Here is a picture of me in front of a beautiful palace in San Soucci Park in Potsdam. There are a number of amaying “Schlössers” here all with their own unique style.

This is me on the stairs of yet another great building in San Soucci, I think a University owns this one…I have no idea who the person in the green is.

Good ole’ wind-crafts (windmills though they don’ mill anything)…quiet, clean and GIANT!

Tonight Dirk and I sat on the wall of this castle, looking over the beautiful town of Marburg. The buildings are so old, the history is in the air, and I want to kick everyone who calls this place home because I am so jealous (I’m pretty sure it is morally wrong to live in such a beautiful town)

Lesson learned today: I want to live in a place where the streets are so small that an SUV can’t drive anywhere.

Travel Day
We were going to be riding the train for a long time. We had to travel from Guben to Mücke where Dirk’s friend Darius (Günni) lives. Mücke is a little south of Marburg, the city where Dirk was going to be living while at the university. This was my first time on a German train, but it wasn’t going to be the last. I had heard that the train system in Europe, and especially Germany, was very efficient and dependable. I had to activate my rail pass which would serve me for the month I was traveling. Dirk’s father drove us to the Guben train station and helped us figure out what we needed to do. Dirk translated to the woman at the ticket booth, and with only a few minutes to spare, I got my pass stamped and hopped on the train.

The Train Ride
The train took us back through Berlin and then headed on the long journey to Mücke. Dirk and I watched some of the videos from my video blog that I had put on a dvd for him. The German scenery was very nice. I was surprised how a country that is so small compared to the U.S. could have so much farmland. They must do a good job at preventing urban sprawl. I also noticed that the farms in Germany are not your normal American-style farms of giant square fields. These farms followed the shape of the land more. Their borders were not straight lines, it was much more aesthetically pleasing to watch pass by at such a high speed. We were riding the ICE (inter city express) which traveled much faster than any train that I have ever been on before. An American traveling to Switzerland to visit his daughter. I talked to him about my trip, about videoblogging, and the differences we noticed between our cultures. After a few hours of travel, we made a few transfers and then ended up on our final train. I listened to my brothers iPod as the final train clicked down the track towards Mücke.

The Arrival
We arrived at the small station and were immediately greeted by Dirk’s friends from the Dunenhoff. It was like a little reunion after a month of separation. His friends all came together to see each other again in Mücke and to meet me. Two of them would be living in the apartment where we were going to stay in Marburg. A mixture of English and German flew through the air as we walked to the grocery store with our backpacks in a shopping cart. We walked through the isles of the store while we talked and laughed. I still managed to be surprised by interesting German food products and followed Dirk’s friends as they looked for whatever it was they needed to buy. But this was no ordinary grocery store; this store had two floors. I had never seen a two-story grocery store, but the other people acted like it was a normal thing, so I just followed along. The upstairs had some clothes, plants, gifts, and Halloween decorations. Immediately Günni and Dirk ran to one corner of the second floor. They dove into a small pool of plastic balls. I looked around nervously expecting to be chided by someone in German, but no one came, so I too jumped in. It must have been a common practice for store patrons. After a while of swimming in the balls, we left the store and started walking to Günni’s house. The town was pretty nice, It felt more rural and peaceful. I was excited to spend the night there.

Settling In
All the friends kind of settled in and went their separate ways. We all stayed on the top floor of what I guess was Günni’s families apartment building (I think the family that lived in the apartment we stayed were out of town or something). I got an opportunity to check my email and talk to some people on instant messenger while Dirk and Günni Spoke in German behind me. They went off talking, so I went upstairs to hang out with Michi and Jacob. We sat down to dinner and talked about school and how to figure out our futures. Both of them spoke English very well and were kind enough to have an extended conversation with me over dinner. Dirk and Gunni came back, so I let all the German-folk hang out and talk in their native tongue while I talked to people online, updated my blog and tried to get used to the messed up keyboard. When I returned back upstairs, they were all watching some German comedy show on dirk’s computer. I felt a little left out since I couldn’t understand what was being said, but I figured that Dirk and I would have plenty of time to chat in English later in our trip. After a couple of hours, we all decided to go to bed, since we had to be up early in the morning to catch our train. We slipped into our sleeping bags, prayed, and went to sleep.

Google Earth Placemarks for Day 5: Open this map

Touring Guben
Staying in Guben gave us the opportunity to take things easy. We slept in and had another typical German breakfast of bread and meat, and even though it was drizzling, we hopped on our bikes and began our day. Dirk took me to his families church, and since his dad is a deacon, we had a key to get in with. The Church was old on the outside with beautiful ivy, but fairly simple and clean in the sanctuary. The youth had their own area upstairs which was pretty cool. It was interesting to see the similarities between American and German churches. I think that faith and worship is something that helps to bridge the language and culture barrier. After touring the church we went on to the errands. Dirk had to fax something to his new landlord, so he did that at a doctors office in the village. I rode my bike by a REAL kindergarten (Children’s garden in German) where little kids were speaking in German. Why is it that little kids speaking a different language is so entertaining? We rode our bikes through Guben and along the riverbank, which was quite the peaceful ride. We stopped by the grocery store to pick up some batteries and snacks (more good custardy yogurt) and then went back home. Since we were going to be leaving the next day, I decided to use the cookie ingredients I had packed along.

