We had already celebrated Nikolaus day at school on Dec. 6th. Everybody got some type of present... Nikolaus was accompanied by Ruprecht, whose job it is to beat the bad kids - there was some threatening but no actual beating :-) To an American kid it was all a bit odd...
Then school let out unexpectedly early for the holidays - I never understood exactly why. But I tossed my stuff in a gym bag, bummed a few bucks off a friend, hoofed it down to Bad Godesberg, caught the train to Bonn (only a few miles) and then took the bus to Putzchen... My mom and my aunts were a bit surprised to see me. I guess I could have called ahead but didn't see the point... Hey - I was 12... It's not like I was still a kid :-)
But I was really excited! The day after Christmas mom, sis and I were going to Golling (a village in the Austrian alps near Salzburg) for a week of fun in the snow...
And the day before Christmas dad showed up at my aunt's house - unannounced and unexpected (as usual). In the 8 months since we left Philadelphia dad had only visited once before, hadn't provided a penny toward support and that whole time mom was getting angrier (and less rational) about the whole situation... So - needless to say - she really wasn't interested in letting him spend Christmas with us :-) I think my sis and I went out with dad for a couple of hours over lunch...
The train to Austria left in the late afternoon - we had sleeping berths and were well rested when we arrived in Golling the next morning. It had been snowing and it was simply beautiful! I think mom chose Golling specifically because (at that time) it was still completely unadulterated by tourism. We stayed in a small Gasthaus run by a very nice couple. It was "old school" charming - one 'communal' bathroom per floor - a pitcher of water and a basin in each room for getting cleaned up - and a nightpot for ... well - you know :-)
Speaking of that shared bathroom - I spent a long time in there early one morning and when I came out there was an 8 year old kid with glasses standing there in his bathrobe holding a towel. He looked at me and said "Na, und???" which translates to "So, what???" It was so random and weird that I've never forgotten it :-)
And while I'm digressing - What was up with those freaking featherbeds everywhere in Germany? Yeah - they were comfy and toasty, but I'm severely allergic to feathers... Not a good thing...
Of course, the couple who owned and ran the Gasthaus took an instant liking to mom (everyone always did)... Business was a bit slow, so when we went down for meals they'd hang out and chat with us while we ate. And during lunch on the second day I got a bit drunk...
Now - this would shock many Americans, but a 12 year old having wine with a meal is not that unusual in Europe... My favorite insight regarding American attitudes toward alcohol came from a German exchange student:
"Why do you let kids get driver's licenses before they've learned how to handle alcohol??? That's insane!!" ... But I digress...
Nobody was paying attention to how much I drank and I bit later I started not feeling well so I staggered up to the room to lie down... And at some point the maid knocked on the door so I hid under the bed... I honestly don't know why... But the whole time she was making up the room I was under there trying not to giggle - probably would have scared the crap out of her :-)
BTW - The maid was a lovely young blond lady (about 20). She told us about the time she went to the big city (Salzburg) and worked in a women's clothing store... It didn't last long: She was helping a customer one day and said "Now, here's something for fatter women"... She got fired on the spot... Yeah - she was very sweet, but none too bright :-) And that story still amuses me 45 years later.
And apparently aunt Vesti told dad where we had gone... We were in the restaurant when he came to the front desk looking for us (and asking for a room). The owner came over to let mom know what was going on - and she told him to give dad the worst room in the place... I guess it was really miserable - the heat barely worked - dad was freezing the whole time. Thirty years later he still remembered it and finally asked me if that awful room had been mom's doing. I had to laugh :-)
We'd been having a pretty good time until dad's arrival - that put a bit of a damper on things. Everyone was quite civil, but it wasn't as much fun...
He did take me skiing, though:
It wasn't until I started writing this entry that it occurred to me why going skiing with me was so important to dad. It had been at the center of his relationship with me before the breakup - he must've been trying to do "damage control"... Yeah - when you break something it can't always be fixed...
So dad and I drove into Salzburg - and he bought me all new apparel and we rented boots, poles and skis. Here's a picture:
I don't recall which ski area this was, but it was south of Salzburg and we took a gondola up through a low cloud layer to get to the base of the chair lift... The slopes were amazing - although I have to admit that I fell once: I failed to notice a 6 foot drop-off until I was in mid air... There were trees ahead and I tried to turn before I landed... You can't do that... Ended up doing a "yard sale" - equipment scattered everywhere :-)
But I had a wonderful time - definitely the best skiing I'd ever experienced - no comparison with those hills in the Poconos.... And after that I didn't ski again for another 10 years...
After we returned to Bonn it was back to Ako for another 3 months of rigor and isolation before the end of the school year in April...
No comments:
Post a Comment