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| Mona Duck from Duckomenta |
May 29, 2013 – Day 58
Stolzenau, Germany – May 24 - 27
It’s amazing what happens when you open yourself to the
world. Three years ago I began studying
languages through busuu.com – a free language learning website out of
Madrid. It’s a great site and some of its elements are similar to
Facebook and e-mail. One day I got a
message from a woman who identified herself as engel1. She asked if we could correspond through
busuu e-mail. She is learning English,
and, of course, I am learning German (also Spanish and French). I said yes and as Internet buddies do, we
didn’t share a lot of information in the beginning except first names – hers is
Linda. One day, I asked her where she
lived in Deutschland and she told me that it was a very small town that I would
never have heard of: Stolzenau.
Amazing - Bill and I had been to Stolzenau in 2002, and it
was in the neighborhood of where his Dad grew up. From then on, we knew we were meant to be
friends. When I was planning this trip, Linda and I began wondering about the
possibility of actually meeting in Germany.
This past weekend, we pulled it off.
Bill and I took the train from Berlin to Hannover and then another, much
smaller train to Nienberg-Weser. Linda
met us at the train station and took us to her home – a leap of faith on both
our parts. As soon as I walked in the door, I knew we were soulmates. My favorite color is purple – her home is a
testament to the color purple. We both
love angels – there were angels everywhere, and she also has lots and lots of
candles – something that Bill is passionate about.
After traditional Kaffee und Kuche (coffee and cake which
German people have like Englishmen have high tea), she asked if we would like
to go with her to her English speaking club.
Of course we said yes, and we met some of the people she is learning
English with. None of us were allowed to
speak German, and they asked us many questions about the United States. Everyone in the club spoke better English
than I spoke German. My German is
improving, but I don’t know if I will ever be able to have a whole conversation
or follow a TV program on TV. Even
people who say they don’t speak English speak better English than I speak
German. In ways it’s frustrating, but it
cements my determination to learn more.
The next day was Bill’s day:
Linda took us to his grandmother’s church in Nendorf, drove us through
Grossenheerse where his father lived, and took us to his father’s church in
Buchholtz. When we were last there, we
tried to visit his father’s church, but since it is on the national registry,
we couldn’t get in. This time, the side
door was open, and we were able to set foot on the same ground that his father
did until the time he was 13. History:
Bill’s maternal grandfather was killed in Prussia in World War I – we have
his beautiful death certificate framed and hung in our hallway. Bill’s
grandmother came to the states with Bill’s Dad age 13 and his aunt age 11. Bill’s grandmother remarried and had another
son who did much of the research that allowed us to find this area of the
country. We also went into the cemetery at Nendorf which was full of Meyers
and Oettings (grandmother’s maiden name).
You would expect the graves to be very old in this part of Germany, but when
someone is buried in Germany, their grave is only good for 25 – 30 years. After that, someone else can be buried in the
same place. I believe that you can buy a
family plot or extend the time for the graves, but if you are an ordinary
person with little money, the graves go away.
The unfortunate part of the weekend is that it was cold and
rainy and things I think we could have done outside had to be cancelled, although
we did visit a museum that remembered some famous Baths -Bad Rehburg - in the area. Also in the Museum was a very amusing art
gallery. Some artists have taken all the
great art of Europe and put the faces and bodies of ducks on them in an exhibit called Duckomenta – why? We don’t
know. But Mona Duck was quite funny. In
spite of the rain, we had a wonderful time meeting Linda’s friends and talking
to her 24 year old son Rick. Linda was
born in Indonesia but her family relocated to Holland. She has lived in Germany much of her life in
places like Koblenz and Stolzenau. Her
mother still lives in The Netherlands so Linda speaks English, Dutch, and
German. We got to eat some really
wonderful Indonesian food at Linda’s hands.
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| The English Speaking Club - Linda is second from right in the back. |
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| Plaque in front of Buchholtz Church - dating to 1200 BC |
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