lunch with Brittany...

Well, I didn't have breakfast with Tiffany.....I had lunch with Brittany!!! We had some errands to do and we had lunch together at the local Italian food place. We ordered bruschetta!!! and Spaghetti Marania. Easy enough huh?! Well, when we got our spaghetti we were eating it and then noticed that there were some special little suprises in the dish! If you look closely you can see some shrimp, sauce, noodles and of course SQUID. yes, I said squid. I took a picture of it and if you look closely, you can see it right there in the middle of the plate! I did eat it! I HAD to know what it tasted like! Well, it was nutritional, and if I had to eat it to survive I would, but I can't say that it was the best thing I've ever eaten. but the bruschetta.....it was VERY yummy!!!!

Just watch out for that spaghetti that will sneak up on you and there is no telling what you will get in your sauce!

Oh the journey.....

the weekend....

Janis and Brad invited us to go to this little nook and have a Wurst Shmaus!! (a feast of wurst) We had a little grill and many varieties of wurst, so veggies and some fruit. It was a great way to end the week and get rejuvinated for the next one!

Haven't you always wanted to cross a body of water by walking across the stones???? Well, I have....and I finally got to!!! I didn't fall off either....which is quite remarkable due to my wonderful balance that I have. LOL I'm standing in Germany and the other side of the river....the Rhine...is France. I swam across and got a rock for Janis and a shell for Aunt Sandy from France. :) The trick was swimming in the middle of the river...the current was pretty strong and it really wasn't that deep, so you could have walked, but the rocks were covered with slime and so I kept loosing my footing, so I swam. :)

last week.....

So, although I'm not teaching at Black Forest Academy (BFA) I get to help out once or twice a week at one of the dorms. On Monday's the RA's have the night off and so people from the community (i.e. ME) get to sub and do the things that the RA's usually do. On Thursday's the dorm parents get the night off and so there will be people that sub for them too. Just another person around is good to have....peace of mind. I will get to help at least on Monday's.....maybe Thursday's too. Ok, enough about me.....

BFA started school last Tuesday. They start the year with an opening ceremony and hear from all the administration and thoughts for the year. After the ceremony, which has some very traditional things that HAVE to happen, which included the Seniors walking in carrying all the flags from the countries represented at BFA this year, introductions of all the residential life people, the teachers/ administrators and then the students (each group stood as a whole). Then, the director spoke. :) Then there was the traditional "passport ceremony". The passport ceremony was eye opening. They called out names of countries and if you have a passport for the country or your parents were in that country or you had ever been a missionary in that country you got to stand up and make some noise. It's amazing how God can bring such an ecletic group of people together! The students and faculty at BFA represent over 50 countries this year. I think the exact number I heard was 56!!! Amazing!!!

After all is said and done it was heartwarming to see parents praying with their kiddos they were leaving and then bittersweet to know that they wouldn't see their parents until at least Christmas break. Here are a couple of pictures of the groups that I loved seeing!

the veiw while walking....

These are pictures from my walk/ jog this morning. The sunlight is beautiful and just a reminder of our Creator. :)

I love the sunlight beaming through the tops of the trees.....

In the distance, you can see some mountains.....that's France!

I want to share as accurately as I can the life here. It's difficult to do in picture format. The point of showing you the journey to the house is to convey the difference in lifestyle that many people have. ALTHOUGH most people do have cars if they are Germans here, a lot of the short term missionary people do not. I don't want you to think that there are no cars here because there are and they drive places, but they may drive to the train station and take the train to the city or walk to the bus station and take the bus to the big cities. It's really made me appericate commuting to the store. While shopping for groceries I limited myself because I knew I was going to have to tote them home, where in the states I wouldn't have thought twice about having an extra can of corn in the cupboard.

So, I get a ride with other people when they are going places and that's when you "stock up".

I do love the culture of taking your time and enjoying your surroundings. I CAN make the mile and a half walk home in 26 mins (with a backpack) but I would rather make it in about 40. I enjoy the walk on the path through the woods and believe it or not, the hill has gotten easier! LOL

Well, just another peek into the Black Forest :)

the house....

After getting up the hill and the steps to the street. I arrive at the house and have a few more steps to go up. This picture is actually taken from the top down.

the trek home....

This is "the hill". If you look closely you can see a pole with a sign on it. You will see another picture further down on this post of the sign from the top. Look for the round circle on the left side of the road in the middle of the picture. My guess is this hill is about 1/4 mile at about an 80 degree slope.

This is the beginning of "the hill" into our village. You can't see the top from this picture, but you can see the gradient of the road by looking at the roof of this garage. yes, I can touch the top of the garage roof when I walk by.

A quick look back down "the hill". BTW, the sign says only motorized vehicles can go on this road if you live on this street. (it's not a through street)

These are "the steps". There are 108 of them and several landings that go up to our street. This is immediately after coming up "the hill".

I made it 1/2 up the 108 steps. Only 1/2 of them left.....

Looking back down "the steps". yep, all 108 of them!

This watermelon says "Rio Grande"!! Funny! The watermelons in Texas don't even say that! and I bought this one in Germany and brought it home in my backpack.

the 8 pound (4 kg) watermelon that was in my backpack. I also had two bags of groceries.

This is my class from camp this year :) such wonderful teens!!!
I know the video is grainy, but you can hear them singing the German alphabet to me!!!!

post-camp

Camp is over. Camp lag is better.....almost recovered. The office
staff is taking the next few days off for recovering. When we go back
to the office things will be different. People are shifting and
leaving, following God's will for their lives. So things will be
somewhat different in the office, but a change God has put in motion.

Me: during camp I was not only a teacher but I was what we call team
leader. It was my job to help the director and make sure everyone is
doing ok. I enjoyed going around and talking to people and helping
them deal with their probelms. It was a stressful job at times but I
learned that I like administrative roles. It was a good mix. I got to
teach my kiddos and help out. If the kitchen wouldn't have been so
close to the office I wouldn't have a few extra pounds to run off post
camp. Lol. (our cooks were awesome!!!)

The next step: I don't know what God has in store for me. I have been
asked to help out during the school year with some dorm students. On
Monday evenings after school, for them and work for me, I will go to
the dorm and hang out. They have some free time and then they do their
homework after supper. I would be there for the evening and another
dorm has asked me to come once a month or so and bake. There has been
a Bibke study that has been brought up. There are German classes that
I can go to. I would be in there with all the high school students and
have homework and everything. So, there are so many possibilities that
I can see. And there are some that I THINK God is working on but I
don't know about those and the details yet. Lol.

So. I'm actively waiting. I'm doing the thjngs that God has placed in
front of me while I'm waiting for the next step. The verse I told all
my students at camp is Jeremiah 29:11. God knows the plans He has for
you.