germany:day 4

deggendorf and the old grandpa I almost kidnapped

Today is our free day. We have decided to head out to the nearest large town which is Deggendorf (alert readers will remember that Roxie unfortunately calls this place "Dingledorf"). This town boasts a university and a shopping mall complete with a Subway! To be honest, that is precisely why we are going. For a precious year in our fair city of Ceske Budejeovice there was a Subway and when we were feeling our most homesick we would go there and pretend we were back home. Alas, we were the only ones who went and that's why it closed.


So off to Deggendorf.


After a great lunch at Subway and a look at the shops in the mall, we headed to the town square. Please remember that my German is rudimentary at best, or what happens next will not seem hilarious.


As we were walking through the town square I happened upon an old man in a wheelchair. He was calling out to passersby for help with no luck. Compelled to see what he needed, I stopped, asked him in my broken German if he needed help and he garbled at me unintelligibly, pointing at the brake on his wheelchair. From what I could pick out, he wasn't able to undo his brake and get moving. As he was perched outside a shop, it appeared that he wanted to keep moving along the square and couldn't. Thinking that I should just release his brake for him and help him on his way, perhaps pushing him where he needed to go, but my German is so bad I didn't want to risk it and I was afraid that I wasn't understanding him nor the situation  correctly. Desperately, he kept pointing at his brake and getting louder and more agitated. No one was stopping to help.  I looked around hoping someone else would come by to see what the matter was, as he was getting louder and louder. I kept apologising, saying that my German was poor and I couldn't really understand. Finally, I said goodbye to him, again saying I was sorry that I couldn't help. I walked away feeling frustrated and sad for this man. And angry that no one was stopping to help. Walking a few more meters away, my eye trained on the old man, I noticed an equally old lady come out of the shop in front of which was perched our old man. The man looked at her, slumped in his chair and resigned himself that he wasn't going to escape her clutches this day. Did I almost go to the gulag for kidnapping an old man? For aiding and abetting a senior in his escape?


After a leisurely walk around the square, we headed back to Forstgut and had a great dinner, chatting with friends. Another evening filled with great wisdom from our speaker, Ernst, and the continuation of our eternally long card game of Phase 10. Dan went to bed this evening not feeling well and awoke with a fever and, unfortunately, with an upcoming streak of 15 days of illness ahead of him. 


This retreat was for us a blessing and a time to meet with God and hear from Him. In upcoming posts I will be outlining what God has put in our hearts and minds, especially about a new perspective on what success really means.