From Louisville to Luhvul

Hey there!

I'm Sara, from Milan (Italy) and I have now been living here in the States, precisely in Louisville, for more than 2 months. Why? And, above all, why Louisville? Well, this is a question that I asked myself a lot of times and that a lot of people asked me. And, to be honest, I didn't really have an answer until a couple of months ago.

I won a scholarship at my University in Milan to come and attend the fall semester at Bellarmine University. I was very happy and excited about the idea, but I must admit that the first thing I did was to locate Louisville on the map: ah...Kentucky, I thought...ok, so I am going to be in the middle of nowhere, between field, horses and rural people! Despite my ignorance and stereotypical background, I was still very excited to come. And when people in Italy asked where I would go, I didn't even know how to pronounce the name of the city, so I would just say "Kentucky" and looked at their disappointed expressions!

On August 3 I left Italy with my fiance to come here, but before, we stopped and visited Washington D.C. and Chicago. I loved them and was afraid of being disappointed by the huge difference between those cities and here.

Well, my doubts would be swept away soon: when I finally arrived in Louisville, on August 11, I found myself pleasantly surprised and I immediately felt at home. I discovered a warm, nice and lively city, where everybody always takes the time to stop and say "Hello" to you. While knowing the different part of Louisville and meeting people, I also started to pronounce its name as it deserved to be pronounced!:) My experience at Bellarmine is beyond expectations and the same can be said about my internship. In fact, I wanted to find an internship which could give me the opportunity to transform the theory of my major (Business Communication) into practice, but also to apply my international background. So what could have been better than Sister Cities of Louisville?! Thanks to Bellarmine and to Joanne this has been possible and I am now taking the most of my experience here.

I will surely have something to tell people when I go back to my country and, more important, I now have not one, but a lot of answers to my initial questions. Behind a simple change in pronunciation, a much deeper change has been and is happening in my knowledge about this little part of the world and in myself.

Mainz will be here, I just won’t - On the road back home!

Well, my days in Mainz are really winding down - just a week left before I return home, and I have to say, it is certainly unbelievable how quickly a year has flown by! Well, not a year, two weeks shy to be exact, but that's not the point! Either way, my semester ended about 2 or 3 weeks ago and i am still in the process of collecting all of my grades and taking care of some university affairs. After a heartfelt going away party for a bunch of my friends, as I am the 2nd to last of all my international friends to leave the city (my friends who live here are obviously excluded ), only being outlasted my my friend Megan from Memphis, my friend Lukas and I flew to Ireland for 9 days.

Now, Lukas and I both had a particularly stressful exam period, so we did virtually no planning for our trip - we just bumped into each other at work, as we work in the same office on campus, and decided to go after everything was finished! As we are on a budget, particularly limited, might I add, we had some interesting sleeping arrangements during our stay: a van for 3 days, a farmhouse for a night, and a barn loft for a night - we were woken up by rats in the morning after that night... just so you know what kind of a barn this was. One of the greatest things that you will find studying abroad is that you will make great friends all over the world, and this was the case in Ireland! My friend Julie is Irish, and when I told her that we would be there, she and her friend, Emma, drove down to where we were - Galway - where there was an arts and music festival taking place for the weekend. We traveled around with them for 3 days, and all slept in her conversion van! Now, this van was absolutely perfect for the four of us - except that we had to 'put' one person on the front bench seat each night. Now, I am by no means a tall guy, but the front bench seat was just about 5 inches too short for me, and about the same for Lukas when it was his turn - leaving us very grumpy in the morning, respectively. Either way, we had a great time visiting with them!

Then we were off for more adventures, stopping off for two days with Lukas's brother - who is doing volunteer work this year with adults with mental disabilities on a farm out in the beautiful countryside. Now, the first night we could stay in the extra room in the farmhouse, but the second night a new volunteer arrived, and we were moved to the barn - let me clarify, barn loft used for storage, right about above the pigs... Anyway, mattresses were being stored there, so we pulled a few down and crashed for the night, but hey, it was way better than paying for a hostel!! And I was really great to spend a little time in the countryside! Nonetheless, Ireland was absolutely beautiful - we were hiking copious amount everywhere we could - just on our last day we hiked somewhere around 25 or 30 k. which is no small feat! It was absolutely one of the most beautiful places I have ever had the joy to see!

We returned to Mainz and prepared to drive to the Saarland, a very small German state on the French border, where Lukas's parents were having a Sommerfest (summer festival). The Saarland is known for having a very difficult dialect - a dialect most Germans have a difficult time understanding - I was absolutely lost, to say the least! I was able to recognize some of the traits typical of German dialects from that general part of Germany (i.e. d->t, ch->sch, pf->pp, s->t etc etc etc) which was incredibly helpful, I even picked up a few words and phrases so Lukas could laugh at an American exchange student trying to speak Saarländlisch. I absolutely love hearing different German dialects, and this really made my day! I do have to say, though, that this was one definitely the most difficult dialect I have ever heard and attempted to understand!

