Kaiserswerth & Weihnachten

Today I rode the U79 to Kaiserswerth, a district in Düsseldorf, and eventually found a dry bench to sit and draw. The result of two snow falls was snow-covered ice, which began to melt after a short light rain this morning, so everything was pretty wet and mushy. But I think it was meant to be that I found this bench, because I really like this little scene! Looking at it now, I can see myself developing on my quest to document life here in the Ruhrgebiet. 

It's nice to have the time right now, even if it's cold, to hop on basically any train and look around. That was my idea after the above drawing. As much as I love the buildings, the people might be more important. Hm, tough decision. They are two really different stories! So, I got back on the U79, direction Düsseldorf Hauptbahnhof, where I stood around a bit until taking another train back home. Throughout the journey I made quick sketches of the people around me. Some of them are more realistic, some more impulsive. It's an interesting scene to picture: I am sitting or standing in a train or bus, depending on how full it is, staring at people, then looking down at my little red sketchbook. Some people notice, some people don't. A lot of people are uninterested, but sometimes I get comments, which makes it even more fun.

I intend to continue using my SchokoTicket, which allows me to use all public transit in the Ruhrgebiet, as an art tool.

In other news, we celebrated Christmas last week! Weihnachten in Germany is a three day event. Heiligabend is Christmas Eve, but celebrated more like Christmas day. We opened presents in the early evening, then ate a big dinner together. I made two types of hummus; Bodo, my host dad, made two soups; and we had lots of tasty breads and spreads. Perhaps not "traditional German," but suits all of our tastes quite well. Afterwards, Lydia and her host family came over.

There are then two days of Christmas, the 25th and 26th. These were both lovely relaxing days, including long walks with the dog and lots of movies and, of course, more food.

Part of the holiday celebration here is the Advent, which is celebrated by lighting a candle each Sunday leading up Christmas. Candles have become a central part of my winter. It's okay that the nights are so long, because the candles are cozy. They make me want to stay home and drink tea and be warm. 

Here is a quick drawing from the fourth Advent as we enjoyed tea and home-baked deliciousness and candles.

Our Heiligabend candle show:

 And, of course, a family photo on Heiligabend. Love these two ladies and this stinky Hund.

Our Great World

11. Dezember 2014

I have been busy filling up my red Büchlein. I am developing a better understanding for why I love keeping little journals like this. Part of it is practicality. More than that, though, is that I can always have it with me and show around, and I've gotten a lot of cool reactions from people who've flipped through her pages. The little drawings inside become more than just sketches. This book, a work in progress, is also a complete work of art. It tells stories and creates images of people and places.

The Duisburger Weihnachtsmarkt. It's here for a month and is open every day, and you can buy the best food and other things. It smells incredible from all the roasted almonds and crepes and potatoes, etc. As I was drawing this, a little boy came by and watched, then went on with his grandmother. A little while later, I looked up and he was there again, observing.

-----------

I am building a picture in my mind in which I understand the German culture, and through that process am slowly filling in gaps in my definition of myself. I’m meeting as many people as I can, and trying to learn their stories and who they are, so that I can take the most interesting parts and apply them to myself or try to use my own means of communication to share them with others. A culture is a system, and its traditions are valid. I want to understand them. I want to get inside them and look at them with my fresh and foreign perspective. I want to meet people and document their stories, because life is short and I won’t be here forever and neither will they. That's one reason why I'm drawing.

I have also changed the name of this blog, as you may have noticed. I won't always be "abroad," plus I don't even feel like I'm "abroad" anymore. Germany is quickly becoming home. Really, the world is my home, and she's so beautiful. "Our Great World" is a much more fitting name for why I'm writing this blog... and why I'm living and making art in general.

Sometimes, it's just too cold to sit outside and draw. Then I tuck myself away into a cafe and drink some tea. I met four old men who meet in that bakery every morning and drink a coffee together. I think that's good friendship.

I love the houses and buildings here. There is generally less space in Germany than in the U.S., and more people who live in that space. A certain beauty comes from the use of precious space.

Below are two friends of mine. On the left is Bernd, my art teacher on Tuesday evenings. He is 84 years old and has so much input for me, and I feel like I'm missing something important when I can't understand him. Fortunately, I can understand a lot. These portraits came after we talked about reducing images. On the right is Josef, who is also in the same art class, and we often sit and draw portraits of each other.

