Turning 19 in Germany
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So I came back home from school at 1pm (school ended early at 11am) on a Thursday afternoon, 20 November. Felt extremely bored because I didn't have any plans for the rest of the day as well as the long weekend. While I was still fretting about what to do, I finished my previous blog post that took almost forever to complete.
Badminton and volleyball sessions are held every Tuesdays and Thursdays 8pm at the Sportschule. I planned to play some badminton and volleyball but then changed my mind as the day went by and I got tired. However, my French sis pulled some stunts and told me that Laura would be coming too. Me being a steady person, agreed to tag along for sports since my friends were all going. However, Margaux who persuaded me to come, ended up not going because she wasn't feeling well. Before we left for the Sportschule, the 3 girls and my German buddy passed me a shared birthday present, a plastic flower thingy which up till now, I still can't figure out exactly what it is... I believe it is a type of air freshener/diffuser where the fragrance is produced from the flowers.
By the time we returned home from badminton/volleyball, it was 10pm. I was getting all cozy – made sandwiches with Nutella and banana and searched for a movie to watch. While waiting for the movie to buffer and load itself, I devoured the sandwiches until my stomach was satisfied. Just when I was about to start the movie, Anäis and Laura came knocking on my door with a distressed look on their faces.
Anäis: "Alexis, Margaux is really sick, she needs to go to a hospital and she wants to see you first."
Me: "What?!"
Anäis: "We're calling an ambulance but she wants to tell you something."
Me: "Omg. Is she really sick?!"
Laura: "Yes, let's go, hurry!"
And so I rushed over to the opposite apartment, Haupstraße 70, in my PJs (shirt and shorts) and flip flops.
Me: "Where is Margaux? In her room?"
Anäis: "No, in the dining room."
Me: "What? Why is she in the dining room?"
*OPENS DOOR OF DINING ROOM*
I was STARTLED and befuddled, with the party popper blown in my face, the minute I popped my head into the room. Apparently, I was tricked thrice.
Trick No.1:
Set-up: Weird plastic flower/bouquet air diffuser present
Motive: Meant to lead me into disappointment that there was nothing planned for me (because Matt accidentally spilled out the beans that there was gonna be a party on Thursday & mentioned about my b'day)
Trick No.2:
Set-up: Sick Margaux
Motive: With Margaux not turning up for volleyball/badminton, Laura accompanied me in place of her, to get me out of my apartment so that they could use the oven to bake and prepare for the party.
Trick No.3:
Set-up: Margaux ending up in the hospital
Motive: Continuation of trick no. 2 to get me to the apartment, to surprise me.
I must say, it was a well-planned surprise birthday party!! Because the first trick totally caught me off guard. It was smart to get me to come over and be surprised by an organised party with everyone waiting for my arrival instead of coming over over to surprise me, knowing that I already heard of a party that could be held. Making up so many lies to fool me, totally did the trick because I ended up being confused about the situation, with everything being complicated. I don't know how long they took to plan all these out and how they went about cracking their heads on how to fool me but they sure did a good job.
To be honest, I did expect something to happen, before I received the weird plastic flower present. My expectations went down the drain after receiving it and because I am someone who kinda expect a lot (hate it but can't help it at times), I thought something might occur when I got home but nothing. So back to the beginning where I said I started getting cozy and eating sandwiches? Yep, I was ALL READY to have a movie night then head to bed. Well, surprise surprise.
I was really pleased and contented by the effort and sincerity put in by everyone who had planned my surprise birthday party. That was what really mattered to me and I appreciated that more than the gifts. 🙆🙆
AND SO this was what I saw when I entered the dining room.
Saw how dainty the room was decorated and I was awed. On the Hello Kitty table cloth laid a wide array of food/snack choices prepared by my friends.
Birthday brownie cake with candy balls baked by Anäis♡
Pancakes baked by Margaux♡
Cupcakes baked by Caro♡
Chocolate fondue made by the girls, to dip the bananas and grapes (as well as the pancakes) ♡
Wine/beers/champagne were also brought by everyone♡
Also, if you notice, there are star-shaped cookies placed around the table, ah, it was way too adorable😌😌😌
Disney princesses cups and Hello Kitty plastic plates were used, also as part of the decoration along with the Hello Kitty table cloth. It was really girly and I kinda liked it (even tho I am not a fan of Hello Kitty). I felt like a princess👸 and a really young kid👧 all over again during the party. MAGICAL.
