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| Ganseliesel - Goose Girl of Gottingen |
I have now arrived in Gottingen - the second-to-last stop of my sabbatical. This stop is very much part of a pilgrimage, and Gottingen is, in a very real sense, a mathematical Mecca. So many of the "greats" were here - Gauss, Dirichlet, Riemann, Klein, Minkowski, Hilbert, Noether, Mobius - and on and on the list goes!
My stays in each German city are shorter than my stays in such cities as Edinburgh, Oxford, Cambridge, London and Paris. I have to say it was hard to say good-bye to Heidelberg so soon. It's not that there was so much to do there, as there is in London or Paris, but it was SO beautiful, and it would have been nice to have stayed just to have a bit of restorative "Sabbath" in my sabbatical. It would have been nice to stay, simply surrounded by such beauty - to watch the flow of the Neckar River - to hike further along the Philosophenweg -
So far Gottingen hasn't caught my fancy at all, but to be fair, each transition to a new city has been hard, and I find myself in the first day or two missing the city I've just left - but more than anything that's probably because I'd had time to make my previous city a home of sorts - knew where things were and how the public transportation worked - and so on - was comfortable. So, hopefully I'll get comfortable here as well. On Friday I meet with a professor who is going to open up the Mathematisches Institut (Mathematics Institute) of the University of Gottingen, an important building in the history of mathematics. He will also let me in to their collection of mathematical models, of which he is the former curator. He has a strong interest in the history of mathematics, so I'm hoping for good conversation and some good pointers for my stay.
3) The Ugly - I'm not sure that's the right title for this segment, but I'm sticking with the theme. It's really more like "the shocking" or "the surprising." Thursday night I walked around Gottingen. A nice thing about these German towns that I'm staying in is that they are far smaller than London or Paris, so I just stumble across mathematical stuff I'm looking for everywhere. In my walk I came across a graveyard whose name was familiar from my earlier planning for the trip, so I wandered around looking for familiar names on gravestones, and sure enough, there was Carl Friedrich Gauss! Wahoo! But it felt weird, and it felt weird because people were partying all over the cemetery - barbecuing, playing Frisbee, riding bikes, laying down and smoking, having picnics - WAY different from any other cemetery I'd been to in Europe - or America for that matter! I don't know if this is standard practice or if it was because it was Ascension Day, which is a BIG holiday over here and doubles up with a form of Father's Day, which has become sort of "Man Day" from what I hear.
(Later comment - This topic came up while I spoke with the Gottingen professor I met with after having originally posted this. He let me know that this cemetery hasn't been used as such in decades, perhaps a century, and that has been re-purposed as a park. The most prominent stones, and, I imagine, all of the bodies, were left. So this is now a park and enthusiastically used as such! I can only imagine what Gauss would think of people playing Frisbee over his grave; I'm pretty sure he would not be amused.)
My stays in each German city are shorter than my stays in such cities as Edinburgh, Oxford, Cambridge, London and Paris. I have to say it was hard to say good-bye to Heidelberg so soon. It's not that there was so much to do there, as there is in London or Paris, but it was SO beautiful, and it would have been nice to have stayed just to have a bit of restorative "Sabbath" in my sabbatical. It would have been nice to stay, simply surrounded by such beauty - to watch the flow of the Neckar River - to hike further along the Philosophenweg -
So far Gottingen hasn't caught my fancy at all, but to be fair, each transition to a new city has been hard, and I find myself in the first day or two missing the city I've just left - but more than anything that's probably because I'd had time to make my previous city a home of sorts - knew where things were and how the public transportation worked - and so on - was comfortable. So, hopefully I'll get comfortable here as well. On Friday I meet with a professor who is going to open up the Mathematisches Institut (Mathematics Institute) of the University of Gottingen, an important building in the history of mathematics. He will also let me in to their collection of mathematical models, of which he is the former curator. He has a strong interest in the history of mathematics, so I'm hoping for good conversation and some good pointers for my stay.
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| I love the graffiti! |
When I checked in to my hotel the receptionist asked me if I was here for the Handel Festival (what Handel Festival?). As I walked around town I saw posters for it; it runs from May 5 to May 16, so apparently a big deal. On the many churches in the town center I saw posters for regularly scheduled organ music events, so I guess I have my pick if I want to take in some musical events here!
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| Organ music Saturday at 6:00pm at St. Johannis - and it involves BACH! |
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| Organ music Friday at 6:00pm at St. Jacobi - and trumpet and organ on Saturday! |
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| St. Jacobi |
I haven't been posting pictures of my rooms, but here's my new little cubby-hole. Nothing fancy, but it's clean, and it does the job, and the price is right :-)
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TRAVEL DAY
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My experience traveling and settling in was pretty funky Thursday. I'm going to give it the same title as a Clint Eastwood movie: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. We'll take it in that order.