Two weeks ago, Daniela and I were in Möhnesee for the weekend. We stayed in a youth hostel up on a hill right above this Staumauer (dam), which is old and relatively well known. It was a very refreshing weekend: I biked around the lake on Saturday and again on Sunday, on slightly different routes. It was about 35 kilometers both times. Bike touring is a great way to see new places, even if it hovered around freezing temperatures and I felt like I had ten little popsicles in my shoes afterwards.

View from the Staumauer.

Here are a few photos from my bike tour. (As much as I love using drawings to tell my stories, photos can be good, too)

Can you see the frost?

I fell in love a little bit with this house when I saw it, and it fits in perfectly with the colorful trees and plants.

Happy Thanksgiving and More Sketches

27. November 2014

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! We celebrated Thanksgiving early here, together with Lydia and her family, because we don't have time on a Thursday. I spent most of the day cooking (with inspiration and recipes taken from the wonderful Oh She Glows) To get a feel for the experience, cooking and eating included, watch this video that Lydia and I filmed together. She did a wonderful job of editing it and expressing how we celebrated our "American" holiday. 

Below is a picture of me and my host mom on, Daniela, on our Thanksgiving evening. I want to take a moment here to express how deep my gratitude is to have her as a central part of my exchange experience. She is the best and most supportive German mom and friend, who is somehow always willing to take a moment to talk to me about whatever is going on. Her honesty keeps me aware and thoughtful.

I started a new sketchbook a little over a week ago, and have set right to the task of filling it with images drawn from the world around me. I won't let the cold weather stop me, even if it does mean that my watercolors start to freeze while in use...

The houses down the street from my school. There is something so distinctive about the buildings here that I'm attracted to.

Landschaftspark-Nord. An old industrial factory was closed down and turned into a public park about thirty years ago. Interesting how plants are slowly invading the space...

Oh, and we were in the newspaper!

Translated, the article is called "An American Adventure in Ruhrpott," which is a name for the area we live in. From left to right in the picture: Susanne (Lydia's host mom), Lydia, me, Ghandi (our French Bulldog), and Daniela, my host mom.

The article was featured in the Duisburg section of the WAZ, a major west-German newspaper. On the cover of the section you can see in the upper left where our article is, but, if you look a little lower on the left side...

"Zitat des Tages" means "Quote of the Day," and it's from me! Translation: "I have learned to laugh at myself and my mistakes." Abigail West (19), exchange student from the USA, on the pitfalls of the German language.

Needless to say, things are going pretty well.

Forest Vibes

17. November 2014

November Fruchtstand. Charcoal

I've been drawing a lot lately. I highly recommend drawing as a solution to whatever mental block or difficulty you might be facing. It helps me think. I'd like to say I'm getting back in touch with my creative self, but that creates the wrong image, as if it had gone somewhere. I think I've just spent a lot of time putting emphasis on other things, and now I have time to really refocus on drawing and art (and photography and videography, in which I have dabbled a little bit with Lydia, who shot the video from which I took the bottom two stills).

A bit of honesty: the rapidly shortening days have me stuttering a little. I'm not ready for the sun to be setting at 4:30, and I know I still have over a month of shorter days to come before the solstice. BUT I am not about to let that get me down! Sunlight may be a bit precious around here, because it rains a lot too, but when the sun shines, it has a beautiful glow that lifts the spirits. We've been really lucky to have several weekends of beautiful sunny weather, and I've used it to go outside and look around and think.

There is a lot of nature around here, not too far with a bike or a bus or my two feet. The air in the woods is refreshing and clarifying.

Go draw! Go outside! Breathe in the fresh air! That's what I've been doing, and I feel like it's a good direction.

Perspectives

3. November 2014

Above, you see the same small bunch of cut flowers, drawn with two different approaches.

I share this for several reasons. One, as I progress farther into this year and experience, I find myself often questioning the previous definitions I had of myself. Many of the parameters I used to characterize myself before aren't there now, because the culture is different and I can't express myself so easily through language when I meet new people. Art and creative processes, however, have been something that has really stuck with me. Through drawing I have been able to connect more quickly with a number of people. (I'm also starting sit down and just practice drawing more often, it's nice to have time to do that)

These two drawings also kind of express my feelings about learning a new language. How much information is actually necessary to understand the gist of what someone is saying? It's amazing how much I can understand when people speak, even though there are so many words I don't exactly know. Reading is more challenging, but, armed with a highlighter, I can usually manage to extract the most important parts of a text and get the meaning, with minimal translation.

