Several Disappointments of Growing Up

Living by myself has brought many things to my attention. 

First and foremost, when you live alone, the dishes don’t just end up clean in the cupboard like they used to at home. The water bottles also don’t fill themselves and put themselves into the fridge. And worst of all, no matter how long I waited, the coffee didn’t magically appear hot and ready when I woke up. 

But there are other mysteries. This one is the most life-changing...

When I put chocolate in the cupboard, it is still there in the morning!

I have had to let go of many childhood beautiful and mysterious things, but these luxuries I might miss the most, of course except for the chocolate surviving the night.

How to Get a Bike in Freiburg

I am not a huge fan of sarcasm...however, I was tempted to title this post "50 Easy Steps to Get a Bicycle"..hahah, this was an adventure that tested my patience (on an empty stomach!). Here goes! Just in case you give up hope, during reading these steps...I'll put the best part first. A picture of my bike :) I nerdily called Midnight.

1. Find directions to the place where the bicycle market is on google maps
2. Figure out if the bank across from my apartment Spardabank will let me take out money from their ATM as a non-spardabank customer.
3. Find a promising website, with an inconclusive answer
4. Decide to not risk getting slammed with a fee, go to your own bank Genevieve
5. Take S-Bahn into the city
6. Stand next to a guy with an orange and white cat on his shoulder (this makes me smile...to which the other local bus riders scowl at me questioningly and get shifty)
7. Get off at my station (almost get hit by a bicyclist) in the inner city
8. Take out money. How much? (There was a bike on ebay for $35, but I’m not sure if it needs brakes, has a working light (a german law all bikes must have) and if everything works....) Are you going to sell it again? Do you need anything else from the market? Maybe an eskimo suit because it is already so cold?

9. Take out phone and refresh google maps for step by step directions

10. „Google maps isn’t functioning at this time“
11. Go into a building that looks like the center, which turned out to be an opera house, get directions to the bicycle market.
12. Start walking towards a new bus stop....this wasn’t the address on the poster I saw for the bicycle market (the same one a friend also told me about)
13. Google „Bicycle Market Freiburg 10/17“ THERE ARE EIGHT.
14. Take a moment to recenter my focus, but not too long, because the bus is coming that you need! Get in? Wait for the next one? Will there be a next one?
15. Get in the bus and continue the google quest..
16. Ha yes, it was a different bicycle market. Google new directions (but not on google map app that isn’t working!)
17. Have a weird gut feeling that I am driving in the wrong direction, but I am not sure.
18. Yes, genevieve! You are driving in the wrong direction, decide to get out.
19. As we are approaching the bus stop an undercover bus ticket checker guy starts asking for tickets.....my bus stop!!! Can I hop out or will he chase me because he thinks I am trying to escape? I have to get out! It’s raining now and my dream bicycle might be getting sold out from underneath me!
20.  Get out my wallet and take out my student ID and the regional bus ticket (and bask for a moment how I organized my purse and wallet)
21. QUICK PRESS THE BUTTON TO GET OUT, NO ONE ELSE IS GETTING OFF AT THIS STOP AND HE’S STARTING TO DRIVE AWAY
22. By this time google maps on safari is working and gives me walking direction (1.5 miles away...which would not have been far for the rural country girl Genevieve in August ...but now the city diva thinks that is very far!)
23. Try to zoom so I can see where it is ultimately taking me, it looks like it wants me to turn around.....but navigate like a car and go down a street to the left then another left? Can’t I just literally turn 180 degrees?
24. Get a text that my 500MB data is almost empty
25. Just do what stupid google maps on safari is telling you to, no time to mess around! (Despise the fact that I'm at the mercy of following a blue line...as a blue dot!)
26. Go 50 M straight, 300 M left, then 50 M straight........GOOGLE MAPS MADE ME DO A HUGE U-TURN LIKE A CAR. Come out exactly at the bus stop where I just was...okay.
27. Slowly realize that I was indeed on the right bus. Rain. ( Directions from here aren’t bad, straight, left, over secluded bridge, raining..(my purse is getting on rained on! L ) )
28. Last directions, I can see the Hall! Google maps is telling me right...I don’t trust this...the main entrance looks to the left, I go right
29. YES! There is the Messe(Hall)!!!!!!! Here I come bicycle.  This is a very weird looking building....a HUGE cement box building with HUGE grey doors with HUGE numbers on each door 2, 3,5. I go into door 2 (winner, winner, winner!) Yes I am there! I made it.
30. See a kid my age sitting near the door with a pen and a notepad, get my wallet out to pay. „This isn’t the entrance, you have to go around“ he says. To which I replay in laughter, „no, I am not. I’m going to walk straight through, you can even come with me, I will pay, but I’m not going outside again“ to which he replays „no you can’t do that“, then I say „that is very silly, the main building was several football stadiums long) I get no response.
31. Go back out the door.

