Daily Life

30 September 2007

It’s now been over a month in Genthin…and still no internet. With any luck, things will be up and running before the end of October. Meanwhile, I’ll continue to blog to myself. Even if I can’t keep you all updated, I’ll at least be able to reflect upon the last few weeks and keep my English composition skills from going to the dogs. (I’m afraid, however, that they already have. It’s taken me a good 10 minutes to write those few lines.) Regardless (ha! At least I didn’t write irregardless, though for some reason Spell-check recognizes that as correct), allow me to describe the last few weeks of adventures here in the “Pearl on the Canal.”

Though I write that tongue-in-cheek, life in Genthin—for me at least—has been quite adventurous over the last 10 days…or at least busy. Here’s an overview of my weekly schedule: my workweek begins on Friday evenings with praise band rehearsal, which is followed by Russian home group that runs until about 11 o’clock. One would think that the gang would be tired out, as Friday is the end of their workweek. However, some of the most intense spiritual discussions have taken place during these meetings, and I usually return home exhausted. I have “off” on Saturday mornings and early afternoons, though because it’s the only day that everyone else has free, I rarely lack something to do. We meet at 3:30 to rehearse again before the Saturday night Russian service, which runs for two hours on average (varying as the Spirit moves ;)). Lately I’ve been “hanging out” with some of the young people afterwards, making Saturday another late night. Sundays are the traditional services in German which alternate between 9:30 am and 2:30 pm. On the Sundays when we have “Late service” [Spätgottesdienst] I’ve been trying to visit other congregations in the morning. I often get a lunch invitation from one of the congregation members, as “it’s not right to eat alone on Sunday.” Around 4:30 pm the young adults from the Russian congregation meet to play volleyball. I usually stop by to chat with spectators, aka wives who watch the children while the men get their weekly workout. Sunday nights, however, are one of the few that I have at home, and I take advantage of that time to talk to my parents (and write blog entries!). Mondays I teach English to the kids for an hour early in the afternoon and then attend the German young adult home group in the evening, which doesn’t go quite as long as the Russian one. The only scheduled event on Tuesdays is the Russian young adult group from 6-8 at night. Wednesdays I teach English again and have Russian Bible Study in the evening. Thus I have declared Thursdays to be my weekend…the one day of the week where I TRY to have no other obligations. Yet every two weeks I have Gospel choir and once a month the Senior circle meets on Thursday evenings.

And though it seems that I have a lot of time during the day, I’ve been finding a plethora of ways to fill that up. Besides the normal cleaning, shopping, cooking shenanigans, I’ve been visiting with congregation members, meeting with the pastor, taking care of paperwork for my visa, and tending to other errands that arise. I often have a lot of time alone, but such is also necessary for mission work. I’m currently trying to read through the Gospel of John trilingually…and that’s taxing to say the least. I’m also working my way through a collection of Peter Storey’s sermons and when I just can’t take any more religion, I gladly turn to Vladimir Kaminer’s Russendisko, a collection of anecdotes from immigrant life in Berlin over the past 20 years, written by a Russian Jew. [I don’t know if it’s available in English, but it’s quite amusing and I highly recommend it to my German-speaking compatriots. And to my “colleagues” :) in Germanistik—it could be especially helpful for a class taught on immigration to Germany…hint hint nudge nudge, Dickinson. ;)] I also journal nearly every day—something I’ve always done while living abroad—and that can take hours depending on how much I need to process. I also spend lots of time praying and worshipping alone, as it’s my only chance to do so in my native language. (I do, however, often “cheat” and say the Lord’s prayer or sing familiar hymns in English during our weekly services. Traditions die hard.)

I’ve recently received a surprising amount of letters from home (and I thought snail mail was dead!), which I’m gradually trying to answer. This is quite time consuming; since no one can read the blog entries I’ve already written, I have to try and summarize a month’s worth of activities and impressions with each letter I write. And I have to remember how to spell in English. :) The letters brought on a brief bout of homesickness last week. I’m not one to agonize over life’s transitions, but now that my friends and I are scattered to the four winds, nostalgia for life within the limestone [walls of Dickinson] is kicking in. Even so, not once have I doubted my decision to come back to the Bundesrepublik [Federal Republic of Germany], which—by the way—will celebrate its 17th birthday on Wednesday. [The Wall fell on Nov. 9, 1989, but the two Germanies were not united until almost a year later: Oct. 3, 1990. At that time I was celebrating my connection to German culture by attending Kindergarten. ;)]

I know plenty of people, fellow German majors included, who would find 16 months in this “hole in the wall” to rank not much above torturous. Yet I beg to differ. For one, there are much smaller “holes in the wall” than Genthin—metropolis of 14,000 that it is. We have a train station and a handful of bus routes—most of which take people to those other “holes,” but still. Though frustrations and small-town-blues inevitably occur, Genthin is the place for me. For years I’ve read books, watched movies, and sat through courses discussing Russian and German history, culture, politics and economics, but now I’m FINALLY sitting in the middle of it. Every week I hear first-hand accounts of what it was like to live through these major events in history from all perspectives. Years of Stasi control…persecution under Stalin. Confinement behind the Iron Curtain…exile beyond the Urals. At age 10 one woman here was awoken in the middle of the night by Polish soldiers, giving her family but hours to pack and leave their property which was no longer located on German soil. I’ve met different people who were denied higher education (even a high school diploma) in the GDR [East Germany], one because of his parents’ Christian faith, the other because of his parents’ Nazi connections. With the major ideological and cultural shifts these families have lived through, one might suspect to find identity crises and depression to be running rampant, and you most certainly can find that in Genthin. However, this church community—even for all its faults—is a strong witness to the sustaining power of faith and the miraculous grace of God, who acts regardless of ruler or regime. After years of oppression and persecution, “native” Germans and Russian-Germans have come together under one roof, excited and thankful for their religious freedom. That is a beautiful thing. Yet as is true of most churches, this freedom has given space for significant disunity over manner and means of worship, Biblical interpretation, and personal expression of belief. And I also have the privilege of sitting in the middle of this. As a pastor-friend of mine articulately stated, “welcome to ministry.”

That’s not to say that I mind; this is what I’m here for. I go from days where my head is spinning, to times when I just have to shake my head and laugh. I’ve done a lot of listening and (shockingly!) very little talking…that is, unless I’m talking to someone from back home on the phone, in which case the other party doesn’t get a word in edgewise. (Call at your own risk. ;)) It’s hard for me to form my own opinions at times because I can understand why each group or individual feels the way it/he/she does. However, I am—of course—usually more partial to the practices that I’m familiar and comfortable with. That’s not always a good thing, but not entirely bad either. It’s made me consider why I value the things I value. Though I don’t always wind up with a perfect explanation…or any explanation, for that matter…it’s an important part of growing in this position and as a person. 9.5 times out of 10 I find it to be a welcome challenge.

I also continue to welcome opportunities to get out of Genthin and to meet people outside of the congregation, though lately I’ve been less successful in this venture. It’s comforting to know, however, that Magdeburg, Potsdam, Brandenburg and Berlin are direct train rides away. One of these days I’m going to wake up and say, “I’m going to Checkpoint Charlie,” but for now, I’ve retained peace and sanity in Genthin.

No new pictures at the moment. I completely wiped out and then reinstalled everything on this computer and I’m waiting for my camera software to arrive via post. Sorry if this entry was too long-winded without a visual reward at the end, but thanks for reading!

PS, don’t shy away from writing letters on account of my homesickness.