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.

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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.

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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.