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Hi everyone!
I have a little more time, so I thought I'd write some more. There are still a few things I'd like to tell you about during my stay in Dresden, before I can move on to more recent things. (this stuff was all in the email that disappeared when I lost my telnet connection about a month ago!!)
First, about my weekend at the Morgners. (This is the family Bren stayed with for a month when she went to Germany) Christiane came to visit us in NY this summer, and we became really good friends in the few weeks she was there. So it made goodbyes not quite so bad when we dropped her off at JFK, because we could say, "see you in a few weeks!!!"
So when I got to Dresden I gave her a call, and we planned to get together over the weekend, and I could get to meet HER family!!!! Which was really great-her whole family is SOOO nice! No wonder Bren enjoyed her time with them!!!
So on Friday Christiane and her boyfriend Andreas (not to be confused with her BROTHER Andreas- kinda like you and your Toms, Aud!!) drove into Dresden- which is about a 2 hour drive from Rodewisch-and I met them there in front of the Goethe Institut when my classes got out for the day....actually, I only SAW them, and WAVED to them as they went by! THey were standing on the Strassenbahn (tram, streetcar)and when it stopped in front of the Goethe Institut they didn't press the button in time, so the doors didn't open and they couldn't get off! So they smiled and waved kinda helplessly, and got off at the next stop! I thought it was really funny, especially since I was the foreigner!
Eventually we caught up with each other, said hello while laughing so hard tears were streaming down our faces,and spent the day together in Dresden. We ate lunch in a Hungarian restaurant, where Mr. and Mrs. Morgner ate sometime when Mr. Morgner was a student in Dresden! It was new to me- I had never eaten Hungarian food before, but it was delicious!
(Sorry Nora, I have no idea what I had- something like a stuffed pepper.) Afterwards we went to the Frauenkirche, which we could really only see through the scaffolding. (Did I tell you about this already? It's a beautiful church that like everything else was destroyed at the end of WWII. It was left in ruins up until recently, as a reminder of the war, and also, I think, because they didn't have the money to restore it.
They've been raising money in the past I don't know how many years to rebuild it, and are still doing so today. Bren donated DM 5.- to put a piece on the Lego model of it when she was here, and I bought a poster of it, which now looks so nice above my desk in my room in Zuerich. I saw the CAAD drawings of it in a journal once- Architecture or Architectural Record, I think- which are amazing- every stone was recorded, so that they know which ones have to be recut, and where all the old stones go.
They're all identified and sitting on shelves next to the church now- so as much of the original building will remain as possible!
The whole thing is covered with scaffolding right now, and is scheduled to be finished in 2006, in time for the 800 year celebration of the city of Dresden!)
Christiane, Andreas and I took a tour of the building,
which meant really that we listened to a lecture in the crypt- the "tour guide" spoke so quickly that I didn't understand most of what he said!
...fortunately the lecturers at the ETH speak much slower, so I can follow my lectures for class! Phew! :) But I did catch that the restoration of the Frauenkirche is going to cost DM 250 000 000, which is the same as the cost of 22 km of Autobahn! Kind of puts things in perspective, I thought- they have to do so much fundraising to rebuild this cathedral- an important historical building and a symbol of the city- yet to build so much highway doesn't take nearly as much thought.
At the end of the afternoon we left Dresden and headed to Rodewisch, and arrived at about 7 or 8. Then I got to meet Christiane's family! First I met her grandmother, Oma, who was SOO nice! She insisted that I put on a pair of slippers, or Hausschuhe, so that I wouldn't catch a cold, but I told her I didn't think to bring any. She and Christiane and I laughed, because they decided I was just like Brenda! Then I went upstairs which is where the rest of the house is (that sounds dumb, I know- let me explain- Christiane's grandparents have an apartment on the ground floor, and everything else- kitchen, living room, etc. is on the first (second, US) floor.) ...and I met Christiane's parents. They both told me I LOOKED like Bren!...only shorter! WHich I thought was funny- I never realized we looked so much alike! Mr. and Mrs. Morgner are wonderful. I felt kinda bad because I had a little trouble understanding Mrs. Morgner because she speaks with a stronger Vogtlandish dialect. (Which is nothing compared to Schwyzeduetsch! ..but that's later!) But I did pick up on a few words:
itze=jetzt (=now) and Bemme=Stueck Brot (=piece of bread).
Mr. Morgner has a very "fatherish" smile, and talked to me about architecture and engineering at the university of Dresden (he's an engineer). And I met Christiane's BROTHER Andreas, who really reminded me of Nick the last time I saw him! (Andreas is 13) in different things he said and did, the way he picked on Christiane... it was really funny! And Bren, he's so much TALLER than he was in your pictures from 2 years ago!
OK, I know this is a horrible place to stop, but I think I should get going. I WILL finish this story soon!
Lotsa love,
Cory :)
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