I love what I do.

Last week at school we had a "project week," where the kids were with their homeroom teachers the first half of the day for a "project," instead of normal classes. This week it was all about "method training" for my 5th-graders - they did all kinds of exercises and activities to find out what type of learner they are, how to work in a group, how to give an oral presentation, etc. etc. On Friday, the parents were invited to come and here their kids give a presentation about what they had learned.


Friday was really really cool.


The kids were excited and nervous about their presentation. Almost all of them had a part (no one was forced to get up and talk), and they presented everything both in German and Turkish, since some of their parents don't speak much German. It was my first time to meet any of the parents, so I also introduced myself briefly - in German and in Turkish. The kids helped me figure out what to say and helped me practice, which was quite fun. Another teacher who is also Turkish helped me too during the break, and we spoke a little Turkish. (Hopefully this will continue in the future!) So I was a little excited and nervous too, like my kids.


Then the parents came. There were a few dads, but mostly it was moms. All with headscarves. I have to admit, it was a slightly intimidating moment when they all walked in the room. I had no idea what they thought of me and what kind of impression I would make on them. It is a strange feeling to find yourself in front of a group of people whose culture and beliefs are so different from yours, who would never dress like you're dressed, who probably assume the worst about you because of pop culture and the media...


And then it started, and I introduced myself in both languages... and the atmosphere softened a little. I didn't really take in their reaction to it, but Ulrike told me later that they suddenly seemed interested when I started speaking Turkish. I like to hope that somehow a door was opened that way.


Then the kids presented, and they did a great job. And inbetween one of my more difficult students occasionally looked over at his baby sister on his mother's lap and made silly faces with her, and I fell in love with them all. No matter how different we are - language, culture, dress, religion, everything - we all have something in common, we're all humans who laugh, cry, and love. I have loved these kids since my first day at E.-O.-Plauen, but in that moment, I fell in love with them more, and somewhere inside me a love for their families sparked too.


Afterward, as I was leaving the school, there was one place I had to go, even though I didn't know why. Around the corner from the school is this great little cafe owned by an incredibly friendly Turkish couple, and through my occasional visits I've gotten to know them a bit. I wasn't hungry and had already had too much coffee, but I had to go see them and share my joy for some reason. Taner, the husband, said, "You seem to really have fun doing what you do."

Yes! I absolutely do!


What a miracle it is to be exactly where I belong, exactly where my heart is calling me...
.

Who reads my blog these days?

It's nice to know who's reading so I can decide what to write.

If you read my blog, will you please post a comment so I know who you are?

Thanks!

P.S. A great devo and a song that I stumbled upon "accidentally"... seem very relevant right now...

My Utmost for His Highest - Oswald Chambers - Nov. 1 - "You are not your own"
Cry in My Heart - Starfield (Psalm 3:3-4, ESV is my favorite translation)
.

People.

Our new church intern, Milan, made a comment recently that from my blog and the pictures I've posted, one might think I'm a more thing-oriented person than a people-oriented person, which, though it sounds slightly better in German than it does in English, is really not true about my personality if you know me. He asked why I don't have many pictures of people up on my blog and not just pretty buildings and such.

I decided he's probably right, so here's a handful of pictures of some people I love here in Berlin.


L: Me and Sophie after the Erntedank service (similar toThanksgiving much more low-key)
R: Me and Emily! She's growing up soooooooo fast!


L: Manu
R: Ruth and Heidi


L: The Kiepers, my favorite kite-flying family! Judith and Jörn with their kids Sophie and Phili
R: The Kretschmers - Doreen and Stefan with their kids Lara and Jannes


My roommate Anna at our favorite restaurant in Dresden! (Yay for Multi-Kulti!)


Milan, me, and Tabea on a treasure hunt (long story!)


L: Katja + Katja's sub from Subway
R: Milan + Milans sub (Milan is learning to appreciate American cuisine and is slightly obsessed wtih Subway.)


This is just a pretty picture. But there are cool people in this one too - Katja, Timo and Simone, after a prayer meeting in the park!

.

American Berliners, Dresden, and Obama. (That's an interesting combination....)

