandering around the city on my bike. I found it to be quaint, but inviting...if that makes sense. It seems just small enough for you to run into somebody you know at least once a day, but yet still large enough to keep me finding new things about the city for several weeks. I'm excited to move there and experience it all for myself. Before I left back for Cologne I stopped off at a cafe and ordered a huge bowl of granola with yogurt and fresh fruit. It was delicious! Luckily this cafe is right around the corner from my apartment so you might be hearing more about it in the blog in the future.

Later in the week my immersion class took a field trip to the LD Haus in Cologne, rich with German history from 1933-1945. It was definitely a heavy topic; being reminded of all of the terrible history of the Nazi time period in Germany is difficult to comprehend, but the trip was extremely informative. In my history classes in high school we learned a great deal about Germany during this time period, but for lack of sufficient time we don't go into all the specific details. Aided by a required presentation on one of the topics from the Haus, I came away with a deeper knowledge of the information. I messaged my former high school history teacher with pictures that I had taken at the Haus and information I had learned. She was very receptive to the new information and might be teaching it in her classroom this year when WWII comes up. Below is a picture of the actual haus.

Synthia posing in front of the Haus

A few days after the field trip to the LD Haus myself, Alan, and another one of our classmates, Saad, went downtown to the China Festival. The weather was rainy, overcast, and dull, so the turnout wasn't too great, but still we enjoyed a traditional Chinese dragon dance.

The dragons came down off the stage and wandered through the crowds, coming only a few feet away from me before heading back to the stage to complete the dance. Unfortunately the weather worsened a bit so we headed out before the festival ended.

Every Wednesday night in Cologne a large group of international students congregate at a bar downtown. The bar is off the beaten path a bit, which is good, because every Wednesday night the crowd is so large that the people flood out into the street talking and drinking. We all meet up for what is called "Mundolingo" and it is a really cool event. At the door to the bar is an attendant with a huge book of stickers of flags from over one hundred countries. When you walk up you ask for the flags of the countries whose languages you can or would like to speak in that night. You wear the flags in a column on your shirt, with the top most flag being your mother tongue. After that, it's simple--just walk around talking to people! It's a great opportunity to meet new people and practice your language with others. It's great for my German, and in return I get to help people improve their English (although to be fair everybody's English is really good). Everybody is really inviting and the atmosphere is really fun. I've met people from all over the world there and I've been marveled at how many languages some people can speak. Sometimes you'll just turn around and see someone wearing 7 flags and you just can't believe it.