More German Christmas

December is always a busy month.  We have had two big conferences in different cities.  We went to Berlin recently for a conference with part of the mission.  We were able to connect with some of the young missionaries who have served here in Hof;  Elders Holbein, Stuve and Anderson.

While there we did visit one of the many Berlin Christmas Markets but took no pictures.  All the bigger towns have several large markets which makes our little one in Hof seem insignificant.

               It is just one part of the main pedestrian walkway through the old city center. 
We also went to Dresden overnight for a missionary couples conference.  We met the 15 couples from the entire mission, including ones from the western portion whom we do not meet at the 1/2 mission conferences.  Our mission is too big to meet in any of the church buildings so the mission conferences are split into two meetings.  We met another couple, the Russells, whose children went to Jordan and who were both teachers in Jordan School District.  She was at Altaview and he taught middle school at Union among others. We also met the Mickelsons, former mission president in Russia somewhere.

This is not all of them.  Sister Russell is top left.

The second morning of this conference we drove to Radebeul and went to the place where then Apostle Monson rededicated East Germany.  It was quite cold and you can see how bundled everyone was. President Kosak explained how the blessing of the gospel came about for the saints in the East.  After many years they were finally able to have a patriarch, go to the temple and send and receive missionaries.

After that we went into Dresden for the Weihnachts markt.  Dresden has a middle ages markt in the stable area of the former kings,

They cut a potato into a spiral and then deep fry it.

The facade of the stable building.

Then we went into the regular market in the city.  It was very elaborately decorated but not crowded at noon when we were there.  We didn't spend too much time and were on our way for the two hour trip home.

This is a puppet theater

Nürnberg Weihnachtsmarkt

We had the opportunity to go with the Merkel family to the most famous Christmas Market in this area of Germany.  We drove for about an hour and half to Nürnberg south of Hof.  Sister Merkel drove.  We went on a Saturday which is the day all the tourists in the entire world go to this market.  Since there are still American military in the area we also heard more English than we have heard in a year just wandering through the crowd.

A Christmas Market is usually booths set up in the town square, in this case the old inner city area, for the month of December selling food and Christmas goodies.  This market was comprised of several themed markets.  The regular one, a children's one and a sister city one having booths from cities around the world; Shi Lanka, Brazil, Montenegro and many others including Atlanta Georgia. 

The Children's market had lots of rides and booths with toys as well as goodies to eat.  It made me glad, however, that I did not have a child with us.  The crowd was so compact that I would fear losing the child.  I only lost Dave twice.

  This is the regular market packed shoulder to shoulder with crazy shoppers.  A big part of any Christmas market is 'Gluhwein',  a warm mildly alcoholic drink which warms from the inside and outside and makes people stop in crowds near those booths.  The above is a "Where's Waldo".  Can you find Lynn?

 Lynn insisted on a Post Coach ride through the crowd.  They had two different coaches which were replicas of the ones used for many years taking people from town to town.

We loved the old inner city of Nürnberg and will go back on some sunny day before we leave Germany this time.  The buildings in this part of town are very charming and historic and quite a bit of the old wall still surrounds the inner town.

Christmas in Germany

The beginning of the Christmas season is marked by the opening of Weihnachtsmarkts, or Christmas markets in almost every town and village in the country, especially in the Erzegebirge region.  Here in Hof it is not so grand but we went with the Merkels to Annaberg for a meeting of a business group Brother Merkels belongs to, the BYU Management Society.  First we attended the Christmas market and heard the Annaberg ward choir sing in the rain and snow.  Annaberg is in the Erzegebirge or Ore Mountain region where a lot of the German traditions have their origin.  You can see the Christmas pyramid in the market and the booths with all the figures, nutcrackers and lace.

Another thing we really like from this Eastern Germany region are the Swipbogens in all the windows.  They do not decorate the outside like we do but every window has the lighted bow.  The symbol originally came from the arch where minors would hang their lanterns when they returned from underground.  When all the lamps were lit it meant everyone had returned safely.  The symbol evolved into a lighted arch with figures underneath, often of a minor and an angel but we have seen many variations of this form.

Later we went to the meeting which was a tour of a factory owned by members.  The factory makes high end hand made jewelry boxes and sells them world wide.  Several of the attendees were people we knew from our first mission over here so it was very nice to renew acquaintances.

Br. Sacher pointing, his dad next and Sister Sacher looking at the box.

November is all about EATING

Anna Weiss and friend

We were invited over to the Merkels home for a sushi evening where we made our own sushi.  They had invited other young couples, the Rupps and Anna Weiss and her boyfriend.  Here in Germany 'friend' usually means live in which is the case here.  Anna does my nails and is a very sweet lady but very German which means no marriage and kids later.  I have talked to her a bit about the church.  Carolin and Chris Rupp are the young couple whose wedding we attended in Butterwiesen last August.  He is not a member.   So this was a missionary opportunity dinner.  It was enjoyable but I still do not like sushi, especially home made!

