Daily Archives: August 8, 2005

Morning in Berlin
We woke up in the morning and knew we had nothing really planned. We took it easy and packed up our things. Dirk and I grabbed a basket and headed to Aldi. (yes they Aldi is actually a German store, but there they have two branches, Aldi north, and Aldi South.) Aldi was pretty much the same as in America except that all the products were German. We got some potatoes, quark, and the best yogurt I have ever eaten (a custardy kiwi apple). I did not know what quark was, but supposedly it was quite german, and quite good. We went back to the parsnage and met up with Bise and Robert. We boiled the potatoes and mashed them together with the quark. It was like herb flavored sour cream, but different. After further research, I discovered that it is curd cheese and the kind we bought had more whey than traditional quark. I’m not sure if you can get it in The United States, but I wish it was more common because it was delicious. After finishing our lunch, we packed up our things, said goodbye to Bise and Robert, and headed for Guben

Some Quick Stops Along the Way
We stopped by the home of Dirk’s friend Mechthild in Werben. We said a quick hello and went on our way to Annett’s apartment in Cottbus. Anett, Dirk’s sister is the whole reason this trip happened. I met her about 3.5 years before I visited Germany. It was good to see a familiar face and to speak a familiar language. She was studying to be a nurse as was her roommate. The four of us decided to go to the town center and maybe do some shopping. I had my second H&M experience of the trip. I love the cool clothes, the low prices, the right sizes. I bought a few pairs of boxers and then met back up with the girls. It was raining, and we were planning on eating dinner in Guben so we headed out again.

1,000 Year Old Tree
We drove through the country and then dirk and Annett started talking about some tree. I wasn’t sure what was going on but I followed along. We turned down a small street and then parked outside a house in the town of Bärenklau. In the yard next to the house was a thick gnarled tree with a sign on it. Half of the tree was dead but it was still quite impressive. Dirk said it was a one thousand year old tree. I had no idea what the sign said but I believe it was something roughly like this: “I have been here for a very long time. I have lived through good times and wars. I have been hit by lightning but still survive. When I am gone put another tree in my place so it can grow for another 1,000 years. At least that is what I think I remember it saying. Maybe someone will translate the sign for me someday.

A Night in Guben
We arrived in Guben and I was finally able to meet the rest of the Shneider family (except for Dirk’s older brother). After dropping off Annette’s roommate, we headed to his childhood home. His parents and younger siblings lived in an apartment building that was typical to East Germany. His mother greeted us with hugs and minimal English. I was fine with his family not being able to speak with me, it was however a challenge. Dirk’s father was not yet home from work, but that did not stop dirk’s mother from sitting us down to a nice afternoon desert. I showed the family some of my videos that I brought on a DVD, and spoke through Annett and Dirk. A friend of the family was throwing some sort of party, so Dirk and Anette decided to make an appearance and eat some dinner. We sat at a small table with the father of the family. For the most part I quietly ate my delicious German home-cooking while Dirk spoke about computers and technology in German. After a few hours of not understanding a single word, I was glad to leave. We brought Annette to the train station and made it just in time. After that, Dirk had to put some gas into his parents car that we had been using the past three days, so of course, we went into Poland. I guess gas is cheaper in Poland and since it was just a drive over the river, it was no problem to get it there. The border police stamped my passport and gave me a funny look (I imagine that not many Americans come to Guben on a regular basis). We crossed back into Germany at a different border crossing, so I got an additional stamp in my passport! Dirk stopped and showed me a cool overlook area to watch the sunset. Our time there was abruptly interrupted by Dirk dropping his keys into the tall grass. But that is all explained in the video. We headed back to Dirk’s home, I checked my email, made my first blog post for the trip and then got ready for bed. We retired to our bunkbeds, prayed, and went to sleep.

Google Earth Placemarks for Day 3: Open this map

Feel free to translate: