hey hey america!

Well, hey there! This is one of two posts from 13. February (I think, so, if I can find the other one, I am posting this one today (12. February) and will hopefully post the other tomorrow...but, let's be realistic--it might not be until Monday. :) )Today is my best friend's birthday, so I have to say: HAPPY YOU DAY, KRISTA!!!

It's crazy how fast the time really does go, and it really isn't something you can appreciate until you're not a teenager anymore. I hope you enjoy this installment--I have thought many times about the sermon mentioned therein. This email was the cause of my having lost a follower on my email list, and that was a pretty awkward time. I still feel the same way about the content of that sermon, however. I hope you like it, whoever you might be.

~sarah

UPDATE: It's 4. March, and I am only just posting this...I think I knew this would happen at some point. Well, here's to picking up where I left off. Hope you enjoy this read, and there should be some interesting things coming in subsequent posts, if memory serves.  ~s

howdy!

 

sorry it has been so long since i wrote last, things have gotten kind of crazy around here, and i can only get to a computer until 7pm so thats a bummer because i am in class until around 3 or 4 every day and i dont get a chance to check between classes (if im responsible) because im trying to get homework done before i forget it.  in april, however, theyll start staying open later, so maybe there will be more emails then.  so, sorry!

 

so whats new with me...i have spent the past two weekends in berlin, and they were, for the most part, AMAZING!  this weekend, i went with a few people from the program because it was tims birthday and that was his location de choix.  this weekend we went to 2 starbucks *they were amazing, by the way* and to the pergamon museum.  the pergamon was really awesome, except i dont think i was a fan of the disdainful tone of the voice on the "what is this thing im looking at" recording.  but i guess there arent toooo many people who worry about that in the world (something id like to change, ha)...well so thats pretty much it, we walked along the wall for a while and saw the memorial to the jews who were killed during the holocaust (kinda a strange thing) and of course, checkpoint charlie (again).  last week, when i was visiting jennie, we saw the siegessaeule, the brandenburg gate, and the graves of the soviet soldiers, the deutscher and franzoesischer doms...basically, if its in berlin and touristy, i saw it in the past two weekends.  (rathaus and fernsehturm, as well)

 

i cant really compare the two weekends because they were vastly different from each other but they were both really awesome and im so glad i got to go!  what else, what else...i had my final for a class last friday and we are supposed to get them back tomorrow, but i think i did okay, so thats a big relief!  thanks for the many prayers, i needed them! 

 

one of the best things i remember about berlin from the jennie trip was a guy trumpeting "when the saints go marching in" & "swing low, sweet chariot" at the entrance to the schoenhauser allee u-bahn station.  AWESOME!  and i think it was on sunday morning, so that was great...

 

this sunday was...different.  i decided it had been too long since i had gone to church and i felt comfortable enough in berlin to be willing to go to church on my own and not feel as though i was going to get lost, so i got on the internet and found a church to go to which was the franzoesischer dom in gendarmenmarkt.  its a heugenot church and was erected during the persecution so i figured hey this should be a solid church, esp since it said it was a reformed service.  i was SUPER excited to get to go to church in berlin, especially (the german word for especially is "besonders," so get used to seeing it, hehe) one which was reformed! 

 

i woke up early on sunday and got all my stuff together, and ended up being late to church since i had to collect and organize all my belongings from the hostel, but i got there and was excited...i walked in and there were probably about 40 other people there but it was okay.  so i got my bearings and started trying to figure out what was going on and got with it in time to figure out what the passage for the morning was before he finished it, so that was nice because then i could know what the sermon topic was (generally useful foresight!).  it was the parable of the workers in the vineyard in the first 6 verses of Matthew, chapter 20.  i was excited because what i got from it (from the Holy Sprirt) was that God has His timing and Will and we should be excited that He is the one in charge and that ultimately He is going to do what he wants...

 

what i got from the pastor was something completely different.  and frustrating!

 

i believe that what he said was something along the lines of jews Christians and muslims all inheriting the kingdom of heaven...crazy.  i was trying not to believe that thats what was being taught but i just kept hearing it.  i think the word of the Lord was distorted in the following fashion:

 

the jews are the workers gathered in the very beginning of the day and they were upset because the next group was getting equal treatment.  the next group in this interpretation is, you guessed it, the Christians.  and that the Christians in the world should be okay with the third group getting as much of an inheritance as they.  the third group would be...yup, muslims!  i really cannot believe that this message was preached from the pulpit of a Bible based church!  i mean, i realize that im in europe and things are going to be different, but (this is for you megan a holt) are you freaking joking me?!?!  like, come ON i know you guys dont really believe this...

