Erfurt

We shopped till we dropped. We spent 6 hours shopping in Erfurt and one could think we suddenly became millionaires we shopped so much. But we also ate! When we first arrived in downtown Erfurt we had Bratwurst with mustard, Rostbraedel (sorta like a schnitzel in a bun) and shared a beer. Then we went shopping. We took a shopping break later and had coffee and cake in a cafe. Amongst the 3 of us we ate 6 large pieces of cake! Shopping makes you hungry! Then with new strength, we continued our shopping spree. Don't worry, Paul. I still have a few pennies left...not broke yet :-)
The weather, however was not so nice: rain, rain, rain. On the way up there, we tried to avoid the traffic jam which was announced to us on radio and Marcos Nav system and it took us longer than being stuck in the actual traffic jam. It's a good think Marco is a good driver in this weather - it was horrible racing down the Autobahn with these idiots in the fog and rain while big trucks splash you with water the hole time and you never know if traffic is stopped after the next curve.

Then it was a challenge finding a parking place in down town. But, the Lord was with us again: A man was just leaving and had over an hour left on his parking ticket and gave it to us. Sure, it was not nearly enough, but we put it in the window and when we came back, 6 hours later, we had no penalty ticket, but everyone else did!!

We had a great bonding time - it was us 3 siblings again. I don't think they still remember my name though: they keep calling me "Schwester", which is sister in German.

Hello from the USA. I see you are having a good time. That is great. Just to let you know Kelly gave me a piece of Cheese Cake today man was it good... So Kelly if you read this it was mmmm GOOD. Every thing here is as you left it. I am running out of clean clothes, so you need to hurry back.... Well maybe Kelly will wash for me. ha ha !! I know not a chance there. But Maybe I bribe her with some BON-BON. If that don't work I will wear my HOT STUFF TEE SHIRT... That should do it. :-) I miss you, and the dogs miss you, don't ask about the cat, he has taken over your side of the bed. Have fun tell everyone I said hello
PAUL

Fresh Air

I went for a walk as planned.

Isn't it like Fairy Tale Forest? I was just waiting to see the little dwarfs come out of their mushroom houses. The entire ground is covered solid in moss. When my dad was young he would always take naps in this forest, because the ground was clean and soft.

I inhaled the crisp, clean fresh air deeply to rid my lungs from the hot swamp air. Here are no mosquitos and no bugs. Yes, you heard me right! No bugs and a hole lot of trails, riding trails that is!!Isnt that a pretty pasture? Already has electric fence around all 80 or so acres. The pasture ends down in the valley where the trees begin.

The wind was bending and twisting the trees and made them moan and rush. The gras seemed to be hissing...
Here is proof that I found proper head gear:

Sunday

I just came in from watching Eric hang his laundry outside to "blow dry". It is about 46 degrees and a stormy wind is wipping around. Kelly, this reminded me of Sarayu, the holy spirit, in your book as she was also windy. Well, except that here it is stormy. The wind actually wistles thru the windows and slaps the trees onto the house. I might go for a walk in a minute if I can find something to put over my ears.
We went to Church this morning. Everyone was excited to have a visitor from the US. Even Eric's co worker goes there and could not believe he came. We felt very welcome.
The building must be an old school house; it was basically one big room with an entry way. We entered from outside with a chattering group and a lot of young people who wanted to know everything about me. Inside veryone told us to take our jacket off, which I was hestitant to, but I did as told and when we entered the "auditorium" there was a fire place! They had rows of chairs set up and Eric and I sat in the last row with our backs to the warmth. The best place to be!
The worship service started off with a congregational song and the words were on a big screen and a young woman played the keyboard. Later a boy, about 5 or 6 years old, played a song on his violin together with what seemed to be his mom. Then we sang another congreational song. Afterwards a girl about 9 years old played the flute. Then another song. I did not recognize any song, which all came of their hymnal. The theme today was: Thanksgiving. They had a nicely decorated table with fruits, vegetables, plants and bread and in the center was an open bible with candles on either side.
They read aloud 2 scriptures: one Psams 8 and the other 28. Then they told a story to the children about a little mouse that was greedy and stole a big cheese only to find out that it was one of the stinkyest cheese there is and he had to get rid of it. The lesson was to be thankful for what you have. The preacher then did a message on being thankful. He even incorporated the crowd, sorta like Sunday school, which was nice. Guess what? Even Eric raised his hand and gave good pointers. I was so proud of him. We even had the Lord's Supper where they used two rolls (which Eric pointed out he had made the day before in the bakery) and everyone would tear a piece off. The wine came in a big cup and was grape juice. It was handed around and everyone took a sip. It was a great little service and I watched Eric follow along even though there were little children inside that were noisy every once in a while.
After the service we chatted some more with the young folks there who wanted to know what church I go to and what it's like. Everyone was very curious. While we were talking others were clearing the chairs for tables as they were going to have lunch together: Soljanka Soup (russian I believe). But me and Eric wanted to have the real deal. So we said our good byes. On our way out I tucked on Eric's sleeve and hinted that one of girls was "kinda cute". He agreed. She studied English at University in Jena and is about finished. She had been an exchange student in Oklahoma City a year ago. I told everyone to invite Eric again, so he can become a part and they said they would. They also have bible study and other activities during the week.

After that we went to Lobenstein to eat "the real deal" German Sunday food:

"Rinderroulade mit Thüringer Klösse und Apfelrotkohl"
(Beef Roll-up, Dumplings, apple red cabbage)

As I was looking at the silverware sitting on the table, Eric pointed out that this was ZIEHER silverware! You may wonder what I am talking about. Well, this is the place that I used to work at and sell restaurant / hotel equipment, amongst that silverware. See engraving in the knife.

