The Wiedemann family from Kaufbeuren is one of the host families who have been involved for the longest time. They don't know exactly anymore, but at least since the turn of the millennium they have been available as host parents for the International Chamber Choir Competition Marktoberdorf and Musica Sacra International. They have already hosted guests from Argentina, Belgium, Sweden, France, Tibetans from Switzerland, USA, Philippines, Russia, Ukraine, Congo, South Africa and Germany about 20 times. "Normally," says Dorothea Wiedemann, "we used to be on holiday at Whitsun. But once, when we were stuck in a traffic jam for hours at the Brenner Pass on the way back, we didn't want to leave and so we brought the world to our home." And they were thrilled from the start. "Once a host parent, always a host parent" applies 100 % to the Wiedemanns.

In the beginning, they had only one guest, later two, and "when there was a need," they also took in three guests. "And there was always a need," the Wiedemanns say with a laugh. They have always enjoyed the social and cultural exchange with the guests. There were never any problems with the guests. It was not always easy to get the Argentines out of bed in time, because they are simply not used to the early performance and rehearsal times. Sylvana Valsessi, the conductor of the Argentinean choir, who was also a guest of the Wiedemanns, only said, "there's no way we could live like this". The Wiedemanns had a nice experience with Merna from South Africa: she had never slept alone in her entire life and was now supposed to spend the night in a single room. So in the middle of the night she sought refuge in the next room with her two male choir colleagues. Dusty mattresses were thrown down from the rafters and served as an emergency bed.

The only thing the Wiedemanns found "a little bland" were their Mormon guests from Salt Lake City (USA). They had no interest in conversations and discussions, or in joint activities. "We simply missed the cultural exchange and found that very unfortunate," says Richard Wiedemann.

The family quickly adjusted to the fact that the guests from Congo were extremely hungry and wanted to eat not only a snack but a complete meal every day at midnight. The African guests could hardly believe that Germans usually do everything themselves, from cleaning to cooking and gardening.

The Wiedemanns associate their most intensive host-parent experience with guests from Siberia (Russia). After two singers from the teachers' choir from Krasnoyarsk had been guests in the Allgäu, one of them, Irina, invited the Wiedemann family to her home in Krasnoyarsk. In the following years, there was loose e-mail contact, but it broke off at the very moment when the Wiedemanns decided to travel to Lake Baikal on the Trans-Siberian Railway and stop in Krasnoyarsk five years later. "We told Irina several times, but when we unfortunately didn't hear from her again, we began to have doubts as to whether we were still really welcome at all," says Richard Wiedemann. But this did not put a stop to the long-planned trip". The Wiedemanns set off on the Trans-Siberian Railway and stopped off in Krasnoyarsk despite everything. There they were able to find the choir director through an translator. He told them that there were three Irinas in his choir and immediately set out to find the "right" one. "At that time, we had all but given up hope of seeing her again," says Richard Wiedemann disappointedly. "Then, as we were visiting an exhibition in Krasnoyarsk, a whirlwind in the shape of a fashionably dressed lady suddenly rushed up to my wife and embraced her warmly." When the Wiedemanns looked rather irritated, the lady called out, "I'm Irina - don't you know me?" And it was indeed her; slightly changed in hairstyle and hair colour. "We really wouldn't have recognised her anymore," says Richard Wiedemann.

The joy of seeing each other again was of course particularly great. Irina and her husband had spontaneously taken time off and invited their German guests on an extended sightseeing tour. "We were completely thrilled, as Irina took us to places we would never have seen without her," says Richard Wiedemann. "She also fulfilled my long-cherished dream of being an engineer, which was to visit one of the largest hydroelectric power plants on earth, the Yenisei Dam." But it was not to remain with the visit alone; a motorboat tour was also organised for the Wiedemanns at short notice. In the evening, after a joint visit to Irina's choir rehearsal, the German guests were treated to a big meal and all the pictures from when Irina was in Marktoberdorf were looked at again. Of course, it was also explained in detail why the contact had broken off so suddenly just before the trip. Irina's husband had changed his job and thus also his e-mail address and had forgotten to inform Wiedemann of his new address. Everyone was very happy that they had met after all, despite the unintentional communication error. The evening was very long and fun, after all, the Wiedemann family's journey was already to continue the next day.

Overwhelmed by this great hospitality and spontaneity to drop everything for friends, the Wiedemanns boarded the train to Irkutsk and Lake Baikal the next day and continued their planned journey. However, they had to think about "their Irina" for a long time. For the Wiedemanns, this was the absolute highlight of their great Siberian journey. No wonder, then, that they immediately signed up as host parents again this year.

Caption:
The Wiedemann host family from Kaufbeuren with Argentinean guests in the Dreifaltigkeitskirche Kaufbeuren.

Photo: Wiedemann