NewsletterNo. 33, October 2015

The new homepage is waiting

The completion of our new website is a definite milestone for the IWA-BS and - just like the publication of our directory“Settling In” – absolute front-page-news! And that’s why it needs to not only be acknowledged, but celebrated!

It’s been quite the process – Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither was our homepage. Let me give you a quick recap:In November 2013, after discussing the sluggish use of our (old) website, the Steering Committee discussed an overallrenewal. On the same evening that the proposal was made, a decision to go ahead was reached!

The freshly nominated “Homepage Team”, Sunshine Kim and Peirong Xia, took up their newly allocated responsibilities and,together with Michael Wiegand, who designed our previous website, met with the advertising agency Ideeal in January 2014to talk about visions, expectations and to get an opinion. The main goals were to modernize and cut down on text, and tokeep it simple and functional while at the same time conveying emotions using colours and photographs.

I will not walk you through the whole process now, since your time and our space are both limited! Suffice it to say that the

is waiting for you!!!!

I will not walk you through the whole process now, since your time and our space are both limited! Suffice it to say that theman (woman) hours, nerves, energy and effort which were all poured into this project were tremendous.Now, many – often difficult – months later, we are all very happy to say that our new homepage has gone online and it looksfabulous and works a treat! If you haven’t already done so, have a look, check it out, play around and let us know what youthink! Of course, all comments and suggestions are more than welcome.

Please note that this Newsletter is the last one which will be sent to our members per email. From now on, you’ll be able toleaf through the newest edition on our website. Try it out! It’s really neat! There’s even a “turn-the-page-sound”! Of course,the printed version will continue to be available at our Newcomers’ Coffees.

Did you miss the last International Cross Cooking Event or would you like to try some of the dishes at home? Are youinterested in the minutes of our last Annual Members’ Meeting? Just go to the “Downloads” button, and it’s all there.Do you have something to announce? To sell? Are you seeking advice? The “pinboard” is the place to go! Or just take sometime to familiarize yourself with our “members” section, the calendar or the events.

I’m pretty sure that they’d roll their eyes at this point, but I just have to say it ON OUR FIRST PAGE: A very big thank you andhats off to our homepage team – Sunshine Kim, Peirong Xia, Ellen Wenzel and Jing Wu! Their effort and dedication over sucha long period of time definitely deserve our respect. If only they’d known what they were getting themselves into...

It only remains for me to say now that this is really one to celebrate and enjoy! So break open the bubbly and do your ownMexican wave in front of the (IWA-BS) screen – we certainly did!

Stephanie Cattell Pictures: Heidrun Gramm

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WHAT HAS THE IWA-BS BEEN UP TO?

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Inside this Issue

Our new Hompage is ready!!!!

What has the IWA-BS beenup to?

A Day at Bad Harzburg Racecourse

“Maskenball” by Giuseppe VerdiBook Suggestion

Cooking Workshop at the AutostadtAutumnal Tradition

Dear Ladies,For the first time in the history of our newsletter you find thisarticle on the second page instead of the first. But the advent ofthe launch of our brand-new website makes this more thanbearable……I can’t tell you how hard our team has worked onthis and for how long……Hats off to you all and a huge thanks!Just a short one today from me after the summer holidays. Notthat the IWA-BS has been idle during the last 3 months – quitethe opposite. We had a potluck dinner party, a visit to theopera at the Burgplatz, horse racing in Bad Harzburg, anevening at Kultur im Zelt and a cooking event in Wolfsburg.5

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Autumnal Tradition

One last ThoughtYour- artsy - chance to get involved

New Gastronomic Delights in BSEvent Preview

General Information

evening at Kultur im Zelt and a cooking event in Wolfsburg.Wow….. we are keeping you busy indeed.

First of all a huge thank you to Christiane and Knud Maywaldwho invited us to their beautiful lakefront home on a beautifuland hot summers evening on the 3rd of July for an internationalpotluck dinner. As always with these type of events the food onoffer was gorgeous with something there for everyone’s palate.The garden was lit up, tables beautifully laid and there wereeven boat trips around the lake for everyone who wanted. Wewere utterly spoilt and had a super evening in lovelysurroundings. Thanks again to Christiane and Knud for beingsuch great hosts and making us feel so welcome.

