Welcome to The Storied Recipe, a podcast about food, culture, and love.
This personal travel post is shared in conjunction with Ep. 174 Exploring 500 Years of History at Auerbachs Keller.
Sebnitz
After 2 flights (with a 90 minute layover in between) and 3 trains (the first 2 were a mad scramble after a last second cancellation), I got a big hug from Jack in the massive historic Leipzig Hauptbahnhof (train station)!
I surprised myself by shedding a few tears when I finally saw him 🙂 When it comes to Jack living in Germany, I never cry when I expect to cry. On the other side of the coin, emotion often hits me when I least expect it. Now I'm used to both and just ride out whatever feelings I do or don't have.
After scarfing down lunch from the same Döner Kebab we ate at on Easter Sunday last year (amazing to have something familiar so far away!), I was absolutely desperate to hit the bathroom before his friends picked us up for a long drive to the tiny town of Sebnitz in the German countryside.
Only then, I remembered you have to pay for public bathrooms in Germany. Thank goodness, his friends were right outside the station and Anna had a euro 🙂 (Travel tip I learned in that moment: Bathrooms on the train in Germany ARE free, so use them when you get the chance!)
It took about 3 hours to drive to Sebnitz. I had been awake over 24 hours at that point and expected to struggle with conversation, but his young friends were so interesting and engaging, we chatted easily the entire way. I enjoyed every moment of the conversation and beautiful scenery!
Sebnitz
Images taken from my walks in Saxon Switzerland National Park. This was one of our favorite destinations when the entire family traveled to Germany for Spring Break 2023, but on this trip I saw the park from a completely different side.
In the beautiful, small town of Sebnitz (see pictures from a walk in nearby Saxon Switzerland National Park), we met the majority of members from Jack's church for a weekend long retreat. I learned there are retreat centers like this dotted across Germany, where any large group can affordably gather together for time away. The entire 3 days only cost 170 Euros, which is laughably cheap for a clean place to stay, meeting places, and breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day!
I knew the people at Jack's chosen church had been a safe and soft place for Jack to land since arriving in Germany, and that they had shown him great hospitality and practical help in navigating a new country.
Conifers in Saxon Switzerland National Park
Nevertheless, I was still so pleasantly surprised by the dynamics between the members of the church. It was truly a community that embodied this truth shared in Paul's letter to the Galations: There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
At every meal or coffee break, I noticed tables were full of unlikely combinations: young men speaking with a mother of 8 children, for instance, or a middle-aged married man in animated conversation with an older woman. Church leadership sat in small groups led by much younger people of faith. The church is clearly home to single people, married couples, and families with children, with no group feeling minimized or excluded. This was absolutely beautiful to me! Personally, I not only felt at home, I was totally encouraged and invigorated by every conversation I shared over those 3 days!
Görlitz & Zgorzelec
We decided to spend one day of my week long visit as traditional tourists. Jack has a friend who grew up near Görlitz and recommended this historic town as a good spot to visit. This is one of the only towns in all of Germany that was not bombed in WWII, so many of the churches and buildings have been standing since the Middle Ages, when Görlitz and it's sister town in Poland, Zgorzelec, were founded as trade cities.
Jack and I took a tour of the city, which was only offered in German. Jack translated for me, which was amazing for me, but much more difficult for him than he expected.
He said the most difficult thing was contextualizing the information, which, upon consideration, makes a lot of sense. Even if you understand the words a tour guide is saying, it's quite difficult to position those within about a milennia of history that is largely unknown! This tour, along with many other events in this trip, reminded me of two things:
- Just how young the modern government and history of the United States of America is in relation to the vast majority of countries around the world.
- Although both Europe and the US make up "the West", there are far bigger differences in our cultures than Jack or I expected. This came up in my interview at Auerbachs Keller and it's something I explored in conversations with Jack and his friends throughout the trip.
Although we only spent 24 hours here, I'm so glad we shared this part of the trip. We walked, talked, and enjoyed dinner over about 5 hours the evening we arrived. After sleeping well, we both worked a little bit over a long, leisurely, European breakfast bar.
After that, we left for Leipzig, where Jack lives. As we approached, the reality of his life, as well as my upcoming interview and rapidly approaching return home, came into view. While I would never go so far as to say we felt a heaviness heading toward Leipzig, the carefree feelings of vacation were replaced with reality.
Sunset in Görlitz (View from Zgorzelec, Poland)
Leipzig
This was the part of the trip that I planned most intentionally. I simply wanted to connect with his spaces and people, with the hope of helping his worlds feel a little less separate.
I knew Jack had worked extremely hard on learning German over the last year, so I expected to be most impressed by watching him use that in context. However, there were other things that struck me as far more intimidating for a 19 year old in his first time away from home.
First, unfortunately, what initially seemed like a great living situation quickly soured. I took these photos of Jack in his beautiful apartment building (the second two are from his room) just three days before he moved out. It's been difficult, as a mother, to see him try so hard, only to be rejected. But I'm proud of him for acting in a way that aligns with his values and character, even when he was already struggling as a kid far from home, in a new culture and language, taking quite a difficult course load. And I'm thrilled to see him relaxed and smiling more easily now. No season lasts forever and that's a great lesson for all of us to learn again and again!
Second, I'll be honest, I was most surprised by how overwhelmed I felt by the public transportation system and how effortlessly Jack navigated it. In the course of just a few days, I grew massively more comfortable navigating the apps, stations, trams, buses, and trains - but! I had Jack to download the apps, register me, and teach me - in English - the rules, customs, and nuances of the system. I definitely gained an appreciation for how difficult that must have been for Jack to learn in his first few months.
I also enjoyed contemplating how different life would be with widespread public transportation, especially for women, mothers, and families. Lots to explore there!
Much more to share, of course, about my tour of Auerbachs Keller and the episode I recorded there - that will come next week!
Jack and a friend of his joined me for dinner at AK after my interview. Afterwards, Jack and I spent a few hours at a bustling market in Leipzig and walking all around the historic city, visiting many of his favorite spots.
On our final rainy day, Jack went to classes while I worked at a coffee shop and his favorite library, which is near the classroom buildings he frequents. After his classes, we went to lunch, where I ate the BEST Lebanese food EVER (have I mentioned how affordable food is in Germany?!) and dashed by train over to his favorite monument. We only had 20 minutes before his German class, but he wanted me to see it and I'm so glad I did. The images cannot give you a sense of the incredible size and scale of this monolith. Maybe I'll capture it better on another trip 😉
Thanks for reading along!! If you enjoyed this, you'd probably also like some of these below!
Marietta Yoder says
I really enjoyed all the lovely photos and insights into your experience and your visit with Jack!
Marietta Yoder