Na da hätten wir doch mal ein ganz typisch amerikanisches Erlebnis!

19:40 Ortszeit, draußen ist es bereits stockdunkel. Die Straßen sind nicht mehr sonderlich belebt, das Zirpen der Grillen prägt die durch das Fenster dringende Geräuschkulisse. Doch dann, plötzlich, unerwartet, setzt draußen ein markerschütterndes Geheule ein.
Ich weiß zunächst gar nichts damit anzufangen, frage mich ob es sich um Sirenen von Feuerwehr oder Polizei handle.

Aber nein, soviel weiß ich inzwischen, die klingen anders! Die Auflösung des Rätsels kommt aus dem Untergeschoss: “Kommt bitte sofort runter!!” — Na nu, was ist denn das für eine ungewöhnliche Aufforderung? Und was verrät der energische scharfe Tonfall? — “Komm runter in den Keller, Tornadowarnung!”

Ach so! Dann mal ab “unter die Decke”.

Gegen 20:00 Uhr ist der Spuk vorbei. Wir gehen nach oben und schalten den Fernseher ein, um zu sehen, was passiert ist. Zunächst gibt es nur ganz normales TV-Programm. Doch 10 Sekunden später flimmern die animierten Satellitenbilder über den Bildschirm. Der Sprecher verkündet Warnungen bis 20:30 — besonders für die Regionen südlich von St. Louis.

Die Sirenen draußen bleiben stumm, es regt sich außerdem kaum ein Lüftchen. Glück gehabt!

Believe it or not, you can make a bicycle tour in an American city. Tonight, we –- that is four sportive students –- started off in Clayton, which is a district of St. Louis, and rode along the north side of Forest Park to Central West End (another district). We rode by a pretty street full of bars and restaurants, saw the Cathedral and continued our ride through the campus of the University of St. Louis campus.

Riding downhill on a huge street we got a first glance of the great Gateway Arch; still it was largely hidden behind huge skyscrapers. Then we reached Downtown. First, there was Union Station –- an old shopping mall -– on the left side with a wonderful collection of fountains called “The Meeting of the Waters” in front of it. A little later, on the left side of the street, we discovered the Wainwright Office Building. An old orange to dark-red colored cube shaped building with ten floors. The actual grandfather of all skyscrapers is unimpressively standing in the middle of many quite modern and much bigger buildings.

We rode further down through a Spanish Festival and then passed a wedding. Shortly before we reached Jefferson Park (the place with the Arch), we heard cannon shots and saw fireworks going up into the sky. They had their origin in the Bush Stadium where the Cardinals –- the local baseball team — had their first game of the season, as I was told.

We stopped at a byroad and found a beautiful place to take some pictures before we finally went down to the park and rode through the arch to the riverfront –- which looks surprisingly different from the postcard images, almost disappointing. But we saw at least the famous swimming casino and some historic bridges.

Finally, we went back up the hill to the find a place for dinner. At the heart of Downtown (which is actually a business district) we entered a Friday’s. It was real fun in there! I learned a lot about baseball, football, real American food, what it is like to look German and how relationships are described in sports’ metaphors. The burgers were tasty and large; after a full hour ride of ten miles we really earned it.

Since it was already dark when we stepped out of Friday’s, we decided to take Metrolink to get back to Forest Park and then ride home. It was quite a good plan but we had not taken the baseball game into account. The first two stations were not at all a problem; there was plenty of space in the train. But as we passed Bush Stadium, the situation changed dramatically. Never before had I seen the Metro that crowded -– it was hardly possible to breath. But at least there was no chance to topple when loosing your balance …

At Forest Park we fought our and our bikes’ way out of the crowd. We carried them up the stairs and started our ride back home.

It was a great event, I really enjoyed it! Many thanks to Cameron, Stephan and Teresa

Nach langer staubiger Hitze hat Regen etwas Wohltuendes. Die erfrischende Abkühlung kam heute allerdings mit solcher Wucht, dass die Mehrzahl der Beglückten sie auch gleich verfluchte.

Das unerbittliche Geprassel löste zwar das monotone Surren der Klimaanlagen ab und bescherte den universitären und städtischen Rasenbewässerungsdiensten einen freien Tag, sorgte aber gleichzeitig auch dafür, dass sich die Wiesen in Sümpfe und Bürgersteige in Teiche (!) verwandelten. Man konnte keine zwanzig Meter unter freiem Himmel zurücklegen, ohne vollkommen durchnässt zu sein. Selbst diejenigen, die mit dem Auto zum Ziel fahren konnten, waren dank des vergleichsweise kurzen Fußwegs vom Parkplatz bis zum Gebäudeeingang bei ihrer Ankunft an der Tür nicht mehr von Radfahrern zu unterscheiden.

Auf meiner Einkaufsliste für eine potentielle Shoppingtour stehen nun Gummistiefel, Regenschirm und wasserdichte Regenjacke ganz oben.

“Any other questions before we start with the serious stuff for today?” A shy boy in the upper left corner raises his hand. The instructor’s eyes instantly recognize him. He smiles. “Yes, please!” — “I really hate being a snitch; but is it possible to lower the air conditioning in this room?”

Finally someone asked the question I was wondering about for several days. Now I know that it is not only me, a cold sensitive European girl, who got the impression that some lecture halls are definitely too cool these days (although I still prefer them over the 95°F in the shade outside).

“Oh believe me, I have been in this room so many times … but it never ever has it had the same temperature. Sometimes it’s terribly hot in here, sometimes it’s terribly cold.”

The instructor nods as if he had sufficiently answered the question. Expecting silence.

“Well, you might think that there is just an actuator right here next to the board and so I could reply ‘Yes, of course, how many degrees would you like?’” He laughs, shakes his head and sighs. “But believe me, it is not that simple.”

The tone of his voice indicates a little distress. “You know … this institution has a brain. It is not that I could just press a button right here. There is a central unit that controls the whole universe of this university’s buildings’ climate. And it is not at all easy to get it do what you want … It’s … autonomous.”

The instructor tears his hair. He walks up and down and finally continues: “Fortunately I can walk around here in the front. Some days I will just be a little more sweaty than others.”

Pause.

“See, if I want the temperature in this room to be changed, there is a really complicated procedure to follow: First I need to figure out what it should be, then I have to go to the secretary, she has to call the brain … and next time it would be way too hot. Let’s make it easier. My recommendation: just dress in layers.”