Hawk Mountain #4

Friday had come: the day of the plays, perhaps the day of doom. Surprisingly, I was less stressed about the play than I had been before… I couldn’t fix much in this last run through; I had done all I could and now it was up to them. Most of the actors consented to put on their costumes (with one or two exceptions), which was a good sign. Sadly, the rehearsal was one of the worst ones I had ever seen. It seemed like the little kids had all taken an overdose of silly pills for breakfast and the older ones weren’t putting their heart into acting at all. The play dragged on into what seemed like infinity...

Concentrating on forgetting our horrible dress rehearsal, I enjoyed a light lunch and settled down with my cousins to watch our parent’s production of “Marry Poppins.” It was staged in the common room; at scene change my mom (in her constable guise) would come out, announce the next scene and its location, adding a basket of flowers to the table to represent outside, or a sign to represent the bank, or taking both away to give the audience a peek into the Banks family’s home.

A great success – Aunt Albertina’s laugh was absolutely hysterical, as was the constable’s kind English drawl and Katie Nanna’s clipped accents.

George Banks proved to be the picture of an Englishman with his stern orders and stiff manner, his dulcet wife Winnefred at his side (a secret supporter of women’s rights).

Bert (who also played the old Banker) was full of fun, Jane and Michael presented lively childish children, and then of course Mary Poppins: practical, firm, kind and respectable.

As soon as bows had been made, all of my actors decided it was time for a dip. Warning them they would have to get out in ½ an hour I busied myself gathering props and making a master script for the narrator, whose job it was to be sure everything was on stage before the scene began. With much grumbling and annoyance the cast left their wet cool amusement and began to dry off and dress for the play. The audience gathered, and all of the actors were confined to the porch room unless they were required onstage. As director of the play, I introduced the play (Ella Enchanted), then the cast, and blabbed a little about what they were about to see.

For those who are not familiar with the story, I will summarize: the book is a children’s novel based on the Cinderella story but with an odd twist: when Ella (Cinderella) is born she is given a “gift” by the fairy Lucinda: the gift of obedience.

Whenever she is given an order, she must obey it, even if it means hopping on one foot all day or killing someone.

Ella’s mother dies, and her Father remarries;

Dame Olga and her Daughters Hattie and Olive find out about Ella’s “gift” and use it to drive her into submission, working her to the bone and preventing her from seeing her childhood friend Prince Charmont.

When the prince writes her, asking her to marry him, she must refuse, because in marrying him she would put him and the entire country in jeopardy. The Prince’s parents decide it is time for their son to marry, so they hold a ball inviting all the maidens in the land to come and meet the prince.

Ella goes to the ball, disguised with a mask, to say a silent goodbye to her prince; her resolution to remain unnoticed gives way and she dances with Char, who does not recognize her. Hattie, jealous of the attention that Ella is receiving, contrives to pull off her mask, exposing her to the prince. “Marry me Ella” is his plea (an order), which becomes the spark that sets off an inner battle in Ella who finally manages to break the curse. She marries the prince and they live happily ever after.

Well, it was a lot shorter than I thought it would be (I based my guesses off of the rehearsal time) which wasn’t a bad thing at all. Everything went smoothly, and you could even hear the little kids!! We had some wonderful acting!! It was great!

The older cousins discussed the plays, then we went for a quick game of volleyball before dinner. After dinner we were surprised by the Moulder family who came to visit again, this time with 2 luscious chocolate cakes. Let me just remind you, it was Friday evening, and the premiere night for High School Musical 2. Most of us gathered in the screen porch to watch it (I can’t believe I actually did this). My verdict: very weak, but better than the first one. The only disturbance during the movie was a bat flying around the ceiling… after initial screams we just ignored it. For some reason, the parents thought it was too late for night games, so Rachel and I talked for hours instead.

Sunshine on Sat. morning… flurry of packing, pictures, and a video survey of favorite parts of the family reunion. The cars were packed, the keys were found (one at the bottom of the trash can) and returned, and our journey home began. Only 1 ½ weeks left at home, then the REAL adventure would begin…

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Hello Everyone!! I hope you have all seen my blog (comments are extremely welcome), and I want advice from you all: What should I call it? Story of My Life is plain and boring... please send me suggestions!!!!

Hawk Mountain #3

Sitting in the saddle I felt Tucker shift slightly beneath me… I thought back to all the horse books I had read at the age of ten, and tried to sit up straight keeping my heels pointed outward. Golden sunlight caressed us softly as we all trailed after our guide, crossing the road and nudging our horses forward to meet the first hill. My first concern became the simple task of keeping Tucker on the move. The second my attentions wandered, Tucker’s head would reach down to snatch a mouthful of tasty grass. The trick is to pull their heads back up before they get that first taste, because once they’ve had it on their tongues it is much harder to pull them back up and persuade them to continue. This meant I was constantly jerking the reigns upwards. My second concern was to avoid groundhog holes pointed out to us by our guide; although sparse, they presented a viable hazard to both horse and rider.
Despite Tucker’s determination to eat, I glimpsed a Hawk (significant on Hawk Mountain) and wondered at a mother deer with her two fawns as they stared fixedly in our direction. As we closed in, the family bolted, one fawn with its mother, and one in the opposite direction. We were very close – within ten feet or so of the lone fawn which was obviously frantic to return to its mother. Our guide brought us to a complete stop, allowing the fawn to dart directly in front of her horse and into the brush to rejoin its sibling and parent. Leaning back slightly we finished going down the first hill, and began to climb the next one which was covered in queens lace. “When we get to the rock at the top, we’ll take a break” our guide informed us. At the crest of the hill and the aforementioned rock, I knew this was what we had come for. The curving contours of the land touched and melted into the darkening sky; a quiet hush of peace was blowing on the breeze that gently shook the trees and whispered through each waving stalk of grain and grass. Promptly I reached for my camera, even though I felt it would be impossible to capture the real beauty of the place.


A few snapshots later we began our decent down the hill towards the Harry Potter woods. When I talked to my cousins after the ride I found out why it was called the Harry Potter woods: aside from the fact that the forest has many tall old trees in it, the farm had 2 visitors come from NY one year. The lady was clothed in the latest fashion with long painted fingernails and lots of makeup; she was accompanied by her boyfriend, who resembled her in the fact that his dress did not indicate he was going to visit a farm to ride a horse. Halfway through the forest, the lady stopped her horse dead, and refusing to move any further she claimed: “That tree just reached out to touch me.” The guide hastened to assure her that this was impossible, but she was immediately backed up by her boyfriend: “No, if she says she saw a tree reach out to touch her, then it really did happen.” How they actually did reach the end of the trail I don’t know, but ever since the forest became the Harry Potter woods.
The trail was extremely narrow and steep, and the light was dim. I leaned backwards as far as I could to make the decent easier on Tucker. Once or twice Tucker broke into a trot, which I thoroughly enjoyed. All to soon the trees thinned and we broke out onto a meadow. The path was lined with bushes that the horses thought were absolutely delicious. In passing they would chomp down on a stem of the bush and pull on it till it broke, allowing them to enjoy it without interference. All to soon the farm came into sight and we were crossing the road and dismounting our steeds. Back at the B&B we munched oreos dipped in milk and discussed our adventures with the others.


It was growing dark outside, but I was desperate to fit another play practice in. Clearing the stage and calling the cousins I assumed my chair at the foot of the stage to direct and criticize. Well, the run through was complete but not particularly satisfactory. The scene changes took ages, and lines were a problem still for some of the children. The other two major issues were volume and never turning your back to the audience. For the last half of the play we used our only flashlight to dimly illuminate the stage.
When practice was over, I joined in the night games; mission impossible was a universal favorite. I never got caught, but I never won either. The person who was “it” counted to 10 while we all rushed to touch some of the bases and hide. At the end of 10 the counter opened their eyes and named people they saw and their hiding place, which meant they were out and had to wait until the next round to play again. When the person who was “it” had named everyone they could see, the counting would begin again and we would all race to touch some more of the specified bases. Often I was sprawled on the ground because I would either slip on the dewy grass or throw myself down to avoid detection. As soon as you had touched all the bases you had to touch the person who was it to win (all of this without being detected). All to soon Mom came out and told us to come inside… it was apparently “getting late”…
As it is now... I'm headed to a goodbye party for myself...
Love you all, PLEASE WRITE TO ME!!!
Margaret

Hawk Mountain 2

Tuesday morning dawned, adventure was in the air, and so was the lovely aroma of pancakes and bacon. Dishes were washed, cars were packed, and we all zoomed down the road to visit the graves of my grandfather and his family. Instinctively upon arrival we all bent down to clear the graves of 4 years worth of weeds, allowing the day- and tiger lilies that were planted there room to grow. Granny told us about our great-great-grandmother Edna Pearl Murphy, who married Charles Love only after he had signed the pledge never to drink alcohol again. When Edna was pregnant with her third child she found that Charles had been drinking again, and she sent him away, telling him never to come back. He died a few years later, alone in Al Paso, TX.