Ok, readers, you should probably take a break here. If these steps are getting boring to you, imagine doing them. Hahah, I started off this journey like this....

....and three hours, miles later, I looked like this...

....yes! Still doing great. One of my lessons is not having my joy be dependent on situation. Okay, maybe I wasn't still on the lamp post because I was quite hungry now, however I was still singing!...okay, back to the bike adventure..

32. Walk all the way down to the end (this takes 15 minutes), I see another huge parking lot and a lot of people! Great! They are walking towards the entrance.
33. Take a turn at the end of building to see a 20 ft tall iron fence separating the front from the back, separating me from my entrance.
34. Walk back to Door 2 (another 15 minutes) and back onto the street. Finally, find the real entrance (30 minutes more of walking), pay the fee, I AM INSIDE.
35. Look around at bicycles....starting at $55 going up to $450. How do you say „can I take it for a test drive“?? The only thing I know how to say is, „can I try it on?“
36. Notice there are many exchange students, notice a purple bike I like, I ask anyways in shame, „Can I try it on?“
37. Get the weird look I was expecting. „Ich brauche dein Ausweis (I need your ID)".
38. Take it out from the precarious position smushed between a dozen of bikes and head outside...the seat is too high. Whatever. It’s purple.
39. Start driving, HELP ME! I’m sure you know the crazy cart at the grocery store, yeah this was it. The wheel was not aligned to go forward rather 45 degrees RIGHT. But I already started pedaling and am moving forward fast
40. Squeeze the breaks (which makes an enormous noise in the quiet bustling of little german families, like a raptor screaming out in pain)
41. Navigate through a dozen of small children and people with french fries on a bike that only drives in circles with deafining brakes. I come to a stop.
42. Give the bike back and for a moment entertain the idea of giving up. Can’t someone just pick one out for me?
43. Call my host family and ask for advice. I am too tired to understand the dialect and remind my lovely host father to speak more slowly.
44. Take another bike for a spin that is 30 years old „but a good bike“, and it is, compared to one that rides in circles with raptor brakes. This one is $75.
45. Check my phone. 2 missed calls from an unknown number. Looks familiar...no desire to call back however.
46. Call back. It’s my host dad! Talking fast.
47. „I have a friend....known for a long time...selling bikes...go....his name..Ande....tatoos...piercings...black hair..quite a handsome man..tell him....me...then call me back, okay?“
48. Too tired to ask him to repeat all of the probably very important information, I respond „yep, got it!“ (You see I have this skill now where I hear the keywords and from the context, situation, and what it could possibly not mean...I connect the dots to get a meaning...)
49. Head back into the Hall and look for a handsome man with tattoos, piercings and black hair.... Old guy with white hair...italian guy that is pale with no piercings....lady....lady.....dude....then I see indeed a very handsome man with jet black hair and sparkling white teeth and I walk up to him only to realize....what was I going to say???? Hi, your name is Andy and I’m going to pick out a bike and have you talk to my host dad from four years ago.....?!?! Retreat, retreat! Translate what you are going to say first!!...Hi, is your name Andy? He says, yes with a half smile / half look of social terror...
50. See the bike of my dreams, 7 speed, black, a cute-but-i-mean-buisness bell, take it for a ride, take it home.... J


Except that really isn’t the end, because riding a bike here is FOR REAL. You are a vehicle. You ride side by side with cars doing 30 mph down hills, through lights...over train tracks..then onto sidewalks ..then onto „only bicycle zones“ then „bicycle and pedestrian zones“ then „only pedestrian zones“, back onto the road but the curb has no dip! And I’m going downhill, doing 30 mph, in the rain...how I got home is a whole other story....

