Mainz, Jan 2nd

I feel like I left a part of my heart in Göttingen. For two weeks I have been included in a remarkable family, cared for, accepted, and treated unbelievably generously. Being with Stefan’s family brought back the very best of memories of Christmas times from childhood throughout my life. What an incredible gift I have been given in this, my 63rd year of life.

I have staked out a seat here in the dining car on the train to Frankfurt. This is where people unable to make reservations try to find a seat. We pass through tunnels and small towns. A wonderful thing is that most people look a bit disheveled. I guess in winter it is difficult to look otherwise. The seats are red velvet with small grey patterns sprinkled in. In this bistro section, there are five two men and five boys or young men seated across from me. At my table a man with character, thin, grey, bearded and longish hair under an olive cap. He wears a wool sweater in purples pinks white greys browns black and drinks a huge bottle of apfel juice. A man and his two sons stand eating at a table near the counter. He drinking beer, they Pepsi. The eleven or twelve year old wears an Avatar t-shirt. Across from me a Frenchman and son (the son part African?) watch and listen to something on the computer. A young man in blue with fashionably bleached black jeans sits on his red duffle bag and talks on his cell phone.

We have left most of the sunshine behind and I look out on snow-covered fields, rolling hills, villages, church towers, interspersed with bare deciduous tree.

You can buy 6 Nürnberger Rostbratwürstchen mit Brot fur 4.90 euro or mit Kartoffelsalat fur 7.10 euro.

It is a little strange to be riding through a frozen German countryside while intermittently reading “Culture Shock: Morocco”. It is totally weird to think that in a couple of days, should all go well, that I will be in northern Africa…Melisa, Zach and babies, in Hawaii, Tianna in New York. How strange life is becoming. I would never have dreamed these things possible as a child, or teenage, young adult, or even when in my 30s. I wonder what other adventures await? Lots with ups and downs I am sure.

I ate so many wonderful breads and meats in Göttingen. I think it has been years since I have eaten and drank so much and such a marvelous variety of things as in the past two weeks. Many kinds of würst and Schinken und Brot -- not to mention soja pudding.

I realized, being around Stefan and Sandra and family, how lovely their generally positive attitude is.


I am back at the Wischmann Haus after going up and down unnecessary stairs with all my luggage in the Frankfurt train station, getting off one stop too soon before Mainz and having to wait a half hour on the platform for the next train, and then, in Mainz, having the taxi driver misunderstand my directions and take me to near Grohnheim (sp) before I got him to turn around : ) He was very nice about it. I think I need to pack extremely light for Marrakech.

Welcome 2011

I walked on parts of Goettingen's Wall today. On the way I wandered through a graveyard with the newest stones from the early 1800s. The stones were moss and lichen covered, worn, and snow capped amid leafless trees. Dickensian? Not really as their was a playground across the path and a few adults and kids sledding down the slope from the Wall. It is strange walking on a wall built for fortification starting in the 15th century, give or take a hundred years. In some places the wall is about four stories above the city in others a mere one story. In some places you can see the rock fortification, not just the hillock. There is a linde tree planted in 1765 and held together with metal rods across the inside of the trunk and cables in the branches. The tree is near the Leine (channel/river)and the house Bismark lived in from 1832-33. The house is rock and rises straight from the Leine. It used to be part of the fortifications, a watchtower, definitely not square. There is a church with a youth center next to it. I thought perhaps the youth center was an abandoned building as it is covered in great graffiti. One piece said, Ich bin keine Hippie. Ich bin nur schmutzig. I'm not a hippie, I'm only dirty. Great graffiti colors contrast with the grey of stone and monochromatic winter day.

Last night we had fondue, drank wine, set off fireworks for Julius. Oma Kaeta came out without a jacket to watch and Sandra watched from the upstairs window. Julius was so excited. At midnight I got so excited because it appeared that the entire population of Goettingen set off rockets. I've only seen organized fireworks on a large scale. Here, everyone buys rockets and go into the street and set them off at the stroke of twelve. Lights and colors and explosions everywhere you look. Combined with the champagne, couldn't have been more fun. Oma Kaeta came up to celebrate the beginning of 2011 with us. Later, Ralf and Gabbie came from their friends and we had another tipple. Toppled into bed at 3:00. I can't remember when I have ever had such an adventurous New Years Eve --- since maybe I was 23 or 24..... Bodes well for the coming year.