 

it seems fairly evident to me that the parable is more along the lines of God calls whom He will, when He will, and thats all and that the saving grace of the Lord Jesus Christ works the same way for everyone.  its free and covers "a multitude of sin" (in fact all of them, whoop!)...its monday evening, and im still reeling from the thought that thats what the message was last night.  Gosh!  ARGH!!  so thats enough of that story for now, but i thought id send you guys a shocker...

 

so whats going on with yall?  im typing on an american computer right now, and its horribly difficult to remember which keys are supposed to be where...

 

my other reactions to berlin is that at checkpoint charlie, i have never been more proud or thankful for my nationality.  i love germany, dont get me wrong, but man am i glad to be an american!  a little propaganda never hurt anyone right? 

 

well i guess thats about all that is going on in my life right now.  i started genesis last week, as per the evolution talk (i dont remember if i typed about that or not, but i guess ill get emails back if i didnt, hehe) and have almost finished it.  its an amazing book!  i love getting to know what went on so long ago...

 

write when yall get a chance, i still love hearing from you! 

 

all my love,

~sarah

 

ps--i listened to the war hymn and spirit downloaded from the aggieband website while i finished this email, and it was wonderful :-D

yeah, i got nothin...

Hey, hi, howdy! Today's note is from 8. February. The next ones are two from 13. February, so keep an eye out for a couple this weekend (or at the beginning of next week). This one made me laugh out loud, realizing that I am still not a huge friend of technology. The trip to Berlin was the first one, and I am so grateful that God gave me a friend in that city that semester. I love Berlin now, and, if you'd've asked me that day, I don't know that I would have been able to fathom that. God works in mysterious ways, they say, because Berlin is my favorite city in the whole world, now. What is your #lieblingsstadt (favorite city)?

~sarah

howdy!

 

so i apologize for the whole week which has elapsed since i last told yall that i would email more frequently...things have gotten a little crazy...

 

so, im sitting on the floor of my friend jennies apartment in berlin.  thats right berlin.  how awesome is that?!?!  pretty awesome, indeed.  and im coming to berlin with some other people next week, as well, so that should be a fun time.

 

as mentioned before, things have really started to pick up and i am having fun. real fun!  this morning i was walking around lueneburg and now im in berlin.  public transportation is super neat!  i guess i dont really have all that much to talk about for now...things are pretty boring, me guesses, so ill tell you guys what we did tonight...

 

so i got to berlin at like, 515 and then hadda find jennie in about the craziest train station, EVER, so that was crazy.  but eventually, we connected and then really had no plan.  so the plan is (still) that there is no plan, but hey thats cool.  we bought me a train ticket from some girl on the street who was pretty scary but actually had valid things to sell, so thats good right?  i must admit that i was pretty skeptical but then it turns out that random girls on the street dont lie...well at least not this time. 

 

so we got back to jennies and its pretty much about 111 (but whos really counting right?) steps to get up to her apartment, so that was an adventure and then we pretty much roamed the streets for the next few hours and eventually here we are!  we ate schnitzel, had some crazy good dessert and got to see some of what would undoubtedly be a really beautiful city...if it was 60 degrees warmer.  the grass is always greener, me guesses...

 

next week i have a lot to do, as well, but i hope that ill get to send an email out more frequently.  really!  uummmm, i guess thats all for now, more when i can think of things worth writing but i almost just lost this whole draft (ive never claimed to be a friend of technology) so i think im done!

 

love!

~sarah

the weathers great...

Well, this is a few days late by now. Originally published on 7. February, it was fun to look at this and see that I still have the same favorite weather today, and I was grateful to have gotten to experience it some last week. I genuinely feel that sunny cold days are disingenuous. What is your #lieblingswetter (favorite weather)?

~sarah

if you like cold and rainy.  i realized that i dont really like cold + whatever precipitation ends up making it outta the clouds.  i like cold and RAIN.  not snow (though its fun), and not sleet.  cold and rainy.  which we got yesterday, and friday.  dont worry, everyone here thinks im nuts for holding that opinion, as well...

 

so its tuesday early afternoon and i have a little time to write before i have to go try to read as much as possible before my class (i probably should start that now, but hey thats no fun...).

