Leaving the Familiar
by John Clarke
It is easy to relax into a routine and dwell in the comfort of the home environment, but new experiences need to be embraced, especially by the young.
The guest speaker at the recent Kaffee und Kuchen meeting was Chelsey Start. Last year Chelsey had accompanied a group of Faith Lutheran College students on a trip to Germany, and she spoke of the excitement and the educational benefits of that trip.
Their first stop was Munich. It was a sombre beginning with a visit to the Olympic Park and the nearby Nazi concentration camp at Dachau. Memories of Olympic Games focus on competition, victories and displays of courage and determination, but the efforts of the athletes were overshadowed (and continue to be) by the massacre of members of the Israeli team by the terrorist group Black September. And in the Dachau Concentration Camp between 1933 (when Hitler’s political opponents were interned) and 1945 (the last
year of World War II) over 40,000 Jews, Communists, homosexuals and those opposed to the Nazi regime were murdered.
For the young the history of the past is important, but for Chelsey and the Faith students there were less daunting experiences. They visited Munich’s BMW Museum, and on their next stop Hamburg they were welcomed by members of Faith’s sister school the Charlotte Paulsen Gymnasium and were taken to a chocolate factory, where they were able to make (and eat) their own chocolate bars. Of special interest to descendants of Barossa Valley pioneers was the Migration Museum, as it was from Hamburg that many of those pioneers had sailed into the unknown, the new colony of South Australia.
There were also visits to the Miniatur Wunderland (Miniature Wonderland) and the Christmas markets.
They saw human achievements such as Hamburg Harbour and the Elbe Tunnel and experienced the feverish excitement of soccer fans at a packed stadium.
But World War II is never far away. Hamburg’s St Nikolaikirche (Church of St Nicholas) with its blackened spire is a constant reminder of the horrors of modern warfare, and in Berlin, their next stop, they saw another church, the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, which has been retained in its ruined state. The Cold War too, when Germany was a divided country, is remembered in Berlin.
But once again there were happy occasions. More Christmas markets, and a tour of one of the world’s largest palaces Scloss Charlottenburg with its amazing extravagant decoration and expansive gardens.
At the end of the Faith European trip Chelsey remained in Germany for a further two weeks, staying with the family of a penfriend, a happy connection she had made through the school when she was in Year 10.
Especially memorable was a Bavarian Christmas with a real Christmas tree decorated with real candles.
The next meeting of Kaffee und Kuchen will be held at the Langmeil Centre, 7 Maria Street, Tanunda on Monday, 28 July. The meeting will be preceded by a German luncheon at 12 midday. The $25 charge includes Kaffee und Kuchen (coffee and cake) at the conclusion of the meeting.