So it's been awhile since I've blogged... I had two weeks of fall vacation and was on the go for most of them. Now things are basically back to normal but of course we just had a pretty historic presidential election which the whole world has been caught up in, and I figured people might be interested in knowing what the German response has been like. I may even throw in a bonus of my *unique* perspective as a Christian American who has lived about a year and a half in Germany. (Don't know if it's really unique... but hey, this is my blog, and I do have some thoughts to share. :)

First week of vacation: I went with my roommate Anna on the Team Berlin retreat. Team Berlin is a team of American missionaries - mostly from Presbyterian missions organizations like Mission to the World - who are planting churches in East Berlin. They asked me if I'd come and babysit the kids while the adults had sessions so that it could really be a retreat for all of the team members. They paid my way and gave me a gracious gift at the end, and I really enjoyed it. The kids were super sweet, so it really wasn't much work, and it's always a blessing not to have to cook meals for a week and to be out of the city and a little more in touch with nature... But definitely the coolest thing was getting to talk to other Amis who God has called to Berlin. Hearing their stories was super encouraging.
.
Second week of vacation: Anna and I went to Dresden. The weather was terrible, but the city is beautiful! We were also super blessed to get to stay in the apartment of a friend-of-a-friend, which made the trip much more relaxing. We mostly did a lot of walking, visiting lots of old churches and other important sights, and we had one "museum day," where we visited the Green Vault (Grünes Gewölbe) and the Art Gallery (Gemäldegallerie alter Meister), which features Raphael's Sistine Madonna. (Most people know that painting because of the two cherubs at the bottom that are on lots of cards, journals, tote bags, etc...) We also went to a cool organ and brass concert at one of the churches. We had a great time. What makes Dresden so fascinating is that the architecture is incredibly beautiful, and much of it has been restored or preserved in spite of the devastating fire-bombing at the end of World War II.

Click here to see my Dresden pictures.

And now, the hot topic of the week... Obama. I anticipated that people like my dad would be curious about the German response and how the German media has covered the election, so I have done a fair amount of reading, checking out various newspapers to see how they are portraying it.

Before we get into this, let me say briefly my own position, since no one is without bias: 1) I actually didn't vote. Before you call me a bad American, let me explain! My absentee ballot didn't get here until Monday. I'm not sure how they expected me to return it by the time the polls closed on Tuesday, but that's basically impossible. I didn't stress out too much about it though because I knew Tennessee would vote Republican and because 2) I would not have voted for Obama OR McCain. After considerable research I couldn't vote for either of them without conflict of conscience. I had hoped to find a 3rd-party candidate to vote for, since I personally believe we need to break out of the Republican-Democrat cycle of stagnancy (I'm tired of every issue being polarized), but unfortunately after researching them I couldn't vote for any of them either. I would've done a write-in, and never really decided who because I realized my ballot wouldn't get there in time anyway.

Now... the German reaction? It was, as expected, overwhelmingly positive. German papers devoted a LOT of space to writing about it, reporting on all the celebrations and speeches - including translated transcripts of them - and of course much editorial analysis. The general vibe is that times are finally changing, America is finally coming around and ready for change, re-inventing itself.

Examples of headlines (all in German, I've translated): "Change has come to America" (of course), "America suddenly looks very different," "America - rising up out of the ruins," "The resurrection of the American dream," "Obama's historic victory," "America votes for change."

They also really highlight the fact that Obama has made history by being the first elected Black President.

There have been a few, however, who are saying that things aren't going to get better overnight, and that people might have placed expectations on Obama that are way too high.

Examples: "It won't all be great," "Transatlantic relations aren't going to get simpler," "Good morning, Mr. President: High expectations from Obama."

They also wrote positively and respectfully about McCain's concession.

Europe - or at least Germany, as far as I have perceived - pretty much wants us to be like them. They want us to join the fight against climate change, get out of Iraq, nationalize health care, and of course fix our economy (since they feel the effects of it too!). One headline I saw suggested that Obama should follow FDR's example (New Deal, etc.). Pretty much across the board, Germany is happy that Obama won and has high hopes. Apparently German Chancellor Angela Merkel woke up pretty early yesterday to congratulate Obama. She said she looks forward to continuing the conversations they started this summer (when Obama visited Berlin) and believes that it is essential for Germany and America to work together.