Nearly two and a half months later it was time for our annualevening at the festival ‘Kultur im Zelt’. Christiane Maywaldpicked the performance for us and very kindly organised andordered the tickets for us. A big group turned up and watchedthe couple ‘Carrington-Brown’ performing on stage – withtheir third partner – the cello ‘Joe’. They both come fromEngland and have lived in Berlin for 9 years now. Theirmusical show was full of intercultural differences between theEnglish and the Germans – very funnily portrayed in wordsEnglish and the Germans – very funnily portrayed in wordsand songs. These two were quite a couple with a great sense ofhumor and stunning voices. They had been to ‘Kultur im Zelt’ afew times already and had quite obviously built up a loyalfollowing. A great evening that used some of our facial musclesmore than usual and made us walk out of the tent with a lightspring in our step.

For all other events you can find separate articles by some ofour members further on in the newsletter – as my article is fartoo long again! That leaves me to wish you an enjoyableautumn (where has the time gone again????) with lots of nicewalks and cosy evenings with candle light.

Susanne Kendell

all pictures: Andrea Reinhart

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Brits bet on anything but, especially horses, so I was delighted to accept Brigitte Schilli`s kind invitation to a special day at theracecourse. (Sponsored by Braunschweigische Landessparkasse) Betting was, of course, a secondary issue but it has just crossedmy mind that I´d never have got to Germany if I hadn´t won enough money by betting on horses.Harzburg Racecourse is in an idyllic setting of rolling hills, and the 50 hectare stud farm (our first stop) is adjacent.Thoroughbred race-horses all have pedigrees dating back to the seventeenth century! Wow! The breeding stables in Harzburg,which also date back to 1413, are more like a first-class hotel for horses. „Adlerflug“, the star stallion, posed for photos moreprofessionally than royalty – and seemed to be looking down his teeth at us!Mr Kissler, the manager of this prestigious establishment, showed us round the historic buildings, stables and pastures,imparting interesting information, and smilingly answering thumpingly stupid questions.Horse-racing, he told us, was started by a few bored aristocrats in England. The landmarks they used to mark the „course“ werethe steeples of the village churches. Now I know where the word „steeple-chase“ comes from.We (all 14 of us) were allowed into the large building where „Amico“, the other stallion, and some of the horses racing that day

A Day at Bad Harzburg Racecourse, June 21st

We (all 14 of us) were allowed into the large building where „Amico“, the other stallion, and some of the horses racing that daywere stabled. We could look but not pat noses in case we up-set any of them. They appeared to regard us as mild entertainment!„Hey, boys, look what the cat´s brought in!“The head-groom gave us chocolates with a picture of „Adlerflug“ done in sugar. A bit sacrilegious to eat such a work of art – butwe did.Breeding horses is big business so there are often about 60 brood mares and their foals to be cared for. Artificial insemination isnot allowed for thoroughbred race-horses so the right timing is crucial. Mares carry their foals 11 months and January 1st isalways registered as the date of birth. That means that a foal born in December counts as a two-year-old on January 1st whichgives him/her a much lower chance of winning against real two or three-year-olds.Foals sired by a top stallion are very valuable and are sold for high prices. In the racing industry some people become rich but.....None of us were tubby but no-one weighed as little as 56 kilos – the average weight of a jockey. We thought that jockeys playedthe most important role in racing. Another mistake.The trainer we met later explained, „Winning a race depends on the horse for 85%, 10% on the trainer and only 5% on thejockey.“Before leaving the stud farm for the actual racecourse, we admired „the cute babies“ and their mothers, roaming or canteringround a large field. A horses` idea of paradise.

