Travel Notes • Hannover

Departing from Bonn in the morning,

The first to arrive is the transfer station Essen.

My period came on the way, so I didn’t take it too seriously.

Unexpectedly, I started to feel very uncomfortable on the bus.

It can be described as vomiting and diarrhea!

At this time, tea is the only hot drink in the station that is most suitable for relieving pain.

The waiter patiently took out all the tea bags for me to choose from.

After drinking it, I felt really much better!

It was my first time to visit Anna’s house.

I don’t know what to bring.

I heard Anna say that her mother likes flowers,

So I plan to buy some flowers here and take them there.

There is a flower shop at Essen's main train station.

The young female clerk is lively and professional.

He quickly picked out the flowers for me,

And use test tubes filled with water to protect flowers that are prone to dehydration.

Wrap it up and give it to me.

After a four-hour bus ride,

Arrive in Hannover at 9:51 pm.

Anna drove to pick me up,

He took me to see the Spring Festival Playground on the way.

This Spring Festival is not that Spring Festival.

Just because it’s a spring festival,

That’s why it’s called Spring Festival.

It is not a holiday for German reunification;

The names and times are different in different places.

Some places call it carnival.

Back to Anna’s house,

She prepared a simple dinner for me,

I was very grateful that her mother also brought out a variety of teas for me to choose from.

I didn’t expect they had brown sugar ginger tea.

Karin doesn’t seem to drink this brown sugar ginger tea often.

So they were all given to me,

Let me take it away!

Karin liked the flowers I sent very much.

We talked a lot,

She is also very interested in Chinese culture,

They also asked me to write down the names of everyone in their family including Rabbit in Chinese.

very cute!

Early Saturday morning,

Anna’s mother Karin prepared a sumptuous breakfast for us!

morning,

Anna took me to the city on a bicycle.

We first rode along a river and through a park.

Then came to Anna's university.

Anna heard that I like castles,

Said I would definitely like her university,

Because her university used to be the king's castle.

Wandering around in this main building,

It is nothing special.

There are students who are studying on their own in school,

There is also a small group of people surrounding one person,

Don't know what you are talking about.

Coming out of college,

Anna took me to the Rhine River.

There is a group of sculptures called Nanas here.

Because it's Saturday,

So there is also a flea market here.

Across the commercial street,

Anna took me to see the Opera House and the City Hall.

what car is this?

But it looks cool.

Passing a stadium,

A football match is about to be held here.

Fans and security personnel gathered early outside the stadium.

I'm curious,

Why do some police officers ride horses instead of motorcycles?

It seems that we have never seen policemen on horseback in China.

Why don't they ride horses?

Why are shared words placed backwards?

Anna and Karin are going to attend in the afternoon

A friend's birthday party.

Anna wrote the greeting card at home in the morning.

They informed the birthday girl in advance that they would take me there.

So I had the pleasure of witnessing Manfred's 70th birthday party.

The party was held on a solar powered boat.

Sitting with me,

Except Anna,

There are two other people,

Julia and Sascha.

The wife of birthday boy Manfred had a family before she met him.

Sascha is Manfred's step-granddaughter.

Manfred's wife gave birth to Sascha's father when she was 17 years old.

But she has a great figure and temperament,

So I mistakenly thought Sascha was her daughter at first.

Although Sascha is only one year older than me,

But he looks much more mature than me!

She told us the story of how she met her boyfriend.

Her boyfriend used to be her boss,

Met her on honeymoon,

Then they fell in love and came together.

Sounds like a crazy story that could only happen in a novel.

In the middle of the party,

Manfred's wife gave everyone a card.

Ask people to anonymously write or draw their thoughts or impressions about Manfred.

At Karin's suggestion,

Anna and I sang a happy birthday song to Manfred in Chinese and English.

It started raining outside halfway through the party.

When the party is over,

The rain outside still showed no intention of stopping.

Karin drove home,

And Anna and I are going to ride our bikes back.

so,

We rode in the rain for maybe twenty minutes,

Just got home.

Karin started preparing dinner for us,

Very rich!

What I didn't expect was that both Anna and Karin are vegetarians.

Before,

Anna showed off her amazing dancing talent at a birthday party.

Caught the attention of her friend's father.

tonight,

This friend's father celebrates his birthday.

I want to invite her to join in the fun.

But I also feel that some of the names are unfair.

So no please.

But Anna's friend wanted to surprise her father,

So I told Anna,

So we quietly went to the football club where the birthday party was.

Most of the people here are Anna’s parents’ age.

There are also a few young people.

Anna is very good at dancing,

Under her leadership,

I also started to get more coordinated.

This must be the first time in my life that I have danced at a party!

I wonder why these people didn't bring their children.

