Finding my apartment was a piece of chocolate compared to the infamous "Amity-and-Sophie-are-repeatedly-thwarted-by-the-public-transport-system-on-the-way-to-Heidelberg" Incident of 2009. In Round II (the 2011 and sadly without Amity version) my landlord met me at the train stop and immediately warned me that whenever I walk down the street anyone who happens to be out trimming the hedges will stare at me because the whole neighborhood will be wondering who the new arrival is. This is rather surprising for a city of 200,000 which, thought small for a city, is still substantial enough to render the arrival of a newcomer to be noteworthless (get it?). Anyways the short and short is that I am now confined to my apartment.
With that introduction, I would now like to venture into the topic German hospitality. I discovered today that the elderly are not, as is widely purported, to be trusted in this particular realm of social interaction. It all happened when I decided to go to church. Praising our Lord and Savior on the Holy Day is generally a secure venture and thus I ventured. The internet led me to a church in the north part of the city. I walked in and set down and was immediately put to ease by an old lady who welcomed me and told me all about her stepson from Texas and that we should have coffee together after the service. Very grandmotherly. The organ then chimed in, bleated out a welcome song, quieted the congregation and led me to begin feeling quite at home in Mainz. That's the thing about organ music; it lures one to a false sense of security through it's echos of the pre-post-modern world; more about post-modernity and it's predecessors another time.
The song comes to a close and my new friend assumes the pulpit. Turns out that she is the master of ceremonies, opening in prayer and welcoming the congregation. She reports on the flock, alluding to a former church member who has moved to Mexico. Then the thought of North America reminds her of a very recent encounter she just had with another North American. And then before I know what's happening the MC is sharing that I am the selfsame American and requests that I stand up and be officially welcomed to church in Germany. In front of everyone. Seriously, it felt like the whole country was staring at me. I just did a quick shot up into the air and back down to my seat, by everyone saw that I was embarrassingly lobster colored. My Massachusetts pride was shining though.
Except for the elderly, everyone here has been really quite wonderful to me. My roommates are three girls/ladies who have already brought me over to a friend's house and fed me pretzles, half of the city of Mainz has assisted in correcting my false interpretations of public transportation maps, and no one has yet laughed when I try to say 'wurst'.
Which reminds me of one final thing: there is a restaurant downtown called "Best Wurst". Just think about it for a second...