Dresden!

This past week has been wonderful! Bella stayed with me until Friday, and Beth and I really enjoyed her company. During the day, Beth and I worked in the studio while Bella attended school, and then in the evenings we all ate together. Wednesday night was especially fun. We all went the die Burg to hear a lecture Antje (one of the professors) was giving , but we didn’t know the topic. When we got there, it turned out to be about her trip to NCECA! It was quite funny to see pictures of everything we had just lived through, and even some pictures of Athens. After the lecture we were invited to Susie’s house with Bella, Paula, and several other new friends. There everyone spoke English and we had wonderful conversations about our cultural differences.
Friday Beth and I woke up early to go work in the studio, but arrived to find that someone was doing a luster firing (which realizes bad toxic fumes) so no one was allowed to work. Although we were a bit frustrated that no one had told us, we decided we should take advantage of the forced day off and try to travel. We walked home, consulted with Bella, and with in an hour had booked a hostel in Dresden, packed, and were on the train. It was amazing how perfectly everything worked out, and by early afternoon we were there!
Dresden is really an amazing city. While most of it is very new and modern due to the terrible bombings, there is still a cluster of beautiful old buildings downtown by the river. This really gives the city a neat feel. On one hand there is a strong contrast between old and new. It defiantly feels like parts of town were re-built as quickly as possible, which means many buildings are much more modern and plane looking. The rebuilding process also left the city a little less congested. There are many nice little green areas and backyards between residential buildings which really let things feel nice and airy. Even though things are sometimes a little hodgepodge, the city really has a wonderful charm to it.
Friday evening we spent walking around town learning our way and looking for things to do during our stay. We checked into our hostel and got lots of good advice about attractions and night life, and then relaxed for the rest of the night at a jazz club a few blocks away. It was really great to hear some live music, and we met a few new friends who gave us even more recommendations. Even before we went to bed we knew one more day wouldn’t be long enough to see everything we wanted, but since our hostel was booked for Saturday we weren’t sure if we could stay another night or not. Apparently there was a large Dixieland festival in town which had drawn many travelers, but luckily one of the hostel employees was nice enough to call around and find a student apartment building that rented out dorm rooms while the students were home for the weekend. We went to bed excited for the next two days to come.
Saturday morning Beth and I got up, grabbed some bread at a bakery for breakfast, and high-tailed it out to Pillnitz castle, which a classmate had recommended we see. The castle, which turned out to be more of a palace, was amazing. It was built with an “oriental theme” and had museums inside about the history of the building. There was also a gorgeous flower garden and “pleasure garden.” The long bus ride out to the palace and back was also a treat because it took us through many small villages on the outskirts of the city that looked straight out of a story book. There were many small houses, gardens, orchards, wineries, and chateaus up on the hills.
That afternoon we went back to the center of the city to the Zwinger museum complex. There we saw an entire exhibit of the large porcelain collection of Frederick Agustus I (King of Poland). It was quite a treat! Although most of the pieces were functional oriental vessels, there were some very interesting sculptural works as well. My favorite part was a room filled with big porcelain animals by Kaendler that were made special for the King. The large scale really made their creation a technical challenge, and we learned that pieces were only fired once and then painted since they would have fallen apart in a second glaze firing.
That evening we went to a pub to relax for a bit and later hit one of the big discothèques. The highlight of the evening was meeting 20 eighteen year old boys wearing lederhosen who were walking through the streets singing in unison. They stopped to talk to us, and we learned that they were from Munich and there to celebrate being done with their school exams.
Sunday we slept in a bit, packed up our things and found our way out to the Volks Wagon factory. All I have to say is wow. Everything about this place was amazing. The building was designed just as well as the cars are, and everything worked together to really create a strong image. I especially liked the large sphere that was filled with old commercials to watch and the huge glass cylinder that was filled with new cars on a spiraling ramp.
Afterwards we still had a few hours before our train home, so Beth talked me into going to the German Hygiene Museum. I was skeptical at first, but it really ended up being a pretty cool place. There was an exhibit on Hitler’s attempt at creating a perfect race, which was really quite depressing but also fascinating. There were lots of articles and pictures about the wide-spread killings and sterilizations of Jews and anyone else who was not “ethnically pure.” Pretty scary stuff. The other exhibits in the museum were much lighter, but unfortunately contained very little English translations of descriptions. Since half the time we weren’t positive what we were looking at, it was really funny to try to figure out the themes of some of the rooms. For example, one room had large diagrams of cell structures, a giant (perhaps 6 by 6 foot) fly, a fish tank, and a computer station with an acupuncture computer game on it. It was still fun to see, and gave us some good laughs.
What a weekend! I give Dresden an A++.


