Books.

It's been so cool to have time this year to read. As my 'opie' says, I have "an eye for the printed page", and although not entirely sure how deep the meaning of his short quote means to go, I certainly do love to read. I just wanted to take the time to mention a few of the accomplishments in reading I've made this year.

One of those, a book I finished yesterday, is called 'Three Cups of Tea' (picture above). My mom gave it to me for Christmas, but I finally had the chance to pick it up, and reluctantly put down. I reccomend the book (for book groups, to donate to the library, as history . . . whatever), because it gave me such inspiration to make a difference, and background about the Middle East. The book is about a man named Greg Mortenson, who, after a failed attempt at climbing K2, stumbles across a village and sees the hardworking students practicing time tables with sticks in the dirt. His mission to build schools in Pakistan (and eventually in Afghanistan . . . during 9/11) eventually helps him and a founder form the CAI -Central Asia Institute. The organization is still trying to 'promote peace - or help prevent fighting in the war on terror' through education, especially for girls. I just thought the modern day story was a great story about a great hero and might help some understand the middle east, and wanted to reccomend it.

In my German class, I got the chance to do a small study of literature - covering the 'Sturm & Drang' period and reading three books thus far in class. We started with a novel 'The Discovery of Currywurst' that takes place during the war, and which I found fairly boring. After reading 'The sorrows of the young Werther' from Goethe, we were officially introduced to German Literature. Goethe is probably one of the best, if not the best known authors/poets in German literature. Goethe's writing is full of tragic love and flowery speaking, with his character in 'Werther' killing himself in the end. The long self-absorbed passages of Werther are extremely difficult to get through without a nice cup of caffeinated tea, but you have to admit the author is fairly brilliant though. Our last book this year we'll write a test about in a week - 'The Robbers' from Friedrich Schiller. Schiller is another extremely well known German author, his dramatic writing characterized by historical novels or criticism of society. 'The Robbers' is a story of family, love, and relationships to God. After the eldest brother, Karl, is driven away from home due to his brother's lies, he starts a robber band in the 'böhmische Wälder'. After being reminded of his love Amalia, he returns to his castle home and is confronted with the deceit that he was fooled into and is on the verge of deeming revenge, before attempting to flee in hope of not having to sin any longer. The love, the father, and the brothers (in typical Sturm & Drang style) of course end up dead before the book calls it's end. I found it very interesting though, and you can definitely recognize the differences in the German style of language in comparision to the English style.

This past week, I finally finished the 7th Harry Potter (in German) book. That was one of my goals this year :) . The books are translated actually quite well in German, and I found myself chuckling at parts just like in the English versions.
To understand a language, and the different style it has, you really need to either read an original in that language, or visit the country. It's amazing to see how you can't just translate sentences - sometimes saying one translated sentence in English has just the slightest bit of different meaning in German. Each culture matches with it's language, or accent, magnificently - and it's incredible to listen to. I am sometimes outraged that some US schools dont require language at all for graduation - my classmates here all know at least 4 different languages (their mother tongue, English (a requirement worldwide), latin (fluently - if its possible for a dead language), and either French or old Greek (but thats just my class - some learn Italian, Spanish, etc.) . To understand a culture, even just the tiniest bit, can open your eyes and make a person so much more understanding of the world. If you can manage it, I suggest each person I know to put on their bucket list 'read a book in a different language' - because it's extremely rewarding. Just make sure you have mother-tongue speaking friends nearby, because I have lost a lot of my English vocabulary/English in general knowledge here - and I would be lying if I said I'm not slightly worried about it.

Springtime.

Walking to school - I live where the tower is on the right side.

For the first time in my life, I've actually been able to experience Spring. Frühling. It's truly an amazing thing. I don't mean that technically, I mean that actually. Living in Minnesota, especially northern minnesota, you have winter fdrom October until May, and then you have mud with a few flowers for a few weeks, and summer is there. As many would quote - 'there are two seasons in minnesota - winter and road construction'. Southern Germany, or Bayern, is absolutely beautiful in Spring. The snow melted a while back, and the fields have been filled with dandelions and a small lilac colored flower that turn the entire country into a painting, filled with color. There's a magnolia tree in our backyard right now, and the petals that are falling right now really make me sad. It has such beautiful pink and white petals. The dandelions are now being cut (I always really disliked the weed, but seeing the fields from a distance changes your opinion) to keep healthy grass for the young cows growing in its place. Some of the dandelions will be made into a (so I've heard) extremely yummy honey, but most cut grass will be made into hay. This part of Bavaria used to be a large producer of flax ( with small blue flowers!), but the fields are now dedicated almost solely to the precious cows (that stink). The weather is, as predictable, extremely unpredicatble. Luckily, it's getting slowly better. About a month ago a day would go by with rain, snow, extreme winds and sunshine no problem - but with the now warmer weather I'm able to look outside and say 'tut tut, it looks like rain' (or not). Unfortunately, this week Allgäu recieved a cold spell - but things are looking up.
I just thought I'd add a few random pictures from what I've been up to lately.

