A Fulfilling February

More than half of my time here in Wolfsburg has passed, and even though the city center itself is quite small, there are some areas that I haven’t explored as much yet. The days are starting to become longer again, which has been a major boost for my overall state of well-being. During the darkest days of winter, the sun rises as late as 8:45 in the morning and sets as early as 3:50 in the afternoon. So with the sun shining today, I decided to get out of my apartment and to head into the city center and sit in this new cafe that opened this year, called Cafe Gaest. The place offers an option to make your own bagel sandwiches, something that I haven’t really found anywhere else in Germany, and better yet offers free WiFi, which is another rarity. There are plenty of tables to work at due to the fact that the cafe has two floors of seating, and it’s quiet enough to get some work done.

So here I am, writing to you from Cafe Gaest with not too many updates. While German winters can be dark, I have tried to use the warmer days to the best of my ability to explore different areas around me–and by around me, I don’t mean literally near my house, but rather either in the city center or in Brunswick (Braunschweig in German), where Eddy lives.

In the middle of the month after coming back from my short vacation in Spain, I was invited to Brunswick by the leader of the English faculty at my school, Jasper, to watch a soccer game between Eintracht Braunschweig and 1. FC Kaiserslautern, two clubs that have a long tradition in German soccer but currently play in the third division. Financially, the club isn’t as big as the Bundesliga club, VfL Wolfsburg, but within Brunswick there is a large following with their supporters that are very proud of their club’s history. Eintracht was founded back in 1895 and had had their own days in the Bundesliga, even winning the German title in 1967. The atmosphere from the crowd was energetic, and the team was even able to beat their foes for the day with an end result of 2-0. It’s also important to point out that Eintracht Braunschweig and VfL Wolfsburg are rivals of each other, so sorry to my friends here who have found out by reading this blog that I even went to an Eintracht game–please forgive me.

The next day the weather was extremely nice, so Eddy and I went out to explore a little bit around his neighborhood, as well as a park only about a 20-minute walk from his apartment. Right down the street from his house was an area of the city that wasn’t damaged during World War II, and it was interesting to see some buildings built before then that still stood.

Continuing along the street, we finally came up to an area bordering the park on the outskirts of the city, which looked as though we had come to the countryside and completely left the city behind. This part of the city was made up of small areas of land that made up a few Kleingärtnervereine, which are clubs where people can rent a small plot of land and can have their own garden, as garden space isn’t too common in bigger cities. Some people have simple gardens, while others have interesting knick-knacks and other things to make their gardens unique, such as a tree house for example.

We finally got to the park and while part of it seemed very planned with paved paths and sport fields, others really seemed to be totally removed from the city, and it felt as though it was in the middle of pure nature. There were stretches of unpaved pathways that led through wooded areas, ran adjacent to a couple of ponds where geese paddled through the water, and passed through wide-open fields. It was quite refreshing to walk through the park and feel seemingly removed from the city life.

In contrast to the quiet pleasantness of the park in Brunswick, this past weekend I was in two of the largest cities in Germany, Hamburg and Berlin. I went to Hamburg with a few of my baseball teammates to take part in an indoor baseball tournament against a few teams associated with the Hamburg Stealers, a club whose first team plays in the Baseball Bundesliga. While the main point of the tournament was to enjoy playing some competitive baseball, our team ended up doing well finishing with a 3-1 record. It was fun to get back into playing baseball again as we look forward to the start of our season only one month away. After the tournament, we decided to head out to experience some of the nightlife that Hamburg is famous for before heading back to Wolfsburg the next morning.

Finally, the month was wrapped up by a spontaneous road trip to Berlin with another baseball teammate of mine, Björn, and his coworkers from VfL Wolfsburg to support the team in their away match against 1. FC Union Berlin, a club steeped in history and a unique fan culture, being known for their “tifos,” which is a term for the type of choreography and displays fans create and show throughout soccer games. This is the club’s first time since reunification playing in the Bundesliga, and this season they are showing that they belong in the division currently sitting in the middle of the table, fairly clear of the relegation zone with a few months left in the season. This game supported that image of the club, as the atmosphere at the Stadion an der Alten Försterei was electric. Most of the spots for fans to watch the game are standing spots, meaning that most fans are on their feet singing, chanting, and supporting their club through different choreographies. It also allowed me to experience one of the more fun VfL Wolfsburg matches, as I was able to take part in the fan culture of singing and chanting, and even waving a flag with the club’s colors on it. The match ended in a 2-2 draw, but the experience is definitely one that I won’t forget.

There’s a lot in store this coming month with better weather on the way and another long vacation that will take place at the end of the month for Easter. Until that time, though, I will continue helping out in the school, going to baseball practice, and learning Spanish at the local Volkshochschule where adults can take courses on a variety of subjects. It’s good to have finally found a routine during the week that I can follow, which has made my experience a bit more eventful. With this routine, I’m happy to say that I feel much more at home now than I did a few months ago. I guess that could mean I’ve fully adapted to life here in Germany!