Thoughts from Places: Buchenwald

Raspberry chocolate chip pancakes with powdered sugar
on top.

The orchid in my window bloomed!
Happy winter, y'all!

Main entrance to the camp. There's still a fence there on the
right.

As you can see, I've been keeping busy baking, taking pictures of my food, and ignoring the plants in my apartment. (There were 6 flowers in full bloom before I noticed the orchid. Also I water it maybe twice a month. I'm surprised it's alive.)

But sometimes I catch a cold then decide it's a smashing idea to spend my Saturday at a former Nazi concentration camp that also did a few years as a Soviet concentration camp. So on Saturday I got on a train & headed to Buchenwald.

Buchenwald's actually not that far from my apartment. When you visit ega, you can see all the way out there from the observation tower on a clear day. It's just a 15-minute train ride to Weimar, then a 20-minute bus ride to the KZ. (pronounced caw-zett. The German for concentration camp is Konzentrationslager, but they shorten it to KZ sometimes.)

Former building foundation?

Unfortunately, I had to wait 30 minutes for the bus after getting to Weimar, so I walked around a bit and marveled once again at how incredibly hipster Weimar is. (There's a movie theater in an old train station. Seriously.)

After I got to Buchenwald, I looked at the map before starting to walk around without rhyme or reason. There was a giant stone that served as a memorial to all the people who were detained there, as well as an exhibit of interviews with survivors. The gates here don't say "Arbeit macht frei;" they say "jedem das seine," which means "to each his own."

Gates? Chimneys?

All of the barracks had been torn down - the only one that was there was a reconstruction, so you could see all the way across the former barrack area to the forest behind the main part of the camp. (The area was pretty even in winter, and will probably be gorgeous in spring.) After walking through the barracks area, I went to the forest area, which was apparently known as the little camp. It was where sick people/people who they really wanted dead were stuck. All those buildings were torn down as well, but there were signs everywhere saying where buildings used to be.

Forest slightly beyond the historical
markers.

After a bit the signs stopped, but the path kept on for a while, so I followed it. The forest was beautiful, so that's where most of these pictures came from. It reminded me of the state park back home. It sounds morbid: this place where tons of people died reminds me of a park back home. But it's not, really, if you think about it. People weren't dying there right then, and since the sky stubbornly refuses to snow (30 degrees and huge grey clouds today, but no snow), the overall atmosphere was very Oklahoma in January.

 After I wandered through the woods for a bit, I headed over to a memorial to the people killed in the camp. The explanation was in English, and the memorial was paid for mostly by Americans. That sort of thing gives me really mixed feelings. I understand that some people were trying to honor their family members, but it kind of looks like a "look at the US, we're so great, we rescued you from the Nazis and now we're giving you money" sort of thing. After the memorial, I went into the museum. I didn't really look around that much - there was a lot of stuff about the origins of the KZs, which I already knew, and the Buchenwald-specific stuff was kinda interesting, but the building was super warm and I was sick, so I felt like I was being suffocated when I got the tiniest bit warm. There was a part at the end about how great America was for liberating the camp. (see above for my opinions on that)

It's so damp here; moss grows on everything outdoors.

Once I went through the museum, I went over to the second museum that was about Buchenwald as a Soviet camp. It was only a Soviet camp for a few years until the Germans found out what was up and got really upset. The best part of that was a bunch of Soviet propaganda posters they had in both German and Russian. (Stuff like: Erfurt welcomes the victorious Red Army!)

After that I tried to walk through the crematorium. (I couldn't do it. Too heavy for me.) Then I walked back to the bus stop and headed back into town. The bus back into Weimar seemed to take much longer than the ride to Buchenwald.

I walked around Weimar's mall for a bit before getting a McFlurry and fries at the train station. I was back in Erfurt before 5 that evening.

American-funded memorial. (Some of it was paid for by the
governments of Germany and Thueringen as well.)

Poster from the Soviet museum. "New teachers for
the new schools!" (De-nazification meant that
everyone who did anything vaguely important
while the Nazis were in power lost their jobs,
apparently including the teachers.)

