Seeing the sights around the neighborhood

Today was a beautiful day. The sun was out, and even though it was a little cold, the wind wasn't really blowing. Bremen doesn't get many days like that in December! So, I decided to go for a walk, and I took my camera with me. Several of you have asked to see some pictures of my neighborhood and of the city, so here you go:


The red building is my apartment building. The building in the center has an orthopedic shoe and artificial limb shop on the ground floor, and the one on the right is a Korean Kimchi restaurant. I guess you could say it's a diverse street.


The Lutheran church that's practically right across the street from my apartment. I don't know how often they normally have services, but on Christmas Eve and the day after Christmas, the bells were ringing every hour and a half or so, and they rang for 15 minutes straight. On a side note, to me the building looks more like a castle than a church building, but I suppose they didn't ask me what I thought....


St. Jürgen Krankenhaus, the hospital that sits across from the end of my street. Rest assured, if there's ever an emergency, I can walk there in about 2 minutes. Though I guess if it really was an emergency I should be running, not walking, so I suppose I could get there in less than 2 minutes....


The Weser River. People have told me I live really close to the river, but I didn't really realize it until today. From my apartment I can walk down to the river in less than 10 minutes. By the way, those tall, skinny things on the left side are part of Bremen's stadium, where Werder Bremen, Bremen's soccer team, plays and where people like Bon Jovi get to perform.

More to come....

A new day

My Christmas "tree," courtesy of Helga. :-)

Well, Christmas is over, and I have to say that a big part of me is not all that sad to see it go.

Christmas has always been one of my favorite holidays. For me it's always been a wonderful time to spend with family, have a few much-needed days off of school or work, and enjoy lots of good seasonal cooking.

This year, though, was obviously a lot different. As I've mentioned before, it just didn't feel like Christmas for me. The biggest reason for that, of course, was the fact that I wasn't with my family. Another contributor, though, was the fact that there was no break from work or school. For the last 19 years my life has revolved around the schedule of the school year, whether because I was a student or because I was working at a university. The biggest sign of the approaching holiday season has always been the impending end of the fall semester and the dreaded final exams. This year I guess you could say I've been initiated into the "real world" outside of academia.

The only constant this year was the good food. :-) Sunday evening Jim, Elsa, Birgit, and I had a wonderful dinner at Ingrid's house. And believe it or not, I'm actually growing kind of fond of red cabbage. I guess that's a good thing since it's a staple of the German diet.

I woke up Christmas morning, realizing simultaneously that it was Christmas Day and that I was alone in my apartment. (Another first for this year: my alarm clock, instead of my siblings, woke me!) I wasn't alone for long, though, because I went over to Jim and Elsa's around 11:00 to help Elsa prepare food.

All together, there were 17 people at Christmas dinner that afternoon. Except for the boyfriends of two of the women, everyone was there because, for whatever reason, they could not spend Christmas with their family. For some it was because their family was too far away. Others don't have a good enough relationship with family to spend holidays together. A few just don't have any family at all. I was really glad to be able to spend the day with these people, not only because they kept me from spending the day by myself but also because I got to know some of them better and because it was a good chance to encourage them on a day that could have been really depressing for many of them.

Most of the day went wonderfully. We had a good meal and had a lot of fun doing the gift exchange. The gift I opened was a battery-powered stapler, complete with a box of green, blue, and purple staples and a few batteries. It even had a clear plastic top so that you could see all the mechanical stuff working inside. After all the trading was over, though, I ended up with a glass rocking horse with a music box on the underside that plays "O Tannenbaum." So, I've got another Christmas decoration to set out next year.

I was having a great time...until we started singing "Stille Nacht." We'd sung some other songs, and I was fine during those, but for some reason when we sang that song I got this weird feeling of sadness mixed with anxiety that just kind of stuck in my throat. It was all I could do not to burst into tears right there.

Stefanie finally brought me home, and I was able to talk to my family for awhile and wish them a Merry Christmas. That helped me feel a little better.

Tuesday, though, was Germany's 3rd and last day of Christmas, and I really didn't want to talk to anyone that day. I spent the day in my apartment both because everything was closed that day, so I couldn't have gone anywhere if I wanted, and also because I just needed some time alone. I spent a lot of time thinking about what had happened the day before and why I was feeling the way I was. I finally decided that I had spent so much time trying to "prepare" myself for being here for Christmas, telling myself that everything would be okay because I had people with whom I could spend the holiday, that I didn't let myself acknowledge that I really was sad to be away from my family on Christmas. Karen and I have had several conversations about allowing ourselves to struggle. There's such a temptation to tell ourselves that we have no right to feel lonely or sad as we get adjusted here because there are other people out there who have
no family to miss or who are struggling with much greater problems than we are. We've finally had to tell ourselves that it's okay to struggle and that our struggles, no matter how insignificant they may seem (or we think they seem), are big and are important because they are our struggles. Our struggles are the only ones we can ever experience first-hand and truly understand, so of course they're going to be important to us.

Lately I've also found one part of my brain saying, "Stop whining, Alicia. After all, you got yourself into this." This thought came again on Christmas. My response was to scold myself for thinking that. Yes, I made the decision to come here, but as I firmly believe and as I've told many people, God has prepared me for being here and opened the doors for me to come. My next thought was, "Well, then is this God's fault?"

And that's when Jeremiah 29:11 drifted across my thoughts.

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

I can't describe the peace that gave me. It reminded me of the fact that I spent 2 years thinking and praying about coming here for the campaign and then another year and a half praying about coming back. God set this opportunity before me and paved the way for me to be able to take advantage of that opportunity. When I had my doubts and questioned the decision, there was always something or someone reminding me that I could do this and that it would be okay. There weren't the "closed doors" that so many people encounter. Why then, if I believe that God has led me thus far, would I even entertain the idea that He's making me suffer? God hasn't let me down so far, and I can't believe He's going to do it now.

...plans to prosper you and not to harm you....

Over the past several years I've heard all sorts of things about "culture shock." They say it usually sets in after about 3 to 6 months and that everyone experiences it and deals with it differently. We've all acknowledged that Mark and Karen have reached this point. I hadn't thought of myself, though, as being "eligible" for culture shock until I spoke with Elsa a couple days ago. She knew I was upset on Christmas, and I've also told her that I've not been sleeping well and have been having really weird dreams, some of which border on being nightmares. She finally said that, unlike Mark and Karen, maybe I'm handling culture shock inwardly. I hadn't thought about that, but I guess it makes sense. I think Christmas and the sadness of being away from family just complicated all the other things I've been dealing with.

Elsa said something else that I will never forget: "If this was easy, we'd be overrun with people wanting to come here." Obviously, since they don't exactly have a surplus of workers in the church here, "this" must not be easy. While Elsa's comment doesn't make it easier to be in a new culture and to be away from family, it acknowledged my struggles and reminded me that they're perfectly natural. It also boosted my confidence a bit because in a way she seemed to be applauding my efforts to take the narrow road, the one "less traveled."

I finally had a talk with God and determined to change my thoughts. To acknowledge my struggles with the language, culture, lonliness, etc. To accept my struggles for what they are and to work through them. To realize that "this too shall pass." To strive to see the positive things around me instead of spending so much energy concentrating on the difficult things.

And I decided not to wait for the new year. Today, after all, is a new day.

A "merry" weekend

I've said it before and I need to say it again: I have a wonderful family.

My family sent me a package with a few Christmas gifts. When I called them yesterday to say that I had received it, they were very eager for me to open one of the gifts, so I did. What was inside made my day: 3 CDs of Christmas songs. My family has always been big on listening to Christmas music, both in the car and at home, and I realized recently how much I've missed that this year. My dad compiled the CDs himself, so there's a wide array of our family's favorites. He included everything from Bing Crosby's "White Christmas" to The Chipmunks' "Christmas Don't Be Late." Listening to the CDs just makes me smile. Thanks, Dad. :-)

Last night I went to the Abercrombies to watch a movie on TV. Stefanie said they show it every year, and she wanted us to watch it with her. It was "Little Lord Fauntleroy," which I've never seen in English, so at times (okay, LOTS of times) it was difficult to understand dubbed in German. It's a very sweet movie, though, and I think if we watch it again next year I'll understand a lot more.

I spent a good part of today running some errands. Everything except a few restaurants is closed on Sundays, even when it's not Christmas Eve, and everything will be closed Monday for Christmas and also on Tuesday the 26th (just because they can, I guess), so I had to get some groceries and other things since nothing will be open again until Wednesday. Apparently half the city had the same idea. Places were packed. I half-expected there to be empty shelves at the grocery stores, but aside from a few empty cabbage boxes, there were still plenty of things to choose from.

Tomorrow evening I'm going to Ingrid's for dinner, and Monday I'm going to the Springers' for a Christmas lunch they host each year for people who don't have family. I guess each year they have one of those gift exchanges where everyone brings something and then gets to either choose a new gift or steal someone elses. So, today I also went on a hunt for something suitable for the gift exchange, which was not an easy task. How do you choose something for a gift when you have no real idea of what people in this culture give as gifts? I suppose I'll find out on Monday, won't I?

So, for all of you who worry about me spending Christmas alone in my apartment, please don't. Because I won't. Be alone, that is. :-)

I hope you have a wonderful Christmas, however you spend it, and I hope you also have family and/or friends with whom you can enjoy the day.

