So yesterday, I returned to the house of one of the teachers I am working with and had lunch and an afternoon outing. Last time she made Rouladen, this time she made Weiner Schnitzel and potatoes and cauliflower with a Hollandaise sauce. For desert we had homemade applesauce. Man was it good. For lunch we were again joined by my colleague’s partner and his father. The partner’s father is at least in his mid-80s, but what is more interesting is that he fought in WWII and was a POW in France. Isn’t it amazing? I cannot exactly put it in words why I am so overjoyed about this nice old man and his history, but I will try. For so long I have only read about or watched movies about that era. But he was a real former soldier of the German army during WWII. To meet a former German soldier, especially one who was later captured in France, is so mind-blowing. Sixty plus years ago, we would have been enemies, but today, we eat lunch together and discuss the past like it was any other childhood memory. I quite admire how the Germans I have met in Dresden talk so openly about WWII. I wish that Americans would get a better perspective of the German in school and media culture and expand what is learned about German history, other than WWI, WWII and the Cold War. They are so much more than that.
After lunch, we drove across the river and hiked through the hills and vineyards. I am not much of a hiker, but if an eighty year old man can do it, why can’t I? In the end I really enjoyed it and the views of the city were wonderful. I respect the sportsmanship of Germans. Yes, many Germans play sports, especially when they are younger, but it is more than that. It is not unusual for a German family to spend their free time hiking or going on bike trips. Most Germans know how to ski. Even when they are eighty, if they are healthy, which most are, they continue to hike. I am going to try to be sporty, at least in the German sense.
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