SYLT, PFINGSTENMONNTAG ON THE BEACH
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CBYX/PPP - 31 - SyltHoliday Weekend
This past weekend was great. A unique Friday thanks to a company strategy meeting (aka me trying to keep up with what's being discussed), followed by an extremely relaxing Saturday, with me making macaroni salad (side note coming up...), and then grilling out with Elke and a few new friends.
Grill partys at my house are the bomb. Elke can cook like a champ, and there's always nothing but delicious food to eat. Seriously, I lucked out with living here.
Sidenote: for some reason, the last couple of times I made my macaroni salad, it continually tasted way too strong of vinegar. Well, I finally found out why. AFTER I tripled the recipe with plans of having a huge reserve of delicious macaroni salad at the ready for a while to come, and after I finished it and it tasted immer noch like vinegar, Elke pulls out the vinegar bottle and informs me that I've been using vinegar concentrate the whole time. MFRLKJAÖSLDKFJÖSADLKHF. Nothing like a dumb move like that to ruin your day and your macaroni salad...
Well, grilling was great, weather was perfect, and a successful day was brought to an end. The next morning I woke up, finished packing, and then met Lutz on the train to Westerland (Sylt).
Sylt
We had Sunday around midday through to Tuesday afternoon to spend doing whatever we wanted on this beach paradise of an island. We definitely made the most of it.
To preface, here's a little bit about Sylt. It is one of the most popular beach/vacation destinations in Germany, and boasts the northern-most point of Germany, that is actually past the Danish border, but on the water. Also, 98% of the annual visitors that make their way to Sylt are German, so it's a very German place to be.
Well, we got in, then went to the grocery store to get stuff for dinner (Burritos that weren't your typical burritos), then threw our stuff down at the house, and headed off to town and the beach. The weather wasn't all that great, but we made the most of it.
First things first, was lunch. We rode down to the main street of Westerland (the biggest city on the island) and had two things to do. To start, we snagged a couple of Fischbrötchens (aka Fish Sandwiches). Nom Nom Nom. That was a win. Then after that, we topped it off with an Eistraum (aka Ice Cream Dream). Now THAT was a win. Chocolate Ice Cream with whipped cream and Rote Grüze. Wow was that delicious.
After our food excursion, we wandered on to the beach and threw a little frisbee in the rain. Despite the subpar weather, we had a good time. Then we went home, chowed down on some good homemade grub, and hit the sack pretty early. We were both really pooped for some reason.
What'd we do Monday? Nothing but beach. We spent the entire day out on the sand. We took our little sun shade/wind block, set up camp, and did nothing but take in some sun and sea. It was absolute paradise. Nothing to do except relax.
We did a lot of frisbee throwing (both improved a little bit on technique, always a good take-away), jumped in the water quite a bit, played some bocce, and even taught a couple young dudes a little bit of frisbee (Henry and David).
That night I learned how to make pizza dough, and we chowed down on some delicious homemade pizza. Then we watched Illuminati (auf Deutsch, great movie), and hit the sack after our super awesome day in Paradise.
Tuesday we had a good plan. We were gonna rent some slick bikes, and take a ride around the north part of the island. Let's just say it worked out perfectly. We got up a little early, cleaned up the house and got it ready to go, then rented some bikes and were on our way.
We rode about 50km throughout the day, took a good number of breaks to soak in the scenery and sand, and had an awesome time.
After our glorious ride, we hit the train and headed back to Hamburg. It was an absolutely wonderful weekend. Nice and relaxing away from home, great weather to lay out and enjoy, and great company for some shenanigans and good conversation. Definitely a great weekend.
Burn baby Burn
Saturday I made a big mistake, however. I neglected to put sunscreen on my torso, and oh boy did I (and continue to) pay for it. My front is pretty pink, but holy crap is my back like a cherry. It hurts and boy is it warm.
Well when we got back, Lutz asked Elke for me if she had any sun burn cream. He said she had a remedy for me and was laughing the whole time. It took me a while to catch on, until I saw two big containers of Quark on the table...
Apparently rubbing Quark (like sour cream) on sun burns is a thing in Germany, and that's what she did to me..
Let's just say it was really, really weird. Holy crap was it cold when she smeared it on. But it was actually quite a relief sitting there with a cold barrier covering my burnt skin. The only weird thing about it was the smell, and the fact that I essentially had vege dip covering my body.
They got quite a good laugh out of it. That was definitely a unique experience.
Up Next
This weekend, I'm trying to go to Windmill Windup, probably the coolest frisbee tournament in the world, and it takes place in Amsterdam. I don't have a team, and don't know if I'll be able to find one to play with. So if not, I'll be going up north with the Hamburg team to a training weekend to play some frisbee on the beach and on the grass for some fun in the sun (hopefully my sun burn goes away soon...).
I'm still waiting to hear from RWE about the development program. It might not be until next week until I get an answer, so the waiting game continues.
I'm super proud of my family. It sucks being so far away when everyone's lives keep going on, but I've got one helluva family. :-)
Original Publish Date: June 11th, 2014