In Frankfurt, we went to a therme on the first night. The English translation for a Therme is "a thermal bath is a spa, whose mineral-rich water with a natural water temperature of 20 degrees Celsius, a hot spring rises. This warm spring water penetrates mostly from a depth of several thousand meters to the surface. The thermal water has a relaxing effect on muscles and soothes with its mineral components of chronic diseases of the joints, as well as rheumatism and allergies." There are all kinds of pools, spas, etc... oh and beer! Of course, we ARE in Europe so we had our share of naked people as well. It really doesn't bother me though. Billy and I went into one sauna, that was INTENSE. It really cannot be explained without being there. They pour water onto these rocks and then they fan the resulting heat with towels... it feels like you are sitting in a volcano... crazy stuff!
The next day we walked the dogs and relaxed until the evening when we went into the center city. We dressed up in our costumes since it was Fasching. We ate dinner at this fantastic italian restaurant, and went out to an Irish pub afterwards. My mouth almost got me in trouble that night, but I will leave that at that.
Well actually, I will expand a bit... One thing I am extremely sensitive to is the stereotypes that are put on Americans in Europe. As with most stereotypes, there is a LOT of truth to them. As a result, I make an EXTREME attempt not to encourage them and to squash them. Some examples are:
- Americans are extremely loud (I am really sensitive to this... it is also a respect issue... be quiet so others can enjoy there time/space/day etc. as well).
- Americans have a difficult time appreciating and celebrating different cultures, and do not know history, other languages, art, how to calculate simple computations in their head, etc.
- Americans like everything big.
- Americans are lazy, wasteful.
- Americans do not attempt to speak other languages, even if they do know a little.
- Americans are rude.
IN fact, as a woman in a man's industry, I know first hand the difficulties of overcoming stereotypes... however overcoming the American stereotype has been much more difficult than expected. Anyway, I opened my mouth when I felt someone was living up to some of these stereotypes, and I probably should have kept my mouth shut. It is just hard for me to watch, because I know we are representing all of America in everything we do. Just as when you watch someone from another culture do something in America, it is natural to assign it to the entire culture... when we do something in Europe, the Europeans think, "Ohh, Americans must all..." For example, I wear a man's watch; I just like the large face. My colleague one day admitted that he thought all American women wore large, men's watches. Where am I going with this? I need to keep my mouth shut, and if you, Mr. Reader, ever go to Europe, try to represent America positively and DO NOT TALK SO DAMN LOUD!
Back to my story... we didn't end up going to Mainz, and I was a bit upset about that. I would have LOVED to go. However we were with a large group, and needed to go with the majority... plus, next year I am DEFINITELY going.
Sunday we had a yardsale. Susan and Mike (our friends we visited in Germany... and two of the ABSOLUTE most genuine, selfless, cool people I have ever known) were moving back to the states in two weeks, so they got rid of alot of things. We ended up buying a Europe/US GPS, deep fryer, bed, dresser, lamp, fan, iron, ironing board, drying rack, vacuum cleaner... so many gooooodies!!!
Now onto this past weekend...
Basically we just went to sports games and drank a lot of great German beer. The fans here are insane!!!!!!!!!! Yes, Billy repped the Panthers jersey the whole weekend.
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