 

i went to berlin this weekend and had a BLAST!  like i already wrote to pat, its weird that after 5 years of LOVING slow east texas that i would absolutely adore a city as large as berlin.  im sure that a lot of it had to do with the company and that it was just jennie and me, not a huge group of people, for once.  we got to see a lot of things and it was really fun.  we saw a life-sized fußball (haha, they actually HAVE that letter on the keyboard, how great is that?) table and it literally takes one person per krank to operate it.  and since it was berlin, the men were bears and each was painted as different players for their soccer teams...silly.  we had a good time, and i got to see a lot more of the city than i probably will when i go back with the group this weekend, ha. 

 

so a lot has been keeping me really busy around here and i have FINALLY finished that paper on illiteracy in germany.  thank goodness, what a burden it has been!  but its been interesting to see that illiteracy is illiteracy and the differences between causes &c. really only start to show up when comparing countries that are on different levels in the development scale (1st-3rd worlds).  it really is interesting and it was neat to see what peoples perceptions of illiteracy were, even though for someone whos a semi-education major it was über frustrating.  most people couldnt wrap their minds around the idea that probably a lot of people who are 'illiterate' are persons who are dyslexic (or have some other LD) and have never been tested or were tested but got too frustrated.  anyway, enough about that...

 

i have been still reading in Isaiah and Proverbs pretty regularly, and its interesting to see what i think about these passages and i will be excited to get back and be able to see how well what i got matches up with "right theology"...basically from theologians whove made it their life goal to glorify God with their work in His Word and Person.  i started reading Genesis last night, though, because weve started to touch the evolution topic in my grammar class and so i want to be prepared since its an area im weakest on and i can thank God for stretching me here.  my initial reactions and fear about being inadequate were calmed (somewhat) by the Spirit reminding me about Colossians 2:8 (thoughts, everyone?), so that was nice.  i guess if yall would pray that i would continually be given the Spirit when i need Him so that what i speak would be Him and not me and that i dont have to worry about "messing up."

 

what else, what else.  i have a final on friday, and our teacher has been a little cryptic about whats going to be on it, so thats frustrating.  im going to finland in a couple of weeks (God willing)!  so that will be fun.  nothing like leaving what i currently consider "cold and dark" for what will undoubtedly be colder and darker.  silly old green grass...

 

i guess thats what ive got for now.  i hope that this message finds yall doing well and that youre keeping those eyes upward.  thats the only way to make it, for sure!  i love and miss each of you greatly and appreciate the daily prayers and emails! 

 

love,

°sarah

just the facts maam (and sirs)

Well, hey there. Today is International Holocaust Remembrance Day, so we had an interesting time in class, discussing what the Holocaust was, why it is so important to reflect, and why things like that happen (and how to prevent them in the future (spoiler alert: it's to remember that EVERY PERSON has value and worth, by merit of being a human)). It was an interesting time to get the kids thinking and talking about their opinions and thoughts about a wide range of topics around this idea. I was particularly grateful to have a short video from my friend, Aaron, with Jews for Jesus to really get the conversation started in a productive way. It's the first time I have really broached the subject with my students before, and I am glad I did. I am so grateful for the opportunity to have big talks with my kids and, hopefully, give them something to chew on going forward. Kindness is so important, y'all, and we are ALL capable of great evil AND kindness. 

Without further ado, the post from 27.January...

~deine Sarah

howdy!

 

i promise im trying to be better about sending these with more regularity, but not having a computer at home really cuts down on the success of that plan. 

 

today is friday, and i already took my test, so thats nice!  at 215, were going on a tour of the town hall and the salt museum, so those should be interesting and good to learn about!  the semester is really starting to fly by already!  i can hardly believe that ive been here for three weeks!  its crazy! 

 

i guess ill use this email to send praises and prayer requests.

 

ill start with some praises and then some prayer requests and end with some praises again because theyre good!

 

my first praise is that i am being required to get close to God because otherwise i dont think that i would be able to make it through the semester. 

 

also, the sun is shining today!  whoop!  i hope that it gets warmer soon.  i know thats not really practical, but what is a girl without a dream?

 

i love that i get to see calvinism work every day!  every time something good happens i get to see God loving me and when non-believers do things for me, i get to think "thanks, God, for using that person to love on me right now."  because thats the other half of T(otal depravity) right?  that the good we do comes from God?  whoop!

 

some prayer requests...

