Museum Fest Frankfurt

This weekend I met three new friends (Ben, Caitie, and Taylor), also au pairs who are ALL from different parts of Australia. We visited Frankfurt by a 15 minute train ride (so cheap and efficient) to attend my first German festival. This particular one was Museum Fest, dedicated to all the different museums that Frankfurt has.  The festival was set up on both sides of the Main River. I had my first official bratwurst and got to sample a regional specialty: apple wine or "apfelwine."

Apple wine tastes like a dry apple cider, so to call it wine is only indicative of the process by which it's made.  Production of this thirst-quenching drink dates back to1st Century A.D. to the Romans. It eventually made its way up to the state of Hessen (the region where Frankfurt is located) when a cold winter damaged the vineyard, forcing the wine makers to find an alternative. Apple fields began to spring up all over Hessen and are still widespread today. It is that fervor for success and hard work that makes German culture so interesting to me.

Caitie, Taylor, and I ended up staying in Frankfurt after dark walking around, enjoying the food and drinks and soaking up the live music. At the end of the night, we decided we were ready for a cocktail, found a nice place on the river, and we ordered a Sex on the Beach. We settled down to a table close to the dance floor and began to read the flyers (in German) that were on the table. It was then that we realized we ordered a sex on the beach at a lesbian bar and we all just laughed, shrugged our shoulders, and danced the night away.

Die Welt ist klein

A week and a half is not enough time to get to know a place at all--but it is plenty of time to become completely infatuated. Oberursel looks like your favorite quaint German town with its streets lined in small town bakeries and fine butchers complete with a centered marketplace, cobblestone roads, and traditional timber framing. The walls whisper quietly as you walk slowly, careful not to disturb its quaint charms. You crane your neck to take it all in at once.

Many people think of Germany as the land of sausage and beer, but it is so much more for the foodie's palate. The selection of truffles at my new favorite chocolate shop (Salon du Cacao) are German made and absolutely fantastic. The Riesling actually rivals the Weisen and the bakeries are overflowing with things anyone's grandmother would have made growing up. This place is incredible. And yet everyone (it seems) is beautiful and thin. I wonder if that was a national decision put into law?  In a matter of thirty years, Germany has unified, become globally and regionally unique, and are now the richest country in Europe.

I am taken with the way of life here--the balance of modern and traditional, global and unique, political yet neutral, religious yet private. Germans seem so dedicated to this balance.

Sanctuary

I have been very lonely lately. Sure I have five new family members to keep me company, but they drive me crazy just like my own family. I found myself in my room a lot, being very unlike myself and acting like an introvert.

I never realized that I get bored easily until I moved here. Three days into my stay and I was ready to get out and make friends and meet people, join a sports team, and take up juggling. Ok, maybe not juggling, but I needed to connect with some people, any people.

I noticed an elderly man walking by me as I was window shopping in town today. He walked with such ferocity I decided I had to see where he was going! He walked from the shopping street through the market place, up a gigantic cobblestone hill.  We walked under a narrow archway up to the very top of the hill to the highest point in the city to reveal the city's beautiful yet quiet cathedral. While I was taking in the view, the old man disappeared inside of the church. I waited a few minutes and opened the huge wooden door to the nave and then entered the sanctuary.

I stood on century old stone. The current building had been erected in the 1400s, but religious buildings had stood on the site for over a thousand years. The silence inside was utterly addicting. I could have remained in this depth of mind for days. I was encapsulated. Did I follow this old man or did he lead me? Did he see the desperation in my eyes? The bell tower struck twice, telling me gently that it was time to return home. I got up to exit the church and shot a gentle smile to the old man. He acknowledged me with a nod of his head and closed his eyes in prayer. As cliche as it sounds, found myself much like a new person. The cold rain softly drizzled on me, yet I felt warm as I walked calmly home feeling not quite so alone. I was never really alone after all.

The path to the church...there's my friend, the old man

St. Ursula Church-Oberursel (Taunus)

9 hour flight and I'm feeling fine!

