Bridging Gaps

Hello again,

This title may sound cryptic and stuff, but it is not. You may all now relax.

I think that in order to get where I want to go, I need to tell you a little bit about me. I recently graduated from the culinary arts program at Moraine Park Technical College. It was in fact on Saturday, one day before I left for Germany. I wont lie to you, I was graduating, I didn't listen to my commencement speech. I think however, I did tune in for where he was saying that we should go out into our specific areas and carry with us our abilities that have been attained at MPTC. My next area, however is psychology. And so, I was thinking about how I might be able to utilize those skills that I have learned about food production. Obviously, one can see how it is useful to themselves, but beyond that?

Already, here on this very trip I have attended two barbecues. While a barbecue may not be considered a real culinary experience by some, I acted as 'chef' for both of them The first was a party at my host's girlfriend's house. It was very cool, because her father had just purchased a really nice new grill, and I got to play with it :). I cooked everything, from chicken to pork to sausages, potatoes and vegetables. It was really cool to be able to jump right into a situation involving cooking over here, 4,000 miles away, and provide some hungry people something to eat. Cooking times, temperatures, and the like, all just are in my head.

The second was also very cool. Chris plays on a community soccer league called FC Offenthal. They had won a match during the day while I was visiting Heidelberg, and were in the mood to celebrate. This was also really cool, because I used an old stone barbecue. Made entirely out of stone, and let me tell you, this thing could pump out some heat. Again, I made food for the entire team and staff. The head coach, Robert, asked me to do it, and I said I would cook for a German beer. He laughed and said that he might be able to accommodate such a request. He speaks English very well, and I think he is a businessman of a company, I hope to find out more details and will edit them in. He is a really cool person, and is terribly funny.

The coolest part of this is that at both of those places, I was the only American. Yet, I made many friends on both occasions. I think that I would have made friends either way, but by utilizing my skills, I was able to provide people a service, and feed them. Fed people are happy people, and it was really awesome to be able to provide that little bit of happiness for others.

As far as today goes, I had some Schnitzel with and onion sauce that Chris' grandmother made. Very, very yum. I will soon be leaving for another barbecue (who doesn't LOVE a barbecue?!) at Florian's home. He was involved in the exchange for I think the past three years, and is a very good friend of it.

Ciao!