Why, why must there be wild boars?
Okay, it may seem after this and another recent blog that all I think about is wild boars. If you think this, you are right. But it's not my fault. I'm surrounded by the stupid things here in Germany.
And what does my loving family do when I get back to Iowa, far, far away from wild boars? Taunt me by placing a small plastic wild boar figurine on my nightstand to greet me, in my tired, dazed state after my overseas flight. Needless to say I screamed and demanded it be removed from my sight. Then during a visit by family friends they thought it would be funny to have the husband come up behind me, say my name, and put the dumb toy in my face. Again, I was startled and demanded that it be taken away from me. But I do have to admit it was pretty funny that they went to the effort of finding a wild boar figurine, and for those interested, my dad claims he found it (of all places) at a "wild boar toys" website...
Anyway, I survived the playful torture at home, but came back to Germany to be faced with the life-size version. And not plastic. Matthias thought it would be funny to show me a "surprise" in the woods by his parents' house in Bonn. He finally told me what the surprise was and sure enough it was nothing good: He wanted to bring me to a portion of the forest fenced off for a pack of wild boars (including babies) where you can get right up to the fence and watch the ugly beasts right up close, not to mention hear them grunt.
Well I decided it was time to conquer this fear of mine once in for all and agreed to check out the
attraction. Getting closer to the huge area allotted to the boars, you could already see the clods of muddy earth with snout prints from them rummaging through looking for tasty bugs and roots (gross - see how nasty these animals are??). But I did manage to get right up to the fence and watch the little babies (striped) play with each other and the mothers dig around for food with their snouts. When the big ones came over close to the fence, there was only about an arms length between us and the beasts and though I was not enjoying myself per sé, I didn't run or scream. By the way, they really have long snouts - it doesn't take much effort for them to bend over and dig through the earth. It's quite a different snout than the Iowa pigs.
In a somewhat related topic, I was going to my grocery store last week and walked by a man holding a leash in his hand. I was going to just keep walking but for some reason wanted to see what the dog looked like. I figured it must be small because I couldn't see the body of the dog without lowering my eyes. I wish I hadn't, because what I saw wasn't a dog on the leash, but a big rat! And in a harness leash! Gross! I gulped and walked by as fast as I could.
Okay, enough of the strange animal stories.
I had a good Easter. Visited Matthias' family in Bonn (where I saw the wild boar pen). Germans celebrate Good Friday, Easter Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. So there was lots of food and even chocolate eggs and bunnies.
On Easter Eve most members of his family and I went to a candle light mass in the Cologne Cathedral. It is an extremely massive Gothic cathedral in the center of downtown, and one of the most famous in Germany. Anyway, although we got there 45 min. early it was packed and not single pew spot was free. So we stood with the other stragglers in the cold (yes, it was colder inside than outside thanks to the well-insulated cathedral walls) for 2 hours before leaving. Apparently the mass was not even close to being over when we left either. It was nice to be there for Easter but very, very boring as there was no singing and mostly just Bible readings and confusing sermons.
I'm playing a gig again finally. This one is music students playing Mahler to be performed for something like 1,600 Berlin school children to introduce them to orchestra music. I'm playing principal oboe, which is fun, but rare, so I jumped at the chance. Another perk to this is that the rehearsals and concert are all super close to my apartment. When I say it only takes me 15 min. to get there, from door to door, that's amazing for Berlin. Just one train stop. I could even walk home from the rehearsal tonight, and luckily I didn't see any tamed rats on leashes, though last night I saw a small mouse scurrying around on the platform while I was waiting for a train home!
Oh, it's been in the news lately that the city district in which I live, Neukoelln, is being called a slum. Yes, I live in a slum. This is after reports of Turkish school students going rampant, screaming and cussing out teachers, throwing chairs through windows, etc., and the ongoing crime, especially the story of the young Turkish woman and mother of a young boy shot by her own brothers in a drive-by shooting because she "lived too western" and didn't cover her head with a head scarf.
I finally bought pepper spray so now I feel a better. Actually this area of "the slum" isn't so bad. I mean, I'm on my guard in the dark, but during the day it's safe. It's not the prettiest, but there are still some decent parts. However, I do try to get away as much as possible for walks or going out/eating at restaurants/cafés...