My thoughts? I have never been one to question whether Obama is basically a "good guy." I know that a lot of people who vote Republican are super skeptical of him as a person but I find their arguments to be generally unsupported. I do believe that Obama has great potential to lead our country in a new direction. The question is whether it is the right direction, and if we will get there the right way. Europe is very open and supportive of Obama. I hope that he will use this favor to improve foreign relations without compromising the integrity of what differentiates America from Europe. I do not want America to become like Europe.

Especially since having lived in Europe, my biggest fear about Obama is that he will - even with the best intentions - place too much responsibility in the hands of the government and take it out of the hands of the people. In Germany, everyone has health insurance, college is very affordable, and there are relatively few homeless people. You can get money from the government for just about anything you need. But unemployment is high, colleges are not competitive and there aren't enough spots for everyone, people are extremely dependent on the government, and the concept of volunteer work is basically outdated. I don't want America to go in this direction. When Americans see problems in their country, I want them to join together to do something about it, not run to the government and tell them to do something about it.* I want Americans to continue working hard to strive for the best, for themselves and for others, rather than learning to be content with mediocrity for the sake of artificial "fairness." I hope that Obama will not lead Americans to be more dependent on the government, but rather to be more active, more open-minded, and more generous.

That's my two cents... I'm off the soapbox now. If I read or hear any more interesting discussions I will write more!

Please feel free to comment or even disagree with me, but please keep it civil. :)

Other than that I don't have much to report. I have a potential opportunity to do a few more hours of teaching each week at an elementary school in Prenzlauer Berg (close to where I live, where there aren't many Turkish kids.) It would be very cool to experience a more typical German elementary school to see the differences. It was good to be back at E.-O.-Plauen this week though. I'm still crazy about my kids. I just wish I had more time with them!

Good night everyone...

___________________________________________________________________________________
(* By the way, this concept applies for both sides! I want Americans - especially Christians - to help pregnant teens raise their children or find opportunities for adoption instead of waiting for the government to overturn Roe v. Wade, which is highly unlikely. The fact that so many Christians vote solely based on the issue of abortion is extremely appalling to me.)
.

Culture Shock.

I mentioned on Facebook a week or two ago that I was dealing with culture shock, and thought I should elaborate a bit on what kind of culture shock I'm experiencing. Yes, I lived in Berlin for a year already and there really shouldn't be any surprises, right? Well, there are some surprises, just different ones. Ones that have less to do with the country and more to do with... deeper stuff. (For the most part. ;) I'll start with the most superficial types of culture shock and work my way to the more serious ones.

1. If I hear one more German start talking about American food being fatty, I'm going to throw Nutella and sausage at him and dunk him in his own whole milk. (Just kidding.) Yes, we Americans eat some fatty things, like hamburgers and French fries and fried chicken. But for one thing, it's not like we eat that stuff every day. I certainly don't. Those are occasional splurges, not the norm. For another, America's problem of obesity has a lot to do with how much we eat, not just what we eat. And lastly... let's compare German food. Germans eat plenty of French fries themselves. Schnitzel? Not exactly good for your heart. Their meat (especially pork) is usually fattier. Skim milk is an oddity, and I don't think I've ever seen fat-free yoghurt. And if you compare the nutritional values of Nutella and peanut butter, you will find very close caloric values, but peanut butter, though it has more fat, has less sugar and a lot more protein. And finally... we Americans do not feel the need to butter EVERYTHING. When I buy a German sandwich, all I taste is the butter (they usually pre-make them so I have no choice except to peace out and go to Subway instead). At Abendbrot recently, I was teased for NOT putting butter on my bread before adding cream cheese. Can someone explain this to me? My cream cheese does not need butter! But enough about that for now... The bottom line is, after awhile, it gets a little old to keep hearing people questioning everything people from your country do (as if all Americans were the same). But I don't take it personally. I just have to vent once in awhile. :)

2. The German government will pay for everything. This doesn't really affect me too much at the moment, but as I consider the possibility of staying in Germany long-term, there is one thing that I prefer to avoid if at all possible: German taxes. I just can't imagine buying into a system of government like this, where the government makes so many decisions for you and pays for things I believe people ought to work for and earn. Won't go into any specifics because I don't want to offend German readers. But I have a serious problem with some of the things I've heard or read about.

