The Rot Kreutz

Our friend Martin was going to keep us busy again this weekend. He’s the friend that I have mentioned that owns a light and production company who refers us to various cool happenings that we would otherwise miss. This particular “gig” was of a different sorts. There was some kind of reunion type gathering going on at the sportsplatz in town, of which, his band (this guy is busy) was providing entertainment for. He told us about it last week so we thought we’d check it out.

The reunion was for the “Rot Kreutz” (Red Cross) and I think it was for the region, not the Red Cross in town. There was probably two or three hundred people there. The Red Cross is pretty big here. There are chapters in most of the towns, however small, and they usually put on a great party. This party seemed to be more private or not necessarily something everyone would be interested in. My husband and I ate dinner at the Kroatian restaurant next door and could see the hall from the restaurant. It looked to be more of a meeting with presentations and speeches. We walked over after eating and took a look and decided it wasn’t for us. The band was just setting up and we didn’t want to wait around.

The Red Cross chapter in town is located across the street from us, in the same building that houses the Feuer Wehr (fire house) and the town hall. The last Red Cross gathering that we went to was huge and it seemed the entire town was there. They met their goal of raising several hundred thousand euros, so they threw this huge party to celebrate. They set up a disco in the firehouse. There’s never a dull moment here. We walked home when the birds were singing.

Spring has sprung and the birds are singing and things are blossoming everywhere. I have noticed that there doesn’t seem to be as many birds here as back home in CT. I do live “in town”, but I first noticed this when driving home from work the other day. I have no idea why this came to mind, but it suddenly occurred to me that I’ve rarely seen any bird droppings on my car or around my house. I thought that was kind of strange. Even when walking through the woods, I hear birds but don’t really see an abundance of them. I’m not sure why.

Anyway, this was a fairly low key weekend in Germany. Rented a few movies, went out to eat, went for a walk, cleaned and went to the “kino” (movies) today to see the new Hugh Grant movie, “Music and Lyrics”. There’s a theater in the town where I work that shows mostly English version movies, which is nice. There is a theater on the base, but for some reason, I’ve never seen a movie there. If I lived on base, I’m sure it would be different, but I like to avoid going to the base on the weekends. I guess since I work there five days a week, I feel like that’s enough time to be there. This theater off base is pretty small, only two screens, but it’s kind of neat. There are wooden “shelves”, if you will, attached to the seats in front of you for you to put your popcorn or beer on. Yes, beer. You can purchase various bottles of alcoholic beverages at the theaters in Germany, which isn’t surprising. They sell popcorn and candy as well, although the popcorn isn’t so good, it’s not buttered. I can’t say whether this is the norm or not. I haven’t purchased popcorn in any other theaters. I know we can get our popcorn in the USA, buttered or not, but even the non-buttered tastes better than this stuff. Maybe they just haven’t caught on to this American staple yet. Sooner or later someone will set them straight.