~Duetchland~

Waking up in the very early hours of December the 14th I had that irresistible sense of excitement, a little bit of nervousness, and perhaps a touch of wonder i get when ever I'm about to set out on a journey. This time was a little different though, not only because we woke up very very late and were in quite a rush to get out the door, but also because this journey was one that I had only ever dreamed I would be taking. I was the first person to arrive at the airport that morning, and I promptly set up camp on one of the vacant benches where I slept, read, and chatted for the next five hours of waiting.

As my plane approached Stuttgart I caught my first glimpses of the wintry wonderland that would be my home for the next week. Since Stuttgart was not my final destination however, I had to get on the metro and go to the train station where I could purchase tickets to Saabrucken. As most of you probably know I speak little to nothing in german, so the purchasing of a ticket was being a rather complicated procedure, until a very nice young man came over, promptly told me I looked rather confused, and offered his help. About a minute later I stood there with tickets in had, and looking up to thank my helper, found that he had disappeared. I've labeled him my angel in disguise. My first European train experience proved to be a very pleasant one as I rushed on to Saarbrucken where my friend Hanna picked me up when I arrived. What followed was one of the most memorable weeks of my life.

The next morning, a Tuesday, Hanna and I took of on a walk through her little village and the surrounding coutryside, where I took so many pictures Hanna made a point of laughing at me for it. But how could I help myself!? I was in Germany, where I had always wanted to go, trekking through light snow and hills unlike any other place I had been. Granted all the places I've lived have been rather flat, Between the Amazon and Kansas you don't get very many mountains or even hills for that matter. That evening we explored the town and visited the Christmas market, where we pointed and laughed as, with much fanfare, Santa Clause pulled by eight reindeer flew over the market from one roof top to the next. Europe's Christmas markets go all out!

(Middle: Saarbrucken, Bottom: Christmas market!)

Wednesday proved to be a relaxing day of relaxing by the fireside, reading, and movies topped of by an evening spent with Hanna's discipleship group at a traditional all you can eat "flammkuchen hause" Flammkuchen is something very similar to pizza, only it has a very thin crust and usually doesn't have tomatoe sause.
There are all kinds of different toppings including sweet ones. It was delicious! After having a gift exchange and the group leaders home (they even got something for me!) we headed home to Hanna's for a good nights rest to be followed the next morning by one of the most cherished moments of that leg of my journey.

Thursday morning I woke up to a light fluffy snow falling down out side my window, and so was thrilled when Hanna's mom drove us out to the stables to go horse back riding.  The Krumm's have a few horses since Hanna's mother works with disabled children and horse back riding as a kind of therapy. Hanna led the horse up and around through ever snowier fields, leaving my hands free to take even more pictures of all the white hills dotted with horses grazing.

 Friday was our day on the town. After spending the morning ice skating, and making complete fools of ourselves we headed home only to return that after noon for a very productive afternoon of shopping. One thing that I love about europe, and especially this little town is that very little of our shopping time was spent in malls, it was all set on two or three shop lines streets that we would walk down, peering in windows and getting a few breaths of fresh air in between stores. It was lovely. I suppose it's something similar to the "plazas" they are starting to build now in the States instead of malls. Or perhaps it's always like that in bigger cities. At any rate I was a very happy girl by the time we had enjoyed a little break at a cafe and headed home again.

Saturday was Hanna's birthday! So we made a delicious breakfast complete with home made coffee cake, all sorts of german breads, lunch meats, fruit, yogurt, coffee, juice, and more. The night before I suppose God had decided to give Hanna, or rather me a wonderful gift of heaps and heaps of snow, that coated all the world around tuning everything into a glittering wonderland. So after the guests had left Hanna and  I headed out on our snow walk from her village to the next one, and back. If Hanna thought I had taken too many pictures on our first walk, she was in for a surprise during this little excursion where I only returned the camera to my coat pocket when the lens got so cold it very nearly had a coat of frost over it. The evening was followed by a delicious meal out at a fancy resturant to celebrate Hanna's birthday.

