Kathrin comes from Germany originally, and that keeps the work day interesting. For example, she has taught me some important German phrases. I can tell someone to finish their schnitzel or they’re not getting any dessert. I can wish someone a good morning and ask them if they’d like to milk the cow. And, my absolute favorite declaration: “Die Hoffnung stirbt zuletzt” which means “Hope dies last”. So if I’m ever in Germany I will be able to communicate the necessities.
Kathrin is a gifted horse trainer (sometimes she yells at the horses in German…it never ceases to amuse me…), a talented piano player, and an overnight sensation with her new sewing machine. She also makes me laugh really hard sometimes. …I’ll admit I’m laughing at her half the time... Once we were standing out in the field when suddenly she gasped all of the surrounding air into her lungs, squeezed her eyes shut, and stood stock-still. I regarded her for a moment, then began questioning her: “Did the fence shock you?” Small head shake in response. “Did you stub your toe?” Head shake. I stood looking at her in complete befuddlement for a minute or two until she released the air with the simple explanation: “Hiccups.”
We didn’t get off to a great start though, Kathrin and I. See, we live in the same house for the sake of efficiency and simplicity, and home life was somewhat less than pleasant at first. Not that we ever fought, but I would say there was a lack of harmony. Then the day came when I realized that my slovenly ways were making her as miserable as her resentful vibes were making me. Communication is a beautiful thing. I kept our shared living space spotless at her request, and low and behold, a switch was flipped, and she became pleasant tenfold. Sometimes she still drives me nuts, and of course, she’ll still have the ocassional bad weekend, the result being a weird sort of Monday where she seems genuinely confused by the fact that I can’t read her mind. But I let those slide.
This isn’t to say that Kathrin doesn’t have to put up with my bothersome tendencies. Having a terrific boyfriend causes a lack of focus on my part which results in a sort of exasperation on hers…unless I am daydreaming to the point of acctually falling off a horse, in which case she gets the opportunity to laugh at me. My cat gallops across the tin roof and sounds more like a herd of cats, and that probably wakes Kathrin up sometimes, although she never complains about it. I never have been able to figure out the system for switching our herds of horses around in the different fields, and I have to have it re-explained to me every time we do it. Kathrin takes the explanation upon herself with minimal sighing. She puts up with my same critique of all of her culinary masterpieces: “Mmm…but it needs [more] chocolate.”
As I mentioned earlier, she makes me laugh, and usually its unintentional. Whether it be an English phrase (“I didn’t know until I found out.”) or a seemingly-nonsensical German proverb (“The rabbit lies buried in the pepper”) I usually am amused by the things that she says. And does, for that matter. Why, just the other morning she had me in stitches. She was driving the gator and I was in the passenger seat. It was still pretty early in the morning, and I was burrowing into my poofy jacket, zoning out a bit, when Kathrin let off the gas suddenly and let out a blood-curdling shriek. My head snapped up and I scanned the horizon for gunmen and dinosaurs; literally the first dangers that came to mind with a scream that awful. Then a quiet whimper from the drivers seat: “…There was this spider…”
Kathrin has an opinion about absolutely everything. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. We seem to agree on things about one third of the time, and I’ve learned what subjects to avoid if I want to finish the work day before dark: politics, religion, raising children, zoos. Sometimes when I’m bored I’ll get her started on something interesting. Its like having a book on tape. She would make a fabulous villain, purely for her tireless ability to monologue. I remember one day I didn’t want to be left alone with my thoughts, so I asked her about the pilot episode of a new tv show and earned a lengthy description. Another time I requested the storyline for a horror movie I knew I would never see. It was like watching it, minus the scary images left to lurk in my head.
One day I asked her the all important question: had she and her boyfriend decided what they would do if the other one got infected by a zombie? I know what I would do if Frank got bitten: distance myself and hold out for a cure. Kathrin had a different view. If Toby got infected she would have him infect her immediately, and “live happily ever after as a zombie”. I was incredulous, and conveyed to her that if she came after me in zombie form I would have to put an end to her twisted happily-ever-after. “What about holding out for a cure?!” I wanted to know. “Die Hoffnung stirbt zuletzt!” Well, we had to add that topic to the list of things we would have to agree to disagree on. We did agree, however, that her choice to be zombified along with her boyfriend would make an excellent storyline for a B movie…a cult classic, perhaps…one that would be remembered forever for her character’s passionate, over-the-top delivery of the line “INFECT ME NOW!”
I’ll wrap this up by adding that one of the best things about Kathrin is how much she’s improved my riding. Not only has she drilled “outside rein” and “more forward” so far into my head there’s no chance it will ever come out (you dressage people know what I’m talking about), her religious dependence on the training scale has given my understanding of dressage a scope and perspective that I will always appreciate and put to good use.
Hold out for a cure?
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