Stammtisch und Kaffeekränzchen
-
Five years ago I was in Berlin for a few months, and my friend Michael invited me to a gathering of his beer aficionado friends at a neighborhood bar. It seemed like a typical bar hang — until one of the guys planted a little flag on the table: an insignia for their group.
That seemed a bit odd: Why do these pals have a flag? Turns out, this was no random meetup for a pint. It was a Stammtisch.
As I learned, Stammtisch ("shtom-tish") means "regulars' table". It's an age-old German tradition where a group of like-minded people — traditionally men — meet up at a bar or a restaurant at a regular time to have drinks and chat.Michael and his Stammtisch companions clearly enjoyed each other's company. And as I learned, it was really more than just sharing drinks — these monthly meetings deepened their friendships.
https://www.npr.org/2024/12/22/nx-s1-5233033/holidays-loneliness-cure-stammtisch
-
A modern variation of the regular get-together called the Wednesday Waffle.
"As I get older, I'm getting used to the fact that I don't hear from my friends as often as I used to," says Kirx Diaz. "And I understand, life is lifing, and I live 3,000 miles away from a lot of my closest people, but it's something that I've really had to come to terms with."
"However," he adds, "about a month and a half ago, we were introduced to this concept called the Wednesday Waffle, and basically what this is is a two-minute video life update talking about what we've been up to that week, how we've been feeling, and kind of everything in between. And I can't lie, it's been game-changing. The group chat's always going off, we know who's going through it, who's doing well, who we need to check up on throughout the week. And for the first time in a long time, I actually feel closer to my friends now than I did when I was living back home."
-
I have been exchanging emails with two people I went to school with that are still close friends. One , Joe, moved to town and joined me and a buddy when we were in the 3rd grade. The other, Linda, moved to our school after leaving a nearby parochial school to start high school. Joe and I knew who she was, but little more.
The emails are random and on many topics.
Joe is a very successful attorney in Tulsa. He has two daughters I like. Linda became a widow recently. She has four children. They are scattered and I don't know them.
