Sonya and Justin decided not to accompany Allie and I to our volunteer training at the campgrounds (Fruhlinger See). We later realized that when slipping the hotel room key under the door for them (since the door locked on the inside) the key didn't go all the way through, so S and J were locked in the room the entire day. Poor them.
Our team consists of 40 people - 3 French, 2 Slovaks, 2 Indonesians, 4 Canadians (us) and a whole bunch of Germans. Julia, one of the German volunteers, helped to translate for Florian, since he didn't know much English. She came to volunteer with her boyfriend, Hubert (pronounced, "Hoo-bear" - Allie likes to call him Pooh Bear, but he doesn't know that). I enjoy talking with the French. Edouard, Foulques and a girl whose name I forgot already. The Indonesians, Toni and Adrianna, are the warmest. They know English and know no German like us, although of course they speak Indonesian better than both.
We stayed at Fruhlinger See to do introductions, and then boarded the bus to a cathedral (another one, yes) where a whole bunch of volunteers were meeting for lunch. It took forever to get lunch, since one person was supposed to line up to get food for 6. By the time our food came to us, we scarved it down like savages. Afterwards, we sat on the grass and they listened to Florian talk. Because he was saying so much, Julia and Sandra (another German girl that knew English) couldn't translate fast enough. So while listening to him babble on and on in German, I fell asleep on the grass and then woke up when everyone was about to leave to go to the BBQ. Allie and I weren't hungry (seeing as we just finished eating cuz our food came really late) so we went back to the hotel and saved Sonya and Justin.
We figured we might as well use our time wisely while in Germany, since most of the time we would be volunteering, so we decided to check out the Koln Cathedral, the largest cathedral in Europe. It was absolutely ghastly up close (like Big Ben). However, this one had some sort of majesty to it, which almost made you excuse the dirtiness. Inside wasn't all too special. Your usual stain glass and such. Allie and I refused to climb to the top because we were already so tired. I bought a postcard for my sister, got interviewed by a reporter and met a Winnipeg girl on the steps, where she taught me a song for the Canadians:
The provinces of Canada are fun to remember
Fun to remember, fun to remember
The provinces of Canada are fun to remember
So sing along with me
Newfoundland and PEI
Nova Scotia and New Brunswick
Quebec, Ontario, from there you'll see
Manitoba
Saskatchewan
Alberta
B.C.!
Yes, we sang that a bunch of times on the steps, got filmed by the same reporting people, had a couple shots snapped of us (fun times). Granted, I don't think the other three wanted to be associated with me from then on, but that was okay.
Also, Allie made it her mission to try every type of bratwurst they offered at this little store in the Koln train station. I found that funny, seeing as she's pretty health conscious. The bathrooms are way expensive too - 1.10 euro (about $3 CDN)! In London at most was 20 pence (40c CDN). And Burger King is actually more popular than McDonalds here in Germany. Weird.
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