PS ~ Congratulations, Lydia and Kyle! (They're getting married today!) I wish I could be there to celebrate with you guys, but my heart's there with you. I pray that God blesses and guides you as you start your new life together.

'Twas the week before Christmas....

It's still hard for me to believe that Christmas is only a few days away.

I think the fact that this is the first year I won't be with my family has a lot to do with it. I think a bigger part of it, though, stems from the constant busyness of the past few months. I've been so focused on finding a place to live; learning how to do "simple" tasks like grocery shopping and buying bus passes; practicing my German; and adjusting to the culture that Christmas has been far from my mind.

Even this past week has been full. I spent a good part of the weekend in bed with a sinus infection. I really believe that a shortage of restful sleep over the past couple weeks contributed to my getting sick, so I tried to sleep as much as possible.

By Tuesday morning I was feeling better, so I went to the ladies' Bible study. In my opinion, the ladies' Bible studies have been some of the best things I've done here. They've helped me improve my German, both in listening and in speaking. The women have been so encouraging as I practice speaking! Herta, who is in her 80s, smiles so big whenever I speak in German, even if I'm speaking to other people. To her and to some of the others, the simple fact that someone is trying to learn and to use their language is exciting. It's exciting to me that they're so patient! It's also been good to get to know the women who attend regularly. They come from a wide range of backgrounds and all have their own personal struggles, which leads to some interesting discussions at times. I wish that I could also say it's good to attend the studies because of the Bible lessons, but sadly I don't understand enough yet to be able to gain a whole lot. I usually do understand the basic story or thought they are discussing, but I haven't yet been able to participate in the discussion. Hopefully as time goes by that will change.

Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon I worked in Jim's library. We're making great headway in getting things organized. Hopefully this will help Jim get the most use out of the books and other research materials he owns. I think a little organization will also go a long way toward easing Elsa's nerves. :-)

Also this week I went to Mark and Karen's apartment to wash some laundry. I don't have a washing machine, and it's a bit of a walk to the nearest laundromat, so to save me some time and money they said I could wash my things at their apartment. Let's just say it was a bit of a challenge getting my laundry to their apartment. Most of the trip was on the streetcar, but it was still a little awkward carrying my laundry bag across town. I wasn't sure if I looked more like Santa Claus or a homeless person. I'm just thankful I have some clean laundry.

Today the contracts were signed for the purchase of the new building and for the sale of the current one. The man from the Turkish restaurant next door officially takes ownership of the building at the beginning of February, but he will let us "rent" the building for a couple months while we renovate the new building. Many prayers have gone up on behalf of this effort, and it's wonderful to see progress being made and in such a short amount of time! I know that getting the paperwork taken care of before the holidays will ease a lot of burdens for everyone here.

The Christmas market is still in town and is still going strong. Here are a few pictures to try to help you understand what it's like:

The Tannenbaum at the Christmas market

Santa sets up his sled to sell Christmas goodies.

Some of the crowds of people waiting in line.

Most of the pictures I tried to take didn't come out so well because it was dark, but here's a good one I found on www.bsag.de while looking up bus routes:

(Thanks to Martin Rospek) :-)

Frohe Weihnachten!

Things I've learned since coming to Bremen - Part 1

Guess what? I now have internet access in my apartment! Whew. I finally asked Elsa to call the help line, and she was able to get someone to look into what was wrong. The person ultimately discovered that the internet division of the company did not even know I was a customer. He told her to talk to someone "on the second level in Kiel," and that person was then very helpful. Apparently, 1 in 1,000 customers "gets lost" in the transfer from the phone division to the internet division. I guess the odds were in my favor.

As I've said before, I've learned a lot of things since arriving here in October, and I thought it would be fun to share some of them. Some are cultural differences between the States and Germany, some are spiritual realizations, some are simply things that make life in Bremen easier, and others are things I've learned about myself. So, here's the first installment:

1) Always take your umbrella with you.
Bremen seems to be Germany's equivalent of Seattle. It rains at least once a day. Okay, there are some days when it doesn't rain, but still. It rains A LOT.

2) Just because the map shows that 2 busses or streetcars stop at the same place doesn't mean they actually do.
Yes, sometimes the stop is at the same place, but other times you have to go around the corner or down the street, or even both. What really confuses me is when the stops have the same name but you can't even see one stop while standing at the other.

3) Do NOT, under any circumstances, walk on the red brick part of the sidewalk.
That is, of course, unless you have some strange desire to be plowed over by a speeding bicycle. You know how your mother taught you to look both ways before crossing the street? Here you also have to look both ways before crossing the sidewalk. Bremen is a bicycler's paradise. Almost every part of the city is set up to accomodate bicycles with half of the sidewalk designated as a bike lane and half set aside for pedestrians. People on bicycles get very annoyed when you walk in the bike lane, and they have little bells on their bikes that they ring at you. I had several near-death experiences before I finally learned to look both ways and to avoid the red bricks at all costs.

And speaking of bicycles...

4) The statement, "It's just like riding a bike. You never forget," is not true.
(Some of you have already heard this story, but I feel a need to record it here even if only for posterity's sake.) Four days after I arrived in Bremen, a woman at church named Yek-Len asked me to come to her home the next morning. So, that night, Ingrid drew me a map showing how to get to Yek-Len's apartment and told me I could ride her daughter's bike, which had been in the storage room in the cellar for a few years. The next morning I got ready and went to the cellar to get the bicycle. After I got it out of the storage room, I discovered that getting it back upstairs and out of the building would be no easy task. I somehow managed to carry/drag the bike back up the 15 or so basement steps, through the hallway, out the door, and down the 4 or 5 steps in front of the building. I climbed on the bike and started to ride...only to find myself tipping over into a hedge a moment later. The bike stopped at the hedge; I, however, did not. I continued through the hedge and onto the ground on the other side. Let's just say that the ground was no feather pillow. I have no idea what the whole misadventure looked like, but I'm sure that any neighbor who happened to be watching out their window at that moment had a great laugh.

That, however, was not the end of my troubles. I decided that I could not ride the bike, so after climbing back through the hedge, I locked it to the stair-rail in the front of the building. At that point I was running late, so I went back upstairs and called Yek-Len to tell her what had happened and that I would be walking to her house. I hung up the phone and headed out again, only to realize after closing the apartment door that I had left my keys inside. Ingrid had introduced me to a couple of her neighbors, and I knew that they both had spare keys, so I decided I would ask one of them to let me in when I returned. I continued down the stairs and outside, only to realize that I had also left the map Ingrid had drawn for me. Since I was running so late, I determined that I could remember enough of the map to get there without it.

No such luck. What should have been about a 15-minute walk turned into a 45-minute trek because I couldn't remember the name of the street Yek-Len lives on. I did know the house number, and I walked up to every house I saw with that number looking to see if Yek-Len's name was by the bell outside. I finally arrived, rang Yek-Len's apartment, and she said, "Come on in. I'm on the top floor." Six flights of stairs later, I entered Yek-Len's apartment looking and feeling like a truck had run over me.

I had a very good visit with Yek-Len, though, and made it back to Ingrid's apartment with no problem. I managed to explain to the woman downstairs (who speaks no English) that I had locked myself out, and she let me back in. When she saw me trying to carry the bicycle back inside and down to the cellar, she also showed me the back entrance that only had 3 steps instead of the 15 I had tackled the first time. At that point in the day, all I could do was laugh at myself.

Moral of the story: You really can forget how to do things because I forgot how to ride a bike. It's been at least 10 years since I last rode one, and if I had known that I had forgotten how, I think that trip to Yek-Len's would have been much less eventful. At least the people at church have had several good laughs at my story. And like I said before, I'm sure the neighbors did as well.

5) God is multilingual.
I'm sure that sounds kind of silly, but it's something I started thinking about not too long after I got here. Ingrid and I prayed together before we ate meals, and sometimes she would pray in German and other times I prayed in English. It hit me one day that God didn't need a translator to understand Ingrid. I guess since I've always talked to God in English some part of me thought that God spoke only English.

Not only does He understand our languages, but He also speaks to us in our languages. One Sunday in Bible class we were studying I Peter and the Germans got into a discussion about 2:19. The German translates it as "Es ist Gnade..." ("It is grace..."), and they were having trouble understanding what that meant, so they asked me what it said in English. My NIV translation says, "For it is commendable...." As the discussion continued we realized that unless you know ancient Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek and have access to the original copies of Scripture, you are reading a translation of the Bible. And every translation was done by a man or woman who had to make decisions. Some things in the original languages can't be accurately translated into other languages and still keep the same feeling evoked by the author. So, scholars choose how to translate. The coolest part about this for me is that I can read the Bible in English, and other people can read in German, Chinese, Russian, or whatever language, and God speaks to each of us through His Word, even though the words are in different languages.

Bureaucracy, library work, girls in witch costumes, and other drama in my corner of the world....

