I'm on service.
How I got here:
I was the only one to leave from Paradies Bahnhof in Jena. Jo-Ann met me there after me saying a hurried but sad goodbye to my host mother. I wasn't ready to leave especially since I hadn't seen Paul or Viktoria that morning to tell them goodbye. They had presented me with chocolates and a candle that smells strongly of a sweet vanilla with a German poem on it describing how I'm a special person the night before. I could have cried.
Jo-Ann had me go through how I would keep track of my traveling, which I did successfully, presented me with a book and an Entertainment magazine, handed me a small package, and said a prayer to bless me on my journey to Bad Sulza. I boarded the train with a heavy heart and couldn't take my eyes off of Jena as the train sped ahead past it towards Bad Kösen. I arrived safely in Bad Kösen and had to change trains to head back in the direction I came but on a different track to Bad Sulza. I only had to wait about 20 minutes before the next train came and had to endure a well dressed but poorly impatient man who sat near me. He kept angrily puffing his cigarette and checking the train schedule. I was happy to board the train and only had about an 8 minute ride to my final destination.
The person who was supposed to pick me up was not there. I immediately became worried because I was in a foreign place with a gigantic suitcase. I felt helpless so I called Joe to see what was going on. He made a call to the clinic, informed me to not freak out, and told me to wait at the front of the train station. I stood there in the blazing sun trying to stay calm. I felt so vulnerable. There was a family behind me trying to buy train tickets with a baby in a carriage who was crying so loud and sounded so helpless. I had the strongest urge to start crying with that baby. I don't know what had come over me. Fifteen minutes later, my ride comes. A burly German man with a thick accent came riding up in a large blue Sophienklinik van. He helped me with my luggage and immediately started speaking very fast German with that thick accent of his. I asked him nicely to speak a little slower since I was having trouble understanding him and I was sure he was probably sharing important information. He showed me the way I would be walking to the clinic as we drove up the mountain where the house I would be living in sat. I'm not sure if it's a hostile or what but this house sure is creepy. It looked nice on the outside, very German, but as soon as we walked in and I got a glimpse of the dark bottomless Wine Cellar, I wasn't sure what to expect. My room is at the very top and I must walk through a poorly lit meeting room to get to it. I was very pleased to see that my room is gigantic and then immediately wished I had a roommate to share it with. I dropped my stuff off, he said something in German, and we were off to the clinic.
The clinic is lovely. It has a charming park in front of it and many places to go and sit and watch the river flow by. I imagine I will get a lot of writing done here. Perhaps I will even continue my book. A mountains sits in front of it and the inside is very clean with interesting modern architecture. The kinderclub I work in is a small place that reminds me of the daycare I used to work at, but even smaller. I was immediately put to work to wash the windows on the doors and then had lunch with one of my coworkers. She seems very nice but I can't help but notice sometimes that I might eventually become a burden to them, as I kind of felt today.
After a short day of work and a wonderful abendessen, I headed home up the mountain while it rained heavily upon me. I was without a rain jacket or umbrella so I was soaked upon arriving to my room. There were suitcases in the foyer so I know I am not living there alone. I came in to my room and laid down upon my bed, not wanting to move. I had used a lot of my strength with speaking in German. It takes a lot of concentration out of me and I find myself tired after having a full day of it. I looked around my room as I laid there on my bed with the urge to spruce it up a bit and make it feel a little more like my own room. I began to unpack and hung up the poster Sarah and I had stolen in Dresden, placed my books, cd's, and a picture of Chris and Rochelle on my bookshelf, and hung up my fruit basket and a scarf for a bit more color. When I was finished, I feasted on the cherries and chocolate my host family had given me and began to catch up on the summer movies in the Entertainment magazine.
It was lonely. It was sad.
I'm going to try and not make that a daily routine. I will venture out in to the city, I kind of need to, and I will try and make the best of my time here. I know my German will only improve.
