Jerusalem
We'd waited long enough for this date. Ask Anna and Peter Sheasby, and they can tell you that Lizzie and I had been looking forward to our first trip to Germany for more than a while. On the actual morning we watched them struggle to get Lizzie's enormous, bright-red suitcase into the back of the mini-bus, before setting off to Manchester airport.
For Becky, Frances, and Anna, it was going to be their first time flying, and the prospect was more than a bit exciting for them. One of them, (she'd kill me if I said who!) actually believed me when I told her that by putting some of my chocolate buttons in her ears, she wouldn't suffer from any pressure on the plane! On the plane, the tiniest I'd ever seen, we spent just an hour watching the scenery below, and for some reason, Becky and Lizzie noticed that Germany had a serious lack of sheep.
We landed at Dusseldorf
airport at around 3.30pm, and were met by Kurt, Agnes and the minister of
the
church in Recklinghausen, Marco. After several train journeys, admiring the
view, and gawping like proper tourists should, at the double-decker trains,
we
arrived in Reckinghausen, Susanne, (who Lizzie and I were staying with) was
there to meet us, and take us to the church for tea. After we released Eric
Waterhouse from the child locks on the car, and Lizzie and Frances had eaten
most of the biscuits, we were introduced to the rest of our host family: Dirk,
Susanne's husband,
and
their three children, Laura (6), and the twin four-year-old boys, Phillip and
Sebastian. After eating, we went home, and found that the Germans well
and
truly beat us in the tea department— Susanne pulled out two drawers full of
different types of tea! Eventually, we settled on cherry and black-currant
flavour.
The first morning we were there wasn't the last time that we would be woken up by Phillip putting on the light, bouncing on the trampoline in our room, and whispering things in German, thinking that we knew what he was saying! We didn't really mind because he was so cute!
By
mid-morning, after a few train rides, and someone falling asleep on me, we
arrived in Cologne. It wasn't that nice of a day, but the cathedral still looked
incredible— absolutely enormous, and full of intricate Gothic detail. We had
a
look inside, and around its museum, before coming out and waiting for the
stragglers at the back of the group. For dinner, we went to a famous brewery
in
Cologne where it was almost compulsory to have sausages, and with the option
of going for a metre long sausage between four! We decided not to, but Derek
and
Jackie Clarke and a few others did. They tried to give some to Frances,
dutifully passing over what looked like about a third of it for her to try,
before it was dropped on the floor!
That afternoon we were given the choice of going to the city's chocolate museum. It didn't take us long to agree to the idea, and we headed off along the river. You can imagine that we had more than a few samples whilst we were there.
Soon after we met up with everyone else. The party split up again, agreeing on the train times home, and Lizzie and Becky decided that they needed some retail therapy, while the rest of us went for a coffee, planning to meet up later. On the train home we found Tony Whitman, wandering about looking a bit lost, and sat down to learn some random German words, and have a look at the various things Lizzie and Becky had found in the shops.
As was becoming the tradition, Phillip, bouncing happily on the trampoline, woke us up the following morning. The plan was to go shopping in Recklinghausen with Becky and Frances, and Corrina, who they were staying with. Susanne walked us to their house. We got on the bus intending to buy a few presents and meet the rest of the group outside the Rathaus, so that we could meet the deputy-Mayor. In the end, I bought a hat (a beret), but not any presents! At the Rathaus we had our picture taken for the local newspaper and were presented with a gift from the city council and the deputy-Mayor. We then had a tour of the city, and by now, the four of us and Corrina, had been on our feet most of the morning. Frances and I collapsed onto a bench more than once, while my Gran and Grandad walked past!
After dinner at church, the six of us- Anna, Andrew, Becky, Frances, Lizzie, and myself, went swimming, accompanied by Corrina, and the family that Becky and Frances were staying with. Looking back, I think this was one of the days that Frances enjoyed most! On the way out, Anna ate some bright green and blue ice cream; I declined her offer to try it, but everyone else seemed to think it was nice.
That evening, Peter did a Bible study, which was a bit tricky, with all the translating that had to be done, but overall was a success.
