Author: kennyalaba

So today was a crazy day. I was on the bus and the bus driver saw this man on the side of the road. He was badly injured and he had a deep cut in the back of his head. There was actually a great deal of blood. I have much respect for the busdriver for taking the initiative in this situation. I’m not really sure what exactly happened. The man was conscious and he could speak but it seemed as though he had some loss of his memory. A woman on the bus offered her drink for the man so he did not become dehydrated. A woman and another man come out to help the Injured man. The man who came out to help, he gave the bus driver his name, number, and home address. He did this because he offered his name to be the secondary witness to everything that transpired. During this situation, not one person on the bus complained. We were all concerned of the man’s safety and well being. The bus driver did manage to call an Ambulance and they came in about 7 minutes. Maybe even less. Recently a friend of mine told me he thought German people did not have empathy for others. This goes to show he was definitely wrong. Of course everyone who is reading this blog , knows that statement was a rather uneducated and immature statement. Nonetheless, I was very proud to see the people of the land I love, coming together all for a common goal. The goal was a strangers safety. This became more important than anyone getting to work, or to see friends, or whatever their reasonings were for traveling today. They showed how brave and caring they really are. I did not want to give a clear picture of the man, for confidentiality purposes. I still have some pictures of the bus driver and the people who helped. I think is was a very commendable act that was done today. This is how it should be done everywhere in the world. If you see a person in need, you should surely help them indeed. This was a quick post of something that happened today. I hope you all liked the brave hearts of the German people. Remember don’t believe everything people say about others. Go experience for yourself. I see the pure hearts of the Germans and hopefully you see it also. Talk you soon. Stay tuned!!!!

((((PICTURES ARE AFTER THE TEXT. ))))))

Hello All!  THIS IS LONG OVER DUE. We went to Darmstadt on April 29th. Sorry for the delay. Man can I say it was a great experience. We all had to wake up very early. This was very unusual for us, because we usually sleep all day Saturday. Or maybe that is just me. This is what happens when you study German everyday for 7 hours. Nevertheless, I would not let this opportunity pass me by. First, we used the S-Bahn (which I am proud to say I am now an expert at riding.)  S-Bahn is the train system in Frankfurt and also Germany. Let’s not soon forget when I first arrived, I thought I knew everything about Germany, and that was probably the biggest lie I told myself. You live and you learn right? Now, the featured picture is the Darmstadt church in Germany. It has a wide range of historical background. This is called “the Russian chapel Church of St. Mary Magdalene,”  The Russian chapel on the Mathildenhohe was built by the last Russian Tsar Nicholas II and the Czarina Alexandra (Princess Alix of Hesse-Darmstadt from private means.) The deeply religious ruler, did not want to leave at his family Darmstadt Russian Orthodox worship services, for this reason the Czar donated funds for the construction of the church on the Mathildenhohe. The private property of the Czar family, The church was built as the first building on the Mathildenhohe (The church is built in the style of early Jaroslaw churches) Was built on Russian soil. This was imported from all parts of Russia to Darmstadt, which is the only Russian court chapel outside the former Tsar’s empire (Russia) (possibly open to the public. In 1914, the lily basin in front of the Russian chapel was built by young style artists and the chapel thus invested in the overall picture of the Mathildenhohe.

You can thank me for the knowledge I just dropped on you later ;). I think the tower even cooler in my opinion. The tower in my second picture is a wedding tower. It is called “The 5 finger tower”  because of its appearance. I’m not sure if you see 5 fingers when you look at it from the angle I took. Nonetheless, I walked all the way to the top and I was not as tired as I thought I would be. When you look at the tower, it can be very intimidating. It is 485m high and the landmark of Darmstadt. It was designed by the Art Nouveau architect Joseph Maria Olbrich and finished in 1908. A gift from the city of Darmstadt in honor of the milling of the Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig with Princess Eleonore to Solms-Hohensolms-Lich in 1905. Since 1993, the Grand Duchess has been allowed to marry in the wedding tower. I made a joke with the lady who was speaking. She was explaining that to be getting married in this tower was a great honor. I said “Well, I have the ring ready, we don’t need to waste any time.” Someone in the crowd said  “Took you long enough to ask!!” Everyone was laughing. I love my fellow Goethe classmates, the teachers, and the staff. Everyone is funny and somewhat comical.

