Thankful

Of course on Thanksgiving my thoughts are occupied with the things in my life for which I am most grateful. I have to say that today most definitely does NOT feel like Thanksgiving (going to class on Thanksgiving kinda kills the mood...) but nevertheless, as I stop to reflect, I am overwhelmed by the sheer volume of the things (people) that I am most grateful for. Count your blessings one by one...for me that would most definitely take several days if not weeks! So, since I am apparently lazy, I will just paste the copy of the letter I sent to Lisa as "Because I can't be at Thanksgiving, here are some words so you can feel like I am there for a little bit at dinner time..."

Family and Friends,

I sit here in wonder as I reflect on the journey in the last year that has brought me to this place...Two months in Germany already passed and I have so much to be thankful for. As I embarked on this journey, I had as keen a sense now as I did then that all of this is made possible by the incredible network of love and support provided by you all. You all truly lift me up and make me strong enough to face whatever the future holds because I rest assured in the knoweledge that I have an incredible safety-net of love backing me up (and probably the loudest cheering section as well) So, as I think of what I am most thankful for this Thanksgiving, the first thing that comes to mind is of course the small army of loved ones who believe in me and challenge and encourage me to chase my dreams. 

Beyond that, though, I am accutely aware of the Source of the strength and love that you all provide me with - our Beautiful Savior - whose unending, unchanging love challenges me every day to see creation and his people through His eyes. Thank you all for teaching me aspects of the Father's heart through your words and actions. As I live in a vastly different culture and come to know and love people here, I rejoice in the unending source of love that fills me anew each day.

Life in Germany has shown me in new ways the things that I am thankful for (both superficial and not so superficial) I will forever be thankful for people who bag groceries...trying to pay and bag my groceries in the bags that I brought is always an interesting adventure. I will also always appreciate the wide array of ingredients and gluten-free foods we have at home...Germany is about 10 years behind the gluten-free bandwagon, apparently. I am also thankful for Target and the availability of one-stop shopping. I can't decide yet if I am more thankful that stores are open on Sundays in the States or if I am more thankful for the mandatory pause and rest that closed stores provide on Sundays in Germany - that one might come out a wash (although, there have been a few tight weekends with a mostly bare refridgerator)

In my German Thanksgiving spirit, I would like to wrap up by expressing my thankfulness for our nature as relational beings and the value of communication. Living and interacting in another culture has lent new meaning to communication and relationship. Because of this, I truly cherish the incredible instances of relationships that cross cultural backgrounds - what a gift we have in our hearts for others, and what a gift to be able to communicate our hearts to others. I am daily awed by the beauty of human connection, and the vehicle of that connection, language and communication. I am thankful that our hearts are so intertwined that I can miss you all so much from an ocean away. I am also thankful that our hearts are so structured that they continue to reach out and form connections even in the aftermath of pain, hurt and confusion. The power of connection and the satisfaction of understanding and being understood are great and powerful gifts. 

Sorry if that got a little philosophical :) I am thankful for you all and miss you more than I have the power to express with words. I carry you all in my heart, and thank our Heavenly Father, giver of all good things, for such a privilege.

Now, because we all know that I have an extremely high word-quota, I would like to include a list of things that I am especially thankful for this year (in no particular order)

-Skype

-Not having to pay separate utilities

-bicycles

-online dictionaries

-internet in general

-scarves

-crocks

-the incredibly generous International office here (that just offered to fund our Thanksgiving celebration on Saturday...hooray! I'm not going to go broke feeding 30-40 people!)

-German coffee, chocolate and ice cream

-Peanut butter

-the bar :)

-trains, and student tickets

-maps

-good friends, old and new

As you can see...I am overwhelmed by things to be thankful for...I love and miss you all, eat some extra turkey, cranberry sauce, and mashed potatoes for me :)

Reflections on 2 Months

As I walked home in a pink dusk last night, I was suddenly struck by the realization that 2 months have casually passed since I began this journey. Thusly, I find it appropriate to record some basic thoughts and reflections on how my life has changed in these past few months (in no particular order):

I don’t get to drive a car here…I never realized how American I am in that sense: I really miss driving my car!

Instead of orienting myself according to the mountains, directions are all given in relation to the castle.

I walk a whole heck of a lot more.

I somehow find more of a need to express myself profoundly in English – never in my life have I felt such a deep need to write.

I find it strange when I walk down the street and overhear a conversation in English – I actually notice the “rrrr” of the American accent, which is kind of hilarious.

