H
allo und willkommen zurück!
Hello and welcome back!
It’s been a busy couple of weeks, filled with several cultural activities as well as making progress toward my visa.
On Sunday, November 9, we attended a benefit convert at the beautifully restored St. Catherine Church (Hauptkirche St. Katharinen). This church was first built in the 13th century and is one of the five main Lutheran churches in Hamburg. It was severely damaged during WWII, and the exterior was reconstructed in the 1950s according to original plans. It was completed in 2012 and is an amazing structure with massive columns and vaulted ceilings. It houses a historic organ that was originally built in the 16th century after the Reformation, expanded to 58 stops in the 17th century, and became one of the finest organs in the region during the Baroque era. Sadly, it was destroyed during the 1943 firestorm that wiped out much of Hamburg. Fortunately, the church leaders had safely stored the organ’s pipes before that event, and those same pipes were installed during the organ’s reconstruction between 2009 and 2013. Here’s an interior photo I took after the concert. It’s almost impossible to capture the grandeur of the building with a cell phone.
Here’s an exterior photo Clarke took just as it was starting to get dark.
On Saturday, November 15, we visited the WINTERPRIDE Christmas Market in the St. Georg area. It’s supposed to be geared specifically for the Queer community. Based on their slate of events, they seem to have a wide variety of activities over the next few weeks. Unfortunately, we visited on opening day early in the afternoon, so the place wasn’t fully staffed yet, and there wasn’t anything scheduled to happen while we there. We may go back to visit one evening when something of interest to us is scheduled.
As we were already out on the town, we decided to stroll along the Alster, the main lake in Hamburg. It was very cold and windy, so we didn’t stick around for very long. Clarke took some pretty cool photos, of which I’ll share a few here. Everywhere we go in Hamburg, there are sculptures – some classical and some modern, but all interesting.
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| Not sure what this was supposed to be, but it was fun getting into the right position for a pose. |
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| Random boy with a seagull |
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| “Bride of the Wind” (the sculpture, not me) |
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| Don’t let the smiles fool you, it was freezing cold with the wind chill coming off the lake. |
On the following day, we attended a concert at the Laeiszhalle, a beautiful venue that opened in 1908. It was then, and still is, one of the premier concert halls in Europe. It was funded by ship magnate Carl Heinrich Laeisz (pronounced “lice”) in his will, and his widow oversaw the construction of the neo-Baroque marvel. Miraculously, it survived WWII unscathed. Our friends Claudi, Eberhard, and Chris played in the concert, a program of energetic pieces for winds, brass, and percussion. It was truly a delightful experience to hear such great music in a breathtaking space.
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| The exterior of the convert hall |
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| Interior shot |
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| Who are these jokers? |
Finally, last night we attended a Friendsgiving with our friends David, Linda, and Jason. It was a delightful evening filled with good food, interesting conversation, and some competitive games. Yours truly ate too much, but isn’t that part of the tradition?
In other news, on Saturday, November 8, I tool the TELC exam for Deutsch A1. This exam measures my proficiency for a beginning learner, and will be useful as I move through the immigration process. I should know the results sometime in early December.
On Monday, November 10, I was able to obtain my Meldebestätigung (Registration Confirmation), showing that I am officially registered as a Hamburg resident. Once I had that in hand, I was able to submit my application for my Resident Permit as a Language Learner. This is a visa that allows me to stay in the country while I learn German. The initial period is three months, which should buy me time while we sort out Clarke’s work visa. So starting tomorrow, I will be back in class five days a week learning more German until the end of next February. As long as the application is in process, I have a “fictitious visa” which allows me to stay here after my initial 90-day visit expires on December 4. I also recently received my German tax ID number, so now I can open a bank account and conduct other business in Germany as needed. Baby steps.
That’s all I’ve got for now. The days are getting darker up here, as the sun sets around 4PM. That was a hour ago and it’s now pitch black outside. We joke about eating dinner at midnight. It makes me appreciate daylight more since there’s so little of it this far north during the winter months.
Have a great week and stay safe!
Tschüss!
Bye!
David