Brand new Volks Wagons.


The German countryside.


The roof of the Dresden train station.







Inside of the castle.


A neat winery on a hill.




A picture for Steve.

Frühlig in Deutchland

Wow, time is really starting to fly. Beth just reminded me today that we only have 4 more weeks here. We are starting to think about winding up our ceramics projects and really getting serious about how we plan to finish them. I now have 4 complete houses that I’m happy with (and I plan to finish one more) which the entire time I have been planning to salt fire. I have had numerous conversations with the faultily here and have repeatedly been told that this wouldn’t be a problem, but today when I went to tell them I will be ready in a week suddenly everything began to fall apart. Due to a hand full of reason that are completely out of my control, this is no longer an option.
While at first I was really frustrated by this, it has really made me reconsider exactly what I’m trying to accomplish. I am referencing how my family left Germany in 1850 and lost all connection to it until now. Since I am the first person to come back and actually live here, I am trying to reestablish my family’s roots. The houses I am making are a metaphor for this. Each building is an exact replica of each member of my family’s house, but with 2D German architectural influences added on top. I wanted to salt fire the houses since salt glazing was a German discovery, but since this is no longer possible I have been toying with the idea of not firing the clay at all. Perhaps I will leave the green-ware outdoors and let the houses slowly be re-absorbed into the German landscape. I think this makes sense with my concept, but I would love feed back from any of you.
So most of my week has been spent in the studio, but it is officially spring here so Beth and I have been enjoying some evenings outdoors. Last weekend we were invited to two parties in the park, which were a lot of fun. The first was on Friday night on an island in the Saale river. Several bands played on a stage under a pavilion and there were many students from die Burg there. It is cool that we run into people we know now. The second party was in a different part of the park (on the main-land) and there was just a DJ. The music wasn’t very loud though, so everyone was just standing around talking. Beth and I met many new people. There were so many people wanting to speak English to us too! We would start talking to one person, then some random person would walk buy and hear our English and then practically wait in line to talk to us next. It was a very good time. Afterwards we went to a dance club with our new friends Bastie and Björn, which as usual, was a good time.
The last several days here have been really rainy, which has been quite different since there has only been 1 or 2 other days of rain since we arrived. Last night it actually stormed, which was fun to hear through the walls of the old building I live in. Everyone seems glad for the rain though since Germany has been in a drought.

Belle, Johannes’ girlfriend, is also staying with me this week since she attends a school in a town outside of Halle several weeks a month. She is a lot of fun and I have really been enjoying her company. In fact, right now she’s making dinner for Beth and me…so I should probably wrap this up. Till next week!

Flowers from the trees on the sidewalk

My studio (my table is in the corner by the window).


The kitchen/sitting area in the studio.

The outside of the studio.

Metal pieces by one of the sculpture students.

Other outdoor sculptures by students.
Wooden diamond.

Leipzig!

Week three was again, very productive with plenty of play mixed in as well. Monday through Friday was spent in the studio. I have started trying a new approach to my houses which is much more experimental. Instead of just making houses that are a combination of German and American architecture from the beginning, now I am making my family’s houses exactly the way they are, and then painting German architectural influences on top of them. I don't have any good pictures of these yet, but there will be some up soon I promise.
On Thursday evening our studio friend Hannis invited us to a Barbeque thrown by several of his friends up on a hill that over looks the city and the river. It was a ton of fun! The weather was absolutely perfect and we made several new friends.
Friday evening we went back to Object 5 to go dancing, where Beth ran into a nice French boy she had met the week before. He invited us to his friend’s restaurant the next day for lunch (ok, well actually he only spoke French, so his friend who spoke French and German translated it to German, and then I was able to figure out what he was saying and translate the German to English for Beth). Then over lunch, (through a game of pictionary) we were invited to rent a paddle-boat to enjoy the afternoon on the river. It was a ton of fun, although the language barrier did prove to be a bit difficult.
Sunday we went back to the studio for the afternoon, but on our way home we decided we should plan a trip since school was out for the next two days for May Day. We did a little research and decided to book a hostel in Leipzig for Monday night, which is only about half an hour away by train. The next morning we walked to the train station and after several minutes of frustration finally figured out the German ticket machine and got on the right train. We arrived in the HUGE Leipzig train station and spent the rest of the afternoon following the directions of a silly walking tour we found in an English Guide to Leipzig pamphlet. Most of the museums and main attractions were closed because of the holiday, but we were able to go to the top of the city’s tallest building to get a good view and to see Nikolaikirche (Nikolai church) which was absolutely georgious! We also saw the church that Bach is burried in and the Volkerschlachtdenkmal monument which was built to commemorate the defeat of Napoleon I at the Battle of the Nations. The monument was very impressive. It took 5 years to build and was incredibly large. We also ate lunch at an outdoor crape and ice cream café on one of the side streets downtown. It was one of the best meals I’ve ever had, although by the time we finished our crapes we were both too full for ice cream.
That evening we checked into our hostel (which was delightfully cheesy with a jungle themed lobby) and decided to try and find a big student discothèque that someone had told us about. Unfortunately, their directions were too vague to really follow well and we accidentally ended up in a German Karaoke bar instead. It was still a great time. It was so funny to hear a room full of German people sing along to American music. At one point they played “New York, New York” which apparently was a favorite because the employees passed out sparklers and threw confetti everywhere. Pretty funny. Beth made friends with Louis (a local Leipziggian) who insisted we follow him to yet another discothèque. I really find all these German discoteques humerious. I would never have thought dancing to German techno with strobe lights would be as entertaining as it actually is. People dance a little differently here too, which makes for some excellent people watching.
Overall Leipzig was pretty fun, but Beth and I both agreed that it lacks Halle’s charming personality. That’s all for this week. Hope everyone back home is doing well!

