Dear Diary the East: Part I

I might have mentioned on here, or perhaps I did not, that I spent Christmas away from Mainz. I visited 2 different friends. Christmas itself was spent with Bettina and her family in Luckenwalde, outside of Berlin. The day after, I journied nearly to the Czech Republic to spend time with Anja and her family. I visited Berlin for the first time in early December, and traveling to and from the city was my first time being in what was formerly East Germany. Berlin in itself was a great city. At least I think so, but I am a history dork. Beyond the national history of the land I visited over Christmas, it was also interesting to see what other places in Germany look like. Now I've officially visited everywhere but the middle, I think. Oh, and also have yet to get further Northeast of Berlin. It's like that for visitors to America, too, it seems. Everyone goes to one coast or the other. What about the middle?! As a Wyomingite, I ought to really pay more attention to the innards of Germany.

Anyway, I forgot to bring a journal with me (I didn't forget-- I had deemed it too heavy, actually) through my first real adventure over East, and my experiences there made me wish I had. So I journaled with Microsoft Word. Less romantic because it's my thoughts but not my handwriting. I thought over the next few days, I'd share some bits and pieces of my impressions as I traveled between the two towns where I spent Christmas. And so, Part I:

Here I am on a regional train, last leg of the journey from Luckenwalde to Olbernhau- or should I say last leg via train. I’ll be picked up at the Olberhau station and we’ll drive to Pfaffroda, since Pfaffroda is too small to have a train station. There are tell tale signs out the windows that I am in fact in the former East Germany. The architecture here was inspired by rectangles, and the speed in which things were built and the lack of real resources seems evident. I’m in the mountains; that’s for certain. This is where the woodworking is done for all of those little “Pyramide”, “Räuchermännchen”, and other wooden goodies that one finds in the Christmas markets. I looked up from my book to see quickly that we passed through a town called “Frankenstein”. I might never find out way out of here.

Before leaving for these few days away for Christmas, I looked at my journal sitting in its place on the shelves, longing to get some attention. “Oh gosh,” I thought. “Just one more heavy thing to lug around.” And with that, I left it behind, thinking that a couple days journey wasn’t worth having to tote it from place to place. But what was I thinking?! This is my first actual time being in the former DDR. I was lucky to visit Berlin just 2 short weeks ago, but Luckenwalde and Pffafroda—that’s the real deal! If ever there were a time appropriate for journaling, this is it. Of course, I am lugging with me my heavy Nikon camera, my heavy laptop (oh why oh why can’t I afford something airy-er?!), and bottles of wine for gifts. But my journal? Nah…

So I’ve put my computer to use for journaling. And I feel like a big, fat cheater. Here I am in what might possibly be middle-of-nowhere Germany, having a grand adventure, meeting new families, learning new things, struggling through conversations where many people talk at once and all I’m catching is the transition word “Na ja”, and training through these crazy mountains on a train that smells like incense, not even kidding. I should be handwriting this! Technology does not fit the experience I’m having right now.

Oh, an aside—The Dresden Bahnhof had a gorgeous, tall Christmas tree in its main hall. Noteworthy and appreciated, Dresden. Nice work.

Oh my gosh, I forgot until right now that I don’t like the smell of incense. I think I’m gonna be sick on this train.

I’m pretty nervous to visit Anja’s family. She has told me that their region has a pretty stark dialect. As in, some Germans can’t understand what these people are saying. And they’re speaking German. She has a “high school reunion” casually at a bar in a neighboring town tonight, so I get to meet a bunch of new people who all know each other really well and will be speaking fast, drunk, starkly accented German. Not an environment in which I will likely thrive. Sometimes having to be social makes me awkward, and sometimes I flourish. This situation kicks me so far out of my element that perhaps it’ll be a flourishing situation.

Christmas, complements of Dresden Hbf