As part of Season 03 of CulturallyOurs which showcases Lifestyle and People, we are thrilled to share letters from locals all around the world as they take us along a virtual journey of their city, village or hometown. This is a way for us to get to know one another on a personal level without any ‘must see‘ lists or ‘Top 10‘ activities. Getting a local’s point of view is a fantastic way to get a glimpse into the lives of the people of a place, city or country.

Today we travel to Oerlenbach Germany. Our friend Sabine Gebele shares a glimpse of her beautiful village, its history and her favorite places around town in our local’s point of view series.From Sabine,

Good day, my name is Sabine Gebele and I am very happy to be able to take you on a tour of my home town.

I have lived in this village of Oerlenbach in the northern part of the German federal state of Bavaria since 1993. My husband and I moved here for work at the time and will probably move again once he retires.

During the 2^ndWorld War, there was an ammunition depot here, hence large parts of the village and surrounding area were bombed. As a consequence, even this small rural village has a lot of modern and new buildings with very few historic places remaining. The administration for this village and 3 more surrounding villages is centralized here.

Along the eastern side of the village is one of my favorite walks through the fields. The white building on the extreme left is the football team’s clubhouse, the rest are residential houses. There is quite a bit of agriculture in the surrounding area, the farmers grow wheat, barley, maize, canola and some sugar beet. Right across from this is one of the paths leaving the village and leading into the fields. The path leads to a farm road and the little copse of trees with a wooden bench where people can stop for a breather on their walks or bike rides. I love walking here very early in the morning and watching birds, hares, sometimes even roe deer in the fields. Most frequently, I see starlings, crows and magpies, although I often encounter common buzzards, kestrels, kites and sometimes even Montagu’s harriers and partridges.The neighboring village of Eltingshausen, is once again along the route of one of my favorite walks around the fields in the area. This is one of the villages that falls under the administration of Oerlenbach, hence I feel justified in including it. This is also, clearly, a farming village but one that has managed to retain some of its historic charm, although it is overshadowed by the ubiquitous wind turbines. The farm in the foreground belongs to one of our largest organic dairy farmers in the area.Within the village, a lot has changed since we first moved here. We had a fuel station and one grubby, cluttered-up old supermarket that most people avoided like the plague. When a new one was built, everybody sighed with relief and took their business there. Then a new commercial zone was built and an even bigger, newer supermarket with it. The building used to be the second supermarket that went out of business after the larger and more modern one was built close by. A bakery, a butchery and a beverage store took over the lease and now this place thrives once again.The bakery has placed some tables outdoors and a whole lot more inside where folks can have breakfast or snacks and coffee. As bread in all shapes and sizes is extremely important in our German diet, and as the bakery is local and offers artisanal products, this is where people meet and chat. Hence this, rather than the big new supermarket is the village’s gossip central. I love the bread they make here, thus I pop in often but usually don’t stop to gossip.

The modern Catholic Church with its massive concrete bell towers a prominent part of the village square. This region is so predominantly Catholic that the Lutheran Church is not even a fourth of the size of this one and chronically under-funded. As I am not Catholic, I only attend mass here for the occasional funeral or christening if it happens to concern somebody I know well. What I love about this building is the light that streams in through the glass of the spire. As angular and rather uninviting the building is from the outside, it is quite friendly and welcoming within.The fountain on the village square is the only thing that our village has to offer in the way of art. The fountain has a funny theme in that it gathers together quite a few of the animal-related proverbs and sayings in the German language. The horse, for instance, is called “Amts-Schimmel” which is our way of saying “officialism” and “red tape”. Setting this right next to the town hall shows a sense of humour that I wouldn’t normally have given the administrators here credit for. The strange hare on the right is called “Hasenfuss” which is the German version of “scaredy cat”.Alongside bread, another aspect of rural life is growing some of your own food in your garden as well as flowers. We have taken to doing that with much gusto after living in a town for a long time. In spring and summer, it is a joy to wander around the garden in the early morning with a mug of hot tea and check on when the first strawberries or lettuces will be ready to eat.

The railway station is currently one of the massive construction sites here in town. To me, it means a connection to the rest of the country and ultimately to the rest of the world. Of course, we all have cars nowadays and we use them more often than the trains, but there is something romantic about the rails leading off into the distance and the sound of the trains hooting at night that I can hear from my bedroom that always appeals to me.Thank you for coming along with me as I take you on a tour of my village. It is home and I hope you will come visit someday.

Sabine, thank you so much for taking us along a virtual journey through your village. Your town and community of farms and farmlands makes us want to get in the car and just drive out of the city – life away from the hustle and bustle of a big city sounds serene and peaceful.

How about you? Are you a big city person or prefer a more laid back village lifestyle?

{Credit: Photos and words by Sabine Gebele ; Instagram: @zimbabwetravel.de }

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