Leipzig, How Uncreative The Bach Family Was and How To Disguise Yourself As A Manequinn

From Munich, we took the train to Leipzig, which is in what was once Eastern Germany, AKA the GDR, or the DDR. I expected the city to still have an air of repression about it, even though it's been twenty years since Reunification. And so, as we walked to meet our friend Kilian, I wasn't surprised by the architechture or the broken windows. I was surprised, though, by the cosmopolitan city that Kilian, Martin and I wandered through in search of Public Viewing. It was the complete opposite of what I had expected.

Martin and I met Kilian last summer when he was touring with the Leipzig Youth Orchestra, and I stayed in contact with him over the past year. We were really excited, though, that he wanted to hang out with us. I mean, I'm sure he had other friends to spend time with, especially the night of the soccer game. But, not only did he take us to Public Viewing, he also took us to an Irish Pub afterward. It was the perfect evening--we sat outside in the cool night air, drank Guinness and talked about everything from politics to music to childhood memories.

The next morning, Martin and I went to Thomaskirche, where Bach worked for a number of years. It was gorgeous. From there we went to the Bach museum, which is, handily enough, right by the church and quite interesting. They have a family tree up, and it turns out that the fourteen men of Bach's generation were all named Johann. Seriously. I mean, they all had middle names, but still. They all had the same first name. Can you imagine how confusing family Christmas must have been?

Anyway, after the Bach museum and a quick lunch of currywurst, Martin and I went to the zoo so as to appreciate the beautiful day. The weather was perfect for the zoo: sunny and warm, but with a breeze. We learned lots of animal names and even found a little slice of home in the reptile exhibit, where they have a Mississippi alligator.

That night, we happened to run into Kilian after dinner. The three of us spent the evening lounging in the grass at the park, swapping travel stories and asking questions about culture. Martin and I learned about the German system of DUIs, and Kilian learned about the all important adjective ending "ish." He seemed to really like using it, too, as almost every answer we received for the rest of the night ended with it. "How long does it take you to bike to school?" "Twenty minutes...ish." After, a while, though, it got dark (ish), and Martin got cold (ish), so we parted ways and decided to meet up the next afternoon.

Martin and I went to the Museum fuer Voelkerkunde, where we wandered aimlessly looking at things since we didn't understand a lot of the explainations. I ended up far ahead of Martin and decided to rest at the Iraq exhibit, where there were pillows and other comfy things to sit on. I had just gotten settled when a group of older men came in. I thought one was talking to me, so I took out my earbud. The man jumped and screamed "Sie lebt! Sie lebt!" and then explained to me that he had thought I was a manequinn. I guess I'm glad to know that, by German standards, I could pass for Iraqi.

Martin was feeling sick, so he went back to the hotel while I went to the Modern History Forum. It was one of the most emotional exhibits I've visited, with all the different propaganda posters and movies. It's unbelievable that twenty-five years ago I couldn't have visited Leipzig, that I wouldn't have met Kilian and that Leipzig has transitioned to capitalism so (seemingly) well.

Kilian called after I finished the museum, and we met up to wander some before he had to leave. It was hard saying goodbye to him. I feel like I've had to say goodbye so many times in the past few weeks! But I'm glad to have seen/ met everyone we have.

Soccer has dominated our lives. We've watched at least a game a day for probably a week now. I don't know what I'm going to do when it's over. It's given us a reason to go out and to actually be somewhat social with locals.

Anyway, it's getting kind of late, and I'm starting to ramble. I'll update soon with Goettingen and then Hamburg.

Peace,
Eli