jummalo the pommelo

Early one bright Saturday morning, Sarah introduced me to her friend, Axel.

This is Axel.










Not to be confused with Axl.













However, we did frequently sing "welcome to the jungle" and "sweet child o mine" or just a wailing guitar solo when the lyrics didn't come to mind.

Anyway, even earlier on that bright morning, we picked up a mutual friend from the grocery store. His name was Jummalo. He was a honey pommelo. Say HI Jummalo.





hi.




Neither Sarah nor I knew exactly what to expect from him. I thought he might be citrusy. Sarah hoped he was melony. We even told a delightful old German man that we were quite excited to taste the flesh of this oddly bulbous fruit and assumed it would be sweet and delicious quite unlike our beloved Jummalo at home.

In any case, I knew from the start I was going to eat the hell out of this fruit!










Jummalo was a bit reluctant to be eaten at first. His skin is hard and a bit rubbery. And no one wanted to take the first bite. Jummalo wasn't going to willingly open himself up to two girls and a German Hairband stand in. So we gave it the knife.











He was feisty at first! And gave me a sharp bite on my fingertips! (it didn't hurt, like the swan, he didn't have any teeth.)










Then we asked Jummalo his heart's desire and last request. He replied that he longed to have a kiss of true love before he died. Sarah with her ever sympathetic heart granted this wish. I hope this picture isn't too scandalous for the internet!










In the end, he was bitter and sour and the rind was hard, just like our good friend Jummalo at home. He was not unenjoyable to eat, but we decided not to finish him up and most of him remains in Sarah's fridge. Axel was actually the most brave in eating the Jummalo, and commented afterward that it broke his teeth. I sucked out the juice and spit out the guts. We all know how Sarah has a taste for the bitter, but she too, didn't take pleasure in eating this fruit.


I still feel terrible for misleading that old man in the grocery store. Old man, if you're reading this. Do not try the Pommelo. Instead you should make friends with a bitter and sarcastic man who goes by a similar name. At least he might take a fall down some stairs for your amusement.

And that was the story of Jummalo the Pommelo.



Auf Wiedersehen,
Gigi

There cannot be enough Fetterhoff.

This is what happens when Sarah Picks me up from the train station! (this is post Mission: little boy rescue was successfully completed.)






Sarah has this thing about smelling or testing things in stores. It sort of embarasses me. She has such a different view of stealing. (She made me try a johannesberry in the grocery store. I was part guilty and part grateful.)










Four kilometers sounds more than four miles. But the approximately 2 mile ride to the Stolzenfels castle was brief and enjoyable. The castle was an adventure in itself.








When Sarah and I were setting up this picture, she said "I'm gonna play This little piggie with his toes." Oh Constantine, you can't just leave your shoes in the way like normal people, can you?




I have one word for this photo:
Weissbier.

(ok maybe more: Note her beautiful Pizzelle earrings. Very stylish. And she pulls them off with such pinache!)







This is when Sarah tried to teach me how to say "Rot." Note how refreshed and unstrained she looks. (she did not leave the train with this much energy, let me tell you!) Her glow may also be attributed to the beautiful countryside we were passing through. (Schafen! Weintrauben! Berg! Burg!)










You know Sarah and her Bananen.










She casts such a glorious reflection, wouldn't you say? The train from Trier was a little tainted by some other English speakers. I take for granted not being evesdropped upon! (and being mistaken for a Brit!)

Today we went to a lovely mass in a Spring-like church and met up with Astrid and had another lovely German meal! Oh the local Riesling here has no match! I have only 4 days remaining, and it pains me to say so. I shall make the best of these days I promise!

Auf wiedersehen,
Gigi

Duck Duck Goose

Blog a blog blog blogees,

We fed the ducks. They were quite territorial and a little frenzied. One duck goosed another duck. I counted 50 ducks, but more kept coming when they heard the "bread over hear" quack. A swan even showed up for the action and bit me, it was pretty dang neat.

Andreas, the roommate, asked when we were going to "eat the ducks." (the fact is, we had just watched a show on peking ducks the last night. The irony is, the ducks almost ate us.) This is Andreas and Sarah. Please take note of the kick ass jacket. This is their toilet. It sort of puts your poo on display before you flush it. It also enables you to save water by having a stop-flush function. Those Efficient Germans! This is me with random statues of human appendages. (no weiners yet!)

I must tell you the most amazing thing here is the food. I've had two DELICIOUS home-made dinners here, one fabulous Pizza dinner and all the Ritter Sport my hips will handle. I bought bunches of candy to do the taste-test and they sell wine in the grocery store for like 3 bucks a bottle (we only bought two bottles today). There's crusty, delicious bread on every corner, the vegggies are uber fresh, the salad is "lamb lettuce" with a wonderful texture, the mushrooms are white as ivory and perfect, and the sun sank so many colors it nearly broke my heart.

We've been to Trier (saw the DOM and ate Doener and Dropped some Dough at H&M eurostyle). We just got backfrom the Crazy Koblenz dance club. it was an indescribable experience. Sarah is now that teacher who sings and dances to folk music. And we spent most of the day chilling and grocery shopping. Drank some Radler (lemonade flavored beer in kick ass bottles) while wandering around the park (drinking in public: completely licit). And Sarah whipped up a Chocolate-chestnut Torte and by whipped up, I mean she whipped some egg whites by hand until they reached stiff peaks. This took nearly two hours.

Tomorrow: maybe heidelberg, maybe just sleeping in and buying hard-core palestinian scarves.

