By Deb Kroon
Review Staff Writer
It all began in 2007 when Todd and Janelle Reker made a trip to Germany as a part of the Crailsheim-Worthington sister city exchanges. “To go as a part of the exchange,” Todd explained, “you have to be a part of Worthington. I work for the city so that qualified me. If not enough people who live or work in Worthington want to make the trip, the committee starts looking outside of town for people interested in going.” The people who go are randomly paired with a host family in Crailsheim. Todd and Janelle were paired with the Markus and Gudren Otterbach family, who live just outside of Crailsheim.. “We have the host family everyone wants,” said Todd. “It’s what all the Americans say. When they ask to stay with our host family, we tell them no!” added Jennifer Echternach, the Reker’s daughter. So began the eleven year friendship between the two families.
After a wonderful trip the first time and the bond of friendship that started with the short stay, Todd felt inclined to return to Germany to visit. In 2009, Todd and a friend made the trip and stayed with the Otterbachs again. In 2014, Todd, daughter Jennifer and her husband Andrew Echternach made a third visit to the Otterbachs. They did quite a bit of traveling, spending time in Berlin and at the Dachau Concentration Camp among other stops. In 2016, the Otterbach’s son Nathan, who was eighteen at the time, came to America for his first visit to the Rekers. Nathan stayed for three weeks and the Rekers were happy to return the hospitality. In 2017, Todd, Jennifer and Andrew returned to Germany once again, and now in 2018 the entire Otterbach family made the trip to the U.S.
Markus Otterbach is the manager of maintenance in the Schubert cheese factory located in Crailsheim. His wife Gudren teaches art. It was difficult to determine the grades she teaches as their school system is different than ours. Nathan, who is now twenty years old has an apprenticeship in mechtronics, which is a combination of mechanical engineering and electronics. Their daughter Tamia is seventeen and attends the equivalent of college.
On August 1st, the Otterbachs arrived in New York City to begin their twenty-five day stay in the United States. In the five days they spent in New York City, they visited Rockefeller Center, One World Trade Center, and Central Park, to name a few of the impressive places they visited.
On Sunday, August 5th, the Otterbachs flew into Sioux Falls, SD to begin the eight day stay with the Reker/Echternach family. Even though the Adrianites speak very little German, they are able to communicate easily because the Otterbachs speak English very well, although with quite an accent. The family has been staying with Jennifer and Andrew. Since coming to SW Minnesota, they have visited Falls Park in Sioux Falls, Devil’s Gulch, the Pipestone Monument, they have gone to the races in Worthington, (they have motorbike races in Germany), visited Schell’s Brewing Company and the Mall of America, went golfing, rode on a Harley, and went to Lake Okoboji. Definitely a packed schedule, yet they were relaxed and smiling. The Mall of America was very big, they commented, and it took quite some time to find a good beer. Todd took an ‘Erdinger,’ one of the best beers in Germany, out of his garage refrigerator. It was quite a debate before they settled on ‘one of the best’ vs ‘the best’. Apparently American beer comes up short!
The families were gathering in the Reker garage for one last get together before the Otterbachs flew out on Monday, August 13. Although it was warm, the mood was light as the families were enjoying the last hours they were together.
The next stop for the Otterbachs was Los Angeles, CA. Upon arriving, they were going to rent a car and drive to Las Vegas, the Grand Canyon, Yosemite National Park (that was questionable because of the fires, the hotel they were to stay in had already been closed) and finish up in San Francisco. Just the thought that this family, new to the U.S., were going to travel through three of America’s biggest cities was amazing. “We drive in Germany,” Markus replied to my comment. There is a lot of mass transit in Germany, but the Otterbachs choose to drive. I guess if you can drive on the German Autobahn you can handle L.A. The Otterbachs fly out of San Francisco back to Germany on August 25th.
When talking about the differences between the United States and Germany, money was discussed. Germany uses the Euro. Marcus showed me one of the bills and a couple of coins. At this time the Euro is stronger than the dollar. “You have lots of cornfields,” Nathan emphasized. American food is great, and our taxes are low (in Germany there is a 19% sales tax). We also talked about the road systems. The Germans were amazed that all of our roads run in a checkerboard pattern, while in Germany, the roads are winding..
Also in Germany, the legal age for drinking beer is 16, while hard liquor is 18. A lot of things are different here, but that’s the excitement of traveling.
These long distance friends and family will probably have to wait another couple of years before seeing each other again. Andrew and Jennifer are definitely going to visit, and Taylor commented that he wanted to go, Tyrel wasn’t sure. “Maybe our next trip will be a sibling trip,” said Jennifer with a smile at her brothers.
No matter how many years go by before the two families get together again, the bond cemented eleven years ago will remain strong. This is a long distance friendship that will endure despite the time between visits and the distance between the families.
