Das Video über unsere Partnerstadt kommt wie gerufen! Beth Dunn schickte uns den Hinweis. An anderer Stelle hatte ich auf den Besuch des stellvertretenden Bürgermeisters im September hingewiesen.

Lynchburg ist wie Rom und Glauchau auf sieben Hügeln erbaut, ist eine Stadt im “Grünen”.

Die beiden Familien hielten die Impressionen in Fotos fest. Die Natur in und um Lynchburg bietet Erholung pur und jede Menge Motive für die Kameras. Auf der ⬈  web-gallery finden Sie die Fotografien von Martin Lindenhayn und Rob Gilbert. Thank you for sharing this beautiful pictures!

Eine Führung durch die Brauerei Radeberg schloss sich an. Die Brauerei setzt Maßstäbe.
Am Cafe neben dem Goldenen Reiter fiel uns eine Gruppe Kinder auf. Sie saßen rundherum um einen Baum und schleckten ihr Eis.
Die Fotografie trägt die Bezeichnung “Ice Age”!

Eine Woche unseres wunderbaren Urlaubs sind nun schon um. Tage voller wunderbarer Eindruecke und Erlebnisse liegen hinter uns und die kommenden drei Tage werden sicher noch mehr davon bringen.
Unsere Freunde Rob, Annett und Robbie haben uns wie einen Teil ihrer Familie aufgenommen, ebenso die Eltern, die wir kennen lernen durften. Es ist fantastisch, wie aufgeschlossen hier alle sind!
Jeder Tag bringt etwas Neues. So haben wir am ersten Tag, der total verregnet war, Lynchburg vom Auto aus kennengelernt. Unsere Sight-seeing-tour fuehrte uns in alle Gegenden dieser schoenen Stadt. Im Informationszentrum der Stadt trugen wir uns ins Gaestebuch ein. Am zweiten Tag lernten wir die Naturel Bridge kennen, einem der Weltwunder, so sagte uns Rob. Ein beeindruckender “Bau” der Natur! Hier haben Rob und Annett vor 16 Jahren geheiratet.
Der naechste Tag fuehrte uns in das Areal der Blue Ridge Mountains. Vor uns lag eine Wanderung auf den hoechsten Punkt dieser Gegend. Uns faszinierte die Natur dort wie ueberhaupt! Unangetastet, sauber und voller Tiere und Pflanzen, die wir zum Teil nur aus Tierparks oder Tropenhaeusern kennen.
Rehe kommen in die Vorgaerten oder laufen ganz in unserer Naehe herum, Biber und Otter konnten wir beobachten, Schmetterlinge und Voegel wie aus den Tropen fliegen heir herum. In Robs Garten sind drei Kardinale, das Symbol Virginias, zu Hause.
Ein Erlebnis der besonderen Art war fuer uns der Besuch der Progressive Cardiac Unit, der Herz- Spezialstation im Lynchburg General Hospital. Annett arbeitet hier und gab uns einen direkten Einblick in die Ablaeufe der Patientenbetreuung und ihre Taetigkeit. Auch wurden wir sehr herzlich empfangen. Aerzte und Schwestern nahmen sich fuer uns Zeit und beantworteten all unsere Fragen.
Am Samstag ging mein grosser Wunsch in Erfuellung: Wir waren in Washington.  Es war sehr beeindruckend, Bauwerke in Natura zu sehen, die ich bisher nur von Bildern kannte. Wir besuchten das Naturel History Museum, das A. Lincoln Memorial, das Washington Memorial. Hatten einen Blick auf das Weisse Haus sowie auf das Capitol. Unser Spaziergang fuehrte uns an den verschiedenen Departments vorbei zum National Archiv.
Natuerlich waren wir auch schon shoppen und haben einen Pool besucht, also ganz privat und in Familie.
Ein kurzes Treffen mit Manfred und Angela Mibus gab es ebenfalls und so konnten wir die Geschenke der Stadt weiterleiten.

Ich weiss soviel, es wird nicht mein letzter Besuch in Lynchburg sein. Aber erstmal freuen wir uns maechtig, dass unsere Freunde im kommenden Sommer zu uns nach Glauchau kommen. Wir machen schon konkrete Plaene!

