So that's what this is about...

Hello, dear friends. For months now I've avoided writing anything to you because I didn't know what to say. Not that there wasn't anything to say-- oh, no, far be it-- indeed, I've been overflowing with things to say for all these long months-- but rather I didn't know where to start. A part of me said I had to pick up with the travel journal where it was left off. A second part said to move on. The first part replied that those pictures were worth sharing... and besides, what else was there? The second part replied that those pictures could wait to be shared in person, and besides, there was "normal" life to talk about.

I guess that after almost 5 months, the second part of me won the argument.

Right now I am in Oregon. I have not been out of the country (or the state!) in exactly six months as of yesterday, and I do not have any real plans of leaving it again for another many months ("real plans" are not to be confused with the ones I spout every few days, when I turn to a classmate and whisper frenziedly, "Hey, let's go to Russia together. Tonight!"). So I have spent six months coming to terms with the fact that my feet are firmly stuck in Oregon soil right now and for the near future, and that I have to eventually accept my place here.

Why am I sharing all this? Because during the last six months, while a large piece of my heart and mind has been flitting back and forth from Salem to Edinburgh to Amberg to Jelenia Gora to Disneyland to Swindon to Prague to Nurnberg to Paris to Newberg to the Unnamed Cities of the Harvest Moon (wait, what?), the other piece of my heart and mind has been occupied in slightly other ways: namely, in observing real life. That is, the life that I'm living-- right now-- right here-- whether it's where I want to be or not-- whether the people involved are the ones I'm missing or not-- whether I know who for goodness' sake I am or not. Real life.

It's not as if it ever really left me. It's just that every stage of life presents a different vantage point from which to ponder it. And this stage's vantage point seems to include a fully equipped theater in which I get to watch myself watching real life.

What am I saying? (Blessed if I know.) Basically just that I feel it's time to start sharing the thoughts I've had so much lately about real relationship, real pain, real joy, real humanity-- real life. I don't know what form that will take. Maybe it will be little essay-like entries about the latest wisdom I've been granted (although I don't think I'll ever be as good at those as my friend M------ who shares at http://kliemn.blogspot.com/). Maybe it will be a copy of my latest homework assignment, since the books I'm reading mostly deal with the nature of reality and the purpose of life and the goodness of God and the problem of pain and evil and the plague of original sin and the depth of love and the meaning of existence and all those topics that make me want to jump up and down and shout for joy and weep for heart-ache all at the same time. There's real pain and real joy out there for us to encounter, friends, and it's ready for us to tackle if we'll only take the time.

After all, maybe that's why I go to college-- so I'm forced to take the time to tackle real life.

Of course, college being what it is, I'm usually too busy living real life, or writing about real life for a grade, to sit down and think it out thoroughly enough to write about it here; so, no promises on when / how often you'll hear from me. I just figured it was about time I ignored the clock and sat down long enough to tell you my plan as it is now, and to let you know what I've been thinking about. Feel free to start thinking about this subject with me; most of you have experienced a lot more real life than I have.

All for now. More to come later.

Food, Part 4

At last, we return to that which makes the heart so warm inside... the tastes of Europe. :) It's true that by about 2/3 way through the semester, I had kind of fallen off the band wagon as far as food pictures were concerned... but I still managed to get a few shots of a few amazing meals. Some of these, I might add, were so good that I just about cry thinking about them (even now, a few months later!). Some countries just know how to make good food, I guess.


This was Brian's chai (tea), had in an authentic Indian restaurant that a group of us stopped at in Salzburg, Austria. (I know... Indian in Austria... odd. But delicious.) The seeming authenticity of the tea prepared us well for the delight that was about to be served us...


This may not look like much on screen (it may look positively vile), but I have to say this is one of those meals that still makes me cry for happiness in the remembrance. It was lamb curry... the best curry I have ever had. Ever.


Another meal that makes me cry in the remembrance... Ungarische Goulasch (Hungarian Goulash). I had this my last night in Salzburg.

You've seen something like this before... early in the trip, we partook of a Schmaiserkarrn, kind of a bread pudding desert with applesauce. This version came with plum sauce instead of applesauce. WOW.

