John's Third Report

October 22, 2005

Lets see…..so what has happened in the month since my last report?  All the kids that I meet begin our conversation by apoligizing for the boringness of their town. They ask why I would come from Miami, USA to live in Apolda, Germany.  Well, I guess it is pretty boring here.  Nothing interesting has happened since my last report.  I mean, only Oktoberfest, my birthday celebration, a visit to Berlin, the restoration of our village church, a running competition, Zwiebelmarkt, and a trip to Croatia and Venice.  The bored youth of Apolda might be quick to point out that three of these things took place outside of Apolda.  Even if Apolda and its surrounding villages have no discotecs or movie theatres to keep their young people happy, I love living in a place where I can ride my bike to a castle and mark the passing of the hours with the bells of the village church. 
    I was rushing to finish my last report as my family was getting ready to leave for Oktoberfest……Fellow American exchange student Alex came along for the ride.  We left in the early evening and sped down to Munich on the autobahn.  My host mother’s aunt (Tante Anke) welcomed us into her cozy apartment with a dinner that was much better than the McDonald’s we indulged in on the road.  When I woke up the next morning, the view from my bedroom window set the tone for the weekend.  Tante Anke’s apartment is surrounded by the buildings of the Paulaner brewery, and the back of her apartment faces a giant stack of metal kegs.  The plan for the day was that I would spend the morning at the Alte Pinakotek museum while the rest of the group went shopping.  We would then meet at “the Wiesn,” the huge fairground that is home to Oktoberfest. As we set out in the damp fall cold, we happened upon the beginning of the Oktoberfest parade when we watched an oompah band burst out of the gates of the brewery one door down from Tante Anke’s apartment.  Later, we were almost in the parade when our streetcar got stuck behind a horse drawn beer cart.  After two hours of the peace and quiet of the Alte Pinakotek, Tante Anke met me in front of the museum and we headed for the chaos of the Wiesn, where we met the rest of the group.  When we arrived at the fairground, my host father immediately led us to one of the biggest beer tents, where we skipped the line and were escorted through enourmous crowds to a (vip) balcony.  Tante Anke complained about all the Americans and Italians that have overrun Oktoberfest, but our balcony was full of nothing but richtige Durndl clad Bavarians.  I believe that we got the most authentic Oktoberfest experience possible. 
    It was weird leaving the madness of an Oktoberfest weekend for the now normal routine of Bergschule Apolda.  But just as things were starting to feel calm again, it was time for our trip to Berlin.  We spent the first day sight seeing.  We joined all the other tourists taking pictures in front of and behind the Brandenburger Tor, which my mom (real mom) was unable to do when she visited Berlin as an exchange student.  After we followed the other tourist’s through the gate to a Starbuck’s we headed out from the center of the city to visit my host mother’s old neighbourhood.  Both of my host parents grew up under communism in the GDR.  I don’t really know enough German yet to have a full conversation with them about their experiences, but I once asked my host mother about it and she said those days were “nicht so shön aber nicht so schlimm,” meaning not great, but not so bad.  This part of Germany has a very interesting and complicated dynamic that results from the challenge of reassimilating with the western half.  My host family lives pretty much like we do in America, but for many people in East Germany still live with habits that were ingrained by communism.  The organizer of our Rotary orientation even told me that some still vote for the current communist parts.  It will be interesting to learn more about this situation as the year goes on.  So….back to my host mother’s neighbourhood.  I was expecting to not like Berlin, imagining that it would be all huge modern buildings with no character.  Much of the city is like this, but Penzlauerberg, my host mother grew up, has an authentic artsy feel.  There are many grand old apartment buildings that have been left to decay and are reminiscent of the photos that one sees of the buildings in Havana.  It seemed that we were constantly running into gallery openings that featured some kind of bizarre performance art, which reminded me of New World and made me feel a little bit at home   My host mother and I spent our second day in Berlin running from point to point on my host father’s marathon route, waving and cheering him on.  I loved my brief look at this city, and I can’t wait to one day return. 
