Leverkusen

So as I mentioned in my last post, I spent last weekend in Leverkusen visiting the family that I stayed with on my first trip to Germany, back when I was 12 or 13 years old. Sorry the post is overdue, but I was waiting on them to send me some pictures. Since the pics still haven't arrived, I'm just going to go ahead and give the general gist.
There's a great website here when you can find rideshares online so I had lined up two rides to and from Köln, which Leverkusen is near, for far less than a train ticket would have been. I got up and at 'em Friday morning to catch a 10am rideshare. Unfortunately I was tired and mildly hungover so my frenzied last minute packing managed not to include the batch of chocolate chip cookies I had baked special to bring to the family. D'oh!
After six hours in a car with strangers and no food (whoo) I arrived at Köln Hauptbahnhof (main station) right under the imposing cathedral, the view of which I still remembered from my youth (it is a sight one would not easily forget).
I remembered the Family Ellenberger quite well--Dad Roland, Mom Bärbel, and two very blond, very tan children: Jan, younger than me by about 5 years, and Nadine (Dini), who is my age and who I formed a pretty tight bond with when I was there the first time. We used to write letters back and forth on Diddl Maus stationary, but over the years we lost touch. I was kind of nervous to see them all again. Especially knowing that none of them speak very good English anymore and that my German was going to be put to the test!
Anyway I recognized Jan right away outside the Hauptbahnhof. He's taller but still has the same blond hair. We chatted away in German while we waited for the S-Bahn to Leverkusen. So far, so good.
They've moved down the street into Grandma Ellenberger's house, but the street still looked vaguely familiar, and we drove by the old house, which looked smaller than I remembered--it always surprises me when that happens, when things look smaller than you remembered simply because you were a smaller person the last time you saw them (although that wasn't true of the huge honking Kölner Dom). Bärbel came out to meet us--her hair is shorter and lighter, but she has the same welcoming smile. Roland looked smaller to me too (I'm much taller than both parents now!) but has the same loud, joyful laugh. Bärbel had made pear cake, and we sat around the table and chatted and caught up. My German was shaky at times but I think pulled through pretty well.
We all went out to dinner where Dini met us with her boyfriend, a footballer for the local second-string team, and we also met some family friends who I had supposedly met ten years prior but did not, sadly, remember. Again my German held up and I was feeling more and more comfortable with it!
The next day Bärbel made her famous goulash and it was just as scrumptious as I remembered. Then, since they had asked what I wanted to do, we went to Köln's contemporary art museum, the Ludwig, where I learned about some German artists I hadn't previously known of and saw some great pieces by artists I already knew. What a great museum--views of the Rhine and the Dom and a huge collection. I was really surprised at how good it was.
That night, we drove to Düsseldorf, which I hadn't realized was so close, for a round of disco bowling!
And the next morning I hopped back in a rideshare and headed home.
It was a quick visit but so good to see everyone again. And, most importantly, I found that my German is much more fluent than I tend to give myself credit for. If I had to live in a total immersion situation, I could totally handle it. I wouldn't be able to express too-complicated ideas right away, but I learned so much in that short time that I think it would come quick enough. It makes me feel a bit sad that I chose Berlin and non-German roommates, but then again, now I know that the skills are there, for whenever I may need them.
They invited me back for Karneval (the Rhineland's answer to Mardi Gras!) in a couple of weeks and I think I'm going to go and see if my zebra costume goes over better there than it did at Halloween :)
Bis bald,
D.