-----

Here are a few pictures from the last two weeks or so. Emily, a good friend from language camp, was here for a weekend! We packed our time together pretty full, but it was so much fun and I really enjoyed getting to see her.

Emily, Lydia, and I, practicing one of our life philosophies, 

which is that it's never too cold for ice cream.

Am Innenhafen. (Duisburg is Europe's largest inland port!)

Mmm....If you didn't already know how I feel about breakfast here...

Halloween! It isn't really technically celebrated here, but enough people dress up and go out. This is Elena, a friend from school, and I on Halloween at another friend's house. I hope you can see her colored contacts, they were so gruselig

Herbstferien & Fotos

22. Oktober

What a wonderful two weeks Herbstferien (fall break) was! We were in Bayern (Bavaria) for a week and a half, staying with my host mom's mother in southern Bayern. I really enjoyed getting to know her, her husband, and her dogs, and I feel like my German host family expanded. The weather was almost as wonderful as our hosts, with sun almost every day. It held out really well for us--I looked yesterday, and the forecast predicted snow last night in the same town. I went hiking in a tank top and shorts when we were there!

For my birthday (19!?), I was treated to a wonderful breakfast, which is often when gifts/cake are had here. This suits me perfectly, because I love German breakfasts so much. The bread here is SO WONDERFUL (sorry not sorry to all my gluten-free friends out there). Then, there are practically limitless options for what to eat with that freshly-baked bread! Käse (cheese) and Marmalade (jam) of many varieties, Nutella, Honig (honey)... I could go on all day, until it was time to eat breakfast again.

A glimpse from my Geburtstag Frühstück. Not pictured: Brot (bread)

Later in the day we drove to Füssen, looked through the shops there, and ate ice cream. For dinner, I made black bean burritos with guacamole and we played a game and had many laughs!

Cassie, my host sister, and I on my birthday.

On our last day in Bayern, I hiked up to Schloss Neuschwanstein. I didn't go inside (you have to pay and there were so many tourists there...), but instead I hiked further and was amazed by the view of the mountains, especially with the fall colors in the trees. That day was the clearest, and the mountains were breathtaking.

The view of the bridge from the Schloss.

Schloss Neuschwanstein.

Schloss Hohenschwangau, the other of King Ludwig's two castles.

And now, I'm back in Duisburg and in school, but coming back I realized again what a good place this is to live. It is certainly more "industrial" here than in the south, but everything I could need is within reach, and I have a ticket that allows me to travel anywhere in the Ruhrgebiet with public transit, which makes even more accessible. (Perspecitve: Duisburg has a population of about 490,000, and the entire Ruhrgebiet about 5 million) I also really appreciate how many different things there are to see that aren't far away. A good place to live for a year, I must say!

At Home in Deutschland

7. Oktober

What a month it’s been! My blog certainly deserves an update.

I’ve settled into school well. I changed my second major course to Kunst (art) instead of Sport, with Deutsch still my first major course. School is generally challenging, of course, but it’s gotten a lot easier. Outside of school, I found an art class at a studio not too far (20 minutes by bike), and they meet for three hours on Tuesday evenings.

I’m writing this from southern Bayern (Bavaria in English), not far from Füssen, which itself is not far from Austria. We are visiting my host mom’s mother, and it is simply beautiful! We went for a long walk earlier with the dogs (Ghandi, our bulldog, and her two dogs). The weather is warm in the midday sun, and the Alps watch over the rolling grassy green hills and trees that are beginning to welcome fall. So peaceful.

This weekend, we were in Marburg. I could tell you it was beautiful, but it might be easier to just say that everything I’ve seen in this country has been beautiful. Perhaps, then, it is more useful to describe what I saw. The house we stayed in was outside of Marburg, with lots of open hills interspersed with forests. I went running in the mornings on a path right behind the house that went through the woods. It’s pretty chilly early in the morning, but perfect for jogging. I’ve also had more time to do yoga, and I feel physically pretty good, especially considering the amount of bread and cheese I’ve had the luxury of enjoying here.

The city of Marburg itself has a large university. I would compare it to an American college town, but with a deeper and longer history. There is also a significant school for the blind in Marburg, and many blind people live there. We were there for a cooking course for my host sister, who is blind. The city generally had a really relaxed feeling about it, I enjoyed just walking around.