Hiking the 'Karl Hinbeinweg' with Ulli and Johann outside of Kempten on Friday.

Stopping to play for a while (I am still a child at heart you know).

Walking home - Kempten's gray horizon behind me and some flowers :) .

At a rock concert with some friends (which I didn't know would be a rock concert, so decided to wear white to . . .). The bands made covers of famous rock songs (and a few not-so-famous songs), which was fun to dance to but not so wonderful to listen to.

At the 'Kemptener Jazz Frühling' with Rotary (3rd host mom Barbara is next to me) - Kempten has been hosting a Jazz festival every April for 25 years (Charlie Parker even played in the city one time!).

'Bread break' enjoying the sunshine at school - Lena and Johanna.

Visiting a friend - looking out over Kempten.

Schloss Neuschwanstein.

After being (exactly) 8 months here, I finally made it to the most popular tourist attraction in all of Southern Germany - the legendary castle Neuchwanstein. The castle, which was the inspiration for Disney's castle, was built by King Ludwig II, although never completely finished (like many of his projects). It is tucked into the mountain side above a canyon, right around the city of Füssen. The white building with blue tower tops was built in the old knight and medieval-like style, with a very dark inside, specific towers, and windows looking like they were built right into the stone. Along with his love of fairy tales, Ludwig was also a lover of technology, and the very modern kitchen and heating system inside the house (also a toilet in a hidden room) gives the (1869 begun) castle a special flair. Inside we saw each room's special fairy tale theme (Tristan&Isolde as an example), the fairly cheesy and bright colored trimming in the medieval style, and the extremely intricate wood carvings in Ludwigs room decorating the castle. My host mom Ulli vowed to me that she would never sleep in Ludwigs bed, because it would probably end up giving her horrible nightmares (the beds roof is a tower of gothic wood structures with gargoyles, swans and other strange things). I didn't find the kings bed all too horrible, but I would admit that the room had a certain air of darkness in it. King Ludwig was the last kind of Bavaria (given he never married and therefore provided no heir), and is well known for the high debt he left the monarchy in (due to extravagant building projects) after his death. Ludwig is, however, very well loved by the people in the area around Füssen given his way with people and care for his citizens. His death was a quite mysterious affair, when, after he was proclaimed crazy by his government and forced to leave Neuschwanstein , he turned up the following day in a lake around München with his psychologist drowned. No one really knows whether it was suicide or a murder, but I personally have some doubts that the man was crazy. He may have been idealistic in his dreams for Bavaria (and fairly fat in his later days with accusations of being gay), but a man that creative could only have been an artist, not neccessarily crazy. The thing is, I found Neuschwanstein surprisingly unsurprising. After thinking about it for a while, I decided it was becuase of my extreme exposure (in comparision to the 19th century) to fairy tales. I had seen castles like this in books many times, and it appeared much like the Cinderella castle I know from my childhood. The thing I had to make sure to remember, was that the castle was THE first. It was the first castle to be built like that, and Ludwig's ideas were comparitively revolutionary. The castle has become such a cult-item, that it isn't viewed as magical as it was in the 19th Century. I did find the view from the castle across the Alps and the green fields around Füssen mesmerizing, and my favorite was visiting the modern bridge across the gorge Ludwig had built. From there you could say the castle in all it's glory, the mountains behind you, and the water of the Pöllat river below.

Watching paragliders walking up to the castle.

Castle entrance.

In the courtyard.

Looking towards Füssen from Neuschwanstein.

From Ludwig's 'Study/Living room'

Alps :)

Looking down at the Hohenschwangau castle (where Ludwig grew up) and the Alpsee.

'Schloss (Castle) Neuschwanstein'
quick side note: most common tourists are Japanese, American, and Italian (in that order)

The 'Marienbrücke' (Marien Bridge) over the river (Ulli is looking down into the water in pink).

Me on the bridge.

Looking down at the gorge.

On the 'Alpsee'.

Hohenschwangau castle

From a small church driving home - you can see the castle tucked inside the mountain.
:)

Ulm.

