Eesh. It seems to get harder to get
these blog posts updated on a regular basis. I have not forgotten you
all, though, never fear! “I thank my God upon every remembrance of
you.” :)
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| Callie & I after a good run on the bumper cars :) |
Today is Halloween for most of you, but
here in Germany it's not a formal “holiday”. We have Herbstmesse
instead. It's basically a Fall festival. Tonight we're taking the
whole middle school and high school to Basel, Switzerland to attend
the celebrations there. Food booths, rides, and shops galore! I'm
definitely planning on doing the bumper cars, and have formally
invited the girls to take out their aggression and frustrations on me
in the ring. I also warned them that with what measure it is given,
it shall also be returned, haha. Should be a fabulous time. I'll let
you know how it goes later on. (*Disclaimer: I wrote this earlier today, and since then I've come back
from Herbstmesse. It was a fun evening! Loved the bumper cars, and got a
Pumpkin Spice Latte for half-off at Starbucks! Treat!)
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| Winged Victory aka Nike |
I had the privilege of taking a trip to
Paris this past weekend. It was my 2nd weekend off so far,
and I traveled by train with 5 other RA's for about 3.5 hours to
discover the beauties of the City of Lights. It wasn't disappointing!
We stayed at The American Church in Paris with the pastor and his
family. They have a daughter attending BFA, and her RA was among our
group. We're so grateful for their generosity and hospitality! The
location was awesome, too, being right on the Seine River, within
walking distance of most places we wanted to go. So we did walk. A
lot. Hours and hours of walking. But it was great! We went to the
Louvre, the Musee de l'Orangerie, Le Petit Palais, the Eiffel Tower,
the Arc de Triomphe, Notre Dame, Saint-Chapelle, Champs Elysee,
Saint-Etienne, Sacre-Coeur, and lots of bakeries, cafes, parks, etc.
It was incredible to see so much that I never thought I'd actually
get to see in person. A lot of stuff that I read about in my Art
History class was right there before my eyes! I even got to see some
of my favorites such as “Winged Victory” and the amazing stained
glass in Saint-Chapelle. Hard to take it all in! I didn't have such a
hard time taking in the crepes though. ;) The weather was cold but we
braved it, taking warming up breaks at cafes along the way. I've
posted pics on Facebook if you'd like to see them. So yes, it was a
good weekend off. Not entirely restful physically, but a good mental
break.
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| Stained glass in Saint-Chapelle |
Trying to think of specific things to
tell you about is kind of hard sometimes. For one, there is always so
much going on between school, extracurricular activities, dorm
activities, and other things the students are involved in that it's
hard to choose something to talk about. And then it's not always
entirely noteworthy, or something to put in a blog anyways. Some
people (jokingly) ask if I ever actually work cause I just talk about fun stuff
for the most part, but I guess that's because usually bed time,
helping with homework, driving students around, preparing dinner,
monitoring study hours and chores, and stuff like that aren't exactly things
that seem super exciting to tell you about. Or take pictures of.
Haha. It's life. It's work. But there's more than just tasks. It's
being there from the time I wake up to the time I go to bed,
available to help and serve in whatever way I can. It's writing a
card for someone who is feeling low. It's listening when a girl tells
me about struggling with figuring out what to do after graduation.
It's praying for the girls on a regular basis. It's trying to figure
out how to do things better, and apologizing and forgiving when
things are not done in the best way. It's trying to love each girl in
the way they each individually need to be loved. That's my job.
That's my life. And it's hard. It's also great. I'm so grateful that
God has placed me here, at this particular time, in this particular
dorm, with this staff and these girls. I wish I could teleport you
all here for a day so you could just see what it's like.
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| Dancing away at Fall Party! |
One thing that I can think of, which was
fun, was the Fall Party that the high school had a couple weeks ago.
Most people dressed up to go, and at the party (held in the school
auditorium, gym, and cafeteria) there were different booths set up to
participate in. My favorite was the Just Dance Wii station! :) It was
definitely a chore to do it in my costume though... A group of us
female RA's decided to go as Disney princesses, so I went as Giselle
from “Enchanted.” Yay! All the girls' dorms have loads of dresses
that have accumulated over the years, and I found the perfect one in
our basement. Huge, white, and puffy! It was so fun to wear, though
tremendously inconvenient. I had to tell many people, “Excuse me,
could you get off of my dress please?” I also had to not trip on
the stairs, rip pieces off by stepping on them while I was walking,
or get it caught on nails sticking out in random places (all of which
DID happen, I might add). The kids had fun, and so did we!
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| Group photo at the Eiffel Tower! |
Please continue to keep us all in your
prayers! November is notorious around here as being the worst month
of the year for our students. It's long, dark, cold, homesickness
sets in and it's hard to get through. There are some good things to
look forward to as well, but I ask that you remember us before the
Lord, asking for grace and strength for this second half of the
semester. Thank you!
II Chronicles 20:17
You will not need to fight in this
battle. Position yourselves, stand still and see the salvation of the
Lord.