Joe and Jo-Ann visit in two weeks. I hope my relationship with the kids in the Kinderclub will improve by the time they come to take pictures. Today was better since I made some connections with a couple of the kids about our love for Hannah Montana. Yes, Hannah Montana. I will take any connection I can get.
I hope it doesn't rain everyday.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Auf Wiedersehen, Jena
I'm leaving for service tomorrow.
I'm really nervous about it but at the same time I'm a bit antsy to see what I'll be doing and seeing how the place and people are like.
I didn't realize that Saturday was probably the last time I would be seeing a lot of the group until we all come back to Jena right before heading home. I only got to say goodbye to a few of them last night so, tschüss, group, if any of y'all read this! I hope service goes great for y'all.
The goodbye\thank you party for the host families went great. We had a great time putting it together and the more time we spent conversing with our families and performing for them we realized how much we care about them and aren't really ready to leave Jena. I am so comfortable here but knowing that I will at least come back for two more days before heading to the states brings some comfort.
I spent a wonderful last day outing with my host family yesterday. They took me to this little cottage-ish house they have on the outskirts of Jena where they have a couple fruit trees. My host parents and brother did garden work while Viktoria and I laid out under one of the cherry trees and took pictures. We got to eat a lot of the cherries and Viktoria and I had fun spitting the seeds out in to the grass so more cherry trees will hopefully grow in the future. On our way back from the garden, we stopped at a castle about 13 km away from Jena. I don't know how I had never noticed it before because it was very beautiful with an elaborate royal looking rose garden and neatly trimmed and carved hedges. It sat on the side of a smaller mountain that looked over Dornburg I believe. It was a fantastic way to end the day before heading out one last night in the city with a couple of SST buddies.
I will miss my host family and Jena while I'm gone but I look forward to the new experiences that await me in Bad Sulza.
Like Jo-Ann said, they would send the Mexican to the place that sounds like Bad Salsa.
:)
I'm really nervous about it but at the same time I'm a bit antsy to see what I'll be doing and seeing how the place and people are like.
I didn't realize that Saturday was probably the last time I would be seeing a lot of the group until we all come back to Jena right before heading home. I only got to say goodbye to a few of them last night so, tschüss, group, if any of y'all read this! I hope service goes great for y'all.
The goodbye\thank you party for the host families went great. We had a great time putting it together and the more time we spent conversing with our families and performing for them we realized how much we care about them and aren't really ready to leave Jena. I am so comfortable here but knowing that I will at least come back for two more days before heading to the states brings some comfort.
I spent a wonderful last day outing with my host family yesterday. They took me to this little cottage-ish house they have on the outskirts of Jena where they have a couple fruit trees. My host parents and brother did garden work while Viktoria and I laid out under one of the cherry trees and took pictures. We got to eat a lot of the cherries and Viktoria and I had fun spitting the seeds out in to the grass so more cherry trees will hopefully grow in the future. On our way back from the garden, we stopped at a castle about 13 km away from Jena. I don't know how I had never noticed it before because it was very beautiful with an elaborate royal looking rose garden and neatly trimmed and carved hedges. It sat on the side of a smaller mountain that looked over Dornburg I believe. It was a fantastic way to end the day before heading out one last night in the city with a couple of SST buddies.
I will miss my host family and Jena while I'm gone but I look forward to the new experiences that await me in Bad Sulza.
Like Jo-Ann said, they would send the Mexican to the place that sounds like Bad Salsa.
:)
Monday, June 8, 2009
Guten Morgen, Berlin
Berlin was...tiring.
But awesome.
It was a very busy city filled with so many different kinds of people. There was more English written on billboards and other things that I wasn't expecting. It felt amazing to be there.
