German Hospitality

We have been very busy lately, but its all been pretty good.  I am not sure if it is only because I am working in the church or if I have been lucky to find certain families, but the German people here have been as hospitable as most people think the South is.  Last weekend the entire IMT went to with Claudi to her families house in a nearby town.  It was her sisters birthday so there were lots of people there and lots of new for me, but good, food.  Her family made us feel like we were part of them.  They fed us very well and made sure we had everything we needed.  Her younger brother slept somewhere else and let me have his room for the night.  When I went to my room they had two towels and a chocolate bar on top, just like a fancy cruise or something.  One of her granddads works with wood as a hobby.  They had all kinds of different wooden figurines and pyramids (really they are little things with something like a fan on top that spins with the hot air from candles underneath) decorating their house.  It was all very nice.  Her granddad made all of them by hand.  I was very interested in this as I would love to learn how to do that kind of thing for a hobby and so he took me down to his shop and made me two little star ornaments while I watched.  It was really neat to see the process and all.  He made it look very easy, but I dont know how easy it really is.  Anyways, later after the birthday party we (IMT and her family and grandparents) sat around and talked about the different Christmas traditions from our different countries.  They also gave us a present.  Her granddad made each of us a pyramid.  It was so nice of them and so cool to me.  I was wanting to buy one in the Christmas market but they are 50 or 60 euro for even the smaller ones.  The one he made for us is bigger than the ones I saw for that much.  The week before I had also given Claudi a Christmas list as a joke because she had said she had money now and was going shopping for Christmas gifts, but I had put something made out of wood like that.  It is very typical for this part of Germany to have these things made out of wood.  I also learned at least one origin story of why people put candles in the windows during Christmas time.  Im not sure if this was THE origin story or only one for this part of Germany, but it was interesting nonetheless.  They said that the men that worked in the mines nearby would go to work early in the morning before the sun came up and then work until the sun went down.  Once they got home they would go straight to bed because it was so late and not turn on any lights, or light a candle as I dont think they had electricity then.  They were living the winter months mostly if not all in darkness.  Because of this the women began to put candles in the windows so that the men could see them on their way home. 

While we were there we also went on a walk around their town.  It was a nice little town.  The most interesting part for me was the church she showed us.  She said it had also been bombed during the war.  I had never really thought too much about all the little towns that must have been impacted during the war.  You usually only hear about the big cities or sights where major battles occurred, but it was interesting to see a place where no one has probably heard of, and yet it was greatly impacted by the war.  It was also on top of a little hill and the wind was blowing very hard.  I was imagining being there during a war.  The wind alone was so loud you could barely hear someone talking.  Im sure with airplanes and bullets and bombs also buzzing around it would have been deafening and pretty frightening. 

On Thursday we all got another gift from Claudis family.  It is apparently a big thing here to have an Advent calendar and a big tradition for their family to make them.  So, all of us got a different Advent calendar from her family.  She said her younger brother made mine, which is 24 bags hanging on a line.  The first three days have all had different kinds of cany inside them.  Again, I found it very nice of them to include us in their traditions.  Speaking of Advent calendars, I have seen some very interesting calendars in the stores here.  Im not sure, but I think everyone has one here, whether they are Christian or not.  I saw one in a store that was something like Playboy.  Im not exactly sure how those go together, but I guess its something a little more commercialized here for some people.

We were also invited to another couples house from our congregation for dinner tonight.  It was also a very pleasant time.  The lady had baked fresh onion bread that was really delicious.  With that it was a typical abendbrote, so various kinds of "lunchmeats" and cheeses and pickles.  We had a very nice conversation and before we left they also gave us a little gift.  They have one son that still lives with them and we all had a good time getting to know each other a little better.  They speak very clear German so it was easier to understand them than Claudis family, which speaks Erzgebergisch, which my German tutor had said was kind of like the equivalent of a very southern US accent but for Germany.  So, sometimes other Germans have a hard time understanding them too. 

The rest of the week has been pretty busy, but good.  I was able to get a haircut finally, but it was a little more expensive than I was hoping, and a little shorter than I was thinking.  Last time I went to a nearby mall and found a place that did a good job for 15 euro plus 2 euro for a tip.  Since then I found out I didnt have to tip hair cutters here so I tried to go back to that place but they were full for the day.  I decided to try another place that a lady from our congregation owns.  The girls had been there and recieved a hair cut and some other things for free before, so I figured I would at least get a discount there (normally it isnt the cheapest place in town).  I even got Claudi and Sni to come in with me to see if they had time that day because I figured they would recognize the girls and realize I was also a part of the IMT.  I thought they did.  I went in and asked if they had time and one of the ladies came over while she had a customer and set up a time for me one hour later.  Unfortunately, I assumed wrong.  I went an hour later and had a very nice time.  They washed my hair and she even brushed/scratched my scalp with some kind of metal comb I think(it felt awesome) until I was almost asleep.  Then I told her a number six for the razer because Im pretty sure thats what I normally get, but it seemed a lot shorter than I thought it was supposed to be.  It doesnt look terrible, but I think it is a little different with more of layers to the top and bottom, with the bottom part of my head being pretty short.  Then it was over and I realized she wanted me to pay.  It ended up being 21 euro with no tip.  The lady that cut my hair didnt know any of us and the lady who owns the salon from the congregation wasnt there.  I was kinda disappointed ha.

Thursday at Checkpoint was a pretty wild day.  We had 19 kids and by the end of the day we were all worn out.  This was also the day Barry (the pastor/our boss) decided to come by and see how everything was going.  He came for the last hour or hour and half which is always the craziest time for us there.  Something triggers in the kids to go crazy and we are all super tired by this point.  Anyways, he saw some things he wasnt exactly happy with.  He didnt seem mad with us, but he did talk to us about it and was saying that we had to do things differently our we were gonna have to close it down.  Everything he said was true, for example, I was playing legos with two or three kids while some of the older boys there were kind of running around crazy with each other.  But, I think it kind of got the girls down a little bit.  Anyways, I think it was good for us to hear some criticism because it got us all thinking and today we came up with some new plans to have better control and save all of ours sanity.  As we were talking, I felt like what we are doing here is exactly what I had done in Bighouse's afternoon programs.  Well, I suggested several ideas that I took directly from Bighouse and we are gonna try them out.  I have been thinking and seeing how interesting/cool/amazing it is that for the past year or year and half, everything that I have been doing (working at camp, the film, and Bighouse) God is using here in Germany.  Before now I was so thankful that God kept giving me job after job and opportunity after opportunity this past year.  When I graduated from Alabama I had no idea what kind of job I was going to be able to find.  He gave me a job working in New York at a summer camp.  While I was there I started looking for another job to do when that was finished with in August.  I wasnt having much luck.  Then he gave me a job working on a film.  It wasnt even really something I was looking for, it was just my mom talking with a lady she works with and her son-in-law being one of the producers of a big Hollywood film shooting in Georgia.  Not only did I get a chance to work on this film, but at one point I wasnt sure I was going to be able to do it because they didnt want to pay me for a place to stay, and then friends of my grandparents allowed me to stay in their lakehouse near to where we were shooting the film.  After this I was given the chance to go and work for Bighouse.  So many games, programs, and ideas that I learned from these three jobs have really prepared me for what I am doing now.  I dont know if God wanted me at those three jobs or not.  At different points I may could have pursued other options, and I dont know how in tune I was with where God wanted me or not, but whether or not that was exactly where God wanted me, he has used those experiences here, and I know that He wants me to be here right now. 