Fuer heute liebe Gruesse von Haldis und Martin

Here you get the monthly report from Chuck Bennett, Pakistan:

Friends,

As you have probably seen on the news, the Pakistani Army, police and border security forces are battling the Taliban in the North West Frontier Province.  I have been working with the Pakistani police in the NWFP for the last several weeks.  Our team is helping them develop and implement policing and security plans for the huge internally displaced persons camps that have sprung up in the NWFP.  UN personnel now estimate that over 3 million Pakistanis have fled the fighting in Swat, Malakand, Mohmand, and Buner.  Half of these are in camps in the NWFP.  Many of the Taliban have shaved their beards, cut their hair, and rolled down their pant legs.  They are now mingling with the IDPs in the camps.  We’re advising the police on ways to get the IDPs to identify the fugitive Taliban hiding in the camps.

The camps are an absolute mess.  No arrangements for sewage, little water, no shade.  It was 106 at the camp near Mansehra on Tuesday.  I have never smelled a smell like that!  I have attached several pictures taken at the camp.  I have attached several pictures taken at the camp.  I believe that what we are doing is helping the refugees have a safer place to live.

I will be going north into the Himalayas next Friday to Skardu.  We will get far enough north to see K-2.  Does “Three Cups of Tea” ring a bell?  This is where Mortenson is based.  The Pakistan military is driving the remaining Taliban out of the NWFP into the Northern Area along the Chinese border.  The police there are asking for some organizational help and training to counter this threat, and I’ll be up there checking out potential venues.

The Taliban have been sending suicide bombers into the NWFP and the Punjab with devastating regularity.  People still go about the business of living every day, cautiously but with little outward signs.  In Urdu its, “Yeah-hee zinda-ghee hey!”  That’s life!  Life goes on, and so does our work.

Your friend in a battle-scarred Pakistan,

Chuck

Photo: Charles Bennett

Anmerkung:
Mein Freund Chuck, ehemaliger Chief Lynchburg Police Department bildet pakistanische Polizisten aus und berichtet regelmäßig über die Situation in Pakistan.
Chuck ist in Pension(!) leistet dennoch seinen Beitrag im Kampf gegen den internationalen Terror.
May God bless you, Chuck!

Erneut reist ein Mitglied des Vorstandes nach Lynchburg, Virginia.
Haldis Lindenhayn wird mit ihrem Sohn 11 Tage in unserer Partnerstadt verbringen. Mit dem Oberbürgermeister Dr. Peter Dresler wurde bereits gesprochen. Die Stadt wird Haldis Grußschreiben und Gastgeschenke mitgeben.
Mit großem Engagement erfüllt Haldis ihre Aufgaben im Vorstand des Vereins “Friends of Lynchburg e.V.” Sie steht in regelmäßigem Kontakt mit einer Familie in unserer Partnerstadt, die ihren Sohn bei einer Studienreise nach Lynchburg betreute.
Feste Beziehungen bis hinein in die Familien, das war uns von Beginn an wichtig! So lernen wir auf geeignete Weise das Leben amerikanischer Familien kennen. Wir werden in den Alltag einbezogen, erfahren aus erster Hand, was die Amerikaner bewegt. Gelebte Städtepartnerschaft in Aktion.

Viel Spass, Haldis!

To everybody who might care. Enjoy the reading!

You are currently reading my first impressions of my travel to Lynchburg, VA.
I’m not sure yet whether this will be a one-time report or developing into a somewhat regular account of my experiences.
Maybe I should introduce myself first. My name is Marcus Schreiter. I’m one of the two initiators of the Lynchburg Sister City project. I am currently in Lynchburg, starting an internship at M/A COM Wireless Systems tomorrow, July 9th.