After we left this area we went to eat. I had to order, of course, the most famous Frankfurt Green sauce Snitzel. You can honestly never go wrong with this choice. In the end, we visited a Design Campus. It is the Design house headquarters of Hessen. We had an exhibition venue for the students of the design department. This was a really interesting tour. They have a garden on top of the building. Let that sink in for just a second. A GARDEN ON TOP OF A BUILDING!! I don’t know about you, but this is such a radical idea. That’s not all! They had an automatic water system for the garden and they have a security system to keep the birds from rested on the wires. When the birds come down and land on the wires, it sends a light shock to the bird. DON’T WORRY!! It’s not animal abuse or inhumane. They clarified that the shocks were nowhere close to actually hurting the birds. It is just utilized to get the birds to move to a different location. So they won’t use the bathroom on the garden. At most it’s a minor precautionary measure. When we were inside the Design Campus, they showed the beautiful classrooms. It was very modern and very sleek in design. Many of the floors were made of Bamboo. There were tv’s in just about every room. In my opinion, this building was very well equipped for class lectures and meetings. There was this one particular that for some reason sparked my interest. I make this joke with the tour guide and I was not trying to be funny but most everyone laughed. I said “This room reminds me of the rooms people sit in and everyone is in a circle.” “They normally say something like, Hi, my name is Johnathan, and I have an addiction.”  The tour guide then clarified I was talking about group therapy session. All of my classmates and friends were laughing. The way the room was set up, it honestly made me feel like a group therapy session :). But you know me and my big mouth. Anyways, after we left the Design House, we had a choice to leave or stay and look around the area of Darmstadt. If you know me, you know I was the one person convincing all my friends to stay. This city had both a city and suburban feel. I can’t really explain it. It was the right mixture and the architecture was definitely worth appreciating. Well, that’s all for now folks!!! Hope you enjoyed reading this post. I had to add some comedy today. I love sharing my experiences. Talk to y’all soon. Stay tuned!!!!

Hallo all!!! Today we took a trip the museum of thread. The featured photo is the idea that the museum wants you to embody. This trip was very enlightening because there were was a wide variety of threads from cultures from all over the world. I was even taught how to thread. We used the “Rückenwebgerät” which translates to “Back web machine” or “Backstrap loom.” That means you are operating the thread machine with one end either hanging on a wall or from another person and the other side is a wrapped around your waist. When you move back then the machine would tighten up and if you moved forward to produced slack, then the machine would fall down towards the wall. (I’m trying my best to explain so bare with me.) Our lovely tour guide carefully helped us through this process. The picture with all the red symbols are many woven patterns on Tacana bags and their meanings. Tacanå is a town in the Guatemalan district of San Marcos. These patterns can be different animals or parts of animals, or even just complex shapes. They have Snake head, full snake body, dog tracks, people, etc. The Tacanå would use their machines and create these patterns within the thread. Sometimes containing abstract meanings, other times being a picture of someone or something. The bags hanging on the wall were traditionally women’s purses. My tour guide explained that men would not typically use them because the women used them for safe keeping of important but also easy to store items.  Two pictures from the purse picture, there are Wax container and batik stamps. There were used in Java,Indonesia. These are batik Tulis, those “hand drawn” in a mix using a stylus called canting. The canting is like a little pen with a copper bowl containing liquid wax and with one or more spouts. To apply the mix successfully to the fabric, the composition of the mix and its temperature are crucial. Initially, Batik Tulis was  exclusively made by women, but since these copper stamps were very heavy, men now started working in batik production as well. Two pictures to the right, these are trade baskets in Chitimacha, Lousiana. These were acquired by the museum at the beginning of the 20th century, these baskets epitomizes the struggle of the Chitimacha people to hold onto their identity in the face of cultural loss. Sarah Senses is a basket artist. She is able to put pictures of people within the thread of the baskets. This absolutely blew my mind. Sarah was an absolute genius. This museum has some mind blowing ideas. The picture in the fifth row on the right is supposed to symbolize the “thread of life.” They placed items/tools on the threads. In that same room, on the wall, there were numbers and letters. On the 6th row, the picture on the left shows how mathematics is a big part of threading. There was a scientist who found this formula (X’n X= C’x.) This was very confusing to me seeing as math is not my forte. But still it was very eye opening to find out even when making a pair of pants, there is always some degree of math involved.  On the sixth row, second from the left, there is the portable spinning wheel. In India, they made this from wood and metal and used raw cotton, cotton thread. This even used by the world renown Mahatma Ghandi. Ghandi had a vision of a self reliant India. The spinning was a symbol of economic independence from British Colonial power. It’s amazing what one piece of thread and what one idea can do for a nation. Every nation has something to offer the world. We are all different, but differences are what makes the world so beautiful and so special. If everyone acted the same, or looked the same, then the world be a pretty boring place. I know I would get tired of seeing my own face. Eventually 😉 After a couple hundred years. Alright folks, that’s all for today’s history lesson. I hope you have learned something new and maybe become inspired to start your own thread. Talk to you all soon. Stay Tuned!!!

