A Sunday BBQ and Parks Need More Toilets.

Socializing has definitely become a rarity since i moved to Germany. J rarely has any time off and the fact that we live in a somewhat small town, there really isn't much to do around here. Plus it doesn't help that i find it challenging to hold a conversation and give an opinion greater than a few words in German.

But when J and i were invited to our very first BBQ for the Summer on Sunday we jumped at the chance.

J's friends live in another city which makes meeting up regularly hard and although they don't speak that much English, i go along for the sake of J. J's known them since he was nine years old but had lost contact for several years because his Ex disapproved of them. So naturally, when we got together, J tried to patch things up and so we've met up with them a few times.


It was one of those BYO BBQs and so we packed some vegetarian sausages, fruit, bread, beer, mixed salad, sauces and home-made mashed potatoes with a dash of Dijon mustard just like how my dad makes it.


So anyway, after escaping a 7 km traffic jam along the A2 and driving inland on a very windy road towards Hannover, we finally arrived one and a half hours later and it was just after 4:30pm.


It was in the late 20s degrees Celsius mark and it seemed like everyone was out that day. The park was huge! And every few metres you'd see a group of people bustin' out their grill and sausages.

As some of you will know, packing "light" is a concept we're not too familiar with when we go on road trips. Whether it's for a few hours or a couple of days, it always seems like we over pack.


Minus the turquoise and striped bags, Tupperware and the 3 blankets on the right, everything else was ours.

And so whilst they all laughed when we turned up with practically everything but the kitchen sink. Nobody laughed when they needed tongs to turn the meat, silver foil, salt & pepper to add more flavor and a cooler beer.

We came prepared.

Except for my German. That's still not up to scratch. Conversations were kept down to a minimum and since nobody really spoke any English, i was rather mute and ate my whole bowl of salad.

My view for two hours.

Not exactly the most exciting time i've ever had but i kept myself busy eating whilst J ran off to play football with the other boys.


It's amazing how fast two hours can pass when you have food to keep you company. Yes that sausage is orange. It's made out of soya and it's also a little spicy. I can't say that was my favorite.

By the time J was done trying to play football and accidentally scoring for the other team, my bladder was calling out to me.

And whilst J was complaining about how unfit he was, all i could think about was, Why aren't there any toilets!? If they build a park, i'm sure they would think of peoples' bladders.

I mean, seriously, not everyone can pee standing up and facing a bush ya know! Unless of course you are one of the fortunate ones to have a SheWee... ahahhah!

And so we decided to drive to a little café a few blocks away that J used to go to back when he was living in Hannover.


After we took turns using the loo, we drank one my favorites: an icy cold Kristal Weisen.


Time escaped us and apparently we were gone for an hour.

But 15 minutes upon returning to the park, i was busting to go to the loo... again!

I'm convinced once you break "the seal", it's all over red rover. And so i cursed my small bladder and begged J to accompany me to find a very big bush.


When we returned the sky had turned a murky grey and the wind had picked up. The sun had just gone down and it was already 10:30pm. And although i had a case of heat rash - no thanks to my skin freaking out because my skin had finally been exposed to sun after 9 months, it was nice after all to see that burning ball in the sky again.

10 Euros and a shade darker.

Approximately a year ago when we were living in Duesseldorf we went to Unterbacher See, which is basically a huge lake near a camping ground. I remember it was weird to lie on the sand and not hear the crashing waves. There we pretended we were on holiday even though home was only a 10 minute drive away [here].

So then when one of J's colleagues had mentioned that there was a lake called Linteler See nearby, we thought we'd check it out.


We missed the entrance but managed to find an opening to the other side of the lake. It said NO ENTRY but we went in anyway. We managed to have a sneak peak at the area but was sadly disappointed at how small it was. The lack of space meant it was crowded even though there weren't that many people there.


The lake was pretty big and had these huge underwanter plants growing. Perfect to get entangled with and DROWN i say. It's no wonder it warns people not to swim.


But we figured since we were there we might as well find our way back to the entrance.

So we got to the front gate only to find out it cost 5 Euros per person to get in! That's a bit steep for just wanting to lie down and soak in some rays. And to add to my disappointment, i didn't see no fake beach either.

But i was convinced i could find a better way to waste 10 Euros.


So this was pretty much as far as we got and turned back to the car. Determined that we'd make the most of being outside, we decided to go to a park near to where we live. At least we know that's free!

We get to the park and found a huge patch of grass to lie on...


and gave ourselves half an hour to laze in the sun since J agreed to work at the pub tonight and needed to be home in an hour.



But i kept getting distracted by the couple canoodling on the other side...


It must be all that sunshine and warmth that gets people all lovey dovey. I remember a time when J and i couldn't get our hands off each other. Where have those butterflies gone?

Why does it feel like everything has become so serious nowadays. Stress makes us into monsters.


But it had been awhile since J and i had some time to just chill. It was nice. And before we knew it, our 30 minutes were up and all i could think about was ice-cream.

It was super hot! 30 bloody degrees Celsius to be exact and i'm sure it was even hotter earlier in the day. So we decided to go for ice-cream.


Well i ate ice cream and J watched me eat it as he drank his strong coffee.

So much to choose from...


But i ended up with the vanilla with fresh strawberries. I convinced myself that fruits are at least healthy and wouldn't make me feel so guilty for eating so much crap lately.


J's been moaning that his clothes are too tight and therefore has sworn off meat and fatty food. He says he's on a diet.

I, on the other hand, am not. Although i probably should, as my clothes are getting a wee bit snug too. It's all about restraining yourself and eating small portions.

We took the back road to get home and saw they had opened a little hut selling fresh strawberries.

Apparently, they're in season now and going by the fresh strawberries i had eaten earlier, i couldn't resist and wanted to check it out.


And so we came home from an argument-free day and with 500 grams of the sweetest and most gorgeous of red coloured strawberries for 2.60 Euros.

YUM!

And that, ladies and gentlemen is how i spent my 10 Euros. Well 9.80 Euros to be exact (including tip).