Girls' day out

Today was fun!  Ivanna from City Light had her birthday last week, and she wanted to have a ladies' bowling day to celebrate.  So this afternoon I met her, Anja, Rebecca, and Elaine at the bowling alley near Hamburger Meile (this is the same one I went to with the international students the first week, and it's on the route I take when I walk to school, only about 20 minutes from my house).

We had a lot of fun!  At first we were all over the place, but by the end we were getting the hang of it, and there were actually a fair number of strikes and spares!  It was just a good hangout time (there was even chocolate!)

Anja and Rebecca had to leave at 5 because they had to get their kids fed and ready for bed before our Bible study later, and they live further away, in the north part of the city.  But Ivanna, Elaine, and I all live close to there, and we had more time, so we played an extra game and left a little before 6 pm.

I went home, made dinner (leftover curry veggies from last night) and then headed off to women's Bible study for Round 2 of our girls' day!  We studied Philippians 2 and had tea and more chocolate! (I've been really trying to avoid the candy, but it's been so tough with Easter and all that.  So far I don't think I've gained any weight, but I don't really have a regular exercise program and I don't want to test my calorie limit!  I can't wait till summer comes and it's warm enough to swim in the Stadtparksee--it's the only spot where you can swim without having to pay an obscene amount of money per session.)

Elaine and I just missed the S1 train back to Barmbek, and it was going to be almost 15 minutes.  So Elaine got out her phone to see if there was a "Car2Go" nearby.  I had no idea what she was talking about, so she showed me how it works.

This was the Smart-Car2Go

You can buy a Car2Go card for around 20 euros.   Elaine has one that she keeps in her wallet.  If you have a card and want to drive somewhere in the city (like when you miss your train, for example), you look on your phone to find the car nearest you.  The map will guide you to the car and tell you the license number.  This car was a Smart Car (I think all the "Cars2Go" are Smart Cars).  Elaine used her card to unlock the door by scanning a little box on the windshield, and then we got in.  There was a key in the ignition already.  Elaine typed in my address on the GPS navigator, and then drove me to my house, just like that.  She said that when she got home, she would just park the car and leave it there, and the next person who came along to use it would take it and drive it and then park it somewhere else.  Apparently they have this in a lot of cities, even a few in North American cities like Vancouver and Seattle.  This system would probably never catch on in California, but I honestly think it's genius, at least for cities where most people use public transit.  If you don't have a car and need one on occasion, it's the perfect system.  There are of course plenty of taxis that can take you where you need to go, but who wants to pay all that money for a taxi when you can buy a "Car2Go" card instead?  It's like instant car rental with no daily fees and no rental service breathing down your neck!

Also, for the record, it was my first time riding in a Smart Car.  And unless I ride in more of them here in Europe, it will also be the last time I ride in a Smart Car.  You couldn't pay me to get in one of those things in California, no way!  Not with all the Suburbans, F-150s, and semi-trucks on those freeways!

By the way, Smart Cars actually are perfect for the roads here.  They don't look dumb when they are driving, because all the other cars around them are small too.  That is one major difference between Europe and the U.S.: car size.  People here drive Volkswagen (of course), BMW, Mercedes, Audi, Citroen, Peugeot, Fiat, and a lot of other European brands, and even a few Asian brands like Toyota.  But the one thing they ALL have in common is that they are small.  Think the size of a VW Jetta, a Pontiac Vibe, or a Honda Civic.  No bigger than that.  They do drive vans, but here they really are MINI vans.  (By the way, Emily and Joanna, the vans almost always are those white ones with the tall tops on them.)  SUVs and pickup trucks--of any size--are nonexistent.  I think that when I come back to the States, the cars will look enormous to me at first!