Munich and Oktoberfest

As I was standing on the platform, awaiting a train towards Bammental, this happened:



On Wednesday last week, I left Wintersheim and got to Bammental in the evening, in time for a photo session and feeding time with Gustav.



Why was I going to Bammental in the middle of the week? Early Thursday morning, Tim, Daniel and I left and headed to Bavaria, specifically Munich. Tim had arranged meetings pertaining to MCN work in Munich that also happened to fall in the time of Oktoberfest, sometimes called the world's largest folk festival. My sleeping bag and I were happy to be able to tag along.

We arrived to Munich and promptly walked the 3 or so kilometers from our place of lodging to the Theriesienwiese, where the festival grounds are. Tim's GPS was not needed for the last third of the trip as we just followed the droves of revelers in lederhosen and dirndles. There is a reason why this is called the world's largest folk festival and that is because the three of us were not in the majority of people who were wearing the traditional garb. It was everywhere!

Each of the main Munich breweries sets up a giant tent on the main drag. It was 1 pm and we selected the Spaten tent to find a seat. After walking around for nearly 5 minutes, someone spotted a table with one man sitting at it, so we invited ourselves to give him company. Let's review: giant tent, rows of tables and benches, 1 pm on Thursday, hardly places for three people.



Here's a video of the tent.



As you can see in the picture, in the middle of the tent is a raised stage where an entire band was set up. They played intermittently. They also played a song about every half hour called "Ein Prosete" (my spelling is wrong, I know) where everyone would sing and at the end offer to cheers to one another.

By this time it was 3 pm and we decided to leave and find out what the atmosphere was like in a different tent. Bad idea. We walked into the Augustiner tent and walked around. Then we walked outside and sat in tables set up in front of the tent. Unfortunately it started to rain before we were able to finish. This is a picture, obviously, before it started to rain on our parade.



Most of the next day had been set aside by Tim and Daniel for meetings, so after a lunch of doner kebaps, I bid them farewell for the afternoon and got on the train to go to northern Munich, my destination: Allianz Arena, the home of FC Bayern Munchen and 1860 Munchen. I arrived with no expectation whatsoever. I didn't even know if the stadium would be open. When I got off the U-Bahn and walked to the stadium, there were people walking back to the U-Bahn stop, which was either a good or bad sign. Luckily, there was a gate open and I was able to walk right into the stadium, with the seats barricaded off.

On the train, I had met a guy near my age from London who had the same idea I had. We ended up taking a tour of the stadium in German. Neither of us have had any German education, so we were just along for the visual sights. There were many.

We first went to the corner of the upper deck, which had an absolutely amazing view.



You'll see this place a little later.



Part of the tour included peaking into the FCB dressing room.




Then we were taken into the tunnel the players walk to the field through. Here's that place from earlier in the upper deck.








It was a really fun tour, even if I could only pick out tidbits of info with my limited German.

After touring Allianz Arena, I apparently hadn't gotten my fill of big stadiums, so I hopped on two more trains and went to the Olympia Stadium, home of the terrorist-marred 1972 Summer Olympics. This "self-guided" tour, 2 Euro worth, was mainly just a walk around the top of the stadium. It was all I really needed and had time for. It is always nice, though, to be in the same place where awe-inspiring moments of history have taken place. The architecture was also pretty swell.







Some people chose to go rapelling on the roof of the stadium, then drop (by rope) to the pitch. Not me (too expensive).



On Saturday, the three of us went to a town north of Munich, Freising. In this town is a brewery that makes Huber Weisses beer. Tim's GPS took us to a restaurant where we ordered Huber Beer, Huber Burgers, and Huber Fries. The burger's were excellent and the beer was superb. The fries, though, took the cake, or I guess the potato. First, they brought out a plate for the three of us. When we finished that, they brought out another plate for the three of us. When we finished the second plate, they brought out yet another plate! All you can eat fries, or anything all you can eat, are hard to come by in Europe. We found a place that whenever I'm in the Munich area again, I will be sure to go back to.

I did not get to see everything there is to see in Munich. I will definitely be trying to make it back there sometime. There are many museums and endless parks. The heart of Bavaria, though most times cold and wet, has many memories and many more to be made.

Until next time,
Jon

Harvest and a weekend in Switzerland

Good evening!

Many things have happened since I last wrote here on my blog so I'll try to recount everything of the past week.

On Tuesday of last week, the harvester was finally ready. This is the front of the harvester.



By the time I woke up and made my way down to the breakfast table, Heiko was already out in the vineyards beginning. However, one of the white pieces in the picture broke and he came back to get another. The white, round pieces move back and forth and hit the vines so the clumps of grapes fall off and into a conveyor belt that hauls them up to bins.



I took Heiko back to the vineyards. After he fixed it and it was ready for more harvesting, he asked if I wanted to ride on top. The next few pictures are views from the top while harvesting.





