Chemnitz!
27 Oct.
I am currently on the train from Stuttgart to Chemnitz, and I have had so many observations I have wanted to write about that I finally just wrote this, and I’ll post later. So, first. I got a reserved seat. I asked for Non-smoking, and, I got non-smoking. Well, I am sitting in the non-smoking section. The very last seat in the non-smoking section. The seat right behind me is in the smoking section with a glass wall between me and them. Never mind the aisle right next to me that is completely open. The only benefit to sitting here and not one seat back is that the person right next to me cannot smoke.
Next observation. So, about 2 hours ago, two people got onto the train. They obviously knew each other from school or something, because although they sat in different rows, they talked for about 30 minutes. Finally he moved back to sit with her, and they talked non-stop about his electronics and who knows what else. Suddenly, they stopped talking. I glanced over, and sure enough, they were making out! Well, that started about 45 minutes ago, and they are still at it! My goodness! A little decency here! They are all over each other! It is especially astonishing because they definitely had no relationship of this sort prior to this trip.
Third observation. So, I went to the bathroom on the train, because this trip is a 6 hour trip. Bad decision. The bathroom was GROSS!!! I expected it to be gross, but not that bad. The seat was not clean, and there was no toilet paper. So, just because I feel like sharing, I ended up using my camping skills and squatting, and then I fortunately had Kleenex with me in my purse.
So, there’s the sum of my train trip to Chemnitz. I wonder what will happen on the way back!
5 Nov.
I write now from the train on the way home from Chemnitz. I sure hate goodbyes. It’s nice to know that it’s not goodbye forever, but it is still hard. I have no idea when the wind will blow me back to Chemnitz. I had a wonderful week and I really don’t want to go back to work!!!
When I got to Chemnitz, Axel and Anett met me at the train station. We drove home and had dinner. It was so nice to be back in a place that I feel like I know. The apartment felt like coming home. I stayed in Anett’s room again, Anett stayed in her mom’s room, and her mom stayed at a neighbor’s apartment. A little bit confusing, but I think it worked well for all.
On Saturday, Anett and her mom and I drove to Weimar. It was a wonderful city. It could be considered the literature heart of Germany, if not Europe or the world. It was the home of both Goethe and Schiller, and many other writers spent time there. We started our day looking at the display of the library there that recently burned. The pictures were incredible. So many old, historical books were lost to the flames, not to mention a gorgeous building. From there we walked through the market. The regional specialty was a chain of onions (for lack of better description) with dried flowers. They were very nice. It reminded me of something you would see in the kitchen of a Victorian farmhouse. There were fabulous handmade crafts and homegrown produce. We then meandered down a cobbled “fussganger zone”. When I say meandered, I truly mean that. We took our time, browsing in the windows of the shops and admiring the old buildings. I love how important walking and just enjoying time is here. On the weekends, hard working people stop and simply live. We need more of that at home, I think. We saw a statue of Goethe and Shiller and then continued to the student music center. Across the street was the oldest Russian hotel in Germany. It lies on the road that, in former times (older than any place in the US for sure) connected Russia with France.
We then went to the platz where both Goethe and Shiller lived (yes, they not only lived and wrote at the same time, but they lived very near to each other as well. Apparently they did not like one another until the very end of their lives). Shiller was relatively poor in life, while Goethe was a very rich and influential man, as is evident by their homes. Goethe not only was a writer but also a politician, serving on the local city council. We got to take a tour of his house, which has been left the way it was when he died. He was a collector of art and books, and lived very elegantly. It was amazing to see how “elegant” looked for him. The rooms themselves were very simple, and yet the art on the walls and the few pieces of furniture displayed his wealth. It did not look like a very comfortable wealth.
On Sunday, I reintroduced them to the game of double solitaire. We played for quite a long time after breakfast. In the afternoon, Anett and I went to Kaufland in Sachsenalle. We didn’t go to buy anything, but rather for her to explain to me what some things are, and what I might want to buy or try. It was very helpful. She was able to help me with portions for one person, which she also struggled with while living in Stuttgart alone.