Returning to the cars I encouraged everyone to study their scripts; when we finally set off I helped the children in my car to do that very thing… it seemed the younger they were, the more enthusiastic they were about rehearsing their lines. It was definitely lunch time when we got to the Amazing Maize Maze, and after a long debate about lunch we decided to grab a snack at the farm before we became hopelessly lost for hours. I thoroughly took advantage of the free popcorn and fudge samples first… the fudge was especially good – peanut butter explosion is like eating a solidified sweet dream.

Uncle Eric divided us into teams; Mari, Rachel, Ellie and I were grouped together, then we had a seniors group, a little kids group, and 2 other teenage groups. The maze was cut for a wild west theme – a cowboy on a horse with a cactus and stuff. After the usual debriefing, each team selected a flag. The one with the scarecrow and pumpkins spoke to me. Stamping the time on our empty map, we began our search for the 12 mailboxes that would provide us with pieces to our map and finally lead us out of the maze. At first, instinct must be your guide and luck must be on your side until you stumble upon a few mailboxes. When a few pieces are in place, you need a good map reader to help you find a route to the rest of the missing map pieces. Our team was quite blessed in this respect – Mari proved to be an excellent map reader; I was a part-time flag holder along with Rachel, and Ellie was the water carrier. We’d bump into the other teams all the time, which was always annoying.

Just as we only had about 3 pieces to go, an announcement was made: Daniel’s team had found the exit to the maze and were going in to find the rest of the pieces. To our dismay, the only way to find the rest of the puzzle pieces was to walk halfway around the maze. Mari drew out our intended course and we set off at a brisk pace. It was extremely hot and humid, the scant shade provided by the tall stalks of corn was far from sufficient to shield us from the blaze. We found the last mailbox, then were forced to navigate back to the other side of the maze to find the exit, which wasn’t as easy as we had hoped… the last puzzle piece was at the exit gate, so it was all guesswork as to where the exit could be. After several failed attempts we did reach the exit, coming in second place with 2hrs 15min. The boys had finished an hour before us and hadn’t even bothered to announce it. The petting zoo, tube slide, cart racing, slingshot range and trampoline provided amusement while we waited for the others. The senior group had gotten to the exit at about the same time as we had, but without completing the entire map, and the kids group followed about ½ hour after that, leaving one teen group still in the maze. A long time and several announcements later, the last group triumphantly left the maze with a completed map.

Well, with all that hunting and wandering, everyone had worked up an appetite. The Shady Maple smorgasbord sounded like just the thing. My favorite part of that was the dessert – ice cream with a million mouthwatering toppings to choose from… by the time I dropped into bed I was already half asleep.

Wednesday was more like a real vacation day… we had the option of going to Leesport auction, or just hanging out at the B&B. I chose to stay because I hoped to get a play practice in, but some of the kids went to the auction and I didn’t have the heart to do anything with only ½ a cast. Costumes took priority, and Rachel, Laura, Cara (my assistant director) and I sorted through the 3 large costume bags to figure out who would be wearing what. Felicia and Sarah immediately tried on their costumes and every other female costume we had set out, eagerly anticipating a dress rehearsal. I spent the rest of the good old day being lazy… lying in the hammock, sketching, talking… doing things I don’t always take time for. Finally the Leesport crew came back and we had our first full run through for the play. Man, it’s hard to keep 17 children within earshot but quiet enough to hear the actors onstage (the stage was a deck coming right off of the side of the pool). Often the actors would come onstage sopping wet from the pool, and push each other into the water before, during, and after their scene was done, regardless if their fellow actors were wearing swimming suits or not.

Thursday was a day of agency…we were allowed to choose from a variety of activities: laser tag, horseback riding, crystal cave or Kempton railroad. Well, there was certainly no question in my mind what I wanted to do… I hadn’t been on the back of a horse for at least 7 years, and I love riding horses. The ride was scheduled for 7pm so we could go up the mountain and watch the sun set. Incredibly I managed to fit a play practice in between all of these activates; didn’t go much better than the first one and I was slowly despairing of the play ever coming together… Daniel backed out several times and made me pretty mad in the process. Most of my day was again spent on talking, enjoying the cool pool water and my beautiful surroundings.

I got into the drivers seat and glanced at the 6 other eager girls in the back. Following my Dad I navigated the back country roads, hoping I wasn’t speeding to much in order to keep up with him. Kindred Spirits Farm came into view, and we were directed to the stables. Nine horses stood tied to the wall, lipping the last few kernels of grain in their buckets, shifting their weight and looking at us. Release papers were signed and helmets donned. One of our 2 guides gave us a quick review on how to mount and manage the horses: left foot up in the stirrup, right hand on the back of the saddle, left hand on the horn. To start, kick the horse in the stomach (most of them were over 20 and therefore dead sided); to stop pull the reigns towards your sternum. To prevent them from stopping to eat grass, give the reigns a quick jerk upwards, otherwise, hold them lose on the horse’s neck. Lastly, we all assumed new names: Mari became Sundance, I became Tucker, Laura became Jessie, Felecia became Mist, Sarah became Skip, Cara became Scout, and Rachel was dubbed Lace.

Hawk Mountain Reunion #1

Okay, so I’ve been kinda silent since Germany. My lame excuse for that is that I’ve not had anything reporting yet. Now this is no longer the case: I just came back from our weeklong Ebeling-Miller-Lee Family reunion on Hawk Mountain here in PA. It was wonderful, of course, but let me start at the beginning…

We all arrived, a few hours later than we had planned, at the beautiful bed and breakfast on Hawk Mountain. First thing (after hugs all around) was to unload the cars… I’m surprised they didn’t overturn considering all of the luggage we had stuffed into the trucks and piled into the car top carrier. Not only had we brought food for a couple of meals, cloths for a week and sports gear for free time, we also lugged half of our kitchen pots, pans, dishes and utensils along with us (although it was a bed and breakfast we didn’t ask for the meal service… meals were all up to us). Luckily, many hands made light work as all 26 of us (minus Andrew the baby who can’t walk yet) made several trips to the common room/kitchen. I found the facilities all to my liking; although there were only 2 burners in the kitchen and no oven, there was a large pool out back with a hammock, lawn chairs and pool toys which more than compensated for that small inconvenience. To add to its virtues, each of the 8 bedrooms were equipped with a private bathroom and a TV. Best of all, I didn’t have to sleep on the floor (which is generally the case in our family reunions); I got to share a bed with Rachel while only 10 of my younger cousins and siblings slept on the floor.

The initial excitement of exploration began to wear off, and it was time to conduct the opening ceremonies. First we had two birthday girls to recognize: Granny and Ellie. After a lusty Happy Birthday song, the winner of the writing contest was announced and awarded a lovely writing kit. Dad read his poem (a late entry and therefore not a candidate for the prize) to help inspire us to really live the theme in the coming reunion: “Rise Above It!”, and tee-shirts sporting 2 giraffes (of Granny’s design – she won the tee-shirt contest) and a “Rise Above It – Ebeling Family Reunion 2007 – Hawk Mountain” logo were distributed. The schedule was explained (wakeup time = 7:30am, followed by scripture study, with another devotional in the evening) with emphasis on the next day. Finally, we were released to relax and enjoy ourselves for the rest of the evening. Some of my braver relatives jumped into the freezing pool, but I was quite comfortable to sit at the poolside and snap pictures of their valor.