I left the Orlando airport after a three day trip to Disney World with Andrew. To start, we got to the airport and checked my luggage that I had unpacked and re-packed a thousand times to make sure there weren't too many clothes and that it wasn't overweight.  As it turned out, my luggage was 10 pounds too heavy. I said goobye to my curling iron and several pairs of shoes. The kind Lufthansa representative told me to take a few things out and they would re-weigh it. Long story short, my luggage was still to much after two times of re-weighing it.  I broke down and cried like a baby. While Andrew was trying to calm me down, the kind airline lady came over and whispered to me "If you have another bag out in your car, I can allow you another another checked bag free." I transferred some items to another bag and voila! My luggage was accepted.

Andrew and I said our goodbyes before I went through security. The rest of the way to my gate was a breeze. I made my last few American phone calls before boarding.  When I spoke with my mom, she was even more emotional than I was and that put me at ease. I saw the same airline representative that had allowed me the free bag before I boarded the plane. I thanked her excessively and she just smiled. If it hadn't been for her my sweaters and hair dryer never would have made it to Germany.

My flight was fantastic. Lufthansa puts all American airlines to shame. The food was good, the alcohol was free, and economy class was like first. Not to mention they spoke perfect English (mostly because my German is rubbish). The movie selection was limited. I can't believe I admitting this, but I watched the Disney movie "Prom" that is basically like High School Musical without the music. I felt ashamed until I looked over and saw that an old German couple was watching the same movie and laughing hysterically.

When the plane approached landing, I noticed all of the beautiful German towns surrounding Frankfurt. It was already so different from the way the U.S. cities are set up. In America there is the sprawl effect with our big cities making their way out to smaller suburbs and eventually smaller towns. In Germany there are big cities, but then villages. The villages all looked similar with a cathedral in the center of town and a shopping area. The houses extend out from there to form a neat little clumps of towns with scenic forests, hills, and mountains in between. I was already jumping out of my seat with excitement.  Then the stewardess shot me an a panicked look and I calmed down a bit.

I landed and got my luggage and miraculously none of it had been lost. My host dad (Michael) picked me up from the airport. We drove for about fifteen minutes to their house in a charming town called Oberursel. We pulled up to the big yellow house and he said, "we're home." I initially felt panicked. "Home?" I said to myself. Home is 4900 miles away..I am simply visiting. Then I felt comforted and realized I was indeed home, and they made me feel such.

My host mom (Carola) gave me a tour of the house. She already told me what she wanted me to do around the house and what was expected of me. I think my "working" started right when I walked through the door! I have an entire floor of the house to myself. Sure the walls are slanted and I have already bumped my head twice, but it has character.

Now we are waiting for the kids to arrive and then we will all have lunch together. We are having pasta and the weather is beautiful.We visit Bad Homburg tomorrow which is an old spa town that the Romans established long ago.

Must...fight...jet lag. Keep my eyes open. Thank goodness Germans drink coffee!

New home in Oberursel, Germany in the village of Bommersheim

No matter where you go, there you are.

I leave in three days and I have no idea how to feel about it. I have a plethora of mixed emotions ranging from excited to anxious and all the way to hungry (yes, the thought of no American food for a while makes me feel hungry...so sue me). I am surprised that "fearful" and "scared" are not emotions that I feel. This is an adventure I've wanted to pursue for a long time.  Being in a foreign place does not feel foreign to me.

I have a comfortable job at home with a very lovable life, but I don't even feel like a real person some days. I have looked at enough travel guides and watched enough movies in foreign languages to understand that I have a taste for something different than the life I've always known and loved.  I know for a fact I will feel uncomfortable, lonely, and I will be stretched to my limit. My life for the next few months is truly a mystery and wide open. I do not know what to expect and I do not know how it will turn out.  It is the unknown that has always drawn me in. 

That is what I love so much about travel: "No matter where you go, there you are."  No matter how far you go, how much you see, eat, feel, and experience, at the end of the day, you are still with yourself. That implies a lot.

Maybe that's what it is all about for me. Spiritual enlightenment? No. Getting in touch with my inner self? Too deep.  I just want to become the best version of myself and that means learning to live with myself and love myself. 

Until next time friends! Next time I post I will be in Deutschland. Auf Wiedersehen!