Last night we went ice skating with the youth group.  It was really a fun night and I thoroughly enjoyed myself.  I was very shaky at the beginning and fell three times, twice I caught myself with my hands and the other time I fell pretty good.  That time some kids on the side saw me and were laughing pretty good, Im not sure why, because I was laughing at myself, but when I looked over at them they all got quiet ha.  Im sure it was funny.  By the end of the night I was able to pick up some pretty good speed and keep up with the kids from the youth group.  I got to talk with several of them during the night much more than I have before.  It was good to get to know them more.  We skated at the home of Katarina Witt, one of the best figure skaters ever.  We were also skating outside which was pretty neat.  Afterwards we all went to Mcdonalds and ate ha.  Im pretty sure that was only my third time to go ice skating ever, but I think I shouldve been better than I was ha.  Either way it was a lot of fun and a good workout.

One very interesting thing I saw on the tv here is something like a public service announcement.  Thats not so interesting, but what it was about is interesting.  They had several famous people come on and talk about how great the German language is and how people should speak in German.  I definitely have not run into any problem finding people that speak German, or rather anyone that speaks only English and no German.  However, I guess that more people are learning English or another language and maybe the enthusiasm for the German language is not as high as it once was.  I really dont know, but just thought it interesting that they needed a public service announcement to tell people to speak their mother language.

Pinterest!

JK. Well only half kidding.  Since I lured you in with a promise of fun and crafty ideas Ill at least share a recipe I recently made.  Its pretty easy and good for a quick lunch when youre tired of PB&J.  So heres what you do:
Take a tomato, half an onion, a quarter of a red pepper (if you like bellpepper), a scoop of sour cream, and some V8 tomato/fruit juice(or you can use ketchup if you dont have that).  Mix all of that into a blender.  Heat this concoction until warm.  Season with a little salt and pepper and enjoy with some fresh cheese or bread.

So, anyways... that was pretty good, I thought. I havent posted in a while so Im gonna try to remember and write about the things I found more interesting that have come to pass over the past few weeks.  I feel like Ive settled down into a decent routine.  Well as much of a routine as we can have, not always knowing exactly when we may be needed somewhere the next week.  The days seem to go by pretty fast here as we are often pretty busy.  The past three Sundays we have been in charge of the worship service in the different congregations around here.  They all went pretty well.  Raele, Maretta, and I all had little slips of paper to read from, and from the feedback we got, we didnt totally butcher their language.  Today I actually spoke with no paper, partly because I didnt realize until we got there that I was gonna be talking again, but also because I was confident that I could at least get my point across without having to read it. 

We have also started having kids at Checkpoint every day.  The first week for Checkpoint was Kinderwoche where all of IMT and the two girls from last years team were working there together.  We didnt have any kids the first few days so we went outside to the park and played with kids and met their parents.  By the last day of Kinderwoche we had about ten come to Checkpoint to eat some homemade sweets and see where we were.  The past two weeks we have worked at Checkpoint only on Thursdays and then Fridays we work with the same kids, but in a gym.  Tuesdays and Wednesdays Karen and Sni have to work alone at Checkpoint, and I think it has been a bit stressful.  This past week we had a new kid every day and Thursday we had seventeen kids there.  It was stressful even with six of us helping out.  But its also alot of fun, and I think its gonna be very good for the kids in that area.

Aside from work I have been able to do a few different things in my free time.  The weekend before Halloween I went to a Divali festival at the uni here.  Its a rather big Indian festival and most of my friends from our language course were there.  It was a fun night.  They had several presentations about what is the Divali festival, as well as some things that were more just Indian culture in general. One of my friends that I would never have expected to dance, danced rather well to a kind of Indian hip-hop.  It was very entertaining.  They also had fireworks which is a huge part of Divali as it means the light in the dark.  After the fireworks we got to eat.  I knew Indian food was spicy, but wow, it was spicy.  I have no idea what I ate, but most of it tasted pretty good and a tiny, little bit actually didnt light my mouth on fire.  Once all the cultural activities were finished they turned the place into an Indian disco.  It was a good time to talk with my friends I hadnt seen in a while.

For Halloween I was invited by one of the Turkish girls to come to a Halloween party one of her friends were having.  I didnt have anything else to do so I decided to go.  She told me what time and where to go.  So I showed up right on time and where she told me to go.  I was not exactly sure what to expect, but I did think she and our other friends would be there when I arrived.  I should have gone later.  I showed up to the room and walked in as the door was open.  There were maybe four people there putting the finishing touches on all their decorations.  The girl, who I assume it was her apartment, was not very fond of me.  Complicating things was that I wasnt sure whether to try and speak German or English, I tried German but couldnt express myself very well as I was a bit flustered by my welcome and trying to think in another language.  The girl thought I had invited myself.  I asked her if she knew the girls that invited me and she said yea, and I told her they invited me, but I dont think she believed me.  She also was mad I wasnt "dressed up" for Halloween.  I was actually a homeless person(I know a pretty bad costume but I didnt have anything else here and didnt put too much effort into it because I didnt decide until an hour or two before that Id actually go).  I thought with my scruff it was an ok costume, and it definitely wasnt what I would normally wear out.  But, I think everyone here thinks you have to wear face paint to be "dressed up".  Everyone there had some kind of very cheap looking face paint on, and I really think they expected everyone to come with face paint.  I ended up leaving before anyone else showed up because I could tell the girl didnt want me there, but I saw pictures later and everyone had this cheap face paint, and some with normal clothes on.  They may have all been zombies, but I didnt think their zombie costumes were any better than mine, if thats what they were going for.   Oh, well.

I have also found/gotten some opportunities to finally play some sports.  Last weekend the hospital had a volleyball tournament for all of their employees that we were invited to take part in.  Our team consisted of me, four of the girls from IMT, and one middle aged guy from the hospital.  I had never really played volleyball except at the beach and one time when I first got here in Zwickau, but it was a lot of fun.  Considering that we had never practiced together and most of us had never really played that much at all, we were not too bad.  We ended up in 5 out of 8 teams, but I think we were really the 4th best team and maybe could have beaten the 3rd place team.  They did a kind of random draw for the first round where we played three games.  We only won one of those, but were fairly close to one team and lost on the last serve to the other. We were competitive with all of the teams we played, and the girls said that they think the girl keeping our points actually messed up our score in the game where we lost on the last serve.  That may or may not have come into play when they seeded us for the secound round.  They added up all of the points each team scored and then ranked us 1 to 8.  We fell into the second group of 4, but if our score had not been messed up we may have been in the first group.  In the second round we completely dominated the other three teams, which was fun, but at the same time, I think it would have been more fun to have had a little more competition. 

My second opportunity to play a sport turned out to not really be so promising.  I had talked with several people here about wanting to play basketball and last week Barry told me I could go to this gym at this hour and practice with a team there.  Because I was working at Checkpoint, I wasnt able to get there until about 35 or 40 minutes after Barry had said to go.  I figured Id go on anyways and I could at least figure out where everything was and maybe still get to play for a few minutes.  So, I found the gym and changed into my basketball clothes.  I should say I found the building where the gym is, I had to walk around a little bit before I heard the sounds of shoes squeaking and running to find which doors to enter.  I finally found them and walked in. I was in the right place, but not really for me.  The guys there were scrimmaging and there two or three managers/trainers on the side who looked at me as I walked in.  Most of the players were at least a foot taller than me, and it was very clear I was nowhere near as good as they are.   I talked to the managers anyways and told them I had heard I might could play basketball here.  They were a little befuddled and I dont think they knew exactly what to say.  They were very nice about it.  Finally one guy that was a sub helped me out and took me to look at the schedule to show me when the "second team" or the league behind them practiced.  They were the professional basketball team here in Chemnitz.  I looked them up when I got home and found one guy was actually from Tuscaloosa, but had played for UCF.  I was really just looking for some kind of pick up game, or a league where regular people play, so I dont think Ill go back.