So this is how it feels like – to open a dark room which lit up immediately, brightening the space and showing more than a dozen friends waiting for the birthday girl and then for the right moment to scream "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" and burst out into laughter. The feeling was indescribable, wait, I think that should be a plural, I felt more than one thing, a mix of feelings altogether.
As the candles were burning, and as they sung the birthday song for me, I made a wish and blew the candles while still feeling a wave of emotions. After which, I settled down a little and was then touched to tears of joy. The moment went by so quickly but it will last in my mind FOREVER.
In my pink shorts oh yeahhh and the really sweet cupcake.
Strip dance by my friend AHAHAH so epic.
And I had to have a change of clothes.
We waited till midnight struck 21 November and this time an actual birthday song was sung. Then we all dug into the cake. (Honestly, I already had a few bites of the brownie cake and it was AMAZEBALLS, be jealous I had such a wonderful cake for my birthday. Best thing was that it was handmade with love, it cannot get any better than this!)
Went to a bar after that but by then most of the bars were closed and we found one that wasn't too good. Had a baileys shot then I got bored and headed back to their apartment with ma French sis. Before that, we tried to crash other people's apartments in hope that there'll be a house party but it was all just for fun HA. When the rest got back to the apartment a while later, we chatted for a bit and went to bed at 3am-ish.
The REAL presents HAHA gosh, my friends are WAY too cute.
Just had to unwrap the presents the minute I got up from bed in the morning of my birthday. I woke up at 8am because I forgot to switch off my alarm that goes off every weekday for school. Thing is there was no school on the 21st. It was like a birthday present from school, literally!
I have no clue how my friends knew that I liked marshmallows but there in the back, is a brightly-coloured packaging shaped like a piping bag.
This is no doubt, my favourite birthday present!
It was placed on the table right beside the birthday cake during the surprise party but I didn't realise it until my French sis pointed it out to me.
On the sign along with the words, it means "Please do not shit here."💩
It is an inside joke and I love it HAHAHA. You must be thinking I'm crazy because that seems rude and strange but here's why.
I always say "Ich möchte scheiśe." that means "I want to shit." and I remembered the first time I said that was in the hotel during our Hamburg trip together. Since we shared the toilet, I just wanted to let them know that I will be taking some time in there and also because I express myself too much sometimes and had to report to them 😂😂 My friends couldn't stop laughing when I said that. I don't know how and why but I kept on saying that line ever since. And so my friends remembered...
Spent the entire day at home after that, just catching up on movies because everyone else were busy during the long weekend. But then my French sis came back from Strasbourg with this!
It is a Chocolate Cake with Pear. Can it get any better? A SECOND birthday cake all the way from France and it tasted divine. The pastry was soft and crisp, with a smooth and sweet layering. The pear topping went well with the flavour too. Mm mm.
Later in the night, at 10pm, French sis and I headed out to meet these 2 volleyball guys. I swear it was really impromptu because the guy on the left thought I was going to have a party on my birthday night but we had it the night before till 00:00. So he texted me saying that he was going to Ludwig and asked what I have been doing. He wanted me to come out and I was getting bored at home too.
We ended up going to Mosbacher Brauhaus where he treat me to Schnitzels and Pommes (pork cutlet&fries). The 2 boys then brought up the idea of going to Airport1 to party. Margaux and I didn't exactly intend to party after the meal. We just wanted to give them a ride to the club but then we made the craziest decision to party after I played my music in the car and the atmosphere was built up.
(Side track: I transform into DJ Alexis in the car because everyone including the Germans seem to enjoy my music taste; the songs I listen to apart from house/electro music. And that makes me really happy, when people like the music I like and comment that I have a good music taste.)
Then we were back again at the club with the empty dance floor. Surprisingly, it wasn't as bad as compared to the first time we were there so all was good. After a while, the DJ started playing a lot of German music and both of us only knew one of it, it was a good and catchy German song called "Atemlos durch die Nacht" (I knew the song as it was played in Oktoberfest). We were all kinda annoyed at the DJ though, because he kept TALKING while playing his jam. God, he couldn't stop blabbering, he was totally disrupting the music as it tunes down everytime he spoke into the microphone.