These were the grapes being harvested. The variety is St. Laurent.



My job during harvest has only one thing to do with grapes. I have been cleaning the patio furniture. I scrub with soap and water, then when it's dry I cover it with grape seed oil so it shines nice. Here are some of the chairs.



To see what happens to the grapes after they come from the vineyards, stay tuned for my next blog...


Switzerland

On Friday, I took a half-day of vacation and left after lunch for Switzerland. There I visited Audra, who is another trainee with Intermenno. I also happened to be a year ahead of her at Hesston, so we knew each other before beginning our Intermenno terms. Her placement is outside of Basel, which is where the countries of France, Germany, and Switzerland come together. There, she works on an organic farm and lives the Eschbach's.

I had gotten my train ticket to the Deutsche Bahn Basel station and not the Swiss one, intending to just stay on the train. The Mennonite in me knows a good deal when he sees it. Had I purchased the ticket to Switzerland, I would have paid another 30-40 euro. My plan worked perfectly, because nobody was checking tickets or passports in the short 6 minute ride between stations. No Mom, I did not get arrested at the border, or anywhere, for that matter. I'm still here for another 10 months for something like that to happen. :)

I was picked up at the train station by not only Audra, but also one of the Swiss Intermenno Committee members. Debbie, who is a second grade teacher, was coming over to cook hamburgers for supper. From the train station we went to CO-OP (a Swiss grocery store) to pick things up for the meal. To give you an idea of how big the farm that Audra lives on is, she pointed out some cabbage in the produce section and said that came from the farm.

Friday evening we consumed said hamburgers, which were fantastic. The family did to me what the Dettweiler's need to do, and that's speak German to me. Granted it was very slow, but if it's slow I am able to pick up words and put things together. After the meal, I got out my ukulele, Debbie her guitar, and Andi (the father) his flute. Audra, who was a member of Bel Canto at Hesston, provided great vocals. We did some songs out of the hymnal and some other tunes. Here is a video of "Let It Be."

(A video will appear here when it gets uploaded. It could be tomorrow.)



On Saturday, Audra and I biked down to the train station where we went to Basel for the afternoon. We mainly wandered through the streets and didn't venture into many stores. We walked across the Rhein and took a ferry back. We saw the Rathaus (city hall) as well as an interesting fountain/sculpture. Here some pictures from our adventure into Basel. On the way back, what goes down, must come up.









That evening we went to a fall festival in Audra's city, which was much like a kerwe. The highlight for both of us was freshly pressed apple juice. It was absolutely splendid and extremely good. There was even a too short Alphorn concert. Later that night we went to Debbie's house for more hanging out. Debbie was an IVEPer in Oregon at the Western Mennonite School a couple of years ago.



On Sunday we went to Audra's church, which she said makes up 20% of the Mennonite contingency in Switzerland. It was big with a lot of young people who were really friendly. We also shared communion. After church we went back for a lunch of really good pumpkin soup.

The Eschbach's farm is across the valley from the Bienenberg Bible Institute, where Heidi's parents worked for MCC in the 1970s. You can see it in this picture, just to the left of the tower, the chalet looking building on the hill. This was taken from their backyard.



Andi, Audra's host father, happens to have his Private Pilot Ldicense. Had my train ticket not been for so early in the afternoon, we would have gone for a ride. The plane is based out of EuroAirport, the main airport serving the tri-country Basel area. He did oblige in showing me the sectional charts for Switzerland, which are much more colorful than Kansas' maps. I'm still trying to get my hands on some European charts for wall art in my future living quarters. This is of particular interest to me, since we have a bit more of a say in where our second-term placements are and I would have the option of going to Switzerland. Being at this placement would be quite beneficial, as he flies most anytime the weather is good. Since I am taking a hiatus from flight training to do Intermenno, I would be able to stay in the air and practice teaching, though I wouldn't be able to legally log any hours. Something is better than nothing. Plus, who wouldn't want to fly a plane through the Swiss Alps? I will definitely be visiting Audra again!


I will be going to Oktoberfest with Tim and Daniel, leaving on Thursday morning from Bammental. They will be doing some MCN meetings in Munich and were able to arrange it during Oktoberfest. I'm happy I'll be able to tag along and see what Munich has in store. The weekend after that is already the Intermenno Mid-Term Conference near Kaiserslautern. Time is flying!

Oh, and Hoffenheim is in second place of the Bundesliga tables after five matches played!

Until next time,
Jon

The past week has been spent mainly with more painting of Daniel's jungle gym. It is nearing completion, however we are adding pieces to it to make it more stable. I will post pictures of it once it is actually completed and ready for Daniel to chip the paint.