I’ve felt comfortable from pretty early on at home with my host family, but somehow a feeling came to me on the day we left Duisburg for vacation, last Thursday, “I live in this country.” Every day is a new adventure, but I live here now! I am growing and developing not just my language skills, but also myself as a person, and it’s cool that I get to do that here. Perhaps that is still a bit vague, but that’s okay with me.

Ghandi! We found this perfect spot by the river to sit and talk in the sunshine. Could you ask for a better view? That is the Marburger Schloss on the hilltop.

The view in Bayern.

Duisburg!

12. September

Here I am in Duisburg! I am sitting here, thinking of how best to begin this blog post, which is no easy task because my brain is already a jumble of English and German. I can understand so much (and so much is also still difficult to understand), but my brain still often tries to translate to English. To be fair, it’s been wiring itself that way for the past 18 years. It has also only been six (!) days here, and with more time I can tell it will get easier. I can already understand so much more than I could a week ago. It’s an exciting, albeit very difficult, process!

Duisburg and my host family are so wonderful. Duisburg is a large city, and neighbors other large cities. This entire area is called the Ruhrgebiet. What I like most that I’ve seen of this city so far is how, relatively close to the city center, there are forests where the air is fresh and you’d have no idea that you were in a city. There is a lot of water here. Duisburg is on the Rhein River, but I haven’t even seen that yet. There is one area with six lakes (man-made, as this was a coal city) and they are now surrounded by forest and paths. There are also a series of waterways connected to the Regattabahn, which fits a 2000 race course and is probably, oh, ten rowing lanes across. This, too, is tree-lined with paths for running or biking on either side. I tested out our bicycle today by riding it around the Regattabahn. This city is very sports-oriented, with a lot of rowing, bicycling, running, soccer, etc.

If that all doesn’t sound great enough, I also am living with a fantastic host family! My host parents, Daniela and Bodo, have been so welcoming, as have my host sister Cassie (she’s 12, blind, and incredibly talented and smart) and Basti, my host brother who is 19. Ghandi, the French bulldog, is quite a character and has also made me feel right at home. Our house is located within walking/biking distance of wherever I might need to go.

And school! There really are so many new things to talk about. I am in the 11^th grade, and my Leistungskurse, kind of like “majors,” are Sport and Deutsch. I also have seven other classes. My Stundenplan (schedule) is on a weekly basis. I have every class twice a week, except for Sport and Deutsch, which I have more frequently. Naturally all the classes except English are taught in German, and some are easier for me to follow than other. It’s a very good feeling when I can understand what’s going on! There are also lots of friendly people here willing to help me out when I need it.

I don't have many pictures or drawings yet of this beautiful city, so I will share instead a painting I made in language camp for the Bürgermeisterin (mayor) of Hedersleben!

Thale and Home in Hederseleben

2. September

So the WiFi that we “borrowed” from our neighbor Michael is no more. I have temporary access to the Internet right now, so I’m taking the opportunity to share some things I’ve written and done! The weather is has been a bit warmer again, so the weekend saw several long walks around town and out into the countryside down one of my favorite roads. I frequent that area a lot. There are orchards and then several streams and then fields.

Last Thursday we went to Thale. Here are some pictures!

Sarabeth and I rode a bobsled together. Sehr schnell!

Emma, ich, Sarabeth, Brittney, und Nick.

30. August

I have felt so refreshed and alive these past few days, thanks to more sleep every night. It’s amazing what a difference it makes! For the first two weeks, I got up to go running every morning with some other girls, which is a great way to start the day. However, this week I believe I’ve found a better way for myself: Wake up five minutes before breakfast! I tend to wake up and then fall back asleep, and I have the most vivid dreams and the best sleep. I’ve found time to run or do yoga in the midday break.

Speaking of schedules, let me give you a little bit of a better idea of our schedule here at language camp:

8:00 - Frühstück. I really enjoy the style of breakfast. I have yogurt and Brötchen (bread rolls) with cheese and then with nutella and bananas. I haven’t permanently replaced peanut butter with nutella as my banana companion, but chocolate in the morning can’t really be beat…

9:00 bis 12:00 - Class. We’ve covered various material like grammar, vocabulary, and some culture. Juli, my teacher, is great. She also has a good sense of humor which is necessary when listening to us. We do try to keep the jokes in German, so it’s learning…right?

12:00 - Mittagessen. Lunch is served to the tables, usually with a plated vegetarian option for those of us who it applies to. I have been eating some meat when we eat outside the Kloster, and some has tasted good. I still prefer the vegetarian diet best, though. We often go out to the supermarket after lunch since we have time before the homework hour. There are lots of delicious fresh pastries and anything else you might need there.