From the movie Fack ju, Goethe.
The students don't know where
their teacher is taking them.
"Please not another trip
to a concentration camp!"
(Source)

My day trip to Buchenwald made me think, which is what places like Buchenwald are meant to do. This picture is of the cleared barrack area. It's so pretty. It's not entirely clear here, but the hills in the background have windmills on them. It's really pretty. The trees actually whisper there. It's a thing I've always read about in books, but there I could actually hear the trees whispering. It makes me angry that such a beautiful place has such a horrific past, so I feel a bit bad about thinking that it's a beautiful place. Then I have to think about why Buchenwald is still there. Most of the visitors in the guest book I saw were foreign - and out of those, most of the people were American. Why do these camps still exist? Are they memorials or constant reminders to the German people? (Lots of German kids go to concentration camps as a field trip in high school.) Ever worse, are they just there to attract tourists? (The camps and museums are free to visit, but there are gift shops and donation buckets.) Sometimes it feels like Germany is one giant apology for Nazism, and at this point, the vast majority of Germans had nothing to do with it, and they're very anti-Nazi. (Obviously, there are still neo-Nazis in this country, but they're met with much more opposition than such groups are in the US.) Maybe they should be allowed to decay. Maybe someday no one will come to visit, and that'll be okay. People shouldn't be forced to pay for the sins of their forefathers forever, no matter what those sins are. I don't see Americans being forced to feel guilty for slavery - I know that I don't feel personally responsible, although I deplore the idea of human slavery. Maybe instead of looking back, Germany should look forward and try to remedy some of its problems, like racism and income inequality, which aren't being fixed by wallowing in the past.

January

Hello together!

("Hey everyone!" in German is "Hallo zusammen," which literally translates to "hello together.")

It's January here in Erfurt. The weather, however, isn't very January-like.

I saw this picture on Bayern 3's Facebook page and thought it was funny. ("Ich war dabei!" = "I was there!")

I've just been going to work, which hasn't been especially exciting lately. There was an incident where I tried to make a simple copy and encountered half the German bureaucracy, but I got it squared away and don't really want to think about how inefficient the whole thing was.

Today I was in a 5th grade class for the first time so I introduced myself (mostly in English) and then answered their questions (which mostly involved them asking "how do you say [German form of the question] in English?"). One kid asked me if I had a job, which I thought was hilarious. Another girl corrected my German after I clarified something in that language because they didn't quite understand in English. (Which was also hilarious, and I maintain that I wasn't actually wrong.)

A lady who was high stood near me on the tram to work today. That was both annoying and terrifying. It was mostly terrifying because she smelled strange and I was afraid the smell would stick in my coat and then I'd have to walk into school smelling like a high woman. I could tell she was high because she was smiling at people she didn't know and she smelled odd. But mostly from the smiling. Germans don't really smile at people they don't know. (Even in stores and such. You get a free frown from the cashier when you buy your groceries.)

Through extensive taste-testing, I am able to tell you, dear readers, that the best kind of "American cookie" (chocolate chip cookie) that is available in Germany is the Kaufland brand. The Aldi Nord brand is a close second, but the Rewe brand lacks in both 1) quantity and 2) taste. Never buy it. It costs 50 cents more than the other two brands and you only get 8 cookies.

Sorry this is rather humdrum, but I've been taking it slow after my Christmas adventures. Also Sherlock came back, so I've been busy watching that.

Eastern Adventure Part II: Bratislava and Prague

After our time in Hungary was over, we set off on a train to Bratislava. We had booked a private room with 3 beds that morning, so we were ready to suck the marrow out of the city (or something like that...).

The train ride there was okay - we were in a compartment with a 40ish man who didn't seem too annoyed with us, which is always a plus. We were really excited once we realized that Slovakia is on the Euro so we wouldn't have to change money this time!

This is the presidential palace...a white house.

When we got to Bratislava, we met a girl who's an ETA there. It was excellent to have a local show us around and get to trade stories with someone doing our job in a different country. She also took us to this fantastic (and cheap!) restaurant which used to be a church. I had this amazing Slovakian take on mac & cheese there.

The crowns in the sidewalk mark the route used for the coronation parade in olden times. (See, coronation tour!)

The next morning we went on a walking tour of Bratislava, but we had to leave early to catch our train to Prague! The train was really crowded - we sat in a completely full compartment with this guy who is a hairdressing teacher and two other people who vanished (probably to the dining car) for most of the trip. (I didn't miss them. They were drinking straight from a bottle of wine.)

Once we got to Prague, we walked to our hostel. Since we had booked late, all that was available was a hostel room with 16 beds (and one shower). When we got to the room, we were dismayed to discover that the beds were kinda like a double bed with a board in the middle so we'd be sleeping literally next to someone we didn't know. Since that really didn't seem like the best course of action, Kitty asked her dad if we could use his Marriott points to stay somewhere else. He said yes, so we headed towards the airport after eating dinner.

Dinner the first night in Prague was really good and rather cheap! I had mushroom risotto - the restaurant was really nice, and I would have expected to pay about 10 Euros for the quality of food and service, but it was much cheaper than that!