 

im still having a hard time adjusting and most of the time i could cry at any given moment, and i hate that!  but im told its 'normal' and that "this, too, shall pass" so im trying to get by and not doing so well at it but things have got to get better soon!

 

would yall pray for the other people on this trip?  its fun to get to know them because i dont think that any (maybe one) of them are Christians, and their stories are similar and basically they arent Christians and what do non-Christians need most?  Jesus! 

 

i still havent really found my groove and it seems like each day is harried and the only things that are very settled are my quiet times though those are intermittently interrupted, so would you pray that my desire for the Word and time with God would be increased and that i would be excited to get to spend time everyday?

 

and i worry too much.  about everything.  and i know that God will take care of it but i dont want to really believe that so it feels like im trusting Him but only with one hand because i need to be able to catch myself if i fall (which would only be through fault of my own...).  thats a really exhausting way to live, im coming to realize!

 

i guess thats all i have for that section...on to the end, which is...MORE PRAISES!  whoop!

 

i get a chance to talk to people about God a lot, and no one seems to be too strong in their anti-Christian sentiment, and people are even coming to talk to me about religious ideas about things!  awesome!  pray that i would continue to be led by the Spirit in those situations because its no surprise that Gods words are better, more poignant, and more effective than my own!

 

God is good to me, and He loves me!  and He truly is the God who waits and will always be there for you, but only on His time and thats always just in time, so thats awesome!  He really has been protecting me so far on this trip and I am so very thankful for that! 

 

Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of Creation!  Oh my soul praise Him for he is thy hope and salvation! 

 

love hearing from everyone, so thanks for being an interactive group!  i love each of you dearly, and wish that i could be martin luther and own a house thats as big as a hotel when i get back so that i could have all the people i hold most dear within reach! 

 

love,

°sarah

 

ps--for those of you who are wondering what im doing in quiet times, im reading through Isaiah in the evenings and skimming Proverbs in the mornings. 

raise your hand if you know how cold -13°C really is...

Well, it was bound to happen, and it did. This post is late, hah. It is dated 25. January, and today is the 26th. Oh, well, and let's be honest--if you didn't expect me to miss this at some point, you must've overlooked the fact that this blog lay dormant for '05 (whoop!) years before this semester. Anyhow, and without further ado, the next post. Tomorrow there should be another. 

~deine sarah

because i do!  its 8,59999°F and its how cold it was when i walked to school yesterday!  what?!?!

 

well, howdy!

 

so its been like a week since i last wrote so i think i have kind of a lot to say but i think that maybe ill leave part of it for tomorrow so that those of you who contend that i have been slacking on the emailing can smile smugly and think 'ha, sarah really DOES do my bidding' hehe...or so you think.

 

so not too much has been going on over here and so i havent written much but mostly i havent written much because i spend so much time in the computer lab writing emails to everyone that i dont get around to mass emails...horrible excuse, i know, and so i promise to try to do better, even if its short...

 

first off, i have to say that i think that its weird that celcius to people here is "grad" because im like, isnt that the word for degrees and how come you dont specify which measuring scale youre using??  but i guess that we do the same thing so its okay?

 

but seriously, i was talking to krista last night i think its funny that while people in texas get their weather from oh, say, the northwest, our cold is coming from russia.  thats right, i said russia...and apparently its colder than normal there (be glad for the heat, merinda (or maybe not, but i would be!)) so its colder than normal here, as well.  we got home from holland and didnt really enjoy the prospect of walking home from the train station...at least i live closer than most everyone!

 

this weekend, about 12 of us went to amsterdam to see the sights and take in some art.  it was an interesting time, and traveling by train is an excellent way to go...its so fast!  and who would have thought that traveling by train would be so leicht (lie-cht (a soft ch))!  its awesome...

 

so how was amsterdam, you might be wondering.  well, it was alright.  i think i could take it or leave it, but the museums were pretty nice and such.  we went to the rijks museum to see some rembrandt (http://www.rijksmuseum.nl/index.jsp), and to the van gogh museum (http://www.vangoghmuseum.nl/bisrd/top-1-1.html).  i liked the van gogh museum better, methinks...

 

so that was my weekend.  i got back to lüneburg to find out that the temperature had dropped drastically and that was not a lot of fun to walk home in.  well, i took too long writing this and it didnt get sent on tuesday as planned (please forgive me!), so i guess ill add what happened today so far.  yesterday i went to class and (in true to sarah style) volunteered to give a presentation on TUESDAY next!  included with it must be a paper, so thats a major bummer, as well!  what was i thinking?!?!?!  so now i have two thats right, TWO projects to do this weekend...guess ill spend a fair amount of time in the computer lab on saturday (they arent open on sunday), but at least im gettin this stuff outta the way...more tomorrow, perhaps!

