It has been three weeks and two days since Jon left on his exercise and I am happy to say that he will be home again tonight. Woo hoo! Although I've missed him greatly, of course, the time has gone by quickly and it's been fantastic to spend so much time with girlfriends. In order to have one last hoo-rah, I went to the east German town of Leipzig this past weekend to visit Elisabeth, a former exchange student at Baylor from last fall. Like all my 0ther visits with former exchange students, it was a fantastic reunion with a friend and I very much enjoyed visiting this new city.
I left for Leipzig on Saturday morning on one of the only trains from Frankfurt heading east due to the expansive train strike that is the largest in German history. This all-encompassing strike let up for two days during the window of time that I planned to visit Elisabeth, which worked perfectly for me. I arrived in Leipzig right on time and we immediately went to her apartment to drop off my bags and have lunch. It was so fun to see someone I hadn't seen in a year and reminisce about all the fun times we shared together, such as the Halloween party I had at my house in Waco last year. That is the only time she met Jon, however she doesn't even know what he looks like, considering he was wearing his Zorro costume the whole night and talking with a mysterious Spanish accent. Elisabeth spent the last spring and summer terms in northern Spain, so it was great to hear about her continuation of her year abroad.
Later we trekked downtown to walk around the city center and see some of the very unique architecture that remains. Of course, much of the city has simple architecture and abandoned buildings due to communist times, however the history of this city is quite impressive. The church to the left is the Thomaskirsche church where Johann Sebastian Bach taught music for several years. He is also buried in the church.
This is a statue of Goethe in front of a miniature palace that was actually used as a commerce and trading hall. Now, it is used for banquets, weddings, etc.
This building is the impressive old town hall located in the main square of the downtown. Presently, it is filled with booths and a large Christmas tree waiting to be opened and lighted when the Christmas Markets will begin in the next week.
After a tour of the town, we went to a dinner party at her friends house that turned out to be a very cultural experience. There were many Palestinian people there and other Arabic-speaking people, so the languages would shift from German to Arabic and English many times during the night. Other than Elisabeth, only a couple other people could speak some English, so it was the shot in the arm I needed in order to be motivated about learning German and sticking with my classes. Afterward, the two of us went downtown to have a cocktail. The nightlife was really great and there were so many young people around as it is a university town. I very much enjoyed my Leipzig experience, but most of all, it was great to reunite with another friend. I am so lucky to have so many throughout Europe!
On Thursday, Jon and I plan to celebrate Thanksgiving with friends by going to the dining facility on base. Last Friday, many of the wives from the squadron prepared dishes (I made sweet potato casserole) for our squadron Thanksgiving dinner. It was so great to have a taste of the goodness you all will be having this week, and I'm looking forward to having it again Thursday - even if it is cafeteria-style. I'm not sure what our plans are for this weekend, but we will probably end up traveling somewhere and will report about the adventures as always.
Happy Thanksgiving!
No comments:
Post a Comment