3. Teachers at my school complain day-in, day-out, even though they have it SO easy compared to American teachers. The teacher I work with is at school from 8 till 1 or 2 at the latest, and having to teach 5 periods in a day is rough. My teachers back home were at school with their kids all day, from 8 to 3, then usually stayed an hour or so to prepare for the next day or grade homework. When I taught science camp, I was with my kids from 9 to 4 with an hour lunch break in the middle. With the rowdier classes, there's a lot of frustration if there's not an Erzieher (a sort of teacher-aide, hard to explain) with her in the room. I'm used to much rowdier kids all by myself. You can imagine how annoying the complaining gets! And even if I didn't have anything to compare it to, at the end of the day, complaining helps nothing. If there's a problem, let's talk about it and come up with a way to solve it. (On a similar note - at our school, teachers sort of give up at a certain point if their kids aren't learning things. Our 5th graders don't know their multiplication tables, and the teachers insist they can't force the kids to learn them, so they go on. I know it's harder with students with this kind of background, but there's got to be a way to put a little pressure on these kids to learn something that essential.)

4. Political (in)correctness. I hear things at school from teachers that an American would never say, certainly not in front of a classroom of students. It really kills me when I hear something like, "Now the problem is that our kids here don't know the German __ or the Turkish __," in front of the students. And even behind closed doors there is a lot that shocks me - the uproar over kids who were fasting during Ramadan (which happens every year, by the way!), or over kids who won't eat the cafeteria food (which frequently includes meat) because of religious reasons. The kids from my church all have vegetarian options at their schools every day, but this idea is considered absurd at my school. Is it really that hard to serve something without meat every day? Even if you disagree with a religion or a culture, is it really helpful for students to be constantly put into conflicts of conscience at school? Does it help the learning process for children to feel like they have to choose between doing what their parents want and doing what their teachers want?

In addition to these sort of German-American culture shock issues, I'm also experiencing culture shock in a less "national" way, much like I did when I returned to the States from my year studying in Berlin. These are times when I'm really aware of the different "culture" I've received through Christ.

One of them also has to do with school: I really love every single one of my students. Some kids are tougher than others; some classes are tougher than others; but I love them all and want to give all them everything I can. This is apparently pretty abnormal. Most people seem to want to give only where they are sure of seeing results, and only to those who have "earned" it. I get this vibe at school a lot. They give up because they don't see results, it doesn't seem worth it. Or they don't try with some who are particularly strong-willed against the teacher. When I worked at the science center I struggled with this and God did a great thing - He taught me how to love one of my most difficult kids. I don't ever want to lose that ability.

The other one is a toughy. It's a shock simply because I have no idea what to think or do (if anything). We've had some conflict in our church. I'm not involved and don't know any details, but it's been extremely heavy on my heart. It kills me to know that people I love have hurt each other. I'm sure it's (more or less) "normal," and as far as I know, much has been done to bring about reconciliation. But it still breaks my heart to think about it. Conflicts in other places have never bothered me the same way. It's so hard. I feel sort of sick about it, because the body of Christ is sick and needs healing. But I do believe we have a faithful Healer. (*Update 10/12: Since I originally wrote this post there have been even more improvements. God is faithful!)

Wow, that was a pretty heavy blog post. I really am doing very well here and I'm extremely happy to be where I am, no matter what! All of this is just stimulating lots of thoughts and questions about the future and what I'm really here for. I guess we'll find out in due time...
.