 

later days and much love!

°sarah

i would never have predicted that the thumb would be the biggest wuss of the hand...

 

Howdy! This is the last post until Monday, so I hope you enjoy it. And, don't forget--your thumbs will freeze on a cold day in a bike, even in gloves. ;)

~deine sarah

but apparently when youre riding a bike home in the dark and its 26.6°F outside thats the digit thats going to be the worst off...stupid thumbs

so howdy!  hower yall doing today, on what is most likely a holiday for you?  im in school.  boooooo...(schade (shh-ah-duh))

well its been like a week, so whats been going on...

first, school here is still a bummer, just like school in the states (who am i kidding, i LOVE school! but its still less fun) and i had my first test on friday.  i got an 80 which is apparently smack in the middle of the b's so thats...good?  meh.  i have another quiz today, which will be over before any of yall read this so asking for prayer is a moot point, ha.  

saturday we went to hamburg and had a great time walking around the city, and to the top of st michaels church tower.  wouldnt have been too bad but the elevator broke literally an hour before we got there so we took the stairs.  all 440 (or so) of them!  that was tres horrible!  we were like, ummm can we just turn around?  we changed our minds...the view was almost worth the psychotic amounts of stairs so i guess thats okay.  then we met some parent-aged men who were over from TN so that was cool and one of them was a pastor of a free will baptist church there so that was nice to talk to a "normal" person.  we finally left the city on the 1055 pm train and it took an hour to get to the 30 minute-away destination...bummer again!  

but it was okay and i got home and had funny conversation with my roommates, lena and luise, about what they had predicted i would be like.  they were apparently seriously fearing that i would have brought a picture of g.w. and put it up in my room and then apparently svend was threatening that if i had done that hed post a picture of merkel.  then we talked about how germany doesnt really use its flag in too much stuff and that no one here knows the national anthem.  WEIRD right?  they thought it was weird that we say the pledge every morning and i then allowed them to heard my recitation of it so that was funny...

yesterday, breakfast was at 8 (NOOOOOOO good) and it was fun and they are silly and i hate hate hate hate HATE that they all get dressed before they eat breakfast.  i guess thats why i mostly eat breakfast in my room.  if i didnt id have to be already dressed and i think thats stupid.  i should have them have an "american" breakfast with eggs and french toast (american? ha) and IN THEIR PAJAMAS.  i think svend even shuddered when i told him that i wore pajama pants to school almost everyday for 4 years!  ahahahahaha...i love it.  then we rode our bikes to church (and i fell off and now have a bruise on my knee).  

CHURCH WAS AWESOME!  i loved it a lot!  i think i understood most of the things they said, and i think it was an evangelical free church but they didnt really read directly from the Bible, but we definitely sang songs i knew, such as "what a friend we have in Jesus!" so that was sooo comforting i almost cried.  but i kept it together.  hehehe...

what i got out of the sermon (i think it was about how Jesus gives us new life, esp using lazarus) was that lazarus is symoblism for us.  maybe ive gotten that before but it sure was awesome to hear it!  it was sooooo cool too because i know it was totally Holy Spirit because i was sitting there listening, and sort of understanding what was being said and then WHAM!  "lazarus is a metaphor for the redeeming work of our Lord" or something pretty close to that whole sentence just popped into my head.  i love when He does that!!!  (thoughts??  i love hearing what other people think about this stuff!)

so then later i went to ultimate frisbee practice.  i guess here is when a lot of people check out and some others really really start to pay attention (hahaha)

well theyre the farmers apparently and they play inside when its cold out but they pretty much are horrible.  i dont know if thats mostly a result of me knowing that theres better out there or what but MAN was i disappointed.  i mean, they kind of know the rules and idk how often ill go...maybe once a week.  

when i get out of class ill finish and send this...

okay, im back!  the quiz was super easy so thats always good right?

um so why ultimate was depressing...theyre more of an intramural group and they dont really know whats up and SkyU! is so amazing, how could i NOT be unsatisfied with a new group??  but for real, they travel (to a point even i would call it) they throw blades as though theyre like, legitimately good throws.  i didnt try to catch them at first because i was like "yeah right!" and then i realized that it wasnt that the hammers werent flattening out it was that thats how they ACTUALLY meant for it to go.  i dont think ill take my discs back.  in fact last night i had a dream that one of my discs got torn so i really think it freaked me out.  for more details email me because i dont want to bore everyone with frustrations most of the people wont get.  

well i guess thats "all" i have for this chapter...i will try to write more often as my week-long silence on here raised some eyebrows (btw, "eye" is really difficult to type on a german keyboard!).  miss and love yall bunches!  write when you get time, i love getting mail (electronic or otherwise!)!!!

love!!!