13:00 bis 14:00 - Hausaufgaben, oder lernen. Homework, which is often to study and learn what we covered in class.

14:00 bis 15:00 - Freizeit! This is when I’ve been doing yoga, running, etc. Or, just hang out and talk and eat more chocolate.

15:00 bis 18:00 - Class again.

18:00 - Abendessen

19:00 - Nachrichten. We watch the news auf Deutsch! I’m slowly able to understand what they’re talking about, but it’s pretty fast and sometimes very difficult to understand. It’s good to stay updated though.

In the evenings after that, there is usually some sort of optional organized activity. Otherwise we can hang out. Walks in the evenings are nice. Sometimes we have dance parties in the hallway.

22:30 - Curfew.

Yesterday, as a tradition and also to return the favor to our neighbor Michael from whom we borrow WiFi, we did work in the fields next to the Kloster. I learned how to use more machinery (weed eater) and cleared out a large section of brush (many of which were stinging nettles…). Then we had a FANTASTIC dinner outside. For me, it was grilled veggies, some nice potato salad type dish, and a bean, corn, and feta salad--so good! Then we had a bonfire and made s’mores, which are also quite delicious with German cookies and chocolate. I spent about an hour talking with some locals in German about differences between Germany and America and about politics. I can understand most things I hear now in conversations, and, if I work at it, I can get my point across. This morning we watched the movie Die Welle, with German closed-captioning turned on, and I could understand just about everything. Progress is progress!

Feuerwehr

24. August

Yesterday morning we were scheduled to spend three hours with the Feuerwehr (fire department). I suppose we imagined we would just be getting a long tour of their building, but boy were we in for a surprise! The 25 of us who went rode in several fire trucks to a nearby town where we met some more firemen. They had four stations set up for us, and my experience was as follows:

Station 1: Spray the hoses into a target and fill up the hole in the target. They timed us, and we were a lot slower than their usual times. Evidently this is an exercise they do because they were talking about their own best times.

Station 2: Learn about all the tools, hoses, nozzles, etc that are carried in a typical German firetruck.

Station 3: The fireman in the light blue sweatshirt in the picture below showed us how to use these tools, which are so heavy. They can cut into vehicles in a car accident, for example. They could also cut off your fingers. Or your arm.

Station 4: We went up about 30 meters in a crane. Below is a view of our friends down on the ground. Emily was laughing so hard because she was enjoying it so much that the fireman with us took us all the way up, the highest we could go. We could see quite a long ways off!

We didn't realize that our first station was actually a race, and that the winning group (not us!) got to spray everyone else with a water cannon. Everyone got so wet. When a friend of mine turned to run away, he didn't see me behind him and WHAM, our heads slammed together. I have a rattled brain and a nice swollen eye to prove it... It's a good thing to laugh about though. I feel a bit better today.

Bis später,

Abigail

Hedersleben, Quedlinburg, Host Family

21. August

After 10 days in Hedersleben, the Kloster and the town feel like home. We eat three meals a day in the main hall downstairs (I eat mainly potatoes, bread, and cheese), in between which we go to class, do homework, and have free time to explore the village. Hedersleben is a peaceful and quiet town that is very welcoming to us, even if sometimes we are as loud as “typical Americans.” I’ve met some locals, including a farmer who showed me around his farm and introduced me to his dogs, ponies, chickens, and baby rabbits.

Last week, we took two field trips. The first was to Quedlinburg, a town of about 20,000 people not far from Hedersleben. Quedlinburg has many old churches and a castle up on a hill. The city has been very well kept and hundreds of half-timbered houses still line the streets. The beauty of the town has been particularly well-kept because the city was almost entirely untouched by World War II.

Drawing of Quedlinburg from up on the hill by the castle. There are many, many old churches!

Another attempt at capturing how all the roofs looked from above.

One tower of the castle.

We took another day-trip to Leipzig. I walked about 7 kilometers and got a good view of the city on a nice sunny day.

Big news: I got my host family! I will be living in the middle of Duisburg, a city of about 490,000 in the state Nordrhein-Westfallen, which is in western Germany and about 70 kilometers north of Cologne on the Rhein River. I will live with host parents, a younger host sister, and a host brother who is my age but will be beginning University this fall. I will move to Duisburg on September 6^th!