The following day we slept in a bit and had brunch, after which we were off to Cottbus to celebrate Hagen and Corinnas Birthday.
We arrived around coffee and cake time and, sweet as they are, they got me a “Being German” starter kit, including flip-flops and tennis socks amongst other things 😂
Both of their extended families and some friends arrived not long after, and we had a range of cakes, all delicious and many home-made. We chatted the afternoon away and Hagen began making a really fantastic charcoal BBQ, testing out a “Quick lighting” contraption he recently acquired to get the coals glowing hot more quickly. It’s basically a wind-funnel for coals, where the hot air is used to create a draught, which brings in more oxygen to continue the cycle. It worked amazingly well, and Hagen was off-and-cooking within a few minutes. Hagen made many things, including a roast which was one of the best pieces of meat I remember eating. We all ate way too much, so we decided to crack open a “Timm’s Saurer” which basically translates to “Timms’ sour” a Vodka and Lemon mix popular in DDR days. It’s supposed to help settle the stomach, though as Manja points out, this is more myth than reality. Amongst the discussion were things like “What’s a real German classic movie?” where “Manitus shoe” was unanimously voted as THE one to see.
Eventually, as night fell, we headed back to the trainstation and got home around Midnight, leaving us some time to recover on Sunday, and watch Manitus shoe as recommended by the party guests the night before. It’s a good movie, though I don’t think the humour would translate too well in an English version.
The following week was a fairly normal work-week, but on Thursday night we were once more heading out for dinner at a Bavarian restaurant before cashing in a birthday present and see the infamous Blue Man Group which is… well it’s hard to describe really. A little like circus. A little like comedy. A little like really awesome pipe-drums being played. And best of all? You can play their pipe-drums in the intervals, which I definitely took full advantage of to give it a try.
That Saturday we started to sort out some of our Domestic to-dos before I chatted to Amy on Sunday for a few hours. It was really great to catch up 🙂
After our chat we headed over to some old collegues of Manjas for Brunch for a few hours, after which we went to Ilkas for coffee can cake… and for picking a whoooole lot of super delicious cherries! We had so many that we decided that we would need to invest in a cherry stoning tool to de-stone them all 😁
One of the things in the “German starter pack” was a nice Kassler, which I prepared for dinner the next night – Turns out I managed to cook it quite well, delicious and with a nice crust 😋. I also managed to do a first sketch of our new Ikea kitchen, using the kitchen visualiser. A pretty amazing tool!
On Monday I had a bit of an adventure: My drivers license was ready! I rode over in the later afternoon to pick it up, and actually had to hand in my Aussie license to get the German one 😭. Ah well, at least I’m able to drive again!
That Thursday we headed over to Ikea to get another Kitchen Consultation, where the first few “bugs” in our kitchen idea were ironed out.
On Saturday we headed back over to Cottbus for Manjas Grandmothers birthday… Which was the event exactly a year after I first met the family. For some reason they still seem to like having me around 😅. We drove down in a little smart which we rented from a car sharing service for the weekend, which felt like driving a toy car down the highway! But we got there safe and sound in time for coffee and cake! Yum! Carmen had on this cute little T-Shirt which was very punny: Apparently she was Koalified to travel, hang-around and party.
Manjas grandparents really have a well-qualified and experienced green thumb, growing all sorts of things in their garden. We explored what had changed and what was growing, including checking out the Bananas they have! A little later Manja, Kai and Carmen showed me the local park, where we headed over to the weir and spent some time chatting by the waterside. We returned in time for dinner, which Hagen prepared: A nice BBQ! Much like most grandparents they over-catered, and much like an Australian summer, it was sweltering by the charcoal bbq. We clocked the temperature on the verandah at around 45 degrees. Summer Indeed!
Hagen worked up a sweat cooking everything as I carried various cuts of meat back and forth. Over-full of excellent cuts of meat, we all chatted the afternoon away. As the evening set, the mood turned into a real party-like atmosphere, including music and dancing. By the time we headed back to Manjas mums place it was well past midnight, and we all dropped into bed.
Sunday we had to head off again already, but we caught up with Jana, Carmen and Hubert at a local lake for a couple of hours first, taking a dip in the wonderfully cool water. Unfortunately it wasn’t long before we had to drive home, park the car and call it a day 🙂
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