"Bla-Bla-Car" Weekend Adveture to & from Deutschland (6.-8. Nov.)

Whew! What a weekend!

I've been looking forward to this weekend for a ling time. I will see my roommate's musical live--in Berlin--and I will stay with friends I hadn't seen in almost 4 years--in Friedensau. When you see Kołobrzeg, Berlin, and Magdeburg on the map, you'd think it's easy to go between these places. After all, they aren't that far apart.

You'd be surprised.

 

A promise that everything is going to be alright.

Anywho, I got a ride from Koszalin - Berlin (which meant I needed to get to Koszalin--nothing that 8zl and 50 minutes couldn't do) with a very nice driver. From the Berlin Hauptbahnhof, I needed to get to Dahlem-Dorf station to meet my next ride/driver. Also not bad or complicated (I even arrived early). My next driver was also very competent and got me to where I would meet my friends; a McDonald's just off the Autobahn, at the Theeßen exit. So far, so good.

I didn't know it at the time, but I had run out of minutes. I couldn't call or receive calls (had to pay for both when roaming/in a different country). I couldn't send texts either--but I could still receive texts. After 3 attempts of getting help from different people and haunting McDonald's for 1 hr & 10 minutes, my friends finally arrived. I wonder if you can imagine how relieved I felt when they arrived--this, plus the fact that I hadn't seen them in almost 4 years. 

Well, the rest of the day made me forget how close I was to losing my mind.

***

On Sabbath, my friends and I went to the AdventHaus in the southwestern suburbs of Berlin for church. One of my roommates (Anja) was in a musical that was going to perform there in the afternoon--so why not go there for church in the morning, and already be there for the musical in the afternoon? Exactly.

"Der Herr Kommt!" = "The Lord Comes!"

Autumn garden in Friedensau

The service was good. My friends saw some of their friends and acquaintances. I got to greet Anja so she could see I and my friends made it and were going to stay for the performance. We had some time after lunch, so my friends and I went for a walk to a nearby "park" (ok, it was a park, but it wasn't quite the same kind of woodland park we were expecting). We got back with plenty of time to spare.

I just wanted to play in the leaves!

I guess this will do.

Thanks for the idea, Olga & Daniil!

Inviting Autumn Wonderland

Then she started talking to me.

"She" will remain nameless, but she was asking me quite a few questions about what the Bible says about different things, mostly about what to do when someone is doing something you know they shouldn't. I wasn't comfortable. I could feel they had a certain agenda (yes, "they". There were 2 women, but 1 was the mouthpiece). We were discussing at one corner (I was cornered), somewhat passive-aggressively, for 30 minutes.

I'm so glad one of my friends came to my rescue. I tried to stop/get away ("Why don't we say a short prayer, then we can go and watch the musical together?" and "I need to go. My friends are probably worried about me."), but it didn't work. Then with my friend, I was much more able to close and get away (at least they seemed more willing to let me go). Anyway, that was weird, but it serves as a good learning experience. After talking it over with my friends, we agreed they must be part of a reform group. They may have good ideas, but the ways they are implemented and the methods they use are not the kind I would condone.

After calming down a bit, the musical started and I truly enjoyed it--and forgot about what happened for 30 minutes right before it started.

Each member received a token of appreciation after the performance.

Roommates!

After the musical and talking with several people there, it was time for a night out in the city! We had a trustworthy guide by the name of Benjamin, since he himself is a "Berliner" (born & raised in Berlin). He took us to a small pizza joint (Dolce Pizza) that had one of the best/most authentic pizzas I've ever had (yes, I'm eating pizza again!)

Before . . .

. . . While . . .

. . . and After.

 After that, it was off to walk around Potsdamer Platz. There really was a lot to see and lots of people to navigate around. Then it was off to a McDonald's on another autobahn exit to sit, chat, drink hot chocolate, eat ice cream or whatever, and relax for a while. Afterwards, we all went our separate ways.

Whoa

I don't think I was ever here before.

Sony Center (also in Korean!)

A piece of history . . . from the Berlin Wall.

***

On Sunday, we all woke up after a good night's rest, had breakfast, then they set to work to help me find a way back to Berlin, to meet Anja, so both of us could return to Kołobrzeg together.

Long story short, we got a truck-driver to take me (from the same McDonald's I waited for my friends at on Friday) to Berlin, pick up Anja, and he brought us both to the central train station in Szczecin; where we got the train to Kołobrzeg and walked home together.

He picked me up sometime before 17:00. We picked up Anja at around 18:00. We got to the train station at 20:30 and caught our 21:13 train that brought us to Kołobrzeg at 23:15, finally arriving home at around 23:30.

I'm so touched at how hard they searched for a driver for me.

Extra! A look at the volunteer firefighters of Friedensau . . .

Take this girl seriously! She might save your life.

Official firefighter.

Very important kind of protection.

Oh, can we climb up it?

Friedensau's nature. Gotta admit that it's beautiful.

 Would I do this again? Yes, but I'd have more money in my phone before setting off!