Europe on 5-10 Nervous Breakdowns a Day (28)
DAY 27 – WEDNESDAY, MAY 22, 1974 – A RAINY DAY IN HAGEN, GERMANY
When we woke up Wednesday morning, it was raining, so sightseeing was out. Phil teaches English at a girls’ school in the morning, but he had planned to drop us off at a little village-museum and then pick us up at noon. The village-museum is a re-created old German village with everything like it was years ago. They call it an open-air museum. It would have been a nice trip.
We cleaned up and had breakfast. We had uncooked “quick” oatmeal. They have a jug of hot water. You pour a little over the oats to soften them and then add milk, brown sugar, and raisins. I liked it. They also had breads, cheese, jam, etc., but I stayed with the oatmeal.
It rained all day so we mainly goofed off. Jo washed. I read some. They have a ping-pong table in the basement, so the girls and I played that quite a bit. The Nilands have a bathroom scale, so I checked my weight. 196½, which is good for me. Our strange diet hasn’t hurt me.
During the day, I had a chance to check out the Nilands’ house. It was built by Matilda’s father and is owned by him (the Nilands pay rent). It is large (two floors and a full basement) with the latest gadgetry. Not fancy but very functional. One of its purposes is to serve as a showroom for Matilda’s dad’s products: printed drapes and a type of vinyl wall covering. The price tag in U.S. dollars? $100,000! (We paid $39,000 U.S. for our house in Australia and thought that was high.)
Cindy read a book at the Nilands that told how to recognize a U.S. tourist in Europe. Not the ever-present camera around the neck because all tourists have those (with the Japanese having the most expensive ones). The way to tell a U.S. tourist? They look tired and thirsty.
We have decided the reason there are no water fountains in Europe, no water on the trains, etc. is that Europeans don’t need water. With the exception of a workman getting a drink out of a faucet in Italy, I can’t remember seeing a European drink water. The Nilands drink a variety of bottled drinks, including lemonade and apple juice, but not the water. They said folks in Hagen think the water has already been used three times in the factories and other places and that, even though it is filtered each time, it is not healthy. We drank it anyway.
The rain slowed down in the afternoon and Matilda decided we needed a walk for our health (in spite of the fact that we’d been walking 3–5 miles or more every day). Jo begged off because of a short throat. It rained on us twice. Along the way we bought some groceries. The next day was a national holiday (the shops would be closed) and we would need some food on our trip to Belgium. Again, the highest prices thus far on our trip.
I haven’t mentioned how popular children are in Europe. Angie receives the major portion of attention in our group. Adults smile at her, ask about her doll, pinch her cheeks (in Italy), play with her ponytail (when her hair is put up that way), joke with her, etc. They are especially delighted with her efforts to speak their language.
The Nilands were going to have neighbors over that evening (they had invited them before they knew we were coming). Matilda had a talk with Jo regarding serving alcoholic beverages: the familiar spiel about “Germany is different” and “it is expected.” (Cindy overheard this and got upset.) Nevertheless, Matilda added, they were going to experiment that evening with substituting fruit and veggie juices.
The neighbor has a factory of his own and worked in the U.S. several years ago, so he knew a little English. We had a good visit, with German and English interspersed. The Nilands hope to get a study with the couple someday.
Matilda had all kind of tasty snack foods on the coffee table—along with an assortment of juices: cherry (delicious!), some kind of berry, and a variety of vegetable juices. The “experiment” was a grand success! I think Matilda was surprised.