You've seen this before, too. This is Czech svíčková, a delicious roast-beef-and-dumplings meal I had previously had (on two different occasions) in Prague. This time I had it in Česky Krumlov, in the southern Czech Republic.

This was an amazing salad-- an extraordinary combination of chicken and peaches, along with regular salad greens! I had this, also, in Krumlov.

This is a favourite of mine, Käsespätzle, or something akin to Mac'n'Cheese. :) I had this at the Bavarian folk music night I attended.

Our pastor's wife made this and several other beyond-beautiful dishes for us all when we had dinner at their home. It was a kind of custard cake topped with berries. Be jealous... be very jealous.

This was in Paris. See the croissant? Makes sense, right? :) And might I add that the croissants I had in Paris were the best I have ever tasted or probably ever will taste?

Coffee. Not very exciting, I know, but I show it here to pass on to you all a valuable lesson; unless you want to spend a fortune, don't visit Parisian restaurants (even the "cheap" ones). I have never been accustomed to drinking coffee with meals, but I picked up the habit whilst in Paris, only because coffee was the cheapest drink available in most restaurants we visited (and it still cost 4 or 5 Euros.) I can't really complain, though, considering the quality of the food...

Okay, this was supposed to be hot chocolate. It was actually more like hot chocolate syrup. Wow. Either the Poles just like their hot chocolate way too rich... or my maxim that all European hot chocolates are perfect... is wrong... and this particular little Polish café has issues.

This is a wonderful Polish dish that I'm terrified of trying to spell. I think it's "gołbki," pronounced something like "g'wahv-kee." Basically, it's stuffed cabbage... and very delicious. But I'll tell you what's better: Polish pierogi. Oh my goodness... so yummy. But I didn't get a picture of that one.

This is back in Germany, in our favourite Amberg hot chocolate provider (and restaurant). Beth and I enjoyed celebratory hot chocolates right after I'd had my hair cut. :)

And this is later that same week (the last one in Amberg), in the same restaurant. It was the same restaurant where some of us girls had eaten on our first full day in Amberg, so we felt it was a fitting place to eat on our last full day. And this, too, is a meal you should recognize: it's the baked camembert (cheese), toast, and preiselberries that I had one night very early in the trip. My maxim, where repeating delicious meals is concerned, is this: When you can, you should, especially when you soon won't be able to do. Do you know what I mean? :)

Last Days in Amberg

Well, it had to happen sometime. We had to leave our little short-term home in Amberg, Germany. I'm sure there was a degree of excitement in the leaving for everybody... after all, one is keen to see one's friends and family after being away for three months... but there was also, for some of us at least, a good deal of sorrow at having to leave a little town that had truly become another home.

Still, it had to happen, and so here are the pictures of those last two or three days in Amberg... before we left that "home" for good.

This is one of the last pictures I have of myself with my "long" hair! I knew it had to be commemorated. :)

A pretty gate I discovered on one of my last rambles around Amberg. Why don't we have gates like this in Oregon?


On Tuesday evening (April 8th), we enjoyed our last chapel service. Unlike our usual chapels, which were largely student-led and for mostly the students and faculty only, this session was for the whole church, as a sort of "goodbye and thank-you" opportunity. We sang for them, they sang for us, the band (consisting of one of our people and several of theirs) played, we showed some pictures, etc. It was a good time of fellowship, followed by a wonderful potluck. Those Russian-German women sure know how to cook!!!

And now... the picture you've all been waiting for....

The Hair!!!


Okay, well, I think by now many of you actually have seen my "new" haircut. But for those who haven't... this is the new look. Or rather, this is what the new look looked like about five minutes after I walked out of the hair salon. I have only two things to say on this: first, it is very exciting getting a haircut from people who don't speak your language very well. Second, yes, I did save the cut hair for Locks of Love. :)


On Thursday (April 10th), our last full day in Amberg, four of us girls decided to make the last evening a memorable one by having a girls' evening out. We visited some spots around town we'd always wanted to visit-- like this amazingly fun jungle gym!


We also revisited old favourites to make sure we had enough photos. This bridge is one I crossed untold times during my time in Amberg... probably daily through much of the semester!