This past Sunday, with no specific plans ahead of me, I decided to take advantage of the German train system and take a trip in Bayern. Given the city's hour trip away from Kempten, I ended up in Ulm (and rode through 'Neu Ulm', for my Grandma and Grandpa's sake). The city on the Donau river has been a major trade center throughout history, and is home to the Ulm Cathedral - which has the highest church tower in the world as it's peak (161, 53 Meters). I climbed all 763 steps to the top of the tower, which gave me a beautiful view over the city of Ulm and the Donau all the way to the Alps. I wouldn't say it didn't leave you feeling slightly tired afterward though - The Stairs of Death at Wolf Ridge look like kid's stuff after climbing those dizzying flights. The gothic church is beautiful though - drafty like most churches from older times, but huge and beautiful. It was actually built and paid for by the people of Ulm, which is pretty cool.

At the top of Ulmer Münster ( Ulm Cathedral).

Looking at down at the other side of the church.

The central city of Ulm - the circular white building is the city center, and the dark triangular buildings on the left is 'Neubau', now the police station. The small white tents below were part of a farmers/spring market taking place while I was there.

Looking out over the Donau.

Inside the tower.

Ulmer Münster from the back.

Stained glass windows in the altar.

Inside the church (which is one of the few extremely well-known churches in Europe that's Evangelical (protestant)).

Looking up at the organ, which (I believe) is the second biggest in the world.

After seeing the church and buying some dried cranberries, I took a tour of the city. Above is a picture of the 'Ulmer Spatz', or Sparrow which is all over the city and has become a symbol for the people of Ulm. I liked the handprints and music relations on this one.

The Rathaus in Ulm. The building was originally built as a department store for the people of Ulm to have a place fore their markets and to go shopping, but was later turned into the city hall. The entire outside is painted in this mustard yellow, and is incredibly intricate. I found it quite cool. Above is the clock sitting on one of the sides of the buliding - it has about 5 different hands and many more interpretations including the normal time, the 'official' time of Ulm determined cosmically or something with Arabic numbers, the Zodiac season, and other things. A normal clock stands above it (so the people of Ulm didn't have to think so hard when they just wanted to know the time), and a sundial as well.

One of the Fachwerk houses in Butcher's square. The gray/blue coverings on the windows were once part of a system where the shopping was down right to and from the houses, and goods were carried up on a pully system. The Butchers were able to transport their meat right from this square area, given it stood next to the Donau river.

In front of the Butcher's square - walking on the city wall.

'Metzgerturm' - the Butcher's tower. The tower stands along the city wall, and leans incredible to the side (to the point where you dont know if it will stay in place or not - although proof has been given that it hasn't moved in years). The story goes that, given the tower was the home to prisoners for a while, when the Hangman came to take the prisoners away they got so scared and all moved to one side of the tower, causing it to lean on it's side given most of them were Butchers and therefore always had something good to eat.

Looking out at the traditional houses from the city wall.

das 'schiefes Haus' - known in the Guinness Book of World Records as the most slanting/crooked/leaning house and/or hotel in the world, because the people who had originally built it built their foundation on the loose sand of the river that has now caused it to sink 40 cm into the river. The house is now a hotel with special furniture for the slanting floor that helps you to sleep straight. There was a small Cafe right on the river in front, and it was fun to sit and have a cappuccino along the 'Blue' river - an area in Ulm that is called 'little Venice' because of its small canals formed by the Little and Big Blue rivers (called blue because of their depth which turns their color and deep blue) that run into the Donau.

Walking along the small streets of Ulm - this one is called 'Küsschen' (little kiss) street, because the houses are so warped that they now almost touch eachother at the top.

The 'Schwörhaus' in Ulm (1300s), where the mayor gives a speech each July about the city and what has happened in the last year.

"Art is like creation
and is essential on the first day
and on the last day. " - Paul Klee

Visiting an art exhibit about 'Paul Klee and the Romantics'. I like the colors and abstract ideas of Paul Klee, but his sketches and work aren't one of my favorites. I did get to see paintings from Picasso, Kandinsky and Franz Marc though, which was pretty cool. Marc is one of my favorites, for both his interest in the 'earth idea' and use of color. And Picasso is, of course, amazing.

Beautiful trees in the gardens along the city wall.

At the end of my day I spent some time to lay my feet in the Donau river before taking the train home.

Oh, although he only lived in Ulm for a year or so, Albert Einstein was actually born in the city. I looked for his house, but was dissapointed to find I either was to confused to figure out where it was, or it had been ruined during the bombings in WWII, like many buildings.