John Is Having An Amazing Time  In Germany

February 26, 2006

Dear Everyone,
    So here I am, finally getting to this report!  Where has the time gone?  Last time I came up for air it was the beginning of January, and I am already having to face the end of February?  Wahnsin, einfach wahnsin!  I have so much to cover that I will try to move fast, covering everything that has been important with a brief summary. 
    Christmas.  The time leading up to this holiday had an odd, bittersweet feeling.  I was excited and happy to share all the traditions and celebrations with my host family, but at the same time sad because as the holiday grew closer, our remaining time together also grew smaller.  My host family pulled out all the stops to help me celebrate a full traditional German Christmas.  In the few days leading up to the holiday, we just spent a lot of quiet time at home together, engaging in all of the traditions ranging from the sublime to the ridiculous, for example lighting candles on the advent wreath, Stolen cake from the best baker in town, and watching a “spaghetti Western” about the beloved chief Venetou together.  (A random little tradition that Germans enjoy….)  For Christmas Eve, or Heilige Abend, we joined the rest of the village to fill up all three floors of the newly restored village church.  Since my arrival in August I had watched the progress of the church restoration, and it was thus especially beautiful and meaningful to be able to enjoy the first service to take place since the restoration had been completed.  For me and those around me, the service began with a slightly irreverent tradition celebrated in the back corner of the third level balcony by my host family and their friends.  Every year, they begin the Christmas Eve service by sharing little bottles of Kummerling schnapps!  New Years is still a few days away friends…. 
So, that little bit of irreverence was countered by the Krippenspiel, a manger scene play performed by a group of children from the village.  It was as wholesome and perfect as one would imagine a manger scene play to be when one says that it was performed by “a group of children from the village.”  My favourite part of the service was the grand finale of Christmas carols accompanied by the squeaky old organ.  It was an odd but wonderful sensation to be able to sing along with and understand familiar Christmas Carols like “O, Come All ye Faithful” and “Silent Night” in German.  Just an odd juxtaposition of the foreign with the familiar, something that one could say is an underlying theme for an exchange year.  (For an interesting bit of Randomness, Silent Night was first written in German, in another village named Oberndorf in Austria)
    Germans traditionally open their presents on Christmas eve.  After the church service, my host parents, sister, grandparents and I went back home for a quiet dinner together.  Now it was finally time for the presents.  I think it is interesting that Suzie and Chip, in Nord-Rhine Westphalen, had their presents delivered by the Christkind, while here in Thüringen, my presents were brought by the Weihnachtsman.  This is just one of the many example of how throughout Germany, there are so many different cultural influences, traditions, and dialects, something that has been very interesting to experience.  The Christkind is an angel that the children are not allowed to see.  Kids are, however, allowed to see the Weihnachtsman.  Not only are you allowed to see him, but you actually have to talk to him, saying a poem or singing a song in order to receive your presents.  Just for fun and to share the tradition with me, my host parents actually arranged for a neighbour to come over dressed as the Weihnactsman, and with great pride, I recited the typical poem that everyone here knows.  After the Weihnachtsman fun was over, my entire host family and I just spent a long time together, exchanging gifts and enjoying each other’s company.  I felt more comfortable and at home with my host family than I ever had, thus making it much harder to face the fact that I would soon have to leave.  I had truly become a part of this family, but that was only through the loving help and support that they had given me during my time with them.  On Christmas day, my entire extended host family came together for a traditional Christmas meal.  It was such an enjoyable relief to be able to go through the whole long affair without having to fret over and worry about not understanding every detail like I used to.  By then, I had come to know what it means to celebrate a full German Feiertag, and rather than being confused by not knowing how much food to take, or when to drink what, I was able to just sit back and enjoy one of these last moments together with my host family, the final installment in a long and wonderful farewell. 
    Shortly after our Christmas celebration, it was time for some travelling.  I had arranged to visit some of my old German “family,” meaning my mother and uncle’s old host family and friends.  So, on the 28th I jumped on a train to Münster, where I was picked up by the Galle family.  Jurgen Galle was one of the first exchange students to come from Germany to our district in South Florida.  My mother and uncle became friends with him and his family during their time in Germany, and we have also been visited by them at various times in South Florida.  To make all of these connections even stronger, cousin Chip was there as well, so I really can say that I was with real family over the holidays.  We spent much of our time with the Galles just relaxing around the fire place, hearing stories about our parents from “the old days” and looking at pictures of past visits in Florida and Germany.  Things really got exciting and funny when Chip and I went along with Jurgen, his son Benedikt and a large group of friends to experience a proper German hunt.  Chip and I weren’t able to actually hunt, just follow along and watch, which really means helping carry dead pheasants and rabbits.  Definitely a truly hilarious and interesting experience that we will both never forget. 