And what does my loving family do when I get back to Iowa, far, far away from wild boars? Taunt me by placing a small plastic wild boar figurine on my nightstand to greet me, in my tired, dazed state after my overseas flight. Needless to say I screamed and demanded it be removed from my sight. Then during a visit by family friends they thought it would be funny to have the husband come up behind me, say my name, and put the dumb toy in my face. Again, I was startled and demanded that it be taken away from me. But I do have to admit it was pretty funny that they went to the effort of finding a wild boar figurine, and for those interested, my dad claims he found it (of all places) at a "wild boar toys" website...
Anyway, I survived the playful torture at home, but came back to Germany to be faced with the life-size version. And not plastic. Matthias thought it would be funny to show me a "surprise" in the woods by his parents' house in Bonn. He finally told me what the surprise was and sure enough it was nothing good: He wanted to bring me to a portion of the forest fenced off for a pack of wild boars (including babies) where you can get right up to the fence and watch the ugly beasts right up close, not to mention hear them grunt.
Well I decided it was time to conquer this fear of mine once in for all and agreed to check out the
attraction. Getting closer to the huge area allotted to the boars, you could already see the clods of muddy earth with snout prints from them rummaging through looking for tasty bugs and roots (gross - see how nasty these animals are??). But I did manage to get right up to the fence and watch the little babies (striped) play with each other and the mothers dig around for food with their snouts. When the big ones came over close to the fence, there was only about an arms length between us and the beasts and though I was not enjoying myself per sé, I didn't run or scream. By the way, they really have long snouts - it doesn't take much effort for them to bend over and dig through the earth. It's quite a different snout than the Iowa pigs.
In a somewhat related topic, I was going to my grocery store last week and walked by a man holding a leash in his hand. I was going to just keep walking but for some reason wanted to see what the dog looked like. I figured it must be small because I couldn't see the body of the dog without lowering my eyes. I wish I hadn't, because what I saw wasn't a dog on the leash, but a big rat! And in a harness leash! Gross! I gulped and walked by as fast as I could.
Okay, enough of the strange animal stories.
I had a good Easter. Visited Matthias' family in Bonn (where I saw the wild boar pen). Germans celebrate Good Friday, Easter Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. So there was lots of food and even chocolate eggs and bunnies.
On Easter Eve most members of his family and I went to a candle light mass in the Cologne Cathedral. It is an extremely massive Gothic cathedral in the center of downtown, and one of the most famous in Germany. Anyway, although we got there 45 min. early it was packed and not single pew spot was free. So we stood with the other stragglers in the cold (yes, it was colder inside than outside thanks to the well-insulated cathedral walls) for 2 hours before leaving. Apparently the mass was not even close to being over when we left either. It was nice to be there for Easter but very, very boring as there was no singing and mostly just Bible readings and confusing sermons.
I'm playing a gig again finally. This one is music students playing Mahler to be performed for something like 1,600 Berlin school children to introduce them to orchestra music. I'm playing principal oboe, which is fun, but rare, so I jumped at the chance. Another perk to this is that the rehearsals and concert are all super close to my apartment. When I say it only takes me 15 min. to get there, from door to door, that's amazing for Berlin. Just one train stop. I could even walk home from the rehearsal tonight, and luckily I didn't see any tamed rats on leashes, though last night I saw a small mouse scurrying around on the platform while I was waiting for a train home!
Oh, it's been in the news lately that the city district in which I live, Neukoelln, is being called a slum. Yes, I live in a slum. This is after reports of Turkish school students going rampant, screaming and cussing out teachers, throwing chairs through windows, etc., and the ongoing crime, especially the story of the young Turkish woman and mother of a young boy shot by her own brothers in a drive-by shooting because she "lived too western" and didn't cover her head with a head scarf.
I finally bought pepper spray so now I feel a better. Actually this area of "the slum" isn't so bad. I mean, I'm on my guard in the dark, but during the day it's safe. It's not the prettiest, but there are still some decent parts. However, I do try to get away as much as possible for walks or going out/eating at restaurants/cafés...
posted by Heidi at 2:59 PM
1 Comments:
That's so weird that you have such a huge wild boar problem there, only 1.5 hours away from me, and we never hear anything about it! Guess they don't like the north, or the sea, or just don't like that there are no woods nearby for them to hang out in!
Glad your Easter was good, it is fun that Germans have some of the traditions we do, and even here in the protestant north they have Easter Monday off too, yeah!!
See you soon!
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