New Year's @ the Festaburg

Ah! I'm actually sad to be back, I had SO MUCH FUN the last 10 days, I cannot even describe it. As most of you know, Larissa was in Germany, working for the Ellgens at their hospitality house in Baumholder this month and I got to visit her. It was heaven. I got to spend 10 days with my bestest best friend, making new friends, and being AMERICAN.

There were two soldiers staying with Brad and Debbie almost the whole time, Rob and Brad, and Nellie came along at the end. Lots happened, and I have lots of pictures, and yet neither the words I write nor the pictures I show can capture this whole weekend. I laughed a lot more than I have in a long time, I was challenged in my thinking, I grew in my faith, I made new friends, I got to work, I got to stay up late and sleep in and use every hour of my day, I got to play, I got to sing and dance, I got to eat salsa(!), and most importantly: I got to spend time with my twin.

Since she was actually there as a missions trip and not just a visit, we got to do some work. We painted the apartment downstairs, which was fun, even though we had to do one ceiling twice. We got to cook, and helped clean up afterwards, too. Like Debbie said, I think we spent a great majority of our time preparing for a meal, eating a meal, or cleaning up after a meal. Yay food! I got to eat AMERICAN food!! Not a single boiled potato all week long! We had quesadillas, and chips and slasa, and Aunt Lauri's mexican soup, and American-style pizza, and fried chicken, and cornbread casserole, and just so much more. Debbie's an amazing cook. I felt very special, too, when I came down to lunch one day, and Rob had brought me Taco Bell from on post. Mmmmmmmm.

We had a couple misadventures. On my first whole day there (Friday), my eye decided to burn and turn red and swell up and be generally miserable, which was no fun. That was the worst misadventure. Another time, we were disposing of the Christmas tree (throwing it off the balcony to land 3 stories down was Brad's idea), and we discovered as it landed with a "crash, tinkle tinkle" that it was not fully undecorated. The worst - and only cause it was COLD - was when we came back from Trier with Laura and Nina to find ourselves locked out of the Festaburg. We told Laura and Nina they could leave us outside so they could drive home before the roads got too icy, or we'd have been sitting in their car forever. Not having Brad's cell number, we were stuck outside. Fortunately, Rob remembered that the furnace room outside is unlocked, so we crowded in there, because while not really warmer than outside, it blocked the wind, and so we huddled in among the ladders and old tools till Brad and Debbie came back.

New Year's was fun, we set off FIREWORKS! Not like sparklers and firecrackers, though we had those, but like real, light-them-and-run-far-away, shoot-up-way-high-in-the-air-and-go-boom FIREWORKS!! It was SO COOL!!! Even Larissa, who has always been petrified of fireworks, not only stayed outside, but launched one herself!

What else did we do...there were Bible studies on Friday nights, and Larissa and I babsyat. We took a day trip into Mainz and saw the Gutenberg Museum. We took a day trip into Trier with Laura and Nina. We took a walk up to the Frauenberg castle, and I got to sing! We took a long walk and talked about learning and reading and a great many other things after completing all the homework Brad gave us. We played a zillion card games and watched a hundred movies. We spent quality time with one another being relational. We went on a Volksmarch. We took many, many pictures and lots of videos. We laughed and we cried. We had so much fun, and it was so very, very hard for me to get in the Smart and drive away. Larissa I'll see in less than 5 months, but the soliders are about to go on deployment, and Brad and Debbie are still in Baumholder. I'd love to go back to this last Saturday and just freeze time right there. It was the best New Year's I've ever had, that's for sure. Thanks, all.