Naumburg Pictures

All right, here are some of the best pictures from Naumburg and Schulpforte. Click “more” to see them.

Now That I’m Back in Berlin…

…I can post pictures. I’m in the process of uploading my photos to the Flickr site right now – that site can be viewed by clicking the link on the right-hand side of the main page of my blog.

After the wedding yesterday, I went up to the house and wrote the previous post. Then I went back down to the reception and eat dinner. During the dancing, I grabbed my camera and shot a few pictures, since I don’t dance. There are a few good ones of the bride and groom. They took dance classes in school, and are excellent dancers.

When we woke up this morning, we were invited to the wedding breakfast, but only stayed for a few minutes. Miriam and I rode bikes to her grandmother’s house in Naumburg, and spent a few minutes talking there. Then we walked to the train station so I could catch my train back to Berlin. Her train would have left about an hour after mine.

From the window of the train, I grabbed some pictures of other trains for Dad, and some pictures of scenery as well. I got a picture of a river – I mean like a real, wet river, not one of those dry so-called “rivers” we have in Tucson. It has real water!

My next post will have pictures. I’m getting them uploaded to Flickr, so I can’t set up the links and images until after that’s done.

Later tonight, I will go out to a restaurant with Petra and the two new students who will also be living in the flat, Nicholas and Susanna.

Naumburg

This was written at 5:30 pm, Germany time, on August 2, 2008.

Yesterday I rode the ICE from Berlin to Naumburg. Miriam and her dad met me on the platform. Her dad dropped us off in the center of town, and we sat down for coffee and talked for a long time. After that we walked around the town of Naumburg and saw the church and the cute little houses. There were actually 2 houses with signs on them stating that Martin Luther stayed in them while he was alive. After we had seen a lot of the town, we went back to her house and ate dinner, then relaxed and watched a movie before going to bed.

This morning, Miriam’s dad drove us to the boarding school she attended for high school, called Schulpforte, and she showed me all around. It was built as a monastery in the twelfth century. We got to go inside the church and see the architecture. Much of the site had to be restored after the reunification of Germany, but it still looks like it would have in the twelfth century, only without the monks.

We walked around the school for a while, and she told me stories, both of when it was a monastery and of her time there. After that, we took a nice walk through the forest to get to the road where her dad picked us up. We talked for a long time and saw the little spring that runs into the river next to the school.

After returning from Schulpforte, we went to the wedding of two of Miriam’s friends. Unfortunately, I didn’t think I’d feel comfortable taking pictures of people I’d never met before, so I didn’t bring my camera. I wish I had. The church is very pretty. I tried to sing in German, which was a lot easier when the melody was familiar. I think I’m starting to figure out the pronunciation of the language, though. I can pick out an occasional word (usually numbers) from spoken German as well. I really hope that I’ll be able to learn with more efficiency next week, now that I’m used to both the sound of the language and the way the classes work.

It has been such a blessing to spend this time with Miriam, and I’m so thankful for the opportunity. I think we both with it could be longer, but she has final exams to take this week, and I have my German classes in Berlin.

This Weekend

I don’t think I will be able to connect my laptop to the internet all weekend, so I won’t post pictures until I get back to Berlin. Text posts will be few, if at all.

I made it to Naumburg and am having a great time catching up with Miriam and her father and brother. I’ll post more detail when I get back to Berlin.

Language Barrier

I’ve been spending some time with two girls from Spain, and doing so is bringing back the Spanish that I learned in high school. I can pick out a few words from their conversations, and when my response to them only requires one or two words, they sometimes come out in Spanish.

Unfortunately, it’s not Spanish I’m supposed to be learning.

I think I might be starting to get the feel for the way German works. I realized yesterday that my German-English dictionary has tables of irregular verbs so I can look it up if it doesn’t follow the typical conjugation rules. That’ll be helpful, I’m sure.

I think I’m also getting a feel for the afternoon teacher’s style of teaching. She has also gotten more willing to give quick translations in English for basic things, and then allow you to take the concept of the word one step further to use it in a sentence. And if I really don’t understand something, she’ll stop and explain the whole thing in English. This is very helpful, and is a drastic contrast to the morning teacher, who tries to explain herself in German, with lots of hand gestures. Sometimes this works, but it usually serves to make me more confused.

This morning’s classes were better than yesterday. I’m starting to feel like I can understand some sentences, even if I can’t say them myself. (How on earth do you make that sound in your throat…?)

I signed up for the trip to the Stasi-Museum this afternoon, and will bring my camera so I can take pictures. It is entirely possible that I won’t understand a word of what’s going on around me, but we’ll see how it goes.

Tomorrow after class I will be heading to Naumburg to see Miriam!

Train Tickets

I went to the station to buy a train ticket today. There are two tram lines that form an intersection at the street corner where I live, and I had to take the M4, not the M10, which is how I get to school. I took the M4 to Alexanderplatz, which was huge. Alexanderplatz is a stop for at least 4 different tram lines, some bus lines, and at least 4 subway lines as well. Next time I go by there I will have to stop to take some pictures for Dad. I did get a couple of pictures, of the fountain outside, but I was a little concerned because I didn’t know where I was supposed to go so I got distracted by looking lost.

When I found the main station, I still had to find the ticket office. The man at the information counter told me to head down the hall, and it would be on the left. It was, and I had to stand in line for 15 or 20 minutes. This wouldn’t have been so bad if there had been air conditioning. Or even a light breeze. It’s very hot in Berlin right now, and I didn’t think it would bother me. What makes it difficult is that very few places have air conditioning, so unlike Tucson, you can’t just go inside to get away from the heat. In fact, going inside is usually just hotter.

I walked up to the counter and asked if the woman spoke English. She smiled and responded, “Nein”. Fortunately, “ICE ticket from Berlin to Naumburg” made sense to her. We got the date and time figured out, and the return trip, and €78 later, I have my ticket. I leave Friday afternoon and return Sunday around noon. The trip will take about 2 hours.

So when I get there I will be able to spend the weekend with Miriam, getting to know her hometown and spending time with her!

Tonight I think I might go out and explore this area, but I don’t have any real plans. Maybe I should look up a place in my guidebook and see if I can find it. That could be fun.