When it Rains it Really Pours by Katy von Deutschland (the read aloud family .txt) 📕

A funny thing happened the other day...
I dashed through the rain to Aldi's grocery store in Gelsenkirchen a few days ago. I wanted to get some of that yummy tea they had on sale. You know the kind that makes you forget the cold and dreary rainy days? I can hear you saying ... Gelsenkirschen? Huch! Where's that? Well, in Germany. Near Düsseldorf and Essen. Never heard of it, you reply. I knew it! I laugh and answer…. hmmm the soccer team is Schalke … Schalke O4. Yeah right! Why didn't you say that right away! We both laugh.

Well anyway, back to the story... I was standing in a huge line, ending at the back of Aldi's, wondering once again why only one cash register was open for business. It is an interesting phenomenon here in Germany that people are „forced“ to stand in only one lane. One open cash register for tons of people. OK, OK I am exagerating just a bit! Well, they do have more cash registers in the stores here you know. And, they do have more than one person working in the stores here. Strange enough, however, most often there is only one open lane and that in the afternoon when people get off from work. A strange phenomenon...

As I mentioned, only only one lane open for business. So many impatient people. No one really speaking. Some grumbling ... Some screaming kids …. Anne? Annnee! Annneee Annnnnneeeee! I WANT some candy! Mamma? Mammmmaaaaa! Buy me this … buy me that! Oh my goodness! Just a normal day in the store.

What a rainy gray day - it was raining cats and dogs. Nothing new here. Just a typical Fall day in Gelsenkichen.

All of a sudden, I heard a guy with the most fabulous Saxo-Thuringia accent yell around … Open up the other Lane! No... no please. Sigh... Hmmm, strange I thought. Well to be honest, that's quite normal here though too. You know, the people here are rough on the shell and soft on the inside. That's how these people are here in the Ruhr area. I guess it's because people here come from all over the place. Sort of a melting pot mosaic kind of constellation.

But anyway, back to the story ... the guy kept on grumbling and complaining. All of a sudden, another man with black hair and a moustache turned around and looked at the the tall man with the Saxo-Thuringia accent in a very serious manner and said in his deep sonorous voice … „Wir disch nisch g'rufen!“ (We didn't call you to come over here!)

Everyone began to smile and laugh! The ice was broken. No more sad grouchy faces. A different sales clerk hurried over and opened another lane and things got moving. People started talking to the others while waiting in line.

I smiled, remembering hearing the joke almost 20 years ago when the border came down between East and West Germany. The past 20 years have passed by so quicky, I think, since the border came down. Mom always said to me, when you have kids of your own you will see how time flies by. I cluckle as I remember that everything back then just took ... „forever“.

Today, however, there is no physical border anymore. People can travel around, as they like after being separated for 28 years, tru and fro with no problems or difficulties.

A bit of a psychological border is still in the minds of the people here in this country. I think, it's easier to take down that wall of barbed wire and cement than to forget more than a generation of time being separted from family and friends.

In 1961, the border was closed between East and West Germany. In 1961, West Germany signed an agreement with Turkey to allow migrant workers to come to Germany to work … even though they had already been working here since 1955. Many, for example, came to the Ruhr area to work in the many coal mines they once had years ago. But, that is a different story.

The funny thing is, I think, is that a 20 year old joke made some people in Gelsenkirchen-Schalke just laugh and smile. You see, it was just another rainy day in Gelsenkirchen...
Gelsenkirchen-Schalke to be exact.


Have a great day and remember that when it rains it pours in Gelsenkirchen and ... that there is always room for a smile!


The End ...
or perhaps this is really the beginning of an new era :-)

Text: (c) Katy von Deutschland
Publication Date: 10-01-2009

All Rights Reserved

Dedication:
To all my dear Komsus and all my dear friends with love and thanks. All rights reserved, in particular by the of right law on duplication and distribution as well as translation. No part or section of this book may be reproduced in any form or shape without written approval by Katy von Deutschland.