​One day, the General told me ‘the junior German Army is carrying out a maneuver. I am pining after the military and planning to go and watch the maneuver. Will you come with me?’

His invitation made me happy. We walked behind the army from one hill and one valley to the next.  The General was tracking the movements of the troops through large military binoculars. ‘The so and so corps is defeated. The so and so corps has won. A side arms’ epic there!’ I was like a deaf man in a parade! I spent blissful days at the Gunpowder Factory.

 I returned to ‘Milady’. She was very pleased with my German. ‘Now you must gear up for winter. Winter here can be tough. I want to show you the coal depot and teach you to heat up the room. I will also introduce you to a student who is our relative. I want you to mingle with real Germans,’  she said.

The agreement between Mr. Littman and Milady stipulated that that I should rise early, head up to the dining room and have breakfast with the big family: six boys and a girl. The boys were God’s most beautiful creation: healthy, handsome and well-mannered. The girl was chubby. Venus had bestowed nothing of her gifts upon her.

 Two dishes were laid on the table, each heaped with different types of sandwiches, and also butter, cheese, cold meat and sausages of all kinds, with large pitchers of hot creamy milk and chocolate. There were no spoons or plates. No salt nor sugar. Only huge tankards from which Germans drank beer. They were made locally.