Karaoke and Döner

Hey er'rbody,

Just sitting on a train headed from Frankfurt to Paris right now. I gotta say, this place ain't too bad looking. Right now I'm passing through some fields. It looks like the great plains or something. Earlier it was more woodsy and very hilly. I wish I knew more about the geography so I could tell you what I'm actually passing through.

I wanted to talk a little bit about a few more things in Marburg before I forget to talk about them. Last night I went out to this place called Mexicali for karaoke night. Aren't you excited about this story? I know you are. So Mexicali is indeed a Mexican place, which I was surprised to see, and I was naturally skeptical about the food. Turns out the food was actually pretty damn good! I was surprised. I don't know if you'd call it authentic Mexican, but it was authentic good.

Anyway, karaoke started at 10, but we got there at about 8:30 because it's that popular. Yeah, really. We get to the door and the cover is 2 Euros to get in or 3 Euros to get in with ein Bier. The doorman asks us if we have a reservation because, yes, karaoke night is really that popular. Germans must love karaoke or something. So we sit down and get a bit to eat and wait the hour and a half for the karaoke to start. Some other of my friends show up and are unable to get a table at first and must stand. Eventually we find out that some reservation was a no show and get another table across the room.

(Someone just walked past me on the train with a handful of beers)

So yes, the karaoke starts, and yes, it is as awesome as you might think. Pretty much all the songs that were sung were American pop songs– anything you'd expect to hear at a karaoke night in America, only sung with AMAZING German accents! Some people were better than others (one girl nailed this Whitney Houston song), but there were some truly amazing renditions with super thick accents. I don't think I could even begin to describe how beautiful it is to hear Elvis sung with a thick German accent, so you'll just have to use your imagination.

So we leave a little past midnight (all entirely sober, of course), and we all know what we must do next. Quick history lesson: after WWII, many Turkish people moved to Germany to help rebuild the country. As a result, there's a large population of Turks here, and they brought their awesome food along! I had been introduced to the Döner by a friend a few days prior, and I was quickly informed that it is the best drunk food ever. And what luck! The Döner place stays open until extremely late!

A Döner is similar to a Gyros, but a little different. It's a square piece of pita with some sort of rotissary meat (I think turkey or beef), cabbage, onions, peppers, tomatoes, yogurt, and a few other things piled on top. Then you kinda... fold it up... and struggle to not get it all over your face as you eat it. Needless to say, it's amazing. So we walked to one of the Döner stands and get us some. The guy behind the counter asks how spicy I want it, and my eyes light up as I tell him extremely spicy. He looks skeptical, and I tell him I'm from Louisiana and we love spicy food. I don't think he really knew where Louisiana was, but he loaded it up with some sort of spice for me. I take off the tomatoes and take a bite, and it is way spicy and way delicious. I nod my approval, and the Döner-man smiles. Yes!

Unfortunately, a German girl with us decided to eat one of my unwanted tomato slices, not realizing that the hot spice is all over it. Her eyes get huge when it hits her tongue, and the fire in her mouth turns to rage at me. "That is too spicy! It's not good, it's just painful!" I smile and say, "Yeah, but now I can breathe again." Oh man, I am hilarious.

That's about it for the evening. We caught the bus and I went home to pack for my Paris trip. And the rest is history!

So I've been to a few bars now, and had some really good beers. I don't think I've had a bad beer yet, and I doubt I will. The cheapest place I've been is the student bar (I think it's called Schwartzweiss, but I need to double check on the spelling), where the beers are like 1.30 Euro for a pint. The real bars are a bit more expensive, but they have stuff on tap, and the prices are still decent. I went to a hookah bar the other night where they play all these arabic dance music videos. The video quality is pretty bad, though, so I think they bootlegged them and burned them to a DVD. Awesome!

Ok, I'm just rambling now, and I'm about 15 minutes from Paris, so I'm gonna stop this insanity. Au revoir for now!

(P.S. I made it to Paris. It's awesome! More later!)

Your travel guide,
Nick