I also got a chance to hang out with my friends Oznur, Esma, and Sefer and talk about all different kinds of things.  Esma invited us all to her room and prepared two different Turkish dishes.  I  am really not sure what they were but they were very good.  Sefer wants to make a movie while we are all here in Chemnitz so Im pretty excited about that.  I also got to share with them about what I believe.  They were very interested and had several questions.  I told them all the basics of what we believe as Christians, answered their questions, and tried to clarify where and why some of the differences arise between Protestants and Catholics.  They had a hard time believing that Mary could have been a virgin and God just put Jesus in her womb.  It was also very tough trying to explain the Trinity and how they are all one and yet different.  I tried to stress the fact that Jesus came from God to save us from our sins.  That He came so that we could be reunited with God, that we were seperated because of our sins.  I found it tough to explain how Jesus came from God to save us, that He died a human death, and at the same time He is God and was making a bridge for us to Himself/God.  They also shared some of their beliefs about Islam with me.  It was a very good/interesting conversation. 
I guess thats about all that Ive been up to. Thats all I can really remember for now.  I hope Ok State and LSU lose soon.  If we have to play LSU again for a shot at a National Championship, I think we will win, but Id rather play someone else since I kinda feel like its cheap to LSU.   oh well. Roll Tide!

Snow is coming

Theres not too much to report on this week.  We have just been planning and getting ready for our Kinderwoche next week.  There was snow not too far from here though.  Id be ok if it didnt get here for another month or two, but I dont expect to be so lucky.  I do have one story I guess I can share below.

On Monday all of us went with Katja, one of our bosses, to her parents house in a smaller city in the country.  I had not planned on going with the girls, but after not being able to make any other plans and being talked into it by Katjas husband, I decided to go with.  We were going for the sauna.  I didnt know it at the time, but the sauna is at her parents house, a small shack really that Matthias had built with another building next door with fresh, cold water in a tub.  If youre into that kind of thing its really a nice set-up and cool that they built it themselves.  Personally, I have never really been to a sauna.  Maybe I have once or twice stepped into one at the beach or in some kind of large gym locker room like at the rec center, but I have never really had too much interest I guess.  I dont think they are exactly the most popular thing in Alabama.  Or the second.  Anyways, I didnt exactly know what all takes place when you go to enjoy the sauna.  We got there and first ate dinner together in a little living room that was to be where we would cool down and relax after going into the sauna.  They told me you do not want to go into a sauna with a full stomach, but then they served a pretty good amount of food.  I was not going to eat too much since they had warned me, but then it seemed like they were all eating a good bit, and she had prepared two footlong hotdog wieners for everyone so I figured I should at least eat that.  I could have eaten more, but I was pretty satisfied with the amount of food I did eat.  Anyways, that may or may not have come into play later.  After dinner we decided the men would go into the sauna first.  So the women left the room and Matthias and I got undressed and put our towels on.  At this point I still was not really sure what to expect.  They had told me many times you go into the sauna naked, and I was a little bit wary of just how much we were gonna see of each other.  I also found out later that the girls, except for Katja, wore a bathing suit when they went.  I had not brought anything like this because they told me I only needed to bring two towels and sandals.  I had imagined we were going into a large public sauna or something and I didnt really want to be the only one in a bathing suit and figured when in Germany do as the Germans.  So, at this point I did realize that it was only going to be me and Matthias, but wasnt sure exactly how it was all gonna go down.  It turned out to be not so bad after all.  We had to walk outside in the super cold to get to the sauna, which was really just a little shack he had built.  He let me go in first and I went to the farthest point from the stove and sat down on the wooden bench.  I kept my towel around me because I didnt know if you were supposed to take it off or not.  He came in and shut the door and derobed.  Once I saw that he did, I did the same.  Luckily, it was pitch black in there so you couldnt see anything at all and so it wasnt so awkward.  We stayed in for about 15 minutes and he told me it was about 185-194 degrees F.  It was warm. I was definitely sweating, but it felt pretty good.  A few more minutes and I would have been at the point where I was definitely ready to leave.  I thought I was doing pretty good, staying in there the entire time with Matthias, and then we went outside and to the cold water.  Ive never really liked to feel cold, so I just splashed a little on my face and body to cool off a little bit.  Matthias derobed again and dunked himself in the tub.  We walked outside in our towels and sat on a bench under the stars.  It was really a nice night and even though it was cold, it felt good after being in the sauna.  But then it got embarrassing.  I dont know if it was because I had eaten too much food or just because I am not used to the sauna and all that, but I started feeling like I wanted to throw up.   I also was seeing a ring of light ha.  I figured it would go away if I sat there long enough and cooled off, but it felt better to kind of lean over.  Matthias saw that and started asking if I was ok.  I told him yea, and just kind of signaled my stomach didnt feel so great.  Well he rushed into action and made me lay down and held my feet up.  Not 10 seconds after I had laid down the girls came out to see if we were finished.  Matthias told them to get me some water quick and then he held my feet for another two minutes or so.  That really did help, and I felt better immediately.  But the girls thought we had been out so long because I had been there a while.  Of course they are from Germany and Estonia which is basically sauna capital of the world after Finland, so they had no problems at all and got to laugh at me.  After youre done with the rotation of the sauna and then the cold water, youre supposed to go back inside to the room where we ate and cool down for a half hour and then start it all over again.  You typically go into the sauna three times in one night.  I decided I was pretty comfortable in the living room and just stayed there the rest of the night.  They acted like they will be going several times this winter, but I havent decided yet if Ill go back or not.

A Day in the Life of Iva... me.

So I have been here working with IMT for about five weeks now, and I can finally give a little more insight into what a typical week looks like for me and what I am actually doing here.  We have several different programs that we work with throughout the week.  All of them are with kids, youth, and some college aged students, but mostly kids and youth.  Ill give you a rundown of the week and then add some extras at the end.  On Monday we have a free day.  This is our day off to do whatever we want.  The past few Mondays we have usually done at least one thing together as a team, such as going to the town center to shop or going out for lunch or something like that.  Its also a good day for me to meet up with other people from the school or do laundry or whatever other errands I may need to run.  Tuesdays we usually have breakfast with Katja, although we will meet with Barry, the pastor here, once he is back from his break. We use this time to just see how we are doing and they let us know about events or whatnot that we have coming up. In the afternoon we drive to the next town over called Floha, for K2.  K2 is a program with the kids from the city there.  We all meet in a kind of flat there and then usually have a short little Bible verse or story or something and then just play with the kids.  Sometimes we have played insid eand sometimes outside, but it is getting cold here so Im not sure how much outside playing we will do from now on.  This may or may not be a problem.  The kids in K2 can sometimes be very rowdy so it was good to be able to go outside and let out their energy.  We will see how it goes if were stuck inside.  We will need some good games and things to keep them busy.  They do have a foosball table so thats always fun.   We also always have a little snack with the kids at the end.  On Tuesday nights we drive back from Floha, eat dinner, and then have Hauskreis.  This is kind of like a youth group meeting in our room in the hospital.  There is a school for nurseshere and Im pretty sure most if not all of the students also live here with us.  The Hauskreis is something we do to try and get them to come and join us and learn a little bit about God.  We usually have a little message mixed in with some kind of creative activity or game and then afterwards we have tea and cookies and just hang out.  On Wednesdays we have time in the morning to plan and work on ideas for our different programs.  Wednesday afternoon we drive back to Floha for Jump and Kirchenclub.  Kirchenclub is with the same kids from K2.  This is a program run by another church here, so we just go and play with the kids or help with the cooking.  At the same time this program is going on, two of us have to go to the church and run Jump.  Jump is a program exactly like K2 except in the church.  Apparently they use to be the same thing but some of the parents didnt want their kids to mingle with the kids from K2 so they had to create two different programs.  It is really ridiculous.  I can not understand how the parents in the church thought it was ok to not let thos children come to the church.  Anyways, Wednesday nights we dont have anything, but for the past few weeks I have been meeting with Tobias to work on my German.  I have really enjoyed my time with him and his family.  He has a really nice wife and two young children.  Its good for me to have time to just hang out with some other people than the girls I work with all the time, as much as I love them we all need a break sometimes.  On Thursdays we have been meeting in the morning to plan different programs that are not weekly.  The past few weeks we have been working on our Kinderwoche, which is a week at the end of October where we will meet with the same kids every day for the entire afternoon.  Thursdays are also now a time to work on and plan a new project we are starting, and in the future will be where we work during the afternoons.  The project is called CheckPoint.  It is here in Chemnitz and one of the girls from last years IMT is in charge of it.  They have an apartment where the kids can come every day of the week and participate in different activities.  From what I have understood it sounds a lot like BigHouse, or rather our afternoon programs at BigHouse.  They will have a few different activities such as English or dance lessons every afternoon, and then also just time to eat and play.  I really wish I could understand more German, because I think I could really help with my experience form BigHouse.  Friday mornings we have more time to plan and work on different things.  In the afternoon we go to a gym here in Chemnitz and play different games with kids there.  This program is called SSS- Sport, spiele, spas.  which means sports, play, fun.  After this we go to the youthgroup at the local church here.  I have only been once to this so I am not sure how involved or how much we are in charge of that.  Saturdays we have a few different programs that meet once a month.  The only one I have been to so far is Wesley Scouts which is basically scouts for all the kids at the church.  Sundays we have church in the morning and then free afternoons.  We have also had two weekends where we went to big youth events for the conference here.  They were like weekends North Alabama Conference would have at Camp Sumatanga.

