Halle, Deutschland

On Friday afternoon I jumped on the train and started my journey towards Halle, Germany. For those of you who don’t know, Halle is where I spent the year as an exchange student. It is about 20 minutes from Leipzig and an hour and a half south of Berlin. It was very interesting and educational living there for a year because both of my host parents were raised under communistic rule. I got to hear their stories and learn a little piece of history first hand. When I spent time there over New Years I mainly hung out with my friend Evi and her family and didn’t spend much time with my host family so I wanted to make this weekend all about them. It was really nice to be at home again and I’m very glad I took the time to go see them.

I didn’t arrive until late Friday evening, just in time to go home, eat a snack, and then head to bed. Since I can’t sleep in anymore, my host mom, Andrea, and I got an early start Saturday morning. Uwe’s, my host father’s, dad has passed away a few weeks ago and he was meeting up with his siblings and friends to clear out his apartment. I guess the young guys never showed so the “old men” had to do it all by themselves. I told Uwe it’s just the kid’s way of making sure the “old guys” stay young. He wasn’t too amused.

Andrea and I just walked around town poking our heads into shops and enjoying the time to catch up. It was rainy and rained off and on all morning. Andrea found a beautiful shirt and then she insisted on getting me a birthday present. I’m not one to shun presents. I was still jealous of Kelly’s big LL Bean bag that she uses for weekend trips and since I had brought all of my stuff to Halle in a canvas shopping bag I figured I needed a weekend bag. We went to the store and found a cute brown and white one. It looks like this:

Now, Kelly ain’t got nothing on me! And…I won’t be asking to borrow her bag anymore. I’m sure she appreciates that. I love my new bag and it will be so useful. In this country the roller bags aren’t always the easiest because there are so many stairs everywhere and cobblestone streets. It makes trying to roll things a little less fun. Which I also wonder how and why rollerblading is so popular around here.

Anyways, Welcome to Halle! The church in the below picture is the only 4 towered church in Europe. It used to be 2 separate churches but then was later joined together after one was destroyed. Martin Luther has even given a sermon in this church. It is so neat to be such a part of history. The composure George Frideric Handel was born in Halle and stayed for 17 years of his life.

Halle, the word, is thought to have been drived from the pre-germanic word for salt. The city is officially known as Halle (Saale) because it is situated on the Saale river. The word Saale also contains the Germanic root for the word “salt.” Salt harvesting in Halle has been going on since the bronze ages. The town was first mentioned in history in 806 AD and became part of the Archbishopric of Magdeburg. They have Giebichenstein Castle (that is now in ruins) that was first mentioned in 961.

Halle’s industrial heritage (as copied from Wikipedia):

Salt, also known as White Gold, was extracted from four "Borns" (well-like structures). The four Borns/brine named Gutjahrbrunnen, Meteritzbrunnen, Deutscher Born and Hackeborn, were located around the Hallmarket (or "Under Market"), now a market square with a fountain, just across from the TV station, MDR. The brine was highly concentrated and boiled in Koten, simple structured houses made from reed and clay. Salters, who wore a unique uniform with eighteen silver buttons, were known as Halloren, and this name was later used for the chocolates in the shape of these buttons.

The Halloren-Werke, the oldest chocolate factory in Germany, was founded in 1804. Old documents are on display and a chocolate room can be visited at Delitzscher Street 70. The original "Halloren-Kugeln" are sold in a box of eighteen little pralines.
Within East Germany, Halle's chemical industry, now mainly shut down, was of great importance. The two main companies were Buna and Leuna, and Halle-Neustadt (Halle Newtown) was built in the 1960s to accommodate the employees of these two factories.

Halle also has a diverse scientific and cultural history as well. My mind really isn’t working this morning (or I’m lazy) so it’s another copy and paste from Wikipedia.

The University of Halle was founded here in 1694. It is now combined with the University of Wittenberg and is called the Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg. The medical school there was founded by Friedrich Hoffmann. The university's botanical garden, the Botanische Garten der Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg, dates to 1698.

The famous Baroque composer George Friderich Handel was born in Halle in 1685, where he spent the first 17 years of his life. The house where he lived is now a museum and houses an exhibition about his life. To celebrate the composer, Halle stages an annual Handel festival every June.

The German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina is one of the oldest and most respective scientific societies in Germany.

Halle accommodates Germany's oldest Evangelic Bible college, known as MarienBibliothek, with 27,000 titles.

In the past Halle was a centre of German Pietism and played an important role in establishing the Lutheran church in North America, when Henry Muhlenberg and others were sent as missionaries to Pennsylvania in the mid 18th century. Henry Muhlenberg's son, Frederick Muhlenberg, who was the first Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, was a graduate of Halle University.

The Silver Treasure of the Halloren is displayed occasionally at the Technical Museum Saline. It is a unique collection of silver and gold goblets dating back to 1266. The ancient craft of "Schausieden" ( boiling of the brine) can be observed there too.

The Landesmuseum für Vorgeschichte houses the Nebra sky disk, a significant (though unproven) Bronze-age find with astrological significance.

Halle Zoo contributes to the EAZA breeding programme, in particular for the Angolan Lion and the Malaysian Tiger. Halle is also known for its thriving coypu (or nutria) population, which is native to South America.

So now that you have the official history of Halle, I'll give you a bit of personal history. On the pictures of the church, you can see the bridge across the two front towers. I celebrated my 19th birthday in Halle as an exchange student and I was a bit home sick so my host parents prepared an amazing party for me. They arranged that the towers be opened for us and we got to climb all the way to the top. When we got up there, there was a bottle of champagne and glasses waiting for us. We got to take pictures on the bridge and watch all the little people below. It was such a fabulous surprise I think of it every time I see the church. The tower and bridge aren’t normally open so it was a very special occasion.

Another cool thing in Halle, they have a paternoster which is basically an open elevator. There is a chain of boxes/cabins that are continuously rotating. So to get on and off, you have to jump on when the box comes by and jump off in time. It’s a bit scary. I’m also not a big fan of rotating doors, so it’s the same concept, just elevator style.

At home, the kitchen is the place to be. It’s where everything happens - food, drinking, talking, laughing, everything. In Uwe’s kitchen that’s not the same. He likes his space. He doesn’t like anyone else in there while he is cooking. I just don’t get it. I always thought it was the perfect time to catch up with him. He isn’t going anywhere and if I was lucky I got to taste test his great cooking. He still wasn’t a fan, no matter how much positive light and happiness I brought into that kitchen. Things still haven’t changed. He was cooking; I wanted to hang out with him. He did seem to resist it a whole lot less though. I guess after 5 years he has given up. It's interesting how “soft” all of these “old” men become. I guess it just takes guys a little longer to realize life is easier if you don’t fight everything. Andrea had to document me harassing Uwe. The picture is evidence that some things never change.

On Sunday, Andrea and I lounged around and watch Little Women (in German) and I cried. I'm becoming such a softie these days! It was so nice to just relax and hang out with my German family and not have any pressures. I needed it since I was going to be tested on the journey home. At least the weekend was good, it made up for the horrible journey home. If you missed that post, it's HERE.

Now the bigger news at hand, Kelly is leaving me :( She has super important stuff to do back in Houston and they finally realized how amazing and smart she is and they can't do it without her. We just don't know when, but the count down has started and we will be out eating all of our favorite things so she gets a nice, last taste of Holland.