Sarah feet smell like Wild Boar

I have been so busy chattering away that I have hardly had any time to write. I guess that is a good sign that I am having the time of my life. We finally got to see the people I was most excited to see. It was the perfect break from being alone in random places. We no longer had to research and plan and figure out bus systems and the zillions of other things that have become second nature for us. In fact, we were escorted around in an automobile (quite a luxury for us), got treated to delicious local foods, and got to see much missed family and friends. A thousand thanks to all who welcomed the two of us stinky travelers. Because it is impossible to summarize the last week of visiting and sightseeing (and art viewing) into a blog, let me just say that it was AWESOME!!!

Towards the end of our visiting time I grew anxious to get back on a train, go somewhere and get lost and have an adventure. I wonder what being in Due West will be like when I can’t even stay at my host family’s house for 3.5 days without feeling claustrophobic.

Let me not forget to add that my host brother was quite jealous that I would talk to Sarah occasionally and decided he would try to get her to leave by being mean. Whenever no one was looking he would shoot the most evil looks possible for a cute four-year-old he stuck his tongue out and wrinkled his eyebrows. He also insisted that Sarah’s feet smell like wild boar and his imaginary friends were constantly scratching Sarah. As if her not being able to understand anything or communicate (I know you don’t believe me, but one evening Sarah didn’t even say 4 sentences) didn’t make the stay difficult enough. Aww, poor Sarah, but for real.

Winnekendonk

The Vasa

SM and Amanda...
On our way from Sweden to Köln- note to self: one of the more rocking aspects of Swedish trains is the water boxes they give you. You may think that is juice I am drinking, but you are quite off, my friend. It is simply a refreshing glass of water. Beautiful.

To the left here: The American sector of Berlin right near Checkpoint Charlie, which was one of the best muesums in Berlin. So cool.

Well, I’m sitting here in the upstairs of SM’s host family’s home in Wennekendonk Germany, (You thought the town name Due West was weird!). This morning, I woke up to chickens clucking about outside our window, and the stars last night were crystal clear and twinkling away. If it wasn’t so cold, you couldn’t have stopped me from sleeping outside on the soft grass. Hoorah for being in the picturesque countryside after the five weeks of concrete buildings and busy streets! It’s a beautiful change, and exactly what my heart needed. Sarah’s host father, Thomas, took us on a tour of many buildings which used to serve German industry, now transformed to “industrial art”. You’ll see this concept later I’m sure.

One interesting thing for me in Germany, at least in this household, is the concept of a language barrier. You see, everyone here including SM speaks German, leaving me in my own little bubble for hours at a time. It’s kind of funny; they probably think I’m the quietest person alive. No seriously. The first evening, I think I said like four sentences the whole time. It’s a world record! But this is good for me, I have time to think and pray, and my sketchbook has gotten a lot of attention, Mrs. Walker will be proud. I’m also picking up a good bit of German; when they say the best way to learn a language is through immersion.

By the way, Lindsey Miller: You rock. Not only because you are going to Erskine next year, but because you enable me to listen to rocking music on the train. Whether you realize it or not, your iPod saved my sanity AND brought Ben Harper to Europe. Yay for converting people from Robbie Williams to Ben Folds, Citizen Cope, the Postal Service and Cake. Man, record companies should pay us for promo like this.

Love to All,

Sarah.Hope

Catching up, I know Im a slacker...

Well, well. Look who it is. For a while, I was so diligent about updating, now its just as we have time. But you know, we only have one week left and you cannot just pitter away your time across the ocean on the internet. So here is my desperate attempt to catch you up, written on a German keyboard so forgive me if I switch some z,s and y,s in my excitement.

Let us start with Berlin. Rebekah Carson is pretty much rocking and she was an amazing host, as was EVERY single missionary I met and danced with over there (we celebrated the last night in Berlin by going dancing, and just sleeping on the long train to Stockholm the next day... hehe) My first impressions of Berlin were honestly not too favorable, I though the city a bit like Gotham City, modern and dirty... not at all rhymthic and lovely like Spain or Italy. But after seeing the Ishtar Gates, ascending the Riechtag to see a breathtaking view of Berlin, fellowshipping with some awesome girls for pizza and dancing, who could not like Berlin? WAHNKAH! Another thing I have fallen in love with is the conversations here... Dont get me wrong, I love Due West. But only in Europe have I had conversations which really feed me... analyzing the differences between religions and governments, historical implications, spiritual discussions. You meet people and you go deep... fast. Its not the kind of meaningless banter that occupies so much time in the US. At least thats what Sarah and I have found. How blessed we are!