... And this view is a view I saw often on those same daily walks. Somehow it's rather dear to me.


Of course, we had to stop for the "classic" poses, in front of the Nabburger Tor, the main gate into the Old City.


We meet as strangers, we part as friends...


A few last scenes of Amberg, as the drizzle began to fall and the evening lights became brighter...




A fitting way to look back on our town: through the "Town Spectacles." :)

Okay... I'm Back!

Greetings, friends and faithful patient ones! You'll perhaps be glad to know that I'm FINALLY... after two months... making myself get back to blogging. In defense (of myself), it must be said that I didn't ever intend to abandon the world of blogging for two months. I actually tried very hard for the first month to continue it faithfully... but the combination of wanting to surprise my parents with my new haircut, and of (thereafter) not having success with the internet connection, stopped me. Indeed, there were several times when I actually had an entry ready to post, but because of one computer/internet problem or another, never could get it done.

Then, I came back to the States... and there the internet speed was definitely not fast enough to successfully accomplish much. So I waited.

And waited. (And this is where I am no longer defendable.)

And now I am finally sitting in the Corban College coffee shop, using the hi-speed internet, making myself go back through time to my travels two months ago, to fill in the pieces I have until now left out.

It is with trepidation that I re-begin this online "journal" (of sorts), firstly because I don't know how many readers I have left (after abandoning you all so shamefully), and secondly because it's actually somewhat difficult to know what pictures to post and what to say on these things. But... I shall do my best.

So, in the next few days, I shall probably add quite a few new entries. Once I've caught up the actual "Europe experience" entries, I don't know how often I will update... but I do plan to continue blogging, even now that I'm back in "the real world." I may not always have interesting pictures to share, but I should have a few stories to tell or moments of wisdom to pass on, through the summer and especially during the coming school year. If you (my cherished readers) feel your interest waning once the trip pics stop coming, though, I more than understand.

Thank you all for your patience and interest... and many of you, for your kind words regarding this humble attempt at sharing the wonderful life I've been given.

Explanation!!

All right, so you've probably been wondering why I haven't updated this blog in a while. I know I said I needed to finish my papers first-- and I DID-- but there was another reason, too. I was waiting until my parents arrived in England to see me (which they did today) before I put up my most recent set of photos, because.....

I CUT MY HAIR!!!

Yeah, terribly exciting, I know. (Not really.) But I wanted it to be a surprise to them, so I have been waiting to post pics until they'd seen my "new look."

And that's the explanation. :) Now we'll get back to the regular posts... :)

I promise...

... that I will update soon. I do have more stories and pics from Deutschland, and besides, the "journey" doesn't end just because the time in Deutschland does. But at the moment I've got three big papers to finish, and blogging is more thing I ought not to distract myself with until they're finished...

(No, that's not my textbook. Heaven forbid. I just felt like I needed a pic here, and it's the closest one to "writing papers" that I could come up with. ;)).

Goodbye, Life

I thought you'd all be interested (??) to know that during the last two days I have spent approximately 18 hours on one academic project. That was about 8 hours yesterday, and an even 10 today. Actually, if you count yesterday's time from when I began to when I quit for the night, it was technically 13 straight hours... But I'm trying to be honest, so I'm not counting the hours I took badly-needed mental breaks. Today the ten hours were almost without stop, except for those minor snack breaks or jump-about moments that fidgety people like me need every so often.

All this to say... may I go to bed now?

:)

Around Here

Here are few pictures taken in the last couple of weeks in Amberg or close by.

On Friday, March 14, four of us returned to Nuernberg for a few hours. Bonnie and Jeffrey had particular errands to run, so Brian and I ended up hanging out together.


This is the special hand-made items market, which had just opened for the season.

We got pretty wet in that good Nuernberger rain, so eventually we found a nice coffee shop to warm up in.

An der Zug (on the train), coming back.

Quack x2.

Our river in Amberg, the Vils. It had just been clearing out a little after the big storm two weeks before-- and then we had another rain storm!

Later that same night, Beth and I joined Jerry and Paula Orr for a special Bavarian folk music night. These gigs are held about once a month at different local restaurants. It's an eager, happy crowd. Most people who attend can play accordion or fiddle or something themselves, and just might!

