Frances in Germany

I studied for a little over one year in Paderborn Germany, from July 2005 to August 2006. These are my accounts of life in Germany. Enjoy the mishaps, spaniards, and super bees, I sure did!

Tuesday, November 08, 2005

Super Bee

Those who know me well, know that I don't really care for bees. Actually, I tend to be a hysterical around them. I hate bees. That makes this story all the more entertaining.
I was sitting in my little room at my desk and I heard a bee on the balcony (it echos, I don't have super hearing). At first I thought "that's a bee, I should close the balcony door", but then it was so loud and low-pitched, that I though "no, that's not a bee, it's got to be a moped outside or something".
I was wrong. It was a bee. Not just a bee though, a super bee. This thing was gigantic! I have never seen an insect so big in all my life! It was like a humming bird! Anyway, it landed on the edge of the door and I was thinking at first that maybe I could slam the door and kill it and all my troubles would be over, but then the realization sunk in that the door and the door frame don't always line-up and the bee was probably going to be faster than me anyway, which would only make it angry. Angry Super Bees are not on my whish list.
So my solution was to watch TV until it decided to fly out again.
Yeah...that didn't happen.
It flew in. I ran out, stood in the door watching and waiting for it to get trapped between the curtain and the glass door. Then it got angry and eventually everything got quiet. No more angry buzzy noise. So I went back in my room and watched TV, leaving the door open so it could go out if it was still there. I waited for an hour or so then worked up the nerve to shake the curtain and close the door. All this happened without incident.
Two hours later, it's dark, I have the bedroom light on, the TV on and all of a sudden Super Bee re-appears. Since the balcony door is closed, I can't chase it out, so I start swinging a towel at it to try to kill it. Then it just gets really angry and I decide it's better for hysterical me and an angry be to not be in the same room, so I grab my phone and leave the bee in my room while I go into the hall.
I started thinking about who I could call to help me. I know that the Hausmeister (maintenance man) will just be irritated it I call him, but there's no chance of me sleeping in there with Super Bee on the loose.
I called William. He lives in the building next to mine and is always very calm. Also, he's not afraid of bees. So he comes over and we're in my room looking for the bee. At first he thinks I'm nuts because he doesn't see anything, then he moved the blaket and the bee flew out. All he said was "Shit, that's a big bee!" This is the most emotion I've ever seen him show.
After a while, he uses the towel to chase Super Bee into the hall. I close the door so it won't go back into my room. William tries to catch the bee in the towel and after about five or ten minutes succeeds in it, he goes out on the fire escape and shakes the towel then comes back in. Super Bee follows him.
So here we go agin. He catches the bee again and stands on the towel. That will surely kill it. Unless it's Super Bee, that is. Super Bee crawls out from under the towel and flies around again. William catches it again and stands on the towel again...Super Bee crawls out from under it and flies around again! This thing just won't quit! Finally William catches it (for the 4th time now) and takes it outside. He shakes the towel, does a little dance and finally comes back in.
Since the towel is no longer making that angry buzzy noise, we feel safe in saying that Super Bee has left the building. William looks at me as we go back into my room and says "Wow, that was a really big bee!"

2 Comments:

Blogger Arik The Human Temple said...

That is a truely great story! I blaughed like I did when I read the Squirrle and the motorcycle story.

10:55 PM  
Blogger Frances said...

Thanks, this one is even true! The squirrel (eichhoernchen) story was good though.

1:43 PM  

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