Aunt Heather and Uncle Brett put together a luscious “Tex-Mex” salad with beans, chicken, lettuce and spicy Ranch dressing which was quite good. Uncle Eric invited us to all come stargazing since it would be a very good night for it (low humidity, no moon, no clouds plus a meteor shower), so we all grabbed some sweaters, tarps and blankets, piled in the car and drove off to find a field. I was a little apprehensive when my Dad turned into a random field, and I probably had a right to be… Dad said he went to talk to the farmers just as they were getting in a truck to come down and kick us out. When they heard we just wanted to watch the stars, they said we could use the field as long as we didn’t step on the alfalfa that was growing there. Skirting the crunchy plants we made our way up the hill, spread our tarps on the ground and lay gazing at the sky. I prepared myself to be disappointed; I’m not usually lucky enough to glimpse those magic moments of light streaking across the deep blackness of the sky. Gasps, oooo’s and awww’s penetrated the darkness, and I consoled Felecia when we both missed some of the evanescent marvels. Surprisingly, luck was with me and I witnessed 7 falling stars. Just as we were all getting ready to leave we saw the best star of the night – a trail of fire ripping through the veil of night, which then disappeared as all magic must. Back in my cozy room at the B&B I had decided to wait up for Rachel my cousin who was coming after her performance in Upper Darby (she was to arrive at about midnight), but alack, at 12 she was not there, and my weary eyes closed.

Sunday morning dawned, and my brother was up bright and early (about 7:30am) to greet it. Keeping my eyes open at a bare minimum I noticed Rachel had joined me in the night. When it couldn’t be put off any longer I struggled out of bed and dressed for church. Cereal stilled my growling stomach, but during breakfast I learned of some startling accidents that had happened while I was in my blissful state of unconscious sleep. Aunt Rene’ had twisted her ankle badly as she was coming down the stairs and was now hardly able to walk. Heather had fallen down 3 stairs and had toes that were quite black and blue as well. Uncle Eric went into town for a bandage and some pain medicine; when the owner of the B&B heard of our plight he offered to lend us a pair of crutches he had in his attic. Rene’ gladly accepted, Heather was luckily still able to walk. When everyone had breakfasted and everyone was sufficiently mobile, the family (all 26 of us) assembled for a picture. This is quite a long and often painful process, so I will spare you all the details and say that, although it was extremely long and trying I believe we took a few good pictures that are worth keeping…

Hours later than planned (the actual wake-up time was scheduled to be at 7:30am and it was more like 9am) we had a light lunch, then got into the cars to go to church. Quite innocently I decided to go with Rachel in my Uncle Eric’s car. As soon as all the other cars were out of sight, my Uncle manned the wheel, and went in exactly the opposite direction as the other cars. “Bobbies, your grandfather, always used to do it this way” he explained. “He would use the back country roads to get wherever he wanted; as long as he knew the general direction of where he wanted to go, he was always able to get us there.” It made for a rather interesting trip to church. Uncle Eric would see a road, and say “this looks promising” which meant we would take it and find out. When we were lucky he said “that looks tempting,” which meant he would merely slow down a bit to consider the street before moving on. The scenic route was windy, and poor Mari began to feel sick. Time was ticking on, and when we hit a dead end, Aunt Rene’ began to voice some of her concerns. Uncle Eric simply asked us all for a little more faith. True to his word we arrived at church, although much later than the other cars and only seconds before the meeting began.

Admittedly, I was extremely tired and had trouble staying awake during each meeting. By the time the meetings were over and the building was mostly empty it was almost dinner time. Lasagnas were put into the ovens in the church kitchen, and the Ebeling Family Talent Show began. I sang a duet with Dad called “Children Blessed of the Lord” which turned out to be a disaster… we didn’t have a live accompanist, and although I had recorded our accompanist on a CD she played faster than she normally does which Dad and I weren’t ready for. We had some singers, some pianists, a violinist, an organist, a gymnast and a Tai-Kwon-Doist and by that time the glorious smell of lasagna was wafting through the building. With all possible speed tables were erected, chairs were gathered round, and lasagna was served with salad and fresh warm garlic bread. Thorough cleanup ensued, and we went back to the relief society room where we all sang along to some of Granny’s favorite old songs like “Somewhere over the rainbow” and “Climb Every Mountain” with Rachel doing an excellent job on the piano.

Well, whether by fate or coincidence I know not, but I ended up in Uncle Eric’s car again. This time, the scenic roads were robed in darkness. The glowing lights from the B&B appeared as beacons of hope. Apprehensively I went straight to the common room and asked if there were any brownies left over (I knew everyone had been home long before us and was worried they would all be gone), but luckily there were plenty left, and we all had a good share that we enjoyed with some fresh milk. Just the thing to make me slip right off to sleep… (it’s not true that chocolate gives you nightmares).

Monday proved to be an easy day – happily wakeup time was never strictly enforced, and I was usually able to sleep till about 8:30 or 9am, with the small disturbance of my brother John who would always get up at 7am. The day was hot, but I was the director of a play and knew we had to use the day for play practice. Zero motivation from the kids, who hadn’t really learned their lines yet anyway, so we only got through half of it. The pool was extremely cool and inviting, and the older cousins had some intense water battles over the 2 rafts – much fun for everyone. Towards the middle of the day the older girls drifted on the rafts or lay basking in the warm sun, talking or sleeping.

With the early evening came some visitors: representatives of the Molder family (the matron of the home with 2 of her sons, aged 11 and 19) came to call with some chocolate chip cookies. The boys were good additions to our volley ball team, and we enjoyed playing with a stable net, the one drawback to the location being that if the ball was hit too hard it fell into a creek and had to be fished out. Dad had a fire going and the kitchen helpers were called in to help make the stew. Volleyball continued as each Dutch oven full of potatoes, carrots, beef and broth was carefully covered with coals and allowed to cook.

After a wonderful dinner we were allowed to carry on a longstanding Ebeling family reunion tradition: the roasting of marshmallows and the creation of s’mores. For our family home evening we watched slide shows of family pictures and pictures from past reunions – really interesting to see how we’ve all changed.

Alright, more tomorrow, really tired now, to all good night!!

Love,

Margaret

German Letter #8

Saturday morning (2nd of June) at 9:00am the door bell rang. I shoved one last bite of bread down my throat, grabbed my backpack, rushed down the stairs and opened the door. David was waiting for me with his dad and the car. Soon we were speeding off to Arnsberg… we talked a little about Broomall, PA and our high school Marple Newtown… that’s were we had met each other. David had been an exchange student there for ½ a year. I got to know his Dad a little as well. The sun danced off of the many flowers in the garden as we walked up the stairs to the house. Sylvia, David’s sister, was in the side garden, fulfilling her duty as caretaker of an adorable furry rabbit that lived adjoining the house. After a quick introduction to pet and mistress I was ushered into the house where I was warmly greeted by the rest of the family – Martina, David’s other sister, and David’s mother. A table was laid with baskets of baked goods and plates of cheese, meat, and other toppings just waiting to be eaten. We didn’t let them wait very long… I was soon munching on a croissant and getting to know the family.

David proposed to take me on a tour of the city; I checked my backpack to make sure my camera was there, pulled on my shoes, and set off with him to discover Arnsberg. He proved to be a very good tour guide and the city proved to be quaint and charming. The weather was perfect – sunshine with a nice breeze. We visited David’s old elementary school, the Sportplatz, the Ruhr (a river that runs into the Rhein), the church where he was baptized and his parents were married (built in the gothic style, extremely beautiful), the city gate, a white pavilion high on a hill overlooking the city (built as a memorial to a man who loved to hike in the area), his current school (gymnasium), and then we started on the old part of the city. The narrow cobbled streets and white plastered houses supported by dark beams of wood, the city wells, the dungeon, a small fire fighting museum and a larger museum were all wonderfully German. After an ice cream cone came one of the biggest highlights of the tour: the ruin. The ruin was the ruin of a palace that was destroyed in the 13th century… the walls still looked very majestic and it was easy to imagine what splendor must have graced the site so long ago. It was, of course, situated on a hill, and offered another breathtaking view of Arnsberg. This spectacular view was followed by a trip down a very narrow ally way that led to a small grove of trees. In the middle was a stone table with a sword laid in it surrounded by 9 stone chairs. It was a place where knights met in judgment… many were condemned to death in this place David explained. Moving on, we saw the old hospital, another church and a roundabout with a modern art sculpture of brightly colored balls that resembled flowers, marking the transition between the old city and the new city. To finish off the tour David showed me the government building where he had done his Praktikum and the new hospital.

