Blogabroad
by Mary Pinckney Waters
October 21, 2005 - Lost and Found
Listen closely. Because I didn't.
Coincidences are amusing. Or normally, that is. You
and your best friend show up at a party in the same
dress, and y'all act like twins for the night:
adorable, right? Or on his 50th birthday, Joe wins the
big pot at bingo. And we're all happy for Joe, aren't
we?
But every now and then, coincidences can turn ugly.
And in this particular case, I was the victim of a
quite unsightly one.
The Vorbereitungskurs had just ended, and we had a few
days before the actual semester began. Hmmm, what we
were we going to do with ourselves? Stuff a backpack,
jump on a train and go somewhere cool. I mean, duh.
I, however, couldn't hightail it out of Bamberg just
yet because I had to prepare a present for our
Vorbereitungskurs professors: a framed photo of our
class with each participant's signature along the
matting. As soon as the final signature dried, though,
I sprinted to the train station because my friends
were already a day into our trip and I wanted to join
in the escapades as soon as possible.
I called my friend Wes to find out where to meet them,
unaware that our conversation to follow would live in
infamy.
Me: So, where are you guys?
Wes: We're in Füssen, you know, like "feet" in
English.
What I heard: We're in Süssen, you know, like "sweet"
in English.
Me: OK, cool, I'll see ya in a little while then.
Wes: Alright. Don't get lost!
How many psychics do we have reading this?
So, speaking of coincidences, what are the chances
that two words in German that rhyme have meanings in
English that rhyme, too? And what are the chances that
both of them would be cities in Germany, and that
someone (named Mary) would confuse them and go to the
wrong place? Apparently, they're not as small as you
think.
Five hours later, I arrive in Süssen. Are you familiar
with Walhalla, S.C.? Odds are you haven't heard of it
because it's so small it requires a microscope for
viewing. Welcome to the Walhalla of Germany: Süssen.
I walk out of the train station, look around at ...
well, not much, scratch my head and call Wes.
Me: I'm here. Now what?
Wes: We're at this castle called Neuschwanstein. It's
one of the most famous castles in Germany, so just ask
anyone where it is.
Me: K, no prob. Later.
"One of the most famous castles in Germany? Here in
Walhalla?" I think to myself, but continue toward a
bakery for directions. I ask a lady behind a spread of
danishes: "Können Sie mir bitte sagen, wo der
berühmte
Schloss hier in Süssen ist?" (Could you please
tell
me, where the famous castle here in Süssen is?) ...
Her answer? A blank stare.
"This can't be good," I think, praying quickly
that
eating one too many pastries has given this woman
amnesia. Within minutes, she recognizes my
misunderstanding between Süssen and Füssen, and
I'm
back on board again -- three more hours in a train.
I call Wes one more time to own up to my humiliation.
I listen as he asks Germans around him how far Süssen
is, to which all respond: "Ich habe nie davon gehört."
(I've never heard of it.) Figures.
Finally, at 22:45, I meet my friends at the Füssen
train station (which is fives times the size of
Süssen's), greeted by such salutations as, "Boy,
that
was a long walk. My 'sweet' really hurt." Or "Are
you
hungry for some dessert? Maybe we could find something
'feet' to eat."
By the next day, I had eventually recovered from my
abounding amusement over the mixup. The others,
however, had not. Between countless sweet/feet jokes,
we ventured on to complete our trip in Salzburg,
Austria, birthplace of Mozart and home of a gorgeous
Festung (Fortress) called Hohensalzburg.
Mary Pinckney Waters welcomes your comments
and feedback: marypwaters@yahoo.com |
