Countdown to Tübingen

just like the autobahn, these don't have a speed limit over here

Very few times in Germany have I felt truly out of control, but last night I went to play volleyball with the the good students of the university here. I like to consider myself a bit of an athlete, but I was totally out of my comfort zone in that three-court gymnasium of terror. Language I can swing, but combine conjugating verbs with trying to learn the in’s and out’s of a new sport, and suddenly it’s like chewing gum and riding a unicycle, like rubbing your stomach and performing surgery. The point is, I’m a great multi-tasker in much the same way that Dan Quayle was a great speller.

Here’s a fun story. I sat down on a bench between games next to a girl whose team I had played on. We exchange names, and then…

Me: Do you play here every Monday?
Her: Almost. Excuse me, I’m gonna go to the bathroom.
She leaves the bench and stands somewhere else.

It was a rough night, but I met some new folks - names I will remember for when I go back next Monday for another beating. Ambrose Bierce once defined perseverance as “a lowly virtue whereby mediocrity achieves an inglorious success,” and nobody is more mediocre at volleyball than I am.

pictured (left to right): me, the curve of the earth

I’ve been to several foreign countries in my life, but last week was my first time in the United Kingdom (click here to see pictures!). Yes, our team took a trip across the channel to take a week and learn a thing or two from the other five Globalscopes - plus a couple guest speakers, including VP of Sales at Delta, presenting talks on themes like leadership and encouragement. If that sounds like a work conference, that’s because that’s exactly what it was.

Perhaps the most foreign thing about England is the fact that the people there speak English. When you are operating in a new language, you expect the surrounding culture to be foreign. When you are conversing comfortably in your native language, you don’t expect cars to drive on the left-hand side of the road. You don’t expect to order “chips” and get french fries. And you most certainly have a gnawing feeling that all those people speaking in thick English accents all around you are just faking it to throw you off - everyone is in on the joke on the Yank.

Perhaps the biggest idea I take away from the conference is the idea of buying the toaster, that is: settling down and taking the time to make Tübingen a home rather than a temporary stop. For many Globalscopers, this idea is pretty foreign… We are young adults who haven’t settled down since college started. Even after college, while I was raising support in the States, I was living with my parents temporarily for a year and a half.

Well, the lesson is well noted. I changed my Facebook profile to reflect Tübingen as my home. I bought a bed - pillow cases and all - even though I still don’t have my own apartment to put it in. Let it be known that this campus minister is settling in, and his toaster resides right here in Germany.

Next week our team will be in England for Globalscope Celebration, an annual gathering of all Globalscopes to share and show off their work with - literally - the rest of the world. It’s my first time going. I’m not expecting TED, but the price of a ticket to Celebration (free) beats the pants off that of a ticket to TED ($6,000), even with the 20 euro ($28.19) plane ticket.

Any good celebration calls for multimedia, so we are taking a video to show off our lovely campus house. We successfully resisted the temptation to mock MTV’s “Cribs” and instead came up with the video you see above in which staff and students give a whirlwind tour of the house to a handycam.

Sure, it’s supposed to be a surprise, but I trust you.

turning 22 in germany is kind of a big deal in that you have now been drinking legally for six years

It is a beautiful day in Germany. Enjoy that sentence. It won’t be written often. But the sun is out, it is a mild 60 degrees (16 Celsius), and, just like every week, it is Lazy Sunday. Everything moves a little slower, shops don’t open, and people stay home to observe the Sabbath because - even for those who could care less about commandment #6 - a day without work is still a good deal.

It’s been a long week. One thing you start to sense about Germans when you start hanging out with them is their intense desire to live life… Stay out late, hop parties, clubs, and bars until 3 or 4, then wake up early to start your day right. The astonishing amount of vacation time and holidays that Germans are given off is a lot less shocking when you realize that those are the only days that people sleep around here. Throw on top of the night life some construction work during the day in getting your campus house to a desirable state, and on top of that the fact that this all happens in your second language, and you may start to get a sense of what campus ministry work is like at Unterwegs.

Tomorrow is a holiday for Germany. Much like Americans celebrate Labor Day by doing no labor, Germans celebrate Pentecost - the day the disciples began to spread the Gospel - by staying home and sleeping. Not Unterwegs, though. Tomorrow we are hosting part three in a series of cookouts that we have hosted on every religious holiday in the last five weeks. With the word about Unterwegs spreading and the popularity of our four-square court multiplying, we are expecting a turnout of students hungry for brats and the King’s square.

One of the biggest differences between raising support full time and being a campus minister full time is the amount of free time one has for things like exercise, personal reflection, and - among other things - sleeping. Also among those “other things” is blogging.

There is no coffee house subculture in Germany that I have found so far, and the lack of cozy caffeine-enhanced atmosphere with the familiar sing-song whine of the espresso machine in the background has made it nearly impossible to come up with clever things to type into the abyssal Internet void. Simply put, there is no replacement for Mighty Joe Espresso in Tübingen.

Next week should see a slight cessation in busily buzzing about, though. The students at the university here are on break for a week - long enough to send out some postcards, write an email newsletter, make a video or two, and update the blog (for real next time). In the meantime, check out my last sermon from Tuckerfirst above.

before it was just a wall. now it's a wall with a logo on it.

Today is my one-week anniversary of living in Germany! Here’s what’s happened.

