Return to the Year 1970

Just a short 37 years ago I was a Hausfrau and student living in the little corner of Baden-Würtenberg known as Wiesneck, part of Buchenbach. Today was my day to return and see if the house was still standing and if my memories were correct. Milica, a colleague from Serbia, joined me in my quest. We took the train in the direction of Titisee, getting off in Himmelreich (heavens realm) and walking through the farmland toward the ruins high on the hill. Various people guided us including a gentleman wielding a scythe and an old woman and her dog. Each step of the way held new delights. The pathway went right through a farm where indeed there were red cows just as I had remembered. There were several new institutions as well as new houses in Wiesneck: a clinic for the mentally ill, a Waldorf school and meeting center for political issues. The exact house number eluded me and I had to take a close look at each house until finally I found #15 and recognized the house. The color had changed but the basic structure was right. No one answered the door so I walked around to have a good luck at the garden as well as the bay window where I had spent many happy moments reading and studying. It would have been nice to go inside but somehow even this exterior visit was very satisfying. I thought of the red currants we had harvested in the backyard and trying to make wine from them. There was the Sunday afternoon back then when I had been caught beating my rug in the backyard and been told that there were rules against making that much noise at that time of day. We had had deer visit us in that backyard. Just fifteen minutes up the slope there were 14th century ruins.
From there we returned to the train in Himmelreich and continued on to Titisee. Soon after arriving there we ran into colleagues from Korea and Estonia. We wound our way through the tourist area ambushed briefly by a beauty-product pusher who pushed "free" products on us until she finally handed over one product for which we would have to pay and then she wanted money from us. We were truly overwhelmed, not actually expecting such an agressive swindler in such an idyllic location. We were only too happy to get out of there and away from her.
Lunch was relaxing in a large Biergarten under a tree listening to alemannisch and various other dialects. On the way back we ran into colleagues from Sweden, India and Hungary. During the train ride back to Freiburg we tried to catch a glimpse of the deer up on top of the cliff at Hirsch Sprung. This was not my day to see it. I must be content that 37 years ago I had seen it and it still had not gotten across to the other side of the narrow gorge.

Teacher Seminar in Freiburg

We, all 22 of us, all German teachers from 15 different countries, are gathered together to learn more about regional life in the EU (European Union). Most days we are sent out to discover what we can and gather impressions in the region. First we were taken to Strasbourg, just a short 75 km away in France, across the Rhine Bridge and set free to find out what we could speaking German. We discovered right off that the place is overrun with German tourists and school groups as well as tourists of all stripes. But also, that many of the place names are German and that this region has been back and forth German several times. It just happens to be French right now. We were also given a tour of the European Parlament and learned that the Council of Europe is not the same as the EU. There is only one European country which is not part of the Council of Europe and that is White Russia. No one knew why. A very knowledgeable gentleman guide took us through the Strasbourg cathedral and told us much about the history of the city as well. I pumped him for information about the Jewish history since I had lived at 1, rue des juifs, 40 years ago when I studied in Strasbourg. The cathedral bells still ring for a full 15 minutes beginning at 10pm every evening. If you read a z where a y should be that is because this is a German keyboard and I am a slow learner.
There is much to write but that can wait. Do leave a comment is you were able to read this and if you please.