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10:17 p.m. - July 03, 2002 --from an ad, which was hanging around the dorms, subways, and posts near the dorm area where I live, and advertising services as a proofreader for English papers. Luana, my friend from California, who is a Fulbrighter in Madrid, Spain, came on Sunday morning and left today at 11.47 AM, was here and she wore me out. Not only did we go on an insane amount of tours, trips, and sightseeing things, but she's one of those overly-talkative people whose tongue is attached in the middle and flaps at both ends. So basically, I didn't have to pay attention half the time and I wouldn't miss a thing, because she never seemed to let me talk--she was always interrupting me (another pet peeve of mine). Eventually I figured out that if I want to talk, I've got to keep talking and she'll eventually shut up and let me finish my sentences. Anyway, we did do so much in the space of three days--the first day was Sunday, the day of the Germany-Brazil championship--I knew Brazil would win, but I was still rooting for Germany (I think because I live in Germany, it's easier for me to do that ;)). We ended up watching the game in front of a cafe in M�nchener Freiheit, and went from there to seeing other things in the city, and we had some real Bavarian food, and went home where Luana kept talking for oh, four hours? Just imagine if Germany had won. Or even if Turkey was playing Germany. That would have just been weird. The next day, we went to Salzburg, which was a lot of fun, because we went on the Sound of Music Tour. As cheesy as it sounds, it's great. I'm serious. The tour guide was fascinating and funny. And the whole thing was just so interesting because the Sound of Music "story" was interwoven throughout the tour along with the story of the real Von Trapps, as well as the actual history of Salzburg. For instance, Nonnberg Abbey (where the nuns live) is the oldest active abbey. Here's a great factoid: Maria's Mountain (where Julie Andrews sings The Sound of Music is actually fifty miles (or maybe kilometers?) from Nonnberg Abbey, and Maria ran from the mountain to the Abbey in about five minutes in the opening scene, right? And at the end, when the Von Trapps escape to Switzerland, they go over the Ungerberg (I think that's the name) but they were actually going over the border to Germany. That sort of thing. We got back to Munich at about midnight and slept till about 6:30 AM the next day, because we were going to Dachau. As I walked through the camp, I kept thinking of this quote from High Wizardry by Diane Duane: "But millions of light-years later, in some baking wilderness under a barren, brilliant sky, a bitterly weary Dairine paused in her flight, sat down on a stone, and cried for a while in shock at the utter strangeness of the universe, where unexpected evil lives side by side with unexpected kindness, and neither ever seems quite overcome by the other..." It rained when we were at Dachau, and to me, that was sort of fitting--I think it would have been too jarring for me if it was sunny when we were at the concentration camp. Anyway, one comment I do want to make about Dachau is that it's hard to believe that this mass murdering occurred right here--Dachau is a beautiful town, the concentration camp was so clean looking and is really in a pristine area, lots of trees and plants growing despite it all...for me, it was really hard because I kept thinking of all the German history and literature I've been exposed to, the guilt and shame that Germans do have because of the Holocaust. It made all those books and movies and essays we've read so much more real, more tangible. Even though those movies try to recreate the setting of concentration camps, it's not easy to imagine. And it's also easy to maybe conjecture why there have been people who have denied that the Holocaust even occurred... My heart ached because I also know that there were Joe Schmoes who were drafted into the Nazi party, and my hearty ached for those who suffered in the camps, choosing suicide over an inhumane life, withering away to skeletons, all because they were a "marginalized" group. The mass graves are covered with growing grass and flowers, with beautiful stones saying, "Grave of unknown thousands" and I sorrow that they are nameless--or rather, they cannot have their own graves, with their own names....But I will never forget. One of the hardest parts about the Dachau camp experience was seeing the film that they show--at first, there were tons of Americans and other native speakers of English, chattering, smiling, laughing, and after the half hour long film ended, there was absolute silence and shock--the people in the audience were somber were not talking, except maybe to perhaps comfort each other, for the last few minutes are indelible--shots of bodies...shots of faces belonging to the victims of the Holocaust... Another difficult aspect for me was that I was also thinking about September 11, the radical groups in various countries fighting each other because of religious belief. Before I arrived at Dachau, I was thinking of Resistance Song by Jill Sobule, but as I walked through the camp, I knew that the song would be too jarring for me and not quite fitting, even though it is a song about the Resistance. In order to cheer ourselves up, Luana and I headed off to Schloss Nymphenberg, which is in the city. It took a while to find it because my guidebook had the wrong directions of how to get to the palace, so it took a while to find the right buses. I think Nymphenburg was a bit overrated, quite frankly. Granted, it is important to see, but the only things that are worth seeing are the gardens and the carriage house. Trust me on this. If you want to see a cool palace in Munich, go to the Residenz Museum. However, just seeing the size of this palace is worth the bus ride and a trip to the park behind the palace (which is free, anyway). After we had dinner, we went to the Dreigroschenkeller to meet Maggie, who's also a Munich Fulbrighter. Unfortunately, though, the music students are on summer break so no musical performances were offered last night. How sad. But I still enjoyed the atmosphere, which is half the fun. I'm a bit (okay, a lot) tired right now, so I'm going to bed now. I'm so glad that I can sleep for more than 5 hours tonight.
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