HI GUYS!!! HAPPY EASTER!!!
Eh, sorry about that, I've been sitting alone in my room for a little bit, and that was just the release of some pent up social tension. Forgive me. But today (tomorrow yet for you guys back home) is Easter. It's an odd feeling being in Germany for this holiday. It's a big social tradition here, at least it seems like it....that families get together and do something on Easter. Plus the church tradition is so obvious too....like I heard bells ringing for about five minutes straight at midnight. Tomorrow should finding me holding down a church pew at the Kreuz Kirche....I've got it all scouted out, I know when the service times are, I know where the church is, I know I can get there in less than ten minutes with my new bicycle. The game is afoot. I'm actually really nervous, and I probably shouldn't be. I've never had a problem going to church alone in Amerika, but it's a little different here. That is to say, people speak German, and I'm still nowhere near fluent.
I'm ready to hang out more with German speaking people. Unfortunately two of my best German speaking contacts have left Bonn for home....one in Hamburg and one in Ohio.... at least I get to practice my written deutsch too that way ; ) It's fine hanging out with other international students, but I find that with a few exceptions, it's really hard to keep conversation in german. Along with that, aside from obvious things, we can't correct each other well enough to learn a lot about the language, or pick up slang or other nuances of communication. There's so much to learn, and I just can't do it speaking English. I'm already saddened by the fact that I will have to return to a place where most of the people I know either cannot speak or do not appreciate the German language. It's kind of like I've been learning German for seven years to speak it for 5 months and then shelve it until I need it again. I really hope it doesn't work that way, but that's the way it looks right now. Who knows, maybe I can get into a German chemistry program or something, but we'll have to see where God and the winds take me.
I went to Koeln (Cologne) today to check out the used bike market that's occasionally held there. It was a very damp experience...the weather here has just been schrecklich....I traveled with Ian, and when we got there it was snowing pretty hard....which after a while turned into a steady drizzle. We walked and walked and walked....fortunately we had not taken the time to map out where we were going, which is a fantastic idea when you're in the fourth biggest city in germany (there's some sarcasm there for those may have missed...). My shoes were completely drenched by the time we were back at Bonn. The trip was a success...I came back with a sweet bike and 115 euro less than before. Ouch. I hate looking at that number. That's about a hundred days worth of bread. Why did I write that? *sigh* Man. It's so hard justifying expenses when I have absolutely no income and the dollar is so weak. SO WEAK!!! Fortunately everything is closed till tuesday, so I have nothing to spend money on anyways. I'm going to have to raid the ATM for the first time since I arrived....look out Germany.
So this part of my Koeln experience I've been saving for it's own paragraph. In Koeln is the Koelner Dom, or the Cologne Cathedral. Leading into today, I had hear a lot about, stemming back to freshman year in high school finding it on a map to hearing stories about it and seeing pictures from friends. I found it on Wikipedia after I got back just to check some facts (yes, I consider Wikipedia a decent source ; )). It's one of the largest churches, the largest Gothic Cathedral in Northern Europe, and has the largest choir (architectural, not singing). It took over 600 years to complete, and was the tallest structure in the world till the Washington Monument and Eiffel Tower were erected. So that's all great, but I'd never seen it in person until today. Oh. My. God. Nothing prepared me for just how huge it is....you walk out of the trainstation, look to the left, and BAM! Enormous cathedral. And the architecture is just incredible. So intricate and complicated. And stone. Lots of stone. Apparently it took 14 hits during WWII and didn't take significant damage. The Dom's pretty much a BAMF. Ian and I took some time stroll around inside, and I spent most of the time staring up with my mouth gaping open looking like an idiot, but it was just so impressive...there was so much beautiful stained glass (and this random one that was designed by a computer program...) and vaulted ceilings, and vaulted organs....the pipes were so far off the ground. I didn't take many pictures at all because I just wanted to enjoy the experience, but I will soon be back to Koeln hopefully under sunny skies, and I will be able to show you better what I mean!
However, no good things come without little stories... As I mentioned before, when we arrived in Koeln, it was snowing pretty hard, so naturally I was wearing a hat to ward off the cold. When we stepped into the Dom, the temperature dropped a few degrees...it's like being in a giant stone refrigerator. So i'm walking around staring up, when I noticed that this dude (priest? monk? rektor? dude....) in red robes was approaching me making a casting gesture with his arm and hand. I was totally taken aback, and was curious if he could detect the Reformation in my religious background and was casting me out or what. Not to help things, but everybody here speaks German, so I wasn't sure how a, "Get out my Cathedral" encounter was going to go. The dude approacheth, still casting, and I make a tentative cast back at him with a quizzical expression. He smiles and says to me, "Zieh deine Kopfdecke aus." Which was him telling me to take off my hat. Whew, crisis averted. How come no one ever taught me not to wear a hat in churhc? *cough cough* mom and dad? *cough cough* Kidding...
All right, if you take the time to read this all the way through to the end, I appreciate your commitment to my adventures here. I have much more to right, but I need to go to bed. I need to be ready for some Easter action!
Miss you all....
Cool fountain with a church in the background. Yeah Deutschland!
1 comment:
are you ready for this weekend?? woo!!
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