oh my goodness, i seriously have not had time to blog in days...
i left rome monday morning after a very very long night out at the cookbook cafe, etc...antonio had slept over at the apartment (i.e. he had come home sunday night because he had work monday morning, and he slept on the couch while i took the futon) and the sweet boy woke me up at 7am, about 2 hours after i went to bed. i ran about the apartment like a maniac, chugging fizzy water and spritzing myself with perfume and scanning the floors and bookshelves to make sure that i had collected all of my belongings, and then antonio and i walked (he in running shorts looking fresh-faced, me a mess, vile-headed, trying not to puke) to the taxi station, where we kissed (cheeks) goodbye, and i set out for the airport.
the flight to duisburg was fine, a bit bumpy. we landed on time, and marion was waiting there by her audi stationwagon, blond and beautiful as always. as soon as i got into her car i realized what a mess i was: my legs and feet were coated in weeks worth of soot, my finger nails were scraggly and chipped, my hair all a dirty poof. it was like i was some drink-sodden street-urchin refugee in from rome, city of filth, and i had landed in a country where there was only soft grass and warm showers and rain. it wasnt my fault necessarily; i showered every day in rome and took careful watch over my grooming habits...its just that rome is absolutely filthy, hot and sooty and raging, and no matter how hard you try you sink into the elements and become a part of that. as soon as i got to marions i took a long, hot bath, washing away all of rome that was left on my skin, emerging bright and pink cheeked like the germans.
marion's house is lovely!! it is so wonderfully cozy and modern and full of personality. i reread grants blog about when he described the house, and i laughed at his observation that all the rooms were rectangles, while in america our rooms are square. the kitchen was brilliant, with a stove that doesnt get hot to the touch but boils water in a minute, some sort of magnetism, and a built in steemer for vegetables and drawers that seems to close on their own accord. marion took me to the grocery store and let me pick out whatever i wanted for dinner. my choice, as i had been eating nothing but pizza and panini for 2 weeks, was VEGETABLES and a ROAST CHICKEN!!! marion didnt think the grocery store even sold whole chickens, but they did, and that night i taught her how to stuff lemon slices under the skin, and put parsley and thyme in the cavity and glaze it with melted butter both after and before salt and peppering it. dinner was a miracle, and all the sickness and exhaustion and dirt that had followed me from my beautiful rome was washed away by the food, kindness, and cool weather.
that was another thing: duisburg was cold!! so cold. as tobias funke said in arrested development, "i hadnt packed for that". i brought no closed toe shoes but tennis shoes (tigers!), and only one sweater, which was dirty of course. the air felt so good and revitalizing, though. the town looked and smelled like autumn, and reminded me, oddly, of the movie 'hocus pocus'.
the days all went by so fast, due in part to marion, annika, and karl heinz' dedication to not letting me "be bored". i went all over the place with them, including the wonderful swimming club where karl heinz plays water polo, the thyssenkrupp factory, where Kalla and his class and i saw a demonstration on making steel, annika's school's "sport" festival, the school where marion and kalla work, and a nice dinner in dusseldorf, where i had my first schnitzel.
the last evening i was there i went with annika to her job, where she is a swim instructor for little kids. we went in the water with them and i helped while annika guided them around the pool, helping them learn to doggie paddle and splash and generally stay afloat. the children were so sweet, and one little girl kept talking to me, constantly, even though annika told her i didnt speak german. she even knew my name, and when we were leaving the little girl shouted, "tschus, ele-na!!!". was too adorable.
karl heinz is absolutely the sweetest man ever. hes like a big bratwurst made of sugar, and he was so kind to me and talked to me all the time and was full of interesting insights, and he spoke wonderful english. was so cute, cause he always used the word "possible", as a replacement for "can" or "available" or anything else. something was either "possible" or "not possible". i loved it, was so simple. he taught me how to play lots of great games, and gave me a tour of the school, and showed me photo albums of his and marions trips, which are numerous and all very exotic.
marion is possibly the most wonderful woman ever. she reminds me so much of sheryl baggett, just constantly kind and funny and insightful and great to sit with and talk politics or current events or anything. she told me all sorts of funny stories about my family, gave me outlines of all of their personalities, and filled me in on life in cornelia far before i was born. we went through old photos of everyone, and i was so so proud to be a grant i could have cried. marion has been absolutely wonderful to me, and i have no idea how to repay her and karl heinz and annika for all of their kindness.
oh, duisburg was wonderful, but it went by so fast!!!
i am in berlin now, at billy kunzler's (billy!!!). all is safe and well, and ill write all about berlin tomorrow, after ive had time to soak up some of this city.
i miss roma...
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