Thanks to Mr Schilli, member of the board at BSLK, we were given VIP tables at the front of the Adlerflug Lounge where we hadthe best view over the racecourse and could look down on the punters below.We asked Brigitte if we could pay for our lunch and wine but she said it wasn´t neccessary.„My husband told me that we should simply enjoy the day.“ We certainly did.Mr Ahrens, the President of the horserance club, was proud of the fact that French Television was also covering the races that

day. A direct link had been set up so Bad Harzburg Racecourse could go international.That dream was cut short because, in the first race, two horses refused to enter the starting boxes and galloped off round thecourse with no jockeys! A dreadful faux-pas. The retired head-trainer, who had kindly shown us round the saddling enclosurecourse with no jockeys! A dreadful faux-pas. The retired head-trainer, who had kindly shown us round the saddling enclosure(where winners pose with their horses) was extremely angry about the racecourse losing the revenue from the French TVcompany, but described the run-away horses merely as being „badly brought-up“. How´s that for British understatement!We rounded our lovely afternoon off by betting on the horses. „I like that name.“, „He looks nice.“, „Number 9 is my luckynumber.“ shows our height of expertise so we didn´t win much but we all cheered when one of the horses from Mr Kissler`sstables won. That made the day complete.

Cecylia Schmidt

all pictures: Brigitte Schilli

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The situation was typical for open-air events in Germany: The weather wasvery fine the whole day, but when our group of fifteen people (IWA-ladies,husbands, friends and children between the ages of 17 and more than 70)met at 7.00 pm the sky got clouded more and more.

The performance began at 7.30 pm and just half an hour later it started torain. It was not just a short summer rain but the weather didn't try to pleaseus: It rained nearly the whole evening, temporarily even cats and dogs.

Our IWA-group met in a very good mood and we were curious about theopera „Maskenball“ by Giuseppe Verdi and the production of theStaatstheater Braunschweig.The opera was sung in Italian language so that most of us could not reallyunderstand a lot, but the small summary of the opera which I had handed outhelped us to get along with the Italian language.

„Maskenball“ by Giuseppe Verdi

Picture: Sylke Siebenmorgen

helped us to get along with the Italian language.

The staging was very modern, and the artists didn't wear historicalcostumes. The situation in which a female fortuneteller was to look into EarlRichard’s future, for example, was turned into a TV-Show (similar to“Berlusconi-TV”). On the one hand many of the spectators would probablyhave preferred a more historical setting, but on the other hand, it is alwaysinteresting and refreshing to get to know something new.

During the break, we all had one or three glasses of champagne, some snacksand we enjoyed the situation very much: We laughed and chatted a lot andhad fun together. This was also very typical for the IWA Braunschweig:Although the weather was bad we were in a really good mood.

The last scene – the masked ball itself – was staged with wonderfulcostumes, which all of us liked very much!

The artists sang with their brilliant voices and the orchestra of theStaatstheater Braunschweig played the amazing music of Verdi with absolutebrilliance.

All in all we enjoyed a fantastic evening, and I am looking forward to visit anopen-air performance of the Staatstheater Braunschweig next year againtogether with some IWA-ladies!

Burgplatz Open Air (Staatstheater Braunschweig/Karl-Bernd Karwasz)

Sylke SiebenmorgenPicture: Sylke Siebenmorgen

This book was listed for the Man Booker Prize of Fiction 2014. This is a story about love and family, husbands and wives,parents and children. It is told by Douglas Peterson (a scientist who works in a laboratory) who is woken up by his wife onenight who announces that she wants to leave him. As the family (the two of them and their teenage son who is just about toleave home for college) was about to go on a summer cultural vacation through Europe, Douglas and his wife decide to takethe trip and make their decision after their return. This will give our protagonist the chance to win the respect of his son andwin back the love of his wife on this trip of a lifetime.

This book makes you laugh, cry, shake your head and sometimes makes you wish that you could express your feelings the waythat David Nicholls can. There is one scene where he describes the state of his son’s bedroom which had me in stitches – Icould so understand what he meant!

The book jumps from the holiday in present day to Douglas telling us about the beginning of their love story and theirmarriage. Throughout the book you feel with and for Douglas but you also get ever so slightly annoyed with him at times. Ihaven’t yet finished the book but have so far really enjoyed it. It truly shows how complicated and special family relations are.Is Douglas going to keep his wife??? I do not know…………Susanne Kendell

Book Suggestions: „Us“ by David Nicholls (German Title: Drei auf Reisen)

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Cooking workshop at the AutostadtThe day finally arrived, Friday 11th September, “Cook out at the Autostadt”After living in Germany for 2 years now I very quickly learnt never to be late for an appointment. I ensured I was at the meetingpoint as arranged and on time. Pleasantries were exchanged and it was lovely to see the ladies after such a long time!