After getting back to Mainz I immediately began working as an assistant for the 62nd international German Summer Course here at the university. It is a month long program designed to help people from all over the world learn German! And we have learners of all levels, from not-a-word to German teachers. Every day is something new for me and all of the people with whom I work. On Monday my friend Laura and I are scheduled to hold a Stammtisch (a usually regular meeting for people to get out and discuss the matters of the world over a drink at their regular table) for all of the participants who are interested, getting them out to explore the city of Mainz at a few local places. Last week we worked to move all of the students into their dorms, brought them to their first day of classes, gave them a city tour and tried to help them with all of the other odds and ends that they needed to make this as productive as it could be! I am working for this program, by the way, because one of my bosses from the last two semesters, Frau Küper, is the director of the program, and asked me to be an assistant. Oh yeah, a friend of mine who is doing an internship with an online editorial even wrote an article about us and interviewed a few students, Frau Küper, and myself!

http://mainz.eins.de/articles/849902-lokales-62-internationaler-sommerkurs-an-der-jgu

Otherwise I have been maintaining a relatively high level of stress/business preparing to go back home, i.e. doing all of the thing you have to do before you move out of a country: canceling my health insurance and bank account, moving all of my stuff out, registering with the city, returning all of the (many many many) things I have borrowed over the year, and of course, loads of goodbyes! I will be flying back to the States on the 14th and trying to take care of everything before classes start again - but I have to say, after how stressful this semester has been - like, Russian exams written in German stressful - I am looking forward to being home for a few days of relaxation, though honestly I don't know if I will have any!! After all, I have to move back to Louisville (a BIG thanks to my wonderful sister Corinne for finding me an apartment!), get a cell phone, insurance, and a slew of other banal minutiae that will consume my life for a few weeks haha.

I am, however, very excited that my friend Thorsten will be studying in Louisville next year! And I really hope that he will have as good and rewarding a time as I did!! I can't say how thankful I am for having been given this opportunity to study and live here! Betty and David Jones, Herr and Frau Boel, the Sister Cities Organization, Allie Goatley, Dr. Joy Carew, Virginia Honoso, Dr. Hutcheson, Dr. Pat Condon, my family and EVeRYONE else in Louisville who have helped make this possible, without whom we never could have revived this wonderful exchange program (I am the first UofL student to do it in 5 years)!!! I owe you all my deepest, most heartfelt gratitude! Not to mention all of those in Mainz who have helped make this the most successful year possible: Herr Henkel-von Klass, Frau Küper, Dr. Britta Feyerabend, Frau Ursula Bell-Köhler and her husband, Herr Bell, Frau Karst with the whole Freundschaftskreis Mainz-Louisville, all of my 'path-finders' and everyone else!

I owe you all so much, THANK YOU!

justin

First impression Louisville

Hey! I am Anna from Germany and am currently staying in Crescent Hill, Louisville! In my home country I study law and my employer is the city of Mainz.

I arrived July 2^nd and since then I have gotten to know how beautiful of a city this is. Not only that I was able to be on the Ohio River with it’s wonderful fire works on July 4^th, I was also fortunate to visit amazing things such as “Shakespeare in the Park”, that the city and generous donors offer the citizens for free! Unbelievable!

Everyday I am surprised how special this city is, compared to other cities I have been to in the states. With great surprise I saw, that Louisville still has local firms and stores that still seem to flourish despite of the economic situation.

Also I enjoy the bus transfer and bike routes throughout the whole area, which make it so easy to get around, even without having a car. That reminds me of Europe a lot and how we get places easily.

Currently I am shadowing Judge Cunningham that oversees criminal and civil on state level. Here I am able to watch Jury Trials, which we don’t have in our country, unfortunately, how I now think.

Also I work for the Catholic Charity and here I am able to tutor illiterates in the English language. That is quite challenging but it reminds me of how well-off I am every day and that has a deep impact on how I see and appreciate things lately.

Last but not least I help out Joanne Lloyd-Triplett in her office with things like events or such. I am very thankful because she’s been the one setting all these things up for me and is the reason, why I am even here in Louisville. So at this point I’d like to give a special thanks to you, Jo, you are doing a fabulous job and I hope that we can deepen the Mainz-Louisville friendship in the future.

I am living with a wonderful host dad on Hite and Franfort and we spend great time together. Some mornings we sit on the porch, drink coffee from Heine Brothers across the street, talk, or read the news paper together. He and his family have been very hospitable and I know I will be very sad once I have to leave. (Which won’t be until August 7^th).

Also, I was able to visit the German-American Club last weekend which Janet and Tom Raderer, where I had “Sauerkraut”, which I hadn’t eaten in 6 months. They have been really nice with me and drove me through some parts of Louisville that I hadn’t seen yet.

However, I am very much looking forward to this weekend. I will be able to join the French students to a national park in Kentucky where we will be camping in a close-by cave, that is the biggest in the world. EXCITING!

Last but not least I want to thank the big supporters and community that has gathered around the sisters cities programs for so many years! Because of you, people like us are able to visit great places like Louisville, get to know other cultures and ways and I am so thankful for that! I hope the strong community in Louisville won’t vanish.

Anna Frosting

Klausurzeit! (That's right, exam time once again!)

I have been preparing for the end of the Summer Semester here in Mainz and I have to say, time is absolutely flying by! I have been here almost a 10 months now and my final days here are just disappearing. I don't leave until the middle of August (giving me just about 10 days to organize everything for the beginning of of new UofL semester), as I will be working for my boss as a Tutor/Assistant for the International Summer German Course at my university. Not to mention that exams at most (including my) university don't end until the middle of July.

