The week we moved around a lot

It has been a crazy week here in Germany.  It felt weird returning to Bonn after being away for ten days only to leave two days later.  I also feel as if we did a month’s worth of activities this week because of all the traveling and busy days.  Although the days were extremely busy, I still had a lot of fun.  On Monday we went to the Haribo factory.  I have never seen so much candy!  I bought just over a kilogram of gummy candy and thoroughly enjoyed it.  That evening we watched The Last of Us.  I was actually surprised by how much I liked the movie.  The last quote of the movie, “It’s for me”, gave me chills.  The Gestapo officer was the true hero of the movie.  The following night, we were supposed to play soccer for the AIB Cup, but it was rained out.  I was a little disappointed, but we went bowing instead, and I had a blast.  I almost scored a turkey!  Earlier that day, we visited the Anesthesiology Museum.  Besides the temperature of the museum, everything was great.  I’m glad Dr. Wasser warned us though.  Dr. Stoeckl had quite an impressive collection of instruments and he could talk about them for a weeks.  However I’m glad we were able to have him give us a tour before he retires, as he himself is a part of the museum. 

            On Wednesday, we took a trip to a Hannover hospital where we talked to a patient with an LVAD.  He was one of the coolest guys I have ever met.  I felt as though he was a happy guy, and he had a great outlook on life.  He was also very open and honest with us about his personal life and the choices he will have to make in the future considering his daughters and a possible need to have a heart transplant.  He let us listen to his LVAD through the stethoscope.  You could hear both the LVAD spinning and his right heart pumping.  I felt the “pulse” of another patient and thought it was so cool that there wasn’t one.  The trip to the hospital, although it was really interesting, was also kind of sad.  These patients have to wait a really long time for a heart transplant, during which time they can’t leave the hospital. 

            The next morning we made our way to Nordeney, the island with good air.  On the ferry, we got to see some seals chilling in the flats and a seagull attack a guy with a sandwich.  When we arrived to Nordeney, we grabbed our bikes and went on a mudflut hike through the schlik.  The mud felt so good in my feet, and all the little crabs in the mud tickled my feet.  I had a lot of fun walking through the really deep mud, racing worms, and watching my friends terrible sense of direction with their eyes closed (I probably would not have done any better).  That night we had a really relaxing night on the beach watching the sunset.  We steps out to the end of the dike where there was an organized pile of rocks in the surf about fifty yards away from the shore.  It was beautiful.  We took turns taking pictures of each other, and when the sun set, we just hung out on the beach and talked.  We met two German girls that helped us with our German.  They told us that they didn’t say auffentitengeil, but we can say it if we want to.  I thought that was funny, and they also liked my pick-up line, “Du bist ein ausflug ens Blaue.” 

            They next day, we took a bike tour around the island.  I was surprised that we can bike across most of the island relatively quickly.  I enjoyed learning about the history of the island.  And about the lines that they are currently running under the island via horizontal drilling in order to conserve the environment.  Now we’re off to Amsterdam, and I have no idea what to expect.  I guess I’ll see.