Pankefest, Chagall Exhibit, etc... (more pictures)

Two weeks ago we had a big festival in Pankow, Pankefest. (I think the Panke is like a creek - not quite a river...) It's a pretty big deal, a pretty big portion of two streets gets blocked off for an entire weekend and filled with tents where people selling crafty things or food (or beer). One of the streets used for the festival happened to be the street our church is on, so we were able to have our own table at the festival without paying to set up a tent. We had games for kids and tried to just talk to people and invite them to our Chagall exhibit. And we were the super nice people who let people use their bathroom for free. :)

The Chagall exhibit opened right as I got back from Altenberg/Cologne. Our church did this last year too (when I wasn't there) - we were able to rent original lithographs of Marc Chagall's artwork from an organization for a few weeks and open an exhibit in our church building. Chagall's work portrays Biblical themes so it's a neat way to bring people into our church who might not otherwise think to come in, and through the exhibit they are (hopefully) able to learn something about God through the stories in the paintings. This year's exhibit is the Exodus cycle. The artwork really is amazing and so far we've had tons of visitors!

Click here for Pankefest/Chagall pictures (more to come)

Other than that, life has been pretty "normal" - but certainly not boring - here in Berlin! School is going great, I'm still totally in love with my students. My one struggle is with the teachers - a lot of them complain A LOT. And I'm a pretty positive person so that gets annoying pretty fast! I'll also probably have to do a post on political correctness in the near future because this is a concept that is no where close to being as important as it is in America, and sometimes I get a shock when I hear things that Americans would never say. But all in all, school is great and I'm excited to get to start doing more on my own and developing my own ideas. If anyone has any tips or suggestions for fun things to do with 3rd, 4th and 5th graders learning English, let me know!

As far as life in Pankow and stuff at church, there are two new developments: We have started Bible class for 11-13 year-olds, and I'm helping with that as sort of a co-leader with Timo. So far it's been great and I'm super excited about the curriculum and all the things they (and I!) will learn. Also, I'm going to start leading worship more regularly and really investing into it as a ministry. This is something I'm hugely passionate and excited about, but also a bit nervous! I'm definitely looking forward to all God has to teach me in this area.

<-- (Learning the books of the Bible with the help of Robert's Legos...)

Last piece of news: I got my first German hair cut! This was not only my first hair cut in a foreign country, but also my first hair cut by a new hair stylist since about six years. Tori has been cutting my hair since some time in high school and it was a little leap of faith to trust someone else with the scissors for the first time. Luckily, Jacqueline at Ha(a)rmonie (hair = Haar, isn't that the cutest name for a hair salon in Germany?) did a great job!

BEFORE__________________AFTER_________________


That's the news from here! Much love to y'all!

Belated updates on travels

I have two things to report on, primarily through photos...

First, I went to Lutherstadt Wittenberg (Stadt=city) a few weeks ago with Anna and some people from her church (mostly Americans who came to help with the English camp they did a few weeks ago). Wittenberg isn't far from Berlin - maybe an hour and a half? - so we made a day trip. We were fortunate to have beautiful weather and we had a great time. Wittenberg is really just a little Dorf (=small town) with some historical landmarks - quite charming and peaceful. Luther really is the star of the town - everything there is Luther this or Luther that. Luther became an extremely important figure in German history, not just in church history, and was especially celebrated in the 19th century as Germany was forming a united national identity for the first time.

Wittenberg photos

Then last week I traveled to Cologne for the Fulbright/Pedagogical Exchange Service orientation/seminar. I arrived early and had a little bit of time to check out Cologne before meeting the bus to the orientation site, which was outside Cologne in a town called Altenberg. We stayed and had all our sessions at an old monastery which had been turned into a sort of hostel/retreat center. So I didn't get to see much of Cologne, but what I did see was nice, it didn't seem very tourist-friendly (although there were tons of tourists there). There were several things I tried to see/visit but either couldn't find or couldn't find entrances to or the opening hours were wrong, etc. But it's a nice city.

