from Freiburg
I am now in Freiburg, Germany at my friend Anja's house. She was my second-ever Couchsurfer about two years ago and we've stayed in touch. I'm staying with her for a few days. I have a few other visits planned to other friends between here and London before I fly home on the 15th.
The last week or so is hard to verbalize. Sarah and I flew to Budapest. We spent a few days in the city and met up with my parents, grandmother, aunt, and her family. Together we took a 7 hour busride into the Ukraine through Slovakia and stayed in a town called Munkachevo for three days. The first full day in Munkachevo we woke up and drove 30 kilometers away to visit first the cemetery where my grandmother's mother and my grandmother's grandmother are buried. Then we visited the village where she and her sisters were born which is called Zarice. After Munkachevo, we drove back to Budapest and flew to Hannover, Germany. Every day in Hannover, we woke up at 7 and had full day of activity which took us to the Bergen Belsen memorial where there is a museum on the site of the former concentration camp where my grandmother and her sisters were prisoners of the nazis for a year. We also visited the displaced-persons camp and the barracks in Celle, Germany where they lived after being liberated, and the synagogue which they more or less created themselves and where my grandmother and one of her sisters were married before immigrating to the US.
That is the basic idea of where I have been. There are a lot of details and I want to write them but I think I'm just not ready yet. This last week has been very intense and I want to write something that does this experience, and the wartime experience of my grandmother and great-aunts justice. It's very important so I'm going to wait a bit until I have a proper amount of time to create it, perhaps before I return, perhaps after, but it will be written soon. In the meantime, I will visit a few friends and explore Germany a bit before landing back in New York. I will be here for a few days, and I think afterwards head to Lichtenfels to visit Yasmine, a friend from New York who recently moved back there to her hometown. I should have more regular access to the internet now so I will try to write some of the amazing stories I have heard soon.
The last week or so is hard to verbalize. Sarah and I flew to Budapest. We spent a few days in the city and met up with my parents, grandmother, aunt, and her family. Together we took a 7 hour busride into the Ukraine through Slovakia and stayed in a town called Munkachevo for three days. The first full day in Munkachevo we woke up and drove 30 kilometers away to visit first the cemetery where my grandmother's mother and my grandmother's grandmother are buried. Then we visited the village where she and her sisters were born which is called Zarice. After Munkachevo, we drove back to Budapest and flew to Hannover, Germany. Every day in Hannover, we woke up at 7 and had full day of activity which took us to the Bergen Belsen memorial where there is a museum on the site of the former concentration camp where my grandmother and her sisters were prisoners of the nazis for a year. We also visited the displaced-persons camp and the barracks in Celle, Germany where they lived after being liberated, and the synagogue which they more or less created themselves and where my grandmother and one of her sisters were married before immigrating to the US.
That is the basic idea of where I have been. There are a lot of details and I want to write them but I think I'm just not ready yet. This last week has been very intense and I want to write something that does this experience, and the wartime experience of my grandmother and great-aunts justice. It's very important so I'm going to wait a bit until I have a proper amount of time to create it, perhaps before I return, perhaps after, but it will be written soon. In the meantime, I will visit a few friends and explore Germany a bit before landing back in New York. I will be here for a few days, and I think afterwards head to Lichtenfels to visit Yasmine, a friend from New York who recently moved back there to her hometown. I should have more regular access to the internet now so I will try to write some of the amazing stories I have heard soon.
posted by Dan at 11:29 PM
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