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.