°sarah

to all the students out there...this ones for you...(well everyone can read it ;-) )

 

Well, another day, another semester. On the sum, I enjoyed being in school, and syllabus day was one of the best days...if you're an extrovert. ;) You got to see how things were going to go, use a new notebook, see the new people you might befriend for a few months...if you're a student, I hope that today is fun for you, even if you're in grad school--the first day is the best day, so make it a good one! I'll post the other post from this day either later today or tomorrow. Thanks for coming on this trek with me!

~sarah

HOWDY!!!

 

I just wanted to send yall a message that was a general "good first day of school" kind of message, so if youre not in school, you can disregard this part of the message and go directly to the end of the message (its cool because its like a choose your own adventure book! hahaha)...

 

so to those of you in school:  HAPPY SYLLABUS DAY!!!!!  i am so envious because of course this is the best day in school (well actually tomorrow will probably be better since TR teachers feel like they need to actually teach on syllabus day).  also because i love the first day of school every time!  i love love love that i getta go to see my new classes and all the fun things im going to learn and whos in my classes &c.  (im sure that a few of you dont believe me but if thats the case find someone who "knows me well" and ask...youll see) i always had a hard time sleeping the night before a first day of school and almost always (even last semester) have my clothes laid out so that i can just get up and get a great start on the day.  sooo, have fun, and remember to do everything to the glory of God!  He's put you where you are for a reason...okay, so on to the rest of the email.  you can skip to the ending salutation, if'n youd like...

 

so i hope that each of you has the best day ever and that things are going well for yall.  i havent received much mail yet but i guess thats because yall are writing super long letters, so ill understand if i dont get anything until next week...plus, if you dont write me i probably wont write you since my address pile is limited here (because im an idiot and forgotta bring em with me!  whoops!)

 

ill send the huge book version later because its not finished yet!

love!

°sarah

jerry rice has fans in lueneburg, too...

 hellloooooo out there! after this letter, there are only a couple more to be on track to slow these posts down to one a week (or so). i hope youve enjoyed getting started on this journey--its been surprisingly fun and refreshing for me to get to read through these and remember what life was like "back when" and to think through what i might need to re-introduce into my life. let me know what you think, if you want; id love to hear!

~sarah

hallo, alle!

today was my first day of class, and it seems like it might be pretty easy which might or might not be a good thing.  i woke up and made it to class on time, though i didnt sleep well last night because i was super paranoid about being late.  for those of you who (apparently) think im an idiot ;-) i DO have an alarm clock, but i have been sleeping through it for the past few days.  i appreciate your concern for my well-being, however...it goes off only for one minute, and has apparently awoken the girl i share a wall with, so its better that i wake up on time.  i walked to school this morning, and it was super cold, but well worth the time because its a nice way to wake up...30 minutes' worth of it.

in case you all were worried about my spending so much time in pubs, i drink mostly cappucinos and might become addicted to them by the time i get back in the states...i think ive had 2 drinks since ive been here (each on a different night), so not to worry!  until i find other people to bum around with, i think my options are going out with these people or sitting alone in my room with nothing to do and no one with whom to speak, since EVERYONE keeps their doors closed ALL the time, even when they are home...weird.  

lets see...turkish food will be the topic for this paragraph...

its pretty much all we eat since we dont know what else to eat, it tastes good, and we are cheap ;-)  but, its excellent (d, you were right) and i made it the first thing i tried when i got to hamburg from the airplane.  if youre ever over here, you must try both turkish pizza and döner.  its kinda weird to see the way they prepare it, but no ones gotten sick yet, so it cant be that bad, right?  ha.

was anderes....hmmmm....a few funny things (esp for andrea) before i sign off and go do other things...

first:  theres this kid from mexico city, antonio, who is on our trip and whom i keep wanting to call carlos.  its horrible!  i KNOW his name but still, carlos is what makes it out first, most of the time.  well, this kid is a hoot and totally fearless and an inspiration...while we americans are trying to be <<responsible>>, he will walk up to a german and ask, in a thick hispanic voice (but in english, still) <<excuse me do you speak english, where is this place...>>  funniest thing ever, and a total inspiration!

