busy, busy weekend

Wow, what a wonderful weekend I had!
On Sunday my Hostfamily took me to this small town nearby called Kelheim an der Donau(on the Danube). We took a boat down the Danube through this amazing limestone cliffs to an old Monastery. The Monastery has the oldest still-working monastery-brewery in the world and also a beautiful roccocco church created by the same architect as the roccocco church with the large fresco in Ingolstadt. There was also a small chapel by the same architect up on a hill. Inside the chapel were all these beautiful and strange pictures hanging on the wall. Each one showed a particular problem--sickness, poor crops, dying farm animals, etc-- and then an angel or Mary coming to help. My hostmother explained that these pictures were painted as prayers. There were so many of them, some extremely old, and were such an interesting mix of distress and hope. We ate lunch in the biergarten in the courtyard of the church(of course! there are biergartens EVERYWHERE here)

After the monastery we went to this building...i don't know whether to call it a monument or a temple...up on one of the cliffs overlooking the Danube. It was...amazing? strange? surreal? The building itself was made out of pink stone and was round and completely windowless with a large dome. There was a large skylight in the dome which lit the inside, which was completely empty except for the tourists, of course! Around the walls stood giant white angel statues holding gold shields with the names and dates of famous battles during the Napoleanic Wars. On the outside of the building were more angels, each holding a placard with the name of one of the German States. Apparently the first king of united Germany--after the Napoleanic War when all the principalities and states were formed into one country-- built this building as a monument to the unity of germany through war. The building was made mostly of marble and was incredibly beautiful. My first impression was that it came straight out of Lord of the Rings, it was so fantastical. I'll post a couple pictures so you can see, because its hard to describe. It was a strangely sacred place, almost holy, but I wasn't sure what was being worshipped there...war? unity through struggle? germany? Germany has a sordid past when it comes to Nationalism, so sometimes its hard to see something as beautiful as this without being reminded of the end result of extreme national pride. Germans love Germany, perhaps too much.

After the monument we took a tour of some nearby limestone caves. They reminded me a lot of Linville Caverns, except smaller and older. The tour itself was really cute--and at the end there was this odd light/music show in the largest cave where they believe pre-roman priests once worshipped. All in all it was a lovely and full day, and so sweet of my hostfamily to take me out and show me around.

On Monday, which was a holiday here in Germany because of Pentacost, we went to Munich for the day. First we climbed Alte Peter, the largest climbable churchtower in the world, which was 306 steps! And I got some nice shots of Munich spread out before me. An interesting side note: like many European cities, Munich has a pigeon problem. So instead of poisoning them or shooting them like other cities, Munich simply puts out birdfeed filled with birth control...which I found hilarious but also very humane. So like the Germans to think about efficiency--why kill extra pigeons when you can simply stop so many from being born!

After Alte Peter we got lunch and then went to the Deutsches Stadt Museum which is devoted entirely to science and innovation. The museum is HUGE and simply impossible to see in one day. They have sections devoted to everything-- astrononautics, aeronotics, seafaring, paper and printmaking, glassmaking, ceramics...you name it, and hold demonstrations during the day of each different system. I learned more than I will probably ever need to know about printmaking and ceramics, but it was really interesting! They also have a really beautiful and impressive collection of boats and ships from all around the world, some very old. I spent a good two hours in the museum and at the end saw an exhibition of high voltage electricity. It was extremely loud and pretty impressive, but mostly reminded me of The Prestige, hah. I kept expecting a clone to pop out somewhere after each burst!

Today was my first official day at my service-learning job. I'm working at the Evangelische Ausliederarbeit which is a center for immigrants. They have a lot of different programs--from language classes to job and appartment help, to after school programs including a film club and music studio. This morning I was simply shown around the center and introduced to all the different programs. Because of Pentacost there is not a lot going on this week, however next week I will probably be helping out with a program for single mothers, helping them learn catering skills(since catering jobs are usually in the evening) as well as kitchen hygiene, physical presentation(how to dress appropriately for german contexts) and healthy-cooking skills. The nice thing is that every week I will probably get to work with a different program. They even have a teaching-garden for kids and a "Kinder Cafe" where kids learn how to cook healthful meals! They also give some councelling services, especially for young people struggling with the conflict between their two seperate cultures. While I was there getting orientated a young muslim man came in needing help because he no longer wanted to wear his turban but his father wouldn't allow it. In germany there is a lot of tension between christians and muslims, so oftentimes its easier to get a job if one is cleanshaven and doesn't wear a turban. But of course, many parents see their chidlren putting aside the turban and beard as a denial of their religion and heritage. The more I learn about Germany--even its warts and flaws such as these--the more I seem to love it. It is a beautiful place to vacation, but I think I will really enjoy the opportunity to see Germany in a different light and learn about the parts of German society that you don't normally hear about in a language class.All in all I'm pretty excited about working there, and tomorrow I'll find out my schedule for the week.