Thursday, October 23, 2014

My Life in Germany, Part 1


I’ve been meaning for some time to sit down and and write about my time here, but… Well, it’s hard to find the time to dedicate to this purpose, but it’s also hard to know what to say.  It’s been just over 6 weeks since I left home, and so much has happened!  I guess I find myself slightly overwhelmed by the task of updating you on all of the details of my life in these last 6 weeks, on the one hand, and on the other I find myself wanting to go all melancholy on you and tell you all of my little joys, struggles, and the lessons I’ve been learning.  It’s only been 6 weeks, yes; but a lot can happen in that time.  

…Whatever, I’m just going to wing it.  We’ll see how I do.  :-D

First, I’ll tell you about life here.  I live in a little town called Fischbach, just outside of Friedrichshafen, Germany.  My school is located in a large building connected to a dorm building, where I currently make my residence… I just realized today that I’ve been living in my room in “Suitcase” mode (my closet being the suitcase), kind of living there like I’m about to leave at any moment.  That needs to change; I generally like my “House” to feel like a home, and it can’t really when you don’t… you know… decorate.  Or something.  :-P  Anyway, I’d like to work on that.  

Regardless, the school building has a large common room used for lectures, church services, and a dining room, all in one.  The one half of the room is set up for lectures throughout the week, and the other half is set up for meals every day.  As the room is needed for other events or services, we move things around as needed to make it work for other purposes.

Also at the school, we have “The Honeycomb,” a little cafe type room, where we can buy coffee and snacks when they are open, play board games, or just go sit in there to read.  There is also a beautiful wooden patio off of the Honeycomb overlooking the orchard in the back, which is quite lovely, and I very much enjoy sitting out there when it is not too cold.

We also have a book shop/internet room, a computer room, a games room, a library, workout room, sauna, prayer room, laundry room etc… There’s always lots to do!  We can also borrow bikes, canoes, and kayaks anytime we want; which is pretty sweet.

Currently, I am sitting in one of the many little cafes in the area to write about this; I wanted to go for coffee with Jesus, so I did.  He paid, and it’s lovely.  :)  We also have, in addition to lots of cafes, lots of shops to visit in Friedrichshafen (including H&M, which is extremely tempting when you didn’t bring that many clothes, btw…), and there is a large Superstore-esq. grocery store about a 20-30 minute walk from here as well.

Other than all of that, there are lots of beautiful buildings, orchards, and the lake nearby which all make for lovely walks.  I have a favourite walking spot, even - which I will post pictures of…. soon.  Later.  Eh he. :)

My daily schedule looks something like this:
 - Around 7am, I get up and get ready for breakfast, which starts at 7:30 and is mandatory that we attend (not that I wouldn’t anyway, but yeah).  
 - After breakfast, most of the students scatter to do their daily duties (my previous duty was supper dishes, so I couldn’t do it in the morning, obviously).  My current duty is table setting, so I am responsible to help about 5 other students wipe tables and chairs, and the set the tables for the next meal at the end of each meal every day.
 - Once your duty is done in the morning, you have until 9:20 to do whatever you like - At which point we have our first lecture of the day for about an hour.  
 - After that, we have a 15 minute coffee break together, and then back to lectures for 2 more hours with a 5 minute break in between.
 - Then, lunch!  (And setting tables…)
 - After lunch, we have free time until supper.  During this time, you can go into town, study, take a walk, or go to a cafe, which is what I decided to do today.
 - Supper is at 6, so we all meet there, and then we have free time again (unless we have duties) until 7:30, when we have 2 evening lectures.  
 - The evening is then free, usually, to do whatever you like - there is a sauna offered for either guys or girls almost every night, and lockup is at 10:30pm, at which point you have to be out of the main building and in the dorm, headed for bed preferably.  

That is my day-by-day.  We often have other events planned in the evenings instead of lectures, or special outreaches to attend instead of lectures, in which case we get the audio given to us so that we are able to catch up.  We have had one test on lectures so far, and there is one more tonight - So we’ll see how that goes!  We have also had one book report to hand in already, 2 memory verses every week, and now we have 2 more large writing projects and one more book report due before Christmas at various times.  

Hm, what else can I tell you about daily life… It is interesting living with 105 other people every day, that’s for sure.  And the food here is fantastic.  :)

Other than that, you might be interested to know… 
 - We hiked in the Swiss Alps (BEAUTIFUL - And hard.)
 - We went to visit Neuschwanstein Castle, Walt Disney’s inspiration for Cinderella’s castle at Disney World.  :)
 - We have had an “International Night” (each country represented by the student body prepares and shows a presentation of their country), a pumpkin carving contest, a “Film Festival Night” (we divided into groups and made videos for a movie night - so fun!), and “K-Group Olympics,” which was all of the school small groups (Or K-Groups, “K” standing for Koinonia) working together to compete in a series of games… This was a lot of fun as well, and I enjoyed it very much.

Annnd… I’m sure that doesn’t even begin to cover it.  But that’s all I’m going to say for now.  If you have questions, feel free to post them in the comments, or send me an email.  Short emails get answers faster, FYI.  ;)

Thanks to all who take an interest, and especially for your prayers.  I appreciate it so much.  I am a little sad about how quickly the time is slipping through my fingers, but I’m excited to feel that I am exactly where God would have me be… it is so good to walk with him.

He is good!

Love you all and bye for now,

—Naomi