So Anna asked an aunt who was about 50 years old,

She said she had no children.

I want to know if not having children is a common thing in Germany?

Anna said that maybe 1/5 people in Germany choose not to have children.

This is still a pretty big number to me.

but,

There are also many people who have children later.

Anna told me today,

Her mother had a 70-year-old friend and his 18-year-old son watching a football game.

Passed away due to sudden illness.

in Germany,

I met many people born in the 1990s and 2000s,

Their parents had their first child when they were almost 40 years old.

11pm,

Anna and I left the birthday party,

Pick up her mother from a karaoke bar.

This bar has a public karaoke area,

Anyone can sing.

When we went,

I saw at least three groups of bachelor parties (Westerners will throw bachelor parties for themselves before getting married).

Before leaving,

Karin said goodbye to an older man she met here.

Early the next morning,

After breakfast,

Anna and I went to the place where she was playing football.

Her coach asked me about the status of women's football in China.

I just realized that China is very interested in sports.

In particular, there is still a lot of work to be done to emphasize and popularize women's projects!

Anna's team won the game,

She even scored a goal!

Anna said, I am their lucky star.

After the football match,

It's already been a year and a half in the afternoon.

Anna remembered that I wanted to go to the "Sakura Festival",

So he took me to have a look.

Although due to weather conditions,

The "Sakura Festival" is cancelled,

But some people still come here.

The cherry blossoms have already fallen,

Only some young cosplayers gathered here,

Photography, picnic.

Anna and her friends seemed uninterested in any of this.

But I think seeing these people in Germany,

Still quite interesting.

It's just that their makeup is a bit scary,

I don't even dare to talk to them.

Anna asked: "Who do you want to take a photo with, let me tell you."

In fact, they are still very friendly.

Just playing a role,

Acting a bit "cold" and "scary".

The girl above is still in high school,

very cute.

The boy next to her was a little shy;

Very friendly too.

Leaving the "Sakura Festival",

After sending Anna’s friend home,

We're home too.

Anna's mother went to watch a movie while we were out.

She strongly recommended that I also watch this movie.

I'm going to visit Anna's grandparents this afternoon.

It's only a twenty-minute drive away.

This used to be a farm,

Nowadays, farmland is covered with various modern buildings.

But the farm house, warehouses and livestock pens remain.

Anna’s grandparents’ house is very big.

Anna's cousin also lived there.

There are other houses in the yard,

Anna's cousin and aunt lived there.

As soon as I entered the house,

I feel a strong sense of history.

Hanging in the living room is the skull of an antelope (I guessed it based on the bones) that Anna's grandfather hunted.

Attached is the restaurant.

Anna’s grandparents are in their eighties.

All very friendly!

Grandma brought us a chocolate-flavored wine to drink.

Neither Anna nor I like drinking,

But out of courtesy we all finished our drinks.

then,

Anna's grandmother started playing the piano,

Anna's grandfather started humming next to her.

The scene is very warm,

There is also a romantic feeling.

Anna brought a sheet of lyrics,

We sang a song together.

This is a Bavarian song,

It is different from Standard German (the German language of northern Germany).

Anna specially translated it into standard German for me,

It’s so loving!

After a few songs,

Anna took me out to visit the yard.

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Grandma Anna grew some vegetables and flowers here.

I got to know a new vegetable,

It's called rhubarb.

Karin came back with pizza.

We had dinner together.

Anna's grandfather started showing me his Chinese collection,

There are fans, hats and porcelain.

He also gave me a fan as a souvenir.

Before leaving,

Karin's cousin is back.

He was going upstairs,

I didn't see his face,

Just said Hi.

At this time,

Karin told me with a sly smile that his cousin was a bachelor (one means "bachelor", the other means "single").

I thought she meant her cousin was a maester.

I said: "Pretty good".

She said: "Let me introduce you to each other. He is 28 years old. He studied agriculture in college and is now running a farm. If you get married, you can live in Germany!"

I was shocked,

A little embarrassing!

The sudden matchmaking caught me off guard!

Anna seems more awkward next to me than me,

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!

Anna took out a photo of her cousin and showed it to me.

Said he had never had a girlfriend before.

I smiled and joked: "I came to see you this time. Not only did I take your brown sugar ginger tea and clothes, I also took your grandpa's fan, and now I want to take your cousin away too! Hahahahahahahahaha."

After joking,

We drove home.

Anna took out her old photos and showed them to me.

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What attracted me most was when they received their high school diplomas,

Each person will make an electronic version of a page similar to a classmate record for themselves and send it to the school.

The school uniformly binds it into a book.

Then distribute it to every student.

There are some very interesting designs in there.

Anna stayed with me until late at night,

Then drove me to the station.