Cologne photos

The monastery in Altenberg really was beautiful. Orientation was interesting - we had a sort of crash-course in teaching English with a handful of wonderful German English teachers. The main teacher for my group actually did a teacher-exchange year in Philadelphia, so it was really interesting to hear her impressions! We had to do mock-lessons and when we weren't teaching a lesson we had to play student, which at times became quite amusing. Scattered inbetween these coaching sessions were a handful of very unhelpful information sessions about insurance, banking, etc. Mostly repetition of things we already knew from all the stuff they sent us over the summer, interspersed with some really stupid questions from some of the teaching assistants. And of course at night there was nothing to do except drink beer that the program directors were selling, so the evenings weren't so much fun either for the few of us who weren't interested in getting drunk at orientation. (Couldn't they at least wait until they got to their cities and could go to a real bar?) But in general, it was nice, and I met some cool people, including several who are also in Berlin.

Pictures of the monastery

This week I've been back at school and having a great time. Some of the classes have been a bit hyper but it's still fun and I love them all. Tomorrow I'm staying in the afternoon to see what sorts of things they do (since they have to stay at school until 4 but usually don't have class after 2) and if there are ways for me to volunteer.

Pictures and such for those who are curious!

Here are some pictures from my school - right now I only have pictures of the outside, hopefully I'll get a chance to take some inside too.











And in case anyone is curious what a typical week of school is like for a 5th-grader at E.-O.-Plauen, here is Ulrike's class's schedule:



The first break is basically recess - the second one is sometimes another recess, sometimes lunch. I can't really figure it out, and it's different depending on what the schedule is like for a certain day. Recess is different from what I remember from grade school - the teachers don't take their classes outside, the kids just go, and then a bell rings that tells them they have to go back to class. There are usually a couple teachers outside during the break but the kids are basically on their own during that time. The classes with a * are only for kids that are struggling and need extra help. AG stands for "Arbeitsgemeinschaft," I haven't figured out exactly what this means but I know there are different AGs for different things - for example, there is a soccer AG and a drum AG. I think they're sort of after-school clubs.

Also, you did indeed see Islam on the schedule. In Germany there is not a separation of church and state like we have in the U.S., and so kids have religion class at school. Usually they pick between Catholic and Protestant, and then they added a sort of non-religious alternative, Ethics. Some schools in certain areas now of course have almost exclusively Muslim students, so those schools now - although this is still highly controversial - offer Islam class. Religion classes aren't just taught by anybody - they of course have teacher certification but also have some sort of certification from the state churches, or in the case of Islam class, a mosque. Not sure how all that stuff technically works. But anyways, not all the kids go to Islam class, but I think most of them do. I'm not exactly sure what the other kids do instead.

Expect more updates to come! Tomorrow I'm not going to school because Ulrike doesn't have many English classes and I have to go to the dentist - the last appointment available this week is Friday at 11:30, and it would be a hassle to ride all the way down to school for an hour and then have to leave. (If you're curious, my tooth that has a crown has become very sensitive to hot and cold. I'm sure this can't be good news, so I figured I should see a dentist as soon as possible. I'm kind of nervous.) Next week is orientation in Cologne, so I'll try to report on that. And don't think that I've forgotten about the post on man capris and socks with sandals. The other day an acquaintance actually was wearing both - and not just any socks, but black socks. Yikes. I would've taken a picture but I had just met the guy and I thought he might be offended.
.

My first day of school!

I have to go to bed soon but I absolutely had to write about my first day of school today!!! First of all, it was pretty unexpected... I'm not actually supposed to start until after my orientation, which is next week. But all the kids go back to school today, and since I'm already here I thought it would be exciting to experience the first couple days of school, since it's kind of a big deal. :) I emailed the teacher I'll be working with last week to ask her if I could come visit the school this week, and I didn't here back from her until late last night, just in time to head straight to bed so I could get up early today and go to school!

To put it simply - it was wonderful. I am so incredibly happy to be where I am. I'll even admit - when I stepped onto the school grounds I got a little teary-eyed. I have read about German schools and studied the situation of immigrant schoolchildren for several years, and to finally be at an elementary school in Kreuzberg was almost like traveling for the first time to a foreign country you've always dreamed of seeing, that you've read and learned about for years. It was a similar feeling to how I felt when I first visited Germany my sophomore year of high school. I don't know why I didn't think through it sooner, but the feeling was totally unexpected... and incredibly beautiful.