1) The Good - Upon arrival in Gottingen I set out in search of dinner. I found a small Italian place (always a safe bet!) and ordered Spaghetti Bolognese - my "go to" dish. It was a tiny place with only one person in sight - probably the owner, chef and waiter all in one! As always here in Germany I have to start out with "Es tut mir Leid. Ich Spreche kein Deutsch. Sprechen Sie English?" Nope. He queried me, "Italiano?" Nope. I came back with "Espanol?" And though we didn't have any single language in common, two of the languages we knew, Italian and Spanish, have common roots, and we were able to have quite a conversation! It was so fun! l can't imagine what anyone listening would have made of it - such a mix-up of Italian, Spanish, English and German! I've written about Spanish a few times; I'm actually not that good at it. I only have what I've learned in the classroom. I can't necessarily carry on a conversation back home with my Spanish-speaking students. But here, in a foreign country, where two people are really trying to make it work and just communicate, it goes very well! Muchas gracias a maestra Sordo, profesora Boelema, y profesora Franco!
2) The Bad - My train trip started out well. I had triple-checked my itinerary online and then also checked in with the person at the information desk at the train station. I got on and had a large 6-seat compartment all to myself! I nearly had more space than I've had in some of my hotel rooms! Ahhh . . . . .
As you can see, though, there are no lighted signs indicating the next stop (as I've seen on other trains and London's Tube). And announcements, IF they were made, were brief, in Germany, and did not contain a city name. But I knew what time I was supposed to arrive, and Germans are very punctual, so I was counting on that.
At the first few stops I saw groups of people getting off. But then the train kept going and going and going. I didn't see any more people. No one came to take my ticket. Finally, after two hours, a train official did come by to take my ticket. I KNEW I was on the right train, so there was no reason other than the prompting of the Spirit for me to ask her, "Does this train go to Gottingen?"
Here eyes got wide, and she said, "No."
YIKES!!!!!!!!
But, but, BUT, I KNOW I had gotten on the right train. I had quadruple checked!
She did tell me I could change at Kassel. I was experiencing such strong emotions of anxiety and relief that I didn't have my wits about me enough to ask WHEN we would get to Kassel. Upon realizing I wouldn't know where to get off, I opened the compartment door and looked long and hard each way down the corridor. There was no one in sight - no passengers - no crew - no one. I don't have a picture of that, but it was like standing between two mirrors and seeing infinity in both directions and nothing there. It was just all silver and white and glass in all directions. It reminded me of a horror movie I'd seen, but I can't remember which one. All the other passengers had gotten off ages ago, and I seemed to be alone on the eternal train to nowhere!
At the first few stops I saw groups of people getting off. But then the train kept going and going and going. I didn't see any more people. No one came to take my ticket. Finally, after two hours, a train official did come by to take my ticket. I KNEW I was on the right train, so there was no reason other than the prompting of the Spirit for me to ask her, "Does this train go to Gottingen?"
Here eyes got wide, and she said, "No."
YIKES!!!!!!!!
But, but, BUT, I KNOW I had gotten on the right train. I had quadruple checked!
She did tell me I could change at Kassel. I was experiencing such strong emotions of anxiety and relief that I didn't have my wits about me enough to ask WHEN we would get to Kassel. Upon realizing I wouldn't know where to get off, I opened the compartment door and looked long and hard each way down the corridor. There was no one in sight - no passengers - no crew - no one. I don't have a picture of that, but it was like standing between two mirrors and seeing infinity in both directions and nothing there. It was just all silver and white and glass in all directions. It reminded me of a horror movie I'd seen, but I can't remember which one. All the other passengers had gotten off ages ago, and I seemed to be alone on the eternal train to nowhere!
The train kept going - long past the time I should have gotten off. As far as I knew we were headed opposite the direction I needed to go. I had no way of knowing - no familiar landmarks, no announcements, no one to ask, not able to access maps on my phone because I had no service on the train. And on and on we went.
FINALLY we actually did get in to Kassel. I still had no idea where in Germany I was - no idea how long it was going to take to get to Gottingen - whether or not I had gone in the wrong direction. I checked in at information to find out what platform I needed to get to Gottingen. The guy claimed not to speak English, but I told him the situation anyway, because I wondered how I had gone wrong and didn't want to mess up again, and because I was too stressed to care if he didn't understand what I was saying. I needed to say it!
He simply shrugged his shoulders, looked blandly at me, and said, "So they changed."
OK, great, do what you want with your trains, but at least let people know somehow! (I HAD gotten on the right train! It just did something different for no reason I'm aware of!) Again I forgot to ask what time we would get into Gottingen - oops - so off I went again flying blind on a wing and a prayer!
