Farewell Potluck

We made sure to be in LU this Sunday because the farewell for Greg Rabus and Jennifer Otto and their family was planned.  Who knew when we showed up at 10 a.m. that we'd be leaving at 5 p.m.!

And little did we know that the worship service would start with a lovely farewell for us, including gifts!  From the church we received a beautiful bouquet, a bottle of local wine, fine chocolates, a soapstone box from Kenya, and a picture book about the area (Palatinate= Pfalz).  Greg gave us a framed picture of me teaching and Jack with one of his kids, in addition to his hand drawn sketch of the Friedenshaus front door with the sign we put up each morning.  One of my students gave me a necklace and another a bag of coffee from Syria.  A third student sent his children with a box of chocolates.  From church members we got a book of wisdom, a LU calendar along with mixed nuts, and many kind words. 

Harry gave Jack, with whom he worked on building a youth room in the church basement, a metric measurer with LU name on it.  He said some witty things to Jack.  They love each others jokes and stories!

After the church service Jack was involved in helping set up the food in our house's front passage way.  It was a hot day and this was a great cool place to set it up.

Jennifer leads the food line up and an Iranian friend at the end.  He has converted to Christianity since coming to Germany.  I asked him how much he understood of the sermon, but he said very little.  I wonder what goes through his head as he attends our activities.

There's a small open courtyard between our house hallway and the church entrance.  Tables were set up under the bows and huge fig tree,

plus some under a tent and everyone ate, drank, and visited.

At 1:30 p.m. the farewell program for Greg and Jennifer began.  We'd invited our students to come at this time because it was after the meal and they aren't eating or drinking till around 9:30 p.m. during Ramadan.  It was 85 degrees.  Everyone was perspiring. 

Above Wolfgang is presenting Greg and Jenny with some presents and appreciative words about their last 2.5 years at Friedenshaus.  They had the vision and presented it to the congregation.  The congregation agreed under the condition that they'd merely supply the place.  All agreed that God's hand could be seen as the congregation became more and more intricately involved in the work of Friedenshaus - house of peace.

The congregation also presented them with a wall hanging comprised of squares many of us contributed. 

Some of our students and their children wanted this picture above.  They weren't represented by a square, but wanted to be sure Greg saw their appreciation.

 Some of them brought gifts as well.

I spent the next hour or two inside the church following the farewell with visiting, primarily with our students.  Of course there was no food or drink, but there was good conversation!

Outside homemade German cakes were laid out and strong coffee was served.  

(Don't worry!  I still got to taste almost every cake!)

Kids tied themselves up for fun!

Stories were shared.

It's sad to see Greg and Jennifer have to leave this project that they developed.  She got a dream job offer in Canada.  The good news is that a replacement has been found for the position of Friedenshaus coordinator.  A young woman from Canada will be starting in September.  Everyone is optimistic.  I heard a number of Inshallah - God Willing!

Traveling- Bamberg

How much fun can you have visiting the first secretary your father had at MCC in Frankfurt, Germany?  Well, it turns out a LOT!  Lenemarie invited us to come visit her in Bamberg.  We took the cheaper, slower train, which took five hours.  The terrain in Germany changes so quickly and we enjoyed the incredibly beautiful scenery.

  Lenemarie and her friend Volker, who knew my father well, picked us up!  We're so used to taking public transportation that this was a real treat. 

We would stay two nights at a Lutheran Church guesthouse, but spent that afternoon and evening at her apartment - talking and talking. 

Of course there was some reminiscing and story telling, but mostly we just spent the time getting to know each other.  Lenemarie and Volker are both well worth the effort to learn to know.  They were very young during WWII, but remember events from that time. 

Their perspective on the past decades both of Germany as a country and of the Mennonite Church here was very enlightening.

Lenemarie procured a young American walking tour guide for us. Jaden is doing his PhD at the Bamberg University in German History.   Fortified by her wonderful breakfast, the four of us headed off to the old part of town.  Lenemarie couldn't join us because of a sprained foot.  We learned a lot that we hadn't known. 

 

First of all, this was never a part of the Roman empire - too far north and east of the Rhein (where most Roman forts stood). Secondly, this small town in northern (lower-) Bavaria was a town dominated by the Catholic Church - and the archbishop who ruled from the top of the mountain. 

The bishop had a grand residence from which included a "Kaiser's room" should a Kaiser of the Holy Roman Empire ever visit . . . but who never did. 

When the townspeople asked the bishop for land in town to build their Rathaus (townhall) he refused. They did not want to put it on the other side of the river, so they built in right in the middle!

 



After Jaden left us we found a pub and Jack enjoyed the local Rauchbier (smoky beer). Bamberg has the highest number of breweries per capita in all of Germany - there are 13 breweries! I had the best yet Apfelschorle (sparkling apple juice).

Lenemarie joined us for a "Shadows and Light" performance on the history of Bamberg in the oldest room in the Archbishop's "Residence" - which would later serve as a prison sell during the period when the town was burning witches. 

It's difficult to describe the way the narrator used lights projected through cut outs, puppets, acting in the pitch-black room, but the "intermission" is easy to explain - it sure was a real surprise!  The narrator very deftly had each of us on the end of our row hand out small glasses and fill ours from the bottle of smoky beer from the Middle Ages for our row and pass it down.  While we all tasted the beer he continued with tales from the past, then we quickly collected our row's glasses and returned them to a cart.  Btw 95% of the audience were Germans and they didn't seem all that surprised.

That evening we drove out to a lovely traditional restaurant.  I had Bärlauch Schnitzel.  Supposedly Bärlauch is spring garlic.  You just use the leaves.  Our LU butcher makes great Bärlauch sausages. Are you acquainted with this leaf?  It doesn't taste like garlic at all!




The following morning Jack and I wandered through the city, revisiting places we wanted to see again.

and discovering new places, like this along the river. 

It is an incredibly historic and scenic city. 

And they love modern sculptures.

Lenemarie convinced us to stay for a goulash noodle lunch that she topped off with a traditional strawberry cake.  What a fantastic visit to meet old / new friends.