Monday, Anett was in school. I went to the school and had a very unsuccessful conversation with the secretary, trying to find a good time for me to come to see Frau W. Basically I could tell that I was interrupting her day, and that she had better things to do then try to understand my German. So, I finally got out of her when I might be able to come. I then when to the Uni to meet Tom and Anett for lunch. I found Tom outside the library and we spent some time talking until Anett was ready to stop working. It was nice to see him again. That afternoon I went downtown and did a little bit of shopping. I bought some more yarn since I had finished the scarf for Anett. In the evening, I went with Anett to Gymnastics. I was planning on going back to Sachsenalle if I got bored, but about that time she ended up finishing early. I enjoyed watching all the little kids she was training. Some of the other kids were incredible to watch. I am amazed at how flexible they are! Anett explained that they came recently from Russia and that they are so much better than the other kids because in Russia they push them harder faster. Interesting.
Tuesday was a holiday, so Anett didn’t have classes. We met Tom and went downtown to meet some of their friends for brunch. And by brunch, I mean a meal that lasted from 10-1 and encompassed both breakfast and lunch menu items. We ate a lot, and talked a lot. It was fun, but I could have had the same experience in less time. We joked that I am a typical American when I have that view on things. Anett and Tom are in a class at the Uni about American culture (They are reading a text that I also read so I could discuss it with them. It was interesting how many of the things within that text came up in normal, everyday life with them).
That afternoon, we went to the Ballet. It was a Russian ballet of the Maerchen Dornroschen. It was simply wonderful. I really liked that I knew the story ahead of time, so I could just enjoy the dancers. There was also a story teller who read the story in between scenes. I think that was very helpful and creative as well. I have only once before been to a ballet, the Nutcracker, when I was much younger. I really enjoyed this one also. It was in the same hall as the symphony concert I went to in January.
That evening, we met Tom and Andre to go to a movie at the Uni. It was great to see Andre. With how much Anett told me that they never get to see much of each other any more because they are all so busy, I was worried that I would not have a chance to spend much time with Andre. We saw Ice Age 2 at the student run Uni theater. It was fun. They had taken a room in the basement of the dorm and transformed it into a movie theater, complete with concessions. The movie was good. As it was a cartoon, I understood much of it. I still want to see it again in English some time, I think.
Wednesday I went to the school again to try to find Frau W., but I was a little too late to catch her during the break. I met another teacher and left a message for her with my handy number. I then went downtown to meet Tom. We went to his computer science class on cryptography (for lack of a better explanation). The class was on material that I learned in Number Theory so I could follow it pretty well. I enjoyed trying to determine what specific words were and then checking their meaning in the dictionary. I even was able to answer some of the questions the professor was asking quietly to Tom. He explained that they had already learned this material before and so the students were having a difficult time answering because they were all very bored. The lecture hall was much larger than any at Whitworth (minus Robinson Teaching Center). It could hold 300 people (I think) and there were about 77 people in the class that day. It reminded me of things I have seen in movies. After the class, we met Andre and a friend for lunch. I made sure to wish Andre a happy birthday as soon as I saw him, but Tom forgot. I gave both Tom and Andre the gifts I brought for them over lunch. It was fun.
That night I went again with Anett to Sport, but this time I left to go shopping. I bought my first German book (Harry Potter und der Stein der Weisen) and looked for a new wallet. That night, after Sport, we went downtown to meet Axel for dinner. While waiting for him, we went to Galeria and I found the wallet I wanted, small enough and durable. Dinner was at the Brau Haus. It was schnitzeltag, so I had schnitzel with potatoes. Mmmmm. The meal also came with a special lemonade and, oddly enough, a shot. I’m not sure what it was a shot of, but it definitely warmed me up after walking in the cold from Sachsenalle to the Sporthall.
Thursday I went back to the school. I saw Frau B, who I knew from the last time I was there, and was able to ask her to let Frau W know I was there. She was in a hurry to get to her class, but it was good to at least see a face I knew. I then went to the Uni to meet Tom and Anett, but we decided we didn’t want to eat there, so we walked to the Doner place for lunch. It was great. We then met Andre and went to the Industrial Museum. It was really cool. There were a lot of machines I didn’t know what they were, but Anett could explain them all. It was fun to try to figure out what they were as well. The museum displayed all the industry this region is known for. I learned about the origins of Audi, and how it came from four different companies that merged, thus the four rings. I learned about Karl-Marx-Stadt and what life was like then. I learned all sorts of things about textiles, and we even made our own rope! The man in the textile part was very helpful and ran a lot of the machines for us so we could see how they worked. It was very cool.
