A much younger Helmut before he ever became Helmut (from HS yearbook). Member of the infamous SauerKrauts.
I am finally going home to SF Xmas eve. I've been delayed by the Kaiser Mid Atlantic giving me the runaround. I actually have a barrage of MRI and CT scans xmas eve afternoon before getting on the plane. This whole situation is like a script for a comedy.
"... he called the suicide hotline
and got put on hold..."
Prost!
So I think back to my last days of freedom. I have had an 24/7 entourage since October 24th, with just some breaks when I can sit home alone. The weekend before I volunteered at the huge multi day Oktoberfest celebration in SF which I have done the last couple of years. I worked the busiest nights, Friday and Saturday for One Brick, a volunteer group where I am one of the organizers and a beneficiary of the festival (http://www.onebrick.org/). I worked two long nights at the festival.
0
Jess three Germans volunteering at Oktoberfest
There has been a special place throughout the years with my adopted heritage. My previous German name from high school was not so PC and I wanted a name last year to put on the name tags at German events. "Albert" is a good German name but, I wanted a name that said: "He must to be German".
"His name tag says Helmut but he looks Asian to me...". I also tell people when engaged in conversation that I am 1/3 German, basically, genetically impossible. At Oktoberfest an older German gentleman came up to me and said:
"Helmut? My name is Helmut too!!! We must be the only two Helmuts in this place!". I laughed and agreed and proceeded into the crowd of thousands.
My German friends in Koln making a donation of Euros to my vacation fund last year.
It all started back in sophomoric year in high school German class. A group of us musicians thought that it would hilarious to start a parody oompah band. "Die SauerKrauts" were born. We were a 6 member band made up of 2 Asians, 1 woman and I think no Germans. We played authentic oompah music with authentic instrumentation, spoke German, donned somewhat exaggerated German cloths and stretched parody & double entendres to the limit. We played various high school events, community gatherings and groups like the Lions Club & Senior Center. This was years before Spinal Tap stole our idea. We were way ahead of our time.
Tschuss,
Helmut
former leader of the infamous SauerKrauts
aka albert
