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After a bit of relaxing, I headed to the kitchen area with some Doner, to eat and meet. There were a few people there. Chris, an australian lawyer to be, Chris, a Canadian who was - well - very canadian, Ryan a student at Berkley and Francine, a librarian apprentice from Berlin. After chatting a bit, Francine discovered that I knew German and seemed instantly attracted to me - even flirting quite a bit. I felt quite rude because I didn't want to speak to her in German at the moment. The rest of the table was speaking English and that conversation was much more interesting. But she kept asking me questions and I kept answering them. Eventually she suggested that she play me some of her German hip hop CDs in her room, which I declined.
I fully realized, that for the first time on this trip, I was the exotic fruit that she was after. The American who knows something of Germany. I got this a fair amount in 1994, when I spent six months here, but this was the first time it happened to me this year. Only problem, is she was uber-creepy. Eventually, I think she got the hint and joined her German friends. I didn't mind hanging out with her as part of a group, but one on one with her scares me to this day.
The night went on and the four of us talked and talked. Politics was a big issue among us and I started getting a bit annoyed. I liked Chris and Ryan but their political know-it-allism is getting on my nerves. I have studied a little bit of political science in my day, and even if I hadn't, I know not to spoonfeed my knowledge from just one source. However, I was accused of being brainwashed by the American media which only shows one viewpoint. They had no idea that I was actively against the war in Iraq. They had no idea that I spent hours reading news from other countries to gain perspective. And they failed to understand that I didn't see the issue in black and white. The australian Chris was either more polite or agreed somewhat with me and stayed rather quiet. After a couple drinks in the Hostel bar, we went out to look for a place to party.
Apparently, Tuesday nights in Dresden are dead. We went to one bar and had a beer and kept walking. I had no idea at the time, that the only real party spot that night was Katy's Garage, right around the corner from the Hostel... we were walking towards the other side of town and after an hour finally found "Flower Power." It was hippie night, so they played bad music from the late 60s and early 70s at earsplitting volume. It was also, coincidentally, quite empty. I actually liked the bar, but could they please turn the John Denver down? The Canadian Chris and Ryan went to Dance while I spoke with the ozzie. Eventually, the Australian and I were growing tired and began to head back to the hostel. We found our way back rather quickly and I was hoping that the hostel bar might still be open. Unfortunately not. I crashed about 2 AM in my dorm.
When I woke up three hours later, the room was full of sleeping people... and I heard a big noise right in front of me. I opened my eyes, and the person sleeping on my top bunk had fallen out of bed! I looked at him, he looked at me and he ran out of the room. I never saw him again, but I did see the bottle of Jagermeister, nearly empty at the top of his bed. Strange. But then again, to me Dresden is strange too.
After all, where else to they have Oldies playing to attract a young crowd? Where else can you have a cup of coffee, order a new kitchen, check your email and buy a new Mitsubishi at the same time (the strangest Net Cafe I ever visited.) It's all here, in Dresden.
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