They May be Small but They Sure Can Drink!

Dear Reader,

It was on our very first trip to Europe, the Grand Tour that we took in 1983, where we spent a most extraordinary and unexpected evening at the Munich Hofbrauhaus. As much as we had been enjoying the sights of Munich and it's surrounding castles, I couldn't wait to visit the famous place and have my first enormous beer served in 1 liter mugs carried five per hand by the robust bar maids. I also wanted to eat pretzels and sauerbrauten and weiner schnitzel. It was going to be my first real German experience and I was excited.

As John and I walked down the street in the direction of the Hofbrauhaus a young Japanese guy approached and asked us in German if we knew where the Hofbrauhaus was. I couldn't understand a word he said and it didn't even cross my mind to ask if he spoke English being so used to people speaking all kinds of languages by this point in our trip. I just assumed he was German. But John was more alert and recognized the word Haufbrauhaus and told him that we were on our way there too and he could come with us. At this point the Japanese guy got very excited and thanked us and then started waving behind him. The next thing I knew we were surrounded by about thirty Japanese college students. They were all quite petite, well dressed in matching polo shirts and Dockers pants with expensive shoes so I figured they were also quite affluent.

We marched like a merry band to the Haufbrauhaus, which did not disappoint in size. It is huge and has several floors. The OomPa band was playing as well and the big bar maids were everywhere hands filled with giant mugs of beer.

We managed to find two tables next to each other and all sat down together as a group. The first thing we found out about them was that most of them spoke English so it was not difficult to communicate. They also spoke several other languages including German. It made me ashamed to be so barely bi-lingual but friendship is the international language and we had fun. We shared all kinds of stories about our cultures and different ways of life. We talked about school and course matter and prerequisites, parents, pets, siblings, it was all the usual stuff and very enlightening. They all smoked cigarettes too which rather surprised me. Back in those days, though I had quit smoking and John had never smoked, we liked to join people we met in various countries and smoke their local cigarettes. I had a pack of Gitanes from France on me that evening. One student offered me one of his Japanese cigarettes in exchange for an American one but all I could offer were the Gitanes. He was fine with that but really wanted a Marlborough.

What was truly amazing was how much they could drink! I can put down a lot of beer and so can John but these students blew us out of the water the way they could drink beer. They were practicing drinking down the entire liter in one giant gulp and most of them succeeded. I've never seen anything like it. One tiny little gal showed me the proper way to do it by wrapping my hand palm down on the left side of the mug, then turning my wrist 180 degrees and bringing the mug to my mouth with my hand backwards. I don't know where she learned this but it wasn't easy since the mugs alone weighed a ton. I tried to drink it all but didn't even come close. Besides I had to go to the bathroom after every beer so I wasn't in a big hurry to finish a beer.

Our new found friends really cut loose that night. I could tell they didn't get a chance to do this very often. One guy was taking notes all night writing down new English words we would say and then translate for him. But most of them were laughing and having a good time.

At the table to my right sat three old men smoking cigars and playing cards. The man sitting next to me finally asked me a question. He asked where I was from. I told him California. He quipped, "That's funny, you don't look Japanese". I didn't like him. It felt like an insult of sorts. I believed he was insulting us for hanging out with the Japanese. Later he said he had been sitting at that same table for 43 years. I nodded and then asked John if we could scootch over further. That guy had been sitting at that table during World War II and had no doubt favored the Nazis if not one himself. It gave me a very uncomfortable feeling. I hoped that he and his cronies were not going to be mean to our Japanese friends but it appeared that they prefered to stay in the shadows watching in a creepy manner.

After carrousing for the entire evening we finally said goodbye to our Japanese friends and wished them well. They bowed to us, which was pretty cool, and gave us gifts. One guy gave me his entire pack of Japanese cigarettes and another gave me a guide book. I liked them a lot and still remember to this day the pleasure of spending an unexpected evening with new friends. We never saw or heard from any of them again but the memories stay with us and every time I think of the Haufbrauhaus I think of being with a group of lively and highly educated Japanese students. And that's not a bad thing.

Scholl