We discovered, upon trying to take public transit to the airport (We were at the airport Marriott.) that public transit to the airport stops pretty early. Early enough that we had to take a taxi to the hotel. It was kinda cool - my very first taxi ride - but it was really expensive.

The fancy clock in Prague's old town.

Prague was so crowded. I think I'd like it better if I went when it wasn't New Year's Eve. (Side note: all the countries I went to refer to New Year's Eve as "Silvester" - some spell it differently, but when you say "Silvester," they all know what you mean. Why don't we say that? It sounds better than NYE.) Also a lot of the tourists were from far eastern Europe/Russia, so I saw a lot of fur coats. Fur coats will never cease to be tacky to me, but they're apparently a status symbol there.

Charles Bridge!

Me + Charles Bridge + Prague!

We went and saw the Lennon Wall, which is a place where people painted quotes and tributes to John Lennon. It was one of my favorite parts of Prague!

This. This is pure gold. No fluff, just truth.

Hey Mom, I love you!

#yoloindieswag

Honestly, I don't know much about this, but it was interesting-looking.

We climbed up to the Prague Castle, but didn't have time to look around because we wanted to go on another free walking tour. (That's our THING.) 

We also didn't look around much because we wanted to stop at KFC before the free walking tour. Because that's also our thing.

Germans don't watch the ball drop. They watch a clock on the screen. It's anti-climatic.

Peter went off to meet some friends, so we said farewell to him after our walking tour. Kitty and I wandered around a bit more before deciding to eat at TGI Friday's. Why, you ask, would you go all the way to Prague to eat at TGI Friday's? The answer is simple: we were frightened. 

It was New Year's Eve in Prague, and the neighborhood where the TGI Friday's was didn't have anything else around to eat besides a McDonald's. It was only 6 pm, but people were already starting to light fireworks and throw them in the streets, and we decided we didn't want to risk getting lost or hurt. The food was pretty good (albeit expensive). Being in TGI Friday's was like being in America. It was weird.

After we got done eating, we decided we didn't really want to have drunk people throw firecrackers at us, so we went back to our hotel (also, it was early enough that we didn't have to take a taxi.)

We ended up watching this hilarious New Year's special from Austria on TV. The acts were very random; I haven't laughed that hard in ages.

You can't tell from this photograph, but the entire panorama around the airport was fireworks at midnight.

It was a pretty good New Year's Eve...I mean, Das Erste wished me a happy new year, so that's cool.

The next morning Kitty and I trekked up to Prague Castle. It was beautiful!

We both thought this looked like the Koelner Dom.

We were up there at noon, so we heard the clock strike 12.

This building looked like Gregson.

Wanna get thrown out the window? This is a nice place for it, I hear.

We were going to try for a better photo, but some lady shoved her way into my space about .4 seconds after Kitty took this one. Oh well!!

We were walking down the street when the name "Fulbrighta" caught my name. We found the Czech Fulbright commission!

Also, we found the shrine to the Infant Jesus of Prague! (There's one in Prague, OK as well - I've seen the sign a thousand times but have never been there.)

The trip home was pretty uneventful. The first train was really full, so Kitty and I had to go into the dining car and order something in order to get a seat. The guy sitting behind us looked like Chris Christie. (He called the waiter "buddy.") Kitty and I took the same train until I got off in Erfurt. We got food at the KFC in Leipzig because that's our thing.

Eastern Adventure Part I: Hungary

My trip to eastern Europe began early in the day! I wasn't sure how long security would take me at the airport, so I took a train from Erfurt at 7:05 for a 2:30 flight. I ended up getting to Berlin around 11:30 and was through security by 12:30. While in the airport, I saw a girl running to make her flight trip, fall, and break her duty-free wine all over her coat. When I walked by that same spot not 15 minutes later, the entire mess had been cleaned up!

I flew easyjet. It was way nicer than I expected. 

Once I got to Budapest, I got some Hungarian money from the ATM and got a transfer ticket to the city center. The metro in Budapest doesn't reach the airport, so you have to take a bus to the first metro station, then ride from there to the center of the city. It was a painless experience!

(The worst part of this trip was trying to remember what the conversion rate was...I think it was something like 300 florints to the Euro. But on the upside, I now have some interesting Hungarian change!)

I met Kitty at the metro stop, then went to the apartment where we were staying and met Peter. Kitty knew Peter from their plane ride to Germany and the three of us became travel buddies. We stayed in a studio apartment that we paid about 9 Euros per night per person for. (Not too shabby!)

That evening we walked around Budapest looking for food. We eventually came across a place that Peter had seen earlier - Tacos Locos. (That's right! I flew to eastern Europe to eat Mexican food!) It was really good, and we talked a bit to some girls in the Peace Corps at the table next to us. (Of course we'd find other Americans at a taco place...)