Despite the three very tiring days of touring Berlin, there was a night when I had some very much needed downtime at a rock concert. Me and two others decideded to skip out on the Sleeping Beauty ballet and instead went to a concert for a band named Kilians with the opening act, Miyagi. The three of us traveled on our own to the concert with me being the guide after barely learning the subway system earlier that day. After successfully finding the place, we were caught a bit off guard when we saw that our final destination was an abandoned warehouse turned club. Actually, I didn't know what to expect.
The inside was very big and dark but lit with dim colorful lights. There were two rooms and the back room had the stage. The three of us waited for quite some time for the opening band to come out and play their set. However, it was worth the wait. Miyagi was a mixture of ska, alternative, and a bit hard rock. They sang in both German and English and the lead singer had a thing for awkward dancing and jumping in to the crowd. I was very thankful to be sandwiched inbetween girls who actually danced. The crowd didn't really seem to be feeling it and I was hoping it wasn't just going to be this big boring standing fest the whole night.
So, Miyagi finishes, they clear their stuff, and the Kilians start to set up. While this was happening, I met a Berlin native who spoke very good English and had quite some knowledge about American bands. He was a fan of Dave Matthews Band which was something I couldn't really relate to. I was a bit skeptical about how the Kilians would be (I had paid 9 Euros after all) and hoped it would be a little exciting to get the crowd going. He told me, "If you like the Strokes, you'll like Kilians." I like the Strokes, I thought, and hoped the show would make me glad I skipped out on the ballet.
Oh dear lord, the Germans know how to mosh. I was very surprised and didn't have much time to comprehend what was going on as I was being thrown around in front of a stage by gigantic German men and fearless women. Since I have been in many moshes in my lifetime, my initial reaction was to fight back. I very quickly got in to it and I can't even tell you what the Kilians sounded like because I was too busy fighting the strong drunks. I do remember a lot of singing in English. However, the time came to leave soon after I had been punched right in the chest by a burly man who's mission was clearly to hurt. Clutching my chest in pain, I gathered my other two concert people, downed a beer, and set off back to the subway station to get home.
Let's just say we got back to the youth hostel safe two hours later. We got horribly lost.
One thing I was very excited about seeing was the Berlin wall. That was something I had learned about a long time ago and just recently went over again in my European History class. We got to see fragments of it and even one large chunk that was still standing by the ruins of a place Hitler once resided. I was very appalled to see that someone had written, "I heart Edward Cullen" on the wall. Seriously.
Before we left, a small group of us visited the Jüdisches Museum in which we were able to learn about the Jewish culture apart from what happened with the holocaust. This was a very modern building that I could have spent hours in. There was so much tourist interaction within the building with eye catching photos and interesting learning stations. I would definitely go back to this museum.
We returned home to Jena on Thursday night and had class the next morning. We were so dead that morning from the trip we had just had and Sarah and I had to pump ourselves up more because we had a trip to Dresden planned with her host parents that afternoon. We left for Dresden around 4 and traveled about 160 km in about an hour and a half. He drove ridiculously fast. Sarah and I had our own room with a charming balcony that we couldn't get open. We soon met up with her host mom's sister and her husband and set off to find a place to have dinner. We settled in to a placed called Il Camino that was a very fancy italian restaurant. We had a room to ourselves that was the equivalent of a small wine cellar. This night was amazing. Sarah and I didn't have to pay for a thing even though the bill came out to be over 300 Euros. We had a complete meal with dessert, three bottles of wine, and some weird grappa stuff that they ordered. Many inside jokes came from this night.
Dresden was quite the typical German city for me. It was a lot different than Jena. I was able to see the Elbe River which was recently on a map test I had in fall semester. It rained the entire day we were there but it didn't stop us from checking out the Neues Grünes Museum filled with rare jeweled artifacts.
Upon returning home to Jena, I was greeted by my host family's family who were gathered together in celebration of my host brother's 9th birthday. Their relatives were extremely nice and I was able to test my German out on new people. I liked being corrected when I make any mistakes so I was hoping that would happened. Turns out two of them spoke very good English. Good for them, bad for me. I wish English wasn't becoming so universal sometimes. I really like other languages and I can imagine wanting to keep my native tongue.
