At the University of Tübingen
Delicious meals and delightful evenings and music; at 4:00 pm coffee was served. The sea was calm and the moon in full form. The sea brings together the hearts of travelers. With its majesty, it renders humans helpless and makes them feel lost and detached from the world, thus leading them to seek friendship and companionship. O, how many eyes were awash with tears at the time of farewell.
When Miss Samson, my friend’s fiancée, heard I was traveling to Germany, she invited a bunch of our friends and threw me a small farewell party at a bar we used to frequent. They gave me a lighter and a chocolate box. I bid them, Chicago and its teachers goodbye.
From Hamburg, I headed by train towards Tübingen in the south. Germany mesmerized me with the beauty of its cities, the greenery of its woods and the charm of its countryside.
I spent my night in Tübingen at the Fox Hostel. The next morning, I left for college. The premises stretched across different areas of the lovely old city. I was ultimately guided to Mr. Annoltmen’s office. He had a hulky body with an upright posture. His eyes were blue and his skin tone light. Mr. Annoltmen was an authority on Semitic languages and the history of their peoples. He was also well-acquainted with Syria where he had spent a lengthy period collecting inscriptions from Horan and Bilad Al-Safa.
He gave me a friendly welcome and said “I’ve been expecting you. You have arrived at just the right time. I’m preparing a German translation of Shaker Khoury’s Fenianos. The story has words and terms that I could not find in any dictionary. It also refers to several Lebanese customs and traditions that I could not fully understand.”
He showed me a pile of papers with many questions. I recognized the story immediately. I had read it and kept a copy in my library. “I would be delighted if I could be of any help”, I said.
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