Tschus, Deutschland!

One final post from Germany before the long journey home tomorrow. Since I love making lists.....

Things I will miss about Germany:

1. The people
I realize our hosts volunteered to have us and I knew they would treat us well, but I've also observed how Germans treat each other. They are friendly and quite courteous. When they show up to an event, they greet everyone personally. They are wonderful people.

2. Flowers
Everyone had such lovely gardens here and I never get tired of seeing them!

3. German beer
I'm not much for Weiss beer but their pilsners and dark beers have been fantastic.

4. Nutella
I have never bought it at home because I knew I would love it. Turns out I do. So I got my fill in Germany and vow not to buy it in the states....unless I start missing Germany.

5. Active mindset
They turn to their cars as a last resort. Everyone bikes or walks whenever possible. One host said they are starting to have a child obesity problem here but I certainly don't see it like I do in the U.S.

6. The cool temps
I think it has been an unusually cool summer for them - I was in a fleece and wearing gloves yesterday. I am not looking forward to the heat and humidity in Illinois.

7. Planning & timeliness
Almost everyone I stayed with set specific times to do things (meals, departures) and stuck to that time. My favorite was when one host told me we would leave at 1:53 and then turned his GPS on en route NOT because he didn't know how to get there but because he wanted to know how fast he had to drive to arrive on time.

8. Sit-down meals
While there were times I wanted to eat on-the-go to be more efficient (see below), overall it's very nice that they have many sit-down meals together (breakfast, lunch, dinner). And everything is formal and quite nice...no paper plates.

9. Watching the Germans watch soccer
They are bananas over their soccer team. I'm bummed I won't be here for the final game(s) to cheer on Deutschland.

10. Asparagus & Potatoes
Two big crops here and they are tasty (especially because they are usually drowned in some type of butter sauce!)

Things I won't miss so much:

1. The driving
My goodness they drive crazy. Throw in all the stick shifts and I fear I may have a minor case of whiplash. I will say, they are quite courteous to other drivers and especially to bikers and pedestrians.

2. Inefficiency
I truly believe the phrase "can't talk and walk at the same time" originated from someone who visited Germany because they literally can't. Coffee to go is a novelty here....it's not something they do. I love multitasking...the more I can get done at one time, the better. This concept is lost on the Germans.

3. Paying to use a public bathroom
Self explanatory.

4. Sparkling water
We have to ask for "stillish vasser" or water without gas.  I haven't been drinking nearly the amount of water here that I do at home....but certainly pilsners must be hydrating?

As you can see one list is far longer than the other. I leave Germany with a few extra pounds, many new friends across the pond, and wonderful memories that will last a lifetime! I am very much looking forward to seeing my family and friends very soon - prost!

On to Halle

Our last morning in Naumberg on Monday was spent leisurely walking through town and shopping. Then we had coffee and cake...for lunch.  And it wasn't the first time on the trip. I like those Germans.  We then left for Halle around 2:30 p.m.

Our first stop in Halle was to tour a chocolate factory!  The sale of chocolate was actually outlawed at one point in history and people had to buy it on the black market. That's what I'm doing in the photo.  Lots of great samples at the conclusion.

We then had dinner at a restaurant on the Saale River but were forced inside due to rain. We headed home to our new hosts. Mine escorted me in their new Porsche. Life is tough.

Today we headed to Dresden and visited an art gallery with the Madonna painting.  After a "brat in hand" lunch and a 1€ ice cream cone, we had a 2 hour walking tour of the city. It was destroyed in WWII but they have rebuilt replicas of how it used to look. About a half million people live there and it's growing.

We arrived back in Halle after some bad traffic and had a delish Italian dinner (pizza).  I also discovered Pearl Jam is in Amsterdam tomorrow night and am trying to find a way to ditch out on our last Rotary meeting and get there.  I knew they were playing in Berlin but not until 4th of July. My German follow-the-rules genes probably won't allow me to break GSE rules though.

Somber Sunday

My Sunday started with a Protestant worship in the Naumberg Cathedral. I got to see a young 6 year old girl adopted from Russia get baptized, which was very special.

We then traveled to the Buchenwaid concentration camp outside of Weimar. It was very upsetting and moving to see what prisoners went through. One always thinks of the Jewish people who suffered but there were other groups too, including homosexuals, which I didn't realize. In total, 56,000 prisoners died at this camp alone. Our team had to ask to visit this site as no Rotary club has included any concentration camps as  part of our program. This is understandable since it's such a terrible part of German history.  We visited a memorial as the final stop, which was a nice way to conclude our visit.

Tonight was our farewell BBQ and what a wonderful meal we shared together. I was stuffed to the gills! We transfer to our last stop tomorrow, Halle. 

I have posted pics of my host family in their backyard and the neighbors who hosted the BBQ tonight. The neighbor lady (Monica) is Swedish so I have been asking her all sorts of questions since my heritage is Swedish and German. Perhaps Sweden will be my next stop?

Town festivals are the best!