It all started a few months ago. At first there was an idea. Why not do an internship during the summer break? So far so good. But why not make that an even more interesting experience by doing an internship abroad? With the help of “Friends of Lynchburg e.V.” and our American partners, in particular Manfred Mibus, contact was established. Soon after I received a job training offer and everything seemed to be going well. Just a few more pages of paperwork for the company and the visa application and I was ready to go. Well, it didn’t go that easily.
I’ll spare the details to you. In the end, I had my visa in hand, after dozens of phone calls, book-filling pages of e-mails and a lot of help from Consul Sheeland and his employees at the Consulate General in Leipzig.

So I arrived in Lynchburg, VA yesterday around 8 p.m. Angela and Manfred Mibus who picked me up from the airport, offered to stay for the night. I was to move to my apartment the next day. I was very grateful of their hospitality.

Today Mr. Mibus showed me around in Lynchburg. We went to the Downtown area, which of course was empty. (Keep in mind, it’s Sunday) We then drove through the historic district with beautiful, privately owned houses, dating back to I guess the 19th century, maybe even older. The concept of preserving these houses is simply but ingenious. The houses that need restoration are sold cheaply. The new owners however are bound to restore these buildings within a fixed time frame on their own expenses. As a result most of these buildings are in great shape, despite of their age.
We then drove to the old city cemetery and visited the Pest House, which is a small museum displaying Lynchburg’s first “hospital” where people with contagious diseases were quarantined.
Of course we also stopped at Starbucks. A must-do when you’re in the U.S. and a Coffee-lover.
After lunch at a Chinese Restaurant, I took a walk around the development where Angela and Manfred Mibus live. Most homes are built in a colonial style looking like smaller versions of Southern Mansions of the 19th century: red brick walls, white roofs and white columns in front of the entrance. The huge gardens surrounding these houses are fenceless. Some houses lie deep in the woods almost undetectable. Some driveways are so long, you need a car to get to the mail box.
The city itself is very widespread. There is no way of getting somewhere without a car.

I’m looking forward to starting my internship tomorrow.
I hope you enjoyed the reading. If you have any comments, feel free to mail them to nacknu(at)web.de

Marcus Schreiter

12.07.2007 Marcus Schreiter

Welcome to the part 2 of my Journal

I’ve been working for M/A COM for a couple days now and I think it’s time to share my first impressions.

I started on Monday July 9th and spent most of the day with orientation, signing paperwork and generally getting to know my co-workers, the facilities and everything you need to know to get started.
Everybody is really nice and offered help whenever needed.
My supervisor is a great guy. He has studied in Munich for a year. He is very patient explaining SAP Software to me and also gives me a general idea about the different jobs in Supply Chain Management.
My job is to run various reports, using mainly SAP Software and Excel, to bring the Buyers up to date with the latest news on our suppliers. Besides that, different people are showing me what they do on a daily basis.

Today was a special day for Tycoelectronics (That’s the company of which M/A-Com Wireless is a part of).
On this Wednesday, July 11th we celebrated our seperation of Tyco Int.
At 9 a.m. we watched the live webcast of the bell ringing by our CEO Tom Lynch at the NY Stock Exchange.
At Lunch time the company went to a park and had a big party, which included a Southern BBQ and various sporting activities. Unfortunately, it started raining just as the celebration got started. Luckily a giant tent had been erected.

I’m really enjoying my time here. I’m fulfilling interesting tasks and I am surrounded by really nice and very helpful people. So far, this has been a great experience.

Comments? → nacknu(at)web.de

17.05.2008 Felix Gabathuler
Das Wochenende diente dazu, Felix Gabathuler Zeit zum Eingewöhnen zu verschaffen. Wir sahen den Festumzug der Feuerwehr, unterhielten uns mit Polizisten.
In Zwickau und Mosel besuchten wir VW, um erste Eindrücke für sein Praktikum zu sammeln. Das Studentenwohnheim gefällt ihm gut und den Zwickauer Dom fand Felix beeindruckend.

Lassen wir Felix selbst sprechen:

I was blown away by the hospitality that greeted me as we walked into the firestation. As I saw the Lynchburg Firefighter uniform, I had to be proud of the relationship between these two cities. I was given the task to send greetings from the Glauchauer firefighters to their Lynchburg counterparts and this I will certainly do. I also met two very nice ladies that were willing to have their pictures taken with me.