ahhh vacation.

Here I sit, comfortably on our sofa in Bingen, no lessons to plan (for now), no time that I must wake up, no time that I must go to bed, and no precious children that I must keep under control. For 11 whole days. The last time I wrote, I was preparing to start my 10 days of teaching, which turned into 12, and are now complete! I'm not really in the mood for sulking over the details of those days so I'll just make it short and simple. After the first day, I knew the remainder of the time would be totally manageable. We had two field trip days- one to a mill and one to a farm- which were both a lot of fun and nowhere near as stressful as teachers seem to somehow make them in America. After the first few days of teaching the lessons became much easier to plan, as I saw the areas the students needed fulfilled. Naturally, I have grown to understand a little more of the unique characteristic about each child and love them even more for that.  They are such an adorable, fun group and very eager to learn. Overall, the 10 days went very well and I am thankful to have them behind me. I still have a week and a half left with my second graders, so I will be teaching about half of the time, but it will be nice to be a little more relaxed during that time. Especially because I just found out mom will be visiting!! It will be perfect timing as she will join me to head back to Berlin the day I leave Simeon.  After that, I will begin teaching in a fifth grade class, at the same school, until the beginning of December.

So.. about our past few weeks: we were able to get out and explore a little more. We kayaked Wannsee a couple of times; which is the beautiful lake we lived at during September. It is surrounded by lovely weeping willows, cobblestone streets, beautiful homes, sweet restaurants, and wooded paths. One evening we went on a biking tour around the area- and through the outskirts of Potsdam. On our ride home we decided to take the scenic route.... almost always a guaranteed mistake.  We found a quiet path along a river, with historic buildings and homes spotted around, and big grassy charming landscapes.  We passed a few runners as we biked slowly down the path, admiring the scenery.   Wrapped up in the brisk evening air, we could have almost missed the sneaky little fox that ran out right in front of our bikes! He stopped after crossing the path and glared at us and I couldn't resist glaring back.. he was just so cute, and I'm sure equally as innocent... As we continued our ride we laughed about it until we came to a semi gated neighborhood with large homes. There was a dirt clearing through the woods coming off of the street that showed it would lead us home... seemed totally legit. At this point it was around 7:30 and the sun had set, darkness was approaching and everything had a slight glow.  We rode through the majestic woods, with the lake 20 yards to our right. As we bounced over sticks and dodged logs we discussed important matters, such as what movie we might watch after arriving home. Unbeknownst to us, there were creatures in our midst discussing whether we were a threat or not. Apparently they decided we were, as suddenly a small pack of three very hefty boar barreled across the path, no more than 15 feet ahead of us. Though I am not accustomed to seeing boar in Alabama, I know from my travels to Italy, and common sense, that these animals should be avoided at all costs. At the risk of over exaggerating.. let me do so.. because this is how we behaved... I was riding at the front, because Simeon claims he was protecting the back.. cough cough.. yea. So I had mere seconds to decide if we should stop, and stand there calmly as not to present a threat to the monsters, or if we should get the flip out of there and hope the stragglers didn't pop out of the bushes and charge us. Well apparently my instincts lean to the "flight" side, so that is just what we did: pedaled and sang our hearts out the remainder of the TWENTY minute ride through the dark, scary, German forest. Literally every breath was spent on screaming "ROLL TIDE, DIE HOGS" and "WE LOVE BACON" at the top of our lungs. I'm not sure if I realized how comical it was at the time, but I am now certain we would be a YouTube sensation, complete with a rap version video, if there was a film of that scene.

Some of our less riveting activities included eating at some delicious, quaint restaurants, mostly outdoors in the evening, wrapped in blankets. Our favorite was "Garage du Pont" , which was half restaurant, half antique car garage. We also discovered a gem- Park Sanssouci in Potsdam. I have never been to such a beautifully open and unobstructed park. It was highly reminiscent of the 17 and 1800's of Europe and we could easily imagine the life of Frederick the Great, who resided there in his palace. We also spent an afternoon biking Berlin and going to church in the city. We found Berlin Connect a couple of weeks ago and though it is a little less conservative of a church than we are accustomed to, we enjoy the passion for Jesus that is evident in the people. I look forward to returning there in a couple of weeks when I am back in Berlin. And did I mention, we discovered a very small market called "General Lee's" complete with American essentials such as Gatorade, pumpkin puree, Jiff Peanut butter, and confederate t-shirts!! I won't mention the prices, but I did get a few necessities.

