Fire Alarm Friendship

I went to the Scottish country dance group again last night and it was fun and friendly. Last week it felt awkward and only one person really talked to me, so I was ambivalent about going back. But this week there were some other dancers there who were very friendly and friendlier still when they saw I knew the figures. Today I'm going to try an "open singing circle" at the "state church's women's league." I don't really know what it is, but the music calendar says it's for all who have fun singing.

There was a fire alarm in our building, incredibly loud, and when I went outside, I finally met a neighbor, who lives just 2 doors along the same hall. He and his wife are Australian; he was a park ranger in New Zealand and they're here because his wife is doing a biology postdoc on aphids on cabbages. He was out bird watching Sun. in the snowstorm in an area adjacent to where we were. So I invited them over for dinner Fri. I'm also thinking of organizing a game night to bring some of our fellow Leibnizhaus residents out of the woodwork. I'm going to see if I can borrow a game or two from Benno's family.

I walked down and found the nearest swimming pool yesterday. It's a 50 meter pool and looks nice. Complicated opening hours, just like everything in Germany. Why something can't just be open 9-5 MF or 10-8 MF is a mystery to me! Each shop, bank, government office, library, etc. has different opening hours every day, e.g. Mo. 3-8, Tues. 9-11:30, 3-6, Wed. closed, Thurs. 10-12, 1-4, Fri. 9-3, + some crazy days which are not holidays that they just happen to be closed. Some banks are open and yet the tellers aren't open at certain times! One of the frustrating, nonsensical culture riddles.  It is way better than it was the first time we lived here. I remember a week-long search to find the university American Lit library in Marburg, hidden in an alley behind the train station far from the English lit library, only to find it closed for 2 weeks and then only open Wed. nights and Fri. mornings or something. Maddening. The Anglistik & Linguistic Library here is open lots and packed with students, hardly an empty seat. It's also open stack, which is rare in Germany. I like to browse. Usually here (in the main uni library, for example) the stacks are closed and you fill out a slip with your book request and it comes on a book elevator from the vault 1-2 hours after you request it. I read a Barbara Pym novel yesterday--witty and it makes me so glad that women's liberation freed our generation to do more than make tea and help men with their projects.