Numbers

           When I embarked on this 12-month adventure/change of pace I promised to keep this blog.  Truth be told, I expected there to be a lot more to write about.  I have done a good amount of traveling, but besides traveling, I am pretty much just living life in Germany like I have lived for the past four years—going to school then doing an internship.  Granted, my life here is much more dimensional than that, but unless people wanted to read a blog that sounded more like a personal emotional diary, there is not too much new every week to write.  If those reading want a more emotional-diary-like experience, I suggest you call my mom and ask her to fill you in.  She’ll be able to give you that side of things. 

            My life has taken on a relatively normal nature in Germany; in a way that is a huge advancement, considering that means I am living life in another country and it has taken on notes of normalcy.  I would not have expected that even just 4 months ago.  This is good news for my level of comfort, but it does make blogging challenging.  Despite that, though, I have written the following according to those awesome “number graphics” in magazines like Time and Newsweek, in order to give you a little overview of what is contributing to my momentary life.

2: The amount of minutes it takes me to get from my apartment to my office at work, if I am really rushing.  I love having a bike in Bremen and between my (almost) trusty bike and the new spectacular living location I can whiz around Bremen.  I love this freedom and spontaneity; my level of happiness in Bremen has skyrocketed.

6:  The number of evenings in May for the Bremen ports boat tour.  I have written previously that Frauke and I are planning a boat tour through the Bremen ports, and now it is coming up!  For 2.5 hours 6 evenings in a row we will be inviting people on an 100-year-old tour ship, the MS Friederich.  During the course of the trip the guests will learn little tidbits from the old port and surrounding area’s history (think lots of bars, drinking and perhaps even a few prostitutes…), see close-up the largest development project in Europe as Bremen attempts to transfer the ports into a lively new part of the city, and be entertained by live music, actors and small films with real and dramatic characters of the Überseestadt. 

7:  The number of days I was working at the Dance Bremen (Tanz Bremen) Festival and also (non) coincidentally the longest 7 days I have experienced in Bremen.  Christel, my other boss, was in charge of the PR/Marketing for Tanz Bremen, and through her I was pulled onto the team, working with the artists, organizing the press table, and working in the festival center cleaning up, serving food, and generally waiting around until enough people had left for me to leave.  It was a very long week and I was absolutely exhausted afterwards, but it was also extremely worth it.  I got to see 5 incredible dance pieces 100 percent for free, I met a whole group of lovely people and I was provided dinner for an entire week (which was delicious!).  It was a long week of international dances and dancers and I was very happy when it was over, but it was an amazing experience and a huge cultural highlight of my time here.  I cannot complain that my internship is not dynamic enough!

3.5 and 2,500:  The bad news:  Sometimes an internship is an internship and that means busy work.  3.5 is the number of hours I spent in a copy shop working on the media report for the Tanz Bremen Festival that Christel and I are making from the media hits, of which there are hundreds.  2,500 is the number of advertisement flyers for the boat tour that I stuffed into Bremen city magazines.   This required that I stand for 3.5 hours before a large palette piled with boxes of magazines not yet enlightened about the “newest cultural event in the Überseestadt.“  Both these assignments were really not fun, but they are important.  And hey, if an intern can’t do it, who can?! 

8:  The number of PPPlers who had a big ole’ reunion in Magdeburg a few weekends ago.  My friend Isabel has been in Magdeburg ever since she left Bremen in October, and kindly hosted my language school friends and me the last weekend in March.  Two other PPPlers, Joe and Clayton, also live in Magdeburg, rounding out PPPler numbers 7 and 8, and bringing together the fun-filled, East-German style weekend.  Magdeburg happens to be the city where Lara lived for a year when she did my program (at the time I suppose it was her program and I’m actually doing her program!), and also where my family visited for a few days when we did our Europe trip several years ago (10 to be exact!).  Even though I don’t remember much from what it looked like then, I am confident to say Magdeburg has come a long way.  Magdeburg was more than 70 percent destroyed from World War II and then damaged further by the Communist occupation. Needless to say, Magdeburg still bears many scars of history and is a quintessential example of an East German city.  That being said, what I saw in March is without question a much improved and more beautiful Magdeburg than what we saw when I was 11.  East Germany still receives huge amounts of money from West Germany for rebuilding, even though Germany has now been reunified for over 21 years.  Many former-East German cities have prospered enormously, but others, like Magdeburg, are still working on finding a stable economy and independence from this assistance.  Eastern German cities are also said, however, to be much more alternative and be welcoming of the “alternative scene.”  I personally cannot attest for that because, as most people know, I am about the least “alternative” person out there, but with the help of Isabel’s skillful tour guiding I, too, was able to see a glimpse of this inadvertent, but interesting, growth of culture.  The weekend in Magdeburg was great because of my wonderful friends, Joe’s birthday party/Mexican feast and new sights to see, but I was also happy to return to Bremen.  Bremen may have its ugly areas and as a city/state it is also quite poor, similar to Magdeburg, but I have a pretty good life here and I certainly can’t complain about Bremen’s cultural and leisure time offerings!

