Publicly Transported

A few fun(ny) experiences on Tuesday and Wednesday during my travels around Bonn. 

On Tuesday, I went to see an apartment because we are still looking for a place to live. (It's a long, unfortunate story that we are praying will have a happy ending. More details as they come.) 

Anyway, on my way home, I made a friend named Marcel who works at Post Bank, is 25 years old, and likes to run marathons. He was on crutches, which is why I struck up a conversation with him, and found out that he tore his meniscus. He was very polite and was also happy to practice his English, which was about a 6 on a scale of 1 to 10. Because his office was two UBahn stops before mine, I got off early to say goodbye. After we parted ways, I decided to just walk the distance instead of crossing the street again and waiting around for the next UBahn. (I'm trying to eradicate the "fat American" image and show that I'm ok with walking three miles to get home. Even though I never have until moving here.) 

The road that I was on is called the B-9 and it's roughly similar to University Parkway (but two lanes instead of four) because it's a main thoroughfare, and so there aren't many pedestrians. I put in my headphones and chose a country playlist. I was delighted to see a song that I haven't heard in several months, called Meet In The Middle by Diamond Rio. As the song started, I was transported back to Utah and my memories of blasting the song with Angie and Al Pal, as well as country dance with Sarah and Jason, and working at the ranch with Chyanne Barnson. I love the story and the moral it teaches, so I started to sing along. This quickly turned in to belting it out, with no other pedestrians for meters. It was extra-enjoyable because I was having so much fun doing something so simple! Plus there are few things more un-European than the serious-mullets, tight-Wrangler-wearing 90's country band. I then continued my personal Karaoke with these songs: 
- Somebody Like You by Keith Urban
- Little Bit Of Life by Craig Morgan
- Baptism by Kenny Chesney and Randy Travis
- Amarillo By Morning by George Strait
- A Woman Like You by Lee Brice 

As I got closer to home, I left the B-9 and walked through the neighborhoods so I stopped singing and just walked with a little bit of country dance in my step :)

By the way, UBahn is U for underground Bahn for train, but it is actually 50/50 above-ground and below-ground. They have dedicated tracks and are the quickest way to travel North/South in Bonn. There are also trams, which have power lines above and grooved tracks in the road, and they ride along next to cars. Lastly, there are buses, and lots of them! They are the least on-time because the roads here are very narrow, and if there are lots of cars or construction or pedestrians, then they just have to wait until there is an opening big enough to continue. 

Correction, second to last are our bikes, and very last are our legs. Those are the most flexible forms of travel, because we can come and go whenever we want! Or from our apartment, we can bike to the UBahn (5 or 6 minutes) instead of walk (14 minutes), power walk (8 minutes), or run (6 minutes for me, 5 minutes for Nate).  


On Wednesday afternoon, I left my apartment to go visit a friend Sina who is my age and joined the church 4 years ago. As I was leaving, Nate called to check in and tell me about a few things for his work schedule. I was power walking down to the UBahn because I really didn't want to miss it, and as I was hurrying, I heard someone say "Entschuldigung. Hey!"
I turned to see a car pulled over, and the driver was talking to me. As we made eye contact, he started speaking German and I told Nate, "hang on!" and then I said "I'm sorry, I can help you in English!" and the driver said in a great British accent, "Ok, great! How do I get to Bad Godesberg?" 

As I started to give him directions, a very disgruntled driver behind him honked for about 8 seconds straight. The slightly overweight, and slightly more grungy 25 year-old driver that I was helping stuck half of his body out of his window and yelled at the car "HEY! SHUT THE **** UP!" I tried not to laugh because I was so surprised and kept telling him where to go. Then he said thank you and I kept walking. When I got back on the phone, Nate said "am I talking to a local?! Sounds like this girl knows Bonn like the back of her hand!" which I don't, but it did feel exhilarating to know I gave the correct directions :)

About 30 seconds later, I had almost reached the intersection, and I heard someone say "excuse me?!" again. I told Nate "hang on again!" and looked at the same driver I had just helped. He said "My friend thinks you are really cute and is wondering if he can get your number." (please read this with a thick British accent) As soon as the driver had started talking, the guy in the passenger seat started vehemently shaking his head, and then repeatedly hitting his head against the driver's shoulder. I laughed and said "Actually, I'm married!" and held out my right hand to show them my wedding rings. He said "Oh, no way?" and I said "Yes, I know I look young but I'm 24," and smiled. The guy in the passenger seat had switched back to shaking his head and had sunk so low that he probably couldn't see above the dashboard. The driver said "Well, it never hurts to ask, right?!" and I chuckled and said "that's what my mom says too!" and then he drove away, and I ran across the crosswalk. 

As I put the phone to my ear, Nate said "I can't believe I just got to hear all of that!" at the same time as I said "Oh my gosh, I'm so glad that you were on the phone for that!" We laughed about how ridiculous it was, and I joked that maybe I shouldn't have worn my stretchy Ann Taylor skinnies that day. To top it all off, I walked past a group of men working on the road, and one of them whistled at me, which Nate also heard. Such an eventful 5 minutes!

And none of this would have happened if we had a car. The joys of walking and riding public transportation!