Pakistani Drama and "Pakistani" trains

Today we went to see a Drama performed by Pakistanis in Urdu language. They came from Frankfurt and the drama was organized in Bonn (capital of formal West Germany). We 3 friends started our journey in the morning, visited a friend in Mainz for a few hours and then reached the drama city, only to find out that the tickets were all sold out. We told them that we have come from far away and they permitted us entry (free) advising that we may have to sit on the stairs. The hall was filled with audience and people were now starting to sit on stairs. When the stairs filled, some people had to stand there. Drama was a comedy highlighting problems facing a wife who came from Pakistan but didn't know German language.

We came out before the drama ended since we had to catch the train. But the train got about half an hour late. So we again remembered Pakistan :) Because of this, we couldn't get to our city before morning. In Germany, almost all trains stop for a few hours during late night (about 2-5 am). So if you don't reach your destination before this time, you have to wait a few hours at the train station. So, we went to our friend's house to spend night and came back in the morning.

The First Night

On the first night that i came to this city i had a memorable experience. Well, i bought some necessities for myself and thought that big stuff i'll get later. Big mistake! I had no blanket. So when i laid down on my bed at night, i couldn't sleep for long. After some time i got up and turned on the heater, but they had turned the heaters low as it was not as cold as before. I still couldn't sleep. So, finally (late night) i got up and put my heavy jacket and some other stuff on me. So was i able to sleep the first night.

The next day my friend, who was guiding me around, asked me "I forgot to ask yesterday; do you have a blanket . . . ?"

Arrival in Kaiserslautern (my new city)

I arrived in my new city (Kiaserslautern) at about 3 pm (1st April). I took all my luggage out of train and dragged it out of the station. I got to a taxi and was about to say something when the driver pointed forward and told me to get the first taxi in the row. So i moved to the first taxi and got to the hostel. There, when i got in, i gave a bell on the mobile of Anis (the pakistani who guided me earlier). He was in uni, so he called another guy in the hostel and that guy came to help me. That guy helped me put my luggage in my room. Then he went with me to get my electricity contract, etc. Then he took me to his room and we ate together. He made "chapatis" by hand. He was an Indian Muslim. I later learnt that he was about to eat his meal when he came to me and carried my luggage and walked with me in city.

In the evening another pakistani took me to have dinner in his room. Next morning he took me for breakfast.

Football mania

Today, we went for a usual weekend walk. On our way we saw a bus going on our direction every minute full of people, and they all came back empty. We were curious! we decided to follow these buses. So we went on and on, on the road where the buses were going. After walking for some time, we saw a beautiful hill. After crossing the hill, we saw what we expecting by that time: a football stadium. It was big with construction going on on the outside. There were a lot of people coming from different directions. A huge number of people were inside, who we could hear singing in chorus. We thought it was a special match.

Later, we discovered that it was a usual inter-city match, one of those held every weekend and the same number of people go to watch these matches every weekend. hmmmm...

Collective (voluntary) Discipline

Today, while i was sitting in my room at university, a girl came in and started speaking about some glass bottle. She became faster and faster so that i couldn't understand a word. Fortunately, my room-mate understood that and went out with her. The i saw her carrying a broom-stick. When my room-mate came back, i asked him what she was saying. He said that she had broken a glass bottle somewhere and wanted to clean it up instead of leaving it there... Does it sound familiar?

Nahi bilkul nahi. Pak mein to aisa sooch bhi nahi sakta tha mein. Compare it with this. Kuch din pehlay mein aik pakistani ke saath tha. Uss ne peanuts khai aur chilkay road per pheink diay. Mein ne kaha ke burri baat hay. Laikin uss ne kaha ke hum inn ko cleaning ke bhi to paisay daitay hain. aur ye incident bhi Germany mein hoa tha. Aur hum apne deen per fakhar karte hain, laikin wo jo safai ka hukam daita hay, uss per amal nahi kartay. Pak mein bhi mere highly educated friends ye kaam kartay thay. Har chees kha kar chilkay road per pheink dena.

pack & go...

Today i shifted from Cologne to Kaiserslautern, a city in the South-West of Germany, close to France. I called a friend in Aachen (near Cologne) for help and he sent another Pakistani (Saifullah) to me for help in carrying luggage to train station. I was supposed to go in a small train (from local station) near my house to city's central train station. I called that Pakistani and told him the time for the small train that leaves from "local" station and asked him to bring along a taxi. He thought i told him the time of the train from "city" station. So he got to me earlier with the taxi. Naturally, i hadn't finished packing yet, and the meter of the taxi was running while it waited outside my house. So i hurridly packed everything, left the keys on the kitchen table and left in the taxi to the "local" station.

When we reached the "local" station, i remembered that i had forgotten the keys to my suitcases in my house. So i rushed back almost running to my house, only to find that it was locked and i had left the keys to the house inside !!! So i called the house-owner. He came in 10 minutes. I went in with him and found that i had left many things. So i gathered these things and came back to the local station. Then we went to the city station and i began my journey...

Back to English

Today was my last day at German Language School (CDC) :( Now its back to English i guess. Although i'll try to learn more German by speaking. It is very important to live better in Germany.

Our class made a small trip today. We went to a small fortress near our city. Some of the girls cooked some things, boys brought ready-made items. We went by train to this beautiful place. The garden was very beautiful. First we ate and drank (Cola:) and then went inside the fortress. The drawings on walls on ceiling were very beautiful. It was hard to believe that although it was very old, the painter had painted the flat ceiling such that it seemed like the bottom of a bowl. There was still Gold on walls, ceiling, cutlery, furniture, etc.

We came back in afternoon and said a very sad goodbye to each other :(