Well, I have already managed to face two of my final exams: Wissenschaftssprache yesterday, and Christa Wolf's "Kein Ort. Nirgends" this morning. The first was a course dealing with the construction and use of scientific and generally higher level German (everything from the dangers of over-fertilization to world population growth...). I had actually planned to take a additional German course this semester dealing with Business German, but unfortunately that course was canceled two or three weeks into the semester, but hey, that's just life! Regardless, I am happy the exam is over, but it is just a step in the right direction for the rest of the semester!

This morning I took my oral exam over the novel "Kein Ort. Nirgends" by Christa Wolf (I believe that the title was translated at some point as "No Place On Earth," in the off chance that you have read it). The course consisted of reading and analyzing the book while learning the historical figures and appropriate contexts (in this case, Heinrich von Kleist, Karoline von Günderrode, Goethe, and of course, the situations surrounding the Author in former East Berlin etc. etc. etc.). Every week we would prepare about 8 pages of the text and work through the book line by line, every student analyzing and paraphrasing 10 or so lines in his or her turn, working our way around the classroom. The book was particularly interesting, as it takes place across the river from Mainz in the company of some very famous local early 19th century personalities. Though I knew what to expect from the final oral exam, as I had the professor last semester for a play by the Austrian playwright Arthur Schnitzler, I was still put on my toes for some of the questions: (keep in mind that this was, of course, in German) What similarities, if any, could be drawn between the opinions of Christa Wolf and Kleist in regards to their societies, respectively? This lasted about 15-20 minutes with a series of varying question and themes. WELL, maybe it wasn't too bad... but you get the point, and to be fair, the professor is a genuinely great professor. And hey, I have nothing to complain about, I received a grade of 1.5, a pretty unusual grade... but that's another story. Either way, a 1.5 is considered to be substantially above average (it is incredibly difficult to get anything 'above' a 2.0, as the German system is a reverse scale from 1-5, one being the highest), and I am especially happy with it!! It could end up a 1.7, depending on what happens next week, either way, I couldn't be more pleased.

Otherwise things have been 'normal' here. I have just been busy with the usual day to day affairs, that we tend to take for granted (I will definitely think that next year when I am back in Louisville!). I went to Cologne a few weeks ago to meet up with a few teachers of mine from High School, who were on a trip through Europe with a group of students. I was actually on the last trip that my school went on 5 years ago! Talk about a flash from the past. It was great to see them again - one of whom, appropriately enough, is the German teacher. Nonetheless, it was great to see them!

I recently spoke with Michael and Heidi Boel, from the Sister Cities Louisville organization, and they were kind enough to invite me to come and visit with them as they are spending the summer in Germany! I don't know if I will have the opportunity to visit with all of my exams, but I will certainly try to work something out.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot! Last week was Johannisfest here in Mainz - a huge 3 or 4 day festival celebrating the most famous Mainzer of all time (and the namesake of my university), Johannes Gutenberg. The entire old town was covered with stands, rides, book sales, stages and all sorts of other things. From Schillerplatz to the Rhine River (a very very large distance), the town was converted. One of the traditional activities for this festival is the 'gautschen' - the dunking of students who have finished studying book making. The students are lifted up and thrown into a giant cask of water on a stage in the shadow of the 1000 year old Cathedral while their names are announced. I found a video of this year's ceremony:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DdU5dchW78 (notice that they took a beer break half way through... dunking students is hard work). Either way, this is really important step in the students lives, and it was a very culturally significant thing to see!

yours

justin

World Cup! GO GHANA!

Another week has passed quickly in Tamale, and i can't believe that I now only have one week left in Ghana! Much excitement has been caused as the World Cup has gotten underway! Everyone here was more than excited for the first game for the Black Stars in the World Cup and seeing that the game was on a Sunday the entire congregation even prayed for a victory at church that morning! Luckily those prayers were answered as Ghana pulled off a 1-0 victory over Serbia! As the next game approached people were fully decked out in their Ghana attire and ready to once again cheer on their team to victory. Unfortunately, the Black Stars didn't pull through that day and tied 1-1 to Australia(even though Australia was playing a man down the whole game!). After a bad performance in the Australia game many are beginning to lose hope in the team. The game against Germany this evening will determine if we progress to the next round! Even with dwindling hope everyone is ready to support the Black Stars in their last game of the first round. GO GHANA!

World Cup Fever

For the most part we all try to be impartial; being politically correct is something we are acutely aware of. However, when it comes to the World Cup, the gloves come off, passions run high and loyalties are etched in stone. This past weekend Sister Cities of Louisville and Greater Louisville International Professionals, hosted a World Cup kick-off celebration at Molly Malone’s for the highly anticipated USA V. England match. I should start by saying how impressed and excited I was at the enthusiasm and intensity of the U.S supporters. It was a far cry from 4 years ago and was practically non-existent 4 years earlier. It wasn’t just the fans who took a different approach this year either, the media and networks finally seemed to wake up and get on board. When I think back to the last World Cup I really don’t remember any build up and not much coverage either, in fact two of the key games were interrupted for 45 minute infomercials! This year, we feel like a country that cares about the World Cup and its team. A place where you no longer have to go out of your way to find that one international bar that is showing the matches. Is it too much to say we have become a soccer loving nation? If you were sat in Molly Malone’s on Saturday afternoon that would be an understatement. The room we had reserved was packed, the walls lined with people and still more squeezed in at the door as everyone watched on eagerly. In the main bar area U-S-A…U-S-A chants rang out. Our room held supporters for both teams; flags, shirts and face paint told the story. As we cheered on our different teams there was still a feeling of camaraderie, maybe that comes from Louisville’s Internationalism, where you can fit right in but still remain true to your roots.

