24th of January, 2022.
Six hours! After waiting for six hours outside of Kassel (new record, by the way) I am in shock! How come? Is that because I have Groningen, Netherlands, written in my sign? Would that be an excuse for nobody even have offered to drive me to the next town? The worst part is that I am starving!
Late afternoon, Tina passes by me and then comes back and park ahead. She has this super cool campervan she borrowed from a friend for a short trip around Germany. She will meet her boyfriend in about one hour, so because she has some extra time, she offers to drive me to a gas station on the highway. Thank you!
Tina is super cool and during our short time travelling together we have a nice conversation. Than she saves me a second time: she tells me how much food her mother has given to her and ask me if I want some. Wow! I am so glad that she asked… I make some sandwiches with a delicious fresh bread one of Tina’s uncle baked for her! How cute! And she packs a bag full of candies, chocolates and fruits for me. I can barely believe!
After checking her tires and some paper work she goes back to meet her boyfriend. Thank you so much, Tina!
One of the first people I ask on the gas station is a lady going to Bielefeld. I immediately accept her lift because I have no hopes of getting any further today. And we get in there, so the city it does exists! I have been there!* She drop me in what we thought it was a church. But actually it was an Art Gallery. Laugh.
I walk towards a church, which is structurally connect with a gymnasium, and there I talk with a very friendly guy. He tells me that unfortunately he cannot help me because the church has actually nothing to do with the school. Only walls. Ha-ha. But he advises me to look outside for the headmaster of the school, apparently he is a very nice man, so he could help me perhaps. In case I cannot find him, the friendly man tells me I could cross the park and try in another church.
I don’t find the headmaster so I head it to the other church. I am surprised when I see it is open because it is after 5 o’clock. In a few minutes an elderly lady comes also inside. There is only the two of us inside the church. I tell her my tale and she says we can wait here for the lady who will lock the church. And she even say that, if they cannot help me, I can come and stay with her! Owm!
When the security lady arrives, I barely have time to explain to her what I want, she is in a rush and (perhaps) because of that she is a bit rude and promptly tells me to go and talk with the pastor, who leaves just across the street.
The elderly lady joins me and we walk towards the pastor house. Christel is the pastor and she looks stunning with her pixie white hair. Actually, she reminds me of Madam Rolanda Hooch, from Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. But Christel’s hair is nicer.
So Christel tells me I can stay in her home. Yay! We both say goodbye to the lady who came with me and Christel quickly shows me the place and the room I can stay. She is in a video meeting so she has to come back.
After I get all my stuff ready, I prepare a lentil soup (from a tin, which Christel has given to me earlier) and have it with some bread. I kept some for her because she will be busy until 9 o’clock. Around that time, I come downstairs and we chat for a while. I like her a lot! She is so nice but also has a strong personality. She is impressed about my travels but she is a traveller herself so she also understands.
Together with her contact, she gives me also the suggestion of a place to check it out, in France, but which has branches all over the world, including in Brazil. The place is called Emmaus. If I only knew that soon enough I would be crossing their path…
We agree on a time for having breakfast tomorrow morning and we both go to sleep.
Next morning, after having some delicious eggs with coffee, and chatting a bit more with Christel, I say goodbye and take my way out of town. Would I be able to finally arrive at my final destination in the Netherlands today?
*To those not familiar with the Bielefeld’s Conspiracy, in 1994 a myth about the existence of this city started. It is actually so non sense that it makes it funny. Like trash horror movies. And to make it worse, in 2010, the German Chancellor Angela Merkel makes a joke about the subject on a public interview, saying that she was there but adding something like if the city exists at all, because she had the impression to be there. The last add on the case it happened on 2019, when the city has offered a ward of 1 million Euros to whom can prove that the city does not exists. Isn’t that the most funny and crazy thing you have ever heard of it?
