After our very early morning flight from Cairo, we landed in Frankfurt International and, now that we were experts with the German Bahn, proceeded to hall our bags to a quick ICE train to Bochum in northern Germany to visit our dear friends Jorg Shope and his significant other Gabi. Gabi met us at the rail station and took us to their peaceful home amidst the rural farming area outside of the city for a few days of rest and good German food. We had also sent all of our cold weather gear for Mongolia to their house so that we did not need to carry it for the first legs of the trip.
After three big cities in a row we were very ready to just relax for a few days. After our all night flight and travel by train Noa slept for a whole day. Luckily for us, both Gabi and Jorg are homeopathic doctors and run their own practice (In addition, Jorg teaches medical classes at the local university), so we had several days to get all of our traveling ailments fixed (I was finally able to have my ankle looked at). Noa was sad to find that he missed Jorg putting a few injections into my ankle to help it heal. Jorg has twin sons, David and Phillip, that I have known since they were born and are now in university. They still remember a trip to San Diego when they were Noa’s age when they slept our old Landcruiser (they call it the “Monster Truck”). In Bochum it is high summer and it was daylight until almost 10:00 PM. Our first night we went for a nice walk along a lake and then had dinner at an outdoor café with the family. The boys were quite the hit with the waitresses while sporting their “euro” fashion. During dinner we had some long discussions about German University, and I was shocked to find that school is heavily subsidized by the government once you qualify- meaning affordable compared to the never ending tuition hikes in the States. Perhaps we will have Noa spend a few years in Germany for college.
During the days Jorg was teaching a seminar, so Gabi was our host. She has brushed up on her English just for our visit, and the table was never empty of good things to snack on. Most of our time was spent eating fresh bread, cheese, and fruits, and just catching up on life. The highlight was a full BBQ on our last evening with the boys and Jorg’s parents coming for a visit. His parents are wonderful and presented us each with very nice gifts. The last time Susie and I had visited, when Noa was about three, they had given us a small German toy truck. The BBQ featured the “best stake I ever had” per Noa, fresh fish, and a plate of fresh baked pastries for dessert.
The next morning Gabi took Noa to the local bookstore to stock him up for the next leg of the trip, gave us some bread and cheese for the journey, and then it was a last minute trip back to the Bahn for our over- night flight to Hong Kong.
PS- the boys taught Noa the German word for that game where you grab the other guy’s chest and twist until he whistles! Very painful but too funny- Its” NIPSCZICKER!”
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