This post probably couldn't be more different from the last one, but I just have to vent two minor frustrations that I come across pretty much every day here in Berlin.
The first has to do with the size of bicycle Germans ride, and, consequently, I find myself riding. One of our partner churches in western Germany sends us donated bikes for interns and workers - either old bikes people don't want any more, or cheap ones they find at flea markets and such - and so Timo gave me one. My immediate reaction when I tried to get on it was to say that it was too tall for me, and the seat was already as far down as it could go. I have always ridden bikes at the height where I could securely have both feet on the ground while sitting on the seat - maybe not my whole foot flat on the ground, but more than just the very tips of my toes. I assumed this was a general guideline for safety and comfort universally accepted by all. Not so in Germany. Just as I was about to say that I couldn't take the bike Timo offered me because it was too big, another lady in our church who is shorter than me climbed onto her bike that was even taller.
I took the bike anyway, but it was not very comfortable, especially when it came to stopping.
I was pretty irritated at first, and trying to think of who I could trade bikes with so that I could have one that "fit," but then I realized that everyone in Berlin rides bikes that are, from my perspective, too big for them. They do it quite well - much better than I do!, - having mastered the art of balancing their weight on one pedal to get on and off the bike, or even balancing at a stop light by holding onto a lamppost instead of dismounting. But this totally baffles me. It is so much easier to ride a bike that's low enough for you to securely put your feet on the ground while still sitting on the seat. Why do they make it harder on themselves? Perhaps there is some obvious brilliant reason that I'm too dense to figure out, but in the meantime, I'm highly perplexed.
The second issue that perplexes me is that Germans do not have screens on their windows. Let me first say that I love and appreciate the German common sense with regard to air conditioning, which means in most cases that they don't have it. (In Berlin, at least, there are so few days that it's actually needed that it really would be a waste.) Instead, they open their windows to let in the breeze. Lovely. But without screens on the windows, you have bugs. All the time. Right now it seems to be bee season, because in every bakery, there are literally dozens of bees swarming around picking at the Berliners and croissants and Kuchen. At home and at church, the kitchen trash cans are always full of fruit flies to greet you when you throw something away. If we bake cookies or something we have to be extra sure that they are tightly covered by Saran wrap or in a tupperware, because otherwise there will be all sorts of critters flying in to have a bite. Why don't they just use screens? In America, we put screens on all our windows even though we never open our windows because we have (and abuse... but I digress) air conditioning. If you love having your windows open, why not put a screen on it so that you get the breeze without the bugs?
End of rant. I really am very very happy here. It's just fun to muse at the occasional cross-cultural oddities... Next time I'll write on man-capris and socks with sandals. :)
.
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Monday, August 18, 2008
Homecoming
My original plan for catching up blogging was to go chronologically - to take like 4 days to write about the last (almost) four weeks that I've been here in Berlin. I like when things are in the right order. But this weekend (carried over into Monday) has been so amazing that I think I'll start here.
It's like when a restaurant or shop has a grand opening - usually they were already open before the grand opening, but at the grand opening you really celebrate the new beginning and it really feels like a new beginning more than the actual beginning did. That's what this weekend was for me. I have already been in Berlin for several weeks and have settled in and started this new adventure and returned to a family and a familiar place full of joy. But yesterday in the service, I was "re-instated" as a member of the church here, and it felt a lot like a grand opening. My arrival - both as a return to the familiar and as the beginning of something new - was made "official," and I had the chance to share about how God brought me back here and showed me it was what He wanted, and the joy and excitement of reuniting with close friends, returning to a beloved place, and embarking on a new journey was greatly multiplied! I am so full of joy I can't put it in words!
It is simply so amazing to be here - it almost feels like a dream. I knew this place and these people so well, and loved them so dearly, and being away from them for a year was not easy. I wasn't always sure God would send me back here. But He did, and I know it was His plan, and I can see that there are many great things on the horizon for the city of Berlin that God is ecstatic about. And so I'm ecstatic too - not just to be a part of something God's doing, but to get to do it with people who really feel like family!
I have been blown away by how much I have been loved here and how much I have seen others be loved here. I never would've dreamed two years ago that I would mean so much to these people. That is not my doing - that is God! That is the love of the body of Christ!
I have also been sooooooooo blessed to have made an amazing new friend in the past few weeks and especially in the last few days. Simone just finished a practicum here in our church and will start in September working for the church part-time, building relations between our church and the community around us and helping us as a church gain a vision of how we can change our community and love those around us. Since she doesn't have an apartment here in Berlin yet (she's from Bochum, a few hours away), she's been hopping around between different church members' apartments, and it just so happened that she was unexpectedly without a place to stay for the weekend, and I just happened to have plenty of room in my apartment. We both have been so amazed all weekend long by the way we've connected. We've literally just spent days and days talking about God and what He's doing and what He's teaching us and where we're struggling etc. etc. etc. (We've talked so much that I've been joking that my German is going to run out any minute now. There's just not going to be any more German left in me!) It's not so common to connect with someone so quickly and so deeply. I had actually asked her a week ago if she'd be interested in doing discipleship/accountability together, and after this weekend we are both fully convinced that it was meant to be! She's 10 years older than me, so old enough to be a little "older and wiser" but young enough that we can still mutually encourage and learn from each other. God has put a lot of similar things on our hearts - hers are just more thought-out with regard to Berlin - and I'm so excited to see where He leads us and our whole church (and our whole city)!