Budapest had the prettiest Christmas decorations.

St. Stephen's had this video display that projects onto the cathedral. It was spiffy.

We stayed up pretty late talking and trying to plan the other parts of our trip. (We just had the whole "we'll be in this place on this day" thing figured out - we didn't have definite plans or a place to stay, so we had a lot to figure out. And, to be honest, we didn't figure any of it out. German people would never do something like this.) At one point, all three of us tried to sit on the bed and we broke some of the slats. Oops.

We slept in really late the next morning. This started our tradition of only eating like once or twice a day. (Actually, Kitty and Peter had been doing this before I got there.) I was delighted to discover that they sell stick deodorant in Hungary (Germany only has roll-on and spray), so we went and bought some. Around lunchtime, we met one of Peter's Hungarian friends...who was also named Peter but was called Peti, so that's how it's going in this blog for simplicity's sake. We all went to eat lunch together, but ended up just having soup and coffee.

After that, Kitty and I went on an amazing tour of communist Budapest. It was free! The guides told us stories about their childhoods under communism and took us to important places in the city.

Fancy bunker for party member in the event of nuclear war.

mtv. The M is for Magyar!

A Soviet war memorial...right in front of the American embassy. (I'm looking at it from the side...)

Ronald Reagan.

Nagy.

After the tour, we stopped at Starbucks because neither Kitty nor I have a Starbucks in our German town and because we wanted to use their bathroom and wifi.

After that we went up to the Buda Castle.

It was so pretty at night!

Hey there, Danube.

If you can't tell, I really loved the view. The church lit up is St. Stephen's. 

Then Kitty and I were hungry and couldn't find anyplace that was both cheap and nearby, so we ate at KFC. (It's our ironic tradition because neither of us really like KFC that much at home.) And OH MY GOODNESS: the KFC drinks were self-serve and there was ice. ICE, I tell you! (Germany doesn't really have self-serve drinks.)

Once back at our apartment, we continued on our joint quests of finding someplace to sleep the next night and researching Bob Jones University (they're crazy!). We stumbled across this gem of a high school health textbook on the take a book, leave a book rack in the apartment's foyer. It was too heavy, or we would've taken it with us.

After a while, Peter and Peti and one of Peti's friends all came back. It was nice. Peti taught us some basic Hungarian stuff (thank you sounds kinda like "goodtoknow" and if it ends in a K then it's plural). After mentioning that we didn't have a place to stay in Bratislava for the next night, Peti invited us to come and stay at his parents' house in rural Hungary instead. So we said yes!

The next morning I awoke to discover that a statue had been watching me sleep. (We had drawn the curtains the first night, but we were afraid that we'd sleep in far too late again if we did that again, so they were open for the first time.)

The train to Agard! I was watching our stuff while the others went to find coffee because we got on our train about 10 minutes early...a pair of beggars came up to me and spoke a lot of Hungarian, so I responded in German and said "a little" when they asked me if I spoke English. (I did this because I [correctly] assumed that they spoke a little English and no German.) It worked, though. They moved on to someone else.

Peti's parents and sister were very gracious and welcoming! His dad just speaks Hungarian, and his mom and sister speak Hungarian and German, so Kitty and I spoke German to them and Peter didn't say much because he doesn't speak German. They made us a late lunch of Hungarian Christmas leftovers, which was delicious.

After that we went to the next town over because one of Peti's friends was visiting.

She was fantastic as well - we saw this church, but we don't really know anything about it.

Then we saw this, which is a model of the orb used in the coronation of the kings of Hungary. This trip basically turned into a coronation tour...

After that we went back to Peti's house and had some grilled cheese for dinner. Kitty & I stayed in Peti's sister's room; they were really nice people and I'm so glad I got to meet them.

The town, Agard, was also pretty excellent because it was a lake town like Eufaula! Most of the stuff was closed because it was December, but the houses and roads and yards definitely reminded me of the town part of Eufaula.

Then we were off to Bratislava! We had to buy tickets at the train station from a lady who didn't speak much English, but it worked out alright in the end. The escalator down to the metro is literally the stuff of my nightmares...I hate escalators, and this one was super fast with the signs and ads hanging at an angle so it seemed like you were falling into the center of the earth. The metro is also really deep underground in Budapest so that people could use it as a bomb shelter if needed.

Before we left, Peti presented us all with these cool buttons! Hungary was definitely my favorite part of this trip. (But don't worry: the other two parts were also cool. They just weren't cool enough to involve an actual encounter with natives.)