SWEDEN!!!!!!! Oh man, oh man, oh man. Anyone who knows me knows that I am utterly in love with the Ocean and soooooo ready to learn sailing, so when dear Amanda and Hedvig went with us to view the Vasa, a hunderds of years old ship pulled up from the bottom of the Baltic Sea immaculately presevered, I was enchanted. Besides that, I discovered the joy of salt licorice (spelling?) swedish meatballs, a European style sauna and rolling in the snow (hehe) Yeah, Stockholm is dark. And uber cold. But its one of my favorite cities so far, hands down. Top three.

Oh this is getting long and Im not EVEN caught up to date. But Ill stop there, put some thought to it and load some pictures, I PROMISE a new, much better entry tomorrow. Cross my heart and hope to die. As for you North Augustans, I know you guys are going through a rough time and you are in my prayers constantly... Ill venture down from Due West as soon as I get back, so hold out... I love you all dearly.

Cheers,
Sarah.Hope

Ich bin ein Berliner...

Berlin, what a city for me! Everything is organized, on time, and practical. I never really noticed how industrial these Germans are until our travels took us to the rest of Europe where we would set our alarm for an hour after the night train was to arrive and still have plenty of time to get ready. I hate to spoil the surprise of telling you all the wonderful German things that these Germans do, but Rebekah Carson has turned into the cutest German ever. Right away she showed us where their extra house shoes for visitors were, all the doors were shut and the heat was on in the rooms that were being used, and she was so kind to show us where towels and bath mitts (yes, bath mitts) were. We joked that the Germans are “kilometers ahead of us Americans.”

Because yesterday was so nice we did the tourist thing and started in the old east city center and moved to the new city center. We knew it was a good plan when Rebekah said her Dad did the same thing. (Thanks Dr. Carson for this huge map that we have been using, it has been most helpful). On our path through history we visited the Berliner Dom (the big Cathedral in Berlin), the Funkturm, Reichstag (the German Parliament), Brandenburg Gate, Potsdamer Platz with its incredible architecture and if you haven’t recognized any of these things, let me throw out one thing you will know, the Berlin Wall.

Although very industrial, these Berliners (and I don’t mean the jelly doughnut type) put a lot of emphasis on the arts. We were too early for the Lange Nacht der Museen (the night when all the museums are open till 2 in the morning) but we did get to see the Pergamon Museum for free. This museum has the Ishtar Gates inside as well and tons of other huge ancient architecture, hundreds of sculptures, and Islamic art which is a personal favorite. The gates were from the time of Nebuchadnezzer so Daniel and company certainly went under the gates I saw last night on a regular basis. The Islamic art is so fabulous and colorful and has the most beautiful calligraphy; it almost makes me want to learn Arabic. It really is some impressive stuff!

Today, I saw the Deutsche Guggenheim, which was small but notable. Sarah laughs at me because I like maps so much and threatened to take her to the map museum in Switzerland, but William Kentridge drew on torn map pieces as part of his exhibit and it was quite impressive. The exhibit focused on the presence of Germany in West South Africa (today’s Namibia) and the genocide that occurred under the name of conquest. It is amazing how history changes because it is written by the winner. What a great coincidence that art can also be a touching history lesson.

Going to go visit Curt Miller’s sister Caroline and get some bread for our 12 hour train ride to Stockholm!

Schlaf Schoen

<>< Smilla

Kandern, Marshmellow Cookies, and BFA

So we are in Kandern, probably in the nicest accommodations we’ve had thus far on this adventure, and here I am, getting ready so we can go visit the Black Forest Academy, where my cousins (Alyssa and Trevor) go to school. While this town is small, it is DEFINITELY German. Here is an American’s take on German customs…

First of all, German breakfast is rocking, with all sorts of meats and cheeses and a basket of bread. Now this may not seem awesome to you guys, but to Sarah and I, any free breakfast is like heaven on earth (these are the girls who ate saltine crackers, Nutella and a can of tuna for two straight days). One more thing, I’m gonna call Sarah Miller out on this one. The girl hates coffee, which is fairly common. BUT, being my favorite miser, she hates to waste anything, even the little pot of coffee we each get at breakfast. So the girl pours an entire glass of cream, adds sugar, and then maybe 10 mL of coffee. Repeat until all the entire pot of creamer is gone, and then I get to finish off Sarah’s little pot, black and sweet, which luckily for me (since there is no more cream), is exactly the way I prefer to drink coffee. Rocked, Sarah Miller, rocked.

Another awesome thing about Germany is chocolate. Oh my goodness, this place has got the cocoa bean down to a science. Yesterday, Sarah taught me the science of eating “Dickemann”, which are cookies topped with a dome of marshmallow crème and covered in chocolate. Now the fun of eating these is when you are eating them, well you wait for the other person to take a bite and then smash the marshmallow cookie in their face. What could be better, a cookie with a game! I think Sarah regrets teaching me this, as best evidenced by the picture above.
By the way, on our way into Kandern, we definitely saw a Claus Oldenburg, and we both flipped! He’s the artist that makes the giant cherries, ice cream cone, and hairbrush, all statues- this one happened to be a set of pliers. Heck yeah!