I do however make it to the grocery store to get a much needed avocado, how I’ve missed those...only to see this. Not sure what an Avocado Bacon is, I grab one with a sigh and head home.

Poem & Picture

                                                                                                                                       Photo by Ellen Yang.

You can also click on the picture and zoom in if the text is too small. This lovely photograph was taken by my good friend Ellen Yang as we were exploring the glowing streets of Freiburg after dusk. The poem was inspired during my prayer time.

                                                                                                                                     Painting: Michelangelo - Poem:Me 

What time is early...

to pray in morning dew

before the sun stretches,

to farewell the moon?

Early is relative, simply

the inception of intention

An Empty Room

If you stopped for a moment and thought about it, nothing that we experience as humans is more intimate than being one-on-one with someone intentionally in a room. There  is nothing like it. Although most won't intellectually think about it in this way, we still seek for this connection like we seek and need water. We create these conditions in relationships and try to find human connections as best we can, but this type of "knowing" can't be simulated or emulated. In Jewish custom being in a room alone with your beloved is only a right that marriage grants. Thus, the Lord telling us to go into a closet (a small room) to pray is in fact a calling, an invitation, an honour, a right of marriage to be one-on-one with Him and this also can't be emulated. Though we try and always come up with empty hands - being invited in this way, by the Creator, is the most beautiful thing humans could experience.

Open Doors

Hi Readers!

Just like last week I've been on the go go go. I knew that time would run short during the last couple of days in my stay, but I didn't know it would be this close. My 'Goodbye party' is this evening, between packing for tomorrow, baking, cooking, running last minute errands, it all gets pretty hectic. ...But God is so good and is guiding me through everystep. I do not know what other exchange students are feeling and if they're 'sad' to be leaving Germany, logicially I would think they be. As for me, I know that the oversea connections I've made will be kept . The relationship with my host family will be a life-long one, for that I am certain. What I have learned I will never forget. There are seasons and times for all things; my season here is ending and a new one is beginning. I don't find anything to be sad about in this situation, just gratefulness. Attached are about a dozen pictures that summarize the last week. Enjoy!

Keeping the 'Slanted House' in Wernigerode, Germany
from falling.
http://www.wernigerode.de/en/
Check the website out! The house is really slanted!

In the smallest house in Wernigerode.
From one wall to the other was eight paces.
One bedroom, one kitchen, bathroom outside.
The original owner was a woman with eight children,
the oldest child lived in the house until the late 1970's!

Walking through one of the many entrances 
to get into the Sachsen-Anhalt castle.

At the top of the castle enjoying a coffee with my host-family
in the cool of the day

One of my favorite German quotes that I've come across
this year is from a late 18th century writer.
He said, 'A door is the handshake of the house'
Germany has the loveliest doors I have ever seen.
Color, detail, and handwork.

The colors are great, right?
Teal blue, desert sand yellow, and espresso brown.

In the Raindrop caves of Harz, Germany

http://www.viatoura.de/koenig-otto-tropfsteinhoehle/fotogalerie/1.html

 

View of the Bode Gorge in Saxony-Anhalt.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bode_Gorge

On the way down with the lift.

Brocken, the highest peak of Northern Germany
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brocken
We hike 9.94 miles to the top and back in 93°F.
Got my first lobster burn of the summer on my neck,
but thanks to the packet from my Uncle in the US
my Boston Red Sox hat protected my face.

Picking cherries at my host-grandparents house,
the branches were heavy of fruit and this verse came to mind...

