10 Things I learned over the past week

Okay, here's what I learned, in no particular order. Drum roll please....

1. Hamburg is a very nice city. It turns out that there are a lot of hippies who like to hang out in parks, so Jenny's thinking of moving there. I never really feel cool enough to hang out with the hippies (I'm not sure how to dress the part and my history of drug use is limited) so it's not as much of a draw for me. But it's a port city, which is cool, and we walked through a bunch of different neighborhoods.

2. People love in different ways. We went into one of the sex shops in St. Pauli (the red light district) and saw all sorts of unusual things. For example, gas masks. Does anyone understand the appeal?

3. Osterfeuers are fun. Germans celebrate Easter by lighting a big bonfire the night before. Apparently it tells winter to go away and keeps away monsters or witches or something (I got conflicting reports). Anyway, we went to the one on the Hamburg beach. I had a beer at midnight.

4. I continue to enjoy chocolate and alcohol. Lent is over. It's a good thing to be able to drink and eat chocolate again. I thought perhaps I'd like them less after not having them for a month and a half, but that is not the case.

5. I don't like to be told what to do. Perhaps this applies to everyone, but I realized after my trip to Helgoland that I really like being able to make my own schedule. I'm too old for class field trips.

6. Seals are awesome. They were just laying on the beach on Duene, the island neighboring Helgoland. They seemed unaware of the cold, and indifferent to the people taking pictures of them. They were just relaxing on the beach.

7. I prefer beaches that don't require me to wear a heavy coat. Really, I think that point is obvious. Enough said.

8. I think that I don't get seasick. Okay, so I probably don't have enough evidence to say that definitively, but it's looking good. The waters were pretty calm though. I need to test my mettle in rougher seas.

9. It's difficult to kill a fish by smashing it's head against the ground. I have Thomas to thank for this piece of information. You see, they're slippery, and if you hit them hard enough to have an impact, they just sort of slide out of your hands across the boat deck. But they don't die with just a light tap. Trust me, I know.

10. Rope is fascinating. Jenny and I became experts on rope during our time in Hamburg/Helgoland. For example, rope can be used to tie things to other things. Rope can also be used to tie things to themselves. Ask me about rope. It's my new favorite subject.