Our group of 9 took one of the early trains to Berlin (roughly 3 hours, with 2 changes), but it still managed to fill up quickly and we were forced to stand/sit on the floor for a 1 1/2 hour train ride to Rathenau. Okay, well, we did get to sit down in one of the 1st class compartments for about 20 minutes, but we got kicked out when a couple of elderly ladies came aboard the train. The next train from Rathenau to Berlin had more room and I sat near this group of ladies who seemed to be drinking some homemade hard liquor from little ice-cream-cone-like cups. They were rowdy, but they looked classy, like they were going to a horse race or something. When I say rowdy, I mean that one of the women in the group went to washroom near where the group was sitting. The washroom door opened and closed when you pushed a button, so when the woman entered and closed the door, one of her friends thought it was funny if they tried pushing the button. Anyway, she did and the door opened up. The lady inside thought it was hilarious and waved to her friends happily... I bet she would have reacted differently if she had unfastened or removed any pieces of clothing and was caught in an embarrassing situation. Anyway, one of the UBC boys went to that same washroom afterwards and the ladies were going to do the same thing for him, and almost did, but chickened out at the last minute. When he found out about it, he laughed. 

Once we got to Berlin Zoologischer Garten (Berlin's main train station), I split away from the group and got to a payphone to call my relatives. I received instructions on how to get to the Potsdam Hauptbahnhof from Berlin Zoologischer Garten so I bought a one way ticket to Potsdam, and took the S7 line all the way to the end. From the Potsdam Hauptbahnhof, I took a taxi to Bahay Pilipino, which is the office of the Honorary Consul of the Philippines for the Brandenburg state. I was welcomed in and quickly met the Schnells. 

After talking for a bit with Konsul Schnell and answering a lot of questions on how we were related and how I found out their contact information, who I am exactly, what I was studying and what I was doing in Germany, I delivered the prized pack of salmon (which was one of the main purposes of my trip). Reaction: underwhelming, sort of like: "Oh, okay, salmon, nice". Anyway, after that I somehow managed to get myself into a cloth modeling session (okay, I was sort of pushed into it) where you drape some cloth artistically over yourself, get in a line with other Filipino ladies and get your photo with a digital camera. It was cool and a little silly. I had to throw some cloth over my shoulder for one pic and draped it around my head for another. Lunch came after that modeling session (I got changed into more dressy clothes, and while I was getting changed - but before I took anything off - some girls walked into the room, stared and asked if I was Filipino. Sheesh! I found out later that they were quite nice people really), and I have to say that it was the best meal I have had in Europe so far. This droolworthy lunch consisted of fried and steamed rice, chicken adobo, pancit, roast chicken and other good stuff I haven't had since I left home. While I was lining up for lunch, I got stared at a lot and this lady started asking me questions. Same old, same old. I already had my answers prepared, which was useful because I would need those answers a lot later in the afternoon. So I filled my plate and sat down next to this other lady, ate my lunch, answered more questions and asked some of my own questions on how to get settled and adjusted to Germany considering the language barrier and cultural differences and stuff. It was pretty interesting actually, but after that came the Philippinisches Frauengruppen von Brandenburg meeting so I went into the room, read my Let's Go Germany, and since I was so wiped out, I fell asleep for a few hours in a very very awkward position - legs off the bed, but me lying on my stomach. Ouch. When I woke up it was time for the mass so I took part in that. The day after was Mothers' Day so whenever the priest mentioned family or mothers, I got a bit teary since I was still feeling a bit homesick and missed my family a lot. After the mass was more good eatin'. I was talking to the lady (Agnes) who was asking me questions on the lunch line and she was telling me about her new German husband and how romantic everything was. She also told me more useful information on how she felt when she first came to Germany, how she adjusted, where she worked, how she learned the language and met new people, and where to go sightseeing in Potsdam and if it was safe to do so. Then we were asked to join the "executive table", where the Schnells and their friends were eating, so we ate too, and I got asked lots of the same questions and so I pretty much told them my rehearsed answers plus my entire life history. It felt like a panel interview. Anyway, I made a cool new friend: this elderly man named Heinz. He would talk to me, and I understood what he was saying maybe about 40% of the time but even if I didn't, I would still smile and nod politely. Then he totally caught me and told me that he knew that I didn't really know what he was talking about because he could see it in my eyes. Burn! No, it was just a little embarrassing, that's all, because I thought I was covering it up pretty well. He was telling me about his daughter, his travels and about when he was younger (during the war, which surprised me because I thought that was an untalked-about subject). People started leaving, so they would come up to you (even if they didn't know you at all), shake your hand and say "Tschuss!" So polite. Heinz took a picture of me and the Schnells with his camera. I re-presented the salmon (which had been left downstairs) to Mrs. Schnell, who gave a very worthy reaction - something to the effect of "Wow! Lox. Gloria, Karen gave us lox! We shall have it for dinner tonight!" Made me feel very good and smug. We cleaned up and headed back to the Schnells' home in the most luxurious car I have ever ridden in my life. Sorry, Grey Ninja. 

At the Schnells', I was assigned the guest APARTMENT. Wow. I had it all to myself and it had a stocked kitchen, plush bed, a big bathroom, hotel-type towels, slippers and robe (didn't use it), my own entrance and little living room. How cool is that? I had dinner with the Schnells, scarfed down different types of bread and cheese as well as the Vancouver salmon (they loved it = plus points for me), and had some excellent tea. Talked some more and of course, answered some more questions. I also got in contact with Kitty and Plato to arrange a meeting place the next day in Berlin so we could go sightseeing together, cleared everything up with Konsul Schnell and went to bed.