The last week or so has been really great. I've gotten to spend time with my "family", meet new friends, and spend time with old friends while expiring new places. I've been thanking God often for the ways he has been blessing me here.
Last Tuesday I had a great day with Janet. After we took the girls to school, ran a few errands. Janet had me drive everywhere we went so that I could get familiar with the roads and the rules as well as the car. We went to the Rathaus (city house) in the town they previously lived in and then when to a second-hand shop where she bought me a couple great scarves. (I really love scarves!) The town was adorable. We then drove a couple of minutes over to the Rhine River where we ate pretzels at an adorable old restaurant. After lunch I drove up a tiny little road to an old castle. It was fun because we were the only two people at the castle. We explored the dark towers and looked out to the hills and the Rhine. Later, she took me to lunch at the Lufthansa Center near here. It was so weird to be there because it was in the middle of the hills with no buildings nearby. We went and it was like a bubble. It was a brand new hotel and conference center full of people in business suits and they were all speaking English. It was unreal.
I spent a lot of the rest of the week setting up my room (finally), playing with the girls and taking them to and from school, and going to the nearby University town, Darmstadt. On Thursday I met Jenny, the au pair from England. We window shopped then had some good Italian food for lunch. Later in the evening Jenny and I met Axel to go to the Campus für Christus (Cru) meeting at Darmstadt. There were 30-40 students at the meeting. After getting over my fear of not knowing the language and approaching others, I met some pretty cool people. Some people were scared to speak English, although everyone I talked to spoke it well. The meeting went well. It was cool to listen to worship songs in German. Jenny translated the main part of the messages. I was happy to hear that the man spoke about the Prodigal Son because I've heard sermons on that multiple times. I was able to ponder the story and pray on my own and still felt like I was following along. It was so great to be part of a Christian community of college students. That's what I had been praying for.
After the meeting we went out with some new friends. Axel ordered me my first "real" beer at a biergarten. I got the smallest one I could and it was alright, but I couldn't drink much more than that. It was fun to socialize and meet new people. We stayed there for about an hour or so then headed back home. We were running late so Jenny, Axel and I just ran and jumped on the tram. After Jenny and Axel had already gotten off, I realized I was on the wrong tram. It was the right number, but it wasn't the one that went all the way back to Seeheim. When I first found out I kind of freaked. It was 12:30am and I didn't want to be stranded at a tram stop on a winter night. I wasn't thinking clearly and called Axel to ask him to check the tram schedule. A nice guy on the tram heard me and told me I would have to get off at the last stop then wait 30 minutes for my tram. Axel was nice enough and called me back so that I would be a little less freaked out while waiting for my tram at Frankenstein. Oh yeah, the last stop happened to be "Frankenstein Place". Although I was freaked out at first, I said a prayer and felt a great sense of calmness. I know this wasn't even that bad of a situation, but I love how God can calm my nerves when I just put trust in him. As I was waiting at the dark tram stop, snow started to fall. It was so pretty. At around 1:30am I arrived at home safely.
The next morning I left to visit Ching in Koblenz then we went on a day trip to Bonn and Cologne. I'll write more about that great adventure in another post, because it is now past my bedtime.
Last Tuesday I had a great day with Janet. After we took the girls to school, ran a few errands. Janet had me drive everywhere we went so that I could get familiar with the roads and the rules as well as the car. We went to the Rathaus (city house) in the town they previously lived in and then when to a second-hand shop where she bought me a couple great scarves. (I really love scarves!) The town was adorable. We then drove a couple of minutes over to the Rhine River where we ate pretzels at an adorable old restaurant. After lunch I drove up a tiny little road to an old castle. It was fun because we were the only two people at the castle. We explored the dark towers and looked out to the hills and the Rhine. Later, she took me to lunch at the Lufthansa Center near here. It was so weird to be there because it was in the middle of the hills with no buildings nearby. We went and it was like a bubble. It was a brand new hotel and conference center full of people in business suits and they were all speaking English. It was unreal.
I spent a lot of the rest of the week setting up my room (finally), playing with the girls and taking them to and from school, and going to the nearby University town, Darmstadt. On Thursday I met Jenny, the au pair from England. We window shopped then had some good Italian food for lunch. Later in the evening Jenny and I met Axel to go to the Campus für Christus (Cru) meeting at Darmstadt. There were 30-40 students at the meeting. After getting over my fear of not knowing the language and approaching others, I met some pretty cool people. Some people were scared to speak English, although everyone I talked to spoke it well. The meeting went well. It was cool to listen to worship songs in German. Jenny translated the main part of the messages. I was happy to hear that the man spoke about the Prodigal Son because I've heard sermons on that multiple times. I was able to ponder the story and pray on my own and still felt like I was following along. It was so great to be part of a Christian community of college students. That's what I had been praying for.
After the meeting we went out with some new friends. Axel ordered me my first "real" beer at a biergarten. I got the smallest one I could and it was alright, but I couldn't drink much more than that. It was fun to socialize and meet new people. We stayed there for about an hour or so then headed back home. We were running late so Jenny, Axel and I just ran and jumped on the tram. After Jenny and Axel had already gotten off, I realized I was on the wrong tram. It was the right number, but it wasn't the one that went all the way back to Seeheim. When I first found out I kind of freaked. It was 12:30am and I didn't want to be stranded at a tram stop on a winter night. I wasn't thinking clearly and called Axel to ask him to check the tram schedule. A nice guy on the tram heard me and told me I would have to get off at the last stop then wait 30 minutes for my tram. Axel was nice enough and called me back so that I would be a little less freaked out while waiting for my tram at Frankenstein. Oh yeah, the last stop happened to be "Frankenstein Place". Although I was freaked out at first, I said a prayer and felt a great sense of calmness. I know this wasn't even that bad of a situation, but I love how God can calm my nerves when I just put trust in him. As I was waiting at the dark tram stop, snow started to fall. It was so pretty. At around 1:30am I arrived at home safely.
The next morning I left to visit Ching in Koblenz then we went on a day trip to Bonn and Cologne. I'll write more about that great adventure in another post, because it is now past my bedtime.
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