My Dad Came to Visit!

Hi everyone!

I finally have something to write about, and something wonderful.  My dad was able to come visit from March 27 through April 5, and we had a great time.

Jesse and I were already in Berlin on the 27th, since it was the end of the Fulbright Berlin Conference, so we were able to pick Dad up from the airport when he got in.  (If you want to read more about the conference, you can do so at my teaching blog here: http://teachingloecknitz.blogspot.de.)  After we picked Dad up from Berlin Tegel, we took a bus to the Hauptbahnhof, ate some Pizza Hut, and then began the 1 1/2-hour trip back to Löcknitz.

When we got there, Dad unloaded some presents he had brought for us, including several packages of Peeps and some homemade bread from my grandma!  We also called grandma and grandpa quick on Google Voice to let them know Dad made it safely.  Then we all crashed for the night.

Grandma bread!

The next day I took Jesse and Dad to school with me to the American Culture group I started a couple weeks ago.  I had advertised that my dad was coming, and twice as many students ended up coming, so we had a full house!  I had prepared a slide show about the different regions in the United States, an overview of the climate, nature, industry, and, of course, the food, and I made a few extra slides about Nebraska and Wisconsin.  When I got to these slides, I had Jesse talk about Nebraska a bit and Dad talked about Wisconsin.  I think they both had a fun time, and it was great for my students to get to talk to real Americans (other than me!) and be able to ask them questions.  One student even asked my dad if he was a teacher, because he has a loud, clear voice.

The rest of the day we just walked around Löcknitz and hung out.

The next day was Saturday, and we decided to take a day trip across the border to Stettin, Poland.  In Stettin there are red dashes on the sidewalk that you can follow and they will take you to all the historical sites, so that is what we did.  We walked along the trail and saw, among other sites, the Pomeranian Dukes' Castle and the house where Catherine the Great was born.

Sunday was a lazy day.  We spent most of the time hanging out at our place.  I also tutored a girl I had met with a few times before for an hour or so.  Late in the afternoon, we got out and took a walk up to the fortress and enjoyed the beautiful spring weather.  We also stopped by Cafe Traum and had some of their absolutely amazing cake.

On Monday, March 31, I took Jesse and Dad to school with me again.  This time the principal of the school gave us all a tour.  Dad said it was nice to see where I worked, since you don't really get a sense of what it is like just by talking about it.  The tour ended in the music room, where Dad serenaded us on the piano.

We then took a quick walk to the lake before going back to the fortress and took the narrow, winding staircase to the top, where we had a great view of Löcknitz and the surrounding countryside.

That evening, our friend Eva picked us up and took her to her grandparents' house for an authentic German meal.  We ate Kohlrouladen (cabbage rolls) and Salzkartoffeln (salty potatoes) with homemade chocolate pudding for dessert.  It was wonderful, and we even got to talk to her grandparents a bit about what life was like living in East Germany.  They spoke openly with us over a couple glasses of beer and some chocolates to top it all off, and we left feeling happy and full.

On Tuesday I went to school for a little bit to meet with my group of 7th graders.  When the bell rang, indicating the end of my 20 minutes with these students, I hurried out the door and ran down the street to meet Jesse and Dad at the train station.  I made it just in time for us to catch the 1:23 train to Berlin.

When we got there, we made our way to our hotel, checked in, and then ran out right away to do some sightseeing.  I gave Dad a brief walking tour of Berlin, from Alexanderplatz to Unter den Linden and the Brandenburger Tor to Friedrichstrasse, where we stopped to get a bite to eat at the Tex-Mex Cantina.  We then hopped a train to Potsdamer Platz.  I had just finished telling Dad the story of when Jesse came to visit me during my months abroad in Berlin and we randomly walked into a movie premiere at Potsdamer Platz and, lo and behold, Jesse, Dad, and I found ourselves right in the middle of the Germany premiere of Divergent.  What a day.

On Wednesday after a nice brunch at the Sixties Diner, we went to the Berlin Wall Memorial by Bernauer Strasse, since Dad was interested in seeing the wall and learning more about the history.  I hadn't been to this memorial since I studied in Berlin, and I had forgotten how much I liked it.  The memorial shows the space that was No Man's Land and there is a memorial church, the Chapel of Reconciliation, which is lovely.  We also went over to the Holocaust Memorial and then to Checkpoint Charlie.  On the way to Checkpoint Charlie I spied the chocolate store Fassbender & Rausch, which I had heard of and had been wanting to visit.  We walked around drooling over the chocolate models of Berlin monuments (at least I was drooling) and I ended up buying a small tin filled with chocolates.

Our day took a turn when we got back to our hotel and discovered that Dad's flight home had been cancelled due to pilot strikes at Lufthansa.  After several phone calls and a trip to Saturn to buy more cell phone minutes, Dad finally got a new flight arranged for two days later, on Saturday.  We also had to book a new hotel, since I couldn't get the same deal for two more nights that I had gotten for the first two nights!

So Thursday was the day we switched hotels.  We then took a walk down to the Kaiser Wilhelm Gedaechniskirche, which was devastated during the war and has since been turned into a nice memorial, and we went to KaDeWe, or Kaufhaus des Westens, a high-end, multi-level department store.  Jesse nearly fell to his knees with joy when we spied the American section, which included a whole shelf of taco seasonings, and I considered buying a 10 Euro box of Poptarts, but managed to restrain myself.  We did end up buying one package of taco seasoning and a box of microwave popcorn, and I can now say I have bought something at KaDeWe.

