Guten Tag sweet friends,

Many parties were held Saturday night celebrating Cinco de Mayo. While not a big holiday here, the Germans do NOT miss an opportunity to party. They are all rules and regs during the day, but when it’s time to party, move outta the way!! Also, starting in May and through August is the Rhine in Flammen celebrations when fireworks and festivals are held in various cities along the Rhine from Mainz to Koln. Last night, Rhine in Flammen was held in Bonn. We took the train south to Bonn with some friends and joined hundreds of other party goers traveling to the river to see the fireworks and participate in the festivities.

We were invited to a Cinco de Mayo themed party at one of the pilot group member’s home where I met many wonderful folks who are domiciled here temporarily. Some are here for another two years, some for only one more year and some were finishing up their term. Such was the case with our hosts; they are leaving in August so this was a huge party to celebrate Cinco de Mayo, Rhine in Flammen and say Danke Shen and Auf Wiedersehen to everyone.

The party was cray-cray with lots of loud music, dancing, drinking, and kids running around. There was tons of food, drinks, and people so I had ample opportunity to meet new folks. Everyone was extraordinarily nice and helpful and I was invited to join a bunch of ladies on a trip to the amusement park – Fantasialand – on Wednesday. Sounds like a strip club to me; but I’m in!

It doesn’t get dark here until almost 9:30 PM so when we found out the fireworks didn’t start until 11 PM and realized how bad traffic would be, i.e. busses crammed, trains packed, taxis unavailable, we decided to head home early. We had to find a bus and then a local train to take us back to Koln and the later it gets the more difficult that is. The bus ride to the train station was packed with locals trying to get to the park for the fireworks. Party goers carried open bottles and carts/cases full of wine and beer, taking up even more room on the bus and making it more difficult to find a space to sit or stand.

There are no open container laws here so often times  you will see people walking down the street with an open bottle of beer or wine or whatever. This is not restricted to weekends or festivals; it’s every day! Like I said, the Germans are always ready to party.

We managed to get back to Koln around 10 PM so we were hugely successful in beating the mass exodus and arriving not too long after dark. We found out later that it was indeed a mass exodus and almost impossible to grab a bus to the station. Many folks from Koln just crashed at the party house since they couldn’t get out of the city at a reasonable hour, not to mention they likely could not find their way home 🙂

I thought today how happy I was to wake up in my own bed NOT hung over. Yes, it was weird being the only person at the party, besides the pregnant woman, that wasn’t drinking but I was SOOOOOOOO happy to wake up feeling fresh and ready to enjoy my Sunday in Koln!! I may not be much of a partier these days but I’m happy and I feel good most of the time. There’s a lot to be said for that my friends. Grateful today for my sobriety.

Happy Cinco de Mayo – a lil early!