Thrusday night Axel called Frau W. to make an appointment for me to go see her the next day. YAY! Axel and Tom had volleyball games at the Uni that night, so Anett and I went to see them play. It was fun, but as is typical for me whenever there is some flying object, it tends to find me. I got hit pretty hard by a volleyball in the side of the face. I’m lucky it was at the side, because it missed hurting my glasses. The games were fun to watch. It reminded me of how much I enjoyed playing volleyball.
Friday I went into the school. It was very good to see Frau W. We spoke a lot about the GAP Program. They now have a new partner school in North Dakota. If you want to know what happened to cause that, I’ll have to tell you some time, but not here. It is a very… interesting and frustrating situation.
I then went to the Uni to go to the American Cultures class with Tom and Anett. They had two presentations, one on Georgia, one on Colorado. Then the teacher took advantage of having a “real, live American” with them, and allowed them to ask me questions. I could tell during the class that she was watching me closely. As Anett, Tom and I discussed later, I was a threat to her authority, and so she wanted to know how dangerous I was, so to say. She is a German who has lived in America for a number of years, which means that she knows more than the students do, but still not as much as I would about American culture. I think I answered all their questions in a non-threatening enough way, but it was still very interesting for me.
Anett and I had lunch at the Uni and then went downtown to go shopping. She wanted to buy a new mp3 player. We ended up buying a movie, Sissi, instead. That evening, we watched it together. It was a wonderful movie about a Bavarian princess who falls in love with the Keiser of Austria who is to wed her older sister. It is in the southern dialect, so it is difficult for even Anett to understand, but it was a very beautiful story with wonderful costumes and a good look at noble life in that time period.
Saturday was spent moving everything on my computer to Anett’s and vice versa. Well, not really, just music and pictures. We spent about 2 hours making the transfer, and had a lot of fun while we were at it. That afternoon we went ice skating. It was very fun. It was an outdoor rink used for speed skating. It was a bit cold, and wonderful to feel the brisk wind against my cheeks. I love ice skating. But I hate blisters! Some things are exactly the same no matter what country you are in! Really, aside from which songs they were playing, you wouldn’t be able to tell you were in Germany at all. That night, we had a wonderful dinner, Rouladen. It was delicious. I wish I could cook like that! After dinner we played some more cards and went to bed.
That brings me to today. I woke up and showered and packed my things. We had a nice breakfast. Anett’s mom gave me a book, Die Zeit der Sternschnuppen, by Sergio Bambaren. Anett, Axel and I played cards until Andre came over. Then Andre took Axel’s place and we played some more. At 11:30, we got into the car and drove to the train station. I sure hate goodbyes. I already had tears in my eyes when there was still 20 minutes to leave. *sigh* Perhaps someday I will get better at it.
The first train was so full that I spent the two hours sitting on the steps of the doorway with my luggage. I read some of the book I got that day. I was pleasantly surprised that I could understand most of what I read. The second train was much more comfortable, as I had a seat. I worked on knitting during that train ride. There was a young boy in front of me as well as behind, and it was fun to watch them. I think I want to raise my children to speak both German and English. I think I want to go out of my way to make sure this happens, because little kids speaking German are sooooo cute! The third train that I am currently on is not very crowded at all. There was a family sitting near me with a young boy of 4 who kept looking over my shoulder while I was typing this. So cute!
I’m about 20 minutes from Stuttgart still. I can’t wait to get home and get some dinner! It’s been a long ride!
Oh, and some other news, my supervisor is going to be coming to observe me on Wednesday. I’m a little bit nervous! She will watch both 10th grade and 6th grade. Also, Ms. MP starts watching me tomorrow as well. It was so nice to not be watched the past 2 weeks. When people watch me I’m afraid I’m making so many mistakes! It’s so much easier just teaching!