This is my last week in Jena before service. Our language test is on Wednesday and then our host family party is on Friday. Today Joe told me my service assignment in which I will be working at a Rehabilitation and Therapeutic treatment center. There is a program called Kinderclub which will enable me to work with the children who have parents in the clinic. When I'm not working with children, I will be cooking or out in the garden. I'm really looking forward to it. I'm the closest one to Jena and I will be working alone. Here is the website: http://sophien-klinik.de/gastgeberei_hotel_pension/index.php
I leave Monday. I'm almost done with my first half of SST. Crazy stuff.
But awesome.
It was a very busy city filled with so many different kinds of people. There was more English written on billboards and other things that I wasn't expecting. It felt amazing to be there.
Despite the three very tiring days of touring Berlin, there was a night when I had some very much needed downtime at a rock concert. Me and two others decideded to skip out on the Sleeping Beauty ballet and instead went to a concert for a band named Kilians with the opening act, Miyagi. The three of us traveled on our own to the concert with me being the guide after barely learning the subway system earlier that day. After successfully finding the place, we were caught a bit off guard when we saw that our final destination was an abandoned warehouse turned club. Actually, I didn't know what to expect.
The inside was very big and dark but lit with dim colorful lights. There were two rooms and the back room had the stage. The three of us waited for quite some time for the opening band to come out and play their set. However, it was worth the wait. Miyagi was a mixture of ska, alternative, and a bit hard rock. They sang in both German and English and the lead singer had a thing for awkward dancing and jumping in to the crowd. I was very thankful to be sandwiched inbetween girls who actually danced. The crowd didn't really seem to be feeling it and I was hoping it wasn't just going to be this big boring standing fest the whole night.
So, Miyagi finishes, they clear their stuff, and the Kilians start to set up. While this was happening, I met a Berlin native who spoke very good English and had quite some knowledge about American bands. He was a fan of Dave Matthews Band which was something I couldn't really relate to. I was a bit skeptical about how the Kilians would be (I had paid 9 Euros after all) and hoped it would be a little exciting to get the crowd going. He told me, "If you like the Strokes, you'll like Kilians." I like the Strokes, I thought, and hoped the show would make me glad I skipped out on the ballet.
Oh dear lord, the Germans know how to mosh. I was very surprised and didn't have much time to comprehend what was going on as I was being thrown around in front of a stage by gigantic German men and fearless women. Since I have been in many moshes in my lifetime, my initial reaction was to fight back. I very quickly got in to it and I can't even tell you what the Kilians sounded like because I was too busy fighting the strong drunks. I do remember a lot of singing in English. However, the time came to leave soon after I had been punched right in the chest by a burly man who's mission was clearly to hurt. Clutching my chest in pain, I gathered my other two concert people, downed a beer, and set off back to the subway station to get home.
Let's just say we got back to the youth hostel safe two hours later. We got horribly lost.
One thing I was very excited about seeing was the Berlin wall. That was something I had learned about a long time ago and just recently went over again in my European History class. We got to see fragments of it and even one large chunk that was still standing by the ruins of a place Hitler once resided. I was very appalled to see that someone had written, "I heart Edward Cullen" on the wall. Seriously.
Before we left, a small group of us visited the Jüdisches Museum in which we were able to learn about the Jewish culture apart from what happened with the holocaust. This was a very modern building that I could have spent hours in. There was so much tourist interaction within the building with eye catching photos and interesting learning stations. I would definitely go back to this museum.