We also do many things together as a team besides working.  We eat all of our meals together unless one of us is meeting someone for German lessons or gone for a work related reason.  We also sing and pray together just about every day after dinner usually.  We make our breakfasts and dinners here and then for lunch we eat in the hospital cafeteria.

This past weekend we had a youth event for the conference again.  It was a lot of fun.  The highlight was going to a Planetarium.  They said it was a kind of thank you for all the youth leaders there from the conference.  I thoroughly enjoyed it.  I have always wanted to go to a planetarium, and I hope to go back to another one.  We actually saw more of a show than just looking at the stars, which I think I would also like.  Im not sure if what we saw is what typically people go there for or not.  It was a kind of laser light show with Queen music and the dome was used as a screen for video and all sort of like an IMAX theatre.  They used old Queen concert footage as well as what I think was the actual night sky all meshed together.  It was really cool and in English so I could understand it.  Which reminds me, I find it very interesting how many English songs they sing in the churches here.  Also, how often I come across English in their phrases or just every day life.  It sounds funny to me when the entire congregation sings with their accents and how they pronounce some words. Im sure I sound the same way to them, but its cool and makes me smile to hear them sing some of the same  songs we sing and how differently it sounds.  Sometimes the German people really struggle with the pace or getting all the words right.  Its exactly what would happen if our churhc tried to sing a German hymn or song.

I also noticed this weekend a very interesting observation.  When I cannot understand someone talking, such as a speaker for a large group, I am much more aware of their body language and actions.  It reminded me of a show I had seen with Penn and Teller.  They were doing magic tricks and showing how it was done, and they showed one where it was really quite easy to see what had happened... when they muted themselves.  They knew that by talking and distracting you with a story or whatever, they could easily move something with their hands without you noticing.  When they muted the volume it was obvious they were moving something around.  Anyways I noticed the same phenomemon happens when you cant understand the other language as well.

Romania and stuff

Romania

My trip to Romania was very good.  I will go ahead and tell about all the characters in my story so that I do not have to keep referring to the “guy who is German who was in charge of our trip” or “the Romanian girl who could speak English and went around with us”.  There were seven of us total that drove from Chemnitz to Romania.  First is my friend Jon, who I met in the German course and needed to go back to Romania to get some insurance stuff worked out.  Then Ingo, Detliff, Dagma, and Mischa were all from the church here in Chemnitz.  Dagma was the only woman with us and Mischa was our boss.  Silvio and myself were the last of our party from Germany.   I do not think Silvio knew anyone but Mischa before the trip.  He comes from a part of Germany that has a very strong accent and a different dialect that is sometimes very hard to understand.  The rest of the people are Romanians that we met there.  Nate and Mari is a young married couple who went around as our translators.  Nate can speak German and Romanian and Mari Romanian and English so I was able to understand too.  For three nights we stayed with a pastor named Niko and his wife and daughter. So those are all the major players in this tale from afar.  Sorry for the cheesiness, I feel like telling a story and spicing it up, but don’t worry, everything you read here is true. 

So when we started out I really had no idea what we were going to be doing or what I was really supposed to do.  I had been asked if I could drive and so I thought I was going just as a driver and that the other people couldn’t drive at all.  This turned out to be false.  I rode with Silvio the entire time and only drove for a few hours on the long trip there and back.  I couldn’t tell if he just liked to drive or if he was not too sure about my driving.  The first time we swapped on the way there may have had something to do with that.  We had stopped at one of the borders to buy what they call a vignette, which is something you must pay for so that you can drive on the different countries highways.  After a nice little break and stretching it was time to go and Silvio gave me the keys to drive.  I got in the drivers seat, buckled up, and turned on the van.  The other two cars went on ahead of us and since I didn’t want to lose them I kind of rushed the clutch and tried to catch up.  Instead of catching up I stalled out.  And then I did it two or three more times.  I was a bit embarrassed, I had told him I knew how to drive a manual and how I have one back home and all, and then I could not for the life of me get the van to go.  At this point I looked over at Silvio with an expression of I have no idea what is going on here and then noticed the parking break was still on.  I felt a wave of relief that there was another reason for me not being able to get going.  But then it happened again.  I got going in first gear just fine but when I tried to shift to second I killed it again.  I finally got it up to speed and we took off down the highway.  I was happy to be driving in the higher gears where you can’t really kill it like that and then not too long down the road we got stuck in traffic.  And I killed it twice more.  The clutch was very tight so you had to take your foot off of it very slowly.  Because we were in traffic I was trying to go a little too quick and killed it.  Then I killed it again trying to shift into second gear.  At this point Silvio realized what I was doing and let me know I was shifting into fourth gear instead of second.   The van had six gears and the R was on the bottom to the far left, where the second gear is on every other car I have driven.  Because of this I was trying to not move the gear shifter all the way to the left and down when I went to second gear.  I did not realize you have to pull something else to get into R and that the second gear was located in the same place as it normally is.  So, anyways once I figured that out I was ok, but I think the damage may have already been done and so I didn’t have to drive that much.  A little embarrassing, but I guess it kind of worked out good for me.

So anyways, back to our trip.  In the beginning I had it in my mind that this was going to be like the trips to Mexico that I had been on with our church back home.  Because of this I did find several similarities in the two trips, but once I realized that I was trying to make it similar I also found many differences.  We ate good everywhere we went.  The Romanian people we stayed with and met were all very good to us and seemed very appreciative of us being there.  Being with the Germans and seeing their attitudes and the attitudes of the Romanians around the Germans, I realized that Germany is really viewed as a rich country and a good place to live in Europe.  This was a lot like when us as Americans would visit Mexico.  There was a certain attitude that you could feel, and one that I think our youth group and myself probably had when we visited Mexico.  Everything is different from your country and you feel as though you’re being adventurous and learning a new culture.  At the same time there is a kind of arrogance among your group.  It is not a mean arrogance, just kind of a feeling that you know where you come from is better and maybe not even an arrogance but just a feeling of strangeness amongst the new surroundings and so you compare it to what you have back home and think how much easier life is for you.  I know I never realized I felt that when I was in Mexico, and I don’t believe any of the Germans would say they think they are better than the Romanians or anything like that.  But I think once I had seen the poverty in Mexico and the Germans saw the poverty in Romania this arrogance transforms into a kind of pity and maybe even guilt.  The Germans had the same reactions as many of our group had when they came face to face with such extreme poverty, they cried and realized how much we all have.  They thought about their own children living like so many people do, and wanted to bring them back to their world or at least give more to make these kids lives better.  I don’t know how it will impact their lives, but I know for me and probably many others who I have gone to Mexico with it stays with you, although, at the same time, we go back to our worlds and after a few weeks you don’t really think about it anymore.  Before long we are again worrying about what new clothes or shoes we need to look good, or when the next xbox game is coming out.  I really wonder what would the Romanians think or feel if they went to Mexico.  To me, the people in Mexico were worse off, but it really wasn’t by that much.  That’s really not important though, Id just like to know if when people who live in extreme poverty see other people in extreme poverty, would they have the same reactions as us?  Would they see poverty? Would they see everything we don’t see in their lives, or would they see the things that are there and think I wish I had those 4 years old, dirty, holey shoes?  Would it be the same as when I used to go to Matt’s house and wish I had a tv and N64 in my room? 

