Germanic Lands! - Part 1

Wow!  Its only been 2 weeks this time, and I'm (re)discovering that "time flies when you're having fun" and are with fun people!

The past few weeks have seemed mostly to be hanging out with friends in fantastic places and/or having fun and feeling blessed by new friends I'm meeting along the way!

Upon leaving Thun in Switzerland, I headed to the "National Day of Prayer for Switzerland" in Bern, on August 1.  August 1 is Switzerland's "National Day", basically their Canada Day or July 4, and many of the churches come together to host this "National Day of Prayer for Switzerland".  It simply felt like an honour to be there, despite not fully understanding everything that was said/sung, especially as there was the wonderful dynamic of a tri-lingual country(with an additional "recognised 4th" language) coming together and singing and praying in French, Swiss German and Italian....and then there was the added "oddity" of a few foreigners such as myself speaking English and my Finnish friend Vilja(who was visiting a Swiss friend of ours) praying in Finnish!  A wonderful example of valuing diversity in unity!

International friends at the Swiss National Prayer Day

From there I caught the train to Dietikon, near Zurich, where I met up with one of my long-time friends Lori Mueller and her family for a few days. They were hosting their own National Day celebrations so I arrived to a wonderful bbq and fireworks!  The next few days I felt spoilt in getting to spend time with Lori, her husband Sandro and their children(Sophie & Oliver) and in getting shown around Lucerne and Zurich!  I finally left them on August 5, the day before they had to fly back to Canada, and I continued on my way to Freiburg-am-Breisgau in southwestern Germany!

Lucerne, Switzerland

The Muellers!! (Sophie, Lori, Oliver & Sandro)

Amazingly clear water in Switzerland! No wonder they swim in the rivers!

Ta-da! Sandro even has his "own" store!

Here I connected with Daniel Gruber, who is a german guy working with the Gebetshaus Freiburg(Prayer House Freiburg).  We had a fantastic afternoon getting to know and sharing some of our "Story" with each other, and then he arranged for me to stay with some lovely girls who are linked to his church.  Tabea, Farrah and Julia live together in a flat just on the outskirts of Freiburg and were incredibly generous with their space and time!  Tabea is studying to become a teacher, Farrah is finishing her doctorate in Thermal Energy Development, and Julia is a dancer and teaches at camps, etc!  That evening I got to go to a "bbq" with some refugee families(the ones I met were from Kosovo) they've been befriending in their transitioning process, which definitely doesn't seem an easy process!  Most families(mum, dad and between 2-5 children) are living in 1-2 bedroom flats with a shared bathroom and kitchen on each floor of the building, so say, a kitchen and bathroom to 3-4 families?  Its also very difficult for them to even begin finding work, as Germany requires that an employer prove that no German person could do that particular role and much of the work that they COULD get would provide them with less than they would need to cover even basic living costs.  Add to that the mental/emotional strain of living in very close proximity with a complex mix of cultures, experiences and personal histories and it makes for fairly turbulent lifestyles which, of course, doesn't help one when you're trying to stabilise and create a new lifestyle/culture for you and your family!

Farrah, Julia & Tabea, my lovely hosts!

Daniel Gruber & I, Freiburg

This particular evening I mostly spent in playing skip rope with a few of the younger girls and entertaining a few of the younger boys with my attempts at communicating!

My other days in Freiburg were simply a pleasant mix of sunshine, a lovely town, time in the prayer room and chatting with new friends, before heading onto Augsburg in Bavaria, where I was hoping to visit another contact(this time through Susannah R and, I discovered, through Daniel G) at a similar House of Prayer there.  It also turned out that my friend Vilja would be passing through that area too, so we arranged to stay with a Couchsurfing host together while we were there.

Freiburg Markt

SO many bicycles in Freiburg!!

