A Life in Waiting

Carnival. As a New Yorker this word doesn’t hold too much sentiment or reverence. It’s typically an outdoor event held in the summertime at firehouses and churches to raise money for their causes. It’s usually a gathering of families with smaller kids wanting to go on all the cheesy rides and teenagers looking for a place to go other than the mall or wherever they gather typically. An assortment of food and beer booths accompanied by overpriced games to try and win a stuffed animal for whomever you’re with. Not exactly an event worth talking about. Actually I mostly try to avoid them. Oh yeah, it’s also the name of some party in Brazil.

So as I consider myself (somewhat) knowledgeable and (somewhat) worldly I need to ask one question… HOW THE HELL DID I NEVER HEAR OF CARNIVAL IN COLOGNE?!?! I mean, COMEON! This city is considered to host the largest Carnival celebration, possibly even bigger than the Brazilian variation widely known around the globe. I don’t fully understand the whole history behind it, for it truly starts on November 11^th at 11:11 and goes until the beginning of February. But there doesn’t seem to be much that happens from November until the end of January. But at the end of January… that all changes. See this is the week before Lent, when all Catholics are suppose to start their strict regiment leading up to Easter. As I understand it, Carnival is when you are supposed to get it all out of your system before Lent. And boy, do they.

This is where I need to thank the man responsible for my knowing of this festival, Ulf. He sent random messages throughout Couchsurfing’s message boards to let everyone know of the event he organizes every year for Carnival. I read his description and after a few emails back and forth, I was convinced that this is where I wanted to kick off my European trek of 2008.

See every year he rents out a basement of a non-denominational church called the Arche, a few kilometers outside of the city’s center. It’s not an old Catholic stone church, but more of a non descript building with a finished basement that has a main gathering room, kitchen, bathrooms and a second room for the sleeping quarters. For six nights, dozens of people stay in this Arche and use it as a staging area for all the partying in the city. I think one night this weekend we had over 40 people here at once. A bit much for when you are a minimum of 6 yrs older that most of the other occupants.

Just about every day we have an itinerary to follow, that Ulf has put together. The first night when we had just seven of us, we were to gather at the Arche and assemble all of the Ikea beds that were purchased to accommodate the excessive amounts of temporary residents. Once Ulf arrived at the Bierstube where we awaited his arrival, we went over to the Arche and began the building process. That was after the beer run and the music got kicked on. Five hours and a bunch of laughs later, we have all the beds built and pass out on them at around 3 in the morning.

The following day, Thursday, is the kickoff party for Carnival. It’s actually the largest party day of the celebration, as was told to us. However I’m not fully convinced of that since I couldn’t distinguish one night from the next. Unbeknownst to us, a stereo with the anthem of Carnival cranked to the max was set up with an alarm clock to make sure we got off to an early start. We head out of the Arche around 8am and catch a tram to the city where we are meeting a bunch of Ulf’s friends at his flat for breakfast. All in total there were about 15 of us heading together. We arrive at the flat to discover another 10 or so people waiting for us with a huge spread of meats, cheeses and other buffet items. All introductions are done and after a few toasts, we all dig in.

Now one part I forgot to mention is that at Carnival everyone is wearing costumes. Elaborate detailed costumes. And they are worn by all. This breakfast celebration was no exception. Once we finished eating, the music changed over to the Cologne Carnival music and the party began. The Carnival music is basically German folk music on crack. High tempo and very cheerful, everyone knows the music and sings along with every song with pride. So much that by the end of Carnival I know the lyrics of every song and still cannot get them out of my head.

We ended up staying at the flat for a few hours before heading into the center of Cologne, where the Carnival celebration was in full swing. Streets packed with partygoers in every direction, all in full regalia. It was a sight to see. Because it is not a summertime festival, most of the time during the Carnival is spent in various different beer houses that line the streets.

It was a crazy time… and this was only the first day!! Below is a little video I made that shows off a little of what I am trying to explain.

Ok, apparently there are a few people out there that actually read this blog.  As surprised as I am, I need to focus now and get as much writing done as possible to keep the death threats from taking effect.  I am putting on myself the task of getting at least one post up on here every day until I catch up with my story to where I am now.  So keep tabs, and feel free to let me know when I screw up.

As it may be awhile before I get caught up with present day events, I figured I would throw out a line or two about where I am now.  As previously mentioned, I am in Helsinki, Finland.  I arrived back here at the end of February, after spending five weeks traveling through mainland Europe.  It was not a planned excursion, but I was finding it a bit hard to consistently be working on the road and also knew my help would be needed at The Dog Hut so I decided the best thing to do would be to come back for a few weeks to get a few things in order.  My bike is waiting for me in Madrid, Spain, where I hope to fly back to in a few weeks.  And just in case anyone was wondering, I miss my bike and the 70+ degrees of Spain!