These kinds of trips remind you that we are the rich people, in America especially.  Its good to be reminded, but also raises a lot of questions.  I used to think how glad I was that my family was not super rich, that my parents made me work growing up and how I learned to be frugal at times and not have to have everything I wanted.  I would read the verses about the rich man going to heaven and how its easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle and think how glad I was that I didn’t have so much that I was so consumed by my possessions.  And then when I saw someone begging or without, I would think Im just a college student, I don’t really have that much to give anyways.  And later Id buy myself a new xbox game.  We are the rich men Jesus talked about.  We are also the ones to whom much has been given, so much is expected from us.  But I don’t know how to give up my things and trust that God will provide.  I can give a little every month or when I go on a trip.  What I think I can give and still have enough to live like I want to, that is.  It makes me feel better about myself, makes me feel like I must be doing something right.  But Jesus told the rich man to sell all his possessions and give the money to the poor. Everything.  How do I give away all my new clothes? What will I wear? What has God already provided that I should keep for myself? What do I really need?  I have no idea.

Id like to end with that, but there is more from Romania that I found interesting.  I had several very good conversations with Jon, Mari, and then with the other Germans.  There are very many Gypsies that live in Romania and the Romanians hate them.  Every Romanian that I talked with about them said the same things.  They said they were lazy and didn’t work or even want to work, that they thought differently than others.  They talked about them being thiefs and begging for money instead of getting real jobs.  There are many houses in Romania that were half built and they said these were all Gypsy houses, that they start to build these huge homes but then don’t have enough money to finish them.  There were also many finished houses that were also clearly Gypsy houses by the decorations they use.  They told me the Gypsies had no taste and built these huge homes with all kinds of tacky decorations.  Mari told me many of the kids didn’t go to school and most didn’t want help to get out of their situations even if there was some kind of help for them, which in most cases there is not.   I guess every society needs someone to hate/blame?

I learned a lot more about Ingo.  He is a man from the church here in Chemnitz who is very interesting to me.  I have known him for three weeks, and been around him a fair amount.  He set up our internet here and then tried to help me with my computer when it didn’t work.  I also have been around him at a few different programs we help with and the entire time had no idea he could speak English.  I do not think I would have known this even now, but he rode with Mari and so the only way to communicate was for him to speak English.  When I had been around him before he acted like he couldn’t understand anything I said in English.  I asked him why he never let on that he could understand and he said it was kind of a German way to not show everything you can do.  He said part of it was from the war and the other part was that you didn’t want to act like you were better than everyone else.  Talking with him and everyone else was very interesting but I cant really explain everything we talked about here. 

A few other things.  We went to a really nice castle one afternoon.  Supposedly Vlad Tepes, aka Vlad the Impaler, aka Dracula was held prisoner here for one year.  There are a few other facts or tales from the castle but Ill attach those to the pictures with which they belong on facebook.  The Romanians eat a lot of peppers and grow grapes everywhere.  It was really cool to be able to pick a bundle of grapes fresh off the vine and eat them.  It was not so cool(pun intended) to eat some of the peppers.  One meal we had some kind of peppers that Silvio and I tried.  He and I both could not eat the whole thing and I even felt kind of lightheaded it was so hot.  Jon had no problem with it and was laughing at us.  Silvio put the last one in his pocket to take home to his son.  I thought that was funny.   We went to the slums, a few families homes, to a childrens home, and to a place where mentally handicapped youth were living.  All these places we dropped off clothes or bikes or something helpful and then played with the kids for a little while. Jon told me he had never seen anything like this and it was very hard for him.  He said hes not usually around this kind of thing.  I was glad he went.  He just wanted a ride back to get his insurance stuff sorted out, but he got a bit of an education too I think.  He is studying politics in the uni here so I told him its good for him to see so that he can now know the people he is serving. He is also Orthodox.  I need to talk with him later, but I don’t think he understood or was used to some of the things we did or what the pastor said.  I am not entirely sure what, or even if I agree with what the pastor said, but he was translating for me and at one point told me now this guy is just being rude. Ha, I am looking forward to finding out what it was he said.

Ill post the pictures on facebook soon I hope.  I didn’t take any pictures of the different places we went because I didn’t feel right about it.  I tried to imagine if people came to my house and started taking pictures like I was an animal in a zoo or some kind of sight to see, and I just think that would feel a bit demeaning.  Besides, you never see the pictures that Jesus, Gandhi, or Mother Theresa took, just the pictures of them loving the people.  Not to say Im anywhere in their ballpark, but I figured it was a start in the right direction to worry more about interacting with the people instead of hiding behind a camera lens.

Quick Update

We dont have internet at the hospital where we are staying right now. Hopefully that will be fixed pretty soon though. I have had a pretty busy and tiring week with work starting in the afternoons and german class in the mornings.  Monday night I got to meet up with one of my classmates to watch a soccer game.  Tuesday night I met up with a guy from who is going to meet with me to hang out and practice speaking in German.  We went and ate dinner then went and met up with some other of my classmates and watched another game.  You can find a soccer game to watch every day of the week here.  Yesterday we working with the kids in Floha, well playing with them, and one of their dads showed up.  He was drunk and drinking more.  He talked with the lady in charge most of the time, but he was really not that threatening which was the only good thing about it.  He is a Nazi as best I could tell. He thought I was from England and wanted to talk with me about the Bible and about what he believes.  Once he found out I was from America he didnt seem to really want to talk with me.  I am really not sure why that made a difference.  I tried to ask the German girl on our team, but I couldnt understand her response and I dont think she wanted to talk about him too much.  I am very interested in talking with the guy though. Hopefully once I learn German a little better I amy get another chance.  Most of the people in my class have been very interesting to discuss our religions with. One guy from China told me he wants to come to church with us sometime.  Im excited about this, but I am not going to be at church for the next two weeks so I hope he doesnt lose interest during that time.  This weekend we are going to a youth workers conference or something.  The next weekend I will be in Romania.  Oh yea, next Wednesday I am driving some people to Romania.  Again, as best as I can tell, it is kind of a mission trip they do every year at least once.  I think we will be taking supplies and things to poor areas in Romania.  One of my friends from the class is form Romania and has asked if we have an open seat.  I have not asked yet, but I hope he will be able to come with us.  He is fun to talk with.  He is an Eastern Orthodox Christian and after the class I took I am very interested in learning more from him.  I think that there were some aspects of Christianity the West may have lost in the Great Schism.  Anyways, more later.  Peace

IMT Start Week

Since my last post I have been extremely busy and at the moment I am pretty tired... therefore, I will try to remember everything but this will probably be more of a highlight post.

My last weekend in Zwickau with verona and her family was spent camping with some of their friends.  It was a very relaxing time just hanging out, going for walks, and swimming in the lake nearby. I wasnt quite sure what to expect, but it was kind of like camping at someones lake house but with the lake not right there.  The food was all really good and their friends were good to try and practice some German with.  I did find out just how unbashful German people are though.  We went swimming with one of the women we were camping with, and instead of changing into a bathing suit she just stripped down in front of us at the lake and jumped in.  There were some other things that I observed or happened on the trip but after this week I cannot remember them at all.