We were warmly welcomed by 3 chefs, Enza, Enzo and Andrea. They escorted us to a beautiful well equipped kitchen at theback of the Pizza/Pasta restaurant. The team explained that they usually have cooking lessons for children but were lookingforward to cooking with us “girls.” Their main focus with kids is to show them that even junk food can be healthy if made withthe right ingredients. The kids make burgers and smoothies. Our menu consisted of a starter, a main course and a dessert. Allthe ingredients were fresh bio products, included in the menu was a beef burger but everything else was vegetarian.Our first task was to pick out fresh herbs from the garden. Well, who would believe that there would be a fresh herb garden inthe middle of Car City! Once back in the kitchen, we positioned ourselves at a work station armed with an apron, a knife and achopping board. We began peeling, cutting, dicing, whipping under the guidance of our chefs. It was awesome watching theladies doing what we do best, talking, laughing, having fun, working, we were multitasking! The aroma could be smelt in theentire Autostadt I’m most certain!

The starter was pumpkin served with fried mushrooms. The main meal was a burger with pepper and onion relish, cucumber,tomatoes, lettuce, and ketchup (freshly made) on a Vegan roll. The dessert consisted of biscuits, cream and berries, served inclear glass, it looked very pretty!Lunch was enjoyed over casual chatter in a very relaxed environment, clearly Car City is not only about cars!

My take-aways:Love what you do, like our 3 chefsCooking is about the 5 sensesJunk food can be home-made fun foodKnow what you eating and where it comes from

Thank you once again to Martina for arranging this wonderful outing!

Cindy Naidoo – South Africa

I have some fall quiz questions for you: on what date is the following song traditionally sung? By whom? And who is Matten?

Matten Matten Herrn,die Äpfel und die Beeren,

die mögen wir so gern.Drum lasst uns nicht so lange steh’n,

Wir woll‘n noch ein Haus weiter geh’n,nach Bremen – nach Bremen

Autumnal Traditions

nach Bremen – nach Bremen[...]Bremen ist ne große Stadt

da kriegen alle Kinder was.Speck und Schinken

Und noch was zu trinkenUnd ein Gläschen Wein

Dann geh‘n wir wieder heim.

Don’t worry - when I moved to this area, I didn’t have a clue either! “Matten” is Martin Luther and above song is sung by children going fromhouse to house on the 10th of November, as soon as it gets dark. They ring the doorbell holding their lanterns (mostly hand-made by theirmothers! Oh, I could tell you some stories about that! For those of us who lack all talent, “lantern making” was like the “Abitur” in arts andcrafts...), and as soon as you open the door, they start singing. I just timed how long one round of “Matten Herrn” takes – 27 seconds! Now itdoesn’t take a maths genius to figure out that in residential areas with a dense child population, you’re going to spend HOURS standing atthe door, smiling at the little ones, handing out candy. Oh, I forgot a very important factor: CANDY! You need to prepare by buying hugeamounts of all different sorts of candy to suit all infantile tastes! And then you’ll spend the evening worrying about whether you haveenough. As soon as your supply dwindles and you threaten to run out, you’ll turn off all lights and play dead. Even if your stock is sufficient,you’ll still be spending the evening running back and forth between the sofa and the door and – let me tell you – after you’ve heard the song37 times, you’ll start to hand out candy before anybody can sing a note!This is what it used to be like in our village on the 10th of November. The last few years have seen quite a lot of change due to Halloweenrolling in, gaining momentum and causing at least those who have outgrown the “lantern age” to bring forward their quest for candy to theevening of October 31st. These kids are older, cooler, mostly in (scary) costumes, no lanterns to be seen, no singing to be heard - just thebored mumbling of “Süßes oder Saures”. There are pros and cons to everything. One definite disadvantage to the growing Halloween craze isthat now we have two dates to keep in mind. Alternatively, you could just spend those two evenings hiding in the dark...

