Expanding my comfort zone

While I'm in Bonn, I've been pushing myself to do things alone and to do things I may not do at home. A few of these experiences turned out to be a waste of time but most of them have been well worthwhile. Two of these in particular were really great: I attended a Sunday Concert alone and went to volunteer at the Bonn Triathlon.
Chronologically, the Bonn Triathlon was first. After coming back from Berlin, I had an email asking for volunteers but I had missed the deadline. I figured they couldn't use me anymore but I emailed back anyway. They said to show up on Sunday at 9 AM in the Rheinau park, about a half hour from me across the river. I showed up and was handed loads of stuff! I got a bright orange shirt that says "helfer" (helper, aka volunteer) on it, a navy blue baseball cap since I was in the sun all day, another grocery tote bag (awesome!) which was filled with an apple, some crackers, a liter of water, beef jerky, and some sweet thing also. It was fantastic. I headed with the group to the first station where we were to help the swimmers out of the water and up a ramp where they would continue with the cycling portion. The water was FREEZING but thankfully I didn't have to stand in it since I wasn't informed to bring extra clothes. It was amazing to see the swimmers appear though, it was like a flock of ducks swimming toward us. All of a sudden there were just hundreds of people emerging from the water and it lasted over an hour. After this was finished, I received a free lunch of chili con carne with a roll and since I had planned to spend all day there, not just two hours, I asked if I could help somewhere else. I was told to walk to the end of the 5 km loop where they were running and help guide the runners in the right path. This was boring. I almost fell asleep standing up... I think the runners got annoyed that I kept yawning ha ha but I was in the sun and it was so rhythmic hearing their feet... couldn't help it. I decided after the 1st loop that they knew the way and was told to relieve another girl who had to leave. I was then standing at the split of a footpath where bikers and pedestrians kept trying to walk in the same path where 1500 people were running... you'd think the herds of people with numbers on their chests and who look nearly dead from exhaustion would give it away that you 'can't go through this way' but it didn't. I was absolutely necessary. And let me tell you, it is a great test of one's language skills to scream commands loudly at bikers. It's hard to express "stop you can't go through there, this way is closed" quickly and in German. Though I have to admit German is a great language for disciplining... I believe that's why their dogs are all so well behaved but that's another story. After the first half hour of this, two girls my age approached on bikes and as I started to ask them to stop, they started laughing. Then I realized it was Sanja and one of her friends, they were cheering on her friend's dad (I believe) who was participating. So they helped me yell at bikers for a while ha ha. Good times... After a couple hours of this, I believe around 4 PM, I headed home. I did enjoy cheering on the last few runners though :) They were all amazing. Makes me hope I have the courage to attempt something like a triathlon someday.

A couple Sundays ago I also signed up to go to another concert at the Beethoven Halle, this one was a Charlie Chaplin silent film where the music was played live. It was amazing :) I went by myself and a few other study abroad students were seated in my row but I don't know them so no conversation ensued. The hall slowly went dark and the film started to roll, it was called "The Gold Rush" and was about Charlie as he headed west to strike gold and how he fared in the town. There's a love story, a bad guy, and lots of laughing. Some guy behind me was REALLY cracking up, I got a kick out of it and it made me get more into it :) All the things that seem cliche to me and would be in films now were so creative then and I can see how he captivated a generation of movie goers. I really enjoyed the experience and the hour and a half film passed quickly. The quality was also a lot better than I was expecting. It's definitely the way I think the film was meant to be enjoyed: with live music and in a crowd of people enjoying themselves as much as you are. It's definitely something I would do again in a heart beat.