A City Light girls' night out for Rebecca!!!
Technically her birthday isn't until the 17th, but Anja was able to work the details out for this week so we did it now.
The surprise excursion was dessert at Alex, the restaurant on the Binnenalster, and then a Lichtrundfahrt, or night-light cruise, in the harbor! It was kind of a late-night excursion, basically from 9 to 12, because it gets dark so late that the summer cruises don't leave until 10:30 pm.
The birthday excursion was the best part of the day. I had spent the morning running errands with Marni--we went to the university to finish scanning our books, then to the print shop to get them printed (this place really did not have even close to the print quality I wanted, since it was a Kinko's sort of place, but it was expensive enough that I wasn't going to pay to do it again somewhere else), then to Hamburger Meile to buy a couple of gifts (I got a fancy bar of tropical fruit soap and some orange chocolate for Rebecca, and we also bought stuff to make a present for Roland and Gaby). Elaine actually works on the top-floor "beach club" of Hamburger Meile, so I went up there to say hi. It's funny--they have this sort of cantina thing built in a section of the top level of the H.M. parking garage, with beach chairs, umbrellas, and imported Fiji sand. But the view is not of an ocean or of palm trees. Instead you're looking out across rooftops to church spires, office buildings, and big leafy green trees. Cool but bizarre at the same time. Anyway when I got home I was tired (due to sleep depravity from not getting to sleep in this weekend) so I wrapped Rebecca's present and then took a nap.
I thought I had budgeted enough time to meet Elaine at the restaurant at 8:45. We were supposed to get there before Anja and Sarah showed up with Rebecca. But I forgot Rebecca's present and I was halfway to the station before I remembered, so I had to run back and get it. And then I realized I had used up all my cash on my errands, so when I got downtown I tried to go to an ATM but all the banks were of course closed and I was locked out of the ATMs! I ended up being the last one to get to the restaurant and I was all in a fluster. I felt soooo bad . . . I think I made a scene, rushing in late and scattered like that, and I was so embarrassed that I hadn't been on time . . . but all the girls were super forgiving and nice and said, "Oh, it's fine, don't worry about it," and things like that. I was more mad at myself than anything. Four and a half months in Hamburg and I still can't ever seem to coordinate things right when I take the train somewhere! I always run into setbacks! Anyway, Elaine was super-duper-uber nice and said she would cover me for the boat ride and I could pay her back for it next time I see her. I told her she's been my lifesaver twice in the last two days, because she covered my döner on Sunday since I didn't have my wallet with me. "No," she said, "I've been your fun-saver," and laughed. I had to laugh too. At least I had enough cash to pay for my own dessert!
Anyway, once I got past my little snafu at the beginning, the night was really enjoyable. Rebecca was completely surprised, and we had such a nice time. In addition to me, Elaine, and Anja, there was Sarah (the girl visiting from Seattle whom I met on Sunday), two other ladies whose names I didn't catch because they were at the other end of the table, and another mom named Anja whose son goes to school with Joey & Rebecca's son Noah. At Alex we had dessert. Rebecca's end of the table all ordered fancy lemonades and limeades, and my end of the table all ordered ice creams. I actually ordered a chocolate ice cream milkshake thing, but when it came it was all watery in the bottom like it had melted ice in it, and it wasn't very good except for the cream on top. And since I was paying a decent amount of money for a dessert, I wanted it to be good. So Elaine helped me ask the waiter if I could exchange it, and I ended up getting a sour-cherry sundae in its place, which was absolutely AMAZING. It came in a tall glass and had a sort of black-cherry sauce in the bottom (with cherries in it), a scoop of plain frozen yogurt, a scoop of chocolate ice cream, and real whipped cream on top with a little waffle wedge and chocolate sprinkles. I wished I could eat two.
At 10 we took the subway to Landungsbrücken down at the harbor and got our tickets for the boat. The cruise started at 10:30 and went until midnight. I sat next to Sarah. We went on a loop through the harbor past all the huge ships and cranes, and got a nice view of the city from the water. I liked the part where we went through a lock--the doors opened and closed at each end for us! The tour guide talked on the loudspeaker the whole time, pointing out landmarks and explaining facts about what we were seeing, but of course Sarah and I didn't understand enough German to know what he was saying. So we just ended up talking for the whole cruise. It was basically fellowship time with nice scenery--really great! She is 22, just a bit younger than me, and she's staying with Janos and Anja until the end of the week. After that she is meeting a friend in Hannover and they're taking a two-month trip around Europe to visit all the major cities. It turns out that we were both homeschooled from kindergarten through 12th grade! We talked about our lives and about different experiences we've had. It was really good bonding time. We're going to get together on Thursday to hang out one more time before she leaves Hamburg.
Elaine wins the "person who was kindest to an undeserving Rachel" award. She and I took the train back to Barmbek but because it was so late there were no more trains to Saarlandstraße. So Elaine said she would drive me to my house because it wasn't far. We took the train in the other direction, towards her house, and then walked to her car and she dropped me off. "Just pay me back the money next time we see each other," she said. Sometimes I don't know why God still causes people to be nice to me . . . I can't ever seem to get all my ducks in a row and I never deserve it . . . but I'm so thankful for the times when He does!
Most of the pictures didn't come out too well, but here are a couple:
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| Elaine and the other Anja (the one Rebecca knows from Noah's school) |
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| Sarah, Rebecca, and Elaine |
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