It's been quite an eventful first official day! We woke up in Hamburg feeling 100 times better. The hotel breakfast was fantastic, probably the best breakfast I've ever had. A breakfast buffet of cheeses, meats, and breads. There were so many varieties of jam and spread that I was forced to eat my weight in bread. I am eating so many carbs right now, it's awesome. German hot chocoloate is just delectable. I swear something about the European atmosphere just makes me want to eat all the time. Good thing we're walking a ton, but don't be surprised if I come back 30 lbs. heavier.
The first official business we conducted was the elementary school outreach. On our way over to the school, we passed a high school with a bunch of kids outside the door. They were all dressed in neon and smoking and drinking outside. It was a big party, apparently in honor of finals week. We should do that for finals week, minus the smoking and alcohol. It would really make it a ton better, Germans know what they're doing. At the elementary school, we performed a mini concert for them and demonstrated our instruments for them. I've decided foreign children are just a little bit cuter because they look at you with such adoration and probably mostly because we don't know what they're saying.
After the outreach, we went on a boat tour of Hamburg where I completely ate it down the stairs. I never hear the end of it, probably because I did it again during the concert later that night. We also learned some cool things about the city on the tour. Hamburg is like a combination of Boston, Seattle, and San Francisco. It is one of the cities that performs the Lion King musical, and they have an awesome venue just for it right on the water. I'm not sure I believe that hamburgers started here, but the people who live in Hamburg are often referred to as Hamburgers(pretty sweet).
After the boat tour came the bus tour of the city. We visited the St. Michaels Church which was beautiful and rich of history. We drove through the most urban part of the city where I almost jumped off the bus because it's a shopping paradise. I swear Germans or Europeans in general are more fashionable even if they're just wearing jeans and a t-shirt. They work those jean/t-shirt combos. I'll be sure to come back to shop sometime in my lifetime so I'll be cool and fashionable like the Hamburgers.
Dinner was served by the stake sponsoring our concert that night and it was the first homemade meal we've gotten. They served us German chili and it was delicious and so filling. Their chili isn't as heavy but they serve it over rice with something called creme fraiche, which is similar to sour cream. I've come to learn that Germans really really love something called apfel schorle, which is kind of like apple cider and apple beer combined. They drink it like every meal, and they always have it anywhere we go.
The concert was dreadful(#sorrynotsorry), it was hot and cramped. But the audience ate it up and made all the messes worth it. They were such a great crowd and it was a fantastic opportunity for the investigators to come. The turn out was about 250 investigators and non-members, pretty neat.
After staying with a host family with the most good looking toddlers, I've come to the conclusion that Germans are fabulously nice.
Here are some German I've picked up:
Saft- juice. Ex: apfel saft=apple juice
Tchuss- a farewell expression kind of like saying "good luck to ya"
Bitte- please and can be used as thank you
So not a lot but it's on it's way. It's been fun chillin with the Hamburgers. I'm grateful that I'm here and I say this in the name of...oh wait, I suck at ending these. So just guten tag!
No comments:
Post a Comment