The Deutschland - Life at Hope College

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I spent 5
days in Ahrweiler, Germany with my (German) friend Philipp Shulz. He
studied in the States for a year, attending my high school and embracing our
wonderful culture. As you’d expect, his English is brilliant, so
communication problems were non-existent. Unfortunately, his language
skills did not apply to his parents, so I spent the week expressing my gratitude
for their hospitality by playing charades and having Philipp act as our interpreter.

Ahrweiler is a small German
village in western Germany, just south of Cologne. It is truly idyllic,
sitting in a valley, surrounded by vineyard-covered hills. It has a
fascinating history, dating back to the NINTH century during the Middle Ages. Here are the highlights. The Romans
began construction on an aqueduct: a project that they eventually abandoned
after running out of funding. In the late 17th century, the French razed
the village, with the exception of some 10 buildings. After being restored, the
town council refused Hitler’s request to address Ahrweiler in 1932. Unfortunately,
Ahrweiler did not manage to escape the notice of the Third Reich, and all of its
Jewish inhabitants were taken. Tragically, none returned and the synagogue is now only used as a museum.

After being picked up from Dusseldorf airport by Philipp and his father,
we accompanied Mr. Shulz to a rendezvous with his salesman. He had just purchased a trailer to transport his
tractors to and from the Shulz’s second property! Taking care of their second property is a hobby Mr. Shulz enjoys immensely, according to Philipp. After hitching it up to
the car, we continued on our way, passing the lights of Cologne and Bonn on the autobahn.

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The following morning,
I was treated to a typical German breakfast by Mrs. Shulz and sous chef Philipp. It consisted of “kaiser schmarn,” or
scrambled pancakes embedded with raisins. Instead of syrup, they are eaten with homemade jelly, courtesy of Mrs.
Shulz. Of course, she insisted
that I try all three types. I was
delighted to learn that Germans drink black “American-style” coffee and cold
milk! Boy had I been missing
these!

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Feeling fantastic,
Philipp and I took Louis, the love of the family, on a walk through the
surrounding foothills. For being
nine, he is still spritely. I’m
speculating that his health can be attributed to the wonderfully fresh air and
his two daily walks.

While hiking the “rotweinwanderweg” (red wine walking trail), Philipp fed me interesting tidbits about Ahrweiler and
what life was like growing up. He
explained that if an owner could not, or did not have the financial means to
harvest his grapes, the local youth would be enlisted. As you can probably guess, he had
plenty of fond memories climbing the steep hills with a 50 kg (that’s 110 lbs)
knapsack slung over his shoulder.

Philipp had an orthodontist appointment later that morning, so I had
some free time to explore Ahrweiler on my own. Since Germany is currently experiencing “Golden October” I
was able to wear shorts and a sweatshirt and be plenty warm. However, there’s a certain turning
point in the year when it is no longer socially acceptable to wear shorts. I believe that date had came and went,
as I received plenty of quizzical looks on the street from Germans wearing
heavy overcoats, in some cases, even bundled up with scarves.

In the hour-long time frame I had, I managed to:

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Visit a record store
and decide not to pay 30€ for a Zeppelin CD
Wander into a church
to admire the stained glass
Spend more time in a
cemetery than I wanted to, and catch some grief from the gravediggers, whom I
obviously could not understand
Discover broken
headstones in an abandoned forest site
Walk along the river
with the retired folk (it was a Thursday morning—Philipp played hooky to show me
around)
Order a second
breakfast, American style: cappuccino and a donut

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We returned home
hungry and we were not disappointed. We made deli sandwiches with pretzel bread, margarine, Dutch cheese and
German cold cuts. Mrs. Shulz took
it upon herself to expose me to seemingly every German sweet, coming home with
armfuls of desserts for me to sample. She also made a homemade cheesecake, which just so happens to be my comfort food. I was feeling right at home in the Deutschland!

After loading up on
carbohydrates (and sweets), we decided to head to the city of Bonn for some
sight seeing. After catching the
train in, we walked through the prestigious Universität Bonn, admiring the main
building and the practice field.

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Bonn is proud to have
produced Ludwig van Beethoven. His rose-colored residence was right in the heart of the city, on a busy, tourist-dense
street. Seeing as how tours
charged 25€ and lasted an hour and a half, we neglected
to see where the legend composed his music. In retrospect, I wish we had just done it, but we had
another city to see!

After navigating the “Bonn-hole,” the notoriously shady center of the
western subway system, we hopped on another train to Cologne.

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There was one major reason we went to Cologne, and
that was to see the Kölner Dom, the famed cathedral of Germany. Construction commenced in the
mid-thirteenth century and its construction was abandoned in 1473, eventually
resuming in the nineteenth century and finishing in 1880, as planned. It has the second-tallest spires in the
world and is considered the largest Gothic cathedral in northern Europe. Its floor plan takes the shape of a
cross, similar to La Sagrada Familia (Barcelona) and La Catedral
(Sevilla).

The mere size of
its interior was simply dwarfing. The size helped me appreciate how much work went into construction of extravagant
European cathedrals. Having
expensive and rare relics is one thing. It’s an entirely different thing to build a building to reflect beauty and pay
homage to God. I found it
interesting that building a grand cathedral was an indication of a city’s
wealth and prestige, as Christians fought and died believing that their
religion was superior to others in Europe and then erected cathedrals to serve as a symbol of Christian dominance.

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Walking through the tourist
district, we stumbled upon a man sitting on a bench. Needless to say, he
didn’t look so good, rocking back and forth moaning. Assisting him were a
pair of police officers and a team of paramedics. Philipp explained to me
that law enforcement works differently in Germany. The police exist to
serve the public, because their salaries are paid by the public through
taxes. Sure, they ticket speeders, but the average citizen does generally
not view them negatively. For example, he asked me to point out the first
person I would ask for directions. I scanned the surrounding crowd for
possible candidates and he stopped me, laughing at my effort.

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“The first person you ask for directions when lost in Germany is a police officer. They’ll even drive you home in most cases.”

— Philipp Shulz

In America, I would
feel as if I would be “wasting” an officer’s time if I asked for
directions. The Germans
rationalize that they deserve a portion of that time if they’re paying your
salary. Perhaps there exists less
crime in Germany, and officers aren’t as busy busting villains. Regardless, it was comforting to know
that there exists law enforcements that SERVE and protect.

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The rest of the
weekend featured such highlights as: touring Ahrlweiler by bicycle, learning to
drive manual, attending a high school level fútbol match, meeting Philipp’s
German buddies, and ending my journey with a “minimal” concert in Bonn my last night.

The above pictures were the outtakes of life in Ahrweiler. Enjoy!

Hasta luego!

-Steven

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