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Wednesday, May, 6th – Arriving in Kalamazoo

First of all: Yes, there really is a Kalamazoo . It’s situated in the state of Michigan.

My flight from Berlin to Kalamazoo had two stopovers, one in Amsterdam, were I had to wait for about five hours, and another one in Detroit. I arrived at Battle Creek International Airport on Wednesday, 6:00 p.m. Due to the time difference of 6 hours, in Germany it was already midnight. I had a really comfortable flight with an excellent service. I never thought I would feel so pretty good after an about 20-hours trip. Leaving the terminal in front of it was a cowd and some people from the media. No, they weren’t waiting to greet the Medieval Congress attendees, but we find out about it that they were waiting for an „American Idol“ participant (the american pendant to „Deutschland sucht den Superstar“) living in Kalamazoo, who was one of the last five candidates and should immediately land.

Overlooking the campus of WMU

For a city like Kalamazoo with a population of 72.000 inhabitants that was a special happening. Me and some other congress attendees weren’t as much interested as our shuttle bus driver wished we would be. So he drived us directly to the Western Michigan University’s reception. Everything was well organised. (They even hung up special advices to prevent the Swine Flu). The check-in flowed smoothly. I got a room next to the reception building.

My room

I brought my baggage to the room. I read up on the room’s moderate standard in advance. That doesn’t matter to me. And in retrospect I have to confirm, you can surrender nearly every luxury for the luxury of on-campus housing. Because in addition to the nostalgic student feeling, you don’t have to waste precious congress time with an unnecessary long way home.

My room - Simple but functional

But there was one thing I was bothered by: The lavatory was arranged between two rooms for sharing it. Unfortunately it was impossible to lock the door from inside the lavatory and the toilet had no extra door. That means if the luck was on your side you were overtaken by your housemate. I personally advise to sing or to whistle while in the lavatory. For me it was a successful operation; I always stayed alone in the bathroom . I also advise to bring your own blanket. There are blankets in the rooms but they are very thin and used. The weather was mild but other attendees told me that they already had experienced a cold snap years ago and had frozen. K’zoo is famous for its weather fluctuation. I got another blanket on the reception. Single rooms are always twin rooms, so I had enough space. After stashing all my stuff, I mannerly put my name tag on and went back to the other building to have a look-around.

Connecting people – My first evening

I easily got into conversations with some people, though I didn’t know anyone. The name tags are a real wow. Throw a glance at the tag and you know who is standing in front of you and what university he comes from. By the way, titles get disregarded, because everyone should be coequal to each other. Such a glance revealed me that the kind man, who despairingly tried to open my water bottle, was a professor who helped me years ago with a translation. A funny situation. Now I knew his name AND his face. All people were very outgoing and friendly. To my surprise I also met immediately the professor who advised me this congress. That’s not understood on a congress with 3.000 anticipated attendees.

I was cordially affiliated by the regulars, and we decided to have a pint. And faster then I could enunciate „Kalamazoo“, I found myself in a pub in the middle of delightful people. Of course I wasn’t able to help trinking an American Budweiser. I wanted to see for myself if the rumors about the beer are true. I had good possibilities of comparison, ’cause I drank two days befor the Czech Budweiser in Berlin. My result: The same name doesn’t mean the same beer and least of all the same taste. Someone missed to acquire the international trademark, that results in two different tasting beers with the same name. It’s very easy to name the difference: The Czech Budweiser has flavor, the American hasn’t. But I was told to be careful: With the alcoholic content it is the same than with the name; it is equal. Enough spoken about beer .

Out for dinner on Saturday

I had a wonderful evening and all those people gave me the feeling beeing really arrived at the congress, mentally, too.

Another result on this evening: By sharing out the jetlag I was forgotten on a mysterious way. I was up since 27 hours and were laying in bed at midnight, exhausted but good-humored.

Unlike the last year, when weather was cold and uncomfortable, this year’s visitors got rewarded with best sunny and warm weather. What a perfect condition.

Tutorial in bow and arrow

Among a large number of booths that offered goods in any different kind – from garments and jewels to swords, crossbows, bow and arrow and other stuff you can find on and expect from common medieval markets – you could find arts and crafts, too. Young and old went in for the bargain of having a shot at different things like archery and throwing the ax. Of particular interest for children were the manually operated wooden carrousel, some animals for caressing and, of course, the wooden swords for all those little chevaliers.

On a big stage around 50 actors performed a play about life and death in the Middle Ages. But according to medieval tradition, also the sad topics had its comical moments; in that way it never got too distressing. For those who like medieval music, there was minnesang (medieval love songs) as well as ribald songs. Beeing exhausted by wandering over the dusty and mulched fairground, visitors could relax themselves while enjoying all sorts of viands: Soups, cakes and pastries, kickshaws from the barbecue, vegetables on a spit and much more. Many kinds of drinks were available, too: cool mead, delicious wines of fruits, beer and juices amongst others.

Bathhouse with cauldron on fireplace

The bathhouse with a cauldron on a fireplace attracted my special interest. Unfortunately I havn’t witnessed people climbing in the big wooden tubs and getting the feeling of a real medieval bath. I think it was the warm weather’s fault.

Fans of Living History had the chance to pre-register for attending the spectacle with their own beds. That’s the way „Oster-Kloster-Fest“ differs from other medieval markets and gets its individual air. Especially the assistance of these groups gives a small impression of what it meant to live in the Middle Ages. Though it is still much more comfortable on the festival than living some centuries ago in real medieval times.

Two fortunetellers

A lady in medieval garments accepted this offer of extraordinary camping together with her group and pitched their tents amidst the medieval events. She admited that she willingly took up on the offer of modern water-closets and soap. An exhibitor advertised with a billboard with the following inscription: „We keep up with the times: For this reason you can pay with cash and cedit cards, too!“ This things that made me smile precipitates a controversy for others.

Minstrels

My result: A successful medieval event for everyone: Everyone could experience a piece of the Middle Ages in different ways; to each his own: with or without medieval garments, as participant or as spectator, for young and young at heart. Everyone could immerse themself in medieval times or could be a part of it. And if you had still enough energy, you could contemplate the impressions of the day while walking through the circumjacent forests.

View of the Abbey of Chorin