So... Monday morning we drove to Chemnitz and met the rest of the team, except for one girl from Brazil who is coming next week.  There is a girl from Estonia named Mareta. She is 19, has a lot of energy, and is the youngest child in her family.  She has been here the longest of the three new members of the team and can understand the most German although she doesnt like to try and speak it very often.  The next member is Claudia.  She comes from Germany, is the niece of one of our leaders, and is 24.  She can speak a little bit of English and can understand much more, can sing, and has kind of been our front man because she speaks German.  The next member is Raele. She comes from Latvia, is 19, and can also sing very well.  She and the next team member, Snidze, attended Wesley Camp in Latvia and we know several of the same people from Alabama. Sniedze is 24 and was a member of the team last year. She will be working on a little more specialized project than the rest of us so I am not sure as of yet how much we will work with her and the last member, Karen.  Karen is from Brazil and was also on the team last year so she is doing something a little more specialzed as well.  So thats a quick rundown of our team here.

Every morning this week and for the next two weeks, Raele, Mareta, and myself are attending German classes for four hours in the local uni here.  So far I have really enjoyed the classes.  We are in the very lowest begginners class and since Mareta and I have been in Germany for a week or so, we seem to be at the top of the class.  I love meeting the other students and talking with them.  They come from China, Venezuela, Spain, Estonia, India, Turkey, Mongolia, and Romania, but all of them can speak English so its good for me.  There are four students from Turkey and three who came from the same uni there and so I think knew each other beforehand.  In class we split up and talk in German at times.  The other day I was paired with one of the girls from Turkey and she was super interested in who I am and what I did and just everything about me.  She told me that in Turkey they saw people from the US and thought they were not kind, but that I looked kind and was kind.  Im not sure if kind was the exact word she wanted to use, but she doesnt speak English like you and me. Either way I could tell she was really surprised.  I am very interested in talking more with them as well the other students and figuring out just what she meant.  The other thing I have enjoyed about the class is that to learn German our teacher asks us questions about our home country and other historic and geographical questions.  We are all learning about each others countries while we learn German.  I also feel like I have the best education in the class.  Many, many times I am the only one that knows or has heard of some of the people we discuss in relation to German history or even the only other person that knows who someone from that country talks about.  I feel like most of the things we talk about I learned at IB.  Some of the people we talk about I am very surprised that others dont know them at all.  I dont know how prestigious this particular uni is, so that may play a role if these are not the best and brightest from their countries, but I def can see a difference in the level of education as far as history goes.  These students may also be engineers or something like that so they focused on math and science.

Back to IMT... for lunch we come back to the hospital and eat in their cafeteria. The food is not bad, although its nothing special either.  This week we did a lot of start work.. going over rules and what was expected and different forms we needed to fill out, as well as visiting a few of the places we will be working.  It seems from these places and what else they have told me, we will work with one or two different groups each afternoon-night, and what we do differs slightly depending on the group of kids.  With some we will just play and be extra helping hands and with other groups we will be more in charge, planning and leading bible studies and games.  It really kind of feels like some of what I did at BigHouse, just with different kids each day.  So, Micah, Susannah, Danna, and anyone else who works with kids creatively on a regular basis let me know if you have any good ideas for things to do with the kids... please.  This week has been very tiring though.  We have had very little if any free time to ourselves.  To end this week we went camping last night.  It was not so bad, there was a lot of very pretty scenery, but I thought we were going to see an area I was told was forbidden to sleep in and not on the map so that tourists wouldnt flock to it.  We never made it.  We left last night and hiked about an hour to where we slept.  It was a kind of cave.  We slept on the rock there and then this morning hiked some more.  Thats when I was kind of disappointed.  We were all very tired from the week already and hiking and sleeping on rocks the night before didnt make us any less tired.  So when we walked and walked and I thought we were headed to see this really amazing area they were trying to keep from tourists, and it turned out we were just a little bit lost heading back to our car I was kinda disappointed.  Its all good though.  We have had a good bit of free time today and I think we will again tomorrow so I can rest!

addendum

I forgot a few things I wanted to share yesterday.  First things about the kindergarten.  The kids get fresh fruit every day for a snack.  The teachers cut it all up and put them in two bowls overflowing with apples, oranges, and bananas.  They then call all the kids to sit on the floor in a circle and put the bowls in the middle of them.  What commences reminds me very much of what you see at the zoo when the monkeys are fed.  Little hands dig in from every direction and then shove the fruit into their mouths.  The kids end up with juices running down their faces and dirty hands but are really pretty clean.  Another thing that I first experienced at the kindergarten but am realizing it is everywhere, is having to take off your shoes that you wear outside before you go inside.  At the kindergarten I have to put on house shoes, much like Mr. Rogers, every morning, at peoples houses I leave them outside, and even when I went to play volleyball tonight I was supposed to change shoes when I got to the gym. 

I also wanted to tell more about the leftovers that we sometimes eat at dinner.  They are usually left over from lunch, but are sometimes left over from the dinner or lunch on the day before.  This is pretty normal, however, the leftovers are never put away.  They are left out on the counter in the pot they were cooked in, uncovered, and then reheated when its time to eat it again.  I am not trying to be critical here, the food surprisingly still tastes fine and I haven’t gotten sick yet, but I guess this is just something I have never seen before. 

One last thing to add about the city of Zwickau.  It is a really neat city.  Everywhere you look there is history from the 20^th century around and probably even more from before then but I just do not recognize it.  On the sidewalks they have little plaques in front of houses where Jewish people killed in the Holocaust used to live as a kind of remembrance.  The architecture is a mix between the traditional German and the kind used during the GDR under the communists.  There are also still crosswalk lights with the pictures from when the GDR was still around.  It is cool to walk where so much history took place and makes it easier to imagine what it must have been like to live during these times.  So many times I have seen pictures of the Nazis in action, so to speak, however, those were only still frames of a fragment of what happened in real life.  Here I can imagine the Nazis dragging families out of a house, like you would see in a picture, but also everything the might’ve taken place around them as well.  The person driving by in a car slowly, wondering what those people were in trouble for and trying to not draw attention to themselves, or the neighbors down the street walking back from the bakery with bread for dinner, sad to see their longtime acquaintances being taken away, not knowing what is really happening, but scared to ask for fear of incriminating themselves.  I can even imagine the young man standing down the street, who informed the Nazis where the Jews were living, believing the propaganda all around him and thinking he had done the right thing yet still feeling a tinge of guilt as the family is carried away.  Its all so much more real than the pictures when you walk the same streets as the participants of history.

Good luck...

I have a good bit to write about today so this will be a rather long post I think.  This is your fair warning and an understanding if only the bored and my mom make it through to the end.

I have quite a bit to catch up on.  I can not remember which day was which exactly, but here is the rundown of what I have been up to.  One afternoon we started out going to the grandmother of the family that feeds me.  Like any good grandmother she set out a feast of sweets and treats for us.  I ate until I wasn’t hungry ha.  She gave us sweet croissants, ice cream, fresh strawberries and raspberries, fresh cream, milk, chocolate waffle snacks, and several other things that were really good.  I played with the kids for a little while here and then we went to the local swimming pool.  It was very nice, they had a really fun water slide and some other little apparatuses.  I learned Germans are not shy.  They strip down wherever and especially with the kids, they let them run around naked anywhere.  On Saturday I went with a lady from the church here to some kind of 20^th anniversary of a volunteer program they have in Leipzig.  The day before had been the hottest day of the year, so I expected more of the same kind of weather.  It was not to be.  I wore shorts and luckily took a light sweater jacket but was still freezing during the day.  It turned out to be a pretty nice day.  It was kind of like a camps reunion where everyone was reuniting and seeing old friends so I was kind of the new guy who didn’t know anyone.  Add to this fact that I couldn’t really communicate with many of them and it was a bit awkward in the beginning.  I didn’t want to follow the lady around like a puppy all day so I kind of just wandered around for a little while.  Leo(the lady) finally introduced me to a group of friends because they were gonna give me a ride home later.  A few of them spoke ok English so I was able to talk with them some as the day went on, although I felt a bit awkward at times just standing there all day not having any idea what they were talking about.  I would have liked to stay in touch with a few of them, but none of them have Facebook! For dinner that night we had bratwursts on little rolls, I expect to eat this meal plenty this year. 