Our host Melanie was a lovely girl with a very sweet little boy(Sammy), who has a chronic wanderlust which means that, having spent 4-6 years travelling, she then, at age 24, travelled back overland from New Zealand and Australia, via Mongolia, while 7 months pregnant......and who is now only remaining in Augsburg for the next 3 years so that she can gain a trade qualification in joinery(and support her son through infancy) to help her with visa situations in future!  Fantastic girl, fantastic stories, great conversations and lots of fun!

The Radthaus, Augsburg

Where the Reformation "kicked off" with Martin Luther's 95 Thesis

Vilja and our lovely host Melanie!

The House of Prayer(HoP) in Augsburg was also neat to visit, although we only managed a couple hours there, meeting with one of the girls to find out a bit about them and spending some time in the prayer room.  The Augsburg HoP is a bit bigger than the HoP Freiburg, and where Freiburg really focuses on friendships and relational support between the communities, Augsburg seems to be much more of a "resource" base/teaching centre for people who are interested in the Levitical style of prayer(the Levis were the Israelite priesthood who maintained day and night worship and intercession for the nation of Israel within the temple).  I'm finding it really fun and interesting in seeing how such similar "hearts" and "visions" can be worked out in slightly different ways and yet compliment each other so nicely!

From Augsburg I came north to Nuremburg(Nurnberg) where I've been staying with a friend from YWAM, Ashley Davis.  She and her flatmates very kindly let me "crash" on their very comfy sofa and allowed me to explore Nuremburg from their base!  Ashley and the YWAM(Youth with a Mission) team here are involved in a crazy mix of things, trying to use the arts and creativity to engage with and raise awareness of various social justice issues.  For example, some of them are working within the red light district here and seeking to support/address/raise awareness of people and dangers of human trafficking, and Ashley herself is an artist who, along with a few other painters/photographers and/or musicians, aim to use their art as a means to raise awareness and funds for social projects(currently an "unofficial" children's home in India for unwanted children).

They have some studio space on the outskirts of Nuremburg where they work and host training schools, and are currently looking for a bigger venue where they can better combine studio/classrooms/accommodation and outreach, preferably within the city centre.

Nuremburg itself has a lovely "Altstadt"(Old Town), with a castle, battlements and some lovely old churches, but then it also has the slightly strange dichotomy of having the Nazi influenced buildings on the outskirts of town which were used for the massive propaganda rallies of the Third Reich, not to mention being the place where the post-war Nuremburg Trials of various Nazi leaders took place.  It has the strange dynamic of having been historically important long before the Nazis every showed up, but became "imprinted", almost, with the stain of the Nazi distortion.  There is a fantastic museum(the Dokumentzentrum) which shows and helps explain the rise of the Nazi party within Germany and, although I recognise that each of us is responsible for who and what we follow and allow to govern us, it has also struck me that the Nazi propaganda and political/mental/emotional manipulation of the people was nothing so much as a massive distortion of a genuine, sincere people! And, it also warns me still, against the ease of which political propaganda, fear of people different than ourselves and a desire to blame-shift or find a "scapegoat" can still influence us today!

the Frauenkirche, Nuremburg

Nuremburg

What's left of the Reich Party's Rally Grounds(much more oppressive in person!)

Art exhibit at the Dokumentzentrum remembering those who died through forced labour

St. Sebold's Church

Art exhibit in St. Sebold's

The caption for the above piece, St. Sebold's

Anyways, so it has been an interesting time here!  I now leave today to head to Leipzig, which, ironically(?), significantly(?) was the home of the prayer rallies which became instrumental in the non-violent demonstrations which eventually brought about the ending of communist East Germany and taking down of the Berlin Wall.

I'm hoping to spend a few days in Leipzig and another few in Dresden, and then hopefully a chance to visit Hernnhut, close to the Czech border, before heading up to Berlin and Neubrandenburg!  This part of my trip seems to be happening "thick and fast", but I'm really enjoying it and also really enjoying getting "reacquainted" with what a fantastic country Germany is!

Hoping that you are all well, and please do let me know what you're up to!