The Half-way Point

Well, we're half way through the academic semester. Whoever first came up with that phrase, "Time flies..." was a pretty bright person.

I decided I should give a half-semester update, regarding all that we've been up to in this little life of ours. If you're wondering why, thinking, "We know all this already!" - well, this is for me, as well. So:
- I've been in Germany for six weeks as of today.
- I've visited the German states of Bavaria and Saxony (there is more than one Saxony, but I can't remember the different additional names), and will visit Hessen tomorrow.
- I've visited the major German cities of Munich, Nuremberg, and Dresden, and will visit Frankfurt tomorrow.
- I've visited the Czech Republic, including the major cities of Pilsen (Plzen) and Prague (Praha).
- By Monday I will have visited Austria, at least the border city of Salzburg.
- We've completed two courses - Christian Worldview and Reformation History. I got decent grades in both. :) I enjoyed the first and loved the second. Both professors were great men, and the second was particularly a fantastic professor.
- I've made two German friends and quite a few acquaintances. There will be more friends when I can communicate more than the basic civilities.
- I've worshiped in both English- and German-speaking churches (mostly the latter), and appreciated the great passion that these people have in their faith. Americans could learn from the Europeans in this area.
- I've sung in a German church choir.
- I've greeted friends, ordered food, and made various requests and purchases in German.
- I've eaten (and enjoyed) every variety of German food.
- I've learned the German methods of energy-usage reduction (in homes) and window-kipping (don't ask).
- I've learned the German methods of garbage disposal (there are four different kinds of garbage that must be kept separate and taken to the curb on different days).
- I've ridden trains almost every weekend, ridden a bus once or twice, and even ridden a bicycle for the first time in... well... quite a few years.
- I've visited two major art/culture museums and attended a symphony orchestra concert. Tomorrow I will attend another concert, though of a rather different style of music.
- I've enjoyed Bavarian rain, frost, and sun; Czech snow; and even some Alpine, snow-tasting sunshine.
- I've fallen in love with German book stores and coffee shops.
- I've continued my love affair with European chocolate and ice cream. (Ooops.)
- I've taken numerous walks - through the farmland south of us, through the park to our east, along the river, into town, and even along dark roads through the country on a star-lit night.
- I've enjoyed about three cups of tea per day.
- I've had a lot of pride-damaging episodes, but also gained some new respect for myself.
- I've wrestled with how what I am doing now lines up with what I should be doing now - what difference am I making or could I be making in this world? (But this is nothing new. In fact, if I wasn't wrestling with this, I'd be worried.)
- I've learned many lessons about myself - how I function within my own mind, how I function with others, and most importantly, how I function in my relationship with my Creator and Saviour.

And there you have it. To most of you that seems like a rather odd, perhaps overly-detailed list. In reality, it feels rather incomplete to me (when compared with all that I've done and seen and experienced). But it's hard to accurately portray real, everyday life in such a thing as a blog entry. I can show you pictures of castles and mountains and smiling students, but I can't really recreate for you the dish-washing, the daily walks, the shopping, the lectures, or the way the sun falls across the trees like that. Even less can I share the people, the conversations, the jokes, the laughter, the music, the impressions, the thoughts, the feelings, the atmosphere, the frustrations, and the joys. But then... maybe that's okay. I'm fairly certain you have all the same aspects of life available in your own little world that I do in mine. They just look a little different in the Willamette Valley or in Wiltshire than they do in Bavaria.