Farewell, dear Europe

Well, well, well . . . the time has come. Tomorrow morning I head to Luxembourg Airport once again. Tomorrow night (after a very long day of traveling through time), I will be in Idaho Falls, Idaho, USA, which some may still consider a foreign place. I think I'll be enjoying a family cookout with some good food and, best of all, good company.

My little green suitcase and I arrived in Ireland on June 19th. Two months later, I'm all packed up again in Germany. The difference is that now I have a bunch of new experiences under my belt. I've made some lifelong friends, spent quality time with family members, learned more about language, and seen more beauty than I ever knew existed. I am now a more confident traveler and a more well-rounded person in general; I've seen works of art and architecture, heard various languages, tasted many foods, and learned about different ways of living. I think these two months have been successful.

Thank you all, my few faithful followers, for caring about being updated on my life. And thanks for your continued prayers, emails, and nice thoughts (I'm sure they helped me in some way or another). To all who donated money to the cause, thank you. Just kidding . . . but if you'd like to donate money to the cause, just let me know because there's room for it. (That was a joke. Please don't think I'm serious. I am an independent person.)

I don't imagine I'll be doing much blogging from here on out, so if you want to learn about my life, you might be forced to contact me directly. I do have Facebook, a phone, and, well, I think I'm okay to see in person, too.

Much love,
Kendra

Saeubrennerkirmes—Pig burning (20 Aug)

Yesterday Jessica and the kids left for the states, so now it’s just Nathan and I. I was sad to see them go . . . it’s been so fun being with them! ‘Til we meet again . . .

This morning I went on a great 6-mile run through the woods. I finally figured out how many different paths I’ve run on connected. It was my last run in Germany, and it was a good one. Then Nathan and I went to the gym on base. Afterwards we bought groceries at the commissary.

This afternoon we went to the pig fest in Wittlich, the largest, nearest city to tiny Arenrath. This pig fest is an annual festival. It was a great way for me to experience another side of Germany! We arrived right when the parade was starting. There were bands, people dressed as pigs, medieval people, and many other people all carrying wine bottles (hmmmm). There were also vegetarian protesters. Their motto: Meat is murder. Catchy.

The paraders marched to the town square where there was some sort of narration and ceremony where the firemen’s ladder raises a guy up who puts a plant on a statue of Jesus that’s on a church. I didn’t know what was behind all of this besides tradition. After that we got our pig sandwiches—a big hunk of pork in a German hard roll. I even used the German I used from Inga’s sister in Germany to “order” in German. Okay. All I said was “zwei, bitte,” (two, please) and “danke” (thank you). But that’s okay. We were only there for an hour, but our timing was perfect because we saw the parade and ceremony and then we got our pork and jetted out of there. It was a good cultural outing.

Pigs in the parade

Real pigs in the parade (they were on a trailer pulled by a tractor

Fireman climbs the ladder and puts the plant-thing on the statue. Like I said . . . it's tradition.

Waiting for my pig sandwich. The piggy pork preparers at work.

Nathan and I with our pork sandwiches

Ride that pig.

On the rail again (18 August)

My train back didn’t leave until 12:44, so we had a bit of time to kill. Inga and I went to visit her friend from school, who always wanted to meet someone from her mission. We talked for a while. I enjoyed simply getting to meet another local and see how they live. Then Inga and I did a speed-tour of the nearby IKEA, just because I’ve never been in one before. I was impressed. We rushed to a station where we caught a train to the Berlin hauptbanhof, the main train station that I’d be leaving from. While waiting there, she insisted that I get one of the big chewy German pretzels and then we shared a currywurst, a sausage dish that Berlin is famous for. She saw me off at the platform and I was on my way again. 

Inga outside of her apartment at 11 Jupiterstraube

Currywurst: German sausage with curry sauce and powder

It means "I'm a Berliner" and it's on a tube of toothpaste?!

Waiting for the ICE train at the Berlin Hauptbahnhof

I basically read the whole train ride. I finished Robin Hood, read the scriptures and a session of General Conference, then read Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, and started Jane Eyre.

When I changed trains at Koln, I had 50 minutes, so I walked around the city a bit more. I found a pretty church and grabbed a sandwich for dinner. Then I got on the RE train for two and a half more hours of train ride. The contrast between the ICE train (the nice, fast one) and the RE train is interesting. On the ICE train, things are in English, and people speak English. The RE train is more of a local thing, so it helped me feel more one with the people of Germany. When I stepped off the platform in the woods along the stream at the Speicher station, I knew I’d had a fulfilling experience.

Back in Cologne for a few minutes

Beautiful stained glass in a church

Artistic rendering of me reading on the train. Okay actually my self timer made the photo very very blurry.

Overall, my trip to Berlin was great. I’ve always wanted to go there. And what better way than to see Berlin than with a local? It was fun to build our friendship, to hear about others from my mission, and to learn about the less-touristy side of Berlin.

Berlin all day long (17 August)

It was a full, successful day of sightseeing mixed with chocolate and church.

To start the day off right, we went on a walk to a memorial that’s close to Inga’s apartment. It’s a memorial commemorating the last person to be killed while trying to escape to West Germany. This death occurred in 1989, right before the wall came down. Inga told me that her parents remember it well because it happened so near to their house. Then we stopped at a bakery and got some rolls. Oh my goodness: German bread is like heaven. Its wholegrain and full of chunky nuts, seeds, and grains. I wish I would have discovered this sooner!