    After two days with the Galles, the cuz and I headed over to Gütersloh to celebrate New Years with my mom and Uncle’s old host family, the Föbuses and Lohmeyers.  This was an experience that I had been looking forward to for months.  My mom stayed with her host family for an entire year, and thus became very close with them.  I have grown up seeing pictures and hearing stories about my mother’s time in that house, so much so that I felt as if I already knew it before I even went there.  But the connections don’t even stop there.  After my mother and uncle spent so much time with the Lohmeyers in Germany, every member of their family spent some extended amount of time with my mother and grandparents in Miami.  An example of this is how I can sit with my mom’s host mother and sister, and listen to them share stories about my grandmother and even great grandmother, two people that I was never able to know myself.  It is just so fascinating and wonderful to be able to be gain this new perspective on my family from across the sea here in Germany. 
    So, Chip and I rang in the New Year with eighty other people in a half timbered cow stall-converted party salon where my mother had celebrated her 19th birthday.  I can’t even say how happy I am that I now have some memories of my own like that one to add to the many that already stand between our families.  So after my amazing time visiting my “German Rotary relatives” and having some fun with my cousin, I was on a train back to Apolda, not quite sure exactly where I belonged.  I felt like I was with real family as I celebrated Christmas with my first host family, and once again as I shared coffee with the Lohmeyers and Föbuses in Gütersloh.  I only had a few days before I would switch host families with fellow exchange student Jordan, and Alex would come to live with the Winters.  How then would I relate to my “old” host parents as opposed to my “new” ones?  Its all a rather confusing mix of emotions, living in this state that hovers somewhere between guest and family member, but certainly not in a way that detracts from how interesting and positive this experience has been.  The simplest way to put it is just to say that I feel like I have learned so much….about myself, about relating to other people, about where I am now and where I hope to be in the future.  I am so thankful for this opportunity that has helped me expand and change my perspectives in so many ways.
    So, to wrap it up with some rapid fire updating.  The month of January was filled with a blissful amount of travelling.  A visit with former host sister Marlene in Stuttgart, Our second and final Rotary Orientation, and another visit with family friends in Nord-Rhine Westphalen don’t even include all of the great things that filled up that month.  Visiting Marlene was just perfect, giving me the sensation that I was getting to know her all over again, experiencing a parallel version of my dear friend and host sister that in some ways I already knew, but in some ways not.  Does that make sense? 
Integrating with my new host family has provided yet another interesting new perspective.  It is amazing how all of the smaller things are so much easier, thanks to the new language skills, but I can also say that in some ways the “bigger things” are more complicated.  Speaking of language skills, I can say that the German really is going well.  Now I know enough to really get deeper into the language and work on the grammar, which is difficult.  German has three genders and four cases, but I really have no right to complain, because with Finnish, Jillian has a lot more to deal with!  In German we have just the simple Nominativ, Genitiv, Dativ, and Akkusativ, but Jillian wrote me in an e-mail that she has to deal with Innesive, Elative, Illative, Addessive, Ablative, and the list goes on until there are 10 cases! (Sorry about that random grammar sidetrack, and not to offend any German grammarians, but if you are someone who had no idea what I was talking about….its just not that important....)
   Last weekend was fellow exchange student Helen’s (also USA) birthday, so I set out from Apolda to her host family's home in Erfurt, our state capital, to help her celebrate.  We celebrated with a richtige Kafezeit, or proper German afternoon coffee, with a mix of German friends and other exchange students.  It was an afternoon that was truly unique, the type of experience that can only happen as a part of an exchange year.  Just like with my last host family before Christmas, I found myself thinking about how this time really is slipping towards an end.  Before I know it we will be speeding through our Euro Tour, and then there won’t be much time at all before May 15, my official return date, arrives.  It will be wonderful to come home, but I know that all of these experiences, from international Kafezeiten to raucous Fasching (carnival) celebrations, I will never again be able to enjoy experiences like these in the same way that I am now.  Having said that, I can bring this update to an end, letting everyone know that despite the challenges, I have been having an amazing time and have more great things to look forward to!  I want to thank everyone who has helped me during my time here, whether it was when I landed on you for a visit or just asked if I could come along for the ride during your weekend plans.  Especially, thanks to everyone with Rotary here and at home….  I hope this has let you all know what I have been experiencing, how I have been feeling, and how incredible it has all been….