We returned home to Jena on Thursday night and had class the next morning. We were so dead that morning from the trip we had just had and Sarah and I had to pump ourselves up more because we had a trip to Dresden planned with her host parents that afternoon. We left for Dresden around 4 and traveled about 160 km in about an hour and a half. He drove ridiculously fast. Sarah and I had our own room with a charming balcony that we couldn't get open. We soon met up with her host mom's sister and her husband and set off to find a place to have dinner. We settled in to a placed called Il Camino that was a very fancy italian restaurant. We had a room to ourselves that was the equivalent of a small wine cellar. This night was amazing. Sarah and I didn't have to pay for a thing even though the bill came out to be over 300 Euros. We had a complete meal with dessert, three bottles of wine, and some weird grappa stuff that they ordered. Many inside jokes came from this night.
Dresden was quite the typical German city for me. It was a lot different than Jena. I was able to see the Elbe River which was recently on a map test I had in fall semester. It rained the entire day we were there but it didn't stop us from checking out the Neues Grünes Museum filled with rare jeweled artifacts.
Upon returning home to Jena, I was greeted by my host family's family who were gathered together in celebration of my host brother's 9th birthday. Their relatives were extremely nice and I was able to test my German out on new people. I liked being corrected when I make any mistakes so I was hoping that would happened. Turns out two of them spoke very good English. Good for them, bad for me. I wish English wasn't becoming so universal sometimes. I really like other languages and I can imagine wanting to keep my native tongue.
This is my last week in Jena before service. Our language test is on Wednesday and then our host family party is on Friday. Today Joe told me my service assignment in which I will be working at a Rehabilitation and Therapeutic treatment center. There is a program called Kinderclub which will enable me to work with the children who have parents in the clinic. When I'm not working with children, I will be cooking or out in the garden. I'm really looking forward to it. I'm the closest one to Jena and I will be working alone. Here is the website: http://sophien-klinik.de/gastgeberei_hotel_pension/index.php
I leave Monday. I'm almost done with my first half of SST. Crazy stuff.
Monday, June 1, 2009
Ober Aber Uber Oberammergau
Last week was probably the most tiring so far. It felt like I was constantly doing something, never resting, and I was being drained physically as well as emotionally.
Our trip to Buchenwald and Erfurt was on Thursday. Buchenwald was a bit more than I thought it would be. I didn't expect to see the things we saw. It was quite an experience for everyone. I didn't know how to react a lot of the time and the hours seem to go by so fast while we were there. It is not something I think I will ever do again. Standing at the gate of the concentration camp really scared me and part of me was reluctant to go in. I'm glad I did because I faced the truth of something that I have been studying since I was in middle school. It was too much to handle and I think back on it wondering how I could have been standing in the places we went in to. It's going to stay in my memory forever.
After Buchenwald we went to a city called Erfurt that I immediately fell in love with. It helps that it has a very Hogwarts looking cathedral sitting right in the middle of it. The city was very typical German for me so I think that's why I liked it so much. It was how I imagined Germany to be. There were narrow streets filled with interesting shops and it gave off a bit of an old world feel. We had a nice tour through the city with some free time to do some shopping in which I bought some freaking ridiculously good chocolate truffles. It started to rain but a few people in our group went up a tower that overlooked the city. We left in the evening and returned back to Jena safe. We had class the next day and our weekly group meeting at Joe and Jo-Ann's in which we reflected on Thursday. It was interesting seeing different sides of people come out. I guess it's things like this that make a group bond stronger.
Yesterday I went on a walk on the outskirts of Jenzig with Jo-Ann. It was pretty neat to think about the fact that Martin Luther has probably onced walked the trail we were on. If there hadn't been the sound of a helicopter overhead then it might have almost felt like we were back in the middle ages. It was a very charming forest. We saw a gigantic ant hill that scared the crap out of me once I realized there were tons of ants on the ground by our feet surrounding it. We took a detour to observe what we thought was a ruin but it turned out to be some shady storage space. It had rained earlier that day so the ground was muddy and I ended up slipping and getting mud all on the back of my jeans which I had washed two days prior. Our walk ended with a picture of me posing in front of a statue surrounded by muschelkalk and a long walk back home. Today was a German holiday, Kindertag, so I have been inside most of the day sleeping. I was feeling pretty sick earlier and it didn't help much when I looked at my bank account and saw I had less money than I originally thought. I imagine I won't need much for service but I still want to play it safe.