Stephanie Cattell

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The Domino EffectDo you believe in the „law of sequence“, also called domino effect? Where domestic appliances are concerned,there’s definitely a system which is not hard to detect: one goes, the others happily fall into line and break downas well.It started with our dishwasher signalling “error 25”. Thanks to the diligent and very chatty people who lovesharing absolutely EVERYTHING with EVERYBODY in the web, there’s more than one forum discussingsharing absolutely EVERYTHING with EVERYBODY in the web, there’s more than one forum discussingdishwasher problems! Really! We read the recommendations and tips, tried one or two things, were none thewiser and decided to leave it for the electrical engineer to fix after our summer holiday. It’s absolutelyincredible, how quickly dirty cups/glasses/dishes turn up out of nowhere...We came back from holiday to a midsize catastrophe. The electricity had gone off in our absence, giving mouldand all sorts of new species 10 days to take over our fridge and freezer! Okay, that wasn’t the fault of theappliances, but it all fits in very nicely with our domestic series.Next to go was the vacuum cleaner – a nice big festive spark came out of the socket and that was the end of thatappliance! My theory is that my husband’s to blame for this one. I have the suspicion that he uses the vacuumcleaner for his building projects when I’m not looking.... Dealing with construction waste can most certainly leadto household appliance suicide!In the meantime, the electrical engineer had been around to fix the dishwasher (slightly embarrassing:something to do with us not using the reset function...) and – as soon as he was out the door – I discovered thatthe dryer wasn’t heating anymore! The wet laundry gets thrown around for hours-on-end without any actualdrying taking place.So here I was, hanging up what feels like hundreds of dark socks, again waiting for the electrical engineer. Hemust start to think that I like making him “English” cups of tea with milk and sugar (very unusual for a Germancraftsman). As I’m dealing with multiple-machine-breakdowns (I won’t even go into the noises my coffeemachine has started to make...), Disney’s “Toy Story” once again springs to mind. Dishwasher to vacuum cleaner:“I think I’ve had it – they never really clear their plates and THEN they expect me to get the glasses spotless andsparkling? I’m completely underappreciated!” Vacuum cleaner replies: “Every time SHE’s out, HE starts drillingholes and I have to suck up the mess! I was so not designed for this filthy job! I’m a household appliance, not aconstruction machine!” Both in unison: “I have an idea! That’ll teach them!”construction machine!” Both in unison: “I have an idea! That’ll teach them!”Current status: Crisis averted, vacuum cleaner replaced, other appliances have resumed work. Whenever I turnsomething on, I say a few encouraging words of praise and appreciation. Fingers crossed that this will do thetrick!Stephanie Cattell

Your – artsy – chance to get involved!Are you interested in the (fine) arts? Do you enjoy going to exhibitions and talking about them with like-minded people? There is so much going on in the art world of our region - either close by or within a verydoable radius. The Special Events Team is looking for someone who would enjoy organising sporadic artsevents. Whether it’s an exhibition, a day-trip or an evening event, whatever would interest you wouldprobably interest a whole number of IWA members! Please contact Andrea directly at reinhart@iwa-bs.de

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New Gastronomic Delights in Braunschweig

It is always worth noting when new good restaurants or cafés open in this lovely town of ours.Lately there have been 3 newcomers that we want to tell you a little bit about.

Die ApothekeSituated at Schuhstrasse 4 (formerly the Dolce Vita) next to the pharmacy, this is called a caféand Day bar. One of the owners is the son of the family who have run the pharmacy next doorfor generations – hence the name of the café! An essential part of the menu is therefore the‘Borgmann’ – a herbal schnapps brewed after a very old family recipe. Beware though: I had an‘Apotheker Spritz’ which consists of the Borgmann, Prosecco and cucumber (slightly herbaland fresh) and afterwards couldn’t remember where I had parked my bike!!! Otherwise,excellent breakfasts and delicious meals in a great atmosphere. They also do a lunchtimespecial with a starter and main course for €10.special with a starter and main course for €10.

DistrictThis bar and restaurant can be found at Ziegenmarkt 2 near the Kohlmarkt. The owners alsorun the Wirtshaus next door and so the guests can either order the slightly Mediterraneanflavoured dishes of the District or the more traditional German dishes from the Wirtshaus. Theinterior is modern and light coloured with a lovely bar. They offer a lunchtime menu whichvaries weekly and guests are also very welcome to just come in for a cocktail or two at the bar.The building is one of the oldest undamaged ones in Braunschweig and its showpiece – thevery old well – can be viewed under glass inside the restaurant.