On the train to Leipzig we saw many bright yellow fields of flowers.

Beth trying out some cool chairs we found.

A very visually stimulating store--so many colors and stripes!

The ceiling of the Nikolaikirche.

There sure were a lot of fiber-glass "sculptures" in Leipzig...

A weird fountain we found. Notice how the water is comming out of the horse's nose and moth. There was also a frog with water spewing from it's mouth. Little strange...

Leipzig!

Week 2 in Halle...from the school computer lab.

Week 2 in Halle was a good combination of work and play. Beth and I worked in the studio Monday-Friday and really got a lot done. I am working on a series of hybrid houses which are metaphors for my ancestry. Each house is based off the house of one of my family members, but I am including more German influence in the design since my family originally comes from Germany. When they are done I plan to leave them behind (most likely outdoors) as a representation of my family’s return to it’s place of origin. So far I have made 5 houses, although I am planning to go back and remake several of them as I observe more German architecture.
It is has been interesting to work in such a different atmosphere. Many of the students are away at other classes during the day, so many afternoons are fairly quite. Unfortunately the language barrier has made it very difficult to get feedback from most of our peers, and it seems that the professors are rarely in the studio. It has been very hard to not be able to talk through my ideas (with anyone other than Beth of course, who is probably sick of hearing me!) but at the same time it is a growing experience. It definitely makes me thankful for my O.U. family of critics though.
Friday evening Beth and I were planning to attend a party being thrown by several other students, but we lost the invitation and ended up on the opposite side of town from where we should have been. Instead we decided to go to Object 5 (a restaurant/concert hall/ discotheque) to see if we could hear some good music. We only caught the last 10 minutes of a French gypsy band, but were just in time for dancing. I was surprised to find how many French people had come to see the band, as I often forget how easy it is to travel internationally in Europe. Dancing was a lot of fun though.
Saturday Beth and I went to the Renaissance festival being held at die Burg. It was really amazing to see a Renaissance festival in an actual castle, since all the ones I’ve been to in the US have just been in a field or forest. There was lots of great food, crafts, and even a bagpipe band to enjoy. To top it all off I bought a really cool scarf too. Afterwards we followed our new friend Merium to Lydia’s (another keramic student from Russia) where we spent the night eating home-made sushi, drinking French wine, and enjoying wonderful conversation. It was the first time we had really been able to just sit and talk to people, so I really enjoyed it. Merium’s English is very good since she was an exchange student in high school, although Lydia’s is more basic. We still were able to learn a lot about each other’s pasts and Lydia told us about growing up in Russia. Lydia’s boyfriend Bert (which is pronounced more like Beart) was also there. He works in the German film industry, which was also very interesting to hear about.
Sunday morning we were invited back to Lydia’s apartment for a traditional Russian breakfast of creap-like pancakes. It was sooooo tasty! After more wonderful conversation Beth and I drug ourselves to the studio to try and get some work done, although with the Renaissance festival happening all around us and the beautiful weather we weren’t able to keep ourselves there long.
Overall it has been a really wonderful week. I am finally feeling very accustomed to my new life-style and am enjoying myself greatly. Between walking sometimes up to 2 hours a day and having minimal stress I feel better physically and mentally than I have in a long time. I am really looking forward to the rest of my time here.

An action shots of Cha Cha- my roommate's friend's dog who likes to randomly run into my room and roll around upside down on my floor (this happens almost daily).
Spring is comming to Halle!