Final Potluck

 I have no idea if potlucks are a thing there. It seems there isn't a German term for it, so probably not. I wonder how it was explained to the German families if that is the case.

 Anyway, I don't recall an arrival potluck, as we had in the U.S., however we did have a large gathering to say goodbye in the school's gym. Besides food, we had prepared a skit in German. Bergren wanted me for the lead, the kid that was 'bad', but only unintentionally. My character's name might have been Willy? It depended on some word play, using the term 'Esel', which is jackass. I remember Peter was the Esel. I think we were throwing rocks at it, which is pretty terrible, in hindsight. The teacher (Chris Bradle) became confused as to who we were calling an 'Esel'. I remember he was supposed to hit me upside the head a few times, and his blows were a little too 'method'. There might have been some suppressed anger coming from somewhere in Chris. Maybe I kept him waiting too long in the mornings when he pulled up to give me a ride to school?

That part of the 'program' went off pretty well. We got some intended laughs. There was a joke about the German soccer legend, Franz Beckenbauer. All good. 

We had been discussing what to do about a song. Both Peter and I played guitar, so we talked about accompanying the class to some song or another. One song that was big at the time and that the German students liked was the Styx 'weeper', "Babe". Back then, we couldn't find chords to a song online, and I didn't have the ear to pick up chords the same way I would later. Someone had the cringe-worthy idea to just sing along to a recording of the song. That view ultimately won out. I was mortified to have to stand up in front of 85 people and sing "Babe" to a bunch of Germans as the record played. If I had been cool, it would have totally ruined my reputation.

From our skit: A little eerie how the parts were most male. From left, John Fredrickson's arm, Dave D., me, Clint Miller's arm and leg, and Mike N.

Besides the singing and the skit, I don't recall much else from that night, so here is one more photo from that final potluck:

Left to right, kneeling: Diana, Barb, Stacy, Ann, me, ?, Tami, Brenda. Row 2, Brian, Kathy, Liz, Karen, Mike, Kathy, Lisa, Clint, Ann. Row 3: John, Peter, Dave, Chris, Lindy, and Curt.