4+ who knows:  The number of hours our Easter Fire burned.  What is an Easter Fire, you ask?  I should not have been surprised, but I admittedly was a little, to hear about this tradition.  I should not have been surprised because there is hardly a holiday or birthday in Germany that does not have some sort of old and charming tradition and Easter is, in fact, no different.  The Easter Fire is essentially an enormous bonfire, which reminds me greatly of the fires people light on their property to burn brush.  This is, essentially, what an Easter Fire is, but according to Wikipedia it has roots in the Liturgy as a symbolic representation of the Light of God/Israel leading people to Jesus/the Church.  I cannot be sure, but I would bet this is not what is going through most people’s heads these days as they pop open a Beck’s, bite into a bratwurst and light the massive brush pile, but it certainly is a practical way to get rid of brush in the yard!  This year I spent Easter with the Bergs family.  Friederike Bergs was my family’s first ever exchange student.  During my family’s Europe trip we also visited the Berg’s, so technically I have known this family since I was 11.  The Berg’s live in mid-west Germany, but they have an old farmhouse “on the land” in Ostfriesland, which is about 1.5 hours west of Bremen and towards the North Sea.  For the weekend I took a train to Ostfriesland and Christian, their son, met me and picked me up.  Later in the day it was our assignment, along with Siegfried (the father), to build the Easter Fire.  After several hours of collecting wood and driving the tractor around (with me as driver!!) the Easter Fire was ready for “light-off.”  In the evening we ate würstchen (small bratwursts), which in my opinion are hot dogs, and yummy potato salad.  We all went to bed towards midnight, but the coals were glowing and emitting considerable warmth well into Easter Sunday and probably into Monday as well.  It was quite a sight to see the orange light from surrounding farms, as they too lit their own brush pile.  The remainder of the Easter weekend was also extremely pleasant and filled with great food, conversation and a fascinating tour an inland cruise ship factory.  I have not spent an Easter at home in four years, but if I can spend Easter out in the fresh air of Northwestern Germany with great company, food and traditions, then I don’t think it is a bad tradeoff! 

12: The number of weeks/weekends left until I fly back to the US of A.  The next 12 weeks are absolutely going to fly at the speed of light—Not only is three months really not that long in comparison to how long I have been here, but I also have plans for almost every single weekend!  I am looking forward very much to all my exciting plans and of course to my Dad’s 12-day visit in June (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!), but it is also a little shocking to think I can count how much longer I will be here.  I have a little anxiety that I am not going to finish everything I wanted to do, but I also know that some Europeans spend their entire lives on this continent and see less than I have in my travels.  I am quite satisfied with how I have lived this year and I do think there will be a strong feeling of accomplishment when I board the plane in Frankfurt and disembark into the crazy world of New York City.  After a year in the calmer and, in my opinion, far more enjoyable German cities, I think my program could have picked a less hectic place to plunge us back into our American life!  I am sure I will have much more to say as July 16^th nears and I prepare to really leave Bremen, but right now all I can say is, I know it will be with seriously mixed feelings:  I adore Europe and Germany and I find the quality of life here extremely high, but the problem is, I have other pictures in my head that I know better than Bremen.  Connected to those pictures are 22 years of smells, sounds, emotions and touch.  Those senses of home do not easily abandon a person.  It is hard to replace the strongest types of memories with a new home and since my time here is limited, that takeover is not possible.  I think for some people that transition is easier, but I personally have a very strong sense of home and am therefore one of the many in my program who will be partially sad but also very happy to board the plan for America.

4.22.12 8:38:  The times the sun set today, Sunday April 22^nd.  OK, that is definitely something I can’t complain about—Europe wins the competition on most beautiful, useful and refreshing daylight. :)