Sunday was my last morning in Saarbrucken, and the beginning of a new adventure, as all who have read my blog are well aware of. My time in Germany was one of the best weeks of my life, I'm not sure I'll be able to top that excursion for a long time! I was able to spend time with one of my great friends, stand in awe of God's beautiful creation (in this case many times the snow-which I like to think was falling at times just because He knew how special it was to me) delicious food ( with veggies!!!!!!!=D ) and as I have said memories to last me a life time. It couldn't have been a better beginning to my vacation.

Trains, planes, travel, and SNOW!!!

Well, it's Christmas break, the time we've all been longing for, and thought would never come! I can say I have been a very lucky girl this winter vacation, and got to continue my European Excursions, and added a few more stories to by little collection.
Now, I absolutely love snow, but it seems that most modes of transportation do not. This is something I've become increasingly aware of over the past week or so, and have never been more grateful to be sitting in my temporary room here in Spain safe, and sound, and warm.
My latest traveling experience began in Germany (which I will tell all about, later) I was supposed to leave Sunday afternoon on a train to Paris so that I could catch my flight to Madrid the following morning. I had it all worked out for a friend from school to meet me at the station so we could go see the Eiffel tower at Christmas time, as well as a possible Hillsong concert at their church in Paris. Needless to say I was pretty excited about all that. However it seems that God had a slightly different agenda for me that day and the next one as well.
Sunday morning Saabrucken, Germany got the most snow it's had in years, according to my friend Hanna. So as we inched along the icy autobahn towards the main station we kept our fingers crossed, hoping that my train wouldn't be canceled. We were lucky, the Train wasn't canceled, but there was a 30 minute delay. So Hanna headed home in her car through the snowy weather, and sat in non-heated station and waited with a cup of very bitter coffee. At long last my train arrived, and after some confusion over changed arrival platforms and asking a few questions I managed to get on what I thought was the right train. I was wrong.

About 5 minutes before the train left the station someone came in and tried to take my seat. This left me very confused, but I got up and switched to an empty seat. Just when I realized that the train number on my ticket did not match the number of the train I was on it began to slide forward. What had happened was the train coming from Paris and the train going to Paris had switched platforms due to the delay, which they announced repeatedly, in German. When I had seem PARIS in large, bright letters in the window of the train I didn't think twice about it.
Above: as you can see it really wasn't the best day for travel =/

Oddly, the picture to the right was taken before I realized my mistake =P

You know that feeling of dread you get int he bottom of your stomach when you know something is very very wrong? Well, when the conductor came over the intercom and announced the trains destination, that was me. I was headed toward Frankfurt! For those of you who don't know your European geography very well all you need to know it that Frankfurt is pretty much the opposite direction from Paris. After sitting there for about five minutes praying my little heart out that I would somehow manage to get to Paris I got up and asked an English speaking family for help. Turns out the mother was American, the father was German and they had an adopted daughter for India, who they got from no other than Mother Teresa herself. When they asked me where I was from and where i wanted to be headed it took a while to explain, but we came to the conclusion that I am an American missionary kid, from Brasil, currently studying in Hungary, visiting a friend in Germany, on my way to Paris en route to Spain! Now If you can follow that you should have no problem following the rest of this little adventure. They were very helpful and promised to pray for me as I made a swift exit at the next stop and processed to the DeBahn information desk. I only wish I had gotten their names or and e-mail address so that I could thank them and let them know their prayers were answered.

And this point I was rather nervous, I was down to 10 E in my pocket and a US debit card that I wasn't sure had very much money on it even if they would accept it. So i explained my situation to the thankfully English speaking attendant, who looked at my ticket and promptly printed off a ticket for the next train to Paris that was due to arrive in about an hour and a half. "Enjoy your trip!" he said, and turned back to his computer. That was it, I didn't have to pay a dime! So breathing a prayer of thanks I quickly went in search of a pay phone to tell my friend i was not on the train she would expect me to be on. After buying some gum at the convenience store with my limited supply of cash  in order to get change to use the pay phone I was able to reach Hanna who promised to call our friend Laura who was to pick me up in Paris.
Above: Me in some random town in Germany...not too happy about it.