second:  the children in strollers are usually prone and covered from head to toe in a weird sleeping bag looking thing.  its hilarious because it looks like the person has a big meal that they want to keep warm whilst they travel over the river and through the woods (of which there are both in lüneburg) on the way to großmuttis haus, but oh wait its a stroller containing a child.  i know that sounds totally crazy, but ill try to remember to take a picture of it so that i have proof.

next:  the radio here is uncensored, so that caught me by surprise...i was about to take a shower and wanted to make sure that whomever was eating breakfast didnt need the bathroom for a while, and there was an american song on the radio and i definitely didnt know that word was in it!  but i told svend that i wasnt taking a shower until i listened to the song so he looked at me like i was crazy, but i think he thinks im cool...ahahahahahahahahahaahaha....

lastly:  the jerry rice thing...so last night i was walking around with antonio and this kid, kris from cali and we see this car thats maroon (whoop!) with a HUGE #80 on the side.  kris says <<is that a jerry rice car?  surely not>>  so we get a little closer and sure enough, theres gold trim, and on the back theres the <<san francisco 49ers>> logo!  jigga WHAT?!?!?!?! (just for you mel)...isnt that weird?  i mean, come on, i dont even know people who are that fanatical about the guy in the states, but hey at least he has zealot-level fans somewhere außer ((ow-sir)outside of) cali right?

so i guess thats all i have for this email, i finally unpacked so it looks like i live in my room now...i put up the little cards with verses on them that we get in ASC everyweek, so there are random verses in my room, but it is the most comforting thing...prayer requests:  that i might hear my alarm clock more regularly so that i have better sleep at night, and that i find people here that are not americans with whom i can spend time, but also who arent obsessed with going to pubs, &c.  that gets old quick.  

i almost forgot this!  church yesterday...well, so it turns out that i didnt go because my house was having a whole-house breakfast at the same time.  thats right, the same time and theyre the evangelicals...what?  they had quite the feast, and it lasted from 10-1230.  there was really tasty food and i didnt talk much so i kept almost falling asleep, which wasnt super wonderful :-/ but oh well.  i dont think this is a regular thing, but if it is i will start going to church on saturday night at 6.  so that could be interesting.  the lutheran churches here are very Catholic-inspired, so thats a little different, but i think it could be good.  they have women pastors here too, ha.  soooo, i guess everything really is kind of different here.  the sun came out today, which is excellent, and i was told that we are expected to have 7 sunny days next month (which is apparently quite a few?), so that could be...fun.  oh!  AND the word on the street is that theres an ultimate frisbee team here on campus and that they practice a LOT, so well have to see about that because their semester (again, germans are weird, ahha) ends in like 2 weeks but the next one starts in april so maybe then...

keep the emails coming, i read every one and love them all!

later days!

°sarah

do what you want, just dont ride a bike without a light...

 

howdy! I hope this finds you well and warm wherever you are. It’s a cold, wet—snowy in some places—Sunday here in east Texas, and I am cuddling a sweet three year old as I type this. 😍 

I hope you enjoy this next installment of the posts; I think we’ve almost caught up, but I’ll wait until I have my computer to confirm that suspicion. Enjoy the day—man is made for the Sabbath.

~sarah

hallo alle! 

 

so it is 143 pm, i am awake and in the computer lab on campus, which is a 20 minute walk from home, so maybe ill use the bike afterall...

 

today is 7 januar and i woke up late again.  not as late as last time (thank goodness!) but i was about 05 (whoop) minutes late.  booo....i didnt sleep well last night, so hopefully that will work itself out soon. 

 

it gets dark here super early, and i think that i might not need my sunglasses the whole time!  gosh!  haha, probably ill need them after a few weeks, but its weird to have not had to wear them.  i went american on my clothes today since i woke up too late to shower and hadnt had any <<real>> clothes to wear.  jeans, a tshirt and sweatshirt and my jacket which is almost too hot...