Phillip was there in the morning again - as was Sebastian
who shouted Hallo
! at us from downstairs. After breakfast we went
to the chemical plant, and were given a guided tour round the museum, followed
by a
guided tour of the entire plant, which was absolutely huge! Towards the end
of the tour we went in a lift to the top floor of a building and
looked round with a near bird's eye view of the area. It was in the mirror
in the lift that I discovered I had been wearing different earrings all day.
Dinner-time
was spent with our families, and Susanne and Dirk took us to a nice little
restaurant in Recklinghausen, after which followed
more shopping. I persuaded Lizzie to buy 2 scarves, and a beret like mine,
(not
that she needed much persuading), and a coffee. We met Susanne and Sebastian,
on the way back to our agreed meeting point. Sebastian was clutching at a
dribbly
ice cream, and had a big streak all the way up the side of his cheek. Laura
had had her ears pierced while we'd been gone, and she showed them off when
we saw
her.
That afternoon, we enjoyed a leisurely time, watching a cartoon film, and not doing very much for a change.
The evening, though, was a bit more hectic. Tea was followed by an entertainment evening with people doing dramas, and Peter showing off his Morris dancing skills! Joan Hardman and Anna read poems, and Delma Whitman played a very convincing tramp in our performance!
(Halloween!)
For the first time, Phillip didn't wake us up in the morning, and we were soon
at church for the morning service. The church was really full, and we were
right
at the front, just behind the children, Phillip kept turning round and offering
us the sweets we'd given them that morning as a thank you present, and Sebastian
kept saying yeah!
and grinning at us. After the service we went
to a restaurant nearby, the guests treating the hosts to dinner. The walls
were
covered in animal skins and heads. After lunch we put the hats that Frances
and my Gran had made from the serviettes on them— the English having to wear
them
Nelson style!
At 2 o'clock we went back to church to the Halloween
Lautstark
youth service. We didn't really understand anything apart
from the songs because it was all in German, but it had been really well
prepared and we
all took part in work-shops; Frances, Becky and Lizzie doing the singing
one,
and Anna, Andrew and I doing the drama one.
We taught Corrina and Delma and a few others how to play super snap, and soon found out how bad Delma was at it! She blamed it on the light, and gave up after a while! Keep practising Delma! That evening Frances tried to teach me some gymnastics (she'd done an amazing performance the night before, surprising the English people and our German hosts), but all I ended up doing was collapsing and getting a few bruises, while Becky taught Lizzie how to play another card game. Soon after Anna arrived in a witch's outfit, with Andrew, who looked very pale, with dyed black hair that had rubbed onto his ears, and their host Irena. We went to the Cubar for a few hours, as the last part of our trip, and enjoyed Halloween.
We got up at 6:15 on our last day, with Laura and the boys complaining about being up at that time. Susanne tried to explain that we were going home, but they were adamant that we lived in their attic now!
We came downstairs to chocolate on our cereal bowls, and said goodbye to our hosts, promising to keep in touch, and headed off to the train station for the trip back to the airport. It turned out that our train was going to be late, so we missed the connection for the next train as well. We eventually got there, and met the others who had come by car— Marco had gone to try and find us, but we missed him in the end.
Passing through the security check was tricky as well: we all got beeped at, and I was asked to take off my shoes!
The plane was a bit bigger on the journey home, much to Anna's, Frances', and Becky's delight. There was some turbulence on the way back though, and Frances managed to spill her drink everywhere. Fortunately, she'd dried off by the time we landed back at Manchester. We collected our bags and went outside to find the brand new church mini-bus waiting for us. I don't know why, but it seemed like we had even more baggage on the way home, with Lizzie's bright red suitcase looking even bigger than usual! We arrived back in Preston in good time, regretting that college loomed the next day and wishing we were still in Germany.
Thanks to Derek Clarke for organising it all, and to Peter
for being good to us young people
! You know Preston is also twinned
with three
other cities… (hint, hint!)
© Fulwood Methodist Church
15:16:54 Wednesday, 26 October 2005
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