Hello again! I'm sure you've been thinking I've disappeared or something, but I'm still here, taking life one day at a time. :-)

I have to admit the past week and a half or so since I last posted has been a difficult and frustrating time for me. I mentioned that I planned to stay in my apartment that night, and I did do that. It was really exciting to realize that I was "going home" to my apartment. The next day, however, was the beginning of my epic battle with the phone company, Deutsche Telecom. Someone was supposed to come to my apartment to check on my phone between 5 and 7 pm. I waited until 8:30 and no one came. Stores here close at 8, if not at 6, so I knew no one would be coming after 8:30. I was supposed to go to the ladies' Bible study at church that night, and so I decided to go even though I was an hour and a half late.

So, Wednesday I went back and waited in line for what seemed like forever before finally reaching the counter and telling the woman that no one came for the appointment the day before. When she finally seemed to understand what I was telling her in my limited German, she called the help line and waited on hold for about 20 minutes before hanging up and giving me the number to call myself. I walked out feeling extremely frustrated. At that point it had been a week and a half since I registered for my phone service, and I had been told everything would be connected within a few days. The fact that all this communication is in German adds to the frustration for me. After relating my struggles to Elsa, she volunteered to call the help line for me. Thursday Elsa told me she had spoken with a very kind person at the help line who apologized and said that someone would come on Friday morning. So I waited again on Friday and the person finally came. I was extremely thrilled when he told me - in English - that my phone would now work. Living at my apartment with no phone or internet access made me feel disconnected from the world, so it was really nice to finally be able to use my telephone.

However, I still have no internet access. (If you're wondering how I'm typing this now, the Abercrombies were kind enough to let me camp out in their apartment today to use the internet.) I have the router that Telecom gave me when I registered with them, and I've called the help line and someone verified that my DSL line is open, but I need several numbers in order to register my internet service, and I haven't received these yet. I went by Telecom again on Wednesday, and the person there called and asked that these numbers be sent to me, but I still haven't received them. So, if they don't come in the mail tomorrow, I may have to take drastic measures. :-) I don't yet know what those measures will be, but....Whenever I start to complain about how long things take and how people don't seem to be able to help you, Elsa tells me, "Welcome to Germany!" I guess every country has its share of bureaucracy, but Germany seems to me to have been given a double portion.

Monday last week I did get two steps closer to getting my residency visa. Elsa went with me to the Bürger Service-Center so I could register with the police. As she says, I now officially have a police record in Germany. :-) This paperwork is one more piece of the puzzle needed by the Ausländeramt before they can issue me my visa. The woman who helped me with my police registration told me to go to another part of the building to pick up a welcome package since I'm new to the city. So, Elsa and I went there and listened to a man describe all the things included in the gift bag. There were phone books, free passes to a Bremen history museum, chocolate, tea, and all sorts of pamphlets about other museums, concerts, and shows around the city. At the end he also mentioned that I could have two bottles of beer if I wanted. When I told him no thank you because I don't drink beer, he looked at me a bit skeptically, said okay, and asked if I had any other questions for him. I didn't, but Elsa did: "Can she have a double portion of chocolate since she doesn't want the beer?" I don't think this was the type of question the man was expecting, but he considered it and then went on a search for some extra chocolate for me. I was a little embarrassed, but Elsa laughed and said, "Hey, it doesn't hurt to try." While we were in the lobby I noticed one of those automatic photo booths, so I stopped there before leaving to make some photos of myself, which is something else the government needs for my visa. There are lots of regulations about the size, lighting, and postioning of your face in these photos, and since I was in a government building where Germans go to get their passports, this photo booth was set up with the right configurations. So, I now have my police paperwork and my photos, so I'm that much closer to getting my visa. *sigh*

I met with the Springers a week and a half ago to talk about the plans for my work here. We threw around some ideas for English Bible studies and advertising for them, but we decided we can't really put any of those ideas into action until after the holidays. Because of that and because I'm still trying to get some of the bugs worked out with my apartment, we decided that for now I will spend several days each week helping Jim with his library. When I say Jim has a library, I really mean that he has a library. There are rows of bookshelves that fill a good portion of the ground floor of their house. (Keep in mind they live in a row-house, so it's much narrower than the average house in the States.) He developed his own classification system for the books and has put the numbers on labels on the spines of the books. He has even catalogued the books and has a computer database so he can find the books easily. The problem is that Jim spends a lot of time using the books but hasn't had much of a chance to keep up with the record keeping and organization of them and hasn't had someone help him with it since the early '90s. Needless to say, he's very excited that I've worked in a library! I spent quite a while at the beginning helping him with some general organization and purging of some older items, and now I'm working on the books themselves. I've been sorting the ones that still need to be catalogued from those that have been catalogued and need to be shelved. I felt like I was back in my element on Tuesday when I was reshelving some of the books. I told Jim that this was the sort of thing I used to do and trained others to do. It was a nice reprieve to do something familiar in the midst of so many new things in strange surroundings. Jim uses his books for his sermons, Bible studies, ETM training courses, and seminars, as well as lends them to others who want to do research, so keeping his library organized will be a big help to him but will also be a lot of fun for me. After we finish with some of the reorganization, he's going to have me do some cataloguing. He apparently hasn't been able to do this for some time, so I think I have a lot to catch up on.

Bremen's Christmas market started on November 30th. It's a lot like Oktoberfest but with a Christmas theme. There are rides, carnival-type games, booths with all sorts of food and candies, and people selling lots of different handmade crafts. In order for me to get from my apartment to almost anywhere I need to go in the city I have to go through the area with the Christmas market, and there are always crowds of people filling the streets. I've had to plan extra time when I leave because it takes almost twice as long for the streetcar to dodge all the people.

Wednesday was St. Nicholas Day. I remember talking about this in my German classes in the U.S. and about how children put their boots outside their doors in hopes of receiving candy from St. Nicholas. While I didn't see any boots outside any doors on Wednesday, I did see DROVES of children in Santa hats. I don't know whether this is a practice in other cities in Germany or if this is just a tradition in Bremen, but Wednesday afternoon all the children of the city went around to the different businesses in hope of receiving candy. They carried bags with them, and most of them were dressed in costumes. While the prevailing theme was "Santa," with most children wearing traditional red and white Santa hats, several wore angel wings and princess-like dresses with crowns. I think the girl who won my award for the strangest costume, though, was the one dressed as a witch. Her outfit was complete with long black cloak and tall pointy black hat and was even accessorized with a broom. That was a little unsettling to me considering that I've never equated Christmas with witches, but I walked on by anyway. From what I understand, the children go into businesses, sing songs, and receive candy or other little gifts from the shopkeepers. I think every child in Bremen and all of their cousins and friends from the rest of Germany decided to participate this year because there were so many children in the streets that the streetcar could only crawl down the road. There were children in shoe stores, butcher shops, travel agencies, grocery stores, and bakeries. It reminded me a lot of trick-or-treating at Halloween in the U.S., but Halloween can't even be compared to St. Nicholas Day here. It was definitely a new experience for me. Since the Christmas market is also going on, it was almost impossible to get anywhere that evening.

Monday last week my landlord came by my apartment and told me that a painter would be coming on Tuesday morning to paint my window frames. I learned on Tuesday that he would also need to come on Wednesday and Thursday because the windows needed three coats. So, Tuesday morning the painter came and merrily began his work. He was a really nice man probably in his 60's who whistled and sang while he worked. I was in another room working on some things while he worked on the kitchen window when I suddenly heard some very angry words coming from my kitchen. I went to the door and asked if everything was okay only to find the painter holding my window because it was hanging by only one hinge. The windows here have hinges on one side as well as along the bottom, and there's a handle on the side opposite the hinges. When the handle is turned one way the window can "tip" using the bottom hinges, and when it's turned another way the window swings open using the side hinges. When he opened the window all the way, I guess he pushed it too hard and it hit the corner of my kitchen counter, snapping one of the hinges and taking a big chunk of wood out of the window frame. So, I ran to call my landlord while he tried to put the window back into the window frame. Needless to say, he was not able to paint that window, and it looks to me like the whole window frame will need to be replaced because of where the break is. While I know it's not something I'll have to pay for, it's another frustration to add to life while I wait for it to be fixed. I think the painter also told my landlord that the corner of the counter needs to be removed in order for him to do his work, so there may be some kitchen demolition in my future as well.

Speaking of demolition, we all will be doing a lot of that very soon. For the past year, the congregation here has been considering buying a new building because of recent growth and subsequent overflow of the current building. The men decided last Monday that everything looked do-able. The owner has agreed to their offering price, and the man who owns the Turkish restaurant next door to the current building has agreed to buy it. The only problem is that the new building used to be a bar, so there's a lot of remodelling that needs to be done for it to be usable as a church building. I think that's going to be the big project occupying everyone's spare time in the spring.

Please continue to pray for Wolfgang. I mentioned in my last post that he was in the hospital, and the doctors have decided that he actually did have a heart attack. He finally was able to come home from the hospital last Monday, but he still will have to go back to the hospital for therapy for awhile.

I realized on December 1st that I've been in Bremen for 6 weeks. When I came for the campaign in 2003, we only stayed 6 weeks. So, as of last Saturday, I'm in uncharted waters. I think this realization has made it sink in for me that I'm not just here for a visit like before. That combined with all the frustrations of getting settled in my apartment and lack of restful sleep over the past week has made me feel really overwhelmed. I wouldn't say that culture shock has set in yet, but the past few days have been rough for me. This weekend has been a little better because I've had a chance to spend time with some of the Christians from church, and that has encouraged me. I guess everyone has their up and down days, and when you're in a different culture trying to adjust, both the ups and the downs are amplified. The tiniest achievements are huge victories, but the smallest disappointments can be tremendous let-downs. Please pray for me and for Mark and Karen as we continue to figure out how to live here and as we battle the up-hill struggle of learning the language.