Saufen!

Auf Wiedersehen,

Gigi

Koblenz and Trier

Hello out there!

Give me a shout out all you Americans.

This is a re-enactment of why I did NOT wear the gold shoes New Year's Eve.

Ok, so I don't have the motivation to keep blogging, but today we tried to go to Heidelberg, but missed the train by seconds. So we headed to the oldest city in Germany, Trier. As some of you may know, Sarah spent some time in Trier over the summer and knows her way around. It's wonderful and historical and saw church after church. and a couple of statues of feet.

I didn't hurt myself.

It took nearly the whole 2 hour train ride to learn how to say "My favorite color is red"

tomorrow, we feed ducks.

Auf Weidersehen!

Gigi

Holiday

Hey Bloggees,
Today was a slow day in Koblenz. The shattered glass was swept up, the spent fireworks were piled into trash bins and Sarah and I slept off our Champagne. Due to the holiday, all the stores were closed so we went to a big, beautiful church to celebrate the feast day of Mary Mother of God. Sarah gave me the cliff notes on the homily and I found out how hard it is to respond in English when everyone is responding in gibberish... er German. We ate a simple dinner and rented Pan's Labrynth (unfortunately it didn't have English subtitles, so we watched Forrest Gump instead). Then I learned my numbers and colors in German while kicking butt in Uno. (Sarah's roommate Andreas now knows how cut-throat an Uno game can be played.)
that was the night!

Auf Wiedersehen!
Gigi

p.s. the gold shoes did not come into play last night due to a hilarious fall down the stairs. Pictures to come.

Frohes Neues!! (FROY-es Noy-es)

Happy New Year, Germanophiles!

Flight was only slightly turbulent (immediately after eating dinner- thank you windsheers)! Made a new Phillipino friend (hi Julio!) and arrived in Frankfurt with no problems. Met another new friend (Hi Camille!) who is a bostonian studying abroad in Berlin and we lost our luggage together (turned out we were just standing at the wrong luggage turntable thingy!) (Unfortunately, she actually did lose some luggage, sorry Camille, gotta run!) The hardest part, honestly of trying to get to Koblenz, was figuring out how to use these gosh darn payphones!

I think airports are built to intimidate/impress foreigners (this was done successfully in Frankfurt).

When Sarah met me at Koblenz, we visited the grocery store, and walked back to her apt. (her roommate is a total hottie, but I have yet to speak a full sentence to him. He only speaks to me in gestures through Sarah. We'll figure something out, maybe I'll be able to converse with him in the language of Love.) Here are the grocery store and some graffiti!

After a nap to catch up with my jet legs, we were startled by the prevalence of fireworks on our brisk walk down a tributary of the rhine. we visited Kaiser Wilhelm and Mozel + Rhine meeting point and admired the European tone of the place. also, the ducks. (and a swan)

This is a terrific photo mainly because it does not show how Terrified Sarah was of this swan!

We ate a delicious dinner of fresh pasta, fresh bread and red wine. Then popped a bottle of champagne before we headed into town to see the real celebrations! (we brought the champagne with us Mimosa style in a Nalgene, very tasteful, very chic.)

We joined a large crowd of people admiring the fireworks in a square. There was a band playing American Rockabilly which was terrific for dancing, however my lack of German hindered me on the dance floor. I asked one guy who then spoke to his friend and giggled like a school girl and didn't respond. I then wrote him off as gay. Sarah and I danced our faces off and had a killer time. My dress made a bigger hit as we wandered Koblenz looking for another place to dance. We stumbled into an Irish bar and started dancing with some seamen, we were bought tequila shots. We were stars! ("from the big apple!")

What a wonderful Night! Its a great time to be in Germany (without knowing German)!

Auf Weidersehen!

Gigi

p.s. here's the Rockabilly band Danny and the Wonderbras during their encore.

My Mother Dresses Me Funny

Hey Germaniacs!

Just checking in one last time while in "The States". When I arrive in Frankfurt, it will be about 6am local time on December 31st (or the 31st of December if you're European). I'm getting in on New Year's Eve! Now, my mom says "if you can't wear a sequined dress on New Year's, when can you?!" then she promptly bought me a sequined dress. (exhibit A)

Listen, I know this dress is ridiculous. (I even tried that line on Momma.) Especially since I'm betting the circle of German folks my dearest (and often bohemian) Sarah will be celebrating with tend to stray from the Richard Simmons end of the wardrobe spectrum. I however, will be flashier than a Hollywood whorehouse. In conjunction - oh how I long to blame this on my mom, but unfortunately I must own up - I painted my nails a heinous silver to go with the outfit. (exhibit B)

So there's that.

Mom also talked me into buying some gold shoes to coordinate with my outfit. I hope I'm not mistaken for the Star of Bethlehem, there would be too much explaining in sputtering, mortified, tear-filled English to non-native speakers. (alas! no pictures of the shoes, they're packed away. You'll see them in later posts I assure you.)

Worry not, my dear readers. I will own this outfit. Just like I have owned many of my other "cute" outfits. One day, around age 10, she came home with Pepto-Bismol pink loafers from TJ Maxx. I gagged at the sight and demanded they be returned. She insisted I try them. They were my favorite shoes for the ensuing 9 months. Honestly! Who wears Pink Loafers?!

I did.

I've learned to give in and let Ingie's terrible taste in clothes be my fashion statement.

Pray for safe travels and nice weather!

Auf Weidersehen,

Gigi