Friends for Dinner
Hello, reader.
If you’ve been following my blog, you already know that I migrated to Germany last year, in October, and was having little bit of hard time socializing. But two yesterday a very nice thing happened, let me tell you about it :)
It was December when I received an email from university, they were informing us about a wonderful program that happens in some regions of Koblenz - Friends for Dinner. Basically, you apply via the website, and they assign you to a random German family to have a Christmas dinner with them. Purpose is to help immigrants adapt to German culture easily and socialize. I loved the idea and applied immediately. Was so excited. In past I didn’t have much luck with these kind of selections, so I didn’t have my hopes up. But couple of weeks later, I received an email from them, telling the family will contact me soon!
And couple of days later, I did receive a message from a guy, and we agreed on a date for the dinner. We’ll call him Martin. From his profile picture, he looked like a very kind man with a lovely young family. However, I couldn’t participate because of a family matter. When I told him the situation - assuming we’ll just cancel and I will lose the chance - he said we can reschedule it to next year!
Next year came, and while writing the infamous happy-new-year-message I came across our chat with Martin, and didn’t know whether I should write him too, or not. I wasn’t sure because I was afraid of looking desperate 😂. But fortunately, the next day he wrote me and wished me a happy new year, and then I asked about our dinner. Long story short, we decided on a date - 10th of January.
The Dinner Day
As our appointment was getting close, I started worrying a bit. I was going to a different town to a family’s house - for the first time and in the evening. This initially felt a little bit weird, but when I went through the program’s website, I learned that they talk with local churches to find these families, so they are all kind and nice people. I got relieved.
In the evening, I left work 2 hours early, and went to buy something so I wouldn’t go someone’s house empty-handed :D. In the bakery, I asked a lady to help me, as I don’t know German yet. She was very kind as well, and even helped me chose the thing I bought. It was a small apple pie - which later turned out to be tasty 😋.
Anyway, I went to the train station, train got delayed 15 minutes, but 20 minutes later, I arrived to the location. We found each other in the station, and Martin drove me to their house. The evening begun.
From the first minute, it was great! He was very kind and - how you say it - a talky person. It was apparent that this is not his first time having foreigner guests over, so I was comfortable that whenever I am stuck, he can initiate something - so that we don’t get dead silences 😂.
Martin works in construction. He is a well educated person, and said he completed the profession school with the highest grade in the region. Now he leads the teams that make the streets and roads. I absolutely respect these kind of professions. They have real and first-hand impact on the world, which is great.
So, we arrived to their house. I was greeted by a WONDERFUL family. They were all so sweet to me - it felt like we knew each other for a long time, LOL.
First thing, Martin walked me through their house. This was unexpected to me, as we don’t do this in Azerbaijan. Maybe very close relatives sometimes show their house, and I would feel very shy when they did that. Anyways, they had a lovely place. Kids room was so cute with all the toys and colorful stuff.
Ah yes, the kids! It was the best. They had two girls, two years old, and one less than a year old. I won’t write their names, but we’ll call them Johanna and Madeline, respectively. These are the names she calls her dolls. Johanna was the sweetest. At first she was shy, but later she started sharing couple of her toys with me! She kept giving me her books, but they were all in German, so I couldn’t talk with her. But once his dad explained that I don’t know German, she went and brought me a book in English!! So thoughtful and sincere it was overwhelmingly cute 😭.
Minutes later, the mother of the family (we’ll call her Amy) brought us a delicious homemade meal. It was meat inside a dough kind of meal, and it was delicious. Apparently this was Martin’s and his brother’s favorite meal. And I could see why :)
The dinner was great. We talked a lot about our cultures, the world as a whole, different meals, etc. Some politics as well. They all could speak English well. Especially Martin, and sometimes he had to translate some things to Amy.
After the meal, we had a tea together. Amy served the apple pie. I hope they liked it :D.
Ah, we also had Martin’s little brother with us, which also was great. He was 14 years old, could speak some English (but didn’t talk with us much). He wants to be a handyman, and specifically a painter. I wish the best of luck to him.
Before I left, Amy gave me a jar of Spekulatius creme! I didn’t know what it was, but when I opened it up it was a great surprise! Apparently my favorite biscuit that I was buying a lot recently was made with this creme! I knew it is something special because it didn’t taste like anything familiar. And I wasn’t totally wrong.
Thank you Amy, a lot! <3
And around 9pm, Martin, his brother, and - most importantly - Johanna took me to the train station. It was a ten minute drive. We chatted a bit more in the car, and thanked each other for the delightful evening.
Overall this was an absolute delight. The worst thing was I forgot to take a picture with them 😭. They all said they would love to have me some time in future again. The feeling is likewise. Hopefully next time I’ll be able to say some words in German too.
Yes, I feel like this was it. I tried to cover all the feelings here, so I don’t forget them ever. That is the main reason why I write this blog. And I feel great when I share stuff with people.
If you’d like discuss further, please write an email, or message me via fediverse.
Bye!