Our "Pate:" Johannes (June 31, 2007)

Complete Set of Photos

It's about time I write an article about Johannes, our "guide" for our year here in Germany. By "we," I mean Isaac and Justin; I was adopted throughout the year! When all of the exchange students first arrive in Germany, we have to chance to get a "Pate," or "godfather," which is a student guide who helps up get out of the airport, get our visa, register for classes, and so on. Johannes was/is a most excellent guide for us, and was very helpful in helping us get settle into Germany and the university. Think about it - when we got here, we didn't even know where to go grocery shopping! Johannes helped us with everything, even long after his guide responsibilities were up, and I am very grateful for having Johannes as our guide!

Last Saturday, we had a "Brettspielabend," or board game night. For his birthday a few months ago, Justin, Isaac and I got him a nice, complicated board game to play (Johannes likes board games!). Because Justin had already gone home, only Isaac and I went to play it in Johannes's apartment in Stuttgart. Andre, Johannes's friend, joined in too. It sounds really nerdy and boring, but playing a German board game is interesting and it breaks the routine of birthday party, birthday party, birthday party! L to R is Andre, Isaac, Johannes, me.

The game is called "Die neuen Entdecker," or "the new discoverers," and is about discovering islands and such. I tried to obtain a German Scrabble game too (they do have the other letters with the two dots too!), but the game guy was away.



I also got some pictures of his apartment, which he shares with a couple of other guys. It's in the top floor of a building that was not destroyed in the war. From one of the skylight windows in the cool slanted roof, you can even see the Fernsehturm!