It was getting close to lunch time when we got back to the house… I was soon helping myself to rice, chicken and salad, sitting at the table on the balcony and relishing the fresh breeze. Martina’s boyfriend Jörg dropped in and joined us for lunch, bringing a basket of fresh strawberries to add to the table. When we had all finished the masterpiece was brought out: a strawberry Torte covered in chocolate shavings. Each bite proved to be a heaven of creamy loveliness.

We made some plans for the afternoon: go see the Mövendamm and then play some beach volley ball. The youth piled in the car with Martina at the wheel and we soon arrived at our destination. The dam was huge; we climbed to the top and joked about suicidal falls. The area was peaceful and green… a few people were out walking around with us. We saw some ducks and a cage of parrots on our walk around; when we had seen what there was to see we all got back into the car and headed for the Sportplatz. A game was going on when we got there… by the time we had removed our shoes and socks they were ready for us to join them. Martina and I joined one team while Sylvia, David and Jörg joined the other. I met a few of the players that were already on the field and the game began. It was just plain fun – it was a few hours later when I realized how long we had been playing. The girls took a break to chat while the guys played a faster game. It was twilight when we brushed the sand off our feet and headed back to the car.

Back at the house evening bread was waiting for us. Lively conversation lasted long after everyone had finished. It was about 10pm when I insisted on taking a group picture and gathered my things to leave. Hugs all around, and David, his father and I all climbed into the car. The drive was smooth, and soon I was standing at the apartment door, waving at the car disappearing down the street.

Sunday morning I was slightly behind, rushing around to get the things together that I was going to give people as goodbye gifts. In the end Angela, the stroller and I sprinted to the bus stop only to watch the bus drive off without us. We walked all the way to church, which wasn’t as bad as I thought. Angela and I had a good talk on the way, and when we arrived I slipped into relief society just as they were about to begin. Minutes after the opening song and prayer another lady slipped in to sit beside me. Turns out she was Nathan Northrup’s mom that had come to visit for Giulianna’s baptism. I tried to translate the lesson for her as best I could, but it was difficult, especially when I had to translate the comments of the different sisters, which are given at top speed. Somehow I muddled my way through. Sunday school an elder offered to translate, so I was off the hook for a while. I was asked to give the opening prayer for sacrament meeting, and the bishop had asked me to give my testimony as well, so I sat on the stand with 4 missionaries who were going to be transferred. When that was all done I returned to my seat, but noticed that the Northrups didn’t have anyone translating for them, so I moved across the chapel and sat down in the row behind them and translated the rest of the meeting. It seemed easier that time – maybe it was because I had gotten that little bit of practice, maybe it was because the speakers weren’t talking as fast.

After the meeting I handed out some American specialties to members of the ward and tried to say goodbye to everyone. I couldn’t believe the time had gone by so quickly and that I wouldn’t be seeing these people again for a long time. All to soon Nathan told me they were leaving, so left with them. At the house I ate some delicious food and discussed the afternoon plans with Giovanna. They were going to see the opera Carmen and I wanted to go with them… I just needed to get a ticket. Cara, Nathan’s sister who is about my age, had a bad soar throat and wasn’t sure if she was going to make it there so we thought if she didn’t go I could use hers. Luckily, Cara was up to the opera, so I went early with Nathan to see about a ticket. When I got to the ticket office the lady told me there was a couple who were trying to sell a ticket, but that there were no other tickets left. I found the couple and bought the ticket which turned out to be in the first row (1st row is really the 3rd row; the first two rows are A and B and aren’t that good because you have to look up a little to see. Row number 1, the row I was sitting in, is perfect). The music was fantastic. My goal is to someday sing all of Carmen’s arias.

Giovanna and Cara dropped me off at Angela’s again… I said a painful goodbye and waved at the car until it too disappeared. The rest of the evening I spent getting ready for the next couple of days… typing up letters and catching up. I tried to get to bed early… wasn’t really successful, but better than normal…

6am the alarm rang. Somehow I broke the invisible cords that held me to the bed, dressed and got some breakfast. The bus took me to Rudolfstrasse, near the church, and I set out to cover the rest of the way on foot. I had my camera out and took plenty of pictures as the memories of so many mornings like this came flooding back. The whole walk took about ½ hr and was all uphill, but I hardly noticed. Almost reverently I reached the wooden doors of the Waldorf school and pulled them open. Two girls were sitting with their backs to the light at the window… I slowly approached and finally recognized two of my former class mates. Their reactions were ones of mild surprise… Anja had changed the most of the two… her hair was a bright orange instead of black, and she had added several earrings and other piercings that were a little disturbing, but she was still nice and we chatted a little. Jakoba showed up next and was a little more excited to see me. Soon I saw Mrs. Ploch open the door. I got up and started towards her. She had seen another one of her students and was talking to them, but then she turned to look at me. 3 seconds went by as she scanned my face, then she exclaimed “Margaret!” and hugged me very tightly. I was amazed at how much strength the spry old lady had in her. She looked at me again and told me how happy she was to see me. This was accompanied with another hug… we talked a little and she invited me to come and visit her class later on.

After I agreed, I returned to the window sill. Jakoba asked me if I was going to come with them to class; I assented and we walked up the stairs to the 11th grade class room.

Mr. Gaertner who was doing the history unit didn’t remember me, but allowed me to join the class. Slowly all of my old class mates began to trickle in… it was so fun to watch each of their reactions. Christian came and shook my hand, Gina, Adina and Lara all said hello, Vanessa yelled “Margaret!” and swept me into a bear hug… eventually class began and it was really boring since they were just discussing a test. At 9:00 I left to go and visit Mrs. Ploch’s 3rd grade class. I knocked softly and Mrs. Ploch opened the door. A chair was waiting for me in the front and center of the class room. First I was asked to tell the children a little about myself, then I answered their questions. Finally, Mrs. Ploch asked me if I would teach them a short song that they could sing to remember me with. Racking my brain, I came up with “Why Doth Not My Goose Sing When I Pay Twice as Much as Thine” which is a round that I learned when I was really little. Mrs. Ploch wrote down the words and we sang it a couple of times together. The children were getting a little restless, and Mrs. Ploch said she would need to give her full attention to the class now, thanked me for coming, and had the children bid me goodbye.

I wandered down the stairs to the main hall, not sure where to go or what to do. I saw a woman walking towards the teacher’s room, and thought I knew who it was. Running across the hall I reached the teacher’s room just as the door closed. Breathless I knocked and waited. 2 seconds later the door opened, and I knew I had been right. It was Mrs. Berning, my favorite teacher. She stared at me a couple of seconds before she said “Margaret? You’re already a young woman!” I hugged her, and was very touched as she wiped her eyes a couple of times. She asked after the family and my life and we were soon talking… I asked if I could come and visit her class, and she said her class next period was rather wild, and that she would recommend a different one. I promised I would drop by sometime during the day, then the bell rang and the “big” recess began.

After talking with Niclas, Florian, Christian and Arndt-Helge a while I went out back to the recess yard. Laura’s class mates recognized me and so did Daniel’s, so I took pictures and promised to say hi to my siblings from them when I got back. I saw Mrs. Jung, Laura’s old eurythmie teacher, and talked with her a while. After break I followed some of my class mates to the art room on the 3rd floor of the school… I got out some paints and painted a little while I talked and listened to the many conversations going on around me. My picture was horrible, but I had fun.

It was time for my visit to Handarbeit (needlework), Mrs. Berning’s class. I got there just as Mrs. Berning was dismissing the 2nd grade. We talked for a good ½ hr and she had to wipe her eyes again a few times. By the time we were got back to the teacher’s room Vanessa was just walking out, done with school for the day. I walked with her to the bus stop and discussed a meeting with her for the next day.

