Der schöne Mai!

Hey Friends!!

Three months down, three left to go at my second placement. Time is flying by, yet at the same time creeping along. Strange how it seems to do that to me all the time this year.

Now that May has come everything is in full bloom, the fields are starting to bud and the temperatures are steadily rising. This week we have had quite a bit of rain, but considering that it was dry most of April the farmers and their fields are very happy about this change in the weather.

I go about doing my routinely household chores. Laundry, ironing, vacuuming...sometimes I feel like am old housewife, but then I make myself remember that this is only for a year and I can run my household differently one day! There are other things that I am asked to help out with as well. I have helped paint the children's rooms, washed windows, and help out on the yard. Today I was asked to clean out the cabin's where to Polish workers that are coming to work on the surrounding farmer's fields are to live. They really do not get very much space, and the cabin's were a mess. It was pretty hard to get them into shape, to me they still don't seem that clean, though I did as much as I possibly could. I hope that they will feel well living in them. None of the workers are actually going to be working here, as the fields of the Fellmann's have not been planted this year, but they are living here because the Fellmann's have the cabins.

Last weekend I spent in Bechterdissen again. It was good to see Simon and spend some time with him. We went for a run together and he tolled me all about the playoffs and such.

This coming Wednesday we are going to a Hockey Game in Mannheim. Canada vs. Switzerland I believe. We shall see how that goes!

Placement #2

Hi Friends!!

So, as of Febuary 8th I am now at my new placement with Familie Fellmann. After the midterm conference the the Intermenno Commity provided for us we all headed to our second placements. It is hard to believe that I have been here in Europe for half a year all ready. Time seems to be flying.
Anyhow, the days spent between our placements with the 12 other Trainnes where very good. It was great to be served once againe. I have been cooking lunch for the past six months, so it was nice to come to a set table and enjoy food that was not made by yourself.
I arrived around lunchtime at my new placement. I have a very small room here compared to the one I had at my first placement, but I guess this is good for getting me used to my room back home againe. I organized my things and played 'Phase Ten' with the kids, but I definitly noticed that they are older and do not approch me the way that the younger children at my first placement did.
By now a week and a half have passed and I have gotten used to my new suroundings, but things are still new and different. I am mostly working in the household and with the kids. Today I vaccumed and mopped the whole house and I cook lunch once again everyday.
The kids love to play ' Phase Ten' so we do that in the afternoons quite often. We have gone tobboganing, but the kids keep telling me that they are sick and tired of the snow. I too am looking forward to the spring.
This coming weekend I am visiting my family in Bechterdissen. This is always really good for me. I get to go to a place where I am not new and where the surroundings are not new.

Hi Friends!!

well, it has been quite some time since I have last visited my blog, let alone writen some words about what I have been up to. Writing just isn't really my thing I have noticed more and more. Talking is way easier!
So, I have been in Europe for six months now. This is half way time, but it really does not seem like it. I was thinking about it the other day and the thought occured to me that many people only leave for six months and I desided that I would definitly not be ready to come home yet. I am not ready to switch to my new placement in a week either.
I have been here in Dühren-Sinsheim with Familie Aberle for six months now, and I have enjoyed every moment here, but I feel like I have only jsut arrived here in things such as making friends and connecting to people my age. If kind of feels like packing up camp when you have just started to set up the tent.
January has definitly been a good month. We have had lots of snow. I have gone tobboganing with the kids quite a bit and today we even started shoveling a pile for a quinzy. The are so excited to build a 'Schneehöhle' just like we do in Canada.
Christmas was also very nice. I got to spend this time with my relatives and it was wonderful to finally have this childhood dream of spending Christmas with my Oma and cousins come true. I was sick, but had a wonderful time none the less. It was good to be among people who know me, where I am not always new.
As of Febuary 8th I will be at my new placement with Familie Fellmann. I am very excited about this, but the goodbyes are always hard and saying good bye here will be no exception!
Till next time! :)

Hello Again!

I do not think that I have ever posted two posts this quickly, but but I seem to have more time these days. It gets dark around 4:30 here at the moment and I think that this is the main reason for the added amount of time. The kids go to bed earlier, but in gernaeral we do not

It has been a while!!

Well, by now it has been a while, well over a month since I last wrote. I have been quite buesy and have experienced a lot of things.
The Winelese ended in mid October. It was very fun and I was kind of sad when it ended, but I had the feeling that it would have been to long if it had strechted out any more. The weather was great the whole three weeks and as soon as we where done it got rainy and cold.
In October I had four people visit me. In mid October my cousins Christine and Claas came for three days. It was so nice to have visitors and share where I am spending these six months. We helped in the Harvest one morning, visited a very nice town in the area that has a very well kept 'Mittlealterliche Altstadt'. There are buildings from 1200 that are still in use to this day. It was a very nice afternoon, though it was rather cold.
We also visited a Monestary in Maulbronn. This Monestary was also built around 1200 and has a very long history. When Baden-Württemberg became Protestant with the reform of Martin Luther the Monchs where forced out. Since this time the Monestary has been a Protestant school. Many scholars such as Johannes Kepler studied here.
I also visited my family in Bechterdissen again this past month. It was very nice to see my Oma and cousins again. We ate a lot and just had a very nice time together.
The tainnes also got together to celebrate Thanksgiving. One of the trainnes who is placed on a farm brought a turky which we prepared. We also had stuffing and pumpkin pie, mashed potatos and bread rolles. It was a wonderful meal. It was so great to see everyone who came, eight of the twelve trainnes where there, and to see how everyone is doing. We meet in Enkenbach and explored the beautiful autum forest that is on the edge of the twon.
I have made some very good friends here in Sinsheim and this past weekend I spent a lot of time which them. We went bowling and played Settlers. We for a long hike on Sunday afternoon. I am beginning to feel more and more at home here and wish that I could stay longer than the six months.
This past week all the kids where sick and I feel like I might have caught it to. Hopefully it dosn't
get to bad.
The weather is getting cooler and cooler and with the time change it gets dark by 4:30 pm. The evenings are long, but we spend a lot of time playing boardgames or making crafts with the kids. They are very excited for Christmas.
Well, I hope you are all well, I would love to hear from you. Maybe I will manage to write a bit more this month!