Chocolate Chip Cookies
I had been told by my sister in-law that in Germany, you can’t get the ingredients for chocolate chip cookies. So, most likely a typical German family has never experienced the wonders of a warm, homemade chocolate chip cookie. I packed everything I would need to make the cookies (including measuring spoons since I didn’t want to convert to metric). I made a good batch of cookies. I mean, they were perfectly golden brown and had that nice chewy texture. I knew that most people loved cookies, but the response I got from Dirk’s family was awesome. I think Dirk’s mom loved the cookies the most, but his brother and sisters were quite smitten by my discs of chocolate goodness. There were some ingredients left over after making them, so I made sure to tell them how to make more (I sure hope they made another batch). We saved some cookies for Dirk’s dad since he was still at work.

Mini Road Trip
When Dirk’s younger sister came home from school, Dirk, Anett, Marie, and I decided to take a little road trip. I had told Dirk that I wanted to stop by the giant windmills I had seen earlier. We drove out to them, and I was pleasantly surprised. The “windcraft,” as Dirk called them, were HUGE! They made a eerie, peaceful swishing sound far above out heads. I shot a lot of video and took a lot of pictures. They are something that is so common in Europe, but so uncommon in America. After the windmills, dirk drove us out to a place that he and his brother liked to visit. It was also a place where you could go mushroom hunting. The forest was beautiful, and the small lake where we stopped was very peaceful. We spent some time finding mushrooms (some poisonous and others edible) and just talked while enjoying nature.

Food and Entertainment
We drove back home where a late lunch/early dinner was waiting for us. It was quite the spread. We had bratwurst, fancy meats, cheese, beer, grey bread, and vegetables. This was the type of meal I was expecting, a nice selection of meats and the ever-present grey bread. It is like a light rye. I liked that Germans aren’t uptight about their alcohol, they have it with dinner and it is nothing special. It all comes back down to moderation, something that Americans have yet to master. After lunch/dinner we took it easy and asked Dirk’s dad if he wanted to watch a movie that we had picked up earlier in the day. We rented the Machinist, an American movie, set in Los Angeles, filmed in Spain, and watched (for the sake of Dirk’s dad) completely in German (no English subtitles available) I understood the majority of it, but once again no knowing the language can be difficult. After the movie, we gathered our things together to leave in the morning. We went to bed on our bunk-beds, prayed together and went to sleep.

Video from this day posted at Stone Farm

Google Earth Placemarks for Day 4: Open this map

Also, I am really having a hard time getting used to having my biggest meal of the day be served around 1:00 pm. Germans eat at the wrong times for Americans. Breakfast is smaller, usually toast with jam or rolls with jam. Lunch is served around 1 or 1:30…and it is quite the meal. Schnitzel, potatoes, and green beans, sauce. Dinner is sandwiches (meat, a darker bread, cheese, wieners, and BEER) Either way…you eat the biggest meal in the afternoon…it is so strange for me. I know it is healthier but cmon..6pm is Potroast time!

Lesson Learned since last time: Germans like Chocolate Chip Cookies, Lunch isn’t always a sandwich!

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:

I am very happy that my friend here speaks good english, but sometimes he gets sick of speaking in a foreign tongue (rightly so) so I just sit there quietly grinning as he has conversations that sound like “blooben gleeben showstuh foop.” It was really strange watching Austin Powers 3 dubbed in German last night while everyone around me spoke words I didn’t know.

In other news, I have seen things such as the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, along with some other famous things. We headed over to Potsdam yesterday to visit San Soucci, a really big palace, and a bunch of other mansions. It was very very beautiful! (pictures will come when i figure out how to get them on this darn PC.)

So finally, we are now in Guben where I met Dirk’s family. They don’t speak English, so everything I said went through translation by Dirk and his older sister who was there for the day. I found that video and photo’s do a lot better at communicating that words do.

Tomorrow I will make chocolate chip cookies (I brought the ingredients from America) and try to rent a German movie with English subtitles…All in all, everyone is very friendly and welcoming. Hoever, I am surprised that most people don’t really seem to care that I am from America. I thought that I would get the same reaction from people here that I give to foreigners in my friends houses. (lots of questions and try to speak their language) but I guess Americans are not that foreign of a thing here, they listen to our music, watch our movies, and have their own formed opinions of us. Either way, I did get a kick out of Dirk’s 7 year old brother and 10 year old sister looking at me and laughing as though I was some sort of animal in the zoo.

We will be in Guben one more night and then off to Marburg to meet with some of Dirk’s friends. I am having a very good time and slowly getting used to not understanding what anyone is saying. (my first German phrase that I learned was “I do not speak German, Sorry.”

Lesson to learn from this experience thus far: Learn some of the language before you go to a foreign country!