Some of you might recognize this story from emails that I wrote in April, just after I arrived...but now I have added a location picture, above!
Today's story is a tale of two ladies...two German ladies.....two older German ladies..... Let me start by saying that initially, the Germans on the whole are not the most outwardly friendly folk. For instance, when you walk down the street, whether you are with the cutest dog in the world, they don't smile at you...they might meet your gaze and give you a little eye contact, but nothing moves south of the nose if you know what I mean. I have been reading about the German customs, and this is very normal...friendship in Germany is earned and not doled out to the average stranger. You know that phrase...that someone "never met a stranger"? Not so much here. So, my tale of two ladies starts with my daily walks with Bailey girl...we go out to a little slice of green that is 2 long blocks away from the house. It is small and exactly perfect for our intended usage. There are two sections, split by a small cobblestone driveway. The first is a triangle, and that is where the girl likes to take care of the more immediate needs: the peeing. Past the drive, there is a rectangle with lovely and deep grass...and it is bordered by about two hundred rose bushes that are just beginning, in the past week of warmth, to really sprout some of those lovely deep red leaves that mean that the bush is awake from it's winter nappy. I am sure that I will write more about these roses, as I am excited to see what they turn out to be...but not for today's story...anyhow, this section is also home to several benches where at all hours of the day people can be seen reading, drinking or just having a seat. It is here that Bailey has deemed appropriate for the dog poop. We go to this "park" everyday...either as our main destination for the business, or on our way to somewhere else. It is also adjacent to our local grocery store, Tangelmann's and we are there every day. I had been noticing the same older lady and her dog (smaller...sandy...maybe a wheaton but a little more wiry...) every day when we are there. Her dog is much more well behaved than mine...as most dogs here are, and she walks him/her off the leash. So, after about a 5 days of seeing them, I decided to smile at her. Nothing. Not a crack in the veneer. Huh. Now, you know that I am not a girl who gives up easily...so I decide to make this lady my project. We see each other every day, mostly twice a day after all. So I give it a couple more days...the next time, I don't do anything....but on the 7th or 8th day, I see her on the other side of the park, pretty far away from me, and as we leave to go back home, I wave to her and smile. She looked confused by my forwardness, but waved to me sort of sheepishly.....so I think, ha! I'm in! The next day is easier...we both wave from afar. Then on Monday, Robert and I were walking Bailey and we ran into them at close range in the park and her dog came over to us, so she followed. She speaks not a lick of English, and we don't speak any German yet, but it works because we both speak canine. Let me just say, that now I have a little dog and a little german lady for my closest friends so far here. She now talks to us~only in German, and I smile and nod...who knows what she is saying...but she pets Bailey and gives her some good puppy talk in that voice that makes Bailey's tail thump-thump-thump like only the attention of a stranger can do...it's nice and I look forward to seeing her each day. The second half of our tale happened yesterday. As a preface, I should tell you that although the Germans are a dog loving group...they are also rather wary and sometimes downright jumpy around dogs. Even on the street, children jump away more than you see at home...there is none of that "can I pet your dog?!" thing going on here. So, yesterday, Bailey and I were solo..Robert went to Gothenburg last night and we fended for ourselves...so we were heading out for a late afternoon/early evening walk at like 5:30 or 6. We took the elevator down and were just about to walk out of the doors when I heard a noise in the dark hallway and just as Bailey took her first step out of the elevator, an older woman with aubergine colored hair and matching clothes took the step down out of the darkness in the hallway...about 4 feet away from us. Bailey and her startled each other pretty badly...Bailey barked at her to protect me and she screamed and cowered (really, I am not kidding here) in the hallway and I apologized and moved as quickly as I could past where she was hiding...Bailey was quiet at this point, whereas she started scolding me in german...I told her that I didn't understand and she just yelled some more at me (all I could decipher was "hunde") and then walked into the elevator saying "nein...nein....nein". I told her that I again was sorry that we scared her but that she scared us too... Ugh. The hallways echo is like that of the Grand Canyon and Bailey's bark was amplified by 6 upward floors...it was loud. Our first official german scolding! So now we are public enemy #1 and #2, at least in the building....we are so gonna get kicked out of here.
