Christmas vacation
The past two weeks of holiday was a welcomed and well deserved break from school and work in general. We ended school on the 21st of December, and for the next few days I did some odds and ends around the flat and made some extra preparations for my travels back to my former placements when I was an Intermenno Trainee in 2000-2001. On Saturday the 24th I took a train to London and spend the next two nights at the London Mennonite Centre. I was glad that I was invited to spend the days there where I felt part of a community even though I only see the people at the LMC about once a month. In the evening of the 24th I, along with various attendees of the Wood Green Mennonite church, went carolling in a near-by hospital. We met up with other people who were volunteering their voices and were split up into 4 groups. Our church group was able to remain together with a couple others adding on for a total of about 12. We actually sounded pretty good as we visited different wards, and we didn’t even practice ahead of time. But it helps that the church group is used to sing together. The last ward we visited was one where one of the members of the church was recovering from a stroke, so our singing was extra special for her. I enjoyed the event and was saddened by it at the same time. It was a pleasure to see the staff and patients enjoy our carolling but I knew I did not have stay in hospital for Christmas. There was one woman who was crying that she just wanted to go home. I had no idea how to respond to her. Despite having 3 operations in my teenage and young adult years, I have never needed to overnight in hospital – especially not over Christmas. Overall, the carolling was a happy occasion, but the voice of the crying woman remains with me still.
After returning to the LMC to warm up and prepare for Christmas day, some of us walked to a near-by Anglican Church (along the way passing the residence of Terry Gilliam of Monty Python fame) to observe a midnight service. I was glad that we went as a group (6 in total) of non-Anglicans together. That way I did not feel as conspicuous when I didn’t know when to kneel and how to sing the tunes of the creeds. I needn’t have worried. The church must have anticipated a large turn out of non-regular attendees because the instructions of when to stand, sit, kneel were all printed in the order of service. Judging from the not-quite-polished actions of a significant minority of the people in attendance, several people may have made this service one of their handful of services they attend a year. The service itself was OK. The singing was not too bad (mainly in unison) and the sermon was simply read from cue cards. The choir was pretty good though.
I was allowed to sleep in Christmas day. (I think I was one of the first ones up at 8:00 am). I was invited to have lunch with Tim and Charleta and helped to prepare oyster stew (which became more of salmon and oyster stew because the 3 oysters were not going to be enough for 3 people). I don’t ever remember having seafood for Christmas day, but hey, there is a first time for everything! In the afternoon we had a the Green Wood church service at the LMC (no kneeling!) and then a huge Christmas meal with 20 people – just like a family gathering at home (with some special British specialities such as the Christmas pudding). Boxing day was spent relaxing and looking for sales along Oxford street.
Early on the 27th (2:30 am) I left the LMC to catch a series of buses, airplane and train, I arrived in Chur, Switzerland. Along the way I was happy to relive the German and Swiss country side powered with a light layer of snow. I treated myself to a night in a Swiss hotel in Chur (the oldest town in Switzerland with continuous residence from as far back at 3000 B.C.) Why did I decide to go to Chur? Well, one of my regrets was that despite living in Switzerland for 6 months, I had never been to the Southeast corner of the country and never heard all four official languages of Switzerland. Naturally I had heard German and French, and I heard some Italian when I was Ticino region, but I had never heard Romansh, the living language that is most related to Latin, spoken mainly in the valleys of the southeast corner of Switzerland. So I did not only get to spend a day walking through the old town centre and enjoyed window shopping in the neat shops they have there, I was also able to convince one of the shop keepers to say something in Romansh. (It sounds similar to Italian to me).
On the 28th I then travelled to Liestal, near Basel, and walked around the town for a while before trekking up the hill to Bienenberg. When I lived there 5 years ago, it would take me 30 minutes to climb up the hill from the train station – later able to shave off 5 minutes by the end of my 6 months there. Well, 5 years later, with an extra backpack in tow and someone stopping to ask me for directions, it took me 32 minutes – not too bad I think. It was really good to see the place again and to visit with Canadian friends, Arnold and Sheri Neufeld-Fast and their daughter Emily. Arnold had started his job as an instructor at Bienenberg soon after I first moved to Switzerland, so the three of us helped each other with our transitions to the Swiss culture. We had gone through some significant experiences together back then, which made this portion of my trip mainly about visiting. I hadn’t really met Emily before, who is four years old now, but it was quite easy to get to know her and bond with her. I visited with the workers at Bienenberg who were there in 2000 and was given a tour of the renovations of the hotel portion of Bienenberg. My former room looks totally different from when I lived there!
