Catching Up.

December 18,
I am in Gottingen for Christmas. I want to catch up with a few events and photos. As days and lovely things were happening, I thought of great descriptions (they seemed great in my mind, anyway). But, then another another event would occur and I wouldn't find the time to say all that I wanted to. Now is my attempt to at least note things lest they slip from my memory only to be captured by a glance, a smell, a sound, or taste some day in the future.

Reimannstrasse, Goetingen. The Zimmerman family home is here.

Preparing for the Christmas Tree hunt. Sandra and Julius.

Evaluation! Ralph, Gabbie, Stefan, and Julius. Three were chosen. Not from here.


December 5, Sunday.
Marion and I went to the cinema (kino) and saw "Goethe". The film was about his time in Franfurt, trials and tribulations, and first love. The film was in German, but as it was a German/Hollywood production we understood the film without all the nuances of understanding the dialogue. Beautifully filmed, good acting, sad story -- except he becomes a famous novelist at the end. To cheer up we went on the the Weihnacts Markt and drank gluehwein. Sehr Gut.

December 6, Monday.
St Nicholas Tag. Marion, Niang (from Senegal), Mahdi (Togo) and Weina (China then Sweden then Mainz) had a late scrumptous meal in our kitchen. I joined for a while, laughed, and we had our international photos...

Weina, Mahdi, Niang, Marion, me.

Tuesday.

Eva, Mateus, Tobias, Katarina, Neal, Phillipe and.... met by the Dom (catedral) at the Weinachts markt for gluewein, feuerzangen bolle, and then for dinner at a weinbar. Laughter, good conversation. Then, so nice to be able to walk and ride buses home. Many great people in my daily life here.
Torsten

My office

Matteus and Tobias

Meike, the best of assistants.

Eva

Wednesday.
Found out Torsten and Stefan's paper had been accepted as in printable form by Erdkunde and will be published this year. Yay. Good achievement.

Thurs.
Jason Dittmer spent about 12 hours getting to Mainz from London due to the snow. He arrived five minutes before his presentation at 6:00 PM. Great talk on Comics, politics, and nation building. After, he, Stefan, Torsten, Malthe, and Christian (the latter two MA students) went to the great Greek restaurant for supper and a wee tipple...until nearly midnight. Exciting conversations and great fun.

Fri.
Torsten, Stefan, Jason and I hit the Weinachts Markt and then walked around in the oldest part of the city -- built in 1450. Whoa. Like, we're talking a while ago!!!! I love the labarynthan strassen. and the 'wattle-and-daub' houses.
I think that, in part, it is the cold and snow with people bundled and scarved and hooded in contrast to the lights, bright colored gifts and warmth of the gluewein and feuersangen bolle that make Weinachts Markt and this season so special. One of the days as was trudging bundled in about five or six layers of clothes and coats, zipped up over my chin with hat pulled low on my brow, I felt like one the the poor rebellous Bolshevists from Dr. Zhivago. Not the aristocracy, riding in sleighs and warmed by furs.... but definitely one of the masses : ) Of course, I'm in Germany, not Russia....besides, Dr. Zhivago was filmed in Finland, not Russia. Hmmmmm.

The three "wise ......" Stefan, Torsten, Jason.

Jason, me, Torsten, Stefan....and... feuerzangen bolle.

Sat.
Morning shopping for groceries and other necessities in the city center. Home on the bus. Back to city center in search of St. Peters church/cathedral. -- True magic for Christmas or any other time of the year. The church is a majorly Baroque affair. Curves, ornate carvings in gilt, ceiling painted with 'heavenly' figures. Initially the lights were low. The children's choir walked in singing in Latin. The light, high voices and acoustics were perfect. The choir sang traditional songs in Latin, French, (a more modern, less pleasing American piece), and last with German carols. As they sang the lighting in the church became brighter and brighter. The last song as they walked out was Silent Night. It was exquisitely beautiful. Of all carol’s, to me that brings most memories and longings of Christmas.Weina, and two of her friends from China, Susanna – a young German physicist, Marion and her friends from France, and I enjoyed the concert together. After, Susanna, Marion, Blanche, Johann and I went to the Wiehnacts Markt for gluewein and feuerzangen bolle and they to do some gift shopping.

Sunday Johann and Blanche needed to return to France from the Frankfurt airport so Marion and I caught the train with them. Blanche is completing her PhD in biological ecosystems modeling and Johann is a professor of biology and studies microalgae in the coastal ecosystem. Marion and I went on to the Weihnachts Markt in Frankfurt, walked on the iron bridge to see the Main (river) and the skyline of Frankfurt in evening, and listen to musicians. Back at the Markt we had gluewein, feuerzangen bolle and rode the carousel. I think I had not been on a carousel with horses going up and down since I road with Melisa in Disneyland when she was about a year old. So many days of wonderful fun in one week.href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyK-XqyL1UnengdvIEoQFcMPVb-mHFpwacIMgV_qrSA1FwAvuote-PLBpTP09583RSG8cklbMQiOF0NucY7Idl6MlEXV5oluWym5OcYCLuri9wxrW7LooQ8h-0jvdJD3bStiums_q-G8s/s1600/DSC08185.JPG">

Marion, Blanche, and Johann. Mainz train station.