Self-portrait. It's not particularly flattering, but it shows that we were enjoying ourselves. :)

Jerry and Paula joking with the evening's host (also a musician).

Bonnie eventually succeeded in her Nuernberg errand: to buy a dirndl! Her she is, displaying for us girls her new outfit in all its glory.

That Sunday we visited our Pastor and his family at their lovely apartment, and enjoyed a good time of fun, food, and fellowship.

They had a brand new puppy-- which charmed our hearts instantly!

Now we've skipped ahead a few weeks. This was last Sunday, March 30. After Beth and I returned from Poland, we took advantage of the fine weather and of our prepaid rail ticket and went 15 minutes south of Amberg to Schwandorf, a little place we've passed through almost every week but never gotten to stop in. It was beautiful!

The "palace," which was actually a church upon closer inspection, at the top of the hill in Schwandorf. It took a lovely, sunshiny little climb to get here.

Because it was the first really sunny, springy Sunday afternoon, pretty much the whole town was out to eat, sit, and absorb the warmth!

The end... for now. :)

Scenes of Poland

Of all the trips I've gone on this semester, I think it's fair to say that this one was the most looked-forward-to of them all. The exception is the Prague trip, since that had been planned before I ever came to Germany. But of all the others, planned after I arrived here, Poland with Beth has been the leading idea. It seems quite fitting, then, that this trip ended up late in the semester-- in fact, it was / will be my last personal excursion of the semester. It was long, relaxing, and beautiful. My companion was delightful. It was a perfect trip to end with. :)

On Thursday afternoon (March 27), Beth and I skidaddled (sp?) out of here as soon as possible and took the train north to Goerlitz, on the German-Polish border (and not many miles from the Czech border, either!). We got there after dark, and just barely made it to our hostel in time to check in before the fellow at the desk left for the night. Whew!


We were rather delighted to see our hostel the next morning. What an amazing place! It was marvelous inside, too.

We had several hours to kill (enjoy) before our train into Poland, so we wandered somewhat aimlessly around Goerlitz. We found that our layover city was, in fact, a charming place in itself, and one we would happily have spent more time in!

The path to adventure...

Old town Goerlitz.

"Friendship is a treasured gift, and every time I talk with you I feel as if I'm getting richer and richer."

Martin Luther and one of the churches he helped make possible.

Inside the Goerlitz Frauenkirche.

The German-Polish border!!

We arrived in Jelenia Góra early Friday afternoon. This town is nestled into the Karkonosze Mountains in southwestern Poland. Our first find here was the huge cathedral and sepulchral chapels east of the downtown area-- a beautiful park on a beautiful, warm afternoon!

So happy...

The main square of Jelenia Góra. The name, by the way, means "Deer Mountain." And truly, over the weekend we saw about 40 deer!

The Ratusz (Rathaus in German, or town hall) by dusk.

Saturday morning in Jelenia. We had a ton of fun shopping, from both small street vendors (shoes, sunglasses, souvenirs) and a trendy mall!

After a few hours, we boarded a bus out to Sóbieszow, nestled even closer into the mountains.

Beautiful Sóbieszow.

Sóbieszow is best known for the Karkonosze National Park that begins just outside town. It's also well known (in Poland) for the beautiful castle in that park. It was the castle we hiked up to see!

Almost at the top of the mountain-- what a hike, and what a view!!

Zamek Chojnik, the beautiful castle we'd laboured hard to reach.

A victory shot from the top of the highest tower. Far, far beneath us is the Jelenia valley (Jelenia Góra, Sóbieszow, and other small towns), and behind us on several sides are snow-covered mountains that made our hearts ache with joy to see.

View from a tower window.

On the hike back down. The landscape was stunning!

Back in Jelenia Góra for dinner.

Somehow I managed to narrow down my photos for you from 100 to the 20 or so that are here. Because of that, and because of my limited time, I feel I've hardly touched on the surface of this trip, and all the little details of it that made it so special. But perhaps I will save those stories for some sweet time in the future, when you and I have sat down together with a cup of coffee or tea and a free hour or two to catch up.

I shall close this post with a few bold declarations. I love Poland. And I love it more with Beth.