Posted on December 27th, 2008 by Chris under German culture, Random.
Our Little Christmas Tree!
Christmas is such a great time of year. Around this time of year, the whole world is celebrating together the birth of a savior in their own special way. Here in Germany it looks much the same as in America with a few distinctions. The first is the season of Advent leading up to the 25th. In the US, I have always thought of Advent as a time when churches would light a few candles and all follow basically the same script up until Christmas came. Here though, it is much more. Every family celebrates Advent together in their home with their own Advent candles and traditions. Another important distinction I have learned is that Christmas isn’t over on the 25th. Which was a tough one to figure on the fly. Here there is the first day of Christmas (25th) and the second day of Christmas (26th). The second day, it turns out, is celebrated in much the same way as the first, but the first is with family and the second is with friends and distant relatives. All that to say, everything in the world is still closed that second day.
Stef chopping and dicing... making dinner for everyone.
So to celebrate Christmas this year, we (Stef and I, Chandler, Beth and Daniel) all had Christmas Eve dinner together, stayed up until 3 playing games and talking, all slept in our small apartment, woke up around noon, made a hearty American style Christmas morning breakfast (bisquits, omelets, french toast), and opened our white elephant gifts together. Then we played more games and talked more until about 5:30 when everyone went their separate ways. We had an amazing time and it was great to be able to just be friends for few days. We didn’t worry about our jobs or our struggles for a day. We were just 5 friends, hanging out and having fun.
I learned something about Christmas this year that I intuitively knew, but never had to face until this year. That is how important family is on this day. While the birth of Jesus is very important, it isn’t the only thing we celebrate on this day. We celebrate family and another year lived together. But this year the only family Stef and I celebrated with were each other. As great as that was, it was tough not to be with family like the 25 years prior. We called them all, and I watched my nieces and nephew open presents via webcam and at that moment realized just how important family is at this time of year.
But its also a reminder of what we came to do here in Tübingen. We are building a family, a community of people who love each other just because. Not because we are Christian, because the ministry we are starting isn’t just for Christians. Just because we are people. And that’s what Christ came to do. Love people just because they are people.
Merry Christmas!
Posted on November 14th, 2008 by Chris under Language School, Random.
You know you're intimidated.
Tonight was poker night here at the Goethe Institute. There is no better way to get a group of guys together to talk about guy stuff than poker night. Badly lit room, cards, chips that only represent your pride, very manly. It was a great night and I am proud to say that I came in a very respectful 2nd place after a very dramatic comeback late in the game! For my effort, I will be receiving a very strong and well designed umbrella with the “Goethe-Institüt” logo shamelessly displayed. I attribute my close glance with victory to my very mysterious style that seemed to really intimidate.
On a separate but related note, because this is such a great draw for guys to come and hang out, there is a chance you may be hearing about this again in Tübingen. Maybe.
Posted on October 30th, 2008 by Chris under Random.
As our language instructors have told us every time we try to use our translation books in class, (in German) “No, no! The world is your wordbook!” So, today I was able to put that into practice. As we walked to class, I pointed to the white things falling from the sky and asked, “Was ist alles das?” “Schnie.” “Und was macht die Schnie hier?” “Es schneit!” translation > “What is all of that?” “Snow.” “and what is it doing?” “It’s snowing!”
Schwabisch Hall (artist's rendition)
That’s right! It’s snowing here in Germany! It’s the first time since we’ve been here. It’s weird being from Atlanta and moving to Germany to see it snow. If this were Atlanta, we would have heard 3 days ago that “there is a chance that maybe its going to possibly snow” and the entire city would be shut down. Schools closed, businesses closed, construction halted. But no, this is Germany. If they stopped every time it snowed, nothing would ever get done. So yes, you can rest assured that the construction that has been going on outside our window has not been effected by the inclimate weather. They are still out there… at 6am… pounding on the ground, digging holes to fill up, and making as much noise as possible to make sure that I am not late for class.
Posted on October 6th, 2008 by Chris under Random.
There is no section of our world that is not being touched by this world financial crisis. Even the beloved end to a terrible story “…and then I found 5 dollars” has been strained. 5 dollars is the new 1 dollar. In order to really have the effect finding 5 dollars used to have, a terrible story teller must find at least 8 or possibly 10 dollars. It’s a sad state we’ve found ourselves in. And the worst part is that I am yet to hear any kind of help for those would be bards and muses out there in need for desparate help by way of stories and dollars to find. I considered that possibly using Euros would be a more stable choice in the time being since you would only have to find 7.4 EUR to have $10. Great news for sad minstrels but not for me, an American starting a ministry in Europe.
Good news though, at breakfast yesterday Andy and I decided on a replacement for those that can’t afford 10 dollars or don’t want to bother with the conversion rate. The new “…and then I found 5 dollars” is “…maybe I’ll blog about it”. We came up with this as we discussed our blogging experience (reading and writing) and agreed that we both hated to read posts from friends that said things like, “So today I went to the store, but when I got there it was closed, but then I found out it was actually open, so I bought the stuff I wanted,” or “today at breakfast I thought there was no yoghurt, but then there was.” So if you have a lame story, you should go blog about it.
I’ll end with a story: Today in language class, I thought the teacher asked me a question, but he didn’t. It was the person behind me. It was good because I didn’t hear what he said.