We had another lovely day in Naumberg! Mine started with a quick 5K by the Saale River. We then had a wonderful tour of the Naumberg Cathedral. The lady in my host family is a volunteer guide and speaks English well so she led us through. It is pretty amazing and photos won't do it justice. It is massive. I took a photo of the pulpit that has intricate carvings of Matthew, Mark, Luke, John.....and Martin Luther.

They currently have a cherry festival going on and there are crowds of people in town for it. Legend says during a war, a school teacher led her students to plead with soldiers to spare this town. They did and gave the children cherries.  We went to the parade after a quick brat lunch and it was pretty neat. Different groups were in character to represent the 800 year history of the town. We walked through the booths (anyone need some medieval garb?) then went home for some tea and a light supper.

Tonight we attended another string/choral Bach concert back at the cathedral and one set (probably so not the right term..sorry Sarah) was "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God" so it was great to hear a familiar tune!

After the concert we went back to the festival only this time hit what I would call the midway. It was the biggest carnival I've ever seen. We went on the giant Ferris wheel and saw some amazing views. Tent after tent had music playing....which unfortunately I can hear from my bedroom as I get ready to hit the hay. Luckily they love American music here so they are familiar tunes....

Naumberg

Naumberg has been awesome thus far.  I've gotten a 2 for 1 deal with host families because mine are great (Hans and Andrea) and the other 2 girls on my team are living directly across the street with another fantastic couple (Bodo and Monica) and the two families are great friends! So I've gotten to know all of them.

Although Germany is known for beer, there are many regional wineries. We had a personal tour by a winemaker at one this morning which was very interesting. Many people grow grapes in this area on hills for hobby. Monks started this hobby many years ago. We took a drive through the countryside and it was so scenic (helps that this was one of the nicest days we've had). We are in a very hilly region....which was good for my forest run this morning!

Our group leader runs a trucking company and we were together today....so this afternoon I toured a window factory and talked logistics. Not the most interesting for me personally but we were fed a great lunch and our tour guides were very nice.

Tonight was the Naumberg Rotary meeting with our presentation and then my host family had people over to watch the soccer game. I still can't figure how a country can get so jacked over a game with so little action/scoring....but I am a Cubs fan and will shut up now.

Gute nacht!

PS

I think Naumberg and I will get along well. I'm staying close to a forest for runs, found one of my favorite items on my pillow, had a dunkel beer before dinner that was delicious, and then had the most amazing red wine for dinner paired with some tasty beef from Argentina (quite rare here...they eat pork). Oh, tomorrow my vocational trip is to a vineyard......

Bernburg

Our stay in Bernburg went by very quickly and I had great hosts - Dietmar and Ute. Dietmar is the president of their Rotary club and they are both wonderful people. I have included a photo of me with them.

Tuesday morning I got a long run in which was great. One of the Rotarians ran with me and my teammate Sara joined on bike. Half way through the run we crossed the river (Saale) on a pedestrian bridge and in the middle stood Dr. Clemens...their incoming president. More on him later. He had a table set up with water for us. He's a retired vet, so he pulled out a stethescope to check our pulse! He then stamped our hands with his stamp and sent us on our way! Very cute.

We then had a walking tour of town and a boat ride in the afternoon. I got to sit and chat with Dr. Clemens and his wife on the boat with my running buddy translating. He said his son wanted to be a vet but wasn't allowed under the former GDR. Unthinkable. The pic is on the boat with my stamped hand.

Wednesday was a vocational day so Dietmar took me to their farm progress show in the morning. I felt like I was in Decatur....long line of cars to get in and very similar setup. I stopped in at the John Deere booth and the marketing manager had just been to Moline a few weeks earlier!  It was a rainy day and they didn't have paved paths...so my running shoes got their first trip through a washing machine later that day. 

Wednesday afternoon I visited Anhalt University and a couple of professors talked to me about their ag program and showed me around. We were supposed to grill out that night but the weather didn't cooperate. We had a schnitzel dinner on a boat instead. I was hoping for a low key night with a decent bedtime...I was not prepared for what was about to occur. We left the boat around 10:30 thinking we would be home in 10 minutes but all of a sudden we were pulling into Dr. Clemens' house. He started pulling out bottle after bottle of homemade wine and then threw some brandy in for good measure. And trays of random food kept appearing (eggs, tomatoes, sausage). We were all sitting around a table and I swear at one point there was 5 different conversions taking place. I haven't laughed so hard in a long time and I couldn't even understand 75% of what was being said!  At one point Dr. Clemens went down to the basement to get more wine and came up with a cowboy hat on, holding the 2 bottles to his hips like guns.  We finally stumbled out of their house at 1 a.m. (except our driver....Germans have been very responsible in that department). Who needs sleep anyway?

Today was Wittenberg! (Martin Luther....Reformation....95 Thesis). They had arranged an English speaking tour guide just for us. It is a neat little town and they are leading up to the 500th anniversary of the Reformation in 2017. Katharina, Martin's wife, sounded like a tough, independent lady. I posed for a photo with her....

We now transfer to Naumberg. Only 2 towns left and we head back to Illinois in 1 week...hard to believe. I will be very sad to part ways with Germany.