Tomorrow we leave for Berlin from Tuesday to Thursday. I have been looking forward to this the entire time that we've been here. I just love really big cities. We leave really early in the morning and I'm not even done packing. We were told that Wolfgang Bathe, our tour guide for Berlin, is going to tire us out with our tour of Berlin. I am the slowest one in the group so we'll see how that goes. I'm starting to get use to the super fast paced tours that cover almost an entire city.
So I've realized that I have been online way too much and I hope that I don't have internet access on service so people like my mom can actually start to miss me. I'm already getting in trouble with her and I'm in another country! Hopefully that will die down. I think I'm just at a point where I'm starting to miss everyone because there isn't any school and I could be enjoying my time with them. I miss my city a lot.
Our trip to Buchenwald and Erfurt was on Thursday. Buchenwald was a bit more than I thought it would be. I didn't expect to see the things we saw. It was quite an experience for everyone. I didn't know how to react a lot of the time and the hours seem to go by so fast while we were there. It is not something I think I will ever do again. Standing at the gate of the concentration camp really scared me and part of me was reluctant to go in. I'm glad I did because I faced the truth of something that I have been studying since I was in middle school. It was too much to handle and I think back on it wondering how I could have been standing in the places we went in to. It's going to stay in my memory forever.
After Buchenwald we went to a city called Erfurt that I immediately fell in love with. It helps that it has a very Hogwarts looking cathedral sitting right in the middle of it. The city was very typical German for me so I think that's why I liked it so much. It was how I imagined Germany to be. There were narrow streets filled with interesting shops and it gave off a bit of an old world feel. We had a nice tour through the city with some free time to do some shopping in which I bought some freaking ridiculously good chocolate truffles. It started to rain but a few people in our group went up a tower that overlooked the city. We left in the evening and returned back to Jena safe. We had class the next day and our weekly group meeting at Joe and Jo-Ann's in which we reflected on Thursday. It was interesting seeing different sides of people come out. I guess it's things like this that make a group bond stronger.
Yesterday I went on a walk on the outskirts of Jenzig with Jo-Ann. It was pretty neat to think about the fact that Martin Luther has probably onced walked the trail we were on. If there hadn't been the sound of a helicopter overhead then it might have almost felt like we were back in the middle ages. It was a very charming forest. We saw a gigantic ant hill that scared the crap out of me once I realized there were tons of ants on the ground by our feet surrounding it. We took a detour to observe what we thought was a ruin but it turned out to be some shady storage space. It had rained earlier that day so the ground was muddy and I ended up slipping and getting mud all on the back of my jeans which I had washed two days prior. Our walk ended with a picture of me posing in front of a statue surrounded by muschelkalk and a long walk back home. Today was a German holiday, Kindertag, so I have been inside most of the day sleeping. I was feeling pretty sick earlier and it didn't help much when I looked at my bank account and saw I had less money than I originally thought. I imagine I won't need much for service but I still want to play it safe.
Tomorrow we leave for Berlin from Tuesday to Thursday. I have been looking forward to this the entire time that we've been here. I just love really big cities. We leave really early in the morning and I'm not even done packing. We were told that Wolfgang Bathe, our tour guide for Berlin, is going to tire us out with our tour of Berlin. I am the slowest one in the group so we'll see how that goes. I'm starting to get use to the super fast paced tours that cover almost an entire city.
So I've realized that I have been online way too much and I hope that I don't have internet access on service so people like my mom can actually start to miss me. I'm already getting in trouble with her and I'm in another country! Hopefully that will die down. I think I'm just at a point where I'm starting to miss everyone because there isn't any school and I could be enjoying my time with them. I miss my city a lot.
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