From that point things went relatively smoothly, well at least from my end. The train station I was in in this random town in germany had a rather small train station. one room (not heated) and information      (Above: this is the town I managed to get stuck in, you can't tell here but it was still snowing.) counter, a convenience store, and bathrooms that you had to pay 50c to use. in the main room there were three cold metal chairs. So i stationed myself there to wait for the train. Outside the snow was still falling full force, and i had long since lost all feeling in my toes when to my horror my train was delayed. the first time it was 15 minutes. That wasn't so bad. but then it happened again, and again, and again.  I began making half hour rounds between the much warmer little store and the icy metal chairs. So finally after about four hours in the station I went up to my platform where the train was once again delayed for another 10 minutes. there was quite a little group of us up there stomping our feet and walking up and down along the tracks to keep warm.

At long last the train pulled in and climbed on with legs and feet so numb I could barely walk.  I climbed into the wrong car however. Having made myself comfortable in the luxurious first class car, I was forced to move back to second class (a whole 6 cars away) because I couldn't read my German ticket and had mistaken the platform number for the car number. It was a rather ironic moment for me when the train rolled through Saarbrucken, the same town I had started in nearly 6 hours before. Once the train crossed the border into France things just took longer and longer. Because of all the snow the train was forced to stop three times in the middle of no where, each time for about 15 minutes.  I did manage to borrow a cell phone from a french couple across the aisle from me, so I could call Laura and let her know I was going to be later than expected. At this point i have to take back every mean thing I've ever said about the french and their treatment of foreigners. They were all extremely helpful, and for that I am very grateful.

    Right: 

Me and laura! Finally in Paris!

     Below: unfortunately all I saw of Paris this time was the train station.

At long last the train rolled into Paris EST where a very cold and I can only guess quite bored Laura was waiting for me. After getting some food in me, we went straight home. By that time I had missed the Christmas market, Eiffel Tower light show, and concert, but I was just happy to be safe.

Of course Paris got it's fair share of Ice and snow as well...which made for another adventure the following morning. If my flight had left on time, which it didn't (go figure) I very well might have missed it. We made it to the counter about 5 minutes after it was supposed to have closed, but due to the bad weather in Madrid there was a delay of an hour. Well as the story goes...one hour turned into 2, then 3, then 4. At that point the airport was required to feed us. So everyone on the Madrid flight was given 5 E, about enough to buy a small sandwich or a drink. it wasn't much, but it was more than the 2 E i still had in my pocket. When 4 hours turned into 5 we were not a very happy bunch. Still i managed to occupy my time reading homework and talking to a nice lady from the US embassy in Norway.  
(Top right: we finally made it to the airport, Bottom right: and then I waited there forever!)

Our plane finally did arrive and I'm convinced there has never been a more eager bunch of people to get on a plane! But when the plane landed in an oddly snowy Madrid it landed in a different terminal than was expected...so for about two hours after we landed you could find the passenger of the flight from Paris BVA wondering about the Madrid airport in search of their luggage. Thankfully I found mine after about an hour, by sneaking back into a different baggage claim area. Adrianna Humes, the second oldest daughter in the family I am currently staying with was there waiting for me. Mr Humes expertly maneuvered his way through rush hour traffic and ushered me into the house. Chilli and cornbread never tasted so good in my entire life!     
Through out all this mess I was acutely aware of God protection. Things could have been so much worse for an 18 year old girl traveling alone through Europe, for a large part at night time. I'm overwhelmed by how God protected me from dangerous situations and got me to Spain safe, and with what now seems like a rather humorous story. One more adventure to tell my kids some day!