    During the school week after these two weekend excursions I was tired…..but I couldn’t complain because my forty year old host father had just run his 12th marathon in four years!  Also, I had a small running competition of my own coming up, but before I could even start thinking about that, I found myself in the car with my fellow “Amis” Alex and Jordan, on our way to our first Rotary orientation.  Our Rotary orientation was held in a castle.  From the outside it had a great Harry Potter feel, but the inside was all linoleum floors and neon lights, because is had been converted into a youth hostel.  Needless to say, the orientation was a blast.  It had all the perfect ingredients of a good Rotary youth exchange camp, the most important of which is a group of kids from all over the world.  This year’s inbound class includes students from Canada, Mexico, Argentina, Poland, South Africa, New Zealand, Australia, and Japan.  The weekend was full of hilarious random moments and of course all the obligatory ( I meant helpful and informative) discussions about culture shock and homesickness.  Our day time activities included a hike to a nearby castle and a visit to an art museum with one of the best collections of Early Renaissaince paintings outside of Italy, so I was kept happy. 
    …..and the pace didn’t even slow down after these three weekends of non stop action.  Before I knew it the day of the running competition had arrived.  Alex has also been going to the running club, and we both willingly agreed to participate in the competition.  The night before, my host family took us to the Zwiebelmarkt festival in the nearby city of Weimar.  They arranged for us to meet the other exchange students there, so it was doubly fun and exciting.  The Zwiebelmarkt is a traditional festival where vendors sell flower arrangements that feature onions (Zwiebels)…..but like any German festival its also an excuse to throw concerts and set up big (Köstritzer) beer tents.  We didn’t get home until midnight, and by now Alex and I were kicking ourselves… “why oh why do we keep enthusiastically saying yes to everything?!”.  Even after all this I still couldn’t complain about being tired, because my host father was running a half marathon as I headed out for my measly little leichtatletic competition. 
    Once the competition got going, the anxiety that Alex and I had been sharing began to ebb.  The mood of the competition was very relaxed.  Half the point of German sport clubs is the socializing, and all the age groups of the club participated in the competitions together.  When it was finally time for me to perform, it simply no longer mattered that I had absolutely no idea how to do the long jump  …and lets just say that only one of my attempts was valid.  After the competition was over the whole group lingered over beer and brats for about three hours.  When it was time to hand out the awards, I was amazed to be called up to receive a third place medal!  I figure that’s not too bad for my first ever sport competition, especially when its in a foreign country…..and no, there weren’t only three people in the category, but it was a very small competition….. 
    After a Saturday of post competition exhaustion, it was finally time for the class trip to Croatia.  Some of the seniors who had befriended us three exchange students told us about the trip and said that we should ask if we could go.  We were prepared to have to do some serious pleading with our principal Frau Orthaus, so we were surprised when she casually shrugged “ja.”  Unlike American school trips, where students and parents are overwhelmed with permission forms and itineraries, we were simply told to meet at the bus station on Sunday at eight.  From there we drove through the night to Croatia, passing through Austria and Slovenia.  We spent three days in this beautiful Mediterranean country, visiting towns and national parks.  The weather was pleasantly cool and sunny with clear skies.  The country looks and feels like Italy, but the people speak a Slavic language.  One town that we saw felt just like a miniature Rome, complete with the third largest surviving Roman amphitheatre.  On the last day of our trip we visited Venice, Italy.  It was beautiful but full of tourists.  It almost felt like going home for a day because there were Americans everywhere….after one more nachtfart (night trip, and the new favourite word of Alex, Jordan and I) I find myself back in Germany, somewhat dazed, and glad that I have a week to catch up on sleep.  After the first week of the holidays my host family and I will travel to the North of Germany to visit my host mother’s parents.
    With all this excitement I forgot to include a description of my birthday!  My host parents told me that we would have a special dinner.  I thought this meant that it would be the four of us and the grandparents from next door.  But they also invited Alex, Jordan, and some aunts, uncles, and cousins to give me a proper celebration.  Germans give chocolate (its like Easter & Halloween combined) and flowers for birthday presents.  All day at school people kept shaking my hand and saying “Alles gut zum geburtstag!”  An entire class of eigth graders solemnly filed past me and recited this greeting during my first period.  Jordan and Alex gave me flowers and Diddle balloons that I had to carry around all day (….nice…real nice….as if exchange students didn’t get enough stares…..Diddle is the European version of Mickey Mouse, except ten times worse…)  Overall, it was a great birthday…

P.S.  The kids in my school have the same English book that the kids in Suzie’s school do.  I have visited three classes to talk about Florida, spaceships, and the good ol’ USA……this has been one of the most fun parts of my exchange experience….watching people’s reaction when I say “Ich komme aus Miami, USA.”  The best was when I was in a van full of middle aged German women on the way to the Zweibelmarkt.  They all burst out giggling “ooohhhh…..Don Johnson…..Miami Vice…..”