I realize now that half this entry is written about food. Not to mention, Sarah is probably going to kill me when she realizes that I’ve told all of Erskine College this stuff, along with various and sundry persons in NC, SC, and NV. I’m probably setting myself up for revenge, but you know… Thanks for putting up with my incessant singing, habitual coffee drinking, running through pigeons, saying ‘Guten Tag’ to people I don’t know (apparently Germans don’t like that), and pushing you into McDonalds (which we both refuse to eat, no matter how poor we get) just to see your reaction. I don’t think I would spend six weeks mucking around (I mean, studying in) Europe with anyone else.

Heading to Switzerland tomorrow, then up to Berlin to stay with Rebecca Carson.
Love to all,
Sarah Hope

Black Forest Academy

The picture is an advertisement we found in Basel Switzerland that reminded me of my parents.

After all of our adventures in very foreign countries it is wonderful to be “at home” where I recognize the food, the customs (take your shoes off when you visit people’s homes and always greet the people around you when you enter and exit a restaurant) and the language which is gradually all coming back to me. Being in the country is a nice break from big city living, but we aren’t missing out on the art. Today we will visit the ceramic museum, go on a walk that takes you through the city by following different signs with pictures and information about an artist from Kandern, and see some of God’s own masterpieces as we trek through a portion of the Black forest that is said to look like the forest in Star Wars movie six. What I am really eating up though is rest! We finally have the chance to catch up on the sleep we haven’t been getting because we have been living up all of our time in the big cities. Here the pace is considerably slower and everything is so “gemutlich” (cozy, comfortable, and absolutely wonderful).

As I am reading through Ephesians about unity in the body of Christ it is so neat to see my brothers and sisters serving the Lord in Kandern at the Black Forest Academy. I am learning so much about life as a missionary and the unbreakable bonds between the students here who are always moving around. I felt as if I was at Erskine again when Sarah’s cousin Alyssia, all of her neighbors, and the two of us piled on one bed to watch a movie. And after a delicious dinner we came back to our place and piled on our bed to sample different German chocolates (it was a cultural experience that I couldn’t deprive Sarah Hope of).

Tomorrow we are on our way again to Switzerland for the Museum of Art of the Criminally insane and then to Berlin to see our favorite Rebekah Carson.

Bis Dann
Zarrahh Mellarr

WHAT ARE THE CHANCES!?!!

The absolute most unbelievable thing happened yesterday. In the middle of Paris, one of the largest cities in the world I run into not just someone I know, but my best friend from Sweden who I haven’t seen in almost two years!!! CRAZY! Neither of us had any idea we would both be in Paris and then, a bit after we leave the Pompidou we are standing in the street and she comes running up out of no where. We both flip out and are jumping, hugging and screaming in the middle of Paris. Poor Sarah suffers with curiosity for about 30 seconds of screaming before I can calm down enough to get out the words “Amanda from Sweden” and then we continue screaming. That made my week!

If that coincidence doesn’t wow you enough then let me tell you that we ran into Hannah Casey and Ashley LaFontaine in the Louvre and THEN the Metro later!!! Seriously guys! This city is packed and still we see all these people. In this situation, we knew that they would be in Paris but they had no idea that we would be there. Sarah and I were hoping to see them, Sarah even let a few shouts of “Erskine!” with the hope they would be here. Hannah and Ashley just happened to come back to the Louvre and just happened to see a glimpse of this one painting and decide to change directions. We went back with them and surprised the whole Erskine group and had so much fun swapping hilarious stories from our trip.

And for those interested in the art… We hit up the Pompidou Center in the morning and I spent more time in their than any museum yet and I wasn’t going as slow as I could have been for Sarah Hope’s sake (poor girl got finished, looked at all the shops inside, watched a video two times over and read the entire book of Acts.) I really don’t know where to begin with telling you about the museum because it was so awesome. They had tons of work and journal entries and information about Dada and an architecture exhibit as their temporary collection. Architecture is a difficult thing to bring inside a museum, but the Pompidou center did an amazing job. Sarah, even with her new frugality skill, was moved to buy their permanent collection book, it was that good! They had it arranged thematically and had rooms with everything from transparency to the bride from chaos to anti-museum from destruction to hybrid. Really I think you just need to look at the website, see all of Sarah’s amazing pictures, or check out this book when Sarah gets it in.

