Chemnitz, Schmemnitz

Things in Chemnitz are going well! English classes have begun, and the Lord is already opening doors! If you want to be added to my prayer email list, just comment on this post, and I’ll be able to add you. For the sake of those of you who are already on the list, and have already read my recent email update, I’ll write about some new things.

I found something interesting last week (or earlier) when I opened up my map of Chemnitz. It turns out that there is a region of the city called Siegmar – which just happens to be my dad’s name! Weird, huh?! I’m going to go to the library and see if there’s any information on how long it’s been called Siegmar, because as the story goes, my uncle (who was seven at the time) made up my dad’s name (in the German tradition of combining words). They were in East Prussia (now Poland) at that time, so my Onkel Jürgen had probably never heard of that part of the city of Chemnitz, and probably thought he did make it up. My dad was absolutely surprised when I told him about the coincidence! He just couldn’t believe that there was a place named after him! (jk – but he was surprised)

My apartment is now finally complete! I have a functioning washer and dryer, microwave, freezer, desk, dining room/kitchen table, and enough chairs for all of my English students! It all came together with much time, effort (and a bit of money, unfortunately). The microwave and freezer were easy enough (especially since I didn’t have to carry them up the flights of stairs to my apartment!). The desk, table, and four chairs came from Ikea – my first time going there! I was so excited! Now, they were pretty inexpensive, and Ikea’s furnishings usually are, but then you get the experience of putting them together. Not a difficult task, as I had a Phillip’s head screwdriver (one of the few useful things ‘furnished’ with the apartment) and the bag of ‘nuts and bolts’ included with each piece had all the rest! It all went together easily enough, but I’m still recovering from the blister I got from screwing the pieces together.

Now the washer and dryer, well, they are almost worth a post in themselves! Keep in mind that the hook-ups for both machines are in the bathroom. They were delivered (on time!) at about 9:30 in the morning on Tuesday. The deliverymen carried them up the flights of stairs and into my kitchen. Into the kitchen, because the door to my bathroom (for no visible reason!) is uncommonly small. They tried to get the washer into the bathroom when they first brought it up, but it was too big by several centimeters. So they asked me what I wanted them to do with it. When I finally figured out that that was what they were asking me (I have discovered that the good citizens of Chemnitz speak Sechsisch – a regional dialect that could be it’s own language!!) and saw that the washer wouldn’t fit in the door, I had a little bit of a personal freak out. Just a little bit. I called up the Brubakers, who had over some German pastors for an American breakfast, to ask what I should do (do we return them, put them in the kitchen, what???), and Steve said to just have them put them in the kitchen for the time being. I guess it was a good thing that I hadn’t yet put together the kitchen table, so there was plenty of room.

Well, later that day, Steve came over with his toolbox, and, after taking off all the hoses from the back of the washer, the washer door, the top of the washer, the door to the bathroom, and the knob from the front of the washer, we were barely able to angle it in. But only just. I had to push in the buttons on the front of the machine one by one as we slid it through the door. Talk about a tight squeeze! Steve managed to get all the parts back together (without having anything left over!) and I washed and dried my first load of laundry that night (before and after English class).

The weekend was a lot more relaxing for me than Tuesday, to say the least! There are always soccer games being played on the field across the street from my apartment, and on Saturday, as I was cleaning, I heard the usual noise from games being held. Then it got quiet for a little while, so I peeked out my window. By the row of parked cars next to the field, I saw the next team to play unloading its gear. And I realized that the reason why it had gotten so much quieter was that the players were not speaking or yelling to each other, but signing! I was intrigued, so after the game had started I went over and watched for a while. It turned out that both teams had both hearing and deaf players, and it was the neatest thing to see how the players and coaches all managed to communicate with each other.

Later that day, I went downtown, and window shopped at the mall, got my first treat of ice cream (really it’s gelato), and saw Charlie und die Schokoladenfabrik. I liked the movie, and it was good for me to hear it in German.

If you want to see the pictures I’ve taken up to now (before and after shots of my apartment, the colorful campus of the Technische Universität, the GIANT HEAD!) go check out my Yahoo! photos page (http://photos.yahoo.com/jtessarzik).

That’s enough to bore you with for now. I’ll probably update again next weekend. I’ve got to get to bed now!

That’s a J-9, over and out