Eventually our ways parted… I said goodbye and made my way to the Schwebebahn. First I got off at Landgericht to stop at Wal-mart for some German chocolate and DVDs. The chocolate was not hard to find, and I got the DVD Cars for the family. Back on the Schwebebahn I rode to the Hauptbahnhof and spent about an hour window shopping through the city. Around 3:45 I went to the bookshop at City Arkaden and browsed a bit waiting for Laura. I saw her, ran to meet her and hugged her. We sat at a small table in the bookshop and talked for a while. I told her I had been very bad about getting her a birthday/Christmas present and that I wanted to get her something now. She looked pleased, and we went straight over to the books to have a look. After a careful review of the broad selection she picked a book and I bought it for her. We were both a little hungry, so we went in search of a bakery… I got a roll with broiled cheese on top, and we sat down on a bench and talked some more. Before I knew it, it was time for her to leave. A long goodbye was said, and she went down the tunnel to catch her train while I went up the stairs to my bus stop.

The bus was waiting for me, and I thankfully sank into a vacant seat. Exhaustion would be the word I would use to describe my state as I entered Angela’s apartment, but I felt the day was still young (it was only 6pm) and my time was so short, I should try and do some more. I called up the Erstfeld’s who had asked me to dinner on Sunday (I hadn’t been able to make it because of the opera), and asked them if I could come over for family home evening that evening instead. They agreed, and I ran back to the bus stop to catch the next bus. I did, just barely, and got to Rudolfstrasse without mishap. I found their house, but as I looked at the names on the doorbells I couldn’t find theirs. I remembered they had moved not to far away, but I didn’t know where. Give up now when I had already come all this way? Not an option. Remembering the bishop’s house was near here somewhere as well I set off down the street. Of course, I had only been to the Bishop’s house once, so I wasn’t exactly sure where they lived either. The first street I tried was wrong… I walked all the way down it and knew it couldn’t be the one I was looking for. Praying fervently I tried the next street, and knew it was the right one… I was soon ringing the door bell.

Ainoah was looking out the window, and I asked her to come down and let me in. She took me to the garden where her mother was playing with Annahi, Elijah and Naomi. Sis. Klimpel told me how to get to the Erstfelds, then took me up to their apartment to show me how nice it looked after it had been remodeled. They had bought the neighboring apartment, and it was really nice – very modern and spacious. I bid a hurried goodbye and jogged down the street to the Erstfeld’s house. Up 4 flights of stairs again… I was panting when I got to the top. Nadien led me to the kitchen where the lesson was in progress. After the lesson we played skippo and ate a few cookies, and it was time for me to go.

Tuesday morning I spent packing… around 11:15 I got to school and talked to a few more teachers and people… I saw Mrs. Sandner and Mrs. Heck and Mrs. Wille and a few other familiar faces. 11th graders had gym, so I joined them there and played a game of badminton with Vanessa. I had a few hours till I was going to meet Vanessa in the city and she wanted to go home to eat lunch in between, so I started to walk home. I walked all the way so it took abt. an hour… I ate a little lunch, took a 15 min. rest, got my things together and left for the movie theater. I met Vanessa and we talked while we waited for the movie to start. My next appointment was at 5pm, so I left a little early… I reached the house just as 3 of the Elders were entering. There were a lot of people in a small space, but it was extremely entertaining… 5 elders, 5 German Northrups, 3 American Northrups and me. Taco salad was the menu for the day… it was of course delicious. After a balloon fight the elders left and I got to know Cara a little better. To finish up the evening we sang happy birthday to Nathan’s Aunt Sue who showed up with her son after the elders were gone… I have never seen such a pretty cake in my life. It tasted just as good as it looked too. Last goodbyes were said… I got in the car and left.

5am arrived. This time it felt like the cords that tied me to the bed had 100lb weights strapped to their ends to keep me down. Somehow I managed… Angela made me some food to take for the plane ride. Daniella showed up at 6am. My two heavy suitcases were loaded into the trunk. Angela got one last hug. I got in shotgun and waved as we drove down the street. I still couldn’t believe that it was over… how could 3 ½ weeks go by so fast? The airport got there way to soon. Daniella helped me get a luggage cart and gave me the very last German hug I was going to get in a long time. Sighing, I pushed the cart through the doors to the airport. It was a relief to get rid of the gigantic suitcases. At security I was stopped because Angela had packed 2 juice boxes for me in my lunch and liquids aren’t allowed, but the delay was very short. I had plenty of time when I got to the gate, so I took out Les Misrables. When 10am finally came I was seated at a window seat watching Düsseldorf slowly disappear below me. My heart strings were being pulled… I could feel some of them tearing a little. A sad epiphany: I realized how much I loved this country and how much I would miss it and the people that lived there.

At Frankfurth I power walked across the entire airport, got through security, found my gate and sat down to wait. I watched the news reports and realized that it was the G8 summit in Germany that day… that explained the extra passport control in the airport earlier in the morning. The flight to Newark was extremely full – this time I sat next to an older couple (Americans) and actually talked with the lady. They were apparently from NJ and were returning from a European tour they had taken. The flight was alright… the plane was old and the ceiling shook a little at take off and landing, but otherwise everything was fine. I enjoyed 3 of my 4 salami sandwiches and a muffin, and inwardly thanked Angela for her thoughtfulness (the airplane turkey patty with noodles was pretty disgusting). I had been talking to all the stewardesses in German (I could tell they were German and I wanted to practice till the last second), so when they came around handing out sheets for customs they gave me one in German. I filled it out, but was unsure if I needed to count chocolate as food. The stewardess told me not to and that I didn’t need to worry about it, but I felt a little uneasy anyway.

Passport control was smooth, and I went to the baggage claim to pick up my suitcases. Standing close to the conveyer belt I was carefully scanning each bag that came by when I realized a dog was sniffing at my bag. I followed the dog’s leash to the hand that was holding it, and from the hand my eyes traveled to the face. It was some kind of police officer. He asked me if I had any meat with me, maybe some ham on a sandwich. I remembered that last salami sandwich, cringed inwardly, and said I though I had a leftover sandwich with some meat on it. The officer wasn’t done… he asked if I had any fruit with me, like an apple or something like that. Strike 2… I still had an apple in my bag, so I told him about it. Taking my customs sheet he wrote “Ham sandwich and apple” in huge green letters and told me to show it to the control person as I left. Trying really hard not to think about what would happen when I showed the customs person my sheet, I lugged my bags towards the long line and gazed at the glowing exit sign. My turn came… as I searched for the customs sheet I nonchalantly said I had a ham sandwich and an apple to declare. I was immediately directed to a different line… luckily it wasn’t to long. All of my bags were scanned again, and I was worried what they would say about all the chocolate that was stowed in there. A health official with bright blue gloves came and went through my carryon, found the offending lunch and disposed of it properly, then I was allowed to leave.

Relief and triumph swept over me when I saw my dear mother waiting for me in the arrival hall. I had done it! I had proven that I could live independently in a different country and return safe and sound! Home was welcome… I unpacked the chocolate and showed my family the pictures I had taken on my trip. At the end of the evening I gratefully sank into bed and knew this was only the beginning... of something...

Well, summer's started, hope you all have a wonderful summer and that you enjoyed my emails...

Catch y'all later!

Margaret

German Letter #7

Monday morning was typical Wuppertal weather… clouds and steady rain. I got myself some cereal, grabbed some empanadas for lunch and headed out into the blustery day. I was going to see Laura Fröhlingsdorf who had wanted to take a little memory trim with me around Wuppertal. We were going to visit my old school and house and stuff… there wasn’t much else to do because everything is closed on holidays.

I found the correct platform for the train Laura was in and waited. I realized I had forgotten my camera and chided myself. The train was pulling up in the distance. Staring down the track I watched it come closer. Suddenly, a green jacket caught my eye. When I saw the face of the woman I was surprised and puzzled. I was soon hugging Mrs. Fröhlingsdorf, and listening to some sad news. Laura had gotten the flu last night and was sick in bed. She invited me to come drink some coffee with her and I gladly accepted.

