Well, two weeks have passed since my last blog post and I am now sitting in (yet another) train on my way to Amsterdam! I was really afraid that I would not make the connection in Hannover as I only had 4 minutes to change platforms and recently my track record for understanding public transport has not been the best. Last Saturday night/Sunday morning I found myself completely lost at 2:00 am and it was a little bit scary. See what happened was that I had been at a friend’s house for a goodbye party but was supposed to stay my last night in Munich with another friend who had not been able to make it to the party so I had my (huge) backpack with me to take to her house after the festivities. I left with a group of friends from the party about 1am but since certain of the underground rails stop running after midnight I had to get a bus to U3 ; racing to catch the bus it totally flew my mind to ask someone which stop I needed to get off at and as the door was starting to close I shouted to them, “wait, where am I going?” Too late, I couldn’t understand what they said but I thought, ‘”I’ve got this, I can figure it out”. Well, the short version of the story is that I did NOT have it – after getting off the bus and realizing I had not a clue as to where I was, waiting 20 minutes for the wrong Ubahn (underground) and getting off at a station where the train had come for the last time that night (they only run until 2am, I stood forlornly on the corner of the street having no clue what to do until I saw a cab drive up, - I think that it must have looked like I was directing a small aircraft from how wildly I waved at him; I was just taking NO chances, I wanted to be in that taxi so badly. So the story ends happily with me snuggled in bed at my friend’s house at around 2:45am. I am sure once my mom reads this I will be forbidden from any future trips alone but I am going to take my chances J
So backing up a little – I spent the last two weeks in Munich, Germany – an absolutely wonderful city. I stayed with 4 different friends during that time and was able to visit with many more. Most of my days were spent by myself as all my friends have jobs and could only hang out in the evenings. The first week was awesome as it was hot and sunny and in Munich there are so many lakes, canals, parks and gardens to visit so I never lacked for anything to do. The second week was sold and kind of dreary – yet I still found plenty to keep my days filled. I will just try to touch on the highlights as two weeks is way too long to record in one blog.
For me it was just so mind blowing that I was back; in some ways my time there seems like years ago and in some ways it feels like no time at all has passed. Going back to church there was a surreal experience, hearing the language all around me (which, I totally regretted not having disciplined myself to learn it while I was home). Every night I had an amazing time hanging out with different friends; from fellowship around dinner, to beir gartens, going to zumba class, and hanging out after church at the Mariandl everything was a highlight because it was always done with friends and for me it’s not so much about the activity that is taking place as it is the company in which it is shared. I would have to say that going to Kennedy’s for Kareoke was definitely a favorite! See, when I was here before it had become quite common for someone to get a group together for some karaoke at Kennedy’s (a very popular Irish pub in Munich) and so the tradition had to be continued… we even had a group of Americans join us because the day before I had been sitting in Starbucks (one of the only free wifi locations) and needed to plug my laptop in but the outlet was next to the girl sitting by me so I asked her to plug it in and of course my luck , I had forgotten my adapter, but she kindly offered to let me borrow her cord as we both had macs. She ended up being from St Louis, had gone to Mizzou (the college in my city), had come here for an exchange program, met a german guy….the rest is history J I invited her to come to Kennedy’s the next night, which she did and brought about 7 other American friends which just added a fun random encounter to my slew of fun memories at Kennedy’s.
A big highlight also was having some friends take me to Salzburg Austria on Saturday – AND they asked me if I wanted to drive their car on the autobahn…their car being a stick shift made me nervous but I was totally not going to let that chance pass me by especially since it was BMW – you just can’t get more cool than that so Lukas managed the shifting of the gears for me and I did just fine – I didn’t actually go much more than 100 mph because of construction going on that kept slowing things down but it was still Awesome! These friends, Sarina and Lukas were actually how I got connected with the ministry that I am joining – Lukas worked for a year there and so being with them before I began my time there was such a blessing and encouragement. I was just so amazed by the hospitality that was showered on me…everywhere I stayed I was told to feel completely at home, given a key so that I could come and go as I pleased. Oh, I have to mention a traditional Bavarian breakfast that Lukas battled torrential rains to go get the ingredients for one Sunday morning. So it’s Weiswurst, (a squishy white sausage) served with a sweet mustard, pretzels (not the American kind) ANNNDDD….BEER! HA, first time I have ever had beer for breakfast…not my favorite but it was still a great thing to do at least once J Supposedly it’s totally acceptable to bring beer to work because in Munich beer is not considered alcohol – legally it’s just like bread, drunk for nutrition. BUT the kicker is that it’s only acceptable in the workplace if you bring enough for everyone J hahah I love it!
So after spending two weeks in Munich I took a train to Wurburg, Germany where my “German Family” live. It was so good to be back in their big, beautiful farmhouse, to see all of them again, to cook together in their kitchen, to sit on the patio catching up with John Pabst while sipping coffee. But my favorite activity was the worship night that we had last night. A group of young people came over and after blind sampling a healthy, gluten free, sugar free, chocolate cake that I had made – which most of them loved and could not believe the ingredients once I told them, Benny Pabst led us in worship…it was so awesome because not only were they musically talented but they were totally abandoned in their worship…ahhh, there were moments when I wished I could have recorded it – voices in perfect harmony pouring out - it was such an absolutely wonderful time together – for me it ended much too soon though were at least 1 ½ hours. After that we went for a walk through the village together, truly a perfect evening of fellowship in worship and fun. I was so sad to leave the Pabst’s home after such a short stay but I know that I will be back soon so it’s not as hard as when I had to come back to the USA.
Well, I just entered the Netherlands! WOW soooo weird that I am in a totally new country now and in about a ½ hour I am going to meet Hector at starbucks who is going to take me to start this new and amazing chapter of my life. I can hardly stay in my seat I am so excited for this. It was scary – the unknown, the uncertainty of what lay ahead of me but the last month I feel like I have experienced God in such another level, fallen more in love, that the future only looks exciting because I believe that He has a plan for me and in the words of Jesus Culture “It’s going to be wild, it’s going to be fun, and it’s going to be full of HIM”.
Just refound a quote by a woman whose home I will actually get to see – a home that is legendary for protecting Jews during the Holocaust.
“Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.” Corrie ten Boom