Monument for Chris Gueffroy

After getting ready, we took the bus to Potsdamerplatz, where we saw the Reichstag (German Parliament building), mauer stucke (pieces of the wall), a Jewish memorial, and the Brandenburger Gate. This gate had been a symbol of freedom when it was built under Freidrich Wilhelm II around 1790. Ironically, during the Cold War it became an icon of the division because it was a part of the wall. Since the fall of the wall, however, it once again represents those freedoms for which it was intended. Around that area of the city we also saw embassies of a whole bunch of countries.

Pieces of the wall

Jewish memorial - it looks just like the Jewish cemeteries outside of Jerusalem

Reichstag

Sitting on Brandenburger (Gate) Tor

Brandenburger Tor

At this point we were in East Berlin. We walked down Unter den Linden, the main street. Just off that street, we went to the Ritter Sport chocolate museum. For those of you who might not know, Ritter Sport is one of the famous chocolate brands that comes out of Germany. I actually purchased my Berlin souvenir there: a chocolate bar! But this isn’t any ol’ chocolate bar: I got to pick three fillings I wanted and I watched them make it. Then they chilled it so it’d set up and 30 minutes later I picked up my personalized chocolate bar.

My chocolate being made

That's a lot of Ritter Sport

Exploring the cocoa bean forest, where I learned about how chocolate is made

We went to Alexanderplatz where we saw the TV tower and world clock. The TV tower was built in the late 1960s by the German Democratic Republic (the communist state) as a symbol of Germany’s strength. 

World clock and TV tower

Then we took a bus back to West Berlin. Along the way, we passed the Berliner dom (Cathedral) and schloss Bellevue (palace where the governing figurehead, the bundesprasident, lives). We arrived at Siegessaule, a tower topped with a gold angel. We climbed 285 steps to the top where we could have a nice view of the city. At that tower we were right in the middle of the Tiergarten—the Central Park of Berlin. It’s huge! I wish we’d had more time to walk through it.

Berliner dom

Schloss Bellevue

Siegessaule

The gold angel was especially gold because her leafing was recently redone

Kinda hot after walking up all those steps on a warm day

Next we took busses back toward Inga’s apartment. Along the way we stopped to get doner kebaps at the best place in town. They were really good!

Good doner

In East Berlin the walk signs are cute little German people! Here you can see all three: green, red, and flashing yellow

That evening we went to Inga’s church for a ward activity. The ward activity was her telling about her mission. She had prepared a slideshow from which she explained what she was doing at Temple Square and told stories. It was all in German, but I had the important role of being in charge of the computer. Afterward, a few of her friends who speak English (at least a little bit) talked to me and it was fun to get to know some new people. Plus, I enjoyed feasting on some German refreshments. This whole activity was a great reminder for me of my mission.

To fit with the theme of the evening, we went back to her apartment and watched “The Errand of Angels.” It was fun to see with someone from my mission! Overall, it was a really great day. The weather was great, for one. But I also got to do and see a lot. My Berlin experience was a success.

To Berlin (16 August)

This was a day of much travel. I went to Berlin to see Sister Inga Binte, a former Temple Square sister. The train rides took about 8 hours, but I didn’t mind. I took the RE train 2 ½ hours to Koln, and from there took the ICE train to Berlin (5 hours). The RE train is the slow one that weaves through the countryside and stops in all the little towns. When I was planning what time I should arrive at the train station and find the right train, Jessica told me not to worry: there was one railroad and one train that would come at my allotted time. So we drove down and stopped outside of a tiny town and—oh—there’s the train station in the woods by the stream. The ICE train, on the other hand, is the nice one that travels 150 km per hour and makes fewer stops. It’s more like riding on an airplane because it has comfy seats, a smooth ride, optional refreshments (if you want to pay), etc.

Enough train talk. This was just my longest train experience ever.

Ritter Sport chocolate advertisement in the train station. Pretty cool.

This just made me laugh. Let's make some nice, hot "shmoes" in the true American tradition!

I arrived in Berlin and met up with Marina, Inga’s sister (who doesn’t really speak English, but understood most of what I said). We took the S-Bahn (above-ground metro) and walked to Inga’s work and met up with her. Afterwards, she had to go home and work on some things, so I went out on my own to the Checkpoint Charlie Musuem.

Back up. When I was looking at what I wanted to do in Berlin, I decided that what I really cared about was discovering the unique history of this city. That is why I chose to go to a museum that explains more about the history of the Berlin wall and highlights various ways people escaped from East Berlin. I heard lots of interesting stories and saw awesome photographs and artifacts. There were suitcases and cars that people had hid in to be smuggled across; there were tunnels built, ropes strung between buildings, etc. It really provided a personal look into that time period. And I gained an insight into human nature as I heard about individuals who sacrificed time and time again to help people cross over to freedom. There were also stories of Soviet guards who didn’t feel good about the wall and would purposely miss when shooting at an escapee. I was also impressed with the artwork there because it highlighted Berliners’ feelings toward the separation.

I walked along where the wall used to be for a bit. The “wall” was actually not just a wall—it was an area of land several meters thick. It included a barbed wire fence, an empty area with security towers in it, and a stone wall. Oftentimes there was also a canal with spiked metal grates that would prevent people from swimming through (although some still managed).

Then I took the metro and a bus to Inga’s apartment. Call me city-girl—I was pretty pleased I made it successfully. Inga has been working on moving into her one-person apartment. It’s most common here for young adults to move completely out and on their own, not keeping one foot at home like I do when I’m at school (or right now when ALL of my stuff except for one suitcase-full is at home). So she was happy to have me because it can get kinda lonely.

Inga works at Dominoes. She got me the best Dominoes pizza I've ever had.

Checkpoint Charlie was on this street (the one I'm standing on to take the picture). 

There are wall markers throughout the city. I just thought my foot could be included as proof that I was there, you know.

In true missionary style, we made plans for the next day and then went to bed at a reasonable hour.