Tour guide showing us the ropes

the actual instructions nobody understood

threading styles

traditional womens purses

Wax Container/Batik stamps

light/dark coloring

trade basket

rabbit

intel computer idea

Web of life

Mathematics and thread

portable spinning wheel

indigo sieve

loom with work piece

Narrow strip & Heddle Pulley

Bark Cloth

Wooden Loom & Woven items

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So last week we went to the mountains in Kronberg.  There was myself, Oana and her boyfriend (I call him the Zen Master because he just smiles and is always so peaceful.) They are from Romania. John, who was also from California in the USA. The man who is behind me, He is Russland. That is German for Russia. I asked him what his name is and he said Russland. It was very interesting because the planning was so last minute. Nevertheless, I went and the adventure began. We got up pretty early, so that we could get a head start. Initially, we thought this journey was going to take 3 hours in total. We were supposed to go all the way over the mountain and then over another mountain. We were sadly mistaken. In the beginning, we walked through the city of Kronberg. It was a very rich and lively. In one of pictures it shows the architecture in this city. Kronberg really did a great Job at showing the beauty of Half-timbered house architecture. I also saw some really nice urban houses, which were made of mostly glass. There were many Doctor Praxis’ in the area. My friends and I probably saw about 20 in total. In the featured photo there are all of the friends that I went with on the mountain trek. We met our first huge hill directly after we left the city area. It was first concrete and of course my legs were killing me because of how hard the concrete was on my legs. We took our first break after we left the concrete. All we had was bread and water and candy bars. We shared everything of course. Interestingly enough, I got to witness both sides of the German culture on this trip. Some people were very outgoing and others were very reserved or maybe did not speak at all. My Saudi Arabid friend (Fahhad) was explaining to me how in his country when you pass you always say “Good Day” or “How are you,” so for him it was very weird to just pass people and say nothing. Especially when these people looked you right in the eyes. I personally did not understand everything. We come from two completely different countries, which many can say have totally opposite cultures. I do not think I’ve had a trip when we hadn’t had a deep conversation. Everyone gives their input and we get to understand everyone’s opinion. This is always wonderful and I’m glad Goethe Institut supplied me with very mature group of friends. When a mountain biker rode behind us and we made a conscious effort to give them a path through, they would yell out “Servus!!!” When we got to the bottom of the mountain on the other side, we ran into a restaurant and everyone ordered pizza. It was more delicious, partially because I was very hungry. At the end of our adventure, we ran into this American couple on the train. They were lost and we helped them get to their destination. Then we got back and went out to eat again in the city. This experience I named “Step by step,” because when learning a new language you must be patient. It might feel like the journey is like an endless journey up a mountain, but as long as you appreciate every step you take, you will reach your goal. You will see the horizon. The sun will shine down and the warmth of your success will fill your stomach with butterflies. I glad you all were read over my adventures. Talk to you soon. STAY TUNED!!!