We also did the Louvre and WOW! I’ll be honest that I wasn’t too excited because I thought that it was just a big name because it was old, but this place was huge and had so much art. By the way, the Raft of the Medusa is one of the biggest paintings I have ever seen, the people painted are just a bit bigger than life size, it’s amazing someone could paint something soooo big! The Mona Lisa is small, and I almost feel bad for her. She is so famous so who can you put beside her, not really anyone, so she gets her own whole was which makes her seem even smaller and she has to look across the hall all day at a painting which is so huge it covers the whole wall it is on. Poor LITTLE Mona Lisa :(

We are meeting up with the Erskine group and Amanda today to see the sights of Paris.
Have a super-dupper, spectacular, stellar day!
sarah.miller

Paris and the Black Forest

Wow. Paris was pretty much the most rocking experience EVER…

I’m sure by now you have already read Sarah Miller’s account of our incredible experiences meeting people, being provided for. Amanda’s dad and the Paris group hooked us up: a meal or two, all their change that wouldn’t convert back over to American money, and all the groceries they were going to throw away- including a tube of American toothpaste and peanut butter! Sweet! I was reading the other day about how Paul’s friends took care of him, and God’s provided the same thing for us… so thank God for his constant encouragement and also to you Paris folks…

As for my impressions of Paris, the city itself is even lovely. Man, everyone trashes the French, but I have nothing but good things to say about every French person that I came in contact with, okay except one, but that’s a story for another time. By the way, when they show people carrying around baguettes in the movies or on TV, that’s so true- people really do that.
Oh, art people, this paragraph is for you. Oh. Oh dang. All I have to say about the Pompidou (the modern art museum in Paris) is DAAAANG. First of all, the exhibit on Dada was FASCINATING, the permanent collection was even more unreal, a type of experiment in gallery design by the curator at the Pompidou. After the art world shifted from modernity to post-modernity (whether you agree with the distinction of those time periods or not, stay with me here) the directors, and I believe the art world in general had trouble handling with art in Post-modern society. It’s true, it absolutely doesn’t make sense to arrange modern art chronologically. So they tried a experiment, to arrange the permanent collection in a way which conveys a more cohesive display by showing the pieces thematically… in categories like: construction, destruction, archaism, sex, war, subversion and melancholy, and re-enchantment, just to name a few. You know what though? This entry is getting long, I haven’t even begun the Louvre and I’m already getting carried away with excitement. So if you want to talk art when we get back, I’m game. We’ll do coffee or something.

So I’m now in Germany again, in a wee town called Kandern in the Black Forest. Oh my gosh guys, this is the German Due West and I’m loving it. We’re here to visit my cousins, Alyssa and Trevor who attend the Black Forest Academy… their parents are missionaries in Russia so they come to Germany for school. I’m so excited to see them… and Sarah is excited that we can watch the winter Olympics in German. Rocking awesome, this is the first real TV we’ve watched in a month or so.

It’s crazy to know that in the past week I’ve been in Italy, Austria, Germany, France, Switzerland, and now Germany again. We are about to go to a lovely lady’s house for tacos (!!!) and then back to crash since we got very very little sleep on the night train last night…
Much Love,
Sarah Hope

A VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY AWESOME LITTLE (but in reality much bigger than I) BROTHER WAYNE! I love you and I’m sorry I couldn’t be there to celebrate with you… I hope today is awesome and I pray for you all the time!

Munich Germany

Wow, what a switch from Italy to Germany. We originally planned to be in Paris right now, but somehow our Eurail passes really just don’t want us to make it to France, because everything is booked. So instead of making it to Paris, we decided to go to Munich first, then in three hours Sarah Miller and I will be on the railways to Paris.

Today we visited Dachau, one of the main concentration camps used by Nazi Germany in World War II. Unreal. I honestly cannot describe the emotion present in that place, what I felt as I walked through the gas chamber used to kill thousands. It seemed so surreal to be in the actual place, to walk the ground (made to hold 6,000 people) where the United States liberated 58,000 prisoners at the end of WWII. It’s hard for me to see the evidence of so many humans’ degradation, the physical evidence of the massacre of thousands of human lives, just for being a certain race, political persuasion, or sexual orientation. It certainly raises questions about the problem of theodicy, of what is good and what is really evil. I’m sorry that I cannot publish more, to give you more of a peek into Dachau… I didn’t even take pictures today, I was just too blown away but what I witnessed. Perhaps by the time the art reception rolls around you will be able to see my visual reaction to this place, as at the present moment words fail me.

Hopefully tomorrow we will be in the company of Erskine friends, along with Carlos, Signori, Linnehan, and Reames. After Paris, we are going to spend some time with my cousins in the Black Forest and enjoy catching up with them.

Guten Tag,
Sarah