The bakery was warm and the smell of fresh bread wafted throughout the cozy room. A chocolate croissant began calling my name. It jumped onto my tray, and was soon joined by a steaming mug of coco. Turns out neither of us really drank coffee; Mrs. Fröhlingsdorf got an apple juice and a cheese filled croissant. We sat and chatted for a good ½ hour. The rain was still streaming down as we got into the car. Mrs. Fröhlingsdorf dropped me off at the Northurp's and left. The rest off the day I helped Giovanna get the house ready for her in-laws. We moved Giulianna’s bed to the master bed room, set up a tent for the kids, hung a bar over a doorway to hang cloths on and vacuumed.

After lunch I had a chance to work on my power point presentation for senior project. At abt. 5:30 Judith came and dinner preparations began in earnest. By the time the elders arrived there was a beautiful zucchini tomato sauce bubbling on the stove next to a pot of curly noodles. The kids went completely wild. There was much laughter and fun that evening. Peach cobbler topped it off perfectly. After a game of chess under Giulianna’s rules and a monkey game for Marco the missionaries had to leave. When I finally went to bed I fell asleep right away.e as yesterday. I pulled out my umbrella and set off for work. I was a little nervous about my new mentor Manuela Kredt, but my doubts had no foundation. She was very nice and her directions were easy to follow. I soon had the binding chemical and silvery pasted ready to work on the next day. I had a lot of extra time that I didn’t really know what to do with.

At about 3:00 Mr. Willems came up and reminded me I was going to visit them that night. I had sort of forgotten about that. I told him I was pretty much done, so any time he was ready I would go with him. He took me to his office and proposed to teach me a little statistics while he waited for Mr. Barrere for a short meeting. I was dying of boredom so I agreed. Before long Mr. Barrere showed up and they discussed some things for abt. 20 min. After another 15 min. of statistics to finish up the lesson I went to get my stuff from my locker. He first dropped me off at the Northrup's to pack an overnight bag. I stuffed some cloths in my backpack, wrote a hasty not to Giovanna and sprinted back down the 4 flights of stairs. Tuesday morning the weather was the sam

Although we did encounter a little traffic, the ride went smoothly. At the house Mr. Willems (Tonnie) let his daughter Johanna open the door and introduced me again to the twins Johanna and Laura (after 2 years they had forgotten me). They were a little shy at first, but by the time we all piled back into the car to make a trip to the grocery store we were talking a little. By the time we were in the parking lot they both were holding my hands.

Dinner was absolutely German “evening bread.” I realized the relished the realness of the dense, dark grainy bread. Two pieces filled me up… I had just enough room for the fresh strawberries we all enjoyed for dessert. Laura obviously had a cold… after dinner her parents took her temperature and she had a fever as well. I could see she was tired, but not to tired to miss her bed time story. Both girls picked a book and we snuggled on the bed to read them. “Time for bed!” Tonnie called. Laura went to sleep within 5 min., but Johanna stayed up to listen to the English CD and show me her forward rolls.

Eventually Tonnie shut the door and took me downstairs for a tour of the back yard. It was absolutely gigantic for German standards and even a good size for an American back yard. My favorite part was the large cherry tree that towered majestically in the middle of the yard. Tonnie showed me the extensive improvements he had made and was going to make on the house. Extensive isn’t an understatement – one of his projects included ripping down the entire stair case and building a new one. He told me he loved doing this and said his best ideas for DuPont usually came to him as he was working on the house.

It was pretty cold, and we soon retreated to the living room. His wife Claudia suggested we play a game; my opinion was called for and I decided on the vulture game. After a few rounds Tonnie broke out some cookies and we played triangles (like dominos except you have to match 2 sides instead of 1). At one point I had 7, Tonnie had 3 and his wife had 2 pieces left. However, the game turned in my favor and I was the first to lay my last piece. Sleep was overtaking me as I washed my face, brushed my teeth and slid into my JPL’s. The bed in the play room was soft and the blanket warm.

When I next opened my eyes I was a little surprised to see it was 7:30am. Laura and Johanna had both come to wake me up. By the time I was dressed and ready to go the family was just finishing breakfast. Two slices of German bread were provided for me, as well as a bowl of strawberries. After breakfast Tonnie explained everything would run a little differently today since Laura was still running a fever. We would bring Johanna to kindergarten and watch Laura at home while Claudia went to work. When she came back we would leave for DuPont. I didn’t have a problem with that. I was anticipating another day of sparse occupation anyway. After Tonnie called into work to let people know what was going on, Johanna got on her bike, Laura took my hand and we all set off for Kindergarten.

Despite the gloomy weather forecast the sun was shining and a cold wind was blowing. Johanna parked her bike next to the steps and led the way into the bustling entrance hall. She showed me her hook for her jacket, then Laura showed me me hers. After Tonnie had finished talking to the teachers he took Laura’s other hand and led us back to the house. Laura settled herself on the couch and put on a Connie CD. I took a quick shower, then joined her in the living room and attempted to read. I couldn’t’ concentrate with the CD going on in the background so I eventually gave up and played store with Laura. At abt. 100 Claudia came home; I gave Laura one last hug, accepted a picture she had drawn for me and left.

I felt kind of bad about going directly to eat lunch, so after I was dressed I went up to the lab. Manuela wasn’t there. I eventually asked Mr. Weick if I could go eat lunch and his answer was the same as ever: you don’t need to ask me, just tell me where you’re going. Lunch was only so so. The Broccoli was mushy and tasted like it had been soaked or boiled for weeks. I treated myself to some ice cream and made my way back to the lab. Manuela was ready for me. I finished making my silver paint – it wasn’t tricky at all. I’ve found out I prefer working with smaller amounts of chemicals more that the large amounts required for reactors. Colors make it more interesting as well.

The day was far from over when I left work. The bus took me to Oberbarmen where I caught the schwebebahn to the broadcast of the YW general conference. I had of course already seen it. I tried to organize my move to Sister Eller’s house. Daniella agreed to pick up my baggage and take me to her house after mutual. I knew I still had a few things scattered about that I needed to pack, so I left after the 1st talk was over. About 20 min. after I arrived at the Northrups’s house I was standing on the bus stop again. The activity was over when I got back to the church but I was able to attend another hilarious English class… we had a story that we changed by replacing some of the nouns and pronouns with ones we had made up. Instead of Goldilocks and the 3 bears, the story was about Edeltraud and the 3 anacondas.

Anyway, everyone left except me. I waited for what seemed like forever, then Daniella finally drove up. Around 10 pm I arrived and Angela’s house. I received a literally warm welcome in the form of 6 small pizzas. Surprisingly I was able to polish them all off in a jiffy. After a chat with Angela we started to plan the week… it looks alarmingly full but full of fun, so it’s okay. She drew me a small map to use to get to the bus stop, then said good night. After a shower I snuggled into my warm covers and determined to make the 6 hours of sleep I would have count for 8.

Well, the sun came to rouse me from my bed. Tiptoeing around I got ready for the day and grabbed an apple for breakfast. Cold rain met my face as I shut the door behind me. The bus stop was easy to find. I entered the 622 and carefully listened for my stop. When I got to Wichlinghausen I realized my connecting bus should be there that very min. I ran to the bus stop and sure enough, the 646 was waiting... Panting I sprang through the doors just as they were closing. It took me a few min. to catch my breath. When I finally did I looked up and stared at the stops. Some thing was nagging me at the back of my brain. I figured it out just before the bus pulled up to Oberbarmen. I was going the wrong direction. As we pulled up I saw the 646 for the right direction waiting gat the stop I started praying really hard and made a dash for the bus. Wonder of wonders, miracle of miracles, I slipped in the doors in the nick of time.

I made it to work on time but it didn’t really seem to matter, because Manuela comes later. There were a few more things to do today. Manuela explained that usually the painting and testing process takes at least 3 months but that we were going to speed it up so that I would be able to finish by tomorrow. First thing we had to do was measure the viscosity and the ph value of the paint. To measure the viscosity, paint is pouredinto a bowl that is set in a tripod. The bowl has a little hole in the bottom that is stopped with a small ball on a stick. The instant you take the ball out you start the stop watch. When the steady flow of paint stops you stop the stop watch and enter the time into an excel sheet that uses the information you give it to calculate the viscosity and Festkoerperzahl. Manuela had to add a little extra viscalex to thicken the paint. The ph value was tested using what looked like a thermometer. This too had to be slightly altered, so a little DEMA was added to the mixture.