On the 30th I took the train to Neuwied, Germany to visit the pastor of the church I attended when I living in a near-by village of Vielbach. When I was living in Germany I was able to help out with the KinderBibleWoche (KiBiWo) which is like a day camp based in the church during the Easter week holiday. During that week, I spent the night at Rainer and Angelica Burkart’s instead of travelling back and forth each day. So in this trip I returned to their place and stayed a couple of nights, including New Year’s Eve. For the count down to the new year, we drove to a village where Anglica owns four horses and provided them some comfort while people were shooting off their New Years fireworks. In between that time, I was also given a tour of the renovations of the church which should be completed in a couple of months.
After the Sunday service at the Evangelische Mennnoniten Gemeinde Neuwied, I was dropped off in Vielbach and spent my last 3 days with one of the friends I hung out with while living their. The last time I was in Vielbach, I spoke mainly German, but years later, I was less confident in speaking it. But it all worked out because Dirk’s English had improved a lot since then and we spoke in both languages. When I had lived in Vielbach I was a nanny for 3 boys, so we made a point to visit the family again as a surprise. Gisela, the mother of the family, must have suspected as much when Dirk had stopped by the day before to organise a time to stop by to visit, maybe bringing someone along. Gisela was happy to see me, and two of the three boys remembered who I was. The boys, now 9, 8 and 8, look quite similar to when I remembered them, but a lot bigger. That was not the only thing different – they were renovating the first floor to allow the twins to have their own bedrooms. Dirk had also organised for members of the group of friends to meet here and there.
My return flight, unfortunately, was delayed by 6 hours, which meant that instead of ending back at my flat around 9 pm on Tuesday, I got back at 5:30 am on Wednesday. I had to go to school that day but fortunately it was a non-teaching day. Overall it was a successful trip. My German was not too bad, I got to do a little sight seeing and a lot of visiting and eating – just like Christmas back home (except the German bit).
We are now done just over 1/3 of the school year with the end of the Autumn term and the beginning of the Spring term. This term will have the exact same teaching schedule but a couple fewer weeks. I think that will be easier on the students and staff. The next half term break is in the middle of February. I should start to get some travel ideas for that trip while prices for flights are still low. I think it will be just a short one for 4 days or so, but I need to focus back on my teaching for now.
Kevin
After returning to the LMC to warm up and prepare for Christmas day, some of us walked to a near-by Anglican Church (along the way passing the residence of Terry Gilliam of Monty Python fame) to observe a midnight service. I was glad that we went as a group (6 in total) of non-Anglicans together. That way I did not feel as conspicuous when I didn’t know when to kneel and how to sing the tunes of the creeds. I needn’t have worried. The church must have anticipated a large turn out of non-regular attendees because the instructions of when to stand, sit, kneel were all printed in the order of service. Judging from the not-quite-polished actions of a significant minority of the people in attendance, several people may have made this service one of their handful of services they attend a year. The service itself was OK. The singing was not too bad (mainly in unison) and the sermon was simply read from cue cards. The choir was pretty good though.
I was allowed to sleep in Christmas day. (I think I was one of the first ones up at 8:00 am). I was invited to have lunch with Tim and Charleta and helped to prepare oyster stew (which became more of salmon and oyster stew because the 3 oysters were not going to be enough for 3 people). I don’t ever remember having seafood for Christmas day, but hey, there is a first time for everything! In the afternoon we had a the Green Wood church service at the LMC (no kneeling!) and then a huge Christmas meal with 20 people – just like a family gathering at home (with some special British specialities such as the Christmas pudding). Boxing day was spent relaxing and looking for sales along Oxford street.