Psalm 1:3 He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season, his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doesth shall prosper.
It's a promise.
The next blog I will be writing will be in the U.S.. In the U.S. in two days, home in 3!
I give Jesus all of the glory of this last year, with Him and through Him every day was a victorious journey.
God Bless You, Genevieve

Dancing Generation

Hello Readers!! I've been on the run with my host family since Friday (last day of school). We are doing a five day travel through Germany, which naturally means taking two hours to write a blog is not possible. Nevertheless, I woke up an hour before breakfast to make sure that you guys had at least some pictures and captions. I've learned this year that followthrough is just as important as the engaging initiative.

On the last day of school! To my suprise,
a good friend asked and was permitted to plant
a tree for the exchange students. I got to take the first dig!
You can see the tree in the back right, and also a piece of cake
that says 'Goodbye Genevieve' which a friend baked for me.
My class made a book with their pictures and they all wrote
something inside as a going away gift. We had breakfast together,
and I made a powerpoint of us throughought the year (Christmas Market,
Ice Skating, Volleyball tournament, chorus...) It was a really nice way to end the year with them.

Right after the last day of school, I got home and packed my bags for Dresden!

Dresden is called the 'Golden City'. When people asked me what I was doing

on the last day I told them that my host sister and I were going to Dresden,

they were thrilled. It is a 'must see' of Germany. This picture was taken from our

hotel, Friday evening. The drive took four hours so we only had time to freshen up and go

out to dinner.

Then the next morning we got up early at 8 to start our day. We saw this duck on the way. My host sister and Iwent down for breakfast, we found a table next to a group of four people. The hotel was very international, we had already met people from New Zealand, America, and China. But this group was from Italy. At the end of stay camp, I learned the first line of 'Enie Menie Miny Mo, Catch a Tiger by the toe' song from an American friend in Italian. The rhyme and rhythm was so cool, I asked my close friend (who is from Italy) if she could teach it to me. The song is about 20 seconds, and I know its about a doctor and apples.  A kid story. So, here was the table with four italians (I can recognize the language because I was there when Chiara skyped with her family in Italy), and you can guess what I did. I leaned over and asked, 'can you speak german?' they looked at me smiling with a question mark stare. 'english?' the man said 'little'. Then I proceeded to sing the song and they ALL smiled and laughed and sang the last stanza with me. The conversation couldn't go any farther than my 7th grade spanish (spanish is similar to italian) and their english. Nevertheless, it was so cool for me that I could make a connection to another land through a little rhyme song that I learned from a close Italian friend in Germany.

Picture of the Frauenkirche.

View of Dresden from the top of the Frauenkirche, here is a very informational website
that summarizes the history that dates back to the 11th century in a couple paragraphs. I urge you readers to take a glance, it is well worth it. http://www.frauenkirche-dresden.de/zeittafel+M5d637b1e38d.html
When I was walking through the small cobblestone streets, and reading all the small signs
on houses that were under historical preservment protection I was in absolute amazement. In comparison with Germany, the United States of America is so young! Our foundation was July 4th 1774, and the German history starts at the formation of the Celtics in the late BC's.

From the top of the church, we spotted a market!
You could recognmize by the top of the white tents,
I thought it would be a fruit/vegetable/fresh honey market
like they almost always are but this was a fabric market!!

Buttons.

Das Grüne Gewölbe Museum,
spent three hours there! Here is another phenomenally informational link!
http://www.skd.museum/en/museums-institutions/residenzschloss/gruenes-gewoelbe/index.html

In March my Host Aunt and Uncle asked my host sister and I what we wanted to do for a trip. At first I said the Sächsen Forest, because there is a HUGE rock park that dates back to the medieval age where they used catapults. But we figured the culture of Dresden was a better option. On the way back, we made a 'small detour' (2 hours)and they suprised me by going!

The Sächsische Schweiz

The Bastei Bridge
READ THE HISTORY
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bastei

I am writing this blog currently in Hartz, Germany. Right after my hosts siter and I got home, we headed out the next day with the whole family to Hartz. We are staying until Friday, I will update the blog on Monday after our journey is finished. I hope you enjoyed the pictures, feel free to comment!

Last week this verse has been on my mind. He is not far from us.
'And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us:For in Him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring'. Acts 17:26-29

God Bless You, Peace, Genevieve

P.S. I'll be home in 8 days!