Overall, though, life is good. I'm enjoying my new apartment and getting to know the area. The people at church have been very welcoming to me and are very encouraging as I try not to butcher their language. :-) I've been blessed more than I take time to realize. I pray that you also might see the blessings God has showered upon you and your family, especially as Christmas is approaching. Even though life throws a lot of junk at us, God has given us a lot to be thankful for.

Frustrations, but overall progress

Guess who now has electricity in her apartment? Yup, that would be me. Last Monday morning someone from the power company called me and asked me to meet him at my apartment so he could turn on the power. After he tweeked some things on the electric meter and flipped some switches in the circuit breaker box, I was overjoyed to see the lights above the bathroom sink and in the storage closet come on. (Besides a light above the stove, these are the only light fixtures that came with my apartment.) Also on Monday I got a couple more light fixtures and a telephone. I ordered my phone and internet service a week ago Saturday, but my phone is not yet working. I went by the phone company this afternoon, and they're sending someone out to my apartment tomorrow to look at things. Hopefully it will be an easy fix. I've also had a problem getting the heat working in my apartment. Finally on Friday the landlady and a repairman came to look at the water heater and after bringing in a hose and filling it with water (it apparently was empty and is not connected to a water source), they got it working. I have radiators in my apartment, so if the water heater isn't working, the heat isn't either. My apartment is now a comfortable temperature, though, instead of the freezing temperature of last weekend. I had to wear my coat while I was laying the carpet! I'm very thankful it's fixed.

In the past few days I have also tackled the task of laying carpet squares in my apartment. The living room, bedroom, and half-room all have wood flooring that's seen better days. The floor is very solid; it's just old because the building is old. If it was refinished it would be beautiful, but since I'm not going to live in this apartment forever and I don't have the time or money to spend on the floor, I'm not going to worry about it. The storage closet at the apartment was filled with padded, hardly-used carpet squares that the landlord said I could use. The carpet has a rubber backing on the underside, so I didn't have to glue or tape the squares down, but I did have to solve quite a jigsaw puzzle of carpet pieces. Obviously some of the squares had to be cut to accomodate the irregularities of the rooms, and it was an adventure trying to make all the pieces fit together, especially since I had no idea where in the room the people started when they first laid the carpet. There were some extra pieces which I think must have been scraps the first time, and I finally decided some of the larger pieces would need to be cut to fit the spaces I had left because nothing seemed to work for several areas. Despite the headaches, the carpet is now finished, and though it looks a bit like a patchwork quilt, it makes the apartment feel more cozy and gives it character. And hey, I didn't have to pay for it. :-)

I hope you had a good Thanksgiving holiday. Several people have asked me if I celebrated Thanksgiving. Some Americans in Hildesheim invited me and the Abercrombies to eat Thanksgiving dinner with them, but we decided not to go. The Springers returned from the U.S. last Tuesday, and they also were not going to celebrate the holiday. Karen said that she didn't want to celebrate because to her Thanksgiving is not about the pilgrims and Native Americans and their harvest meal together. Instead it's about spending time with family and getting ready for the holiday season, and since she's not with her family, she saw no reason to celebrate Thanksgiving. I can see her point, though for me it's not only about family but acknowledging the blessings God has given me. Since I didn't really want to take the train to Hildesheim alone, and I had a lot to do to my apartment to make it liveable, I spent Thanksgiving laying carpet squares and waiting for furniture to be delivered to my apartment. I did, however, call my family and speak to them for awhile. I called my grandparents for the first time since I've been here, and my grandfather was quite surprised to hear from me. He said it was the first phone call he's ever received from Germany. :-) Also, Ingrid left Thursday morning to visit some family in Berlin, so I spent the weekend cat-sitting for her. I generally like cats, but I think Julia (YU-lea) prefers Ingrid over me. :-)

Since the Springers have returned and I'm on my way to living in my apartment, I soon will begin the work that I've come here to do. I'm supposed to meet with the Springers on Wednesday to discuss details of my work and to set up a schedule. Please pray that we'll see where exactly God wants to use me in this community and congregation.

Please also pray for my sister's fiance, Matt. He was sick on Thanksgiving, so my sister took some food to him. I heard from my mom today that he was in ICU on Friday and Saturday because of a bad infection that made it difficult for him to breathe. He apparently is doing better now, but please pray that he will continue to recover.

Also, this weekend Wolfgang, one of the pillars of the congregation here, was hospitalized with chest pains. The doctors decided he didn't have a heart attack but are treating him as if he did. He was moved into a different hospital yesterday, but I haven't heard anything new about his condition. Please pray that he also will recover smoothly.

Well, as you can probably tell, life here has been full. I've definitely experienced my share of frustrations with getting my apartment set up. It's been a great learning experience, though. When something doesn't go the way it should, I have to learn all sorts of new words in order to describe the problem and find a solution. I'm also discovering how vastly different apartments here are from those in the States. It's all the little things you would never think about that are the strangest. Despite all of my "learning opportunities," I can see overall progress even in the week and half that's passed since I signed the rental contract for my apartment. I plan to stay in my apartment tonight, even though I don't have a working phone or a ceiling light in my bedroom yet. Maybe it'll be a bit like camping. Only I have a refrigerator...and heat...and an indoor bathroom. Okay, so maybe not camping, but still an adventure, an adventure in my new German home.

A view of my bedroom part-way through the carpet-laying extravaganza.

Blessings abundant

Well, I now officially have my own apartment. Thursday morning I signed the Mietvertrag (the rental contract) and got the keys. It was kind of surreal. I can now say that I LIVE in Bremen. It's a nice feeling, though, because it's a great sense of accomplishment and a step forward.

So, yesterday Ingrid and I went to the electric company to have the power turned on in the apartment. While everything is set to turn on the electricity, they can't do it yet because they need the reading from the gas meter. The heat runs on gas, but the thermostat for the heater is electric, so the power company needs both readings in order to turn everything on. Thus, we went to my apartment to look for the meter but could only find the one for the electricity. When we got back to Ingrid's I called the landlord and explained the situation. I originally was told that the building did not have a basement, but apparently there is an apartment downstairs in what would be the basement, and the gas meter is in that apartment. So, I'm either going to have to ring this person's doorbell and ask if I can look through his apartment for the gas meter, or I'm going to have to have the landlord set up something for me. Because the power company can't do anything else until they get this meter reading, I won't have electricity until at least Monday, if not Tuesday.

However, Ingrid and I were able to go to the phone company today and set up my telephone and internet service, so that process is now underway. I've also been looking at things for my apartment. It's a bit overwhelming knowing that I have to get things like light fixtures, curtains, and dishes besides basic furniture. And then there's the big question: What am I going to do with all of this stuff when I leave Germany? I suppose I'll just do what I did in Searcy -- sell my things or give them away. It's looking like most of my apartment furnishings will come either from people at church or second-hand stores, so I shouldn't have a whole lot of money invested in these things.

Despite the frustrations I've experienced in my search for an apartment and in my efforts to make it liveable, I'm extremely blessed. Every day here I pass people on the streets begging for spare change. Some of them play the accordion or guitar in an effort to entertain and coax a few coins from passersby. I am blessed not to be in the same situation. Also, Ingrid has been very hospitable in allowing me to live with her. She accomodates my seemingly constant questions, mistakes, and strange American habits without complaint. Because of this, I have a warm place to sleep, a roof over my head, and food to fill my belly until I get my own apartment up and running.

And I can't forget about my wonderful family. :-) Today they are in Columbus, Ohio, to watch the Ohio State-Michigan game with my mom's sister's family, and they set up the webcam in front of the TV so I could watch the game with them. One of the things I've missed the most here is watching OSU games with my dad and brother. I'm sure people think it's strange to hear of a 24-year-old woman who follows college football, but I come from a long line of Ohio State fans, and it's in my blood. :-) (When I lived in the dorm at Harding, I used to get up early on Saturday mornings to watch the games, and my roommates thought I was really weird.) Anyway, while watching The Game over the webcam of course isn't the same as being there in person with my family, it's the next best thing, and it's good to see all of them and share in the excitement. The game's not over yet, so we'll see how things turn out. GO BUCKS!

I'm also blessed to have encountered many people who are patient with my mistakes with the language. So far I've not come across anyone who looks down on the fact that I don't speak German fluently. When I make attempts to speak in German, people are accomodating and gently correct my mistakes. I guess it's like swimming in the fact that you learn the most by being thrown in and forced to try. Several of the women at church are excellent "lifeguards" for me. They refuse to speak with me in English, even though they speak much better English than I do German, but they never fail to toss me a line when I feel like I'm drowning in lack of understanding or of knowledge of the words I'm looking for.