 That night Jesse and I saw the new Captain America movie at Potsdamer Platz, and after the movie we decided to walk home, a three mile-or-so trek.  Meanwhile, Dad grabbed some Subway for dinner and a Flurry at McDonalds for dessert  and relaxed a bit in the hotel room.

On our final full day in Berlin, we walked down to the Zoologischer Garten station and bought some Bratwuerste for brunch.  We then bought a day ticket and spent some time travelling around Berlin and looking at the places I lived when I spent my time abroad.  We first went and saw the apartment I lived in with my host family, and then we saw the student housing I eventually moved into.  Across the street from this apartment is an outlet store that sells candy, chocolate, chips, etc., where Dad was able to buy some tasty souvenirs for grandma and grandpa.

When we went to Checkpoint Charlie a few days before, Dad had spied a Domino's Pizza.  I had no idea that Domino's existed in Germany, but it meant that we needed to order Domino's for dinner at least once.  On our last night in Berlin, we ordered a couple pizzas and hung out in our hotel room.

The next day, April 5, Dad flew out from Berlin Tegel to catch a connecting flight in Munich before finally landing in Chicago... and getting in his car and driving up to De Pere.  It was a long day of travel for him, but he made it safely.

As you can probably tell, I have so many awesome memories from this trip, and I am so grateful that my dad was able to come visit me and take a glimpse at my life in Löcknitz.  Thank you, Dad!  Hopefully you had as amazing of a time as I did!

Until next time,
Amy

Burgers in Germany and Pizza in Poland

Hi everyone,

Amy here!  Jesse and I haven't written for a month exactly, and I just wanted to write a short post to update you on what is new in our lives here in Löcknitz.  Or at least write about two events that were fun for us, since not much is actually new.

On February 27 Jesse and I went with our friends to a town called Torgelow to eat at Joe's Burger, a place that everyone had been talking about.  The burgers were pretty good, the best we've had since we came to Germany, and it was so much fun hanging out with the friends we've made.

Then last Saturday Jesse and I hopped on a train headed towards Stettin, or Szczecin, Poland, which happens to be the last stop on the eastbound train out of Löcknitz.  We walked around, checked out the scenery, found a mall with a movie theater (for future reference), ate Pizza Hut, reveled in the glory of American-style pizza, and then headed back to Germany.

Well hopefully you had fun reading this quick post about our adventures!

Until next time,
Amy

Winter Break

Hi everyone,

For the past two weeks, I have been on my winter break.  I love the way the schools here divide up their breaks.  I feel like I just got back from Christmas break, and here I am with no school again.

Jesse and I didn't do anything spectacular over break.  Even so, I wanted to share with you what I have been up to lately.

Our break started with a quick trip to Berlin to hang out with our friends Sydney and Peter and watch the Super Bowl.  We started out at Belushi's, which was one of my regular haunts when I studied abroad in Berlin, but we ended up just going back to Sydney and Peter's apartment, since the bar was so crowded, and watching the game there.  Jesse and I were also able to grab some Mexican food at the Tex-Mex Cantina that weekend.  Ahhh, yes.

Then on Febaruary 4th it was my 25th birthday.  I realized that I celebrated my 20th birthday in Berlin and now I celebrated my 25th birthday in Germany, so I will have to be back for my 30th.

On my birthday we went to a friend's apartment in Pasewalk, a nearby town, where they had prepared a beautiful table for me with flowers, cake, champagne, and presents.  Eva, Julian, Maika, Andy, Jesse, and I also played some video games and ate a delicious dinner.  I also got to play with Eva and Julian's baby, Marta.  It doesn't get much better than that.  Eva even called a friend of hers who is a hairdresser and she came over and gave Jesse and I free haircuts!  It was a fabulous day.

A couple days later, we hopped on a train with Eva and Julian and took a day trip to Neubrandenburg.  I wanted to sign up for the library there, since they have an eLibrary, so I could check out books from a distance.  After finally located the library, we got that done.  We then went and ate burgers and did some shopping.  Jesse found a sweater and I found a couple cute shirts and a pair of jeans.  The jeans were a little long, so after we got back to Pasewalk, Eva took us to her mother's alterations shop, and she quickly hemmed my pants.

This week, Jesse and I took the bus to another nearby town, Brüssow, so I could get something taken care of at the bank there.  We also grabbed some lunch, and then we had some time to spare before catching the next bus, so we decided to walk around the lake.  It was such a nice day and it was a very nice walk.

Then, of course, we celebrated Valentine's Day by spending the entire day together.  We first went and got some lunch together at a restaurant in Löcknitz.  The restaurant was right on the lake, so we walked down to the lake before heading home.  On the way home, we stopped and got some little cakes at the grocery store bakery, as well as some flowers at a florist not too far from our apartment.  Back at our place, we played cribbage and then tried out a card game I had had for a while but never actually played before called Blitzen and Donner.  It turned out to be a lot of fun.  We ate our cakes while we played.  We then sat down and watched The Artist, which we both really liked.  All in all, it was a really lovely day.

So that was my winter break in a nutshell.  It's back to school on Monday, and then it's only five weeks until I get another break to go to the Berlin Seminar for Fulbright (not that I'm counting, but I am looking forward to seeing all my Fulbright buddies)!

Until later,
Amy