I never could have imagined the boldness that has been instilled in my heart in my drive to learn German. In the past few weeks, I have really branched out from my English-speaking friends and find myself walking boldly into new situations in which I meet new people and casually converse in German. Unbelievable. The only exception to this ability to converse in German is one of the Germans who lives on my floor. For some reason, I absolutely cannot understand him when he speaks. Germany is a land of diverse dialects, and the accent here in Baden, while I must really concentrate to understand, is at least clear enough that I can understand at least 75% of what is being said. With Dennis, he might as well be speaking Chinese half of the time. Anyway, bottom line: I am really enjoying making German friends here. I also enjoy the confidence that I am gaining as I truly relish every moment that has been granted to me in this place.

I daily gain a deeper understanding of cultural identity. It is funny to observe another culture and begin to realize how much of my perception of self and world comes from being an American. Walking the tightrope of cultural sensitivity and personal pride is becoming ever easier, however, as I find my feet in this sometimes strange world, and learn to step away from the wall and live my differences boldly. I am learning that a large part of the American psyche (at least mine) revolves around a sense of empathy. I have a strong propensity to identify with the feelings and experiences of others…because of this, I apologize a lot, I laugh with people and conversely take their hurt on and hurt with them. I have been told countless times that I mustn’t apologize so much or utter such sympathetic mutterings when hearing the plight of others. To which I now reply with a smile, laugh and expression of genuine camaraderie: I am an American, and proud to be so.

I no longer find it strange to visit several different stores over a period of days in order to purchase my groceries.

I am becoming a pro at working the train system here.

However, I continue to miss you all dearly. I looked back on the first few posts and remember easily the tears shed in the airport and on airplanes as I embarked on this adventure with the support of a small army of family and friends. Without your network of support I am certain I would find myself here a little adrift and uncertain. I know that my boldness here comes from a deep sense of security in being loved, missed, and encouraged. I continue to carry you all in my heart with a deep sense of inexpressible gratitude. Thank you. ~love~

Karlsruhe in Pictures

One Sunday, I took a walk in the gardens and forest surrounding the castle (Karlsruhe Schloß) This pond is a lovely peaceful spot, beautifully accented by vibrant fall colors.

Solitude

Center

Reflection

Botanical Gardens

Fun fact: The German Supreme Court is located in Karlsruhe, just next to these botanical gardens. I would include pictures, but pictures of the building are not allowed.

Walking across cobblestones in heels and other adventures of the old world

I have officially entered the chapter of my life in Karlsruhe entitled: Life as a Student in Germany. Therefore, I am utterly devoid of the page-turning adventure stories that keep you all coming back for more! For those of you who nevertheless search for updates, exciting or not, here is a little overview of this somewhat mundane chapter of my life.

Short version: I go to class about 14 hours per week and in the mean time, read, work on grammar, watch movies, and cook. (not necessarily in that order)

Bekah version: I am still getting used to the German system of classes meeting only once a week (for 90 minutes) and the fact that I am taking 9 classes right now. 3 of those classes are classified as "German as a foreign language" classes (translation, I am reminded how terrible I am at German grammar) where I am there as someone who is learning German. I have a love-hate relationship with these classes. They are comfortable in that I am with fellow foreign students who empathize with my hatred of noun genders, adjective endings and subjunctive prepositions (aka "verb kickers"). However, these classes deal with the finite details that formulate the border between being able to speak a language passable and true fluency. 

3 Other classes are for German students and include: Film and Literature of the Weimar Republic, Modern German Literature and the EU in International Relations. Number one: I love these classes. Number two: I may or may not be in WAY over my head. The fantastic news is that the professors are glad to have exchange students in their classes and are very sympatheic to my situation. One of the coolest things that happened was that last week one of the most well-known modern German authors came and talked in our modern-lit class and read a selection from his new book. It was a surreal experience to look at the picture of the author on the back cover of my book, then look up and see the man in the flesh. I was a little star-struck. 

I am also doing a teaching internship at a high school, teaching English one day a week. That starts tomorrow...I'll keep you updated on that one. 

Meanwhile, I am working on my skills of reading in German by mostly not allowing myself to read in English for a little while. I eat a rediculous amount of chocolate. I found popcorn at the grocery store last week (translation: I have been eating a rediculous amount of popcorn as well). Homesickness comes and goes...which means that homesick comes most notably when the sun decides to take a vacation and leave rain to rule the weather for 4 or 5 days. I MISS COLORADO SUNSHINE!! Luckily the sun returned yesterday and decided to stick around for today, so things are looking up at the moment.

