The last days

It's amazing that there are only three days left until I go home. I remember when I was counting down from 89 so I feel like I've come a long way. There is no way to really explain the anticipation. It's sort of bittersweet in a way though because I'll miss getting to travel around all of the time, but I miss everyone back home so much. I'm thinking it's going to be a little rough getting back into the swing of things and regular old life. It feels like I haven't been with the people or done the things I love in so long now. It's going to be so awesome just to have home-cooked meals, be with friends again, and especially being back at the Stirring. Listening to podcasts just isn't the same. Well, I've still got three days left and my bags are packed, cupboards are cleaned out and I've got my plane tickets practically in hand. Here are some pictures from the last couple of weeks of Switzerland, and Italy.

30 days to go

I'm at the 30 day mark or right around there since I leave on the 5th of December. I am so ready for home. I love getting to see new places on the weekends, but during the week it's just work. Luckily I get to teach swimming lessons which makes work less like work and more like getting to play. I have some funny kids that just started lessons yesterday. One of them is British and he's about 6 or so. Another one is Terrell and he never listens to me. I also have Annika who sings while I pull her around on the kickboard while she kicks. They all have these funny little things about them.

I'm starting to think about what I want to send home in the mail before I leave so I'm trying to get all of my souvenoirs and that sort of stuff packed up. It's weird to already be thinking about sending things home. Well, I thought I would post a picture of a little girl that made me laugh at the Neuschwanstein Castle when we were there because she is kind of ridiculous with her pink outfit just like a lot of the kids in swim lessons. But ridiculous in a good way...

People watching

So much to tell. I've been learning a lot these last couple of weeks about myself and just people in general. Last weekend I hopped on a train at 11pm Saturday night with my friend and headed off to Oktoberfest in Munich. I've heard rumors it's the biggest beer festival in the world and they're definitely true. There are around thirty massive tents with tons and tons of tables for ordering food and of course beer by the litre. I definitely watched how much I had to drink so I had a good time without having too much for those of you who are wondering (Mom). So it was a blast and I met a lot of cool people. Then this weekend I went to Paris and saw all of the major sights; The Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame Cathedral, The Louvre. It's like one huge trip after another it seems.

What is the strangest to me is watching all of the different people and just wondering what their life is like. I'm wondering what they are living for most of the time. It's easy to start conversations with people at home in Redding or even in the U.S., but the language barrier is pretty rough most of the time and I definitely do not know French or more than a couple of phrases in German. Everyone is way beyond trendy and constantly on a mission. I think this is city life in general, but there is something different here in Europe. It's empty. Everyone is so busy, but I just don't know what they are so busy doing or if they do either. It's amazing that the Stirring just talked about Greed on Sunday because I've been thinking how much I want to start a trendy European wardrobe now that I'm seeing all of these different styles, but I don't think that would do anything for me. We're all constantly trying to keep up with the latest trend and I don't think God wants us a part of that lifestyle. I need to pray for contentment in Him and be grateful for the things that he's already given to me. I'm praying that people here in Germany and just in this area of the world are experiencing God. There's so much more, but I'll leave it at that for now.

Biking it

Never before have I appreciated my car as much I do now, when I can't have it. Oh the things we take for granted. My mode of transportation to work, to the commissary, to the train station and really anywhere, is my bike. Even though I love getting some good exercise, at 8pm last night in the pouring rain I would have given anything for a car. Even my 68 vw would be a luxury. The winds felt like they were going 100mph and I hit a puddle the size of a lake going downhill. Exhilirating to say the least. The top of my pants shows the color they are when they're dry.

My first real outing

I thought it was about time that I took a day and actually explored Germany, so that's what I did on Sunday. There's a group of six of us here that work together at the pool on base and we are all from the states, but usually Steve and I end up doing our own thing on the weekends which is how it worked out this last weekend. We decided to take a tour to the Rhine River for a cruise. It was about a two hour bus ride with a bunch of strangers to our first stop of the day to the Rheinstein castle. So beautiful. We got to walk through the knights hall and the princess floor and then to the very top where the prince lived. Then we took our two hour cruise down the river where we saw about eight castles on either side of the river. The tour guide told us it was the best day she has ever been on the Rhine because it's pretty rare to have a sunny day where it isn't overcast. The weather was perfect. Next we did some wine tasting at a local winery and got to go walk around town on our own. I'm so glad I finally got to see some of Germany and take a real trip. One weekend down, nine to go.

The Week That Lasted a Month

Well, I guess so far I haven't been too good with the updates as I had planned to be, but I thought this first week in Germany was literally never going to end. I'm beginning to get the hang of things here and luckily I'm on a military base so there is plenty of familiarity, but there's still a ton of German influence. It takes only about 5 min to get off of the base and about 10 min to get into the nearest German town. My friend and I went on our first adventure Friday night and made it into Kaiserslautern which is a good sized town. We had dinner at this cute little restaurant called St. Martin's, I think it was, and then headed for a drink a couple of doors down which costs about 4 euros. The trains here aren't as easy to figure out as we thought and so we missed our stop on the way back home and were forced to walk all the way to the train station. We weren't sure how far back we would have to walk though so we made the logical decision and hitch hiked. Something I've never done before so where better to try it for the first time than in a foreign country? Luckily it all worked out and we got a lift back to the Ramstein train station and biked the ten minutes back home. Quite an adventure to say the least. I have about eleven minutes of battery life left and unfortunately all of the plugs around here are German so I will end with that. I miss everyone!

So for those of you who don't know, I am in Germany right now living and working on Ramstein Air Force Base. Even though it is somewhat of a study abroad program, I'm essentially here to teach swimming lessons to the children of the military families. I know, I know, really rough huh? I've been here for about two days now and nothing too exciting has happened yet. Oh except for the fact that the three of us who traveled here together from California all had our luggage left in the Toronto, Canada airport and didn't get it until this afternoon. It was extremely fun wearing the same clothes two days in a row. Got my military ID today too so I'm quite official now. Already missing home and my friends and family. That's kind of scary since I'm only two days in. Well, that's it for now and I'm running out of time in the cyber center so I will write a bit more soon enough.