My next job was to prepare 2 metal plates for painting. First they needed to be sanded. Ear protection was provided in the form of yellow ear plugs… I admit I needed an explanation on how to use them. Sanding was easy… the machine that I used looked a lot like a vacuum cleaner; in fact, there was a vacuum cleaner attached to the sander to collect excess dust. The sander was a round attatchment on the vacuum cleaner; a fresh sheet of sandpaper was lightly pressed on top and the plait was secured on a magnetic board. Manuela carefully guided the machine over the plate, and soon handed the hose over to me. Nothing to it. Although our dear friend the vacuum cleaner had gotten most of the dust off, the plate was wiped with a chemical to get rid of any dirt or oils left on the surface.

A low humming filled my ears as we entered the painting stalls. I donned my trusty gas mask and ear plugs and watched Manuela do the first one. It didn’t look hard… she placed the metal plate on a magnetic bar that spanned the stall and poured some paint into the spray gun. “Even smooth strokes” I told myself as I watched her coat the surface and pull off a perfect plate. A little tentative I took the spray gun and aimed just above the plate like she told me. Manuela nodded and I pushed the nozzle. After about 10 seconds Manuela’s hands closed over mine, guiding them as we slowly worked our way down the metal. The alien mask came off and Manuela inspected my work. “Yours has a slightly thicker coat than mine, but that shouldn’t matter” came the verdict. Each metal sheet was carefully placed on a rack to dry, and I went to get some lunch. Upon my return I mixed the clear paint that I would need for my sheet. The dry silver sheets were waiting for us, shining dully. I’m not a natural talent at the painting job… Manuela again stepped in to help me. Both glistening pieces of metal were again placed on a sheet and baked for an hour.

I had an appointment with Erika Rehnart after work, so I walked up that long hill to the 635 bus stop. Slightly out of breath, I reached the top and stared down the street waiting for that worthy vehicle to come along. Finally the bus came into view, the doors opened, and it rumbled along to the main train station. The CE64 was just leaving the bus stop as I reached the top of the stairs. To console myself and make the 20 min. wait go by more quickly I grabbed a chocolate croissant at the bakery and munched on that for a while.

When the bus finally came I climbed aboard and eagerly watched the many familiar sights fly by. I was ready to get out however when Kohlfurther Bruecke came along. Unsure as to where the house was I wandered around a bit taking pictures. The numbers on the houses weren’t making sense to me for some reason so I asked a passer by where the number was. He told to try up the street, so I did. Sure enough, I found number 14 and was soon pushing the door open and greeting Erika in a sunny light colored room. She had some food all ready – “Geschnezeltes” (a mixture of cooked vegetables) with chicken and potatoes.

I soon got her talking on one of her favorite subjects: the house. Apparently there had been some huge problems during their move… the largest of which was a huge snow storm on their moving day which made it impossible for them to vacate their old apartment in time. Their landlady had taken no consideration of this fact, and took the matter to court. It took about a year to get everything straightened out, but they had finally come off clean. I got a quick tour: the whole apartment was very beautiful, tastefully decorated and full of light.

We moved onto Erika’s next favorite subject: her garden. A spacious grassy lawn spread out before us as we toured the vegetable and flower beds. We sat at the table and chatted some more; I relaxed and listened to the birds, drinking in the peace of the garden. Among other things, I told her about my visit with Mrs. Stahl, our old neighbor who lived alone. Erika immediately suggested that she go and talk to Mrs. Stahl to offer her some help if she should ever need it. I felt really good about that… I had been feeling a little uneasy about her.

It was already 7:00 by the time we retired to the living room to enjoy a scrumptious bowl of strawberries with creamy pudding. Brother Rehnart came home from work and we talked a little more. It was time for me to go… I still had one more day of work to survive. Sis. Rehnart offered to take me by my old house since I didn’t have a chance to take pictures last time (I had forgotten my camera). Cautiously navigating the street that was about the width of the car we made our way to the house. After a few snapshots Erika suggested we stop by Frau Stahl’s to let her know that Erika would be willing to help her and to ask her if we could turn around in her driveway. The blinds were down, an ominous sign. Rrrrring! I waited for the doorbell to take effect. Frau Stahl opened the door, scolded me for not calling her, invited us in, and got some cookies from the cupboard. She couldn’t remember Erika who had taken her once to our farewell party 2 years ago, but when she learned of her good intentions, Mrs. Stahl gladly accepted Erika’s phone number. The visit went pretty long. Last goodbyes were hard… although she tried to keep her emotions in check, I glanced a tear that almost fell down the old lady’s cheek. A gentle hug and a fervent wave, and she disappeared from sight.

Sis. Seute, who lived just up the hill, had asked me to call her sometime on Thursday, but Erika and I hadn’t been able to reach her. We decided to drive by her house as well. The sun was almost gone when we reached the top of the hill… turns out Sis. Seute had wanted to invite me to go window shopping with her the next afternoon. I agreed readily. Sis. Seute then took Erika to her garden… Erika had wanted some more plants to fill in some spots in hers. The ladies discussed cucumber plants while I took snapshots of the brilliant flowers that filled the beds. Well, make a long story short, it was about 11pm when I crawled into bed at Angela’s, and after that moment I knew no more…

Until the alarm clock rang at 5:30am. Somehow I forced myself out of bed and set out for my last day of work. First thing I did was give Mr. Weick and Manuela a packet of Merci chocolates with a card I had made the night before (yeah, I’m not sure how I did that at that point in my exhaustion). Manuela took me to do some tests on my metal sheet from the day before… we did a “stone hit” test where the sheet was bombarded with small pieces of gravel, a “Gitterschnit” cut (bar cut) with a roller tool with that was equipped with several blades, an image clarity test to test the shine of the coating, and finally an Erichson boil to test the elasticity of the paint. My last practical job was appropriately from Mr. Weick. He gave me a thick honey-like material and told me we needed the Festkoerper. There was only a little twist: it had to be thinned with xylol first and there would be three samples instead of two. I weighed in the tablets, but this time they also had paper clips in them. I then weighed about 1 g of the thick stuff into each, adding 1 ml of xylol and mixing it with the bent paper clip. Half an hour in the oven, and the results came out nicely.

Lunch came and went and it was time for my talk with Mr. Weick and his boss Mr. Barerre. We sat down at a round table in Mr. Frieberg’s office; Mr. Weick did most of the talking and went through my whole “praktikum” report with me that would be centralized in Dupont’s records for future use. Overall it was very good and we were both pleased with the outcome. He thinks I would be qualified to do the work of a Lacklaborantin, and said I was punctual, contact friendly and interested and focused among other things. I took the report with me, said a last goodbye, gathered my things from my desk, cleaned out my locker, and went to building 206 where I had begun. Mrs. Walden was waiting for me. She asked me how I liked the work, if I felt I had gotten to do enough practical things, and if there was anything else she could do for me. She said I would get a Praktikum certificate in the mail. I asked if she could send me some pictures I could use in my report and she said she would be happy to do that. One last search through my spacious lab pockets, and I handed in the lab coat, the protective shoes and glasses.

I couldn’t believe it was over. I walked up the same hill I had walked up the day before, and still couldn’t believe it. It was sad… 3 weeks were already over. I would leave, and perhaps never see the people I had met again. Life went on anyway… the bus took me to the train station, and I went to city arkaden to wander through the book shop. At 4:00 Sis. Seute came. She proposed Chinese food and I was more than ready to agree it was time for food. I ordered some noodles, she got some duck and we talked about our families. City Arkaden was our first target. Browsing was our watchword… we walked through many stores… Bonjour Briggitte was hard to leave… a jewelry store full of sparkling shining splendor. I allowed her to buy me a small ring for 3 Euro. When we walked by the shoe shop she saw some colorful rubber shoes she wanted to try on… they were extremely expensive, so I proposed to send her some from the States. She wouldn’t agree. I wanted to take a look at the sandal section, so we wandered over. I tried on several pair, just for fun (they were out of my price range: ~50Euro). Before I knew it she offered to buy me a pair. I admit I was sorely tempted, but I knew I couldn’t accept that large of a gift. She was disappointed, but I was glad in the end I didn’t let her get them for me. Time for some refreshment: ice cream. Spaghetti ice cream was on my list of must-have-while-I’m-in-Germany list, so it took me 2 seconds to make up my mind despite the alluring variety on the colorful menu. A forest berry yogurt was just the thing for Sis. Seute. We finished the day by looking for some family gifts... I found
a Chronicles of Narnia CD in German and Sis. Seute got the family a DVD. It
was late when I got home.

