Germany Final Installment - Heidelberg

After Worms, we visited Heidelberg. Known as a university town and pretty central during the protestant reformation, it was a wonderful place to visit. We strolled around the grounds of the castle's gardens (the castle is mostly a ruin), which I video-ed for you to see below. It struck me how Germany was the center of learning for the whole world for quite a while.
We then went on to Rothenburg ob der Tauber (quite a long name for a town, which actually just describes the fact that it's on the Tauber river), a town that has preserved its historical walls and remains much as it was during medieval times. We walked along the walls and toured a museum of medieval torture devices and law practices and punishments. It was interesting how much shame and public humiliation was used as a method of punishment. Very similar to village life in Africa - in the west now we would rather lock someone up than parade them on the street with a headdress and manacles that showed what they were being punished for.
Well, that's pretty much it for the Germany videos and blogs. I hope you've enjoyed following along with me!

Germany Installment #4 - Eltz Castle, Worms

The weekend after the second English camp, we traveled around Germany for a couple days, visiting some beautiful cities and other places. The very first place we went was Eltz Castle, a pretty little castle in a valley that served as the home of three noble families who shared ownership. One of the families has since taken over the whole castle and still lives in part of the castle. The other part is a tourist attraction very well-worth seeing. In this video you can see the castle as we walked down the hill toward it, and also some of the inside - the treasure chamber and the courtyard. It was definitely one of the highlights of the trip.
After visiting Eltz castle, we went to Worms, where Martin Luther defended his 95 Theses. Our friend Marius lives there and we walked around the town with him and a friend who gave us a tour. We visited the cathedral of St. Peter where the Diet of Worms was held (rebuilt since being bombed out in WWII), wandered through a Jewish cemetery, and had some Italian ice. Back at the church where we were staying, Joella and James raced little karts around the halls. I got to race too, but Joella won. She must be built for this kind of thing! =) Joella, you missed your true calling...

Germany Installment #3 - Cologne

The weekend after the first English camp, we had a free afternoon, so the folks at Neues Leben took us on a day trip to Cologne (on German maps it is Köln). It was lots of fun. We toured the cathedral, which is one of the oldest in Europe, climbed to the top and had time to wander around on our own. Bex wandered around with me and we managed to fit in part of a mass at St. Mary's which was really beautiful. Other highlights were hanging out in the plaza listening to musicians (one guy brought a piano and was playing it for tips) and being accosted by bachelor/bachelorette parties selling trinkets for money so they could go and get drunk.
After dinner of Duerner (Turkish kebab, known as a schwarma in Spain), which was very tasty, we wandered to a store in the Turkish part of town, through a gate and generally around the city. It was fun relaxing and fooling around - here we have Bex and James enjoying themselves in a grocery store, and Dave imagining himself as Samson. Then back by the train station and cathedral we watched the guy with the maracas going to town. Here he gesticulates to a Beatle's tune - can you guess which one?
All in all, a good day.  

Germany Installment #2

I arrived in Germany in the morning on Tuesday after a long flight and a short connection from Paris. Olly, one of the counselors from Neues Leben, picked me up from the airport (she recognized me from the picture in the jacket of the CD I had sent with Tobias) and we had a good conversation on the way to the camp about Germany and culture and education. My goal was to stay awake until 8pm or so to combat jet lag.
The rest of the team was already there and had been since the previous Friday, so they kind of knew their way around and could show me the ropes. Camp had started on Sunday afternoon, so my job was simply to fit in wherever I could. English classes started every morning at 10:45am, and since I got there after they started, my job on arriving to camp was simply to settle in and wait until lunch. I figured I could do that pretty well. =)
Tuesday afternoon we had a bunch of activities for the kids where they were organized into teams and the leaders were given stations where two of the people in each team were required to do something. It was kind of like a scavenger/relay game. They told us to hide somewhere, but I think the translation from German was a bit off, because Bex (the other person at the station) and I hid, but then kids complained because they couldn't find us. We had the bobbing for apples station.
A bit later someone came and took our spot so we could go observe some of the other activities. I got some video of Dave McCulloch administering the 'Egg War' activity. He broke a raw egg into a rubber tube, and two of the group had to blow into it at each other - the one with the weakest lungs (or least unaware) would get egg in their mouth or all over them. =) What fun!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5wZdLxYR1E

