mothwing | Overheard in Hamburg

This city is full of the strangest people, seriously.

When I was waiting for Crocky yesterday, I've done something I rarely do, I went to McDonald's.
Next to me were a girl and her boyfriend, holding hands and generally canoodling. She was German, but had a Turkish accent that is associated with a kind of tough coolness in some groups, and he was a young immigrant. After a while she moved a bit closer to him because of the people around them and because it was loud.

Girl: "You know what? I love you."
He: "What?"
Girl: "I love you!"
He: ".... what do you mean?"
Girl: "I love you."
He: "Yes, but, what do you mean?"
Girl: "Don't you know what that means?"
He: "No."
Girl: "You mean I say that for the first time in my life, and you don't understand me??!"
He: "... Nooo?"

She did explain it to him after that, though. They were sooo cute.

The bus driver a few days ago was less lucky.
That was one of the strangest thing I've ever seen on Hamburg public transport and that says a lot. We were driving along happily, stopping at a stop, and the bus driver was just about to drive away again when a young boy jumped at the bus and forced open the doors again.

Boy: "Can you WAIT for ten seconds?"
Bus driver: "What?"
Boy: "Wait! For ten seconds!"
BD: "What are you doing?"
Boy: *forces open doors again*
BD: *turns around* "This isn't your bus! Stop it!"
Boy: *forces open doors again*
BD: "Oy! Stop it!"
Boy: *does something in the back. Then silence. Bus driver sits and watches, the boy doesn't do anything.*
Minutes pass. Then:
Boy: *walks up to the front of the bus*
BD: "What do you think you're doing?!"
Boy: "Do you have shit in your head? Can't you wait for ten seconds?!"
BD: "What were you doing to the doors?! This isn't your bus!"
Boy: "You are only THIS big!" *indicates inch, meaning penis size* "THIS big!"
BD: "What do you think were you doing?"
Boy: "Come out of there, why don't you?! You are only THIS big! Fuck your mother! Fuck her!"
BD: "Oy, I know where you live, boy."
Boy: "Yes, I live (gives address), I don't give a damn, fuck you, fuck your mother!"
BD: "Get OUT of my bus! Out!"
Boy: *spits at him*
BD: "OUT of my bus!"
Boy: *while getting out, turns and spits at him again* Fuck your mother!
BD: "Get out!!!"
Boy: *turns, spits, walks away*

... since when do people randomly SPIT at others?? That was so disgusting. The poor bus driver. I really didn't understand what the boy wanted, because the bus driver DID wait in the end, for two minutes or so.

The BEST thing during my seminar yesterday was when the one woman who just NEVER changes the expression on her face presented her lesson. I have seen her smile like, ONCE, and that consisted of her eyes smiling and one corner of her mouth raising just a fraction. Otherwise - aaaalways the same expression. She is a very, very earnest young woman (I LOVE her) and she takes her lessons, herself and her students dead seriously. Which the children seemed to like a lot. The class was very quiet, as well, and when one boy spoke out of turn while she was speaking, she just reminded him with the voice she always had, "Can I finish talking? Thank you."
She's ironic pretty often, but since her students are old enough to understand it, it really doesn't matter.

Some of our teachers-to-be thought that her very. earnest character might not be motherly enough for their idea of a primary school teacher because her expression just never changed.

At the end of our feedback session our Professor asked her, her expression still not changing AT ALL, whatever we had to say about her lesson, whether we said it was really, really good or whether we were telling her about things she might want to improve,
"What I've been asking myself is whether you also open your lessons for humour and laughter."

She just looked at him, same expression as ever, then suddenly, one of her her eyebrows rose.
"I don't think I understand the question."

We were fighting SO hard not to laugh, seriously. When he explained it again, she said, still the same expression as ever, "Of course people laugh in my classes. In my English lessons, for example. I know people never think that's possible with me, but it does happen."

She rocks. She's going to be a great teacher, because she takes the children as seriously as she takes her classes. I love her.

Ok, back to Crocky.