I am currently on the train from Stuttgart to Chemnitz, and I have had so many observations I have wanted to write about that I finally just wrote this, and I’ll post later. So, first. I got a reserved seat. I asked for Non-smoking, and, I got non-smoking. Well, I am sitting in the non-smoking section. The very last seat in the non-smoking section. The seat right behind me is in the smoking section with a glass wall between me and them. Never mind the aisle right next to me that is completely open. The only benefit to sitting here and not one seat back is that the person right next to me cannot smoke.
Next observation. So, about 2 hours ago, two people got onto the train. They obviously knew each other from school or something, because although they sat in different rows, they talked for about 30 minutes. Finally he moved back to sit with her, and they talked non-stop about his electronics and who knows what else. Suddenly, they stopped talking. I glanced over, and sure enough, they were making out! Well, that started about 45 minutes ago, and they are still at it! My goodness! A little decency here! They are all over each other! It is especially astonishing because they definitely had no relationship of this sort prior to this trip.
Third observation. So, I went to the bathroom on the train, because this trip is a 6 hour trip. Bad decision. The bathroom was GROSS!!! I expected it to be gross, but not that bad. The seat was not clean, and there was no toilet paper. So, just because I feel like sharing, I ended up using my camping skills and squatting, and then I fortunately had Kleenex with me in my purse.
So, there’s the sum of my train trip to Chemnitz. I wonder what will happen on the way back!
5 Nov.
I write now from the train on the way home from Chemnitz. I sure hate goodbyes. It’s nice to know that it’s not goodbye forever, but it is still hard. I have no idea when the wind will blow me back to Chemnitz. I had a wonderful week and I really don’t want to go back to work!!!
When I got to Chemnitz, Axel and Anett met me at the train station. We drove home and had dinner. It was so nice to be back in a place that I feel like I know. The apartment felt like coming home. I stayed in Anett’s room again, Anett stayed in her mom’s room, and her mom stayed at a neighbor’s apartment. A little bit confusing, but I think it worked well for all.
On Saturday, Anett and her mom and I drove to Weimar. It was a wonderful city. It could be considered the literature heart of Germany, if not Europe or the world. It was the home of both Goethe and Schiller, and many other writers spent time there. We started our day looking at the display of the library there that recently burned. The pictures were incredible. So many old, historical books were lost to the flames, not to mention a gorgeous building. From there we walked through the market. The regional specialty was a chain of onions (for lack of better description) with dried flowers. They were very nice. It reminded me of something you would see in the kitchen of a Victorian farmhouse. There were fabulous handmade crafts and homegrown produce. We then meandered down a cobbled “fussganger zone”. When I say meandered, I truly mean that. We took our time, browsing in the windows of the shops and admiring the old buildings. I love how important walking and just enjoying time is here. On the weekends, hard working people stop and simply live. We need more of that at home, I think. We saw a statue of Goethe and Shiller and then continued to the student music center. Across the street was the oldest Russian hotel in Germany. It lies on the road that, in former times (older than any place in the US for sure) connected Russia with France.
We then went to the platz where both Goethe and Shiller lived (yes, they not only lived and wrote at the same time, but they lived very near to each other as well. Apparently they did not like one another until the very end of their lives). Shiller was relatively poor in life, while Goethe was a very rich and influential man, as is evident by their homes. Goethe not only was a writer but also a politician, serving on the local city council. We got to take a tour of his house, which has been left the way it was when he died. He was a collector of art and books, and lived very elegantly. It was amazing to see how “elegant” looked for him. The rooms themselves were very simple, and yet the art on the walls and the few pieces of furniture displayed his wealth. It did not look like a very comfortable wealth.
On Sunday, I reintroduced them to the game of double solitaire. We played for quite a long time after breakfast. In the afternoon, Anett and I went to Kaufland in Sachsenalle. We didn’t go to buy anything, but rather for her to explain to me what some things are, and what I might want to buy or try. It was very helpful. She was able to help me with portions for one person, which she also struggled with while living in Stuttgart alone.