Most of all, I am blessed to know the God who loves me and knows my every need, worry, and joy. Recently, while riding on the streetcar, I noticed that the teenage girl sitting across from me looked really depressed. I started wondering what she was dealing with in her personal life and then found myself saying a prayer for her. I then started wondering what all of the other people around me were thinking about. It suddenly hit me that God could hear not only my thoughts and worries but also those of all the other people crowded into that streetcar. I then thought about how that streetcar is miniscule compared to the size of our planet and the universe, and God knows everything about those as well. How can the God of such a vast universe care about tiny little me when there are billions of other people on this planet and billions of other stars and planets filling outer space? I don't know the answer to that question, but I do know that He does. And that makes me feel special. :-)

The next few days are going to be full. We have a fellowship meal after church tomorrow and then Ingrid and I are going to a Nepalese cultural presentation at the International University of Bremen. Ingrid has befriended a Romanian girl at the IUB, and she invited us to come. I also still have lots to do to get my apartment to a state where I can actually stay there.

Life is good, though, and I never cease to be amazed at all that God has provided for me in life. I only hope that I can spread just a few of the blessings God has so gracially showered upon me to those around me.

A very good week...and a half

Well, it's been a while, but I have great news: I have an apartment! I looked at it last Tuesday, and it has many of the things other apartments have lacked. While it's in the center of the city, it's on a side street that's not so busy, and it's within a short walk of three different streetcar lines. It has 2 and a half rooms (Germans count all rooms besides kitchens and bathrooms, so that's basically 1 bedroom, 1 living room, and a half room that could be used as an office or dining room), and the bathroom and kitchen have been renovated in the past couple of years. And...the kitchen has the Einbauküche I was so desparately seeking! Tomorrow morning (er, later this morning, as I just looked at the clock!) I'll meet with the owner's daughter to sign the rental contract. Since the owner's daughter takes care of renting the apartment, there are no realtor fees to pay, which saves quite a bit of money for everyone. Except the realtors, of course. :-)

Since this apartment isn't furnished, for the past couple of days I've been on a quest for furniture. Today Karen, Katarina, and I went to IKEA and easily spent more than 5 hours there. If you've never been to an IKEA, it's quite an experience. They literally have anything you could need for your home, from couches and wood flooring to silverware and watering cans. And, the best part is that their products are of good quality for good prices. They display their products in mock rooms so you can see how they look when assembled and how you might use them in your room. I got lots of good ideas there today. I've also been to several used furniture stores, and today Karen and I went to one that has lots of furniture in great condition for very low prices, so I think I might have to go back again in the next couple of days. Several people from church have offered me furniture that they no longer need, so I'm also trying to look at that to see what I might be able to use.

It's all so overwhelming. I've never had to start from scratch in furnishing and filling a place to live. I went to college and had to buy things like towels and sheets for my dorm room, but I didn't have to get furniture. When I moved into my apartment in Searcy, I only had to get bedroom furniture because my roommate, Katharine, already had the furniture for the living room and kitchen. So now I'm starting with nothing but my clothes and a few odds and ends like measuring spoons and oven mitts I managed to squeeze into my suitcases. I have trouble knowing where to begin. How do you go about getting EVERYTHING for your apartment? Something tells me that a bed would be a good place to start, but what about light fixtures? Most apartments here come with only the wires hanging from the wall or ceiling, so if I want to be able to see I'm going to have to get some lights. Unless, of course, I get some candles. But then does that mean I should get those before a bed? ACK! At least I won't have much to move out of Ingrid's. Oh! Except for my vacuum cleaner! The bank here gives you a gift if you refer a new customer, and Karen went with me as my referrer (I think that's a word. My English skills have declined a bit as my brain has tried to adjust to German!) when I opened my account. When they asked her to choose a gift, she told me to pick what I wanted because I need everything and she and Mark already have most of what they need. So, I chose a vacuum cleaner. Seemed practical and quite a bargain. Thus, I have a box to move with my suitcases.

In other news, overall life here is going well. I have to admit, I experienced a bad case of homesickness in my first week, but as I've settled in a bit, that's gotten better. I'm adjusting to hearing German all the time and am doing better about forcing myself to speak it. I've even had several Germans tell me my German is very good, but I know I need to review the more complex grammar structures and build my vocabulary. I never seem to have all the right words for what I want to say.

Church is still really difficult just because it's several hours of concentrated Biblical German, which I of course did not learn in school. I'm still trying to learn the books of the Bible in German. Some are easy, like "Markus" and "Lukas." Even "Rut" is fairly self-explanatory. But how is an English-speaker supposed to get "James" from "Jakobus"? That one always throws me. Or what about "Offenbarung?" My mind can't seem to connect this with "Revelation," even though that's exactly what the German word means. And I always have to count Genesis through Deuteronomy to decide if the one I'm looking for is 1., 2., 3., 4., or 5. Mose since German assigns each of them a number as a book written by Moses. I'm thinking that I should try to get a German Bible other than the Luther translation I have now because the books of the Bible are in a different order, and I'm continually getting confused. Hebrews (or should I say "Hebräer") always seems to be hiding from me.

I've been able to do a bit of traveling each of the past two weekends. On Sunday, November 5th, I went with Mark, Karen, Stefanie, and Karsten to Braunschweig to worship with the congregation there. After morning services in Bremen, we boarded a train and made the roughly 2 and a half hour trip, only to miss our connection in Hannover because of construction on the tracks. We finally arrived an hour late but still were able to spend the evening with the 7 adults and 2 children that make up this congregation. Jim usually preaches for them on the first Sunday of each month, but since he was in the U.S. with Elsa, Karsten agreed to take his place, and he did a great job. We also shared Abendbrot ("evening bread") with them, and this is something I'm still getting used to. Germans generally don't eat a meal for dinner but instead have rolls with butter and some sort of meat or salad (like egg or potato, not lettuce and carrots) on them. When I ate one part of my roll with only butter, several women looked at me with concern and asked if I had seen the meat farther down the table. I received an even stranger look when I ate bread with nothing on it. I wonder how long my strange behavior will be excused by the fact that I "just arrived in Germany?"

Last Saturday Karen, Ingrid, and I accompanied Stefanie to Hildesheim where she had been invited to speak at a Frauenfrühstück ("women's breakfast"). Stefanie did a wonderful job despite her jitters, and it was good getting to meet some of the women in the Hildesheim congregation. Two of them are Americans, and they invited me and Karen to celebrate Thanksgiving with them. They and the Americans at the congregation in Peine alternate years as hosts, and this year's meal will be in Hildesheim. I don't know yet if we will go, but it was wonderful to receive the invitation from other Americans who are away from friends and family during the holidays.

Another big event of the past week was my appointment at the Ausländeramt to apply for my residency visa. No one was available to go with me, so I was without company for this big adventure. I made my way through the building and to the room where I thought I should go and found myself surrounded by people from what seemed like at least 17 different countries speaking just as many different languages. I noticed a crowd around a desk with a woman behind it, so I followed suit and showed the woman my appointment ticket and was told to have a seat. A few minutes later my number was called to go upstairs to a different room, where I again showed my number and was told to sit down and wait. My number was finally called again, but this time I was to go to a numbered room in a certain hallway. Now, this hallway is no ordinary hallway. You have to press a certain button to enter it, and as you walk down it, all the doors are closed and there is absolutely no sound, making you feel like you're in some sort of horror movie in which something dreadful is about to jump out at you. I finally found Room 152 and cautiously opened the door to be greeted by a rather friendly woman who said, "Hallo, Frau Adams." I sat at her desk, handed her my passport, and she proceeded to cheerfully enter my name into her computer. And that's where her perky demeanor ended. She became rather irritated and tried to tell me something about the Bürger Service-Center and kept repeating the word anmelden. I knew I had seen and heard this word but could not for the life of me figure out its meaning. She spoke very quickly, and even when I asked her to slow down she seemed to think that if she just continued talking I would finally come to understand her. I finally decided that anmelden must mean "to register" (which it does) and that I was supposed to have registered at the service center before coming for my appointment. She also explained that I needed to bring 2 photos of myself (similar to the ones you have to have when you apply for a passport), as well as several other documents I did not have with me at the time. How I was supposed to know these things is beyond me. No one told me when I went to make my appointment that I had to bring these things with me when I came back. And now this woman was upset with me for not having taken care of these things. I finally thanked the woman and left her office feeling rather drained. It was the most frustrating and overwhelming experience I have had here so far. And now, I have to go back at least one more time to take the things I did not have the first time. I can be in the country for 3 months as a tourist with only my passport, so I still have some time, but it was still an all-around frustrating and embarassing experience. As Mark says, though, everything here is a learning experience, and at least now I know what needs to be done and can save Mark and Karen the trouble of going through the same hassle.

There is much more to tell of my experiences so far, but they will have to wait for tomorrow (or rather, later today!) because it is well past my bedtime and I have the meeting for the apartment in, well, about 7 hours. So, I need some sleep. Please know that I appreciate each of you for your love and support. Thanks so much for wading through my blog and my detail-oriented tendencies! I really will try to post more often so the posts aren't so long. I have learned so much so far. Each day teaches me more about the language and culture and about how God is working in my life and in the city of Bremen. Sometimes I'm still surprised to realize that I'm actually here. I want to share all of my experiences with you so you can not only keep up with my life and work here but can also perhaps learn a little about the German culture. I'll try to post some pictures of Bremen as well so you can get a glimpse of the city. Tschüs for now!

And the search continues....

