Tag der Deutschen Einheit!

The title of this blog is the name of the German holiday for reunification after the Berlin Wall fell. The past weekend was a three-day weekend, so Tim and Heidi finally were able to come and visit me here in Wintersheim. They did so on Thursday night. We had zwiebel kuchen (onion cake) and neuewein (new wine). It's a traditional combination. We spent the evening sampling wines and conversing.

On Friday, we followed Heiko out to one of the vineyard's. Tim and Heidi were invited to climb on top of the harvester and take a ride to see how it works. I think they were pleasantly surprised with the opportunity.







I got to hold Gustav while they rode.



After a very quick lunch, all four of us were taken to Alsheim. The three of them were going home and I was headed to the Intermenno Fall Retreat south of Kaiserslautern. Our journey's were the same until Worms and then we were on our separate ways.







I traveled to Enkenbach, where there is another trainee and a committee person, whom I then traveled with by car to the retreat. It was a really refreshing weekend to see people again who we briefly got acquainted with at the opening conference in The Netherlands. It's amazing how for most of the trainees, the only thing other than being a Mennonite that we have in common is that we are doing Intermenno. Some of the people I knew beforehand, but even the people who I have met for a total of 5-6 days, I would feel comfortable visiting them back home. Common bonds are powerful.

The weekend was full of reflections, singing and eating. Friday night, everyone shared about their placements. Saturday morning we heard about how the committee is financed and how much money is actually involved in our experience's here in Europe. In the afternoon, we traveled to the Wissembourg, France, area and toured a Mennonite church as well as the city. We then spent the evening in a restaurant eating flammkuchen, which, though light and thin, was tasty.

Sunday morning, we had our own church service. I helped accompany some of the songs with ukulele. Then we elected a trainee who will attend the committee meetings and be a sort of liaison between the trainees and committee. The other trainees voted me to be that person and I'm glad that I'm able to have this responsibility. I will be traveling to Switzerland next month for my first meeting where second term placements will be assigned. I look forward to this opportunity!

The first weekend of Oktober is now nearing completion. In a previous entry, I had mentioned that time seemed to be flying by. I have determined that this is indeed a good thing. The more work and activities there are to do, the less bored I get and the more active I stay. At the retreat, culture shock and homesickness were discussed in some of the sessions. I don't believe that I have gone through any culture shock, but I did have an experience that could be semi-related to culture shock. I was standing in the kitchen and I just had a feeling that (for now, at least) this really feels like home and is comfortable. That happened sometime in the past two weeks. As for missing home, I think once a person realizes that they won't be in a place "they're used to" for a year, they will go through some sort of homesickness. I do indeed miss people and things at home, but I know that I'll be going back next summer, so I can put it partly out of my mind. Though, when I listen to Dad's band or look at pictures that I brought, I can't help but sigh and wish I was with those people.

Just some of the things I have to look forward to:
Jordan is coming to visit the last weekend of Oktober.
A possible gathering of most of the Bethelonians on Election Night in Wuppertal.
The committee meeting in Switzerland the third weekend of November.

Also, I hope I don't jinx myself, but I amazingly have yet to break a bottle of wine. I have witnessed Heiko break two or three bottles and it's not a big deal if one is broken, but I just want to keep that streak alive, mainly for bragging rights. One will probably break this week now that I said something.

Until next time,
Jon