Other people, like Heiko, have been spending their time getting the grape harvester ready for harvest. The weather here has not been the most optimum for the grapes. The rain gives the grapes too much water, which takes out the sugar, which helps with the fermentation process. A few nights of the past week, it has been too warm, which causes the skin of the grape to shrivel. I went to visit Heiko tonight in the garage to see the process and he said it probably won't be ready until tomorrow night, just in time for harvest.

World War III has not started, however the annual war with the birds has been ongoing for about two weeks. All day, beginning early in the morning before the sun comes up, what sounds like gunshots can be heard echoing through the vineyards. I finally found one of the noisemakers on my last bike ride.



On Friday I trekked down to Bammental for another wonderful weekend with Tim and Heidi. Heidi's parents as well as an uncle and aunt of hers were visiting. They leave on Monday. Because of the amount of visitors, I was left to the living room floor for my bed (mattress and sleeping bag) and getting awakened by Gustav each morning as he was either put onto me or crawled onto my bed. He can now pull himself up to a standing position!

On Saturday, we walked to the train station with our destination being the Wurstmarkt in Bad Durkheim. The Wurstmarkt was celebrating it's 590th year in existence and is known as the largest wine festival in the world. Here's Gustav helping clean the floor of the train on the way:



The forecast for the day was for the rain to taper off early in the afternoon giving way to partly cloudy skies. Alas, the weathermen at KSN in Wichita would be donating a heavy sum of money for failure of their 3-degree-guarantee had they given that forecast. We arrived to Bad Durkheim amid the rain and wind and left later in the afternoon to the same rain and wind. However, we not-so-quickly found an Oktoberfest-like tent and spent most of the afternoon hailing the sparse waitstaff for both food and drink. My half-chicken was worth the wait.

There were many different types of people at this festival, some in traditional German dress...



(when it came time to pay, she would sit down beside you and show off her...assets)
...and some in traditional German dress with their own little flair, I particularly liked the headphones that you can't see:



There were also revelers in the tent which were very entertaining to watch. Here, they are standing on their benches and holding up the table, all while holding a glass and singing and toasting. With as many drinks as they had, the table did not get dropped and their were no casualties.



There was even a cool fountain that I thought Dad would have taken many pictures of. I took one:



When we got back to Bammental that night, everyone was happy to change out of their wet clothes for dry ones. However, I believe Gus was happier to get a bath from Grandma Chris:





Gus was bathing to prepare for a big day that he had today. There was an outdoor church service in a barn a few towns away from Bammental. I believe the service had to do with the sun and sunbeams. The focal point of the service, at least for the Americans there, was the dedication of Gustav. I have no pictures on my camera because I took pictures with Tim and Heidi's camera for them, so stay tuned to their blog. After the dedication, there was a rousing, bilingual rendition of "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands." At the conclusion of the service, there was a BYOM (Bring Your Own Meat) pot-luck meal. It, like the raclette the night before, made me splendidly full. I'm glad I'll be playing soccer three times this week to make up for all the food I consumed this weekend.

All in all, it was a weekend where cups indeed did runneth over.



Until next time,
Jon

This past week seemed to fly quickly by. I don't know if that's a good or bad thing quite yet.

I have been kept busy sanding paint off of Daniel's jungle gym so that it can get repainted.

From Life in another place...

On Friday it was finally ready to get the color green and I got one coat in the morning and another coat in the afternoon. Today I added two coats of blue.

Thursday afternoon we bottled two different kinds of wine. My job was to take bottles off the sanitizer and put them on the belt, where the man in the green pants is at in the photo. Here is the bottling operation.

From Life in another place...

From Life in another place...

From Life in another place...

Here's a picture of me putting bottles into boxes.

From Life in another place...

In the evenings on Tuesday's and Thursday's, I practice with the nearest soccer club, TuS Dorn Durkheim. Saturday they had a match. I did not get to play as I need to register, but I hope to do so soon. The match was back and forth, but in the end it devolved into violence. Two of our players were punched and tackles seemed to not be aimed at the ball but at legs and ankles. One of their players even got ejected, and rightly so. I think my lack of German will actually give me an advantage because I won't be able to understand what players from the other team are yelling in my direction. Dorn Durkheim did end up breaking the 3:3 deadlock and won 4:3.

There is something wrong with a muscle or nerve in my back. An area of my back, just under my left shoulder blade, chooses random times to go numb. It doesn't really hurt but I could see it suddenly turning painful. Hopefully it is something that can be fixed with light massage.

Next weekend I will be meeting Tim, Gus, Heidi, and some of Heidi's family who are visiting, in Bad Durkheim at Wurstmarkt, the worlds largest wine festival. I'll head back to Bammental with them and attend Gus' dedication next Sunday.

In two weeks, I'll be heading down to Basel, Switzerland, to visit a trainee there. Word has it that there is an apple juice festival. Other plans have not yet been made.

On Saturday night after a day full of rain (much like every day), a rainbow came out right at sunset. This picture is from the window of my room.

From Life in another place...

Until next time,
Jon