I know I've only been here for two weeks, but somehow it seems like I should have found an apartment by now.

On Thursday evening Mark and Karen went with me to see an apartment on the street behind theirs, and it was really nice. It's the perfect size for me, and the rent and utilities fit into my budget. Someone even shovels the snow in the winter and cleans the basement. The only problem is that it's being shown by a realtor instead of the owner, and if I choose to rent the apartment I have to pay almost 1000 Euros in fees to the realtor. Besides the fact that I just don't see how I can pay that much for anything right now, it seems silly to me to give someone money when they do nothing but show you around the apartment (and in this case, the person currently renting the apartment was there and she was the one who did most of the work).

I had another appointment yesterday to see an apartment that sounded perfect...until I found out that it was on the eastern side of a park on the eastern side of Bremen, and the bus that goes to that area only runs twice an hour in the daytime on weekdays. Ingrid suggested I also find the schedule for Sundays, which I hadn't thought about, and it turns out the earliest bus on Sunday comes about 8 minutes after church starts. So, that apartment won't work just because it would make it difficult for me to get anywhere. Ingrid even said she's never been to that part of Bremen before, and she's lived here more than 20 years. I wanted to look at it anyway, though, so that I could have something else to compare to other apartments. Each one I see shows me something else I either want or don't want in a place.

Ingrid had an eye appointment yesterday morning, so I went with her in hopes that she would be finished in time to go with me. No such luck. I had to leave before she was finished, but I was confident that I could find the place on my own and that I would appreciate (even if not until later) the learning experience of seeing an apartment on my own. I had my street map and I knew the bus schedule. All I had to do was walk about half a block down the street, get on the streetcar, ride down about 4 or 5 stops, get off, and get on the bus, which was supposed to leave 8 minutes after the streetcar arrived. The map showed the same name for both the bus and the streetcar stop, and the stops were at the same place, so I figured I had more than enough time to make the connection.

As I've learned time and time again here, if it should take 30 minutes to get somewhere, if I allow at least 45 I might get there on time. Well, this was one of those cases. When I got off the streetcar, the signs at the stop showed the streetcar numbers and Bus 21, but I was looking for Bus 20, which was no where to be found. I double-checked my map, and when I was sure the bus should be there at the same place, I crossed the tracks to the stop on the other side and asked a woman there if she knew where Bus 20 stopped. She did not know and suggested that I ask the driver on the next streetcar if he knew where it was. So, when the next streetcar came, I got on and asked the driver, who continued driving down the road in the direction from which I had just come. He gestured over his shoulder and said something about "Marcus," which I took to be the street name, so I thanked him and got off at the next stop.

By this time, about 5 of my 8 minutes had passed, so I took off running back down the street toward where I knew the stop should be. When I got back to the streetcar stop, I asked two girls standing there if they knew where Bus 20 was, and they said it was down the street, around the corner, and down a little ways on Marcusallee. How in the world was I supposed to know this? Especially when the map showed the bus and streetcar going to the same place? So, once again I took off running. I finally found the stop, only to realize I had missed the bus by about 2 minutes. And of course, it wasn't coming again for about 28 minutes, and my appointment to see the apartment was in about 16. I looked at my watch and thought that maybe I could walk there in that time, and again I took off down the street like a mad woman. When I finally arrived at the next stop about 10 minutes later, I realized the whole thing was useless because I still had another 2 or 3 stops to go and then a 5 or 6 minute walk to the apartment from the last bus stop. I already knew I couldn't live there since the bus didn't come very often, so as much as I hated to do it, I gave up and turned around.

To make matters worse I had to call the man who was supposed to show me the apartment to apologize and explain why I didn't show up. Besides all that, I think what frustrated me the most was that I felt like I got nothing accomplished. Mustering the courage to call and schedule the appointment felt like a step ahead, like I was making progress, and even though I had seen several other apartments, not getting to see this one made me feel like I was taking a step backwards. Last Monday I went to an appointment and the person never showed up to show the apartment, and I felt the same way then. I want to keep moving forward, and while I know everything I do here teaches me something, I was still frustrated with myself.

I was determined to do better today. This morning Ingrid, Mark, Karen, and I were supposed to take the bus outside of Bremen to a small town called Oyten to visit Stefanie, and when Ingrid and I stepped out the apartment door, the apartment advertisement pages from today's paper were sitting outside our door. There's an elderly woman who lives downstairs, and I think she brought them for me. We took them along with us on the bus ride, and at Stefanie's this afternoon they all encouraged me to look through the paper and find a place to call. So, I did and found several good prospects, one of which was furnished. They all thought I should call the people today because it would probably be rented quickly, so I got out my script and made the call. I was embarrassed about calling in front of other people, but after I called and made an appointment for this evening, Stefanie told me my German was very good. My first reaction was to say, "What's good about it?" Karen leaned toward me and said, "This is when you say 'Thank you.'" So I said, "Thanks!" and Ingrid and Stefanie laughed at me. It was good to hear, though, that a native speaker thinks my language skills aren't as bad as I think they are.

So, Ingrid and I went to see the furnished apartment this evening, and I had mixed feelings about it. The house it's in is about 150 years old and is gorgeous, and it was definitely good to get to see a furnished place; but, I would still have to provide a few things, and I think in general it's just more space than I need and is also too expensive.

Thus, I still have no apartment, though I do have more prospects to call on Monday. Please pray that I can find a place that will fit my needs and my budget and that will be where God wants me to be. I know there's a place out there for me, and I just need to be patient while I wait to discover it.

Tomorrow after church services, Stefanie, the Abercrombies, and I will take a train to Braunschweig where a small congregation of about 7 people meets on Sunday evenings. Jim usually goes there on the first Sunday of each month to preach for them, but he and Elsa are still in the States for a few more weeks, though we are going anyway to encourage the people there. Also, Stefanie says that Ute, who visited Bremen two weeks ago, has a few household things she wants to give me. Her mother died recently and she's trying to get rid of some of her things. Because we will eat with the people there after the service and then we have to ride the train back to Bremen, it's going to be a very long day and a late night. I think it will be a good day, though, and I look forward to seeing more of Germany and visiting with this tiny group of Christians I've heard so much about.

Then, I get to return to the dreaded hunt for a place to live, though I guess there are worse ways to spend a Monday morning, aren't there? :-)

Gruesse aus Bremen!

*** I need to say that I actually posted this on November 2nd, not October 23rd. I started writing the post on that day and wasn't able to finish, so I saved it to finish later. It now won't let me change the date. So, here's my correction. :-) ***

Yes, I'm still alive. :-) I'm in Bremen, and I really meant to post before now, but things have been a bit crazy as I've been adjusting to living here and dealing with all the frustrations that come with that.

Mom, Dad, and Amanda went with me to the airport in Cincinnati on October 19th. We had lunch together in the airport after I checked in, and the farewell went smoothly...until I had to enter the line at security. That's when the tears came. For all four of us. I finally waved goodbye, walked away, and was trying to compose myself when the woman checking my passport and boarding pass asked if I was under age 18. I just looked at her and finally said, "No. I'm 24." Her eyebrows went up in surprise and then she said, "That's okay. People usually think I'm younger than I am, too."

The trip itself was fairly uneventful, though it took 19 hours. I had a 3-hour layover in the Amsterdam airport, which was interesting. We went through Amsterdam both to and from Bremen for the 6-week campaign 3 years ago, and those are the only times I've been there. I was with my group then, and Chuck led us through the airport, so this trip was a new adventure for me because I had to navigate the airport alone. It was the first time I've had to change planes outside the U.S. by myself. Schipol Airport is well-arranged, so it's not difficult to find your way around; what was hard was being there alone. I looked around at one point and felt very, very small. I'm convinced that airport is larger than some towns. When you add in the fact that the people inside the airport literally are from all over the world and are speaking every language from Dutch and German to Russian and Turkish, you quickly realize how relatively small and insignificant you are, at least in the world's eyes.

I finally landed in Bremen on Friday, October 20th. I followed the crowd into the airport to baggage claim and saw Mark and Karen Abercrombie and several people from the church waiting for me...on the other side of a glass wall. I quickly realized I was going to have to get my bags off the belt and get them outside by myself because only passengers were allowed in the baggage claim area, and I already was carrying my backpack, a carry-on suitcase, and my coat. Finally I saw that other people had luggage carts, so I found one of those and waited for my bags. Just as I was beginning to worry that they had been lost somewhere along the trip, both of my suitcases appeared. Now, you have to realize that my bags were bulky and weighed 65 and 66 pounds, and I am only 5' 4'' and not the world's strongest person. I somehow managed to wrangle my suitcases onto the cart and make my way out the door to be greeted by Mark's video camera. He apparently wanted to capture the entire event for posterity's sake. He also laughed at the spectacle I made of myself as I maneuvered my bags off the conveyer belt. By that point I was so tired I didn't have a comeback. The Abercrombies, Stefanie, Wolfgang and Helga, Ingrid, and I went back to Ingrid's apartment (where we had planned for me to stay) and had a good time visiting over cake and coffee. It was a nice end to all of my travel time.