Subtropical October

Well, October has come and with it rain and clouds, but the temperatures are still in the 20's. Today while harvesting in the vineyards I felt like I was in the vineyards of Chile not southern germany!
We harvested a lot of grapes today, working from 8:00 till 17:30. It was a long day, but a good one. There is always a lot of good food, and the company is also very nice.
This past weekend I finally got out and meet some of the youth from the Mennonite Church here in Sinsheim. Last Wednesday a girl from the youth group phoned me and invited me to come to youth on Friday. I was so excited, it was the first time that someone was inviting me to do something with them. It turns out that youth did not happen that Friday, but this girl and two of her friends still desided to hang out with me. We got along very well right of the hop. It was so nice to hang out with people my age and just have a nice evening. They even invited me to go with them to Stuttgart on Saturday to some big youth service. So on Satrday, I went to harvest during the day and in the evening I joined the youth group to go to this service.
The service was not really my style. I once again realized how strong my mennonite roots are and that I just am not a cherismatic person. I was not upset that I went though because I got to know some awsome people.
Sunday was a nice relaxing day. We went to church and in the afternoon I took a nice nap outside in the warm autum sun. I went for a run and found a new really beautiful rout through this forest. In the evening it got very windy so we used this opportunity to go fly the kite that David got a while ago. It was so nice to spend time just playing with the kids and enjoying the beautiful weather.
On Monday we did not harvest. The weather was not great, but the grapes also needed an extra day on the vines. In the morning I ironed for about two hours. I cooked lunch, we made quiten (a fruit that growes here, kind of like an apple, but a lot harder) jam and used the day to get some of the things done that needed doing.
In the evening I went along to a biblestudy group that these girls that I got to know on the weekend are a part of. I really enjoyed it and I think that I will contiune to go.
And that brings us to today. I am doing really good and am so glad that I got to know some people this past weekend. I drove home from the harvest today, and though it was hard to learn standard I think I have it now. I did not stall once and was very pleased with my driving.
Often there are things that remind me of home, my family and my friends, I miss them all, but overall I am so glad that I made the desison to do Intermenno, it is letting me experience things that I would otherwise never have experienced!

Weinlese

Hi Friends!!

Fall has come to southern germany and I must say this is one of the most beautiful seasons that I have ever experienced. The weather is wonderful, the sun shines and the sky is a wonderful blue.
Last weekend all the Trainnes got together in Meckesheim, a small city not far from where I am living now. It was so nice to see everyone again. We shared about our experiences and it was great to hear what the others have experienced. On Saturday afternoon we visited Heidelberg. What a beautiful city!! We walked around the 'Altstadt' and looked at some churches and the Schloss.
This past week the 'Weinlese' the wine harvest has started here in this region. There are many vineyards in the hills in this area and Magdalene, the mother of my host family comes from a family that has owned a vineyard for gernerations. It was her fathers, but by now her brother has taken it over. Some of the vineyards that we have harvested on have belonged to this family for hundreds of years.
Anyhow, they still harvest all the grapes by hand, so there is plenty of work to be done and the whole family helps out. Magdalene has three brothers and everyone who can comes and helps. It is so great to see how this family works together. They are so friendly and open to let me into their lives. When they sit together at the lunch table I don't always understand everything as their dialect is very different than any german that I am used to, but I love to listen to them. The language flows in a totally different way.
On Thursday was the first day that we harvested. We started at one in the afternoon. I was handed gloves, a pail and a pair of sissores, showed what to do and given a row. On this perticular day was only 'Vorlese' this means that we where not taking everything, we only wanted to cut out the moldy grapes. This was very slow work, when you find a bundle that has some mold on it you cut the whole bundle out of the stalk, cut of the moldy part, which ends up on the ground, and the rest of the bundle which is still good goes in the pail and gets used to make wine like all the other grapes. We where working with grapes that will become 'Roter Qualitätswein'.
On Friday we also did more 'Vorlese' but we were in differnt vineyards. Some where super old and very steep where you really had to watch how you placed your pail so that it didn't go flying down the hill. We harvested 'Weiß Riesling'. We had lunch together in the vineyard and then we worked from about 13:30 till 19:00. The work is not really that physicaly demanding, but at the end of the day I was quite tired from bending forward and down to cut the grapes, but also from being out in the sun all afternoon.
On Saturday we started at 8:00 and this time around it was 'Haubtlese' so we could harvest everything. This was so much more fun, so much faster and those rows and stalks are now finished. We worked from 8:00 till 10:00 and had 'Bretzelpause' a bretzel break. The bretzels here are so good!! Then we worked till noon and had lunch. By the time where were finished at 17:00 we had harvested 600 kg of grapes that will become 'Roter Qualitätswein'.
It amazes me that when we stand in the rows and are harvesting by hand we are doing something that people have done here for hundreds if not thousands of years. The harvesting is part of these peoples lives. They talk and sing as they harvest and because you always go down the rows in two's, one person on each side of the stalk, you always have someone to talk to. I have had some great conversations with people that I do not know, but because we are working side by side we have the opportunity to get to know each other. Sometimes we just work in silence, but this to has been ncie. I have really enjoyed these past three days and am looking forward to the next weeks of the Weinlese.