Join SCL and GLIP for some other key matches at Molly Malone's on Baxter:

Thursday, June 17, 2:30 France V. Mexico
Sunday, June 20, 10:00 Italy V. New Zealand
And 2: 30 Brazil V. Cote D’Ivoire
Tuesday, June 22, 2:30 Argentina V. Greece
Wednesday, June, 23 2:30 Ghana V. Germany
Friday, June 25, 10:00 Brazil V. Portugal

Because of the Rain

Since the last time I have written I have spent another week in Lameshegu Primary School and learned much more. The biggest learning experience thus far came last friday morning. I arrived at Lameshegu at 8:30 just like every other day, however, unlike every other day none of the three first grade teachers were there. As I was walking in a teacher in a neighboring class explained that the teachers were late because of the rain the night before. I wasn't sure what to do. I was alone in a classroom with ninety plus children who were completely out of control. Many of them at this point were running around hitting each other with sticks and tackling one another to the floor. I decided that this was an inefficient use of school time and that I would teach. Remarkably, after telling everyone to sit and that we were going to do English, they listened immaculately. Everyone calmed down and filed into their crowded desks. I passed out books and began teaching, and though I know they struggle to understand me through my unfamiliar voice, they paid attention extremely well. After twenty minutes or so the teaching assistant showed up and if it was nothing out of the ordinary simply looked at me and said, "Good morning, I'm late because of the rain" and sat down. Things had seemingly calmed down, I assigned an exercise, which they dutifully completed and then it was time for break. During break men began removing the desks in the classroom to repair them, which generally would have been appreciated, but its difficult to conduct a class with no where to sit. Adding to the chaos that I feared the lack of desks would cause the teaching assistant(the only one of the three that ever showed up that morning) informed me that he needed to go to town. At the end of break things were even more chaotic than before. There were hardly any desks, and I was the only teacher(if you can call it that). Children were beating each other to the point of tears. So after pulling several boys off of one another I sat everyone down(the best I could with less than normal desks) and once again began teaching. When the teacher returned awhile later he again just sat down as I taught, and observed the now relatively calm classroom. It was an extremely chaotic morning! But I certainly learned a lot!

Mainz in Spring

morrow is Fronleichnam (Corpus Christi), and as such, we poor stressed out students are given the day off from Uni! Giving us a nice little break during the middle of the week, and a well earned day off - or at least an opportunity to catch up on a little overdue homework or reading. Or maybe just the chance to go down to the Rhine and relax with friends, either way... the Summer Semester is full of one day holidays and random protests (preventing us from going to uni - as an example, when the public transportation strikes... very difficult to get around then). Just this weekend there was a great protest/party in the city - Night-Dance-Demo, in english - this was 500-600 people literally dancing their way through the old part of town with three large trucks carrying suspended mixing tables and a slew of dj's to entertain the crowds. Definitely one of the most interesting ways of taking an issue (literally) to the streets. It was so bizarre watching hundreds of people with live music dancing through the city - past buildings that are hundreds of years old, past statues of Johannes Gutenberg and Friedrich Schiller - juxtaposition if I have ever seen it! I have been auditing a few courses this semester (I can't enroll in them for credit as I last some serious prereqs, BUT I am here to learn, so that is what I am going to do!). One of the absolutely most interesting of them is Exchange Rates and International Capital Markets, the professor works in Swiss Finance and is just a wealth of information, especially considering Germany's role in the current Euro Zone economic troubles. The professor knows his material, and tries to represent as balanced a view of world Capital Markets as possible. Even though I am not taking the 'Klausur' (the exam), but I have definitely been trying to learn as much from this course as possible. Like last semester I have been really focusing on my German and taking a lot of courses about the language and the german literature - I have been trying to take advantage of every possible opportunity to learn the language while i am here. I do an English-German Tandem with a friend of mine, I live in a German-speaking WG (Wohngemeinschaft - apartment), and I am taking a courses about the language, that I simply can't take back in Louisville. I had signed up to take 'Business German' (Wirtsschaftswissenschaftsdeutsch), but the course was unfortunately canceled after 3 sessions due to lack of interest. I did manage to get into 'Scientific German,' which has been unbelievably helpful. I have been learning a great deal from my job in the International Office - just like last semester - but this semester I feel that my German has really gotten to the level that I can talk to the people I work with at a mature and appropriate level. Just yesterday my boss and I spoke about the events unfolding with Israel and the humanitarian aid ships, which has certainly taken a lot of people's minds and discussions off of the European financial crisis, at least for a little while. I am still translating documents and preparing an online portal for all the new exchange students, like last semester, but I would gladly do it for free just for the experience! I can not describe how great of an experience it has been working in a German office, even if it is only one or two times a week. You can read all about how an office should work, and how you are supposed to act in intercultural situations, but to actually work in one... that is something totally different, something totally unique. Definitely making my experience here worth it in my mind, without a doubt! Liebe Grüße, Justin

Back to Tamale!