Thus began my time in Germany. The days (almost weeks!) since then have been one learning experience after another. One might think that grocery shopping in Germany would be fairly similar to grocery shopping in the U.S., but think again. Some bottles require you to pay a Pfand (a security fee) when you purchase them, and if you return the bottles to the store after you've used whatever was inside them you get your money back. And buying produce is an adventure all on its own. When you decide to buy fresh fruits or veggies, you have to place them in a bag and weigh them on a special scale; push a button with a number that corresponds to the one printed on the shelf where you found the food; and put a label that prints from the scale on the bag containing your produce. Mark and Karen have said that if you don't do this (as they did when they first arrived) the cashier will become very irate, get up from her chair, and run through the store to do for you what you should have done for yourself. Whew.

I have also learned which bus passes to buy and when I need to buy them. A bus pass here is also good for the street cars, and since I obviously don't have a car and need to depend on public transportation, the busses and street cars have become my greatest resource. I've become very familiar with several of the routes and have finally mastered the art of reading the schedules, which at first glance look like one big jumble of numbers. Yesterday Karen told me that on the web page for the BSAG you can enter your points of origin and destination and the date and time you wish to travel, and it will tell you which route to take and which stops are closest for you. I think I have discovered a new friend!

Jim and Elsa returned to Bremen from Chemnitz on Saturday, Oct. 21st, the day after I arrived, but at church the next day is the only time I've spoken with them so far because they were preparing to leave for the U.S. on Tuesday the 24th. We ate lunch together with some other people after church, and Elsa reminded me of my "mission" while they're gone: I must practice my German and get to know the Christians in the congregation here. While every day has been full of opportunities to practice the language, I have found it difficult so far to get to know people outside of church services since I'm living with Ingrid right now. I can't really invite people to Ingrid's home, and I'm uncomfortable inviting myself to other peoples' homes. So, I've added a task to my agenda: I have to find my own apartment. Elsa thought I could wait to do this until after they return from the States in a few weeks, but I feel a need to get settled somewhere. After moving out of my apartment in June, house-sitting for the rest of the summer, and staying with my parents for several weeks, I'm feeling a bit homeless. I really need a space to call my own where I can put my things away.

So, I've begun yet another learning experience. Finding an apartment here is nothing like finding one in the U.S. The only place you can really find apartments for rent is in the newspaper, so Ingrid and others have been bringing me the Immobilienmarkt pages from the Wednesday and Saturday papers. Looking through the offers alone was difficult because there are about 30 different abbreviations used to describe the apartments. Some say "2 ZKB" (2 rooms, a kitchen, and a bathroom), while others say they are an "App." (an efficiency apartment). Ingrid was a great help in deciphering both the abbreviations and the meanings of the full words. For example, I did not know what "EBK" stood for, and when I asked Ingrid she said it was an Einbaukueche. My next question was, "What's an Einbaukueche?" When she said it's a built-in kitchen, I knew I had to have one in my apartment. I came to Bremen planning to find a furnished apartment since I'm only planning to stay two years and don't want to have to buy furniture. I have almost given up hope of finding a furnished place because there just aren't that many of them available. So, I've resigned myself to having to get furniture somehow, but I definitely do NOT want to have to buy cabinets and appliances for the kitchen. Yes, that's right. Most apartments here come with only the walls, floors, ceilings, doors, and windows. The wiring and plumbing are there, and the bathroom should have a toilet and a bathtub or shower (though not necessarily a sink), but the kitchen is usually bare. Thus, the lack of an Einbaukueche has become my dealbreaker.

After I looked through the paper and found several prospects, I had to conquer one of my greatest fears: making a phone call in German. Talking in person with someone in a foreign language is difficult enough, but when you can't see their face or read their gestures, it's even more unnerving. I finally had to say to myself, if you want to find an apartment, you have to do this. You can't see a place unless you talk to someone and make an appointment. So, I picked up the phone and dialed numbers, half-praying that no one would answer. Several people have answered, and I looked at one apartment yesterday (Though it's too large for what I need and is therefore too expensive. It also doesn't have an Einbaukueche.), and I have appointments tonight and tomorrow morning to see others. So, I feel like I'm slowly on my way. One foot in front of the other, one step at a time.

Now that this post has surpassed the length which anyone wants to read at one sitting, I'll stop. :-) Thank you all for your emotional, prayer, and financial support. I can't explain how much I appreciate all of you. Now that I've established some sense of a routine here, I will be better about posting and emailing. Also, I'd love to hear from you. I want to be sure to keep up with what's going on in your life.

For now I'll leave you with this picture of the garden behind Ingrid's apartment building. I took the picture from her kitchen window (she lives on the 3rd floor). Gott mit Euch!

"All my bags are packed. I'm ready to go...."

Ok, so that's a lie. My bags aren't packed yet, and I'm not quite ready to go.

It's hard to believe I can now say this, but here it is: I leave for Germany tomorrow. That just hasn't sunk in for me yet. Where exactly does time go?

I feel like I've done nothing the past three days except run errands. Yesterday we had family pictures taken. This was the last time we could do that with just the five of us since I'm leaving and Amanda is getting married next summer. Then today my mom and I transferred the registration for my car into her name. It was just a little sad because it was my first car. I went through high school and four years of college without a car, so the Sentra meant a lot to me. Besides that, it's just a good little car. While we were at the government building I tried to renew my driver's license too, but they wouldn't let me since it doesn't actually expire until next July. So, I guess that's one more thing to add to the agenda when I come back for Amanda's wedding.

Several people have asked me recently how I'm feeling about going to Germany, and honestly I don't really have any strong feelings right now. I think the busyness of preparing to go has overwhelmed everything else. A bit of nervous excitement has set in, and because of that I haven't slept well for the past four or five days, but other than that I'm doing okay so far. We'll see what tomorrow's trip to the airport brings, though....

Thank you all for your encouragement, well-wishes, concerns, and prayers. They are much appreciated and needed. Thanks also to those of you who have contributed financially to this effort. I firmly believe that mission work is a partnership. God calls some to go and others to stay. It takes all of these people working together to accomplish the Lord's work. So, I appreciate your desire to spread the gospel in Germany and for partnering with me.

Since my suitcases are looking lonely and I still have much to do, I bid you farewell for now. See you on the other side of "the pond...."

One more week....

Pursuant to a decision I made before leaving Searcy, today began my "one more" week.

I'm really having trouble understanding how it's come down to this. At the end of January last year, I made the decision to commit 2 years of my life to mission work in Germany. I guess it's always been something looming somewhere out there in the future but hasn't really been tangible. Well, in less than a week it will be.

The next few days are going to be a flurry of sorting clothes and other belongings, packing of some of those belongings, spending last...er, "one more" moments with family, and taking care of the last-minute logistics of going. My mom and I have been trying to figure out how I can pack my winter coat (which is down-filled and quite puffy) and still fit my other things in my suitcases, but I think the weather has answered that question for us, at least. If it stays as cold as it was today, I'll need to wear my coat on the plane.

Several people have asked me over the past month or so if I'm getting excited about going to Germany. My response generally has been that I'm really too preoccupied with the preparations to realize that I'm actually leaving so soon, so no, the excitement has not hit me yet. Over the past week I finally pin-pointed a more accurate answer: "I'm not excited about leaving, but I'm excited about going." While that seems a bit redundant and contradictory (if those two words can be used to describe the same sentence), it really is true. "Leaving" places the emphasis on your current location while "going" focuses on your destination. I'm sad to leave my family and friends here, but I'm excited about the opportunities God has set before me in Germany. So, I don't want to leave, but I want to go.

Please pray for me as I go through the next few days. I'm trying to be patient with myself and my family, and it's difficult sometimes. I know that while I'm dealing with the stress of preparing to go, they're coping with the stress of me leaving. Both are difficult.

Thank you all for your support and words of encouragement. They mean a lot to me. :-) Gott mit Euch!

What a weekend....

"For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature--have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse." --Romans 1:20

This has been a very full weekend. I'm trying to visit as many family members as possible before leaving next week, so yesterday we spent the day in eastern Kentucky at my mom's dad and stepmom's house. We had to take two cars because Matt and Jacob's girlfriend, Candace, came with us, and one of those cars happened to be mine, so I drove. It's about a two and a half hour trip one way, but it's BEAUTIFUL this time of year. We have to drive through part of Daniel Boone National Forest to get to my grandparents' house, and as we weaved in and out of the hills, it looked like someone had splashed a new autumnal portrait on each hillside. The lakes were crystal clear, and the reflection of the leaves on the water made the whole scene even prettier. Even though the leaves won't reach their peak for probably another week or so, you can definitely tell that fall is here.

Mom's oldest brother and his wife and daughter were there along with mom's sister and her daughter. Mom's other brother's family lives in Texas, and her sister's husband had to work, so they weren't there, but Papaw's twin sister came, and so did their only surviving brother and his wife, as well as one of mom's cousins. We all had lunch and then played a few games of cornhole. I had never heard of this game until summer this year when my family talked about playing it. Essentially it's like horseshoes, only instead of throwing horseshoes at a post you throw bags of corn at a wooden box with a hole in the top of it. I discovered once again that, while I had fun and enjoyed the time with family, God did not bless me with athletic ability. :-)

As the afternoon was winding down, I walked down the hill toward the pond in front of Papaw's house and stood for a little while, just watching. We usually can see a few fish jumping to catch bugs, but yesterday the water was calm. As the sun began to find its way back home and the first hints of dusk rolled in, a quiet breeze gently rippled the pond's surface. I thought of Genesis 1:2 when "the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters." Surely the Beginning had to be something like the peace I was experiencing.

