About my second weekend after arriving in Stuttgart, some friends I first met in Berlin invited me to Konstanz in Southern Germany right on Lake Constance, for a celebration they were holding.
Here's Suzy and Jessica to the left.
We first met as Jeff (another Transatlantic Program participant) and I were headed to the Brandenburger Tor to watch a soccer championship. It turned out that there wasn't a showing of it, but while walking, we met these two and two others on the way there. They had also looked for this game's public showing to no avail. Anyway, we hung out with them for that night, kept in touch, and they invited Jeff and me to their farewell party in Konstanz.
Konstanz is in the same state, so I agreed to go as it'd be easy to get there.
We knew they all worked in the theater in Konstanz, but did not expect the show we went to. After arriving in Konstanz, Jessica informed me we were going to the theater that night. I thought, great, as I always enjoy going to the theater.
The show was Jens's drag show where he played the tempermental, lounge-singing, joke-craking Tamara. I knew Jens from Berlin as well. I wouldn't have minded, if I hadn't been pulled on to the stage while only understanding 1/2 of what he was saying. (The concept of allusions common in jokes are beyond me in a foreign language.) I had the luck of arriving late and took a standing spot in the back, direct in Tamara's line of sight.
Tamara/Jens couldn't resist himself at one point in the show by looking straight towards the back and pulling me on stage.
There were jokes: there was a red couch where a cute 17-year old girl from the audience was also dragged onto the stage to accompany me; there was awkwardness of sitting awkward and unconfortably in front of 50-100 Germans.
Fortunately, the pain passed and I was then greeted with pity and mixed reception by every party attendee who saw the show. They knew immediately that I was the American. However, as you see here on the left, that didn't hinder me from dancing foolishly. That sentence is debatably redundant. Foolish could be left out and "i danced" would implicitly carry this meaning.
Either way, everyone there grilled, ate pasta salads, and danced till the morning. We finally slept around 7:00 a.m. and I caught my train later that day.
"kohnshtahnz" (as the Badisch from the city pronounce it) was a great time. It's a beautiful city immediately at the point where the Rhein river meets Lake Constance. Tourist abound and, for that weekend, I gladly counted myself as a mitfeierer--one who takes part in the celebration.
Later Days,
Rick
