Reichenau Weinfest

Okay, so I had to post this before I forgot all about it. The Carl Duisberg Centren (my language school) organizes some outings for the students at their school. Our first Friday in the town of Radolfzell, a nearby island called Reichenau was having their annual Weinfest (wine festival). It's basically a wine festival with lots of food and lots of wine. I am not much of a drinker but decided that I would go since everyone else in the CBYX program was going. I figured I would have some wine as well. As I said before, Reichenau is a nearby island in the Bodensee and we needed to get their by ferry. When the water is low in the Bodensee, the island is actually a peninsula but when the water is at normal levels, Reichenau can only be reached by boat. We took a train from Radolfzell to a nearby town called Allensbach. From Allensbach, we took a ferry to the island Reichenau. It cost 5 Euro round trip and took about 10 minutes to get to Reichenau from land. Once we got there, all the CBYXers split up into their little groups. I was with a group of 5 or six people. We got some wine and popped a squat on the grass and just drank some wine and chatted for a while. It was really nice. I got a little hungry and went looking for food. I came across a stand that was selling a half chicken for 4,50 Euro. Which was sehr preiswert (inexpensive). Side note. Germans flipped the use of commas and periods so 4,50 Euro means 4 Euros and 50 Euro cents. It's best not to calculate the exchange rate when traveling to a country in the European Union since the dollar is better used as kindling for a fire compared to the Euro at present. So you have to think of it as 4 dollars and 50 cents for my half chicken. It was so good!

So, just as I am finishing eating, it starts to drizzle a little...and then that drizzle turns into a torrential downpour. Luckily I had brought an umbrella since it had been raining on and off in Radolfzell non-stop that week. Some of the other people I went with, however, were not nearly as well prepared so I always end up sharing my umbrella and keeping only half of my body dry. Anyway, my three friends and I were not going to let a little rain stop us. We stayed and went into a covered area where some men in Lederhosen were singing some well known German tunes. I can't, for the life of me, remember what they were but all the Germans knew the songs. Eventually me and my friends end up at this long table that was only partially covered by a Regenshirm (umbrella). We sit and collect our thoughts when this nice German couple start talking to us. By this time me and my friends had had one or two glasses of wine and our tongues were a little looser and our courage was a little greater than usual. We were talking to them in German and they were kind enough to tell us that we were doing a good job at it. At one point one of the couple's friends pulls some jerky out of his bag (yes, pulled bare food out of his bag) and tells us to try it. We were hesitant at first but went ahead and each bit off a piece. Now, I know food and I certainly have never met a piece of jerky I haven't liked but this was the best jerky I have ever eaten. They said it was made with beef, pork, and was 60% fat. He warned us not to have jerky like that too often since it was so fatty and unhealthy. Nonetheless, it was delicious.

Liz, Adam, and I at the Reichenau Weinfest.

Right before we head back to the dock my friend Adam and I decide to split a serving of fried mushrooms. Mushrooms + fried = delicious. At this point we have had enough wine and unhealthy food to last the rest of the year so we head back to the dock to catch the last ferry home for the night. We are waiting in line and I start to feel through all my pockets to make sure I have everything. At this point, I feel like someone had hit me over my head with a steel baseball bat. I had left my wallet somewhere in the wine festival! These are the thoughts racing through my mind. OMG you freakin' idiot! I just lost my wallet in a foreign country with my money, debit cards, train pass, bus pass, American driver's license, and last but not least the ticket I needed to get on the last ship home. How do you say "deep sh*t" in German? I started to panic. My wine festival buddy and fellow CBYXer, Adam, thought that maybe I left my wallet at the last food stand we were at which was the fried mushroom stand. Nothing that good ever comes without a price. I bolt back to the stand through hoards of people faster than I have ever bolted before. I make it back to the stand and see a very nice girl and realize that I had forgotten the word for wallet in German. I now realize that it is "Brieftasche" but at the moment I needed to improvise and said, while folding and unfolding my hands in the way a wallet would open and close, "Haben Sie eine Wallet gefunden?" Which means "Did you find a wallet?" She had realized what I meant and said that she had seen it. She had given it to her boss (or some kind of superior) for safe keeping and didn't know where her boss was at the moment. Me and this girl then proceeded to run in and out of crowds of people for about 10 minutes looking for this woman. When we finally find the woman she gives me my wallet and I start to yell "Vielen Dank! Vielen Dank!" and hug the girl who found my wallet in the first place (which might have made her uncomfortable). I head back  to the dock for the ship and, as I walk, I look through my wallet and NOT one thing was missing from it. I now realize that I would really have liked to give that girl who helped me 10 Euros or something as a gift of gratitude but in my adrenaline rush I forgot to make an offering of such. I hope she knows she has some good karma coming her way. The lesson of the night was always bring an umbrella with you and never accept candy from strangers...but if a stranger is offering you some beef jerky go ahead and eat it...nothing bad will happen.