the end is near

I really, really dislike packing. If you haven’t been around my blog during travel before, this will show you just how much I hate it. Sigh.

I think I actually did pretty well this time. I’m blogging after I packed, rather than during, which is an improvement. The only breaks I took were running stuff downstairs as I came across it in my room and going down again to check in for my flight. Not setting any records, but it took me less than 6 hours, so I say that’s pretty good. My carry-on is very heavy, and my suitcase is currently underweight, but we’ll see how long that lasts. I hate having to bounce things between both bags to try and even it out and make sure everything fits in the restrictions. Also – gummi bears are heavy!!

So, my time here draws to a close. I finished the four videos yesterday and got them on DVD, and have started the interminable process of uploading them to youtube. Tonight is the last ministry night I will get to see. Yesterday, Debbie took me out so I could eat döner for lunch. So yummy! I try all the different Turkish and Greek places I come across in the States, hoping for something similar, and while they get close, there's just nothing quite the same. It was delicious.

On Monday, a group of us went to Trier for sight seeing and/or shopping. Cari and I had fun walking around H&M, Karstadt, Galleria Kaufhof, and the Body Shop. I got the last of the chocolates and gummis that I need to bring home, and we also enjoyed some deeeelicious ice cream. It just doesn't come that fun at home!

It's been a good trip. Not as much snow as could have been hoped for, but at least I got some, and got to take pictures. I got to go on trips, I got to sleep in, I got to spend time with Brad and Debbie, make new friends, visit with old friends, and fulfill my contract. :) I got to wear scarves and gloves and hats and boots and jackets and coats and not feel silly. I got to speak German a bit, to walk on cobblestone streets and see lovely cathedrals and eat spaghetti eis. I went to a bakery and got käsebrötchen, and ate them with Bresso. I got to eat my favorite little stuffed peppers. I saw soldiers come home from war, and friends' new babies. Es hat viel Spaß gemacht. :)

Tomorrow morning, we leave dark and early - 5:30 am. After about 25 hours of travel time, I will arrive home in the desert! Excited to come back home, see family and friends and a certain kitten, to go back to work and to start my last semester of actual classes.

Reflections on Silvester

It's a little weird to see January 1, 2012 above the posting, no? 2012 already???

I'll admit, last New Year's seems very long ago. I was still in the apartment with Ashley, I hadn't started back at ASU yet, and I don't even really remember what I did. This year, I spent my second New Year's Eve at the Festaburg setting off fireworks. Germans know how to do it, man. It's especially cool as we're all in these little hilltop towns, so you can look over and see the other villages setting off theirs. They don't have nearly as many restrictions here on what you can and cannot set off, and some of them are big. We had sparklers for the kids earlier in the evening, but we had a bunch of big-kid rockets to set off at midnight. The Americans down the street had an arsenal that sent clouds of smoke billowing up the street to envelope us in the sulfurous scent. The German family just above us on the hill had some very large fireworks, one of which accidentally got set off sideways, shooting past us to explode a few feet above the ground in a fortunately unoccupied patch of grass. Yikes.

Lots of fireworks from all around. The church bells from the next town were going off, people were screaming and shouting, lots of bangs and booms and pops and sizzles from all the different rockets and fountains and roman candles and firecrackers. It was a very noisy celebration to bring in the new year, and SO much fun.


This year has been Last year was a good one. I have made some of the best friends I could ever ask for, and we have laughed and lived and loved and cried and enjoyed and played and learned and grown and had so much fun. They are there for me when I need them, willing to pray or to listen or to help out. I can't imagine life without them anymore, and I MISS them something fierce, being away for the holidays. They make school worth going to. :)

Here's to 2012! This year, I will (hopefully) graduate from college, at last. December 2012, I'm coming for you! I will also turn 24 - eek! Who knows what else it will hold? Maybe I'll get a house. Maybe I'll finally find a new church to plug into. Maybe I'll find a teaching job. Maybe I'll have someone to kiss next New Year's at the stroke of midnight. For now, I can hope and dream and pray. Happy New Year!