On Sunday, November 24, we fed the missionaries at our apartment and since it was close to Thanksgiving we cooked a small turkey.  Elders Pollard and Donner will both go home shortly after Christmas.  At our regular district meeting in Plauen on Wednesday we got together for a little T-day dinner which was chicken, carrots, 'barnyard' potatoes, bread,  pumpkin pie and ice cream. On Thanksgiving day we went to Zwickau for our regular Thursday institute class and we fed them pasta, but Dave made a pumpkin pie from scratch for them just to celebrate.  This last Sunday all four of us missionaries were invited to the Hemmann home for dinner and they provided a meal of roast duck and chestnut stuffing with all the trimmings which was very like another Thanksgiving feast.  That included a yummy pumpkin soup and 'Stollen', a German traditional fancy Christmas bread.   Sister Hemmann told that on her mission her mother sent this to her in the US and she told her companion it was stolen.

That Sunday, the first in December, was the beginning of the Christmas season.  The Relief Society got together the Friday before to make advent wreaths.  This is a wreath for the table with four candles.  Traditionally one candle is lit each Sunday for the four Sundays before Christmas to mark the coming of the Christ Child.  I hung the wreath I made on our door.

Kersten Hemmann, Eva Schultze and Angelica Merkel

Damaris Grünbichler and Martha Ernst

And, of course, we had   "kaffee und küchen" afterward.  The kaffee is Pero but they call it coffee.

Hof adventures and surprises

On November 11 I had a doctors appointment before a scheduled surgery on my right shoulder.  When we came home we were unable to enter any of the streets around our apartment building.  The grey map shows our attempted route home.  The little x's are the streets blocked off and the dots are where I finally got out and moved a cone to get to our parking lot behind our house.  After we got home we walked to the next corner where all the excitement was occurring.  There was a fire in a Diakonie, which is a state sponsored home run by the Lutheran Church for people who have no income or home.  One of the fire fighters said they often have fires at this location.  Dave spent a bit of time taking pictures.

The fire department for this town of about 44,000 is very modern as you can see.  Note the fire hydrant coming out of the street. We never did see any smoke or flames so they were very effective and prompt.  Since this town has a history of some major conflagrations, the latest in 1823, that is a very good thing.

Then on November 14 I had outpatient surgery on my shoulder for what they thought was a torn tendon but when they got inside they saw that the injury was so old they could not do anything to repair it.  We have no idea when this happened.  So now I have to work really hard to get back the mobility I had before the surgery.  I am guiltily enjoying not going to so many meetings and staying home recuperating.  I start  Physical Therapy tomorrow and plan to cook for institute tomorrow evening with the help of my good husband who will cook the chili and cornbread and all I have to do is get it on the table.

When Dave came home today from District Conference he noticed this newspaper in the hall of our building.  The caption only mentions that the picture is from the USA. We know more!

chicken calzone

We just got some more Berlin pictures from the other missionary couples.  The first is a specially made calzone at the Italian restaurant.  They didn't usually make calzonies so I guess the chef got creative.

The second is the group of couples we were with.  The Andrus's on the right, serving in Leipzig and the Tenney's on the left, serving in Dresden.  At big conferences like this the host ward always prepares a meal.  This time for over 160 missionaries. 

 We also found out it was President Kosak's birthday so I went (privately) before the conference began and sang him the special "But you didn't die this year, I guess that's good enough" song.

You can tell he has a sense of humor.  Or maybe my release papers are in the mail.

Berlin Museums

When we lived in Berlin one of our favorite things was visiting the incredible museums they have.  I had always been frustrated not being allowed into East Berlin at the time to see the even more famous museums there.  On our first Berlin mission we did get a chance to see museum island, five museums in the city center and this time I just had to go again. 

Most people will recognize this Queen Nefertiti bust made about 1300 years before Christ's birth.  The Germans were very successful archeologists in the late 1800's and early 1900's and amassed an incredible collection from the mid east. They are currently renovating the museums to include an architectural setting more in tune with the ancient time periods from ancient Egypt like this necklace and the bust. 

And then on to Greece and Rome...

and even further back to Mesopotamia ... and many others.

Two of the most impressive acquisitions are the Ishtar Gate and the Pergamon Alter.  Impressive for two reasons: the sheer size of the piece and that they actually moved it and rebuilt it.

This is a postcard from the museum showing the full Gate.  You can't really get this picture without people so below is the view we see and giving you an idea of the monumental size of the thing.  Even more impressive is to realize that it was one of the lesser gates into the city of Babylon.

The Pergamon Alter was from the city of Pergamon in the area now in Turkey and built in about 200 BC uncovered by a German archeologist in the late 1800's.

This postcard picture again does not give a real idea of the mass of the thing.  With people in the picture you can get more of an idea.  Can you find Waldo?

I think what strikes me most about seeing things made by man so long ago is our modern arrogance thinking that WE are the only ones who create amazing things.  Children of God, from Adam on, have been as amazing, creative, wonderful and yes, petty and arrogant as we all are now.  This earth life is pretty much the same no matter what time period or where you live.  The same test is presented to all of us.   Our challenge is to live the best we can and let our light shine.