German Letter #5

Last night Giovanna made my favorite meal – melanesa – and we watched “The Kid”. I was really tired when we got done. In the morning at work Mr. Weick said we were going to throw away my latex that I had made the day before (it is no good since I didn’t have the 2nd phase done) and he would show me how to clean everything. Tomorrow I am going to try it again and plan my time better so everything is ready when I need it. It’s kind of sad throwing away my first latex; it just doesn’t seem right for some reason. Well, first I had to pour the white liquid into a plastic container and label it. The empty basin was rinsed with water that was not poured back into the sink (it got poured into the metal barrel). I took everything into the washing room and got my gas mask and rubber gloves on. Mr. Weick explained things quickly and left me to do the dirty work. I put a little water into the bowl, then added a cleaning liquid (scheuer Milch), armed myself with a steel wool sponge and began scrubbing. It didn’t take me long to finish the bowl. When I thought it was clean I dipped it in ethanol and set it on a rack to dry. The lid was easy too. I only had the stirrer left, and I expected to be done within 5 min. I was so wrong. I stood there and scrubbed. And scrubbed. And scrubbed. I covered the whole thing in soap and the resin still wouldn’t come off. It was at least ½ hr before I was satisfied with the result. Just as I finished Mr. Weick came in ad said he thought I had gotten lost.

I had a little trouble getting the gas mask off. My thumbs ached. I washed my hands and went for my well earned breakfast break. Filters were waiting for my capable hands when I got back. It didn’t take me long to cut a whole bag of them. Mr. Weick came over after lunch and gave me 20 pages of theory to look over and try to learn. I did my best, and there were some illustrations that helped. I then did my dry set up for tomorrow, weighed my first ingredients and tried to write a schedule for when I needed to add what (I have a recipe but it’s kind of confusing to read. I went to YW where we played board games… I came home and now I’m exhausted.

TTFN, love and miss you all,

A very tired

Margaret

German Letter #6

Yeah, well I’ve been busy… that’s my only excuse for not writing just now. I’m afraid I don’t have much time to catch you all up either, so please forgive me if this isn’t as descriptive as usual. I stopped writing on Wed, so I’ll start with Thurs. Work went really well… I remade the resin and everything went perfectly. The gas mask has lost its glamor… it is just annoying now because it messes up my hair every time I wear it. My mentor was impressed at how on fire I was about getting things done. I was even a little ahead of schedule most of the time. I felt pretty confident when I left. Thursday evening was quiet… to be honest I don’t really remember what happened. Friday at work I did the analysis for my resin (ME02) and both the Festkörper and the Säurezahl conformed with the regulations that are laid down by the government and company. It looked just beautiful, like thick shiny milk. I filtered the resin and then washed the reactor parts again. I worked on the stirrer for another 45 min., but I couldn’t get it completely clean. Luckily Mr. Weick said it was just fine the way it was, so I quit.

In the evening Judith and Nathalie came over to the Northrups – Nathalie could only stay a little while, because she was going to see Pirates of the Caribbean 3. We watched the movies we had made together (as a church Young Womens group) when I was still living in Germany… we have all changed so much. My stomach ached from the bouts of hysterical laughter that exploded in the room. After Nathalie left Judith went to bed, but Giovanna and I stayed up to watch Pride and Prejudice starring Kiera Knightly and I-forget-his-name… I wasn’t in bed until 2:30 am. The morning dawned; I felt glued to my mattress and very heavy. Eventually I did gather enough will power to leave my repose and begin the day.

As I was eating some cereal the phone rang. It was Maria Büscher, who had talked to me last week about getting together sometime. She told me that Cornelia Gerlach, a girl I had known from the Colonge ward, was having a wedding reception today and that everyone was invited to come. We talked about transportation, and decided the best way to do it would be for me to take the train to Cologne, attend the reception, then go back with them to their house. After we spent some time together they would take me back to Wuppertal. I was a little nervous about taking the train. Maria looked up the schedule online and told me which trains I had to take.

I gathered my things and at one o’clock set off for the train station. I got on the train – it was a Regional Bahn, a double decker, and the quietest form of transportation I have ever used (I had forgotten how quiet it was). I read a little of Les Misrables to pass the time (I love that book!!). The only disturbing thing was that there were 3 drunk people in our car that were really disgusting… they had their bottles of bier out in the open. They would burp really loud and long and then laugh. Their speech was slightly slurred. They had two dogs with them and each of the travelers carried a huge camping backpack. Well, I’m just not really used to that. Anyway… I got off at the main train station in colongne and found the way to the correct platform. Just as I stepped onto the platform I saw my train leave. I had to wait ½ hr. for the next one, which would make me pretty late to the reception.

Finally the train did come. Chorweiler was announced, so I exited the s-bahn and looked around for trolly 15. I couldn’t find it anywhere. Maria had said that Chorweiler was really within walking distance of the church, but since I didn’t know how to get to the church I should take the 15 one stop to Heimersdorf so I could get to Forststraße where the church was. I went to a Kiosk, a small shop where they sell magazines and candy, and asked the old lady at the counter if she knew where Forststrasse was. She couldn’t speak very good German, but she understood what I wanted. She called a random guy over and asked him if he knew where Forststrasse was. He didn’t so he went over to ask his buddy. No luck there either, so the lady at the counter asked another customer, but his answer was a negative.

I figured my best chance was to use the cell phone the Northrups had lent me (thank goodness) to call Maria and ask her what I should do. I must have sounded a little scared, because they immediately offered to come and pick me up, an offer that I couldn’t refuse. I was in the middle of a pedestrian zone though, so I walked quickly to find a street that they could find on their GPS. The first one I came to was extremely small… it was called Osloer Strasse. Brother Büscher assured me he would be able to find it, and told me to wait where I was. I got a call a few min. later – the street was to small to be on the GPS… was there another more major street close by? I walked a ways down the small road and I did finally hit a bigger one: Athener Ring. Brother Büscher said he was already very close to the spot, and that it would only take a few min. for him to get there. I waited patiently, and got another call. He couldn’t find me apparently, even though he was on Athener Ring. He asked if there were any other streets intersecting with Athener Ring and I found one. Relief swept over me as I saw his car pull up. I hopped in and we arrived at the church within 5 min.

Cornelia looked simply gorgeous in her white dress with a misty veil and silver tiara. Her husband seemed to be very sweet… he is from Switzerland, and most of his family was there at the reception. I found a few people that I knew from Colonge there… some of them recognized me, some of them didn’t. It was so good to talk to each of them and catch up on their lives. The Gerlachs had a short program prepared with games for the young couple to play and pictures for us to see. The cake was scrumptious. We were some of the last ones there. Quick goodbyes were said, then Maria, Jörg, Elisabeth and I all got into the car and headed for Ikea.

What is Ikea? Ikea is where most of the Germans buy furniture and accessories for their houses. You can find almost anything there… it’s almost like a mix of Bed Bath and Beyond and Home Depot; the Bueschers needed some things for their new home in Solingen. Anyway, by the time we got to their house I was starved. Their house looks absolutely fabulous (minus the chaos in every room)… I had the impression that it was spacious and cozy. We ordered pizza… to my surprise they had me order a whole normal sized pizza for myself… I got one with broccoli, onions and chicken, and it was simply out of this world. I couldn’t eat the whole thing, but Maria explained that they like leftovers so she doesn’t have to cook as much. At 11pm they took me home. I was falling asleep on the way, even though there was a thunderstorm going on in the background. I was in bed by midnight and was out in 2 seconds.

Today has been pretty nice, but I’m still tired… it’s already really late, but I’ll keep writing since it’s a holiday tomorrow (Pentecost). We (the Northrups and I) were a little rushed getting out the door for church this morning, but we did make it just on time. Again I enjoyed just seeing people again, taking pictures and talking a lot. This evening Nathan made empanadas for dinner and I tried to write this letter. Well, now I’m done… I need some sleep, so till next time

Love,

Margaret