I drove again on the way home, and that trip through the hills was even more magnificent than the one earlier in the day because the sun was setting. The hues of the sunset blended with those of the trees to create a visual symphony that ebbed and flowed with each twist of the road. I thought of Romans 1:20. Only God's "eternal power and divine nature" could have created something so magnificent. How can anyone look at the world around them and not see God's majesty? According to Paul in Romans, they can't.

After a long day, it was nice to get some sleep. The night was short, though, because at a little past 5:30 this morning, we awoke to a phone call from a county dispatcher asking us to verify an address because she thought our neighbor's house was on fire. My mom ran outside to check, and sure enough, smoke was billowing from the back of the house next door. A police officer was already there, and the family was outside in their driveway. Yvonne, the wife, was very distraught and kept trying to walk away, so my dad caught up with her to attempt to console her. The lone police officer was shortly joined by at least 4 fire engines, an ambulance, and several county sheriff cars. Mom gave Yvonne a coat, and we took her inside our house to try to comfort her while the fire crews went to work and Dad stayed outside with Brice, Yvonne's husband. For awhile the three of us just sat in the living room, not talking much. After a bit of small talk about the situation, Yvonne looked straight at me and said through soft tears, "Never leave the Lord. Never leave the Lord because you make bad decisions when you do." I just nodded because I had no idea what to say.

The firemen were able to contain the fire to one side of the basement, so the house was saved. The family won't be able to live there for awhile, though, due to the damage done by the smoke that filled the house. A representative from the Red Cross came into our house and offered Yvonne assistance, which she ended up taking, so they do have a place to stay for now as well as food and clothing. Please pray for Brice, Yvonne, and their son, Jack, as they try to move on with their lives.

What I will remember most about the situation is not the abrupt end to sleep, the street full of emergency personnel, or the billowing smoke; it's Yvonne's comment to me in the living room. I don't know exactly what prompted the comment, but it was definitely heart-felt. Her words were so simple but so true, so decisive. Who would think that I, the one preparing to go to Germany next week to do mission work, would be in danger of leaving the Lord anytime soon? It made me think anyway, though.

Before Yvonne left, my dad asked if we could pray with and for her, and she agreed. I believe the Lord puts you where He wants you when He wants you to be there, and I think today was one of those times. Hopefully we were able to show Brice and Yvonne a little bit of Jesus' love, and I pray the Lord helps that seed of love grow to become a greater faith.

You know, you don't have to go to Germany or anywhere else to be a missionary; just live your life and take the opportunities God presents in your own neighborhood. Or even right next door.

2 weeks and counting....

Well, 2 weeks from right now I'll be on a plane from Minneapolis to Amsterdam. Wow, time goes by fast.

The fact that I only have 2 more weeks means that I've been at my parents' house for 3 and a half weeks now, and it's hard for me to believe that that much time has passed. Where do the days go?

As I mentioned before, I told my mom that I would volunteer at the library 2 days a week in order to help her get caught up on some projects. I've been doing that, and I've learned a few things during that time:

1) I really enjoy working in libraries. There's just something about the process of preparing information for access by the public and then helping the public use that information that's exciting to me. You get to help people and explore the world around you all at the same time. What else would you rather do day after day?

2) I prefer working in academic libraries. I have nothing against public libraries; they're wonderful organizations that add a lot to their communities. I think it's just the fact that you don't really know who you're going to see walk in the door that gets to me. During my time at Brackett I did have my share of disgruntled patrons who broke doors and people with strange medical problems who chose to share them with everyone on the first floor, but I didn't have experiences nearly as strange as those of my mom and her co-workers. Today someone told us about a woman who walked into an area library with a baby carrier and said she "found this in the parking lot." And yes, there was a baby inside. Apparently a woman drove off and left her infant grandchild in his carrier in the parking lot! Also, public libraries tend to deal with many more stalkers, flashers, fighting school children, and general ne'er-do-wells than any academic library I know of. So, it's academic libraries for me, thanks.

3) I prefer working in the public area of the library. My mom works in technical services where they catalog and process materials for the various branches of the library. Obviously, there would be no library if there weren't people working in this department, but I think I would rather let other people do the job. I like detail-oriented work most of the time, but I just like working with people. Yes, the other employees in the department are people, but there's something about working in the public area helping people find information, even if you don't know what they're going to throw at you. (And sometimes that "throw" is literal!) I've enjoyed this time helping my mom; I just don't think it's something I want to do as a career.

4) I really miss my library family in Searcy. I call them my family because that's what they became. When I couldn't be around my own family, they were there for me. They encouraged me in my job and in my life. They prayed with me, they laughed with me, and they solved crossword puzzles with me. I couldn't ask for better co-workers. They have also been a great source of encouragement to me in my preparation for going to Germany. I told them this summer that, of all the people I'd have to say goodbye to, they would be among the most difficult. Then someone said it's not "goodbye" but "see you later." And that's how I like to think about it. :-)

Lifes juxtaposed (and other happenings in my world)

No, that "s" on the end of "life" is not a typo. :-)

Over the past couple of weeks my family has experienced a wide variety of emotions. The week before last, two women from church gave birth. One birth went smoothly while the other was 2 months early and brought some concerns, though everything seems to be going okay now. Then, my sister got engaged and Ms. Lillie, a close family friend, passed away. Last Monday night was Ms. Lillie's visitation and memorial service. My mom and I could only stay for the visitation, though, because we had to meet Amanda for her appointment to look at wedding dresses. It seemed so odd to me to have plans that fell into such opposite ends of the spectrum and for them to occur on the same evening.

As I thought about it, though, I began to realize that while the events of the past 2 weeks seem to have nothing in common, at the core they are exactly the same: each portrays new life.

The births obviously represent new life in its most literal sense --new people entered the world. Matt and Amanda's engagement is the beginning of their preparations for a new life together. And Ms. Lillie's death, while it appears to be the antithesis of life, was her birth into a new eternal life outside of the confines of this physical one.

Maybe I just think too much about things, but it struck me as interesting that things that appear on the surface to be so dissimilar are actually very much alike. Welcome to the oddities of my mind.

In other news...the past week has been full of appointments with insurance companies, research into and decisions about banking options in Germany, and emails between the Springers, the Abercrombies, and myself. The congregation in Bremen expressed concerns over where I will live when I first arrive, so we have been trying to sort that out as well. The initial plan was for me to live in the apartment on the 3rd floor of the church building while I look for my own apartment. It's now looking like I'll be living with Ingrid, a wonderful woman from the church who lives by herself in the house she used to share with her daughter, Hanna. I think this will be a great opportunity for both of us. Ingrid's mother passed away back in the spring, and it sounds like she's a bit lonely. It will be a wonderful opportunity for me to not only get to know Ingrid better but also to learn a lot more about daily German life and culture. Besides that, I can't think of a better way for me to improve my German.

Yesterday afternoon I was gladly surprised to receive a phone call from Elsa Springer. I guess the last time I talked to her was back in July, so it was wonderful to hear from her. After speaking with her, I remembered that yesterday, October 3rd, was the Day of German Unity. (I have a very strange way of remembering dates. My brother once emailed me while I was in Arkansas and asked me when his best friend's birthday was. My response: "February 5th, of course.") On October 3, 1990, East and West Germany reunited as one country, and it's now a national holiday akin to our Fourth of July. So, happy 16th anniversary, Germany! :-)

Saturday was a great day. My family spent the day in Ohio visiting with my dad's family. I hadn't seen any of them since last Christmas. Besides getting to see my grandparents, my dad's brother and sister and their spouses, and 3 of my cousins, I also got to visit with a woman I have always known as "Grandma Flory." She isn't actually my grandmother. When my dad and his siblings were growing up, Mrs. Flory and her late husband served as their foster parents for awhile. Dad, Uncle Bryan, and Aunt Kelli still call her "mom." She's an amazing testimony to the influence adults can have on the lives of young children. Besides that, she's really funny. She's 88 and doesn't get around as well as she used to, but she still speaks her mind whenever she feels the need and is sure to kiss everyone present before she leaves. I hadn't seen her in probably 4 or 5 years, and I was so glad she could come on Saturday. She brought with her a bunch of pictures of my dad and his siblings from when they were kids, as well as some of my dad's drawings from when he lived with the Florys. We all enjoyed laughing at the pictures and admiring Dad's artwork. To round out the day, my mom, Aunt Kelli, and I beat my dad and my grandparents in a showdown of 6-handed Euchre. Then, Ohio State beat Iowa (my apologies to Hannah, Lisa D., and others of my Iowan buddies in Searcy). It was an all-around great day. :-)

Also in the past couple of weeks, I've been attempting to fulfill my sisterly duties in helping Amanda pick out dresses for her wedding. Amanda has asked me to be the maid of honor, so I'll be coming back to the States next July for the "big day."

So, life is busy but blessed. I'm enjoying my time with my family but also eagerly anticipating my work in Bremen. If you have stuck around this long to read this whole post, thank you, and I hope you and yours are doing well. Gott mit Euch!