Thoughts I've Held Onto

So, when I was in Oman on exchange two years ago, my mom found this beautiful travel journal that had daily quotes as well as Bible verses. The journal was so cool, that she bought it for me with the intention of mailing it...well, we all know how that goes so let's not hold it against her ;-)

 Fast forward two years and I'm at it again--traveling that it :-) However, earlier this year...in February I think...I decided to start journaling again. I've filled up two journals since then and am now putting that beautiful travel journal to very good use. So, it actually worked out better that I have it with me now rather than in Oman where I'm sure I would've tried to journal faithfully and undoubtedly failed :-)

The quotes and Bible verses sometimes make my day as they are often encouraging, comforting, and often offer a little motivation which is always nice :-) So, since the majority of my reading audience are also travel junkies, I thought I'd share with you my ten favorites in no particular order :-)

1. Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail--T. S. Eliot

2. I am guiding you in the way of wisdom and I am leading you on the right path--Proverbs 4:11

3. There is no pleasure in having nothing to do; the fun is in having lots to do and not doing it--Mary Wilson Little

4. God will not send us out on any journey for which He does not equip us well.--Alexander Maclaren

5. Our days are identical suitcases--all the same size--but some people can pack more into them than others--Bits & Pieces

6.Trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.--Proverbs 3:5-6

7. When preparing to travel, lay out all your clothes and all your money. Then take half the clothes and twice the money--Susan Heller

8. At every crossroad, follow your dream. It is courageous to let your heart lead the way.--Thomas Leland

9. In the long run, the pessimist may be proved to be right, but the optimist has a better time on the trip--Daniel L. Reardon

10. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen,--Hebrews 11:1

My Life in a German Gymnasium

Well, I'm now 8 weeks into the school year! Maybe I say this in every post, but time really is flying by!! Now that I've gotten into a routine and learned most of the ropes, I thought I'd share with you a little bit more about German school because as I learned quite quickly, it's very different from a high school in the U.S. :-)

First, for those of you who are interested and missed my first post about school, here's the link http://juliannesjourneys.blogspot.com/2011/09/guess-what-i-survived-my-first-week-of.html I also have my schedule posted there :-)

Well, where do I start? I guess I should mention with pride, that I haven't gotten lost in weeks now. Although I'm anything but self sufficient, it does feel good to not need a babysitter in between classes ;-) I've learned that although I'm taking Chemistry, Geography, History, and many others....those are all just code names for what the classes really are--German! German, German, German--everywhere and all the time I'm constantly hearing to words and trying to absorb as much as I can and I think I might even be learning a little :-) I've also discovered which teachers I like--and which teachers frustrate the--you know, I'm not even gonna go there :-)

I do have two favorite teachers though. One is my Geography teacher who is constantly making the class laugh with his over-enthusiasm and determination to help us not learn, but understand. He's the kind of teacher that really seems passionate about what he's teaching, and therefore the majority of the class (which is only 9 people) can handle listening to him teach. I personally appreciate his abundance of hands on examples--whether using books, chairs, desks, rocks or whatever else he can get his hands on, seeing what he's saying makes understanding a million times easier! From what German I could understand, he even got himself scolded once for bringing the class, who couldn't stop yawning, coffee from the teacher's lounge. :-)

Using two buckets, a desk, and some rocks, he showed us how different forces of water are capable of moving different sized stones :-)

Although I still only understand about 25% of the advanced vocabulary in my history class, I am happy that I have a wonderful teacher. Actually, he just happens to also be an English teacher and on more than one occasion has happily translated an assignment, or even discussion, for me. Right now, the class is studying early American history and I've enjoyed being able to offer my two cents and even reading excerpts from different documents like the Declaration of Independence. A few weeks ago, he'd started talking about how beautiful the American passport is and asked me if I could bring mine one day. When I did, he took it up to the front of the class, showed off what he found to be it's most impressive features, then passed it around the classroom! I was feeling pretty patriotic about then :-)



The class admiring my passport :-)

 As far as the system of school itself--hang on don't stop reading! I promise it won't get too boring :-) the differences are huge and more than I care to list (and you care to read) in one blog post. One of the biggest differences though, is Substitute teachers--or lack thereof. This just happens to be one of the differences I quite enjoy, actually. :-) When a teacher is sick, on vacation, or whatever the case may be, the class is simply canceled for that day and the students have a free period. This is fairly common and I usually get at least one unexpected free period a week. There is a big electronic board in the main part of the school that keeps track of what classes are cancelled and there is always a hopeful crowd gathered around it. Usually you can even hear disappointed groans as well and excited cheers.