I absolutely adore these kids. The teacher I work with - her name is Ulrike - has a 5th grade "homeroom" class, and teaches English and math for her homeroom as well as a few other classes - for English, another 5th grade class, two 4th grade classes, and a 3rd grade class. I will probably be assisting in all of those classes. Today I met Ulrike's homeroom class and the two 4th grade classes. Almost all of the kids are Turkish. In Ulrike's homeroom there are two German boys, and in the 4th grade classes there is a Lebanese girl, an African boy, and a few others who aren't Turkish. The kids all speak German pretty well though, and speak mostly German with each other - though I wasn't with them at recess. The kids got to interview me and they asked the funniest questions - first the obvious, where I'm from, how old I am, if I have siblings, what my hobbies are, my favorite color, but they also had to know if I was married, and when I said no, if I had a boyfriend! They also wanted to know my parents' and brother's names, and where/how I learned German. One kid asked if I'd ever seen Indians, and what they look like! :) Then Ulrike had them guess what 3rd language I am learning, and when they guessed Turkish they were very excited and got to ask me a few questions in Turkish. They liked the idea that I could teach them my language and they could teach me theirs.

For English class, the kids all get to pick English names. They had names like Mary, Betty (they thought it was cool that that's my mom's name too!), Nicole, Jennifer, Sandy, Miriam, Angela, Olivia and the boys were Henry, Harry, Bob, Johnny, Michael... Keep in mind, they learn British English. In their textbooks there are pictures of little British kids in their British school uniforms - so funny! But Ulrike is not a teach-out-of-the-textbook kind of teacher. She is very spunky and likes to have the kids up and moving around, singing and dancing. We sang songs like "Good morning to you," "10 Little Indians," and, my favorite, "5 Little Frogs." I'd never heard this one before, but it is very funny and involves some dancing and jumping. :)

The school itself is very nice. The building is beautiful - not like American schools, which are often just big brick boxes, but a 4-story dark brick building with big windows and a big courtyard where the kids play at recess. Instead of a big huge cafeteria, there is a kitchen where the food is prepared and then the kids eat in a couple different smaller lunchrooms at round tables. I'm pretty sure all the kids eat the cafeteria food, but they bring their own snack for the morning. The kids are at school until 4:00 because the school is on a "full-day" program (Ganztagsschule). A lot of schools with mostly immigrant students do this because the kids don't have much support at home for their education - a lot of their parents have little education or don't speak much German, and education isn't always as much of a priority in their culture as it is for Germans. After around 1:30 or 2 the kids don't usually have any more classes, but they can get homework help and take part in sports clubs and other activities. The kids do almost all of their homework at school.

The teachers I met were very nice, as well as the principal. The teachers' lounge is basically the same as in the States (I spent a decent amount of time in Brentwood High's when I shadowed Emily Sherman) except the teachers don't eat lunch there - instead they eat in the lunchrooms where the kids eat, and sometimes they sit with the kids too. Another thing that's interesting is that when the students have a different teacher for a different subject, it's not the kids who change rooms but the teachers! The kids stay in the same room for most subjects (not gym and such, of course!) and have all their books and supplies in that room, and the teachers move around to teach different classes. (In secondary school this changes and the kids change rooms.)

By far the greatest part of the day was meeting the kids. They seemed so excited to have a new teaching assistant, and they were really having fun today. Just to see the look in their eyes, the way they are hungry to learn and to grow (though many don't really know it yet :) and to be loved and valued. Their faces are all so beautiful! I absolutely cannot wait to get to know them all and to go on this adventure with them. I am totally in love!!!

Now I absolutely have to go to bed so I have plenty of energy for Ebru, Ayse, Hasan, Orhun, Ali, Nuray, Melek, Mimi...

Big bikes and screenless windows

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. :)
.

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."
.

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!

I'm here! I'm finally really here!

...And unfortunately too tired to write about it. But stay tuned!

It's official

I'm coming back to Berlin for another whole year! I'm thrilled and can hardly wait.