On May 22 I boarded the plane from JFK to Accra for the third time! I could not wait to return to Tamale yet again! When I arrived two days later I was greeted by many familiar faces happy to welcome me back into Tamale. After a few days of settling in and calling on various chiefs I began work both at Lameshegu Primary School and with Sister Cities.

My first day at Lameshegu I began in the Primary 1 class, which is complied of mainly six year olds. Though I had been told I could immediately start teaching I opted to observe so I could see how classes here were taught. As expected, it is very different than your typical American first grade class. Firstly, there are about 90 children in a small classroom with one teacher, obviously making any kind of instruction fairly difficult. However, the students were well behaved and the teacher did a good job controlling them, at least for awhile. After teaching one lesson and assigning an exercise the teacher left for about 10 minutes. She later returned with her one year old daughter, who she promptly started breast feeding in the middle of the class. After this point no more teaching was accomplished. For the rest of the class the children sat impatiently in their crowded desks anxiously awaiting break, while the teacher graded their exercises, all 90 of them.

After being at the school for a few days I have noticed that this is very common. Teaching is done for a few minutes at the beginning of class, an exercise is assigned and then graded one by one while the students sit there with no further instruction. I have already learned so much about the school system and can't wait to learn more. Tomorrow I will begin teaching english at the first grade level and will progress up to the sixth grade by the end of my time in Tamale!

The British are Coming

By Joanne Lloyd-Triplett
Over the past two months I have met more Brits than the whole 5 and half years that I have been in Louisville and it's all thanks to GLIP: Greater Louisville International Professionals. Through years of working and volunteering in the International Community I know many immigrants from dozens of countries, many have their own groups, associations and support networks, some even their own festivals. As far as Brits though, in 4 years I had met only one. It seems that we are hard to find; I happened to find them down the Pub - it figures.

I volunteer as the United Kingdom Ambassador for GLIP and last month through GLIP, myself and one other Mancunian (that's someone from Manchester) organized the first 'Brits Night Out' in an effort to find our fellow countrymen and women, and out of the woodwork they came. We had roughly 11 Brits that had never before met and last night at the second 'Night Out' even more new Brits showed up, plus 2 Australians and several Americans. I can't possibly explain in words the emotions of finally finding people from your home country after years of trying to 'fit in' to a new culture. No matter how well adapted and content you become in a new environment there will still always be a part of you that enjoys the comfort of the familiar; the need to 'breath out' after 'sucking it in'. To talk to someone with your own accent, to know that they too sometimes can't remember which is the British or the American term anymore - do we say courgette or zuchinni? Someone who can relate to the experiences and challenges you have also faced, to recall things from home and reminisce together. In the same way that a certain scent or taste can have the power to immediately trasport you back to a vivid memory; talking with my new British friends last night made me feel like I was back home, at a pub in Manchester - just for a moment. It fulfilled a craving I didnt even realize I had and I intend to get my fix every month at Brits Night Out.

• Join us on June 12th for the USA V. England World Cup Match at Molly Malone's on Baxter Ave.


• For the next Night Out keep an eye on the GLIP website or Sister Cities of Louisville Events Page.

My Vote My Voice

By Joanne Lloyd-Triplett
Today I exercised my right to vote for the first time since becoming a citizen. It had never really occurred to me previously that my voice wasn’t being heard; after all does one vote really make a difference? Well now that I think about it, yes! And certainly in Louisville where we have a huge international population for a city of our size and it continues to grow at an astonishing pace. I can’t help wondering how many of my fellow immigrants don’t have a voice either. Never has the phrase ‘No Vote No Voice’ meant as much as it did when I filled in my voting slip this morning. There is a big difference between not having a voice and not exercising it, perhaps the lesson here is that you treasure something more if you’ve gone through a difficult process to get it – I waited 5 years for my voice and I intend to make it heard.
As the local Chamber of Commerce steps things up to attract educated immigrants to Louisville through it’s ‘Greater Louisville International Professionals’ arm I am excited at the prospect of true international representation at the polling stations, after all this is ‘Possibility City’!

