| 3.2 - Family Ties and Sad Good-Byes "I'll be home for Christmas . . ." The next part of our journey included a 10 hour train trip to Dortmund where we would be staying with Katrin and Henning Rahn and their two small kids, Phil-Johann, 2 yrs, and Joy-Marleen, 3 months. We actually had our own small flat above their appartment but always had our meals with them downstairs where we cooked for them sometimes - maple sugar cookies in the shape of maple leafs, chili, and our first, failed attempt at a simple white sauce! We stayed at their place for a month and a half, and experienced many things, including being part of the kids program, run by Katrin and Henning, as well as the youth/early 20's group from their church. We also met a family whose father's mother had once lived in Tabor Manor in St. Catharines, Ontario! (Dana's dad is the chaplain at Tabor.) They were of Mennonite background, originally from South America - small world! We celebrated Christmas and New Year's with Katrin and Henning and their family and friends. Mennoland... While in Dortmund we saw many medieval towns, two or three water castles, several churches, and the biggest Christmas tree in the world - pride of Dortmund city, boasting roughly 13,000 lights and 1,400 evergreens! Katrin's mom, Mrs. Freitag, showed us many things and many places - she was also a very good German teacher! She was very gracious to us during our stay. Towards the end of our time we were able to be part of a big praise and worship event in Koln (Cologne). They sang both English and German songs, and we were able to join in. It was a lively atmosphere (taking place in what is used other nights of the week as a dance club), with a great worship team leading. That evening was spent with our friends Nancy (from Germany) and Stephan (from Argentina), both from the Mennonite family we had met before. To Dana, who has had a major identity crisis related to her Mennonite surroundings during those turbulent teen years, no moment has ever made her more proud to have Menno blood pounding through her veins. To Becky, this was another exciting discovery of her Mennonite connections. Needless to say, we really loved getting to know Katrin, Henning, and the kids, and it was hard leaving Dortmund and our new friends behind. Home Journals: 1.1 ~ 1.2 ~ 2.1 ~ 2.2 ~ 3.1 ~ 3.2 ~ 4.1 5.1 ~ 5.2 ~ 5.3 ~ 5.4 ~ 6.1 ~ 6.2 |
| New Year's! At midnight on January first Dortmund sounded like a war zone with all the colourful fireworks exploding around the horizon as far as one could see. On Boxing Day we went to 'Jesus Celebration 2000', a concert featuring a 1000-voice choir, which 8000 people attended! The lively performance of "O Happy Day" was awesomce. Dana almost lost one glove that night, but Becky found it again - Becky's the greatest! |
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