Countries I've Visited in Europe

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Ok, so I found one for Europe and I was pretty amazed to see that I have seen quite a bit of Europe. I love traveling so much and I hope to continue to do more!

States I Have Visited

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I found this website where you can click on all the States you have been to and it creates a map for you. It was interesting. I had a hard time remembering all the places I have been to on Chorale tour. I think I might have missed a couple that we drove through, but does it really count if you only drove through that State and didn't really stop there or stay there for a period of time? I would really like to do this for Europe. I think that would be fun.

Out With The Old And In With The New

Last week, the building across the street was torn down. This is not unusual for Chemnitz or even for all of Saxony perhaps. There are many abandoned buildings like this one which have set empty for years. Many of them are empty apartment buildings. After the wall fell the population in Chemnitz dropped about 100,000 due to people moving away to other areas of Germany for jobs and better opportunities.

To me, it's kind of sad that so many of these old buildings are being torn down, but at the same time it provides a new beginning to the city. Now where there have been old, empty, falling down buildings there will be open space for grass to grow, or even new buildings that are used and lived in. The old buildings sometimes make the atmosphere of the city dark and depressing. I hope this change will make Chemnitz a brighter, more hopeful city!

Sad News

We found out tonight that a man who worked at the Turkish Imbiss around the corner from our house was found murdered yesterday. We noticed today that the Imbiss was closed and thought that was strange since it was in the middle of the day. He had been working at another Imbiss across town and that is where he was found stabbed to death. He was only 28 years old and Clint and I thought he was such a nice guy. He was always smiling and friendly to us when we went there. To read the article in the Freie Presse online in German click here. Please keep this family in your prayers.

Interesting facts

I got this idea from Courtney.

Go to Wikipedia and look up your birthday (excluding the year). List five interesting facts, four births and three deaths in your journal, including the year. (I changed it a little bit from what Courtney did.)

April 19

Interesting Facts:
1775 - American Revolutionary War: The Battle of Lexington and Concord – British General Thomas Gage attempts to confiscate American colonists' firearms. Captain John Parker orders his band of minutemen to not fire unless fired upon. Random shots rang out among the British soldiers. The minutemen promptly fired back. This was the "shot heard round the world." The British are driven back to Boston, Massachusetts, thus beginning the American Revolutionary War.

1943 - World War II: In Poland, German troops enter the Warsaw ghetto to round up the remaining Jews, beginning the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.

1993 - The 51-day siege of the Branch Davidian building outside Waco, Texas, USA, ends when a fire breaks out. Eighty-one people die. *This happened on my 13th birthday*

1995 - Oklahoma City bombing: The Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA, is bombed, killing 168. *I remember this day too well.*

1999 - The German Bundestag returns to Berlin.

Births:
1721 - Roger Sherman, signer of the U.S. Declaration of Independence (d. 1793)

1922 - Erich Hartmann, German pilot (d. 1993)

1949 - Paloma Picasso, French/Spanish jewelry designer, fashion designer and businesswoman; daughter of artist Pablo Picasso

1979 - Kate Hudson, American actress

Death:
1882 - Charles Darwin, English biologist (b. 1809)

1906 - Pierre Curie, French physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1859)

1967 - Konrad Adenauer, Chancellor of Germany (b. 1876)

New Year and January

On New Year's Eve we had the annual party at the church building. We had lots of good food, games and of course fireworks. That of course is Clint's favorite part about New Year's Eve in Germany. The next day Larry, Clint, Kris and Snickers played with more fireworks.

We hosted a Game Party at the church building also in January. We invited all of the people who have ever been involved with the Let's Start Talking program and had an English evening full of fun and games. We played Pictionary as a big group and then some other board games in smaller groups.

In January we also finally had some winter weather. The snow didn't stay very long, but it sure was beautiful while it lasted. :)

Festivities

There are many Christmas traditions that we have learned since living in Chemnitz. They are all so wonderful and so I want to share them with you all. We have been able to share all of these traditions with the missionaries here. So it was the Sullivans, Cantrells, Karen and us! This year even Courtney's parents, the Wegers, were able to join in on the fun. On Christmas Eve there is always a drive through the mountain villages to look at the pretty lights and of course sing Christmas carols! This year was interesting since it was really foggy and it was hard to actually see all the lights and decorations. We still had fun despite the foggy weather.

After the drive through the mountains it is also the tradition to have a meal of cheese fondue! I honestly had never had fondue before coming to Chemnitz and I must say that I was really missing out because it is so yummy! After fondue we had a gift exchange.

On Christmas morning Clint and I opened all of our presents together. I think it is fun to start new traditions for our own family and I have enjoyed spending Christmas morning with Clint very much!

For Christmas Dinner we joined the Sullivans and Karen. I made sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole and Clint made cole slaw. Pam made turkey and ham and a couple of other side items and it was all quite delicious!

One of the fun things we did after Christmas was go on a walk in the forest near Wasserschloss in Chemnitz.

Catching up On December's Activities

Seeing as though it is the middle of February and I never finished updating about December, I thought I would try to do a short overview (#1) of some of the activities that happened in December. One of the fun things that we did in December was go to Dresden. We were invited by the Carrolls to go to the Christmas Market in the afternoon and then to come to their house for coffee and to sing some Christmas carols. We had a nice relaxing afternoon with the Dresdeners. The pictures that I posted were one of Clint playing with Olivia and Chris and the other is of the Martins, Clint and Ed in the Dresden Medieval Market.

The next picture is of the Christmas Market in Annaberg. This is a town on the Ore Mountains (Erzgebirge) and it was a mining town. They have a traditional Miner's Parade every year at Christmas time. It was a fun day getting to see another village nearby and seeing a bit of history.

The last two pictures are from a movie night that we hosted at our apartment. The "young adult's" group came over and we enjoyed a fun night of watching a Christmas movie (Home Alone).

Article About Bulgaria

It was recently brought to our attention that there is a short article about us in the Christian Chronicle. Click on the link to read it.