On Sunday I went to church in the morning.  A girl I found out later was the pastors wife came and translated for me, which was nice.  I hung out with Verona and her family during the day and I think that afternoon we went to the zoo.  It was pretty nice.  I think the Birmingham zoo is larger and has more animals and all but it was not as disappointing as the circus in France was.  Ask me if you don’t know what Im talking about.  This week I have been working in the kindergarten in the mornings and then coming back for an afternoon German lesson and then eating dinner a little later.  Kindergarten here has been very interesting.  I talk and play with the kids using the few German words I know and try to learn more by asking them what everything is.. they seem to like me ok ha.  I think the next great reality show should be taking the German kindergarten teachers and swapping them with some American teachers.  It would be funny.  The German children seem to be allowed to do almost whatever as long as its not fighting with another kid.  They can use scissors and glue and any other art supply whenever they like even if the teachers are in the other room. They climb and hang off all kinds of places.  I was pushing some kids on a big swing thing where several could sit in it at once which was connected to the horizontal bar above by two chains in a triangle formation.  As I was pushing the kids, two of them, one on each side, began hanging on the chains and doing all kinds of flips and acrobatics.  We were above a cement ground and I could really see it ending badly if they fell.  The other teachers didn’t seem to mind though so I didn’t either.  On the way to the playground the kids are also allowed to run on ahead or bring up the rear as they like.  I guess theres not too many places for the kids to go except outside or back to their class, but its definitely not like having to be single filed and quiet. I also eat lunch with the kids everyday.  They all know they must be quiet during lunch and use forks, spoons, and knives as they please.  They are quite good with the utensils though.  Better than most 4 and 5 years olds I think.  After lunch they all strip down to their underwear, boys and girls, for naptime.  This is when I leave.  The kids are all really funny as most children that age are.  There is one who reminds of the kid from Willy Wonka, he might be my favorite.

I cant remember eating too many different things since the last time I wrote.  Dinners are almost always a variant of bread and maybe a few vegetables and cheese and butter, sometimes leftovers from lunch.  I did have pumpkin soup the other day which wasn’t terrible.  I also had these potato and flour balls with goulash on top which was pretty good.  The meals at the kindergarten are not very good unfortunately.  Todays was the first one I really liked. We had boiled potatoes, cucumber salad, and scrambled eggs. 

I am ready to move to Chemnitz I think.  I would like to be able to really unpack and get settled in.  Here I am living out of one suitcase( Im afraid my big one wont shut again if I open it here) and its getting kind of old.

I have found that when you cannot understand the language being spoken, one has quite a lot of free time to think to one’s self.  Its like when you are reading in a noisy place and you are able to tune everything out and focus only on what is being read, except here its much easier because it’s all a bunch of gibberish anyways so you don’t catch a word here or there to distract you.  Now, this very reason for having so much time to think is both a blessing and a curse per se.  It is a blessing because the usual excuses and distractions from focusing on God are almost completely gone.  I cant understand the tv, radio, or other people so theres not much point in “wasting time” (as if when its in English its not wasting time) and things are not nearly as fun when you cant communicate with people around you, or when it takes quite an effort to get any idea across.  There are few if any outside influences that distract my thoughts from God.  I live in a church, eat meals with a family whose mother works in the church, work in the kindergarten in the mornings, and hang out with the family or in the church.  I am not vulnerable to all of the tv shows, music, commercials, etc. that once you get away from it, you realize carries a lot of trash.  However, having so much time to think to oneself can easily be flipped into a bit of a curse.  Although it is great for me to not be distracted by so many things that are usually easy to find and take my time and now focus on God more, it is also easier for me to focus on the very things that so many people escape from with tv, radio, or other people.  It is easy for me to focus on not being able to speak the language yet and worry about what the heck am I going to do for a year here and if Ill miss my family and friends and so on and so forth.  When I begin to do this, being alone with your thoughts is more of a nightmare than a nice study/vacation/work year in Germany.  Recently my dad spoke at church, and although I didn’t attend, I was told he spoke about going through trials and this making you stronger.  How we should embrace trials that God sends our way as a kind of learning and growing time.  Along with my thoughts about my free time, I have also contemplated this idea which I definitely agree with.  I believe they are closely related and in another way than just seeing my time here as just a trial or hard time.  Well, maybe they are kind of a stepping stone to where I am going.  I think that in my time here, especially while I learn the language, I must keep my eyes on Jesus and focus on God’s will and his love for me and let every worry go to the wayside.  I think that when we go through trials it is easiest for us to go to God and focus only on him.  When we are hurting and at our worst or really struggling, these are the times it is easiest for us to quit relying on ourselves and go to God and let him take over for us.  We finally realize in these times that we aren’t sufficient and so we go to God to help us through our troubles.  Its in these times we keep our focus on God and allow him to take over our lives and in return are filled with so much love and peace.  I do not really consider my time here a struggle, definitely not as much as I know others are experiencing.  I think that many people, however, (myself included) tend to ignore and/or escape so much of life on a daily basis instead of remaining focused on God.  I have realized how difficult it can be to keep your thoughts focused towards God and his will even when we get away from daily distractions.  I have also realized how difficult it can be even when you are away from distractions to face God and allow him to have his way in me.  I think it is much easier for myself and so many others to simply stay distracted until we hit the bottom.  Once we are there and really struggling, then it is easy to come to such a forgiving and graceful God and let him teach us and love us.  This will sound obvious, but we have to really keep our focus on God at all times.  The Bible is full of stories that we should be able to learn from(rather than experience for ourselves, although experience is the best teacher I suppose).  Peter walked on the water while he focused on Jesus but the minute he allowed himself to be distracted he began to sink. Walk by faith not by sight. Jonah got eaten by a whale when he got distracted by fears.  We have to fight both outward distractions and our own thoughts. NOT. (that was a “this shirt is black. Not. Joke fyi) We have to  keep our minds, hearts, and spirits on God and he will do the fighting for us.

The last thing I have been thinking about I may just leave as a question for now, well with a little explanation of my line of thinking.  Ive been wondering why do pastors get paid? When/how did that start? And why do they get paid more as they progress up the ladder as Superintendent or Bishop or whatever?  The last part is really what Ive wondered about.  Why do those in higher positions make so much money? Would it not be better if the church just took care of their pastors? I realize that by paying them that yes, this is taking care of them, but does anyone really need that much money? Sure its nice to have things but as Jesus told the rich man, its easier for a camel to go through a needle than for  him to go to Heaven.  I guess I don’t understand why or how pastors allow themselves to make so much money.  If they are called by God then they should trust Him to take care of their needs.  Their needs.  Not their wants necessarily.  When Paul came or sent others to churches in the Bible, that town provided for their needs.  I would think that at least a few pastors would feel a bit of guilt making so much money off of teaching to feed the poor and love your neighbor and then not giving away all of the excess money not needed for their needs.  I realize that I don’t know how pastors spend their money so maybe many of them do this already and I am unaware.  I also realize that pastors are humans too and it is easy to ignore the little feeling you get when you become aware of a homeless person or someone in need.  I also thought that maybe some would respond that you need to have competitive pay and some incentives to encourage people to answer their calling, or something along those lines.  I would think that if you didn’t, though, then we might have less people who are not as sincere or who become comfortable in their role as pastor. Meaning they will only remain pastors and clergy as long as they are really trusting God and certain that they are where God wants them, not just because it’s a comfortable job and they know the routine.  This is probably oversimplified and I know there are a ton of factors that go into someone becoming a pastor or whatever. I am also aware that it is rather easy to think you are being called somewhere and then find out you were wrong or it was really just you wanting something.

