Auditions were held
last Friday, and I was extremely pleased with all of those who
actually showed up. My younger girls from the Christmas show didn’t
come, and I’m so disappointed. I made sure to write them all roles,
and now they don’t want to be a part of our group anymore.
Regardless, the show must go on! The older students all came and did
such an impressive job. They had their monologues mostly
memorized, which was good enough for me because it’s rather long.
Besides, it was clear that they had practiced the monologue since I
had last seen them.
The exchanged
student from Thailand that performed in our Christmas show came out
for auditions, too. She wasn’t at our last meeting, so she read the
monologue off of the paper. English is probably her third spoken
language, which is extremely impressive for her, but she made more
errors than most of the other students. She auditioned last, so I was
not as energized as I had been in the beginning. I was very attentive
when she made one of the funniest English flubs I heard all year,
though. Instead of saying “life sucking” while talking about
teenage angst, she said “life fucking,” and my jaw just dropped.
I couldn’t hold back a smile. Alex and I contained most of our
laughter, but as soon as she left, I nearly lost control. I probably
should have clued her in on what she said, but I was a little too
drained to go there with a 16 year old exchange student at the time.
Everyone who
auditioned will make the show work, and I know who I want to cast for
all the roles! I’ll have to edit the script and remove some parts,
but that shouldn’t take me too long. It’s fun being on the
directing side of the show.
With new kids coming
every week, and the confusion with the 8th grade girls showing up one
week and not the other, the script was constantly revised. It's not
completely their fault though because they had a field trip and just
forgot to tell us. I was very frustrated though. Regardless, I wrote
them all in roles after auditions, along with Carl who showed up
after auditions with Simon. I can't say it wasn't worth it, they are
all wonderful to work with and watch grow every week. The show is
full length with a big cast of kids ranging from grades 8 through 12.
Impressive!
Right after
auditions were held, Alex and I were off to Köln to celebrate
another one of Germany’s biggest celebrations… Karneval! We spoke
with a few of the teachers, and they made it clear to us that we
couldn't show up to this event without costumes. Since it was
mid-February, I wasn't exactly looking for the skimpiest outfit to
wear. We bought two cheesy cowboy hats from Tedi, and managed to find
a few plaid button up shirts to fashion some believable costumes. The
train ride was pleasant until the end, when a drunk middle-aged guy
made a huge scene talking to us. We both had no idea what he was
saying to us, and he was clearly off his rocker. The worst part is we
weren’t even in costume or doing anything to draw attention to
ourselves. It’s like we have big American tattoos plastered on our
foreheads. This isn't the first time something like this has
happened, either... we certainly stick out like sore thumbs in this
country, even when we're not speaking.
The hostel that we
stayed at was one of the ritzier ones… well, for a hostel. The
first night, we shared a room with two other girls from America that
were studying abroad in London. They were your typical American
college girls that were a little too loud and obnoxious for my
liking, but nice enough. Maybe I've been in Germany for too long.
Anyways, I'm really glad we weren’t coerced into going out with
them because they seemed to like us more than we liked them. We would
only have to be with them for one night, though, since we were
changing rooms everyday. Karneval draws a huge crowd, so we couldn’t
book a single room for three nights in a row. No complaints here,
those girls will not be missed.
The first bar we
went to was definitely a gay bar, no question about it, as were most
bars in the area of Köln that we were staying in. We didn't realize
this, however, until mid beer, when we were the only heterosexual
couple in the place. When we tried to pay the bartender for our
drinks, he thought we were asking for another round and brought out
two more beers. No soldier is left behind, so we stayed for our
second round. Everyone was out in costumes, so I was happy to get a
heads up from our colleagues.
The next morning,
Alex and I were up early because one of our roommates was okay with
the text alert on her phone ringing every five minutes. American
girls... we obviously weren’t going to sleep through that, so we
packed up our things and moved to the next room.
Luckily, the room
was ready when we went downstairs, so we quickly dropped our stuff
off and left to explore Köln. Unfortunately, all of the museums and
tourist attractions were closed on account of Karneval. So we
immersed ourselves in the festivities, parades, and took pictures of
all the people in costumes walking around, which really was everyone.
