delayed weekend wrapup

I don't remember what I was doing on Thursday but I'm guessing I was probably stuck in meetings as usual after german work hours. Friday I literally ran out of the office at 5 and rented a bicycle from the train station. I could not figure out for the life of me whether I was supposed to be on the sidewalk (there are bike lanes on the sidewalk) or the street (sometimes the lanes disappear). I quickly made it out of the city into some rural fields (on a bike path) and it was really beautiful to be out of the city so quickly and be surrounded by fields and chirping birds and big windmills. Then, I got a flat. I was about 10km away from the town, half of which was on this random bike path. I rode the flat tire back to the city, grabbed a subway/tram/train and took it back. So much for renting bikes. I had mediocre sushi for dinner. It was like Isobune with little boats floating around the counter offering sushi but the fish tasted like frozen paper and every maki roll had green onion sprinkled all over which was a bit strange.

Saturday I slept in, got a haircut and went to a "medieval" museum. It wasn't too interesting. After repeated attempts at calling a ticketline, I decided to grab the train to Oberhausen and try to buy a ticket in person for the BlueManGroup. It was great that I did, because I got a ticket near the front for only 19 euros, less than half the price. The show was a lot of fun, mostly muscial but very interactive. The Metronom Theatre is next door to a massive shopping centre, almost exactly the same as ours. I ate an Irish pub nearby, but they didn't speak much English. Go figure. When I got back to the Oberhausen Hauptbahnhof, things got interesting. There were young, trendy kids everywhere. It was impossible to walk without stepping on beer bottle caps, and everyone was red in the face, loud, smoking and drunk. There were students creating shelters with egg cartons, toilet paper and one with air furniture. And of course, I get onto the platform for the train back to Dortmund and its packed. Everyone is smoking and drinking, and of course, only a three car train arrives. We all jammed in, and some kids jumped onto the luggage railing and there was chanting ("Finale!" or "Supa Deutschland" as well as other melodies.) for my long one hour ride back to town on the S-bahn. Even though they were intimidating, they left me alone, and were generally well behaved with the elderly in the car etc. It was very strange.

Sunday morning I woke up late again, and didn't do anything particularly productive. I ended up spending my afternoon at the Gelsenkirchen Zoo, about an hour away by slow-train. When I got to the station, I found out I would be riding a Bombardier train. Long story short, it had the most uncomfortable seats I've sat in on any train in Germany, and I got a little motion sickness because it shook so much. Oh well. The zoo was huge. They divide the animals into regions "Africa", "Alaska" etc. and like the Dormund zoo, most animals were easily viewable and most had ample room to roam which was really nice to see. It is almost like a theme park as well, with all sorts of cabins and huts for children to play in. Very well thought out, and its too bad the Asia section is still under construction. Sunday night was the big game, Germany vs. Spain for the Euro2008 final. I walked around and settled on watching the game in front of an outdoor pub where people were gathered. Most were unhappy at losing, but within a few minutes, people were out honking their horns anyway.

Monday night I had slightly better sushi for dinner, and racked up a nice 40 euro bill. I think the people working there were korean. Either way, like the other place they didn't understand my Japanese and the sashimi was well, ... I won't be ordering it again.