After a few wonderful, but also somewhat stressful weeks, I am back again.
I spent Holy Week in Taizé. I met some new people already while waiting for the bus in Mâcon. So far, I was the only German, but I knew that would change very quickly in Taizé itself. Even in the line for the German welcome (the Germans were the only ones who had a line), I met new people. I was pretty happy to speak German again. After quickly grabbing a bunk, I immediately signed up for the choir. I sang Easter in Taizé in 2011 as well. The first day was a bit chaotic overall, as you get to know new people, even old people that I still know from the winter.
The choir rehearsals were scheduled every day from 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm. Then we sang vigorously during the evening prayer for 2 hours. Towards the end of the week, my singing voice got a bit rusty due to the lack of training beforehand. This was especially noticeable on Sunday and Monday, when I could hardly sing properly. C'est la vie. Overall, the days were well planned. Because of the large number of people, you also had to wait longer for meals. In the end, I had about 2.5/3 hours for myself before the evening prayer. Despite everything, these were great days with wonderful people. I am now officially a member of a 'Taizé Girls' group, which meets in Taizé every Easter. Through the choir, I met some Portuguese people and through my contacts from 'waiting for the bus', I also met some Dutch people.
Shortly before my departure on Monday afternoon, I met an old friend from Richsfeld. It was just nice to see a familiar face.On Monday, I continued to Clermont-Ferrand in the Auvergne. The hilly landscape is known for its inactive volcanoes. The mountains there give the region a very special charm, which I could enjoy during the car ride. Clermont-Ferrand is the main location of the largest tire manufacturer, Michelin. The city is known for its cathedral made of black volcanic stone from Auvergne. As I learned from my German couchsurfing host, the city was also the starting point for the Crusades in 1095. On Tuesday, I already continued to Limoges, capital of the former Limousin region. The city is known for its porcelain and, as my couchsurfing hostess said, also for high-quality meat. Whatever. The city was explored during the day and in the evening, I went to try beer from a local brewery with my hostess. On Wednesday, during my continued journey to Cognac, I met 2 missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ. The conversations with the guys from the USA were super interesting. I learned a lot about how missionary work is done and what life is like in the USA. Of course, it often revolved around religious topics, but I tried to steer the conversations in other directions again.I explored Cognac on Thursday morning, as the city is not very big. It is, of course, known for its brandy, which may only be produced there. There are old, traditional distilleries in the city. Around the Hôtel de Ville, there is a park that resembles a small petting zoo with ducks, chickens, peacocks, hamsters, and other small animals. The rest of the park is beautifully designed with a small grotto, etc. On Thursday afternoon, I made my way to my next wwoofing hosts, Josiane and Guy. On the first day, we worked on covering the garage a bit. On Wednesday, we went to a large garden market, which takes place once a year in different places.Otherwise, there are some cleanup tasks here, and the huge garden also needs attention.Let's see what the next few weeks bring.
