Being part of the international student community is a great chance to experience different cultures, and I have to admit that a bit part of my year in Germany has involved developing an appreciation for Mexican food. All Americans that I know here miss it so much, and at first I couldn’t understand why. Luckily, they decided to show me. What followed can only be described as multiple moments of gastronomic bliss. At the last Mexican evening hosted by my friends, they took things even further by not merely providing Mexican food, but also creating a Pinyata. After several tequilas, we all stood infront of the animal and, in turn, took whacks at it. Nobody quite knows why, but I recon the tradition stems from some kind of practicing for would-be-warriors. That said, we all failed miserably at actually hitting the object (a few tequilas too many) so the training didn’t work very well…maybe that’s why the Mexicans lost to the Spanish (feel free to correct me, my history’s a little hazy!).
With the amazing weather, I have also been able to participate in a less exotic tradition here at Tuebingen; the Naked Man in the park. He is like a mascot of the university, and apparently without fail comes to the old Botanical Garden where the students hang out every summer. So tanned that he could feature in a skin-cancer add, he walks around the garden doing “exercises” in his tight Y-fronts (although last year he wore a red thong, apparently). These exercises consist of Yoga positions that leave little to the imagination. In general he likes to perform these infront of female students trying to do work. It may sound scary, but I feel very privileged to be able to witness this living legend. All hail the Naked Man, may his fitness regime never end.
I have also participated in some rather less controversial traditions this month. Anne on my corridor celebrated her 25th birthday and decided to have a “children’s birthday” theme. We all sat in the garden surrounded by balloons and glitter, and played party games. I never realised pass the parcel wasn’t universally played! It was quite amusing trying to teach everyone the rules. We also played a fantastic game involving chocolate and a dice. Everyone took it in turns to roll it and when you rolled a six, you got to eat the chocolate. The only problem being that it was wrapped up in newspaper, that you had to use a knife and fork, and that you first had to put on a hat and gloves before you could attack the yummy goodness. Meanwhile, everyone else continued rolling. It was hilarious to watch everyone struggle away and definitely brought out our inner children again! We also played a game inspired by jess, a Chinese student. She sat and pronounced German theologians the way that the Chinese say them, and we had to guess who she meant. Not as easy as it sounds.