One other difference I'll mention isn't one I love nearly as much. I knew coming here that school sports and school spirit are very American but experiencing difference for myself occasionally causes me to miss the halls of CHS decked out in red every Friday before the big game or the giant crowds that rooted on our girls to the state basketball tournament last year. In Germany, school is solely academic--which makes sense but isn't quite as fun :-) I guess I'm lucky to have been able to experience the best of both worlds. ;-P

Well, with posts about this size, hopefully by the end of the year I will be able to cover the main differences but for now I'll leave you with these few and a bit more of an idea of what my life is like at a German Gymnasium :-)

Rock Without Limits!

What's better than a two day Christian rock festival? Let me tell you :-) Germany's biggest Christian rock festival--and not only going, but getting in free as a helper and then finding out the festival was over-staffed. Since I was left with nothing to do, I had no other option but to sit there and watch concerts of bands from Germany, Finland, and the U.S.A. :-)

It was so much fun in so many ways! Several bands I'm familiar with in the states--including Thousand Foot Krutch, Everyday Sunday, and Paul Coleman--were there as well as a few I'd never heard of but thoroughly enjoyed. The festival was set up in three different venues--main stage, which was usually more of the pop/rock and the more famous bands, "the tent", which was the heavy metal that I usually avoided, and "the loft", which was smaller and usually bands or individuals with just a guitar or keyboard.

One of the highlights for me was listening to Paul Coleman and Steve Savage (from Nashville) in the loft. Their music was great...but what I enjoyed even more than their music was their humor. Both spoke soley in English and several times made jokes that the majority of German speakers in the room didn't understand. For me, the awkward silence where laughter is supposed to erupt made the jokes ten times as funny! Then, Steve Savage began cracking jokes about Americans and I just about died :-)

I had another memorable experience on the last night when the band that everyone was waiting for came out--Thousand Foot Krutch. The entire area designed for people to stand was packed as, were the bleachers behind, so I'm guess a total of 1000-1500 people were there. Of course, I squeezed my way right up to the front but I didn't exactly realize what I'd committed myself to by doing that. Within minutes the people behind those of us in the front had packed us in so tight that there was little room for any movement. Then all the big guys around me got all sweaty...I'll just say I'm glad that as the crowd surfers made their way up, I was able to secure a spot in the very front where a little fresh air could get to me!

I'm so glad that I was able to "help" because I really had a great time :-) something i didn't mention was that in addition to tons of fun music, I was able to hang out with some of my best friends in Germany <3 It really was a great weekend and a wonderful start to my week of fall vacation which you'll hear more about soon.

From Apples to Pears

Those of you faithful followers out there may remember my post several months back talking about apples and the crazy amount my family has. Well, have no fear, the hundreds of pounds of apples aren't sitting in a lonely shed somewhere--most were sold to make apple juice :-) But I'm getting off topic. Apple season is over. My first thought was that meant no more Saturday mornings spent bent over for hours gathering fruit--HA! I was quite wrong. Saturday morning, we put on our sweatshirts and grubby boots and headed out to gather--pears!


Those aren't leaves on the ground!




This one tree took us over an hour!

The job really isn't that bad although apples are easier than pears who like to hide among fallen tree leaves. I would actually imagine I'm somewhat entertaining to watch as I create an interesting variety of positions to kneel, squat, sit, and bend over in to try and avoid being to sore later on. However, try as I might, two hours of gathering pears off the ground amounts to an unavoidable amount of bending over and I can always tell on Sunday morning whether Saturday was spend gathering or not:-)

 

Unlike the warmer apple season, it is downright cold out most mornings! Although this isn't always pleasant as we begin gathering, I personally find it fun to find the pears the sun hasn't gotten to yet--the ones that have a shimmering frosty coat left over from a night that dipped below freezing.