Falling Leaves

Snapshots of WOL life lately

Sing Team twins. Megan and i realized that we both have the exact same winter coat, and since we were in sing team "uniform" we decided it merited a picture. This was taken at Sing Team's first ministry.

Princess Costa Rica, likes the pretty fall leaves just as much as me =)

Then after the princess got bored, this butterfly decided it wanted to be a part of the photo shoot too.
Over Fall Break I went with my lovely RA Yana to Romania with her adoptive "parental units" for their wedding reception with Timea's family.


Yana and I had a fun time entertaining ourselves for 10 hours of more food than you could ever imagine (i think we finally counted 7 or 8 courses) lots of loud traditional Romanian music, and turned down dance invitations turned gospel presentations. We loved it, both of us felt like we had stepped into the world of "My big fat Greek wedding"


At around 11 pm after everyone had left (this was a rather early ending according to all the Romanians) Timi threw the bouquet for Yana and I. Yana caught it =) I guess I still have to wait a little while before I get to get married- that's okay, I'm only 18, i have time ;)

Since the title of this post if Falling leaves, it think it's only fair to put up some pictures of the campus during fall...as you can see we have a lot of yellow around here now. =)And here is my lovely home sweet home...well I suppose technically I don't live here, but I like to think that i do. =)
As for the other happenings here at WOL, I'm sorry but you'll just have to be patient and wait till I get a chance to breathe. Things have been very busy lately, but of course that is to be expected at the end of the first quarter. I have been learning so much about life, myself, others and the awesome God I serve. Thanks to all of you for your love and prayers!

Paper People

This week was the the end of our first two major classes, Bible Study Methods, and Systematic Theology. Both of them were amazing classes and I have to say that after these past several weeks I'm happier than ever that i chose to come here. I will say though that of the two Systematic theology was the one that left me really thinking. Sitting around in class for two hours a day and discussing the unfathomable mysteries of God was honestly one of the highlights of my day. I am convinced though that until we realize and can accept that we are two dimensional paper people attempting to understand a four dimensional world that is beyond our comprehension then it will do nothing but frustrate us. My teacher, Alex Konya used something similar to this illustration, and it's sort of become the theme of our class.

In other news life here at WOL has continued to move along much faster than most of us are okay with, we spend most of our time just trying to keep up. We've had a number of birthday parties and fellowships to break up the stress of school, homework, and ministry preparation. There is never a dull moment, mostly because if things never slow now quite enough for that and on the rare occasion that they do it because we are all getting much needed sleep.

Sing team, my ministry, will be going out for the first time on this Sunday with three songs and a pantomime. I have one solo and am the main character of the pantomime. All the songs are in Hungarian, so it is interesting not having any clue what I'm singing about. I would appreciate prayer this area of ministry though, it's not always easy, and is usually very time consuming, but I know God can use this in great ways.

Fall break is just around the corner bringing on a new country to my list: Romania! I'm so excited, I'll be traveling with my RA, Yana and a staff couple. It will be a much needed vacation and I cannot wait!

~Pictures of lately~

The castel is currently undergoing a massive restoration project so that in the near future we will be able to move the whole school into the castle, dorms and classrooms included. Here what I and one of the interns Dan are wroking on is covering one of the staff apartments in plastic so that their things wouldn't get ruined by all the dust when the workers replaced the heating system. Needless to say it was quite the undertaking!

Roasting hotdogs and marshmallows over the fire at on of the first fellowships at the Konya's.

The Sunday school team, plus me and a few others just hangin out in Budapest


Johanna, Hanna, me, and Yana at one of my rommie's 19th birthday! One of the staff ladies had a bunch of us over to celebrate to occasion. She is an amazing cook, and needless to say we were very happy to have chilli and corn bread over lunch meat sandwiches =)

The birthday girl, Miri, blowing out the candles on her beautiful cake!

Birthday girl with Timea and Randall (this is the couple that will be taking Yana and I to Romania next weekend)

Tea, tea, and more tea!

