Buhl: Where we drank beer--with Nuns!

Wednesday, July 11^th – Friday the 13^th

            Our trip out of Switzerland deserves recognition as our most disastrous train trip so far.  I ran over the foot of a man with crutches with our 40 lb suitcase (why would you stick an injured food in the aisle??), sat us in what turned out to be reserved seats, and got the suitcase jammed under the table while trying to vacate said reserved seats.  Then we had to stand up for nearly an hour before the next stop (Isabella was only slightly luckier; she managed to find a seat, but it was across from a very weird guy…), where we jumped off the train, ran down the platform, and re-boarded in a car where no one knew us!

Kloster Maria Hilf

            After all that hectic travel, it was time for some rest.  We headed to Buhl (in western Germany, near the French border) to visit Schwester Aeterna, a friend of my Oma’s (“grandmother,” in German) at her convent, Kloster Maria Hilf.  Try staying in a convent for three days without humming “How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria” at some point--it’s very difficult!  We spent Wednesday evening relaxing, food shopping, and hiding from nuns who might recognize us before we chose to reveal our identity (Anneliese and I visited with our Oma in 2007).  On Thursday morning Anneliese and I went to breakfast (the array of foods was so amazing that we had to study it all for a while before choosing!), and then all three of us wrote furiously in our journals until about 14:00, when we decided to go and ask after Schwester Aeterna. 

(Now over to Anneliese:)  After a few minutes on the inter-Kloster phone, the Schwester (“Sister”) helping got Schwester Aeterna on the line, and after telling her there were three pretty young French girls (because we look very French…  Johanna jumped in very quickly with “Amerikanishe”!) at the front desk, the Schwester informed us that Schwester Aeterna would be coming shortly.  And boy did she come, in fact, she practically flew down the driveway on her walker, face beaming, so eager was she to see her dear friend’s grandchildren.  After she asked after our whole family, and told us how happy she was to see us, Schwester Aeterna led us up to the visitor’s room.  There we were quickly joined by two or three other friendly Schwesters who immediately began to set out Kaffee und Eis and cookies (coffee and ice cream, generally coffee is served with cake, the German equivalent of British Tea).  After waiting a while for Schwester Etelka (the Oberin, or Mother Superior) to arrive, one of the Schwesters remarked that the Oberin’s Eis, which was melting on the plate, was “running away from her,” which set all the Schwesters off giggling.  It is really sweet to watch the Schwesters together: they have found their calling, they all appear to be happy with their life, and not only that, but they live with their best friends!  So after eating Kaffee und Eis, and after being invited to that night’s Gottesdienste (which was a special service that night, celebrating the arrival of their newly ordained priest) and dinner with the Schwesters, we went off to find Schwester Reinharda, a very sweet nun that had provided meals for us when we were last at the Kloster.  While walking down the hall trying to remember which room was hers, a door opened, and out she came.  “Schwester Reinharda?” Johanna asked, “Yah?” she replied slightly confused, then her face brightened, and she exclaimed “Oh, Johanna!” and excitedly came up and hugged us both.  Then talking a mile a minute, she asked us about our trip, how long we were staying, and realized, with a shock, that the girls’ laughter she’d heard the night before while ironing was us, in our room across the small courtyard!  Eventually we returned to our room and crashed for a few minutes before preparing to go to Gottesdienste.  At 18:25 we arrived in the Kirche, and after Schwester Etelka showed us where to sit and gave us her own prayer book, in which she’d already marked the hymns for the night’s service for us so we wouldn’t get lost, the service began.  It was very nice; the young priest seemed sincere and exited to serve, and after the service he individually blessed everyone in the congregation, first asking their name, and then integrating their patron saint (or saints!) into the prayer.  After the service the Schwesters hurried us down into the dining room below the Kirche, where we sang prayers and ate the dinner held especially in celebration of the new priest (Isabella brought her own food, but still had to fend off several well meaning nuns).  It was here that Johanna and I had our first taste of beer (beer is allowed if you are over 16 in Germany)!  “We don’t always drink beer, but tonight is special” one of the Schwesters cheerily assured us.  After dinner we went back upstairs to a room where we could practice our music for Tour, and where I might practice my Piano, which we did for a good hour and a half.  Never try and sing Brahms Ave Maria with only 2^nd Alto and 2^nd Soprano.  It was so discordant, even though the notes were right (we checked on the piano just to be sure!) and the Oberin was listening to us practice!  We assured her it sounded better with the other parts, but I am not sure if she believed us.

The Hall leading to our practice room

            Throughout our planning for this trip, Isabella had mentioned several times wanting to go into France, even if it was only for a day, and so, since Buhl is so close to France, we thought that maybe we would one day take a train into Strasbourg.  Therefore, we decided to go on Friday (July 13^th), only to wake up and find that Friday was cold, cloudy, gray, and raining off and on.  Johanna and I got up and went to our amazing breakfast, only to be met there by Schwester Etelka, who had come to advise us against going into Strasbourg that day, but also to tell us that if we decided to go anyway, Schwester Dorothea would be happy to drive us to the station.  Eventually we decided against it in favor of going on Saturday, and so Johanna and I headed to the piano room, where we attempted to rehearse, but it is rather hard to sing when you have a cold).  The rest of the day we spent in St. Josephs Lounge Room, where we contacted family, and Johanna picked out her college classes (B-O-R-I-N-G) and painstakingly emailed all the info to Mom, who had to fill out the forms by hand since you couldn’t save anything in the pdf format!  That night Schwester Etelka came and gave me a box full of medicine which she had bought for my cold, and we introduced her and some other Schwesters to Mom, Katharina, and a friend of ours over Skype!

                                                

Tchuss!  Anneliese, Johanna, and Isabella