Today was the big going-away dinner. Iwan and I would soon pack up and leave the apartment that I had been staying at for the past three weeks and he for several months. All the roommates had been great hosts and I was feeling a bit sad to leave. But I was sure that Iwan was feeling a menagerie of emotions since he had been there much longer and had become close to everyone at the apartment. It's always so sad to separate.
Flo, Nüssbu, and I had been talking about having a surprise dinner for Iwan. Flo's plan was to tell a friend of Iwan's, Märcu, to call Iwan for a barbeque at his place. Of course one needs a distraction so that the victim does not suspect anything. She would also get in contact and invite Iwan's friends. My job was to distract Iwan until everything was in order at the apartment and Nüssbu would make sweet and sour chicken, one of Iwan's favorite dishes.
That afternoon, Flo, Iwan, and I had lunch and headed out to the Marsili to swim. Sadly, it seemed that Iwan had school on his mind the entire time and it made him feel anxious. After taking a dip in the Aare River, we sun-bathed for a while and by late afternoon, Flo left to go shopping for the food and told Iwan she had things for school to take care of.
When Iwan and I came home, he went directly to his computer to work on some parts of his thesis. This unfortunately was not so good for me because the thesis completely changed his mood and it was quite difficult for me to get him to do anything. Initially, I asked him to ride around on bikes through Bern but he insisted that there was not much time before we were suppose to go to the fictional barbeque at Märcu's. Being the uncreative guy that I am, I got a bit desperate and told him that I would like to do a little shopping, to which he reluctantly complied.
We ended up going to Migro near the main station in Bern and I wasn't sure what I was going to buy. I didn't want to buy things I didn't need but I needed to keep him there as long as I could so that people at the apartment could be ready for his arrival. In the end, I bought a Swiss flag (which was probably the most impractical and random thing) and some yogurt. It made me wonder if Iwan knew something was up.
After the grocery shopping, I made Iwan walk for a while and he started to get a bit antsy. I was feeling nervous that he would want to go home before everything was set up. In the end though, I had distracted him long enough for everyone to be ready and when we finally got home, he was definitely shocked. It turned out to be a brilliant scheme for us and a wonderful night for Iwan.
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