Early on the 27th (2:30 am) I left the LMC to catch a series of buses, airplane and train, I arrived in Chur, Switzerland. Along the way I was happy to relive the German and Swiss country side powered with a light layer of snow. I treated myself to a night in a Swiss hotel in Chur (the oldest town in Switzerland with continuous residence from as far back at 3000 B.C.) Why did I decide to go to Chur? Well, one of my regrets was that despite living in Switzerland for 6 months, I had never been to the Southeast corner of the country and never heard all four official languages of Switzerland. Naturally I had heard German and French, and I heard some Italian when I was Ticino region, but I had never heard Romansh, the living language that is most related to Latin, spoken mainly in the valleys of the southeast corner of Switzerland. So I did not only get to spend a day walking through the old town centre and enjoyed window shopping in the neat shops they have there, I was also able to convince one of the shop keepers to say something in Romansh. (It sounds similar to Italian to me).
On the 28th I then travelled to Liestal, near Basel, and walked around the town for a while before trekking up the hill to Bienenberg. When I lived there 5 years ago, it would take me 30 minutes to climb up the hill from the train station – later able to shave off 5 minutes by the end of my 6 months there. Well, 5 years later, with an extra backpack in tow and someone stopping to ask me for directions, it took me 32 minutes – not too bad I think. It was really good to see the place again and to visit with Canadian friends, Arnold and Sheri Neufeld-Fast and their daughter Emily. Arnold had started his job as an instructor at Bienenberg soon after I first moved to Switzerland, so the three of us helped each other with our transitions to the Swiss culture. We had gone through some significant experiences together back then, which made this portion of my trip mainly about visiting. I hadn’t really met Emily before, who is four years old now, but it was quite easy to get to know her and bond with her. I visited with the workers at Bienenberg who were there in 2000 and was given a tour of the renovations of the hotel portion of Bienenberg. My former room looks totally different from when I lived there!
On the 30th I took the train to Neuwied, Germany to visit the pastor of the church I attended when I living in a near-by village of Vielbach. When I was living in Germany I was able to help out with the KinderBibleWoche (KiBiWo) which is like a day camp based in the church during the Easter week holiday. During that week, I spent the night at Rainer and Angelica Burkart’s instead of travelling back and forth each day. So in this trip I returned to their place and stayed a couple of nights, including New Year’s Eve. For the count down to the new year, we drove to a village where Anglica owns four horses and provided them some comfort while people were shooting off their New Years fireworks. In between that time, I was also given a tour of the renovations of the church which should be completed in a couple of months.
After the Sunday service at the Evangelische Mennnoniten Gemeinde Neuwied, I was dropped off in Vielbach and spent my last 3 days with one of the friends I hung out with while living their. The last time I was in Vielbach, I spoke mainly German, but years later, I was less confident in speaking it. But it all worked out because Dirk’s English had improved a lot since then and we spoke in both languages. When I had lived in Vielbach I was a nanny for 3 boys, so we made a point to visit the family again as a surprise. Gisela, the mother of the family, must have suspected as much when Dirk had stopped by the day before to organise a time to stop by to visit, maybe bringing someone along. Gisela was happy to see me, and two of the three boys remembered who I was. The boys, now 9, 8 and 8, look quite similar to when I remembered them, but a lot bigger. That was not the only thing different – they were renovating the first floor to allow the twins to have their own bedrooms. Dirk had also organised for members of the group of friends to meet here and there.
My return flight, unfortunately, was delayed by 6 hours, which meant that instead of ending back at my flat around 9 pm on Tuesday, I got back at 5:30 am on Wednesday. I had to go to school that day but fortunately it was a non-teaching day. Overall it was a successful trip. My German was not too bad, I got to do a little sight seeing and a lot of visiting and eating – just like Christmas back home (except the German bit).
We are now done just over 1/3 of the school year with the end of the Autumn term and the beginning of the Spring term. This term will have the exact same teaching schedule but a couple fewer weeks. I think that will be easier on the students and staff. The next half term break is in the middle of February. I should start to get some travel ideas for that trip while prices for flights are still low. I think it will be just a short one for 4 days or so, but I need to focus back on my teaching for now.
Kevin
posted by K. Stoesz at 10:38
1 Comments:
Your journal indicates that you had a great time touring different parts of Europe, which you personally seemed to really enjoyed. Thanks for sharing. William
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