Had treats of drinks from them, danced and left the club in an hour or so. Even though I spent the entire day of my birthday doing nothing but rot at home (besides watching Pitch Perfect AGAIN with Laura – it's like déjà vu because I first caught the film in theatres on my birthday when it was newly released 2 years ago). I was really thankful for them to put in the effort and time to take me out during the last few hours of my birthday, attempting to make my birthday experience in Germany a more special one. Not forgetting my dear friends who have organised the birthday surprise party. It may not have been the best celebration, but to me it was extraordinary. Being able to spend my birthday overseas was already one of a kind, I'm more than contented. Big big thank you to all (if you guys are reading it)! :')
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23 Nov'14 (Day 81) - Interstellar Kino
While I was writing this post on my birthday celebration last night, I was also preparing to go on a road trip to Heidelberg with Max, Matthias and Laura to meet the rest to party. However, Max was tired and I was tired too and I didn't have the mood to party for the 3rd night in a row. So we changed plans to watch a movie in the theatres located at Mosbach Neckarelz. It was a good idea to go to a movie theatre because back in Singapore, I catch movies A LOT and it has been a long time since I've stepped into a theatre. I also really wanted to watch a movie in Germany so yep! It was a choice between Tribute Von Panem (Hunger Games Mockingjay Pt.1) and Interstellar.
Matthias wanted to watch Interstellar and even though I am not interested in Science Fiction films, I gave it a shot anyway as I've heard some good reviews on it.
YES, finally I've caught my first film in Germany's theatres!
The previous time, the outdoor cinema with hot wine, it was an actual German movie. This time I watched a Hollywood movie synchronised in German. It was all for the experience because I really didn't understand much of the film. I tried but German is really hard and even the graphics were a little hard to depict the plot especially when I was barely interested in the film. We all found the movie way too long and I was actually asleep half the time (theatre was comfy & because we caught a midnight movie).
Damn, did I mention that Germans are really good in photobombing?
19 Nov'14 (Day 77) - Dinner Gathering
Went to an Italien Restaurant called Gärkammer Da Pino with Marc and Moritz. They had pizza while I had lagsane. It was a great evening just chatting away. I found it a bit amusing when the Italien waitor constantly walked over to our table, not to take our order or ask how our food was (which German services always include) but to engage in our conversation. What was funny was that he was also asking about me, like where I was from and what I was doing. So the evening also comprised of the waitor talking to my 2 German friends while I was there listening and grasping some German words.
Lasagne und Apfelsaft für mich, Pizza und Radler Bier für meine zwei Freunde ;-)
Das Lasagne ist sehr gut, eine Menge Käse und Ich mag es!
18 Nov'14 (Day 76) - Endlich Dienstag-Endlich wieder Saufen!
Tuesday night at Am Oberen Graben 6.
It was my second house party at this house. The first visit was kinda unintentional. We had to leave the first house which we were supposed to party at initially but had to party-hop to this house due to the police.
Tuesday night was definitely better than the night we party-hopped to this house. The music was really good and it was a neon party!! We had this special paint which could also glow in the neon lights, so we drew hearts and it kinda got all over to my new cardi...
Stamped hearts with Max because my paint was way too thick and he got a broken (half) heart. Hilarious!
I didn't know it was a neon party or I wouldn't be wearing black, you can only see my teeth in this picture. HAHA.
It was a great and truly a happy 19th birthday (I still feel like it's my birthday today).
It's rare that I don't travel during the weekends (especially a long weekend) and also since I've been travelling every single weekend. Still, it is nice to relax in Mosbach during the weekend yet somehow enjoy and make the best out of it.
This weekend gave me the opportunity to experience catching a film in a German theatre, hang out with friends and run some errands like arranging my package to be sent over to Singapore.
Time is passing like the wind and the semester is ending in about a week?! I can't even believe 8 weeks of school have passed already. I swear, school has never passed so QUICKLY before!
Too many things to share over here, almost endless but I do my best to update everything.
Next post coming up real soon! Tschüss :-*
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