Had I not asked that redundant, "unnecessary" question I would have stayed on that train to the end of the line - whenever and wherever that would have been.
I'm learning a lot about trust. So many times I don't know what the step ahead is. I have no one with me. Where I am right now I don't speak the language. I don't understand the details of the systems, at least not initially, not until I have time to get them figured out. Things have fallen through, but I have to keep putting my foot out, and God keeps putting ground under my foot as I step forward. I am learning so much on this trip, and the learning that is taking place is not all about math!
My experience is making me think about a scene from a movie I saw years ago. I looked it up on YouTube and was so happy to see they had the clip I was thinking of, so I'm posting it here. This. THIS! THIS is my experience. When I watched this just now in the midst of what I'm doing, I WEPT because it rings so true. This IS what I am doing - not once, but day after day after day for weeks! (I just watched it a second time, and I'm crying again - not from sadness but because it resonated that deeply. And because I'm just SO tired. But I'm also SO thankful. God does keep bringing the ground up to meet me as I put my foot forward.)
FINALLY we actually did get in to Kassel. I still had no idea where in Germany I was - no idea how long it was going to take to get to Gottingen - whether or not I had gone in the wrong direction. I checked in at information to find out what platform I needed to get to Gottingen. The guy claimed not to speak English, but I told him the situation anyway, because I wondered how I had gone wrong and didn't want to mess up again, and because I was too stressed to care if he didn't understand what I was saying. I needed to say it!
He simply shrugged his shoulders, looked blandly at me, and said, "So they changed."
OK, great, do what you want with your trains, but at least let people know somehow! (I HAD gotten on the right train! It just did something different for no reason I'm aware of!) Again I forgot to ask what time we would get into Gottingen - oops - so off I went again flying blind on a wing and a prayer!
Had I not asked that redundant, "unnecessary" question I would have stayed on that train to the end of the line - whenever and wherever that would have been.
I'm learning a lot about trust. So many times I don't know what the step ahead is. I have no one with me. Where I am right now I don't speak the language. I don't understand the details of the systems, at least not initially, not until I have time to get them figured out. Things have fallen through, but I have to keep putting my foot out, and God keeps putting ground under my foot as I step forward. I am learning so much on this trip, and the learning that is taking place is not all about math!
My experience is making me think about a scene from a movie I saw years ago. I looked it up on YouTube and was so happy to see they had the clip I was thinking of, so I'm posting it here. This. THIS! THIS is my experience. When I watched this just now in the midst of what I'm doing, I WEPT because it rings so true. This IS what I am doing - not once, but day after day after day for weeks! (I just watched it a second time, and I'm crying again - not from sadness but because it resonated that deeply. And because I'm just SO tired. But I'm also SO thankful. God does keep bringing the ground up to meet me as I put my foot forward.)
3) The Ugly - I'm not sure that's the right title for this segment, but I'm sticking with the theme. It's really more like "the shocking" or "the surprising." Thursday night I walked around Gottingen. A nice thing about these German towns that I'm staying in is that they are far smaller than London or Paris, so I just stumble across mathematical stuff I'm looking for everywhere. In my walk I came across a graveyard whose name was familiar from my earlier planning for the trip, so I wandered around looking for familiar names on gravestones, and sure enough, there was Carl Friedrich Gauss! Wahoo! But it felt weird, and it felt weird because people were partying all over the cemetery - barbecuing, playing Frisbee, riding bikes, laying down and smoking, having picnics - WAY different from any other cemetery I'd been to in Europe - or America for that matter! I don't know if this is standard practice or if it was because it was Ascension Day, which is a BIG holiday over here and doubles up with a form of Father's Day, which has become sort of "Man Day" from what I hear.
(Later comment - This topic came up while I spoke with the Gottingen professor I met with after having originally posted this. He let me know that this cemetery hasn't been used as such in decades, perhaps a century, and that has been re-purposed as a park. The most prominent stones, and, I imagine, all of the bodies, were left. So this is now a park and enthusiastically used as such! I can only imagine what Gauss would think of people playing Frisbee over his grave; I'm pretty sure he would not be amused.)
Only time will tell what the rest of my experience in Gottingen brings . . . probably good things if my experience in my previous seven cities is any indication . . .
POST SCRIPT: I'd been saving the following picture for my arrival home as a commentary on my whole trip, but after sharing the video clip above and part of the broader reality of what my experience has been, I want to give thanks, and I'm doing so in this way:
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POST SCRIPT: I'd been saving the following picture for my arrival home as a commentary on my whole trip, but after sharing the video clip above and part of the broader reality of what my experience has been, I want to give thanks, and I'm doing so in this way:
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| Soli Deo Gloria - To God alone be the glory! |
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