Monkey RoséThis remarkable restaurant is called a ‘Wine Brasserie’ and can be found nearly hidden (just awall plague indicates that there is a restaurant behind the wooden door) atAltstadtmarkt/corner Eiermarkt. One of their slogans on the website says: ‘Design inspired bycapitals of the world – big city flair in the heart of the city’. That certainly sums it up quitenicely. You enter and you feel you could easily be in Berlin, Hamburg or even New York. Themenu is not huge but always extremely fresh (and without artificial ingredients), seasonal andunusual. The wine menu on the other hand is enormous as is befitting for a ‘wine brasserie’.They offer special wine tastings once a month in cooperation with different vineyards and arealso available for special events. Definitely a must-go-to (but not without a reservation!) and adelightful new addition to the restaurant scene in our city.

For opening times and more information please visit their websites:www.apotheke-bar.com/www.district-bs.de/www.monkey-rose.de

Event Preview

www.apotheke-bar.com/www.district-bs.de/www.monkey-rose.deI hope you enjoy visiting these new places. They all have their very own atmosphere and arealready proving to be very popular. HAVE FUN!!!!!

Susanne Kendell

Some of the festive events planned for the time between now and the end of 2015 have not yetbeen scheduled. There will definitely be Christmas baking, an advent coffee afternoon at MarianneWandt’s house (9th of Dec.), an evening at the Christmas market (14th of Dec.) with a moatreserved – to name just the main events.If you haven’t already done so, please save the date for our annual festive Christmas Party onFriday, November 27th. Invitations will be sent out soon!For all other dates, please refer to our Website and/or the next edition of the Newsletter, whichwill be available on December 3rd at the Newcomers’ Coffee and also online!

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Please note that the ongoing, regular programme does not continue during the school holidays. That also includes the Newcomers´ Coffee morning. If the first Thursday falls into the schoolholidays, the Coffee morning will not take place.Also, the IWA-BS will be officially closed during the holidays. Please note that e-mails and requests will not be answered until after the holidays.

DATES FOR THE NEWCOMERS´ COFFEE MORNINGS 2015 on THURSDAYS will be:

1st of October 5th of November 3rd of December

GENERAL INFORMATION

1 of October 5 of November 3 of December

Please note that the timings for the Newcomers´ Coffee are from 9.30 a.m. – 12.00 p.m.

DATES FOR THE STAMMTISCH AT RESTAURANT “TRESOR”´ 2015 on THURSDAYS will be:Dates are: 19th of NovemberStammtisch starts at 07:30 pmAddress: Tresor, Bankplatz 8, 38100 Braunschweig

The venue for all Newcomers’ Coffee Mornings is (unless stated otherwise):Volkswagen Financial Services AGConference CentreRoom Mars/VenusSchmalbachstrasse 138112 Braunschweig

'Please note that the Newcomers' Coffees will be taking place alternately in the morning and the eveningfrom 2016 onwards. The first meeting will be on the 4th of February in the evening from 6.30 – 8.30 p.m. inthe ‘Haus der Kulturen’ and the second on the 3rd of March in the morning from 9.30 – 12.00 a.m. atVolkswagen Financial Services AG. From then on, one month will be in the morning and the next in theevening. Please see our website for up-to-date information!

Newsletter Team (Impressum)Articles: Susanne Kendell, Stephanie Cattell, Layout: Andrea ReinhartPlease note that we have taken great care to make sure that all information at the time of printing was correct but we can accept no liability for mistakes or printing errors.As always, we would appreciate any input and ideas for future publications. Anything that you think is important to you. Please inform me (Susanne.Kendell@t-online.de) of any suggestions. Thank you!

38112 Braunschweig

Bank account of the IWA-BSVolkswagen BankIBAN DE54 270 200 006 800 045 350BIC VOWADE2BXXXAccount-No. 6800045350BLZ: 270 200 00

Postal address of the IWA-BSIWA-BSGermersheimstr. 13a38112 Braunschweig

Please note that dates for the termination of a membership are March 31st and October 31st

of each year.