We took a coffee and hot chocolate break at a McCafe towards the end
of our day, and then ventured back to our room to rest up so we would
feel more awake when we went out later at night. That seemed to be
when the real action was going down, anyways.
After our much
needed cat nap, I braided my hair in pigtails and cowgirl-suited-up
to celebrate Karneval. Alex and I walked around the fairgrounds and
night, and we must have heard the song “Hey Baby” a dozen times.
I still find it funny to hear American music in Germany.
I’m thankful that
I never developed a phobia of clowns because Karneval was full of
them. It would send some people to the crazy house. There were clown
costumes everywhere, and the bar we went to that night was decked out
in carny décor. I think most Americans would reject the idea of
clowns running amuck, but the people of Köln could not get enough of
it. Despite the negative energy killer clown movies provide,
everybody at this bar was really friendly... a random girl even took
a picture with me. I guess my costume looked pretty authentic. The
night was filled with terrible Kölsch music and Kölsch beer. But no
death by clowns!
After our bar
excursion, we bought a few beers at a kiosk and walked around the
streets. That will never get old in this country! People were
partying everywhere. There was even a German Red Cross van parked
nearby... that's how you know the people here plan to party hard.
After we switched
rooms one last time, we joined the rest of the Karneval day-goers and
watched a small parade. It was still small, but entertaining and we
got candy. You're supposed to shout “kamelle,” meaning “candy”
in the Kölsch dialect, to the people in the parade. Candy is then
thrown your way. If you're not cautious, it's not unlikely that a big
brick of chocolate will drill you in the head.
That night, I
proceeded with my all too familiar going-out routine for Karneval...
the braids, pink cowgirl hat, homemade sheriff badge, and plaid shirt
were intact. I was ready for my last night in Köln as a cowgirl. It
was freezing outside, so Alex actually considered wearing his warm
hat underneath his cowboy hat... good thing he has me to convince him
that it wouldn't be fashionably acceptable, even in a city where
everyone dresses up nonsensically.
We went to a really
great Soviet bar, and actually spent the entire night there. It got
really packed, and since it was our last night to “make party,”
we drank more than usual. In fact, I drank enough to muster up the
courage to order us beers in German. That's how you know I'm feeling
it.
As we were about to
leave, my bad luck with phones decided to resurface.... I dropped my
iPhone and couldn't find it anywhere on the floor. When I started
looking for it, another German man offered to help. Just when it
seemed gone for good, this man turned out to be the hero of the night
and found my phone.
We stumbled back to
the hostel, where Alex ordered a pizza for the both of us to share
from the snack bar. Meanwhile, I was fidgeting with my phone, hoping
it would stay alive and my curse for repelling all technology
wouldn't destroy my picture taking portal to the world. We ended up
making friends with two guys and a really old man dressed as a
pirate. The combination of drunken German and English was comical...
I mostly spoke English, but I felt bold enough to test out all the
words and phrases I knew. It was really fun, and encouraged me to
study my German even further! It's funny how liquid courage enhanced
my cultural experience.
The next morning was
brutal. The hangover was hard to conquer, but we left the room on
time and ate breakfast at the hostel before making our way to the big
parade that Karneval is famous for. Even though Alex and I snagged
two great spots in the front, a belligerently drunk father shoved us
to the side and moved his kids in our spots. I wouldn't have minded
letting the kids stand in front of me if he wasn't such an ass about
it. He kept pushing us the entire time and screaming “kamelle,”
even to marching bands that were clearly not carrying any candy. He
tried to offer us cheese, which was a random gesture that we
obviously refused. What really set me off was when he grabbed me, not
once, but twice, to try and dance with him. I loathe being touched,
especially by strangers who make terrible first impressions. I looked
like a huge bitch when I refused, but I really didn't care. I think I
made up for it when I gave his kid a candy bar I caught. I truly did
enjoy the parade, though. We both caught a lot of candy, and I even
got a few flowers out of it.
After a few hours of
standing in the cold, we made our way to the train. That proved to be
a way more difficult task than anticipated since they blocked off
half of the streets leading to the main train station. We figured out
that we had to take an U-Bahn there, and then we were able to catch a
train home. It was an adventure I'll never forget.