So, I will go drink some more hot tea and see if I can beat the weather and take a stroll. Marco will come home later this evening. Whatever the reason for the Lord was not to bring him home for the church service may or may not be revealed to us...

Kulmbach

Yesterday afternoon we drove to Kulmbach, which is about an hour drive, but when Eric drives it's only 30 minutes. Yep, I had forgotten how fast we Germans swing around the curves here... LOL.
Paul, I took this photo just for you - no, not because of the castle on the hill, but because of the EKU sign!
After we met Michael (choir master), we walkedt to the Greek Restaurant to eat. I must point out that it was bitterly cold - about 4 degrees above freezing.
We got to the place, however, they were packed! I stuck my head in the kitchen door to see if my old friend Babsi was there. She was and about had a fit when she saw me. She immediately recognized me and spoke briefly with delight. We said our goodbyes and say HI toos and left.
I was about to panick with the food, because my plan was to either eat Greek or Italian in my other favorite restaurant. So, we walked there (yes, still cold) to the Pizzeria ala Rustica and when we got in EVERY empty table had a RESERVED sign on it. I was so upset! Here he was, the owner Ermanno Lubiato. Michael went and asked him about a table for 3 and guess what the Lord did for us? Ermanno walked over to that table for 4 and took the reserved sign off. Here, this is your table!
Needless to say, I was on cloud nine - because now I ordered the (not on the menu) Gnocchi a la Gorgonzola!
Eric and Michael got to know each other better. We spoke about everything, family, work, church. He was going to direct a choir in another church this morning, to help out. I asked him what songs and I recognized them. All in all, it was a great meeting in Kulmbach - except that all the stores were closed at 6 pm on a Saturday! Oh, well, we had a good time.
On the way home in the fog and drizzle we almost got lost twice, but we made it home.
I am curious how church is going to turn out this AM. I will keep you posted.

First Day

I slept about 12 hours and had a good breakfast with Eric. Mmmh, he brought delicious rolls and bread from his bakery this morning. We had coffee and read the paper. The cakes will have to wait till this afternoon for Kaffeestunde. ;-( He also brought the slaughtered rabbit home which Marco will cook for us tomorrow.
Then we made a quick dash to "town", Wurzbach that is. Since Opa and Uncle told me yesterday that they are just now getting over the flu, I have been feeling a bit scratchy in my throat. So, we went to the pharmacy and got some medicine (the boys have no drugs at home) and then walked to the flower shop to put some flowers on my Dad's grave.This little tower behind me is some new piece of art Eric told me. I thought it loooked funny.
Here you can see the little bouquet of Chrysanthemes we put on the grave. Below is Eric.

Eric just went to bed, since he has been baking all night. When he gets up at 4 pm we will drive to Kulmbach and meet with an old friend - Michael, who was the choir master of the church there. We will go to the mmmm good Greek Restaurant there. I might even run by a store or two while I'm there. I will take you some pix..

But I still have to tell you the story about my flight. The seat next to me going from Dallas to Frankfurt was empty. Oh, and I have to throw this in: From now on I will ONLY fly Lufthansa. I felt pampered!! You can even drink wine and get free refills. The food was great, too and the service! Nevertheless, the seat next to me in the center row was empty (which by the way, this should have been Paul's seat) and on the other side was a man flying to India. He was an American citizen, but from Indian decent. He said once he arrives in Frankfurt, he has to fly another 10 hrs to arrive in India - whew!
There were a lot of Russians and Indian / middle eastern people on this flight. Only a hand full of Germans or Americans.
During the later hours while everyone was sleeping, me included, and the lights were off, this lady about my age stood next to me asking to sit on that empty seat because the child behind here would constantly shake the seat. So, I let her in. It wasn't until breakfast time that I started to talk to her. She was from Israel, is Jewish and her name was Miriam (I pointed out that this was the name of Moses's sister, which she knew). She came back from a religious conference in the States and was headed home. I jokingly said: "How does it feel to be the chosen people of God?" And she chuckled, but said that this is not what it's about. From then on we had a real deep conversation about faith, bible and God. What struck me was that she did not know about the gift of Jesus. So, I was witnessing to her about the gift of eternal life and quoted her some scriptures that she did not seem to know. She knew all the old testament, but not the new, it seemed. She said that God must have put us together on this plane, so we can have this talk. Isn't that great? I told her that Jesus had her on his mind when he died and she seemed to think on this a while. Then, I asked her what kind of bible she reads and if she reads it in the original language. See, she speeks Hebrew and she even tought me to say " I love you" in hebrew, but she also reads aramaic, which is the original language of the bible. I thought that was fascinating. She pulled out a tiny book from her luggage which was called " The book of Abraham" and you open it back wards, just like the pages are filled and read from right to left. Everything was written in Aramaic, except for a little commentary in the fron (or our back), which is in English, French and some other languages. I thought this was the coolest thing. She told me that this is one of the many books Abraham had written and it contains instructions on how to be a selfless and righteous person. However, she said, it is not a God related scripture. I thought that was weird. They are the chosen people and the write books without mentioning God? She wanted me to have th is book since she had another one in her suitcase that was full size. I was happy about this encounter in which God was amongst us. Lets pray for Miriam that God will show her the way.

I made it!

I have arrived and everything went smoothly. The Lord was with me all the way.

Below you can see me arrive and Oma's house.

I only slept 2 hours on the airplane and had a 1 hour nap at my brothers' house just before supper. So, guess what? I am going to bed now.

It's bitterly cold here! I will have to go buy me a sweater soon. Somehow I must have underestimated what cold dry air feels like! It's about 7 degrees celcius (44 F approx). BRRRR!

Good Night.