Inspiring Women SUMMER 2020

Sewing Masks in Germany
TRACY MOEDE
Member: American Women’s Club of Hamburg
From: Severn, Maryland Lives: Bönningstedt, outside
Hamburg, Germany
I grew up right outside Washington, DC in Prince George’s
County. Special memories are of visiting my grandparents,
who lived on Rhode Island Avenue, who we took on picnics
with us down on The Mall. We would run down the stairs of
the Washington Monument and race along the Reflecting
Pool to the Lincoln Memorial. I could never get tired of the
Museum of American History. It remains my absolute favorite
with too many exhibits to mention save one, the miniature
doll house. How I wanted to have one like that!
When I was 10, we moved to Anne Arundel County, on the
other side of Ft. Meade, of NSA fame. This was more rural
and much closer to the Chesapeake Bay. I loved living near
the water and am glad I do that here in Hamburg, too. I went to high school and university,
playing field hockey at both. I think playing on a team formed my sense of togetherness and
community-mindedness. I bloom and revel in working on group projects.
Since I commuted to college to save money to travel, my first experience leaving home was
the three months I spent traveling around the USA in a VW camper. Two friends and I drove over
15,000 miles, discovering famous and other not so famous spots across the country. We visited
many national parks and I loved the camaraderie the rangers had with each other and their
interaction with the visitors. In my last year at university, I worked as a National Park Ranger at Ft.
McHenry National Park & Historic Shrine, telling the story of the Star-Spangled Banner. It truly is
the best and most rewarding job I have ever had.
The summer I spent traveling the USA was the catalyst for yearning to travel. I then spent a
summer traveling Europe on the Interrail train pass and decided then to apply for a Fulbright
Scholarship. That is how I spent a year as a teaching assistant at a secondary school in
Hannover, Germany.
As part of their teen years, German
kids take dance lessons: Waltz,
Cha-cha-cha, Disco Fox, and
many more. During my year in
Hannover, I decided to take
dance lessons and enrolled in a
course that advertised for female
dance partners for the Army
Officer’s Candidate School. I
signed up, met my now husband,
Dietmar, and remained in
Germany, attending university and
working in bilingual kindergartens
in Kiel. We eventually moved to
Hamburg and it has been home
ever since.
With my family on a Geocache Tour
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