 

as for the subject line, that is what this guy, lars, says to us.  <<you can drink in the street, you can take drugs (whoa!) in the street, but just dont right a bike without a light or the police will stop you.>>

 

i start school on monday, so i really need to get my act together by then and start waking up on time.  i dont know how the other students wake up in time to get stuff done, as some of them stay out later than i do!  its crazy to me, but i wish i could do it.  ha

 

i feel a little more at home here since i got to hang out with some americans last night, and am loving the fact that im from texas SOOOO much!  last night i was at a pub and the girl had james avery jewlelry (schmuck..(shmook)), and it turns out that she went to a year of high school at clear lake...how weird is that?  oh, and shes a methodist (thomas) but doesnt go to church at school very often, which seems to be the case around here...

 

i had a beer last night and it was good, paulaner dunkel hefeweizen...i liked it okay.  so at another pub, i had a milkshake and so you think american milkshake...no, this was definitely milk, with chocolate in it, shaken up.  ahahahaha...i can hardly believe that.  so that was funny to me. 

 

today i think i might go buy a cell phone and so if'n i do, yall gots ta call me, even if its expensive...ahaha, just kidding but incoming calls are free for me, i think.  ill let yall know all the gory details later...

 

from what i can tell, if you want to mail me stuff, esp packages, the address is:

 

Universität Lüneburg

USAC

c/o Sarah Smith

Scharnhorstr. 1/ 8.9

21335 Lüneburg

Germany

 

and ill see if i can get mail at my apt...i think i told yall yesterday where i live in town, but i dont remember, so you getta hear it again!  hahaha...

 

i live at Lindenstraße 22, which is close to the innenstadt (town center) and across the street from the theatre where there a live plays.  its a nice location for nightlife and church, but i think i would have fared better closer to the campus, what with me waking up late all the time...

 

maybe ill write more on monday...we cant get into the computer lab on sundays...BUT if someone wants to get me a laptop by way of buying one or making one (mark charles or mason...or really anyone who knows how) to send to me, i have wireless access in my room, and that would be super wonderful great!  and i would, of course, pay you.  i just dont have the lots of money to but a notebook outright...you understand yes?  ahaha!  i just figured out why typing the () is so difficult for me...theyre above the 8 & 9, not the 9 & 0...good to know, good to know...

 

well, im outties, and yall needa write me soon!

 

later days!  love!

°sarah

the time has come, die deutsche gesagt hatte...

welcome back! today is the second email, and the oldest one i can find, so thats a definite bummer. i hope that you enjoy this almost-the-oldest email in the chain. a funny point to think on is that my friend, antonio, who was on the study abroad, posted his pictures from 15 years ago to facebook today. there were some good ones in there, and i have attached a couple to this post, so you can get a feel for where you are. i hope this finds you well, and i look forward to our journey together. let me know your thoughts if youve got any you want to share! im glad youre here!

~eure sarah

PS--i guess better late, than never, about posting these to this blog! hahahah.

...to speak of many things!  and i shall.

 

well, dear readers, first a few items of business:

• if you did not, for whatever reason, get the first email (it was sent on Christmas), and would like to read it email me and ill send it on to you.
• the plan is to add these emails to my blog so's you can read them later if you delete them (i dont know why you would, but some people are weird like that, ahahahaha), and that url is: http://scheinen.blogspot.com
• heres hoping that tu gets smashed!  ahahahahaha...i wont know for a few days since ill be in the air for the game, but ill be wearing offensive shirts (you never know whos going to be going to germany at the same time)

so on to the fun...

 

i leave for germany at 4 pm on 4 january, which is tomorrow.  WEIRD!   my sister is having twins today, so thats crazy too (she has 2 boys already and is expecting 2 more!).  getting ready for this trip has been an emotional rollercoaster because i dont like the unexpected.  im sure it will be fine but still theres that inkling of "what was i on when i thought this was a good idea?" going on.  oh well me guesses; i made a deal with myself that i could freak out as much as i wanted because this decision was irreversible and thats seemed to help a little. 

 

i have spent the better part of my "vacation" driving across this wonderful state to see as many people as i could before i left and i think i canvassed it pretty well.  last week i drove from san antonio to del rio to plano and back via rockdale.  now ill go to houston, so all's i missed was west texas. 

 

God's still preparing me for what i will be learning because He is faithful to me and us all.  i am thoroughly excited to get to go to church in germany this week!  SO weird!  i hope that i can understand enough to make it meaningful, but i know that it will come so i need only be patient and sincere. 

 

happy new year, and i hope that this finds each of you doing well and being thankful for everything in your lives!  the verse from the sermon this week is: Luke 7:47...what does that verse (in context, of course) mean to you?  let me know!

 

later days!

~sarah

 

(end letter two)