Gute Nachrichten

Hallo Zusammen!

Hello everyone! 

It's been a busy month, and the final steps of our immigration are falling into place. I have been granted an Exception Visa which allows me to stay here for the next three years, and Clarke has been offered a job as a substitute teacher at a private school in the neighborhood (only a 10-minute walk from our apartment). This buys us both the time we need to cement our residency here in Germany, as our current visas were about to expire in the beginning of June. Good news (Gute Nachrichten) indeed!

Over this past month, Spring has exploded here and the trees are now covered in lush green leaves and there are flowers everywhere. Rhododendrons are very popular here in Hamburg, with their huge clusters of red, pink, and white flowers. Sadly, they aren't very fragrant. We love walking down to the City Park, about 500 meters (546 yards) from our apartment. You can walk for hours along multiple trails and enjoy all the trees, flowers, and critters. It's Canada Goose season, and on a recent walk I encountered dozens of families with their goslings. I got a little too close to one of them trying to get a photo and was summarily hissed at by one of the parents!

The cherry trees were also in full bloom on that walk, and I snapped a photo of one that I found especially striking.

That was three weeks ago, and now all the cherry blossoms throughout the city have fallen. One of the things I also really enjoy about the park are all the sculptures. Here are some that I discovered on that same walk.




Typical for Germany as well as much of Europe, it is common to see totally nude sculptures in public places. They're not as prudish here as in the States.

We started attending the Mennonite Church here. My first visit was on Easter Sunday (Clarke had visited once last year before I arrived). Everyone was very friendly and made it a point to speak to us in English as much as possible, although the services are held in German only. The pastor and his wife are lovely people, and they invited us to join them for dinner the following week. Here are some photos of the beautiful church building, which was completed in 1915. The congregation itself has been around since 1601. Last Sunday all of the songs we sang were written by a famous German composer who lived around 350 years ago. He had a penchant for writing very long songs. I'm pretty sure that was the first time I sang a hymn with 13 verses (and yes, we sang ALL of them!)!

The front of the church from across the street. The architectural style is a mix of Neo-Baroque with Art Nouveau elements.

The organ loft with a working organ. We've been blessed to hear it played several times.

Both sides of the sanctuary have these gorgeous stained glass windows. Of course, there are portraits of significant Mennonites interspersed between them. 😉

A view of the front of the sanctuary. The details in the building are stunning.

We've also been adopted by a Hauskreis (House Group), their version of a small group. It's nice to be able to start building a social network here which includes people from church, school, and other activities we're involved in. We usually meet up with at least one household a week for a meal and/or games. 😊

One of the unexpected advantages of our apartment is that it is right on the route of the annual Hamburg Marathon, which took place on Sunday, April 26. We got to watch thousands of runners go by for about 4 or 5 hours. It was very diverse with people of all ages, ethnicities, and abilities. Many wore colorful and interesting outfits or costumes, and it was quite entertaining. Hamburg is big on accessibility, including this race. Before the runners showed up, there were dozens of cyclists that came by on bicycles modified for people with various disabilities. After we thought the race was over - the music stopped and everyone went home - there was another smaller wave of runners that came by. We assumed that they needed to be able to run without a lot of sensory inputs.

Here are a few photos and videos I captured.

One of the many interesting and colorful costumes we saw. It was hard to get good photos because everyone was moving so fast.



Well, that's enough for this post. I hope you all have a lovely Spring and are staying safe and healthy.

Tchuss!

Bye!

David







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