Hopefully this post wasn't too boring :-) Pears may not seem that exciting....and don't worry, I haven't gone completely mad and am not arguing that my weekly pear gathering expeditions are the most exciting aspect of my exchange...but its definitely something I'll remember and definitely something new that I hope you have enjoyed hearing a little about :-)

Sweet Dreams

Let me start by apologizing for falling so far behind on my blog! Although the last 10 days have been extremely fun, they have also been packed full--giving me plenty to blog about but no time create a post! But now it's ferien, and with no school in the morning, I'm perfectly content with spending a while updating all of you on my German life :-)

So, one day last week, Mama and Papa ran to the store and took longer than expected--which really shouldn't come as a surprise anymore, but anyway, dinner is usually served between 7:00 and 7:30 so when 8:00 rolled around and the kids eyes began to grow heavy, I heated up left over spaghetti.

By the time the table was set and the spaghetti ready, Mama and Papa had returned and before long we were seated at the table...but not all of us. The two youngest--Samuel and Jonathon--had become so tired that they'd forgotten all about their hunger and curled up on the coach.They were fast asleep.

 Once we had finished eating, Papa picked up Jonathon and I took Sami :-) We carried them to bed and Mama commented that Sami looked dead, not asleep, as he didn't even stir as I carried him to his room. The two were soon under their covers and unaware of any change. However, for me, that was probably the cutest thing I have seen in a long time and thankfully my camera was nearby and Mama captured the precious moment so that now, I can share it with you :-)

 

BREAKING NEWS!!!

Well, it's very "Oregon coast" of me to be so excited over such a small and uneventful little thing...but that didn't stop me from freaking out when I looked out the window and saw Gomaringen's first snow!!!

Okay, so I know it's not that impressive...and the ground was already so wet from an entire day's worth of rain that it didn't stick at all..BUT--it's snow :-) I took a bunch of pictures and then sat down at the table with mama and had a perfect cup of coffee..and even though it wasn't the weekend, I even nibbled at a bit of her baked apples that were fresh out of the oven....well, baked apples with a decent amount of sugar and butter. :-)



Christian had a hard time not covering the flash, but this one isn't too bad :-)

If I hadn't known any better, I would have said it was December but there was no Christmas music, the fire place was cold, and most importantly, I had school the next day. My friends just laughed when I told them school was normally canceled in Coquille when it snowed. But now it's the weekend and although the sun has come back out, the temperature this morning (as I rode my bike to school) was under 40 degrees and throughout the day I'd be surprised if it broke 50.

I'm sure sometime--probably in the next month--I'll be able to have a post full of snowy pictures and give you a chance to see Gomaringen under a blanket of white but for now, an afternoon of flurries is going to have to suffice :-)

While the Sun is Still Shining

Take advantage of it! I can't count the number of times in the last few weeks people have marveled at how the weather is still so beautiful and Sunday afternoon was no exception. The sun was shining and there was hardly a cloud in the sky so after lunch we packed up and headed out....although I felt too embarrassed to admit that I didn't understand where they'd said we were going. I knew it wouldn't be too long before I found out--and I was right :-)

A fifteen minute drive took us half way up a little mountain (or maybe giant hill is more appropriate) and the view was incredible. Off in the distance the tiny figures or airplanes could be seen taking off and landing at Stuttgart airport, towns and cities were scattered all throughout the landscape, and the color of the once green forest was a beautiful mixture of orange, yellow, and red.

But that was only the beginning--up, up, up, we hiked! I started the trek with my sweater and jacket and reached the top with my sleeves rolled up and jacket hanging uselessly from my arm. Again, the view was breathtaking. But, when your siblings are 4, 7, 10, and 11, "breathtaking" only means "boring", and our time spent atop the mountain was short--just enough to snap a few pictures, eat a few apple slices, and realize that there was no bathroom. :-)

Once the troops had been loaded back into the mini van, it was Sunday afternoon--and what's Sunday afternoon without coffee and cake? Not twenty minutes later we were sitting in the sun of what I believe was a perfect fall afternoon, sipping lattes and nibbling on cake :-)


The view from the top :-)

 We made it home just in time for me to grab a bite to eat and run out the door for the youth church service. It's not every week the service takes place in Gomaringen but when I'm able to go, I enjoy it so much as it closely resembles my church at home and isn't quite as...traditional...as the normal morning service. But before I new it, that too was over and it was Sunday night.

Let week number six of school begin!