Africa

 

Our fabulous host mother in Minden asked us when we first arrived if we had any specific requests as far as meals were concerned, and after all of us basically said whatever she wanted to serve we would be happy she responded with something along the lines of: “Well, I know you will be getting a lot of wurst and potatoes and sauerkraut and other typical German food on your trip, so how about one day we make a meal inspired by our many mission trips to Tanzania!?!”

As there was much chopping and preparing to do we all chipped in and helped with the cooking process.  At one point Eric was slicing the peppers and as she passed by I yelled “SMILE FOR THE BLOG”… and this is what I got:

I LOVE HER!

 

I decided to take the same approach with the zucchini, whereas Adam was a bit kindlier to his carrots:

 

Why they let me around the children I’ll never know

 

YUMMMM!

 

Adam, Eric, Brian, Tabea (our host sister), Frau Krupper, Mahogany, Sabrina, Mark

 

Artist: Toto/ Album:

Churchyard Entertainment

 

Our second stop on the tour took us to Minden, Germany, where I was lucky enough to be housed with not only Sabrina, but with the wind quintet from the orchestra as well.  The priest from the Mariankirsche and his family have a large apartment on the top of the parish house next door and were able to accommodate many of us at once (though I’m not quite sure they knew exactly what they were getting into!—by the end of the stop they just kept referring to us as “the entertainment group” *sung and waving hands*)

 

The church with a view from their vineyards and the interior space

 

As we were being housed by the priest, the wind quintet had the opportunity to perform during the service this past Sunday.

L to R: Brian Dunbar, flute; Mark Cooney, oboe; Erik Grunkemeyer, french horn; Mahogany Dudley, clarinet, Adam Farmer, bassoon

 

(Mind you, this is taken from my phone and the acoustics being what they are from the side)

Artist: Meredith Monk/ Album: Book of Days