A little about my travels

As I am starting to settle back into the school mode, I have been preparing myself for the coming semester. I have been traveling on and off through Europe for the past two or so months, and am just now returning to some form of normalcy (though some friends and I are off to Barcelona for a friend's birthday at the end of the month - some birthday party!). The way that most German universities break up their year is as follows: the summer semester, from about the middle of October through the middle of February; and the winter semester, from about the middle of April through the middle of July - with short breaks and vacations within the semesters, of course! But, this system leaves the students with a substantial block of time (mid Feb. through mid April) to travel, prepare for the upcoming semester, take exams from the previous semester, work or a whole slew of imaginable other time-occupying activities! Aside from my job duties at the university, I was very happy to be left with a great deal of time to travel and enjoy the convenience of living in Germany (within 5 hours of pretty much everything!). I was lucky enough to have a few friends of mine come over and visit during this break. A great friend of mine from high school and fellow business student, Eric Chapman (University of South Carolina) came over and visited for about a week and we trained to Brussels and Bruges in Belgium, and Amsterdam in the Netherlands, were we met up with a friend of mine from Texas, Katie. After this we went to Stuttgart (in southern Germany). It was definitely really wonderful seeing two of the three Benelux countries (the third is still to come)! It was a very enjoyable experience and wonderful to see my friend Eric again, but I would definitely like to return to Belgium! Two days after Eric left two friends of mine from UofL flew in and visited for about a week - my friends and coworkers at the Office of the President Megan and Britney. I showed them around Mainz and then we were off to Paris, Strasbourg and Munich! We met up with our friend and other coworker, Patrick in Paris. Patrick is doing the year long exchange in Montpellier, so this is the first that the four of us have been together since sometime in August, so it was a very surreal experience. The four of us all reunited, and in Paris of all places! So that was quite an experience, no doubt about it - and it was great to see my friends again! It was really great to have a few weeks with my friends - the first time I have seen any one from home in a long time, and as I am not going back to visit, it is going to have to last me until August! After we returned, two friends and I went on a road trip to Vienna and Bratislava - well, we started off for Croatia, but road trips are all about spontaneity and enjoying the ride! It was a very interesting trip - and we met a few very interesting people in Bratislava... but you will have to ask me about that in person when I return! Before my friends came and visited I did a little traveling - Berlin and Hamburg, to name a few. Before christmas I went to Morocco and New Year's Eve I spent in Venice - that was a pretty amazing experience! I have been working pretty diligently for the university - I am a Mitarbeiter at the university's International Office (Abteilung Internationales) and I receive a scholarship to help cover my expenses, which is really helpful and I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity. Most of my job entails translating or proofreading documents for the International Office or the President's Office. The largest task I am responsible for is translating a website for international students to come out soon for the next year. I think that it is going to be a valuable resource for students who will be studying in Mainz in the future (I wish I had it!). Either way, I have been putting in some extensive time and effort translating all of the documents - it is a lot harder that you might imagine! Especially when the original documents have very Mainz-related terms (dialect, for instance!). Ok, well I have written enough for now! Liebe Grüße, justin

Travel, Travel, Travel!

Well... My semester break is coming to a close - and quickly! I have had the last month and a half off from school, which is our big break between the winter and summer semesters. I will be the first to say that I have been trying to make the best of my time! Throughout the last 6 weeks I have been all over: Berlin, Hamburg, Belgium, the Netherlands, Stuttgart, Paris, Strasbourg, Munich... and that is not the end of it I will be off again tomorrow, hopefully - though I am not sure in which direction (I am thinking east...).

The plan, tentative as it may be, is to head off to Budapest this week, return on the 31st, and then head back out on the 2nd. I would like to head out to Croatia and Slovenia, but heaven only knows where I will really end up! For the rest of the month of April, as classes begin, I plan on being in Mainz - except for a brief trip to London with my friend Pat (who is studying through Sister Cities in Montpellier this year).

Except for all of the traveling things have been... well, still pretty exciting, now that I think about it! I have been working quite a bit lately at for the international office at my university - I have been translating a substantial number of documents for a new website that we are creating for international students, and I am pretty excited about the progress we have made! Not to mention the wonderful experience I have had getting accustomed to a German working environment - though, my office is probably more of an exception to the rule, rather than the rule itself... Either way, I really find it rewarding and interesting.

On a personal note - I met Noam Chomsky yesterday! If you are not familiar with him; he is (arguably) the most famous living linguist (81 years old) and a very well respected political critic. He revolutionized the we understand languages... anyway, he came and gave a guest lecture at my university, of all places, and I was lucky enough to meet him afterwards (although, I was far to intimidated to say anything intelligent).

Nonetheless, I will get back after I am a little more settled in the new semester! After all, I have barely been home 5 days in the last month and a half!

yours,

justin

Shopping in Ghana by Joanne Lloyd-Triplett

Car Shopping - As far as I can tell, there is nothing you can't buy from the 'comfort' of your taxi window in Accra. Let me set the scene - it's 100 degrees and I climb into a white and orange taxi (one of many that has been vying for my business, honking and waving) but only after bartering with the driver over the cost of the journey - a very important step to take and a mistake you need to make only once. We pull off and I roll down the windows hoping for a breeze, I don't worry about reaching for the seat belt; there isn't one. The initial panic I felt about this gave way as I realized the speed would never exceed 10mph due to both the amount of traffic and the state of the roads. As we navigate the pothole filled dirt roads it seems that there are no rules on which side of the street to drive - it seems more governed by which part of the road is navigable with drivers weaving in and out of one another, left to right and right to left, almost like some kind of traffic conga line. Each time we come to a stop throngs of people rush out into the road all vying for attention and business, some of the things for sale: toilet roll, gum, Cd's, plantain chips, a large clock(!), flags, t-shirts, water, juice, carvings, cloth. The list goes on. As the traffic pulls away again they jump back to safety at the side of the road, waiting for the next opportunity to make a sale. This was possibly my favorite thing about Ghana, being right in the hustle and bustle of a busy city.