I feel as though everyday is an adjustment- to culture, to food, to the language, and especially the people. I'm recognizing now how similar I am to a child. It's not like I feel completely out of place here.. Germany has felt somewhat normal to me for a long time now. I can do most everything on my own and I understand the basics of the society. However, it is still very uncomfortable in many ways and I am constantly taking in what I see and processing it as new information. In any American city I could naturally adjust in a week or so, but it is a constant process here. Often, I feel that my students are farther along in the process than I am. It's not all bad. It is maturing me very quickly and I am learning how to relate to different people. Some days I love it and some days it is tough. I can't complain for one minute though, as I know this life I am living is a luxury compared to many people in foreign countries. However, I just feel that many people see my experience as a year long vacation. And that is certainly not the case in any form or fashion. These pictures may seem to contradict that, but keep in mind these experiences are only a portion of my time here. Much of the time is spent craving Alabama football (of which I have only been able to watch 1 game this season- at 3AM), chinese/chick-fil-a/mexican/japanese steak houses, my friends, Snookster, my family, my bed, books that are in English (along with all of the teaching resources I have at home), stores that are open on Sundays and past 8pm any other day, stinkin easy cooking with all of our vast food selections in America, TARGET, shopping at places other than H&M/Zara, flippin english,  cheap gas (yes, it is way cheap in America compared to here), being able to say I miss my friends when I am only an hour or two away from them, current music,  streets that look like home, a smiling face at the other end of the cash register, free restrooms, the use of the word "restroom" rather than "toilet", community spirit, clothes dyers to keep your clothes soft, days warm enough to actually wear a bathing suit, did I mention football??!,  holiday decorations, the friendliest people in the world- southerners! buttttt Don't let that confuse you :) Living here is such an incredible experience and I'm thankful everyday. This is just a tiny rant to those who haven't considered the tough moments.. which we all have- here or there- so I am just highlighting a little of my own experience.  I traded the commonalities of my former life for one thing- my precious hubby- and as I look over at him smiling and acting silly on the sofa next to me, how could I have an ounce of negativity in my bones?  God is weaning me of the things I expect in life, the things our society has taught us are essential and showing me even greater things, the things that glorify HIM.

Branderburger Tor

Reichstag

missing the quad on the Reichstag lawn

Berlin Holocaust Memorial

Berlin Holocaust Memorial

how Wannsee looked many mornings when I headed off to the school

our backyard at Wannsee

our yard at Wannsee

excited about finding favorites- still saving up the mini marshmallows and cake mix for a special occasion

during one of our bike rides through our neighborhood at Wannsee

the wall

Potsdam

Dutch district of Potsdam

kayaking Wannsee

 Since arriving back to our home, in Bingen, I feel SO out of place with the seasons. Our apartment has the same lovely winter smell it had when I visited in November two years ago and December last year. There aren't exacting corn mazes, hay rides, haunted houses, or even Halloween decorated lawns here.. so I'm pretty much ready to skip ahead to the real holiday seasons. I began feeling as if it were Fall in June, so I mean come on.. how could it not feel like Thanksgiving by now?! With talk of needing to put winter tires on our car, cloudy days, nights temps dropping into the 30s, and my flight to Birmingham for Christmas almost 2 months away, I am ready for anything but October! For now, I am enjoying the free time of our fall break and the breathtaking changing of the seasons, then Mom's visit, then I will be wishing away each day until seeing Simeon (likely every 2 weeks) and Christmas.

latte macchiato after roller blading in Bingen

back on the Rhein

Write me a message if you would like to Skype, as I now have the time, and much improved Internet connection!

And here is a BIG HUG for my sweet grandparents- Bebe, PawPaw, and Mimi- who I miss so dearly.