Yes so on this day my dreams were crushed. Bayern Munich lost to Real Madrid in the UEFA Champions League Quarterfinals. They played an amazing game and Cristiano Renaldo played even better, scoring 3 goals and assisting the fourth. It was overall a very exciting experience to sit here in Frankfurt and enjoy the game. In the pic I am sitting with two of my fellow Goethe Institut Colleagues and friends. The man to the left of me was actually a stranger. He is from France and we invited him to come sit with us because at the time there were no other people there besides us 4. This was definitely a diverse table. The man all the way to the left, he is from Saudi Arabia. The women in the middle is from Romania. The stranger who became our great friend is from France. I am of course from the United States of America with a little German and Native American lineage. I cannot forget there was a local German man who joined us later halfway through the game. He was from Sachsenhausen, Frankfurt Germany. He wanted to join the squad and we all had a wonderful time talking, shouting, falling on the ground crying etc. Maybe that was all me. I’m not really sure but who is keeping track right ?  The older German gentleman shared his experiences in the USA. He talked about how he was in California and Michigan in 1967. He also spoke over the differences between then and now. The French gentleman talked about the methods he used with learning the language. He clarified he takes a phrase or a sentence. Then he goes out in real life situations and uses these sentences. He does this because he believes your experiences helps assist with the new language sticking in your memory. We all talked about how we try to take our own vocabulary from our first languages and we attempt to find direct translations. This of course more often than not results in utter failure. My teacher at Goethe Institut always says “You must think like a German to speak like one, and forget everything you know in your language. When you’ve done this you will truly become immersed in the language.” This are the things that truly stuck with me. I have nothing but positive things to say about the German people. I’m loving the culture and social and work life. Later in the night, the atmosphere became very tense during the final minutes. Renaldo really did play like a champion, stealing my boy’s championship. The people around us were very excited. Joining in on my shinnanigans. I was the only person in the sports bar and probably even the city of Frankfurt who wore Bayern Munich apparel. Most of the crowd was cheering for Bayern Munich. Even a Spaniard was cheering for Bayern. The waitresses and waiters were jumping around in excitement. I couldn’t have asked for a more supportive German fan base in this moment. Bayern was losing 2-1 in aggregate scoring. They gave up two goals at home which means pretty much for every goal scored by Real Madrid in Bayern’s Home, Bayern must score two in Bayern. But rather on the contrary, Bayern can score in Real Madrid to make up for the home goals scored. That is exactly what they did. They equalized the score at 2-1 in Real Madrid. Then of course Renaldo scored 3 goals. As long as Bayern fought hard and put themselves in the best decision to win then that is all that matters. Mia San Mia. Go Bayern!!! Next year boys !

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Hello all. Today I have a very interesting post. It is about the man who started it all with the Germanys’s foreign relations. Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe. I visited the house in which Johann Wolfgang von Goethe once lived. FYI the person in the featured image is actually his father, Johann Casper von Goethe. He apparently was the most important person of the family. He was the person who brought all the fame to the family. When people came to Frankfurt during this time, you could not come there and not hear the name Johann Casper von Goethe. Definitely a legend of his time. Unfortunately, this blog is not about JCG. Though he had arguably the biggest impact on Wolfgang. It is about his son. Our lovely tour guide explained that Goethe did not become very aspiring until his later years. She explained that he was not necessarily lazy, he just had not found his calling until later in his life. He was more concerned with his love interests. This love interest coincidentally did not return the feelings. The tour guide said “Who knows? maybe after that love interest failed, he started becoming more focused with his studies.” His father had him and the family speaking many different languages. Johann Casper Von Goethe wanted the entire family to understand different texts in other languages. He had to force his wife to learn Italian. This actually made me laugh. They had a very big house; 5 floors. Every room had a different color and there was a purpose for that, and this purpose given by Wolfgangs father. I did not catch what the reason was, because the tour guide was speaking very fast. Furthermore, their house contained a very massive library. This library had and still has books they used for studying languages and texts. The counter in the gallery, Goethe used this counter to write his own books. It was made extra wide so he could lay the entire text, book, or large amounts of paper. They had a game station that they used to play chess and Chinese checkers. Their father actually reminds me of my own mother. Never giving me a chance to be complacent, and always learning with everything with which I was occupying my time. The big clock was specially made by German craftsmen all sculpted by hand. The clock had extra numbers next to and under the hour. These numbers were to show the season, time and of the year. They had many different paintings. Johann and his father shared a very contagious love for artwork. His mother had a love for sowing. In the slide show it shows a tool she used for sowing. It seemed the entire family had to do a great deal of helping around the house. The Johann Casper did not want cleaning ladies. They would use the water well for drinking, cooking,  and baths. There also a part of the house that Johann Casper kept closed. It contained many expensive items and a portion he would put on display whenever guests came to visit. Goethe is definitely like his father. From one legend to another like father like son. Goethe was a poet, novelist, playwright, natural philosopher, diplomat. He use his language skills in all of his work. He studied at Leipzig University and Univerisity of Strasburg. I hope in the near future I can study at his University in Frankfurt. Thats all for now folks!!! I hope you all enjoyed today’s throwback to a very important person in Germany’s history. Posting another soon be ready.

