How did I forget to post about the Germans?
Bernd Getting Cancer
Originally uploaded by polite society. I took a load of pictures on my last day with the Germans, and they extended an open invitation to me to come and stay with them in Berlin. Now I will have to work that into my elaborate Plans for the Future, somehow. Shucks.
And because this post somehow doesn't feel nearly long enough (I blame the enormous photo of Bernd and his debonair death stick, all showing up the words), here is the more detailed story of the Germans' departure:
They invited me to come with them on a day trip to Madison the day before they planned to leave Chicago for Washington, DC. I accepted almost immediately, and my mom informed me that the entire situation "seemed kind of weird" to her, a sentiment I didn't even process until it was explained to me later. Despite her urging that I stay home, I set off with Bernd and Alex at 9 am to catch the 55 to Midway, where we would rent the car that they would be driving for the next two weeks--first to DC then to New York and Boston. The car was too expensive to charge on Bernd's communist German credit card. Failing to find an affordable alternative passage to Wisconsin, I persuaded Alex onto the Orange Line downtown. We met up with Bernd at Wicker Park and spent about seven hours in Myopic Books and wandering around the neighborhood. In the evening we headed back downtown and hung out in the Loop and at Millennium Park. Still disbelieving of the fact that people under 21 are not allowed in bars, they tried to get me into the South Loop Club, where I was carded almost immediately. In what was probably the best lesson I will ever give in American culture, I suggested that we pick up some beers at 7/11 and take them down to the Yacht Club to watch the rich people and get bitten by mosquitoes.
The next day, Bernd and Alex left for good while I was out with Maggie in Pilsen (a story for another time, children). When we got back I found a note on my desk wrapped around a bar of my favorite chocolate (Ritter Sport Dark, mofos!), which Bernd had remembered from like two weeks ago. So basically Germans are the best.