Monday, Anett was in school. I went to the school and had a very unsuccessful conversation with the secretary, trying to find a good time for me to come to see Frau W. Basically I could tell that I was interrupting her day, and that she had better things to do then try to understand my German. So, I finally got out of her when I might be able to come. I then when to the Uni to meet Tom and Anett for lunch. I found Tom outside the library and we spent some time talking until Anett was ready to stop working. It was nice to see him again. That afternoon I went downtown and did a little bit of shopping. I bought some more yarn since I had finished the scarf for Anett. In the evening, I went with Anett to Gymnastics. I was planning on going back to Sachsenalle if I got bored, but about that time she ended up finishing early. I enjoyed watching all the little kids she was training. Some of the other kids were incredible to watch. I am amazed at how flexible they are! Anett explained that they came recently from Russia and that they are so much better than the other kids because in Russia they push them harder faster. Interesting.
Tuesday was a holiday, so Anett didn’t have classes. We met Tom and went downtown to meet some of their friends for brunch. And by brunch, I mean a meal that lasted from 10-1 and encompassed both breakfast and lunch menu items. We ate a lot, and talked a lot. It was fun, but I could have had the same experience in less time. We joked that I am a typical American when I have that view on things. Anett and Tom are in a class at the Uni about American culture (They are reading a text that I also read so I could discuss it with them. It was interesting how many of the things within that text came up in normal, everyday life with them).
That afternoon, we went to the Ballet. It was a Russian ballet of the Maerchen Dornroschen. It was simply wonderful. I really liked that I knew the story ahead of time, so I could just enjoy the dancers. There was also a story teller who read the story in between scenes. I think that was very helpful and creative as well. I have only once before been to a ballet, the Nutcracker, when I was much younger. I really enjoyed this one also. It was in the same hall as the symphony concert I went to in January.
That evening, we met Tom and Andre to go to a movie at the Uni. It was great to see Andre. With how much Anett told me that they never get to see much of each other any more because they are all so busy, I was worried that I would not have a chance to spend much time with Andre. We saw Ice Age 2 at the student run Uni theater. It was fun. They had taken a room in the basement of the dorm and transformed it into a movie theater, complete with concessions. The movie was good. As it was a cartoon, I understood much of it. I still want to see it again in English some time, I think.
Wednesday I went to the school again to try to find Frau W., but I was a little too late to catch her during the break. I met another teacher and left a message for her with my handy number. I then went downtown to meet Tom. We went to his computer science class on cryptography (for lack of a better explanation). The class was on material that I learned in Number Theory so I could follow it pretty well. I enjoyed trying to determine what specific words were and then checking their meaning in the dictionary. I even was able to answer some of the questions the professor was asking quietly to Tom. He explained that they had already learned this material before and so the students were having a difficult time answering because they were all very bored. The lecture hall was much larger than any at Whitworth (minus Robinson Teaching Center). It could hold 300 people (I think) and there were about 77 people in the class that day. It reminded me of things I have seen in movies. After the class, we met Andre and a friend for lunch. I made sure to wish Andre a happy birthday as soon as I saw him, but Tom forgot. I gave both Tom and Andre the gifts I brought for them over lunch. It was fun.
That night I went again with Anett to Sport, but this time I left to go shopping. I bought my first German book (Harry Potter und der Stein der Weisen) and looked for a new wallet. That night, after Sport, we went downtown to meet Axel for dinner. While waiting for him, we went to Galeria and I found the wallet I wanted, small enough and durable. Dinner was at the Brau Haus. It was schnitzeltag, so I had schnitzel with potatoes. Mmmmm. The meal also came with a special lemonade and, oddly enough, a shot. I’m not sure what it was a shot of, but it definitely warmed me up after walking in the cold from Sachsenalle to the Sporthall.
Thursday I went back to the school. I saw Frau B, who I knew from the last time I was there, and was able to ask her to let Frau W know I was there. She was in a hurry to get to her class, but it was good to at least see a face I knew. I then went to the Uni to meet Tom and Anett, but we decided we didn’t want to eat there, so we walked to the Doner place for lunch. It was great. We then met Andre and went to the Industrial Museum. It was really cool. There were a lot of machines I didn’t know what they were, but Anett could explain them all. It was fun to try to figure out what they were as well. The museum displayed all the industry this region is known for. I learned about the origins of Audi, and how it came from four different companies that merged, thus the four rings. I learned about Karl-Marx-Stadt and what life was like then. I learned all sorts of things about textiles, and we even made our own rope! The man in the textile part was very helpful and ran a lot of the machines for us so we could see how they worked. It was very cool.