Frankfurt am Main

Marion and great bridge musicians. They were REALLY good.


The gigantic Xmas tree at the Frankfurt Weihnachts Markt. Cut from the forest and later used for firewood.


Marion on her horse on the carousel. She said hers was faster than mine??? I think it was a tie.

The scene.

Plays, Shopping, and Living

Sitting upstairs and eating with a view is delightful.

Weina's choice of 'pig's knuckle'. She said it was delicious.

Yum, yum, yum. My meal of last week and yesterday (and breakfast this morning and possibly lunch).




A little 'addendum' from last week... This small statue displayed in the Museum in the Roman Passage, suggests that the Romans were manly men.

December 5
This morning and the week past.

I step into the dark hallway and press the light switch. Glass-like high pings of music float down the hall as the florescent bulbs wake. Night outside at 6:00 AM. The white of the frozen ground hides in the dark except where exposed by the yellow of streetlamps. All is quiet. Sunday morning. Those not away for the wochenende are resting from a late night and week of hectic activity. After a 10:30 AM cup of glüwein yesterday at the Weihnacht Markt, visiting the Guttenberg Museum while Marion was interviewed by a potential flat-mate near the Dome (cathedral), lunch again at the same restaurant as last week, missing Oxfam because it closes at 2:00 on Saturday, and shopping for a few essentials, we came back to the Sportshaus. Bus 6, from Weisbaden, was late. We, a group of children who had been ice-skating, an elegant grandmother with red hat and scarf and a snow-suited grandson, and an ancient couple waited -- then waited some more. In 30 degree weather with wind (I foolishly hatless) time moves at glacial pace.

The bus, when it came, was full. The automatic door kept closing on us as we tried to get on. We stepped into the midst of the damaged and lame. The vague smell of human waste inadequately cleaned, faces with twisted noses and caved in toothless mouths, wheelchairs with slumped bodies, and happy voices with slurred poorly enunciated words. Others on the bus were standing, avoiding the nearby empty seats. Were they giving space or keeping their distance? The group debouched at the nearest stop to the Weihnacht Markt. The Christmas Market is the center of civic outings this time of the year, action, lights, glüwein, gifts and fun.

At home, rather than lying down in my cozy but isolated room, I sat with Marion and Nur (from Algeria) in the common kitchen.I drank my small pot of coffee in an attempt to quiet my massive headache and enjoyed trying to follow the conversation, mostly in French, between warm, outgoing Nur, an Arabic teacher from Algeria, and Marion. At times, I was able to follow the main flow of conversation; at others, Marion helped in the translations. We talked about teaching, ‘souvenirs’ (memories), the importance of our experiences, and the effects of climate or weather on the way people behave – being outwardly oriented or inwardly oriented. (Environmental determinism, once more, rears its head). Regarding memories, Nur told of a science fiction film where the main character, a very poor man, sold his memories, one by one, as they were all that he had. At the end, he had no memories left. Life, then, had no meaning. So, he committed suicide. How fortunate I am to have such a banquet of souvenirs placed before me each day.

Dec. 3
Everyone leaves the department by about 1:00. At 4:00 I went to the city center for shopping. It is amazingly challenging to carry groceries, new pillow, a bag with a newly purchased longer coat, and backpack onto a completely packed, rush hour bus. People that I bashed in the face with my pillow were most understanding and tolerant. I am so lazy with all the conveniences of an auto at home. So much more isolated though.

Nov. 30
I left immediately after the seminar, walked on my Yak Tracks half a mile, in the dark, in 19º weather, (uphill both ways too : ) to the bus stop. Marion, Weina, and I met at the theatre in the city center at 6:45 so that we could attend ‘My Fair Lady’. We were in the attic seats, furthest from the stage possible. Fortunately this allowed me to stand and sit and stand and sit throughout the performance. The play was performed in German, of course, and, was set in today’s Berlin. Instead of flower girl Liza Dolittle learning ‘proper’ English, punk girl Liza learns ‘hoch Deutche’ – proper German??? The updated version was great with punks, a Pickering who sniffs cocaine, fantastic choreography, and audience participation in the ‘going to the ball’ scene. Liza and Higgins had fantastic voices and had more passion in their parts than in the film. Because Marion and I knew the story and film and music, we could follow the action even though I understood only a word or two spoken. Weina had read a synopsis of the story, so relied on simply enjoying the music and dance. We got home about midnight.