Germany: Augsburg
We drove all day yesterday and arrived here at Augsburg for a quick rehearsal and dinner, then on to our hosts. I'm staying with Hans and Anita with four other guys from the group. They took us on a tour of Freidberg last night, and we were shown Augsburg this morning. The church has been very generous here ... they took us out to Greek food this afternoon. Tonight we sing in the Augustahaus, and we debut the Debussy pieces. That brings me cause for concern, but I'd rather have them down now before we get to France where people might understand them.
That's really about it!
So in response to Regan's questions:
The Nikolaikirche is not Catholic, but Lutheran. After the reformation, the law in Germany became such that the religion of the prince becomes the official religion of the area in which he lives. That is to say that you belong to the Lutheran church whether you attend it or not. We've sung in quite a few Lutheran church buidings on this trip because the church of Christ buildings are, quite frankly, too small to hold the Chorus and an audience. Since the Lutheran church also functions as a community center, it is big enough to hold a concert for us. The posters and handbills for our concerts usually have contact information for the local church of Christ, so it's obvious who put on our concert.
The service at the Nikolaikirche was not actually a Lutheran service, but a community-wide event. I mentioned before how this service was credited locally for contributing to the demise of the Berlin wall. Recently, the focus of their efforts were the release of German prisoners of war in Iraq. Last night's service, led entirely by women, had to do with the advent of the World Cup here in Germany and the prostitutes being brought in just for the event. The women read cases for some of the women, mostly from Russia, who are being forced into prostitution and brought to Leipzig for the event. The prayers were for these women, and there was read a list of agencies whose intent is to free these women from their situations and help them put their lives back together. I really have no idea what our singing there had to do with it.
This is our last night in Germany. Tomorrow we head to Croatia via Austria (birthplace of Governor Schwarzenegger) and Slovenia (birthplace of some other people). It's strange because we've only been here for a week and a half, yet it feels like we've been in Germany for the past few months. After this, we're moving around quite a bit - I think all our stays from here on out are 2 nights or less.
Coming up: Croatia! Croatia! Croatia!
That's really about it!
So in response to Regan's questions:
The Nikolaikirche is not Catholic, but Lutheran. After the reformation, the law in Germany became such that the religion of the prince becomes the official religion of the area in which he lives. That is to say that you belong to the Lutheran church whether you attend it or not. We've sung in quite a few Lutheran church buidings on this trip because the church of Christ buildings are, quite frankly, too small to hold the Chorus and an audience. Since the Lutheran church also functions as a community center, it is big enough to hold a concert for us. The posters and handbills for our concerts usually have contact information for the local church of Christ, so it's obvious who put on our concert.
The service at the Nikolaikirche was not actually a Lutheran service, but a community-wide event. I mentioned before how this service was credited locally for contributing to the demise of the Berlin wall. Recently, the focus of their efforts were the release of German prisoners of war in Iraq. Last night's service, led entirely by women, had to do with the advent of the World Cup here in Germany and the prostitutes being brought in just for the event. The women read cases for some of the women, mostly from Russia, who are being forced into prostitution and brought to Leipzig for the event. The prayers were for these women, and there was read a list of agencies whose intent is to free these women from their situations and help them put their lives back together. I really have no idea what our singing there had to do with it.
This is our last night in Germany. Tomorrow we head to Croatia via Austria (birthplace of Governor Schwarzenegger) and Slovenia (birthplace of some other people). It's strange because we've only been here for a week and a half, yet it feels like we've been in Germany for the past few months. After this, we're moving around quite a bit - I think all our stays from here on out are 2 nights or less.
Coming up: Croatia! Croatia! Croatia!
posted by Allen J P at
06:25
2 Comments:
I am coming in late on the truck discussion, but have you seen any Unimogs? They're made by Mercedes Benz. Freightliner had a plan to offer them in the US to compete with the Hummer. It could have saved The Associates Commercial Division from being broken to pieces and sold to GE on the cheap.
It sounds like people are really enjoying your music. And hopefully your impacting people.
Here's another question, once you arrived on the continent, how far have you actually traveled. It seems like, so far, the distances you've physically moved could probably fit inside Texas. Which is what makes Texas great. That and the Cowboys.
By
KeeperOfBooks34, at 31/5/06 10:45
Rigged as work trucks, yes they are ugly. (I saw one on my last trip to Colorado, of all places.) The original plan was to dress them up and sell to "gentlemen ranchers" i.e. people like Marvin Rush. Given the warm fuzzies between Freighliner and ACC at the time, we could have got a sweet gig to get first crack at financing them when they hit the open market.
Of course, the guy running Freightliner got fired a few days later and they report detailing their plans disappeared from their website. It was the same guy who masterminded the guaranteed buyback program, by the way. Only this plan would have worked.
International has a similar truck now, but I don't think it's selling well. They had one here in Dallas at GATS last time I went, it was outside the exhibit hall. jrprice66, weren't you with us that time?
By
KeeperOfBooks34, at 31/5/06 16:33
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