Germany Installment #1

I just got back from Germany a couple days ago, and so here I'm going to update (with video) what happened on the trip. Below is the video of the flight over, with more of a complete description and information below that: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65XYvwAR4EI
I had never had Five Guys burgers and fries before I stopped at this shop in Dulles. Apparently they started in DC, but now have locations in Philly and NYC to name a few places. They have really good burgers and fries, and it was a great last meal to head off to Germany with. On the flight over to Paris the airplane food was actually pretty decent (go AirFrance!), and I had 3 seats on the side of the plane all to myself. I thought that would mean I'd get lots of sleep, but unfortunately the baby two rows up and the baby two rows back decided not to sleep at all, and to periodically let out piercing screams because (apparently) their parents weren't letting them have their way. Yay for undisciplined children. It makes me wonder how my parents managed to ferry all 10 of us (varying ages) from Ghana to the US and back - that's 2 8-hour flights in one stretch rather than just one.
So lacking sleep and stuffy from the flight, we landed in Paris where I had to hoof it to my connecting flight - through customs, out of security, to the other end of the airport and back in through security to catch my flight to Dusseldorf. Fortunately I made it with room to spare, but since I also didn't have a watch I wasn't sure until I got there that I would make it. Fortunately, the rest of the flight was uneventful.

English Camp

I'm still in Germany, and haven't been updating much, because, well... I'm pretty busy. I'm actually writing this instead of working out a lesson plan for tomorrow's English class, so this is going to be short.
Camp here at Neues Lieben has been lots of fun and very tiring. The first week I basically hung out and got to know the situation and helped out where I could. This week I'm in charge of teaching 12 highschoolers advanced English for an hour and a half every morning, playing guitar on the worship team, organizing American sports (football, baseball), teaching a worship band workshop and hanging out with the teens. So it's fun but busy. I have some great video from the first week, but unfortunately the internet connection isn't that great, so I haven't been able to upload any video, even the shortest clip. Maybe my friends Dave and Evelyn (they left at the end of last week) will upload something and I can attach it here. Otherwise you'll have to wait until I get back.
So that's pretty much it. I'll try to update again before I get back, and you can expect a more comprehensive blog upon my return.

Reviews

A friend recently got in touch with me on Facebook, saying he ran across a review of my latest album (Breathe Deep) on The Phantom Tollbooth. Intrigued, I went looking for it and sure enough found it was posted on June 16th, 2009. Here's an excerpt from the review, and you can link to the full review HERE:
  "What makes this album, Breathe Deep, so good is Hiram's penmanship. He is a great songwriter/wordsmith. Combine that with the airy guitar-based folk of his musical style, it makes for an enjoyable listen... It is poetic, musical, and honest. Hiram has put together an excellent album full of hope you can sit down and contemplate your navel to, or just play for enjoyment." 4/5 stars! - Robert Boynton, The Phantom Tollbooth
I just ran a Google search for 'hiram ring breathe deep review' and found another great review HERE on Adequacy.net - excerpt below:
   "Ring’s debut record suggest that there’s no suffering or turmoil that can’t be at least neutralized a little bit through some inspirational six-string strumming and a dose of hopefulness... there’s a heartwarming sincerity to be found in his fragile tenor and in the percussive beating of the guitar... If you feel like your life is in the doldrums, Hiram Ring’s music can probably help dig you out... His music, like his faith, is all about finding and embracing the light that can come out of dark places." Adam Costa, Adequacy.net
At the moment I'm packing for Germany, where I'll be joining a team from my church in teaching conversational English to German highschoolers for three weeks. I'll be video blogging on my YouTube site, and will try to keep this blog updated as well. When I get back, work will continue on the Sacred Songs project I started with Matthew Monticchio - we're also working on updating a Pageant Music blog, and I'll let you know when we get that up and running.