Tourist shopping - I found that you can't go to Ghana without buying some type of carving, the talent is just amazing and by the end of the week I was beginning to worry about how I would get everything I had purchased back home. My first encounter with the local craft work was just past Independence Square along the beach - we stumbled upon a row of shops (or wooden shacks) each full of beautiful handicrafts. Masks, in all shapes and sizes - some covered in beads, others in hammered metal, drums, walking staffs, spears, wall hangings, small statues; The Thinking Man, Mama Africa, elephants, giraffs. Some large statues were stand out in front of the shacks - 6 feet or taller, calved from a single tree trunk. The artists were sat under a line of trees that ran infront of the shacks, carving new pieces. At the end of the row was the National Cultural Center, a large open building full of stalls, here you could buy clothing, paintings, jewellery, hand woven Kente cloth, more wooden carvings, anything really. This was definately more of a tourist trap and competition runs high with people pulling you this way and that to come and look at their stall. On the beach there was a nice breeze but here among the indoor stalls the heat is stiffling and the atmosphere a little overwhelming; I barter over a couple of beautiful paintings and two stalls selling traditional Ghanaian clothing compete for my Kenyan friends attention - this all culminates in several other stall owners gathering round and joining in the conversation. Someone begins to fan the air as we surely look close to fainting, we make our purchases and stumble back out to the breezy sand.

Back to Reality by Joanne Lloyd-Triplett

With great sadness and a heavy heart I returned home from Ghana to Kentucky; as a friend aptly put it "Africa grows on you quickly". One positive note about being home is reliable internet and so i'll continue my blog from where i left off last:

Backgound: I should have mentioned this earlier - why I'm here. Sister Cities of Louisville, KY received a $115,000 grant from Sister Cities International (SCI) funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to carry out projects in Africa that will alleviate the living conditions of the urban poor. Seven cities in the US have been initially chosen to work on this grant with their respective Sister Cities in Africa. This week we have all gathered in Accra, Ghana to finalize project plans, often times sharing ideas with other African cities and brainstorming together - the atmosphere is one of cooperation with everyone striving for the same goal. Generosity is abound with even technical drawings being shared between groups. More practical and mundane is the training on local laws, procurement and tender processes and most intense of all - monitoring and evaluation reporting. Next week I will travel to Louisville's Sister City, Tamale to visit the sites where our projects will take place; naturally this is the part of the trip I am looking forward to most.

Feb 4th 2010: This morning I woke to no water. Thankfully the hotel was kind enough to bring me a bucket full, I imagine from the large tanker outside that has hauled in water to the hotel each day since i have arrived - I chalk it up to just another first and get on with it. I do wonder though what the local population is doing for water during what turns out to be a citywide shortage.

Things are more serious today in training and tensions run high as things get complicated; semantics are the order of the day and there is much disagreement - time for a coffee break. I should mention the coffee - granulated. I haven't had granulated coffee since i left Great Britain 5 years ago, it's actually surprisingly good. Perhaps it's the nostalgia or just the fact that this is the first coffee i have had in 5 days (surely a record), either way I'm getting a second cup.

At lunch I'm excited to try Banku - a traditional dish. The consistency is somewhat like mash potatoes but more gluey. You pull off a ball and using your hand as a scoop, use it to pick up some of the okra & fish stew. It takes some getting used to but eventually you get the hang of it. It's delicious.

More afternoon training and everyone is ready for the group outing SCI has organized - we gather in reception, huddling around the AC unit before heading into the humidity and blistering heat. Dinner is a short drive away, past the presidential palace, the sports stadium and several other sites. We are treated to a lovely Chinese meal (although I am a little disappointed that it's not more Ghanaian fare) followed by speeches and a few more speeches. We arrive back at the hotel one short - apparently they got into a rock star party in the back of the restaurant ?? Thankfully they made it back with many interesting stories & a pile of CDs!

Shrove Tuesday

Today is Shrove Tuesday, otherwise known as Pancake Day in England. You can bet that this evening most of Louisville's English Sister City residents in Leeds will be forfeiting dinner for pancakes. The tradition of eating pancakes on Shrove Tuesday comes from using up ingredients restricted during the ritual fasting associated with lent, such as sugar, fat and eggs. These pancakes are more like French crepes with the filling drizzled on and rolled up into a tube. The most traditional filling is a squeeze of lemon juice and a sprinkle of sugar which is still the way i make them - it instantly takes me back to my own childhood in the UK. The days leading up to Pancake Day are full of TV adverts for lemons and those handy plastic squeezy lemons. If you would like to have a go at making them yourself and celebrating along with Leeds, a recipe is below. You can also read more information about Shrove Tuesday Here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shrove_Tuesday

The ingredients:

2 cups plain flour (about 230g)
2 eggs
2 cups Milk
Pinch of salt
Butter for frying

Sieve the flour into a bowl. Make a well in the centre of the flour and crack the egg into this. Begin to slowly add the milk to the bowl as you whisk. Finally add a pinsh of salt.

Place a frying pan over a reasonable heat and add a knob of butter or oil if preferred. Make sure that the fat has melted and is hot before you add the pancake mixture. If there is too much fat drain away the excess.

ladle some of the pancake mixture into the pan. As you are doing this swirl the pan around. This ensures that the pancakes are thin but that the pan is evenly covered.