So for those of you who do not know. (Krieg) is the German word for “War” and (Unkraut) is the German word for “Weeds.” If you are not a gardener and land owner then maybe you don’t what it is I’m referring at the moment. Most people understand them to be the “Plants growing in the wrong place.”  Occasionally, it is known as the species of plant that can survive in diverse environments outside of its natural habitat and reproduce very quickly. These plants became a part of my friend group this past week. On the last day of working after I got back to my place, I totally forgot something very important. While I was picking the weeds, I was using my coat pocket for temporary storage of the weeds, until I made it to the (UDS) Unkraut Drop Station. I can definitely tell you it was not a fun experience fishing for my keys and finding a huge handful of Unkraut in my jacket pocket. I guess that’s my idea of  taking her (Unkraut/Weeds) out on a date, and then showing her my lavish apartment. My Host family was laughing hysterically when I told them about this. My host family said in unison “NIchts entgeht Unkraut.” This translates to “Nothing escapes Weeds.” Even with the Unkraut, this past week was a great experience. I woke up everyday at 8:30 to go help my host family with gardening work, grass feeding or cutting grass, fertilizing grass,  putting down cement, moving piles of rocks, watering flowers and plants, and the one thing we most definitely cannot forget the “War with Weeds.” On our work break, we would either go to a nearby restaurant, or we would grill meat and vegetables while sipping on Apfelwein (Apple Wine.) During our breaks we also talked about the political differences between Germany and USA. I do not think I have ever not had a fruitful conversation while having dinner with a German family or friends. This definitely does not exclude other nationalities including, French, Columbian, Iranian, Polish, Russian, Greek, Great Britain, Chinese, Croatia, Singapore, Saudi Arabia and many more that I have dined with since I’ve been in Germany. If I tried remembering all of them, I might put a dent in the over seven thousand living languages in the world today. Anyways, it was all in all a great experience. I got exactly what I asked of my host family. In the feature photo that is all of the workers. Hanna is the lovely lady who is holding the camera. She is the one who referred me to her father Reinhold. I also worked with her a few weeks ago at the Frankfurt International Film Festival. Valerie is the first man from the left. He works for Reinhold my Host family father. Valerie taught me how to properly shovel dirt, rocks or anything heavy. I was having a hard time because I was only using my arms. Reinhold in the first man from the right. He is an absolute legend. He owns all the properties from which we worked during this past week. He taught me how to properly place cement and how to drink Apple wine. Yes, there are a hand-full of ways to drink it. With Water, With Sprüdel Wasser (Water with Bubbles) and with fruit juices. P.s. He grows the apples for his Apple wine, from seed to the bottle. The young man third from the left is Valentine. He and I become great friends. Feel like I’ve known him since the last time I lived in Germany. He told me more about the German school system from the student’s point of view. Music interests, typical german food, Culture, lifestyle. I hope you all enjoyed this adventure. I will be back soon with more. Stay tuned!!!

