dirk and fadime
february 3, 2011
Salaam Dear Ones,
I was able to go back to the bakery today. Could hardly stay asleep from excitement and made it in at 5am, which is actually before the crack of dawn around here. I was just so happy to get to go back to Gottessegen. Andreas (the boss) and Wolfgang were working away like mad when I came through the door. So much has to be accomplished before the helpers come in at 8:30, and Thursday is a really big day because many businesses order bread for the weekend. I'm learning so much watching how they work. The Germans are nothing if not efficient. I'm going to start a running list of all the things I observe so that I can share them when I get back home.
We must have made 200 loaves of bread this morning with just three guys! 90 broetchen. 2 bienenstiechen cakes ("bee sting cakes" made with almonds and honey and cream), florentine cookies, spelt crackers, vanilla pudding. Andreas is an incredible teacher. Just so patient and thorough in his explanations. He even repaired one of the mixers when it broke in the middle of everything! Showed me how to test if there was yeast in the dough...there wasn't...he'd forgotten it...so then he showed me how to fix the problem. Today I got to try my hand at shaping loaves. I mean handS because they shape two loaves at a time, one in each hand, and I was terrible at it! They just laughed at me. I mean it, I was terrible. So much for me thinking I'm a hot shot baker. I asked Andreas how long it took him to learn to shape loaves, and he said it took him a year. "You won't learn how to do it in a month" he added. Okay....let me just keep trying. It's really hard!
When the helpers came in, well, they are just adorable. I already love them. One of them told me they missed me yesterday, that they asked, "Wo ist die Frau?" "Where's the lady?" Oh God...
It was Dirk's 21st birthday today. He's already my favorite. I know I shouldn't be this way, but I just can't help it. He has the sweetest face with these twinkly almond shaped eyes and the posture of an upended earthworm. Pelvic tucked forward, chest caved in, shoulders rounded, standing 6 inches shorter than his actual height. And when he smiles the whole room lights up. He was so happy it was his birthday, and he said 21 feels very different from 20 and assured me that today he's very different from how he was yesterday.
The young girl who works in the bakery behind the counter, if you didn't talk to her a lot, you probably wouldn't notice that something's a little off with her. She's quite highly functional. Her name is Fadime, pronounced Fah-dee-may. I thought, "How am I going to remember this name?" and then it occurred to me, "That's like my e.mail address - fattiemae." Then I got to wondering, is her name actually Fatima? So I asked her today, "So your name is Fah-dee-may, right?" She said, yeah. "Is it actually Fatima, the name of the daughter of the Prophet Muhammad?" Yeah, she said, a little sheepishly. "Are you Muslim?" I asked. Yeah, she offered quite haltingly, kind of like she might get in trouble. "So am I! I've been a Muslim for twenty years. My Muslim name is Fatima too!" "Really?" she said, quite surprised. "Well, now I'm not alone," she added. It was a really sweet moment...
One of the workers called Juergen "Tante Juergen" today...Aunt Juergen. We howled, and of course, called him that all day long.
I feel so blessed to be able to be here, to stay at the tekke, and to learn from the awesome people at Gottessegen. It really is God's Blessing.
We had a sweet little satsang tonight, prayer, dhikr, I shared my experience of the Annual Meeting, and then Aenni, Katya, Hakima and I watched the Year in Review video.
Time for bed!
Love you all so much,
fattie
I was able to go back to the bakery today. Could hardly stay asleep from excitement and made it in at 5am, which is actually before the crack of dawn around here. I was just so happy to get to go back to Gottessegen. Andreas (the boss) and Wolfgang were working away like mad when I came through the door. So much has to be accomplished before the helpers come in at 8:30, and Thursday is a really big day because many businesses order bread for the weekend. I'm learning so much watching how they work. The Germans are nothing if not efficient. I'm going to start a running list of all the things I observe so that I can share them when I get back home.
We must have made 200 loaves of bread this morning with just three guys! 90 broetchen. 2 bienenstiechen cakes ("bee sting cakes" made with almonds and honey and cream), florentine cookies, spelt crackers, vanilla pudding. Andreas is an incredible teacher. Just so patient and thorough in his explanations. He even repaired one of the mixers when it broke in the middle of everything! Showed me how to test if there was yeast in the dough...there wasn't...he'd forgotten it...so then he showed me how to fix the problem. Today I got to try my hand at shaping loaves. I mean handS because they shape two loaves at a time, one in each hand, and I was terrible at it! They just laughed at me. I mean it, I was terrible. So much for me thinking I'm a hot shot baker. I asked Andreas how long it took him to learn to shape loaves, and he said it took him a year. "You won't learn how to do it in a month" he added. Okay....let me just keep trying. It's really hard!
When the helpers came in, well, they are just adorable. I already love them. One of them told me they missed me yesterday, that they asked, "Wo ist die Frau?" "Where's the lady?" Oh God...
It was Dirk's 21st birthday today. He's already my favorite. I know I shouldn't be this way, but I just can't help it. He has the sweetest face with these twinkly almond shaped eyes and the posture of an upended earthworm. Pelvic tucked forward, chest caved in, shoulders rounded, standing 6 inches shorter than his actual height. And when he smiles the whole room lights up. He was so happy it was his birthday, and he said 21 feels very different from 20 and assured me that today he's very different from how he was yesterday.
The young girl who works in the bakery behind the counter, if you didn't talk to her a lot, you probably wouldn't notice that something's a little off with her. She's quite highly functional. Her name is Fadime, pronounced Fah-dee-may. I thought, "How am I going to remember this name?" and then it occurred to me, "That's like my e.mail address - fattiemae." Then I got to wondering, is her name actually Fatima? So I asked her today, "So your name is Fah-dee-may, right?" She said, yeah. "Is it actually Fatima, the name of the daughter of the Prophet Muhammad?" Yeah, she said, a little sheepishly. "Are you Muslim?" I asked. Yeah, she offered quite haltingly, kind of like she might get in trouble. "So am I! I've been a Muslim for twenty years. My Muslim name is Fatima too!" "Really?" she said, quite surprised. "Well, now I'm not alone," she added. It was a really sweet moment...
One of the workers called Juergen "Tante Juergen" today...Aunt Juergen. We howled, and of course, called him that all day long.
I feel so blessed to be able to be here, to stay at the tekke, and to learn from the awesome people at Gottessegen. It really is God's Blessing.
We had a sweet little satsang tonight, prayer, dhikr, I shared my experience of the Annual Meeting, and then Aenni, Katya, Hakima and I watched the Year in Review video.
Time for bed!
Love you all so much,
fattie