It will only take a minute or two to brown and then you will need to flip, toss or turn your pancake over until that side is also brown.

Pancakes are best served straight away and hot. Add your filling - lemon and sugar or you can be creative - jam, nutella etc.

Enjoy!

Africa continued, by Joanne Lloyd-Triplett

A word on Internet Access: As a group we have been coming to terms with the local internet access, or lack thereof. As each day passed it became more and more common to see white Americans walking around the hotel, laptop outstretched in front of them, trying to pick up a wireless signal. Greetings changed from ‘good morning’ to ‘have you been able to get online?’ with the local dialect greeting response of ‘naa’ instead being a resounding ‘no’. As word spreads that the internet is working there is a spurt of activity as everyone races to their laptops.......
AUPAP Day 1 & 2:
Today things became more intense as the heavy work load of the grant becomes a reality. Not only are we to complete a detailed proposal for our water project but we must backstep and create a Terms of Reference document along with an Action plan detailing how we arrived at our apparent pre-mature stage. We are too eager it seems to get to work – first we must write. We are also brought up to speed on creating the tender; discussing local laws and observances that may come into play as we work towards an open bidding process and evaluation procedures. As we navigate our way through the grant speak and technical red tape it becomes clear that we are in a great position, not only with our team here in Accra, Mohammed Haroon and Kaleem Jehanfo but also with our local Tamale connections in the TAMA. With approving nods from the Washington and Accra offices we dive in to our paperwork load with enthusiasm and even find time to outline plans for the next proposal – a Womans dormitory with a toilet and shower block. Things are starting to take shape.
Day 2: Woke up feeling rather delicate, perhaps a good idea to skip breakfast and concentrate on fluids for a while. The mood this morning is one of concentration; each city group huddles in corners of the conference room; discussing, planning, writing. The Tamale-Louisville group is feeling particularly confident after our achievements yesterday. By midday we are almost at a stopping point in terms of what we are trained to complete. Perhaps there will even be time for some sightseeing this afternoon - the hotel walls are becoming a little boring and after all, we're in Africa!
Tomorrow; monitoring and evaluation – a sigh can be heard around the room….

Ghana - First Impressions by Joanne Lloyd-Triplett

With eleven new vaccinations and malaria pills in hand I set off for my first visit to the continent of Africa. After vigorous sprints through Atlanta and JFK airports to catch connections with minutes to spare I finally touch down in Accra, Ghana, luggage and all. It seems that many of my fellow Delta travelers have similar reasons for visiting Ghana: a missionary group here to build a maternity ward; a gap year student volunteering at a local orphanage. The wave of heat that hits me as I exit the plane is a far cry from the three inches of snow I left behind in Louisville, Kentucky. I take a moment to look around and take it all in. The ride to the hotel is not that long but offers a feast for the eyes; groups of people sitting relaxing under trees, a football match (the British kind), roadside stalls offering freshly cooked foods; a lady carrying a huge basket on her head, full of what look like bananas. We pull onto a dirt road and the hotel appears on the left, the building reminds me somewhat of Buckheads on the river with its roofline imitating mountain peaks. The lobby is right out of a 1980’s Spanish hotel; small, marble and without AC. I’m already in love with this place. The room is very spacious and clean and as I start to unpack I hear singing coming from the conference rooms below. Before we get to work on AUPAP (African Urban Poverty Alleviation Program) there’s time for a quick look around……

Morocco to Mainz; the Holidays abroad

This is my first contribution to the Sister Cities of Louisville blog during my stay here in Mainz, but late is certainly better than never! I have been living in Mainz for a little over four months and have become rather accustomed to things here - and I have to say that a warm bed and a hot shower at my place in Mainz are a welcome sight after a few weeks of backpacking.

I just returned last evening (well... actually about 1:00 this morning) from spending 8 days in North Italy. My friend Liana (from Columbia) and I flew down to Venice (thank God for budget airlines!) for New Year's Eve, and I have to say that midnight in Piazza San Marco was certainly 'once in a lifetime experience,' in no small part due to the foot of ocean water covering the ground; you see, Venice during the winter has this wonderful little characteristic of, well, flooding. Now, when I say "flooding," I do not mean sporadic puddles of rain, or the occasional overflowing canal - I mean real, unadulterated, unquenchable flooding - and my salt stained covered shoes can attest to this dreary fact. That memory will last a lifetime!

I spent my New Year's Eve in Venice, but that wasn't the first stop during my brief winter break. I spent a few days backpacking in Morocco with my friend Danae from the U.S. I have to say that as different as Germany can be from home, Morocco is worlds away. Seeing snake charmers in the streets of Marrakech and the Arabic words "God, Country, King" inscribed on the side of a mountain in Agadir really makes an impression! It was a very interesting experience, and I really can not wait to return to Africa. We returned from Morocco on the 24th of December, the first day of the three days of celebration in Germany. I was lucky enough to spend the three days with a wonderful couple from the Mainz Friendship Circle, Frau Ursula Bell-Koehler and Herr William Bell. It was a wonderful time, and I really appreciate the time I was able to spend with them - not to mention all of the wonderful home cooked German food! It certainly was different from my usual Christmas at home with the family, but I enjoyed myself and the wonderful company all the same!