Yes in Hungary we like to drink tea. Now this tea is usually not of the iced sort, nor is it of the hot and steamy sort. It is just tea. No one is quite sure exactly what flavor it is, although some have suggested that it is some sort of fruity mixture. In any case this tea is served at every meal, and I must admit that while I was not particularly happy about this upon my arrival, it does grow on you. This is just one new aspect of life here at WOL hungary, and while I certainly miss my daily dose of Brasilian coffee, I think by the end of the year I could very easily find myself addicted to tea.

~A typical day at WOL hungary~

In other news school has officially started! After two weeks of easing us into the new schedule we are finally into what the second year students call normal. Devos are at 6:45 which means getting up around 6:00 or 6:15, much to my dismay. Then breakfast follows at 7:20 where we have 40 minutes to stuff our faces (with cereal and whatever else they happen to be offering) and grab our books, laptops, and names tags so we can make it to class on time at 8:00. Then after two mind boggling hours of systematic theology (currently my favorite class) we have an hour of chapel, to be followed by another two hours of class. This time the course is Bible Study Methods. The school day concludes with lunch at 1 pm. Our afternoons are free for the most part. Tuesday and Thursday afternoons are Language classes (my new theory is that if i can master Hungarian I can do anything!), and for me those are also my work days, where I spend 2-3 hours of the day up to my elbows in soapy water scrubbing everyone's dishes. Then also, there are usually ministry meetings/practices depending on what your weekend ministry is. Since I'm on the sing team we have practises at least three times a week although the days differ. Supper is at 6:oo followed by required study at 6:45. This was another thing I was not so excited about..."a whole hour of just sitting in a class room studying, no talking, no music? I'd rather study on my own time." I must say though, that lately I have been very greatful for that hour of peace and quiet when you dont have to wander what fun thing you're missing out on, because everyone is sitting right there studying right along with you! After required study we have the evening free to do with as we please, usually some people go play basketball, others sit around the piano and make music, others just relax in their rooms, or continue working on their homework. But what ever people are doing at 9:15 everyone is in their dorms for room devos, which I have found to be one of my favorite parts of the day. At least in my dorm we have all become very close partially because of this time we spend together. Lights out/in rooms is at 11:00, I have yet to hear anyone complain about that curfew since school started, by the end of the day we are all so exhausted all we want to do is fall into bed anyway. So there you have it my day in a nut shell.

Here are some pictures of life in my little corner of the world for the last three weeks or so.

Yes, that is a cat on my bed. During my first week here we had a very cold little visitor wander into our room (the door has a nasty habit of opening on it's own) she was affectionately name 'princess costa rica' by our RA and is currently residing in one of the missionary homes, after she got kicked out of our room.

Costa Rica dorm! you can sorta see how each person has her own little corner area. Straight down the middle to the back in the Bathroom, which I didn't think I really needed to share.

Our room in the other direction, otherwise known as the kitchen area.

The living room area.

Now i would put up pictures of my little corner, but it's rather hard to get it all in one picture so if you really want to see those you can see them on my facebook =)
Hanna and I on our way to Danube international church in Budapest last Sunday.

Me and some of the girls from my room shopping in Budapest last Sunday (me, miri, marie pier, marianne)

Then last sunday night--yes we all had a rather busy day that day-- my RA (who happens to be a professional hari styleist) attacked me and whacked all my hair off! she crazy and I'll admit I was freaking out a little during the process, but I really like it now.

We're getting our first hints of autumn here in Hungary...of course i'm just a tad more excited about that than anyone else =) And as you all know with the fall come the cold, it always takes me a few moments to remember to breath again when I am greeted by the frigid (to me) air every morning on the way to breakfast!

Our attempts at study parties usually turn into silliness...this one for instance turned into walking around campus taking pictures =)

Just a bit of goofyness on the tire swing, this is my favorite spot on campus =)
(me and Abi)