Okay, while stopping to think this over, I was making myself a lunch of soft boiled egg, avocado, and cheese and crackers when it hit me. What hit me was that I wasn't just eating any old cheese and crackers. I was eating Chavroux cheese with these wonderful Backerei Tomaten crackers. In Canada however, I would most likely be eating Multigrain Wheat Thins with Light Cream cheese, both of which being tasty, but extremely processed. However, as I am here, in Germany, where there are no Wheat Thins, and hundreds of cheeses to choose from, I selected a hand baked in a German bakery bag of crackers, and this dippable form of goat cheese Chavroux that I was introduced to in Switzerland by a Belgian/Congolese colleague, to fantastic results. It is hands down much better than my would be Canadian selection. Why? Is it because the ingredients and items are inherently better here? Perhaps, however I'm sure it is possible to find a similar cheese and similar cracker in Canada, imported or not. But that's the thing about travel, you open yourself, intentionally or not, to new experiences. Be it something extreme or something insignificant, fantastic or miserable, your eyes and spirit will be opened.
When you are in a place that is well outside your comfort and familiarity, life, or at minimum perspective, changing events can be around every corner. Something as minuscule as wanting crackers, and not being able to find anything similar to what you normally buy, forces you to try something new. In my case, these fantastic hand baked organic crackers. To which their fantastic taste, significantly better than the type of cracker I was looking for, make me reflect on the value of locally produced and owned companies. Because in Germany, local bäckereis (bakeries) are a source of much pride, resulting in a forced eviction of anyone that tries to open a large, chain operated bakery that threatened shutting down others. As a result, you can find these wonderful little gems around every corner, each having the possibility to offer you something new and delicious. In Canada however, where we have been thoroughly Americanized and everything is now a large chain store, these 'gems' are few and far between. Your best bet is finding an organic brand you like and can buy near your town or city. All this from buying crackers. So you can imagine the world-changing perspective one can gain by making a friend in another culture, being forced to overcome a sometimes significant problem that has risen, or simply by travelling to a cultural mecca. To give you all some perspective, each in their own way, I have come across these 3 examples I have just given since my last blog entry, forget about since I left Canada 2 years ago.
Now that I've given a bit of context from which I've been reflecting on the events of the last few weeks, let me give a brief run-down (I'll do my best), of my trip to Munich, capital of Bavaria, which very much feels like its own country. So I left very last minute Saturday morning (Ckatu's fault, not mine) for Munich in this Mercedes Sprinter with two men that I'd never met before. Why you might ask was this my means of transportation? Well dear readers, when one cannot afford a train or plane ticket, one makes due. However, the amount of people I have met on a (somewhat) comfortable plane or train ride vs the amount of people on random cheap/free rides has got to be around 1 to 10. This one was no exception. It was about a 6 to 7 hour drive Southward on the autobahn to Munich with one gentlemen that didn't speak any English, in a giant van going no faster than 120km/h, meaning other cars were almost literally flying past us. However, me always being one to look at the bright side of the situation, I was perfectly content sitting in the back listening to them chatter on in German, relaxing, and taking in the scenery. Sometime after the first pit stop after lunch when I had finally properly woken up, the second guy and I, Nino, finally started talking. Turns out, he is half German and half American (but basically only has the American charm, hollywood good looks, and easy-going nature leaving the rest German, win win) is currently doing a Masters in Environmental management, and in the last year had recently returned from a 1.5+ year trip around SE Asia where he spent 6 months in Bali, Indonesia assisting the development and implementation of a waste recycling program. Needless to say, we spent the next 3 or so hours in a fantastic, deep, developmental, international, philosophical and spiritual conversation. I probably hadn't had a conversation quite that good and to that extent since Jasmin and I's last night doing squares.
When I finally arrived in Munich, solved a no-credit-on-my-phone situation and found Ckatu it was verging on 4 o'clock. From here, we grabbed a quick bite to eat and Ckatu took me straight to the Hofbräuhaus (Beer Garden House). Now, I could most definitely write a small novel about the Hofbräuhaus. In one word? Amazing. Sure it is now a tourist hotspot, but this, this truly is the cultural heart of Bavaria, and I was diving right in. Loud boisterous and incredibly friendly atmosphere. Every man woman and child with a giant maas of beer in front of them, some eating traditional and still giant hunks of meat or sausages. Servers and band dressed in traditional costume. Traditional wooden tables and benches lining every meter of the building. We basically just walked in, found what looked like an empty space at the end of one of the tables and sat down. Within 20 minutes the table was joyously swaying their beers signing Bavarian drinking songs (which apparently one must do every time the band plays a certain song), had set Ckatu and I up with a traditional/Carnival hat, German flag, German lei, 2 mini schnapps bottles, and were busily talking to us about god knows what. What was supposed to be one drink to show me the place followed by an Italian restaurant turned in to 3 rounds and a giant chunk of the most delicious pork (I think) that I have ever tasted (all ordered by the table of course). Fellow Saskies, this is our ancestry. This is where we get it from. It all makes sense now.. I have never felt any more similar in spirit than here.
From here Ckatu and I had to take a wee break from drinking, as we're both fairly small in size and it was only 8 o'clock. However, friends of hers were already on their way over to her place to start pre-drinking before going out to the clubs. Because we still are in Germany after all, which means there would be no few drinks than return home, it will be a 10 hour festive occasion. To make a long story short, wonderful night. My only complaint if there was to be one, would be that aside from an Austrian friend of Ckatu's the night was filled with Germans. This may seem self-evident as we are in Germany, but to explain, compared to other cultures, socially the Germans are a very reserved culture. Reserved in the sense that they don't go out looking for friends. They'll be very polite to you, talk to you, party with you, etc., but when the night finishes, you are not friends. They have their own friends, and their own life which you are not part of. This may be a harsh way of wording things, but rest assured this is not a judgement, simply a cultural observation and something with which one must make due. The Germans and people in question are still great people. Also, it is obviously not only the Germans that tend to do this. Being a Canadian naturally puts me on the extreme end of the makes friends scale. But more on this though in Part 2.
The next day started with a fabulous rather Ecuadorian style breakfast grâce à Ckatu and a full day of deep discussion and conversation, seeing the sights, wandering streets, and drinking fabulous lattes in very old cafes. The day after while Ckatu was at work, on my own I did much the same, wandered all around the centre, absorbing the Carnival atmosphere, stumbling across a French café, and returning home by the river (I later discovered I walked well over 3.5kms just wandering).
So, given what I said before this about how, with an open mind, the smallest little thing can permanently alter our perspective of things, just going over the events of the trip to Munich tells us more than enough regarding shifts or additions in attitude and thought. However, there wasn't only events on the trip. I haven't even mentioned anything regarding Ckatu and I's discussions over the course of the 3 days I was there. And for privacy and brevity's sake I don't think I will. But suffice to say that the reflections and revelations during those discussions were possibly greater than or at least equal to my personal reflections about the rest of my time put together in Hannover. Ckatu, I <3 you.
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