Thrusday night Axel called Frau W. to make an appointment for me to go see her the next day. YAY! Axel and Tom had volleyball games at the Uni that night, so Anett and I went to see them play. It was fun, but as is typical for me whenever there is some flying object, it tends to find me. I got hit pretty hard by a volleyball in the side of the face. I’m lucky it was at the side, because it missed hurting my glasses. The games were fun to watch. It reminded me of how much I enjoyed playing volleyball.
Friday I went into the school. It was very good to see Frau W. We spoke a lot about the GAP Program. They now have a new partner school in North Dakota. If you want to know what happened to cause that, I’ll have to tell you some time, but not here. It is a very… interesting and frustrating situation.
I then went to the Uni to go to the American Cultures class with Tom and Anett. They had two presentations, one on Georgia, one on Colorado. Then the teacher took advantage of having a “real, live American” with them, and allowed them to ask me questions. I could tell during the class that she was watching me closely. As Anett, Tom and I discussed later, I was a threat to her authority, and so she wanted to know how dangerous I was, so to say. She is a German who has lived in America for a number of years, which means that she knows more than the students do, but still not as much as I would about American culture. I think I answered all their questions in a non-threatening enough way, but it was still very interesting for me.
Anett and I had lunch at the Uni and then went downtown to go shopping. She wanted to buy a new mp3 player. We ended up buying a movie, Sissi, instead. That evening, we watched it together. It was a wonderful movie about a Bavarian princess who falls in love with the Keiser of Austria who is to wed her older sister. It is in the southern dialect, so it is difficult for even Anett to understand, but it was a very beautiful story with wonderful costumes and a good look at noble life in that time period.
Saturday was spent moving everything on my computer to Anett’s and vice versa. Well, not really, just music and pictures. We spent about 2 hours making the transfer, and had a lot of fun while we were at it. That afternoon we went ice skating. It was very fun. It was an outdoor rink used for speed skating. It was a bit cold, and wonderful to feel the brisk wind against my cheeks. I love ice skating. But I hate blisters! Some things are exactly the same no matter what country you are in! Really, aside from which songs they were playing, you wouldn’t be able to tell you were in Germany at all. That night, we had a wonderful dinner, Rouladen. It was delicious. I wish I could cook like that! After dinner we played some more cards and went to bed.
That brings me to today. I woke up and showered and packed my things. We had a nice breakfast. Anett’s mom gave me a book, Die Zeit der Sternschnuppen, by Sergio Bambaren. Anett, Axel and I played cards until Andre came over. Then Andre took Axel’s place and we played some more. At 11:30, we got into the car and drove to the train station. I sure hate goodbyes. I already had tears in my eyes when there was still 20 minutes to leave. *sigh* Perhaps someday I will get better at it.
The first train was so full that I spent the two hours sitting on the steps of the doorway with my luggage. I read some of the book I got that day. I was pleasantly surprised that I could understand most of what I read. The second train was much more comfortable, as I had a seat. I worked on knitting during that train ride. There was a young boy in front of me as well as behind, and it was fun to watch them. I think I want to raise my children to speak both German and English. I think I want to go out of my way to make sure this happens, because little kids speaking German are sooooo cute! The third train that I am currently on is not very crowded at all. There was a family sitting near me with a young boy of 4 who kept looking over my shoulder while I was typing this. So cute!
I’m about 20 minutes from Stuttgart still. I can’t wait to get home and get some dinner! It’s been a long ride!
Oh, and some other news, my supervisor is going to be coming to observe me on Wednesday. I’m a little bit nervous! She will watch both 10th grade and 6th grade. Also, Ms. MP starts watching me tomorrow as well. It was so nice to not be watched the past 2 weeks. When people watch me I’m afraid I’m making so many mistakes! It’s so much easier just teaching!