That wasn't a very detailed update, but I just had to share this amazing joy that God has put in my heart. I am so incredibly happy to be here and am blown away by His love for me and the way I've seen it expressed here in the last few weeks.
A few verses that I'm loving right now:
Genesis 15:1 "After this, the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision:
'Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.' "
Psalm 4:6-8 "Many are asking, 'Who can show us any good?'
Let the light of Your face shine upon us, O LORD.
You have put more joy in my heart than they have when their grain and wine abound.
In peace I will both lie down and sleep, for You, O LORD, make me dwell in safety.
Luke 1:49-50 (from Mary's Magnificat) "...for the Mighty One has done great things for me --
Holy is His Name.
His mercy extends to those who fear Him, from generation to generation."
Hebrews 10:23 "Let us hold unswervingly to the faith we profess,
for He who promised is faithful."
.
It's like when a restaurant or shop has a grand opening - usually they were already open before the grand opening, but at the grand opening you really celebrate the new beginning and it really feels like a new beginning more than the actual beginning did. That's what this weekend was for me. I have already been in Berlin for several weeks and have settled in and started this new adventure and returned to a family and a familiar place full of joy. But yesterday in the service, I was "re-instated" as a member of the church here, and it felt a lot like a grand opening. My arrival - both as a return to the familiar and as the beginning of something new - was made "official," and I had the chance to share about how God brought me back here and showed me it was what He wanted, and the joy and excitement of reuniting with close friends, returning to a beloved place, and embarking on a new journey was greatly multiplied! I am so full of joy I can't put it in words!
It is simply so amazing to be here - it almost feels like a dream. I knew this place and these people so well, and loved them so dearly, and being away from them for a year was not easy. I wasn't always sure God would send me back here. But He did, and I know it was His plan, and I can see that there are many great things on the horizon for the city of Berlin that God is ecstatic about. And so I'm ecstatic too - not just to be a part of something God's doing, but to get to do it with people who really feel like family!
I have been blown away by how much I have been loved here and how much I have seen others be loved here. I never would've dreamed two years ago that I would mean so much to these people. That is not my doing - that is God! That is the love of the body of Christ!
I have also been sooooooooo blessed to have made an amazing new friend in the past few weeks and especially in the last few days. Simone just finished a practicum here in our church and will start in September working for the church part-time, building relations between our church and the community around us and helping us as a church gain a vision of how we can change our community and love those around us. Since she doesn't have an apartment here in Berlin yet (she's from Bochum, a few hours away), she's been hopping around between different church members' apartments, and it just so happened that she was unexpectedly without a place to stay for the weekend, and I just happened to have plenty of room in my apartment. We both have been so amazed all weekend long by the way we've connected. We've literally just spent days and days talking about God and what He's doing and what He's teaching us and where we're struggling etc. etc. etc. (We've talked so much that I've been joking that my German is going to run out any minute now. There's just not going to be any more German left in me!) It's not so common to connect with someone so quickly and so deeply. I had actually asked her a week ago if she'd be interested in doing discipleship/accountability together, and after this weekend we are both fully convinced that it was meant to be! She's 10 years older than me, so old enough to be a little "older and wiser" but young enough that we can still mutually encourage and learn from each other. God has put a lot of similar things on our hearts - hers are just more thought-out with regard to Berlin - and I'm so excited to see where He leads us and our whole church (and our whole city)!
That wasn't a very detailed update, but I just had to share this amazing joy that God has put in my heart. I am so incredibly happy to be here and am blown away by His love for me and the way I've seen it expressed here in the last few weeks.
A few verses that I'm loving right now:
Genesis 15:1 "After this, the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision:
'Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.' "
Psalm 4:6-8 "Many are asking, 'Who can show us any good?'
Let the light of Your face shine upon us, O LORD.
You have put more joy in my heart than they have when their grain and wine abound.
In peace I will both lie down and sleep, for You, O LORD, make me dwell in safety.
Luke 1:49-50 (from Mary's Magnificat) "...for the Mighty One has done great things for me --
Holy is His Name.
His mercy extends to those who fear Him, from generation to generation."
Hebrews 10:23 "Let us hold unswervingly to the faith we profess,
for He who promised is faithful."
.
Saturday, August 2, 2008
Still too tired, but here are my pictures!
Hello friends,
Sorry I still haven't had a chance to write a full report on my arrival in Berlin, but I thought the least I could do would be to post my pictures from my first week. Most of them are from VBS (we call it KiBA - KinderBibelAktion) at my church in a part of Berlin called Pankow, where I'm also living. Others are just some fun pictures of little things (and little people!) I'm happy to be seeing again. Coming back here has really been a sort of homecoming for me.
Here are my pictures: http://good-times.webshots.com/album/564940055nBKNsa?vhost=good-times
Much love to all!
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