‘Abrokyire Abrabo’ My wahala in Germany
Last week’s story was a bittersweet experience as we had our farewell dinner in the heart of the Berlin City at the Aapka, an Indian restaurant, after which we would go dancing. This indicated that we were near the end of our stay in Germany. Read on.
After the speeches, dinner was finally served and refreshingly tasted good, though it was Indian cuisine.
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That, however, followed our starter for the dinner – an Oriental soup, which strangely tasted funny on my taste buds but felt good in my gullet – nawaa oh!
As part of the menu were the unmistakable famous crispy Indian bread, rice and fully spiced sauces (vegetarian, chicken, beef and fish).
Also served as part of the menu were some good jokes and laughs when everyone had had a fill of the bountiful rice and assorted sauces served.
Thank God no part of the food made anyone throw up or experience a churning of the stomach afterwards.
It was all well prepared and very delicious and befitting to be labelled as a farewell dinner – thank you our Deutsch friends.
At the Clarchens Ballhaus
After our sumptuous dinner, we all exchanged pleasantries with our hosts and headed for a dance hall – the Clarchens Ballhaus at WeinmeisterstraBe, to try out some ballroom dancing, chacha and walzer among others as had been scheduled. Eh! Asem beba dabi!
Although I reckoned the night out dancing had been appropriately scheduled because we were all so full (we had to definitely shed some weight before retiring to bed), I dreaded the steps I would have to take once we arrived at the place since I am not a very good dancer. Hmm! This too na wahala oh!
So it happened that we made our way to Clarchens Ballhaus and saw a lot of patrons doing their own thing on the dance floor. It was fun to watch them dance but I was wondering if it was also going to be fun getting onto the dance floor ourselves – well time will tell.
As was to be expected, most of the patrons were youthful or middle-aged and we went straight to our reserved table as soon as we got there and our able seminar assistants, Antonella and Susan made sure we had some drinks on our table, although most of us were not so enthused about that prospect – we were still very full but they insisted that we were all entitled to some drinks (If you consider this to be another wahala, wait till you read what transpired on the dance floor).
Before we knew it, we were being urged by Antonella, especially as well as Susan to get our grooves on the dance floor. Apart from Joseph who was able to extract a promise from the assistants that he would go with us to Clarchens Ballhaus on the condition that he would not have to dance but sit and watch, all the others were required to shake themselves on the dance floor.
Some of the course mates, however, managed to dodge – they obviously did not trust their boogie skills.
On the dance floor
Well, I was not one of the fortunate ones. I was first urged on by Faridah with whom I did a few dance steps, then we were joined by a few of our mates Wisnu, Arukaino, Awa and Andi as well as Susan and Antonella.
I, however, got my groove on when I once again invaded the dance floor with Susan, though grudgingly. It was as if we had been at this business before because we seemed like a perfect match and indeed I received a commendation from my partner Sue for being a good, no, a very good dancer – and wasn’t I swollen-headed?
We chose the ballroom dance steps and my, it was so much fun. I also learnt a very valuable lesson, which is how good or bad one’s dance partner is, determines the dexterity with which he or she does it on the dance floor.
It was a great night full of fun, save that I sat close to the smoking room at the dance hall and anytime the door to that room was opened, I had an unwelcome whiff of tobacco smoke drifting into my nostrils.
But believe you me that I tried very hard to parry much of that smoke away so it would not enter my lungs.
When we had had our fill of fun, trimmed our bloated stomachs and obviously looked haggard and tired after a very long day, the unanimous decision was for us to return to our apartment at Buckower Damm and rest our weary frames for our last day in Germany and that is exactly what we did.
To be continued...