For those of you who are curious about the post title, I went out with Cindy for her birthday on Friday night and we decided to get all dolled up for our night on the town. That means that even though it was raining and gross outside, I wore a skirt and heels. It will take a very big occasion to convince me to wear heels ever again in this city full of cobblestones! As we were crossing a side street, my heel was stuck and my foot came right out and landed directly in a puddle. I had to retreat back several paces to retrieve my shoe from its wedged position. Lesson learned. Now that I have entered the time of "everyday life" in Karlsruhe, I am becoming acquainted with the intricacies of German student life. The learning curve is a bit like a roller-coaster here, but I really enjoy it.

Hope you all feel better informed, if not more entertained! ~love~

Going once, going twice...

Wow, two posts in one day, I'm on a roll! 

Now, I would like to submit to you, my faithful readers, as evidence that I am gaining boldness in this foreign place the following: I purchased a bicycle at an auction on Wednesday. Now, I would like to draw your attention to one very important word: auction. This was no easy, walk in, find a bicycle, buy said bicycle...this was go in, peruse the merchandise (some of which was very poor quality, I might add), make a mental list of which bicycles I would be willing to buy, and decide how much I was willing to pay for each of the bicycles. Then, I stood in a crowd of about 50-75 people and bid on said bicycles. Now, maybe I'm making a bigger deal of this than I should be, I mean maybe everyone is bold enough to go to auctions, I don't know. Plus, I've never been to an auction in which everything was conducted in English, either...however, I was pretty darn proud of myself for winning not one, but two bicycles (Amy got there late and we made a deal that I would get her one as well...) in an auction conducted entirely in German. The best part was that I got a pretty great bicycle out of it in the end as well! (I mean, my bike at home is much nicer, but I just need it for a year and I'm on a bit of a tight budget) The other good news is that I know the school will purchase my bike back from me at the end of the year, so I'll get all of my money back...huzzah! 

So I now own a bike that is in desperate need of a name (suggestions welcome...) It is a mountain bike painted a lovely shade of dark blue (if I remember, I'll post pictures, perhaps after it is christened with a fabulously fitting name...) and I am so glad to be able to hop on  and ride wheresoever my little heart desires. I need to get a light soon, so that I am not limited by the ever shortening daylight hours. 

I feel that the whole bike-auction scenario illustrates well my first hectic week of classes as well. I have attended several classes this week, (most of which I will keep, at least one of which I will not continue going to) and it was hard, and confusing at times, I had to use my brain not only to learn but also to understand the words being spoken, and I am utterly exhausted, but not without reward. I feel a certain sense of accomplishment in making it through this crazy week. My class schedule as it stands now includes: German as a foreign language (advanced), Literature and film of the Weimar Republic, a teaching internship class, German as an academic language (basically how to write German well), Germany Today, Paths to European Integration, Modern German Literature (since 1989), the European Union in international relations, and German phonetics. The teachers are great and I am confident that my German will improve through these classes (they're about half and half - classes specifically for foreign students and classes for German students) I feel supported and challenged and only marginally overwhelmed! So, thank you for all of your thoughts and prayers through this crazy week. I am glad to finally be in classes and getting into a routine. 

I carry you all in my heart ~love~

End of the line...

Last weekend Amy, Jonathan, Sophie, Chad and I set forth in search of a relatively cheap adventure and thusly decided to ride to the end of the street-car line with our free student tickets to the town of Wiessemburg, France. After a morning at the flea-market, we set out for the sleepy town of Wissembourg in the early afternoon and found a charming old city. Wissembourg is a much older city than Karlsruhe and I was impressed by the old houses and narrow streets that gave this quaint town a more historic feel than Karlsruhe. This church is a beautiful centerpiece of the town:
We were lucky to have a native French speaker (Sophie) with us to teach us a few key words and phrases, read the signs and talk with the locals. Although most people there speak both German and French, they much prefer speaking French. I must say it was a strange feeling to be somewhere where I couldn't understand anything they were saying and couldn't really communicate. But being there definitely gave me a new appreication for just how much German I can understand and speak!

Here you can see Chad, Amy, Sophie and Jonathan sitting on part of the remains of the old city wall that surrounded Wissembourg back in the day. In the background is a nursing home dedicated to the Polish King Stanislow who was exiled there in the 1700s. 

