Wednesday, September 30

From	To	Distance (km)	Average Speed (km/hr)	Max Speed (km/hr)	Odometer (km)	Riding Time (hr:min:sec)	Push-Ups
Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Germany							200

(955 words)

This morning we slept in until 7:45. Breakfast at the Pension Becker started at 8:00, and we were there. I filled up on two glasses of orange juice, a bowl of cornflakes in milk, one brötchen smeared with jam, a piece of cheese in plastic, and one cold cut.

After breakfast Matt and I collected our dirty clothes, walked to the Goethe Institut, and started our laundry. While waiting for our laundry to finish, we sat in the "Treffpunkt Goethe," a student meeting room filled with tables and chairs, and at one end, a small kitchen. The first day of school was in session, and during the Goethe Institut's regular 10:00 to 10:30 break, we chatted over coffee with three Slovakian women who came to the Treffpunkt and sat down at our table.

A big part of the education you receive attending any language school is meeting and interacting with other students. I had attended the Goethe Institut in Germany twice before, once in Murnau, a small Bavarian town in the foothills of the Alps, and once in Rothenburg ob der Tauber, the small town I was now visiting. In both Murnau and Rothenburg I met many people from many countries and made a few good friends with whom I kept in touch. While interacting with the students, you get a lot of practice producing and understanding spoken German, but you can also learn a lot about the world in general because the students come from all over the world.

Matt and I had set aside five days to spend in Rothenburg, and I wanted to try and meet and get to know some of the students in that time. Just as if I were taking a course, interacting with the students would give me German practice and likely give me opportunities to learn some things about other countries. Besides that, it would be fun. I planned to hang out around the Goethe Institut and participate in the organized activities.

After collecting our laundry, Matt and I went to the Pizzaria Roma for lunch. Pizzaria Roma was one of our favorite restaurants when Matt and I were in Rothenburg the previous year. I ordered my typical order: spaghetti and tomato sauce with mushrooms accompanied by an Apfelsaftschöle (half apple juice and half mineral water). As we were eating, an older lady walked by who I recognized to be Frau Becker, the original owner of the Pension Becker in which we were staying. I said hi to her as she passed, and she stopped and said hello back. She didn't remember me, but nevertheless seemed happy to see me and stayed and talked with us for about ten minutes.

It was raining when we stepped outside the Pizzaria Roma after lunch, so on the way home we stopped at a store and bought umbrellas. When we got home we changed into warmer clothes, then went back outside and walked to the Mediotek, the Goethe Institut's media library. We visited the Mediotek because we had heard it now offered internet access. I spent the next four hours on the internet, working on my web site and e-mail.

While I was working on the net, Matt's friend Romana arrived, the only Goethe Institut student from the prior year who was also in town. Romana hadn't been in Rothenburg the whole year, but was back to work temporarily as an au pair. I had never actually met her back when we were all students, so it was nice to finally get to meet her.

At 7:00, I met my former German teacher, Kathrin, in front of the Goethe Institut. We walked to a new Italian restaurant that she wanted to try. The Italian restaurant was full of people and fully reserved. I suggested a different restaurant, the Roter Hahn, and we went there instead.

I had a nice two hour conversation with Kathrin at the Roter Hahn. I told her about the Stammtisch, showed her pictures of Siew, talked about our bike trip, and so on. She told me about her classes and her work, and what was especially interesting, how she met and fell in love with her Italian fiancee, Franco, who had been a student in one of her German classes. We had a nice time catching up. Kathrin concluded by telling me she wouldn't remove my name from her address book.

After dinner we walked back to the phone booth in front of the Goethe Institut. I wanted to called Micky, an Italian student in my German class one year earlier, to see if we would be able to meet up in Munich over the weekend. I asked Kathrin if she wanted to say hi to Micky, who, after all, was also one of Kathrin's former students. She said yes. So Kathrin and I both got into the phone booth and I called Italy. Micky was surprised to hear Kathrin's voice when she first got to the phone. (Micky didn't know I would be in Rothenburg.)

Matt by chance emerged from the dark outside the phone booth as Kathrin was talking to Micky, so I opened the door and asked Matt if he wanted to say hi to Micky. Matt gestured to two English-speaking strangers who were waiting for the phone and said, "Do you want to go in too?" I turned to the strangers and said, "Do you want to say hi to Micky?" They said hi, so when I got the phone back from Kathrin, I told her Matt and two strangers waiting outside the phone booth say hi. She said hi back to all three. Unfortunately, I learned during my conversation with Micky that she wouldn't be going to Munich over the weekend.