A Wedding and A Class Reunion all in Two Days

Last weekend was wonderful. Jan and I headed out for his former roommate's wedding and his 10th class reunion.

First we rented a car. For reasons that I still do not understand, Jan opted out of the exciting convertible mini cooper and instead went with some French car.

With our new car we spent a day doing as much shopping/stockpiling as possible.

Usually, Jan and I are carless, and any shopping is a production involving a bike, a backpack, and very strategic packing. We now have enough canned tomatoes, kidney beans, tomato sauce, olives, and condiments to last us through (I hope) much of the winter. Now instead of riding bikes up the steep hill, in the snow, with about 50 pounds on our backs, we can eat endless pots of chili.

The Wedding

We almost didn't make it to the wedding - we were late due to a detour and then could not find the town hall. After much searching and asking for directions, we found it, but it seemed to be abandoned. Just as we were about to give up hope, the wedding party came walking down the hill and we promptly jumped in our car to follow them to the reception.

The reception was at a resort/hotel/spa in the Black Forest. It was beautiful, if a little chili. We started with champagne on the deck, but quickly went inside to a long sit down dinner.

Jan's former roommate met his now wife when she studied abroad in Freiburg and lived next door. She is Australian, so Jan and I sat at the Australian table (so I could actually communicate). The Australians were pretty funny and good company.

Germans have a thing called Program at weddings - events that are planned. We were entertained by a very good a capella group who wore costumes and were very funny. The brides brothers sang some songs, and we saw a slide show of the groom growing up. All in all very sweet.

Jan and I stayed up until 2 and then hit the bed at our hotel.

The next day we had a delicious breakfast and checked out. We visited Jan's father and brother for lunch and then passed out for several hours.

Jan's class reunion was also fun and I found out some juicy info on Jan such as the story of Wilde Hilde. Many of Jan's classmates are still students, still live at home, etc. Germans don't seem to hurry to get to the financially independent, good job stage of life.

Now I have a week left of no teaching, and I am devoting myself to sleeping, reading, and trying to learn German. :)