The narrow streets on which old and new architecture comfortably rubbed shoulders lent a comfortable feel to our afternoon stroll through the city. The city integrates green parks and open spaces well with the crowded building structures. I glimpsed a few gardens through rusted gates that made me long to read The Secret Garden for the first time in years.

The afternoon was sunny and comfortably warm, seasoned with the company of friends. I thoroughly enjoyed the sleepy town, although I know I would have felt more comfortable if I knew the language!

After an afternoon of strolling around the narrow streets, we settled down to eat dinner. Unfortunately for us, the French eat on a much different time table, with most restraunts closed until 7 or 8 at night when the re-open for dinner! Luckily we found a place that took us at 6:30 and enjoyed some traditional French food: escargot! Sophie convinced us all that we needed to try snails at least once in our lives, so she ordered a plate and we took turns using the tongs to pick up the very hot, rather slippery snail shells and using a special fork to extract this delicacy from said shells...food and a show, what more can we ask for?

As with most things that are cooked in butter with a lot of great spices, the snails were superb. (a conclusion that all came to, despite the skeptical look on Jonathan's face!) In the end, a good time was had by all, although we were all glad to come home to familiar Karlsruhe. I am glad that each day this city is more and more familiar and feels more like home. However: here's to exotic food, good friends, and new adventures! ~love~

The hills are alive

Luckily enough, we seemed to have found the "easy" button for the entire trip to Liechtenstein...Amy, Jonathan and I left early Friday morning with seemingly little knowledge about the adventure we were embarking on. We traveled south to the Boden-See area where Germany, Switzerland and Austria all meet. We crossed over into Switzerland perhaps a little too easily (we walked through an empty and quiet customs room...with surprisingly little fanfare) Amy thinks that when people cross international (or even state) borders, there should be at least trumpets or something! Anyway, we took the train through the German part of Switzerland to the border town of Buchs. From Buchs we took the Liechtenstein bus to the capital city and then farther on to our hotel in the small mountain town of Steg. Keep in mind that we had no idea what trains or busses we would be taking past the German border or how often such transportation ran...we were so fortunate to always make close connections and made surprisingly good time.Here you see the Steg hotel and almost the entire town of Steg. The fog that had shrowded our entire journey lifted just as we pulled into Steg, making the scenery that much more majestic! We immediately ran up a little hill to a bench to take in the scenery and breathe the fresh, cool mountain air. Jonathan had never seen mountains like this (he lives in the Appalachian Mountains...a different, more rolling kind of beautiful) and it was great fun to experience the Alps with his sense of wonder! I was beyond overjoyed to be in the majestic Alps - I truly believe that one understands the word majestic more fully when standing in the middle of such beauty and grandeur. The whole weekend I was struck by the fact that while archetecture and cities are impressive, nothing that man builds trumps the splendor of God's craftmanship! 

We took a little walk around Steg and the base of the mountain directly behind our hotel: Schönberg (literally "beautiful mountain"). The fall colors were perfect, the weather was relatively warm, the company was wonderful and the setting could not have been better! Upon returning to Steg, we ate at a local restraunt. It was wonderful, we walked in the door and I was worried that they were closed because the chef/owner was sitting with a bunch of people around a table talking - through observation I came to understand that such behavior is pretty much the norm in this sleepy little town! We enjoyed warm drinks and delicious food (the chef boasted that his saurkraut is the best in the region, and I cannot argue...it was most definitely the best saurkraut I have ever eaten!) Then went to bed at 8pm (we were exhausted!) to wake up for a morning hike....
We hiked Schönberg, taking in the amazing scenery every step of the way (ok, except when we were catching ourselves from falling on the loose gravel!) ate at the top and made our way back down to go check out the capital city of Vaduz. Once again, we caught the bus that comes once every 55 minutes by a 5 minute margin! 
Here you can see in the distance the town of Feldkirch in Austria! The Swiss Alps were also quite easy to see from the top of this 2104 meter high mountain!
Here you can see the picturesque town of Vaduz. We visited the art museum there on Sunday morning before traveling to Feldkirch and then through Austria to return Sunday night to Karlsruhe. I am increasingly thankful for the friends that I have found in Amy and Jonathan. The trip to Liechtenstein worked out perfectly and was exactly what I needed. I feel protected and provided for in this place...praise the Father! Missing you all...~love~