1969 Catherine's Letter -Sep.22

Monday, September 22 [1969]

Dear Mother, Dad, Serena, John, and Mary,

Hi!  It certainly seems like a long time since we left New Vienna last Monday.  Dad, I'm sorry I missed seeing you on the boat ship.  I hope you all had a good trip back home.

I hardly know where to start in telling you about the boat, I mean ship!  Our cabin is a little crowded but the four of us are rarely all there together.  Ann, Rose Mary, and Alison are my cabin-mates and they are all going to Münster.  Alison's main past-time is collecting admirers; she has been spending most of her time with the purser (an officer, whose exact duties, except dealing with money, I'm not sure of) and since officers and crew members and passengers aren't supposed to fraternize publicly, we don't see much of Alison.  She's nice to be around when I don't feel like talking as she can carry about 99% of any two-way conversation.

Ann is small and cute and sits at the same table I do.  She does a good job of flirting with the waiters so we generally get pretty good service.  Unfortunately, she has been confined to the room with tonsillitis since this morning.  Rose Mary and I occasionally go places together since neither of us belong to any particular group of friends.  Generally we drift apart after going together so I haven't spent too much time with her.

Food is one thing there is no scarcity of.  We have breakfast at 8:30, lunch at 1:00, afternoon tea at 4:00, dinner at 7:30 and evening snack at 11.  Not too many people come to breakfast.  One reason is because we have had 3 short nights (when the clocks have been turned up an hour) already and we have two more to go.  There is generally more going on at night too so the trend is to live it up at night and sleep during the day.  German breakfasts general consist of bread or rolls and coffee or tea which I have been acclimating myself to.  To satisfy the Americans on the boat they also offer cereal, eggs (on the runny side), potatoes, ham bacon, sausage, hash, potatoes, etc.  They also have German pancakes (one to a serving) which are about the size of a dinner plate and only a little bit thicker than this paper. 

They have both Protestant and Catholic services every morning both of which are in German.  I've gone to the former (at 8:00) every morning but Sunday when I did't quite make it up.  I stayed up playing cards until about 4 AM Sunday Saturday night and then it was only two hours until sunrise.  I fell asleep at 5 though so I didn't see it after all.  I get along singing the songs inGerman but I haven't quite mastered the Lord's Prayer.  The preacher speaks very slowly and distinctly but y vocabulary needs to be greatly enlarged before I get the complete message.

Some mornings they show movies (also shown in the afternoon and at night.)  Each movie is shown about 3 times and every other movie is in English.  The ones in German, I can get the general idea of what is going on but usually the words all out so fast I don't catch much.  Listening is my main problem.  Those of us going to Germany have a real advantage as about half the passengers are German, the waiters all speak German and only a little English, anything printed is in both languages and all messages are given in German and then translated into English.

For lunch and dinner both we receive a menu.  The top half give the meal food that is "being pushed" at that meal and the bottom half is other stuff we can substitute.  There is always soup, choice of fish and/or meat, some vegetables, potatoes, salad, dessert, cheese, and fruit.  At dinner there is also the appetizer.  They go in strong for colorless vegetables like cooked celery, cucumbers, and especially cauliflower.  Today we had mashed yellow peas.  Lunch dessert is almost always pudding or jello with a sauce and ice cream for dinner.  Since everything is in courses it takes about an hour even if you don't eat much.  There is also an abundance of alcoholic beverages available but being my cheap self and having better things to do with my money I only drink when someone else pays.  A couple of times we've split a bottle of wine at dinner.  Besides Ann and I there are two guys at our table who are going to Münster.

I talked to Stavig and Fugate about the possibilities of meeting you and they were both extremely negative.  They said if it was at Christmas or at the end -- fine.  Otherwise I might as well forget it.

I paid a dollar deposit and got a book out of the library.  It is Heidi in German.  I found I could read it fairly quickly and get the gist of the story but I was only reading the words I know and therefore not learning anything.  So I started over reading very slowly, looking up all the words I don't know and writing them down.  I've already gotten a list of 103 words and I'm only on page 13.

The evening entertainment from 9-11 is geared toward the older people but a few of us more courageous (or crazy) ones get out on the dance floor and jostle the older ones around a little.  Cal and I did a good job of it last night.  At 11:00 the Tavern opens and things are much more lively there.  

We still don't know our families but we'll probably find out either in Bremerhaven where the boat, I mean ship, lands or when we get in Bremen.  Dr. Spaltmann, our director in Münster, is to meet us one of those places.

I took a sauna bath the other day.  It was really relaxing but I came out feeling weak and dehydrated.  They also have an exercise room that has two bicycles in it.  They are really hard to pump and after a couple minutes I'm exhausted.  It's a good feeling to use the muscles and have my heart beat fast.

The second morning my stomach was a little queasy and I began to wish the boat ship would stop rocking for a minute anyway.  I recovered by lunch time and I've felt fine since.

Wednesday AM continued:
Today is the last day for mail if we want it to go out tomorrow so I better get this finished.  We had the farewell dinner and dance last evening, which seemed strange as we won't be getting to Bremerhaven until Friday afternoon.  We came to the conclusion last night that we have now reached either the end of the beginning or the beginning of the end.

Our cabin has almost been converted to the branch hospital.  Ann has been in bed with tonsillitis, Alison has some sort of strange internal problem and RoseMary went to bed yesterday with a sore throat.  I'm feeling fine.

We have a final group meeting this morning as those going to France and Spain will be parting ways with us tomorrow.  I'm searching through the Münster group in hopes of finding a stamp collector.  No luck yet but I'm certain that in the next couple months I will find one or learn something myself.  Maybe both.

I finished Chapter One of Heidi yesterday.  I'm certainly not a speed reader of German yet.  In Münster I'll be about on Mary Virginia's level.  We have our classes from 9-12 in a public grade school.  We even get a mid-morning break with milk and cookies.

We have finally lost all the hours we are going to lose.  The day I fly back will be a long one as I'll be gaining back the five hours all at once.

At the meeting (the one referred to about three paragraphs back is now in the past tense) I got $2 to spend for dinner Friday night in Bremen.  Saturday breakfast is included in the hotel and we'll be in Münster by lunch.  We were also give $4 per person for the room steward and $5 each for the waiter.

My Christmas vacation will probably be from December 20 until January 11.  When shall I expect you?  Classes in Münster will probably be over on February 27.  All dates are tentative but at least we have a general idea.

I need Roberta's address or she can write to me first after I find out my address.  Have she and Vanessa found jobs yet?

(Wednesday PM) We just passed Bishop's Rock Light House.  It was so far off in the distance though that I couldn't see any solid ground.

I'm not sure where I'll be when I write again or where I'll be when you get this letter even.  There is a very long line now to buy stamps so this may not get mailed right away.  I hope you all are well and continue to stay that way!

Love,

Catherine

P.S.  How's my bicycle?  I hope you're taking good care of it for me.  I'm sorry I left such a mess in Mary's room.  Next time I leave for Germany I'll try to do better!  I appreciate your taking me to New York.  Both the French and Chinese meals will be remembered.  And I'm already making good use of the clothes.  THANKS!