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Fresh Fresh Fresh !!! Never had such juicy and succulent meat than I had from the Apfelwein Solzer in Bornheim, Frankfurt. This was probably the best meat I’ve had in a long time. This event was a wonderful social event and we were served three different selections of meat. Sausage, Beef and Pork. There were potatoes served in three different forms, fully mashed, in half slices, and in small pieces. You know you are very hungry when you are eating your food and then look up and everyone is watching you eat. Apparently I was eating 45 min after everyone else had stopped eating. We came there to eat and I did not fail to accomplish this task. Of course we had some Apfelwein. This was surprisingly a good experience with Apfelwein (First time I had Apfelwein I did not eat while I drank and lets just say my stomach started speaking more languages than the Brothers Grimm.) This was absolutely an amazing atmosphere. As a group we were about 30 in total. I did not fail to hold conversations with both tables. Anyone who truly knows me. Knows I cannot and will refuse to stop talking. The ladies who orchestrate our trips, they are always very friendly. They really influenced the flow of conversation. I believe maybe they wanted to know our true feelings concerning Germany. We talked mostly about the differences within Germany. The language differences regarding how fast or slow the people speak, the way the words sound, and where they place stress on a single word when speaking. Apparently my favorite part of Germany (Bayern) has the The most interesting topic was the different attitudes from Northern to Central and Southern Germany. I started to realize they are not so different from the USA. As a foreigner of Germany, I felt it was interesting to hear the different experiences of the natives and my friends at the Goethe Institut. Many people had good experiences in one region of Germany and others had bad experiences. For this reason I do not allow other people to influence my decisions to visit places. I feel as though I have a natural love to travel and experience for myself.  P.s. Sometimes when people have many bad experiences in one area, I go straight to that area so I can see for myself.  Everywhere you go, you will meet some good people, and some not so good people. Of course going into a dangerous area is never a good idea. Every experience shapes you. It Molds you and  transforms you into the person you are today. SO if have an itch to go somewhere, go satisfy that longing and learn something new. I’ll tell you one thing, If you don’t, KENNETH DOWNING SURE WILL. Stay tuned folks!!!

Today was the last day that I got to help out at the Internationl Film Fest at the Mouson Turm museum in Frankfurt. My first thoughts were I just want to get out of my place as much as I can and keep myself occupied. But MAN! Can I say it was such a great experience going to and working for this Museum. Absolutely phenomenal. My first job was to help prepare a 3D film studio. The Nexxos Hall (They partnered with Mouson Turm) was exactly where I was working. It was specifically called Virtually Reality. This part of the Film festival was sponsored by Samsung. Samsung provided the phones and the Virtual reality headgear. It took a day for me to actually learn how to properly use them. Keep in mind *Man whispers* THIS WAS ALL IN GERMAN. So I had a fun time actually using the German language in a job setting. I completely understood everything that was said to me, including every direction, demand,  and peace of advice. The other side of the Film festival was actually in the Mouson Turm Museum. I also contributed to this side of the festival, by putting up posters, to handing out flyers, organizing the table for display for arriving consumers. Everything must be in an orderly fashion. This is something I’ve learned being in Germany, business comes first, then you can enjoy going out. That is exactly what everyone did. The Museum sponsored a club night. I can honestly say I still don’t like that type of nightlife. One might say It does not tickle my fancy. Nonetheless, I went and had a great time with my colleagues.  I was also blessed to be given the opportunity to watch 6 of the films showing at the Film festival. There were programs set up to show many short films, and then there were programs that only showed one film. I personally liked all the films. They were extremely creative in how they went about constructing the film. Someone films had no talking, others were from sky view (when the audience is looking down on the actors/actresses, a sort of top down view.) The subject and/or themes within the films were very different from each other. That is one thing I liked about these films is that they also keep me amazed with different topics and subjects. The best part about this experience is that when the films were over you got the opportunity to speak with and ask questions to the directors, producers, actors, actresses, camera workers, and it did not matter because everyone had a clear understanding of what they were trying to achieve. My colleagues were very generous and thoughtful of me. Giving me food, drinks, passes, allowing me to see the films, hanging out with me. Yes, there is one part that I left out. I would like to thank Virginia Wesleyan for this opportunity. I would not be here and have experienced this if it were not for them entrusting me to be a good ambassador. Alright, that is all for today folks. Thank you for reading my blog and please stay tuned.