Anyways, if you made it this far Im impressed. I guess thats all for today ha.

Its a small world after all...

Today I rode on the autobahn listening to Shakira sing in Spanglish about Africa with a girl from Estonia as we passed a Mcdonalds at every exit.  Its a small world. 

I had a good flight over two days ago.  The longest leg from NYC to Frankfurt was really very nice.  I flew with Singapore Airlines and they provided me with two meals, hot towels before each meal, pillows, blankets, any drink I wanted, headphones, many options for entertainment in the form of video games and movies, and even a pack with a toothbrush and toothpaste to freshen up with.  From Frankfurt I flew to Dresden and then had to catch a train to Zwickau.  I actually had to catch a train from the airport to the main train station and then from there to Zwickau which took me a few minutes to figure out, but it wasnt bad.  Once I arrived in Zwickau I called the lady who I had been in contact with and her husband came and picked me up from the station.  It was about a five minute drive back to where they live, but it was kind of awkward as I didnt speak any German.  I found out later from Mareta that they all thought I spoke German very well ha.  I had used google translate to respond to emails. Verona and Sebastian, the lady Id been in contact with and her husband, do speak English very well too, but I was trying to only speak in German in the car because I didnt know he spoke English.  Anyways, its all good.  I have slept in the past two days which has been nice and then in the afternoons Sebastian teaches a German class for Mareta, myself, and a girl named Kate who is taking a year off from Emory Divinity school to work over here. 

The food has been good.  I have only eaten one breakfast where I had an egg and some bread.  For lunch we have our big meal where they cook a good bit.  My first lunch here we had some kind of short, straight, thick noodles and some sauce they made. I had never had anything like it.  With this they had some zucchini wrapped in bacon and fried in a pan.. it was all good.  My second lunch, from today, was a kind of potato salad and some fried cauliflower with tomatoes and pickles.  They said it was cold food because it was so hot out.  For our dinners we eat bread and cheese and pickles.  It is pretty good to me.  We also have whatever is left over from lunch and occasionally they cut up some onions and salami.  It is very simple but pretty good.  We have been drinking a drink that comes from a flower.  They take some part of the flower and drain it and then add a lot of water to the liquid.  It tastes kind of like a flower smells but not quite as strong. 

I have learned a few things since being here already.  And now that Im trying to remember them I cant.  Their education system is much different.  In the 5th grade they go to one of two schools. One of the schools will allow them to attend a university and the other they will most likely get trained in a profession.  It all depends on their grades up through the 4th grade... talk about pressure on a kid.  In Eastern Germany where the Soviets were, which includes Zwickau, only 25% of the people are Christians.  There were other things that were more interesting but I am tired and cant recall them now.  Until next time.. peace.

Interesting

Its us vs. them. Them. Them. Those others.  It always has been. For me anyways. Not Forever. Not for everyone. Though for most.  There has always been a nemesis, not even a nemesis, just an enemy.  I didnt always understand it. How could I?  I was just a kid.  Why did my people hate others for no reason aside from for a few differences.  They ignored the similarities, it didnt matter they both loved Jesus and their families.  It was only the differences that got brought up.  His skin was different, he liked him instead of her, he was wrong.  Now I understand.  We were scared.  We didnt really know them.  They might be dangerous, they might challenge our beliefs or expose in us feelings we shouldnt have.  The rest of our people would look at us differently if we even tried to understand.  We would turn into one of them.  Our power, the only thing we thought we had, the only thing we thought we had to combat our fear would be gone.  We would have no one to focus on but ourselves.  We would be exposed as weak.  Its better to work on others, to focus on their shortcomings, on why we are better people than they, to fix them to be closer to what we secretly know ourselves not to be.  It snowballs out of control.  Until we forget to check ourselves.  Until we know whats wrong with them without questioning our reasons.  Thank God Im an adult now.  Now I can recognize fear in others.  Now I can work on those afraid.  They need more work than I. And the circle continues...

                                                                             Anonymous

Swimsuit and Towel Drive... and GAGA!

Yesterday was the official introduction of Gaga to BigHouse! I think it went well.  There were one or two angry storm offs and a few times someone was NOT hit, even though they clearly were, but all in all I think everyone enjoyed it.  I think it is gonna be good here.  It doesnt take a lot of skill or practice and you can play with as many or as few people as we have. 

We are also really gearing up for our swimsuit and towel drive.  If you don't already know about it, we are collecting a swimsuit and towel for every foster child in the state of Alabama, and then embroidering their name on the towel to make it extra special!  There are about 6,000 children in foster care in our state right now, so that is a lot of swimsuits, towels, and embroidering!  Thanks to my mom and grandmother, we are off to a pretty good start though, they have been dominating the Trussville area collecting and finding embroiderers.   We have several other city/regional coordinators throughout the state, so hopefully things will really start humming the next few weeks.  We want to have everything collected and embroidered by May 14, when we will have  a huge packing party in Trussville. We still have a long way to go, but I am confident God and the good folks of Alabama will help us get this done. 

So I just re read what I typed, and I think my brain moves faster than I can type.  I know exactly what I was trying to say, but when I read it, some of it was a jumbled mess of words I am not really sure how they got there.  That also happened on my journal I kept when I was in Europe.  My granddad read it and told me it was interesting but I needed to fix all the grammatical errors. Ha, I really didnt know what he was talking about until I went back later and read through it... it was pretty confusing in some parts, and really, kinda embarrassing.  I did write most of it late at night or on a train somewhere, usually when I was pretty tired and looking forward to resting, so that probably contributed to some of it.  I guess it could also be that I don't know all of the grammar rules, that was always the worst part of English class, however, I usually can read something and know whether or not it sounds correct.  I guess I don't proof read much, so that is probably why my own writing is usually not correct, ha. Anyways, I am rambling about nothing.  If youre still reading this, you should leave a comment and buy a swimsuit or towel or both!

Only about BigHouse

We had a great turnout Saturday for our BigHouse workday! My parents and Luc were even able to come down and help out a little bit and get the big tour from Micah.  I was glad they came.  We had a loooong list of things to get done, and made a pretty good dent in it.  We got the left side of the shed torn down, the right side of the remaining shed fixed, a place for the wall dug out, started the gaga pit, got some raking done, cleaned BigHouse, and got a lot of clothes sorted and turned over for summer in our clothes closet.  It was a fun and productful day from my standpoint.  Im hoping with the volunteers we get throughout the week we can finish up some of these projects pretty soon, the large stack of wood in our backyard makes it hard for the kids to be outside much. 

I thought Sunday was a good day.  After the workday on Saturday Blake, Micah, Anderson, and I went to my house in Trussville.  On Sunday morning Micah spoke to all three services and several sunday school classes at my church about the swimsuit and towel drive, she is a pretty solid speaker!  Everyone seemed excited about it, and between two sunday school classes we already got $400 in donations towards the drive.

It wasnt though.  God answers prayers, He humbled me.

Its official!

I am officially a BigHouse employee now! woot, woot.  To celebrate, we are having a Chick-fil-A night tonight, Monday February 14, 2011!!  Hope everyone can come out and celebrate with me!! or just come out and eat and donate your receipt in the little bin... besides whats sweeter than taking your sweetheart on a date to Chick-fil-A for Valentines Day? (For all of my northern followers, Chick-fil-A is a top notch fast food chain down here)  If you cant come tonight, or if you can and want to celebrate even more..., Saturday is going to be a BigHouse workday!! We need as many people as can come to help us with some stuff around here. Bring whatever tools you have! Our big project is going to be tearing down part of a shed in the back, but we will also be building a gaga pit and doing a little landscaping/building a brick wall and stairs!

Thats really all the news for now.  I have been thinking of a getting a new hobby.. I need something to get out and do.  Joy thought I should take up cooking, which is sort of already a hobby, however, I dont really want nor have the money to be cooking all the time.. its not healthy.  So, I need other suggestions people! Thanks, Joe