Trip to Bayern

Okay, I know I know I have not blogged in a REALLY long time. I will now back up and catch up. Luckily I have my journal for notes while I catch up.

When we were in Wuertsburg I found it interesting that the people refused to be called Baverians but rather referred to themselves as Frankonians. They were very proud of it.

We saw the royal palace which was really beautiful. I loved the white room and it was fun watching Rebecca be so excited about the arcitecture. It was amazing that the sculptor had decorated the room with all that stucco FREE-HANDED. What skill! I enjoyed seeing all the brightly decorated rooms, each more amazing than the last, but when we returned to the white room I was grateful for the calm. I now understand why the decorator had created that room. Our guide said he had put it in to rest the eyes of the guests after the fancy staircase before seeing the rooms. Since the staircase was under restoration we did not see it in its glory, but after the rooms I can see why people would need rest for the eyes between rooms.

I loved walking up and down the magnificent stairs. I suddenly wanted to wear a fancy gown and walk slowly down those stairs in splendor. Stairs really create a scene of fancy balls and such for me, but hearing about how they went to the bathroom behind a screen on the fire while everyone was in the room does bring reality to the time period. Apparently it SMELLED!! I guess I am glad I did not live back then.

We then went to Nuermburg. The beautiful fountain was not as amazing as I expected because I thought it would be beautiful from the water design like in Bloemfontain (which means Flower Fountain in Afrikaans). Rather the beautiful fountain was famous because of the statues on the fountain. There was actually only very little water spouting from the bottom. I found it disappointing. I did turn the golden ring though which is supposedly going to make my wish come true. I thought it was interesting that the rumor started because the people could not understand how a complete ring of metal could be inserted without a seam. Some people are very superstitous.

One interesting thing that happened to me in Nuermburg happened at an internet cafe. The first evening I had called and spoken to my mother so I had obviously called America. When I went to pay the computer had billed me for a call to a German cell phone which was about twice as much. I did not want to pay the difference. I was willing to pay what I believed I owed for my call to the U.S.. After a bit the guy told me it was just a little money and told me to forget about it. He told me discussing it was bothering him and told me to go away. I was upset and sad that he was angry at me. Rebecca told me he did not sound angry to her, he just did not feel like fighting over a few extra Euro. The next day we returned and I was nervous but I decided I needed to use the internet to check my e-mail and communicate with medical schools about interviews. It turned out that the amount I owed for the internet plus what I felt I owed for the phone the previous day added up to a nice round number, so I decided to give the man all the money and then I felt like I would have been fair. I felt bad for the previous day. When I payed he told me to take my change and I refused saying it was for the phone call the day before. He then asked me if I was American and I said yes. He said he had family in the U.S. and he was from Northern Iraq. He was grateful for the Americans invading Iraq and removing Suddam Hussein and he felt that his people and the Americans were fighting side by side and he said we were like brothers. He wanted me to take my change as a thank you. I did not take everything, I took a round number, no change, but I had never met an Iraqi in person and to see his gratefulness for what the Americans had done. Since I was not raised in America I do not have the same views as some about America's position, rights and responsibilities in the world. I have had many discussions with Jered about America going in trying to help other nations, and then trying to create Little America's around the world and pulling out when it doesn't work out. I have had very mixed feelings about the Iraq war. Also, since many Americans are clear to say they were removing a dictator, I then ask why not remove Mugabi in Zimbabwe who is starving his nation and burning the farms of whites. What makes Hussein a worse dictator than Mugabi? Some Americans have seemed surprised that people have resisted the help from America but I can understand the desire in a nation to fix things themselves, not under the direction and orders of people from across the world who do not understand their heritage and history. As our guest lecturer had said, in South Africa it was different than Germany because South Africa fixed their problems from the inside where as Germany was stopped from the outside and Germans have to deal with that fact still today. But back to my story, meeting this Iraqi who was clearly very grateful for the American help impressed me. I hope that Iraq becomes the place he imagines it will become now that Hussein is gone. I realized that although people are dying, people are fighting and the government is having problems, there are people who are grateful that Hussein is gone and I hope the result of all this suffering really is a better Iraq.

Alright, I will break my stories up. That is enough for this entry.