• Language school started. I have homework for the first time in two years. The relaxed atmosphere and bottomless coffee belie a difficult and intensive curriculum of grammar, vocabulary, and reading for comprehension.
• I got a bike. It’s like a car - better than a car in Tübingen, only a little more susceptible to the weather. It’s been ten years since I’ve ridden a bicycle seriously, and I crashed on the second bike commute, accordingly.
• Started the job. I’m already in charge of house decor (of which you get a little taste in the pic above) and the student website, and I’m looking for ways to get involved in student activities. As a non-student, there are a lot more dead ends than there are opportunities. The student weight-room is a no-go, still looking for the right soccer games to join, and bar trivia is a little difficult when the focus is German soccer trivia.
• Getting into the party culture. Nobody here has serious hobbies because nobody needs to fill extra time - there is always a party going on - and you’re invited! Tonight there is a party being thrown by the student government, simply because it is Thursday. There are parties for every type of person - even people who don’t like parties. There is no excuse not to either have or be at a party in Tübingen. Friday night doesn’t stop until Saturday at noon. And that’s where relationships are made.
• Looking for an apartment. Living out of your suitcase can be fun… for a while. But it is difficult to keep track of what you wore yesterday and the day before when everything you own is tucked tightly into two Samsonites. Chandler and I are hoping to find a place to live in the next two weeks.

And that’s the news from Tübingen, one week in.

buddy passes mean business - if enough seats are available

Here is my first post made from Tübingen! The flight over went off without a hitch, and I was greeted at the airport by Stef and the exchange students. The weather is beautiful over here, 60 and not a cloud in the sky, in an odd juxtapose to the tornado warnings that I left behind in Atlanta.

Now that the work of raising support has subsided - temporarily - the work of being a campus minister begins. Tonight is Cafe English, when German students come to practice their Americanized English, and I - held upright after an overnight flight only by the chemical magic of caffeine - am helping.

On top of that, my responsibilities for the ministry this week include:

• Create a student website. I’m thinking something green to match our basement.
• Come up with - using exchange student input - decor for the basement.

Come to think of it, those two tasks could be combined into one design project. Ideas?

bubba cathy's wardrobe goes to narnia. seriously. i'm not joking.

It’s my last full day in the States, and I’m taking the entire thing to run errands and revisit some old favorite places with Shalynn (who got her final grades today - and is now officially graduated). It’s a bittersweet experience to say “so long for now” to so many people and familiar places. But one of the joys of going through all of one’s belongings is the opportunity to hash through memories of the stuff you didn’t remember you had…

Like the picture above that I found tucked away in my camera’s memory card… During my time raising support (this first time), Chandler invited us to go tour Bubba Cathy’s house. Bubba Cathy - to whom Chandler is connected through family - is royalty in the kingdom-fief of selling chicken sandwiches, and his house reflects his princely state. There is a wardrobe in the front foyer with a door in the back that opens to a winding staircase painted with coats and jackets that, as you ascend, turns into a winter scene. The staircase opens at the top into a secret room in the attic with a lamppost in the middle, ala The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. To say that Bubba enjoyed the book is probably an understatement.

Also, in trying to gather all my electronic property together, I found all the skits I had ever written during my time at CCF. Enjoy these quotes…

Tatum: Whoa there, you Catless Cowboy. Just a second. You’ve just lost perspective, my friend. Sure. You are a loser. No one really likes you. Your gaunt and menacing demeanor is somewhat off putting to those around the ministry. No. I take that back. It is very off putting. If I were your cat, I would be glad to be eaten by a panda.

Chris: Thank you, Head Coach Tyler. I’d like to recognize our Most Improved Player of the Year, Little Timmy. Little Timmy came into this season not knowing the difference between right field and left field, but by the end of the season, we had determined that this wasn’t so much a baseball problem, but was more his incapacity to tell his left from his right period. So thank you, Little Timmy. Didn’t really improve this year, but we gotta give you something. We hope that by next year you will have stopped trying to pick your nose with your glove hand while your glove is on. Coach Braden?

And the best title for a skit ever?

This Week’s Forecast as Presented by Chris Coleman Dressed in a Bunny Suit

Hi there. My name is Tyler, and I’m leaving the country.

Moving across the ocean demands a menial level of preparation. Three years of work in Germany will probably require a certain set of clothes, tools, and support structures set up back home. Here are some of the tasks remaining before departure…

• Get all the files off my old computers that I will want to keep, put onto my Maxtor Terabyte to take with me. I found this little gem above hidden on an old hard drive.
• Upgrade the laptop. Good technology is conducive to great work.
• Buy a second pair of jeans. Maybe a third. Great work is made possible by adequate clothing.
• Make a teaser video for FUMCLV.
• Give the sermon at Tuckerfirst on Sunday.
• Take the Tuckerfirst banner design to a print shop.
• Send out the last email newsletter from the States. Email spam folders need their fodder.
• Watch Shalynn graduate.
• Divide all my wordly belongings into what to keep and what to throw away.
• Pack.

Anything I’m forgetting?

If you’re like me, you are a stickler for quality. Call it perfectionism. Call it anal retentivity. I just like things good ‘n polished. And then polished some more.

The point, of course, is that I set a high bar for everything I do. In tenth grade, I was the star/envy/object-of-hatred-and-misunderstanding of my algebra class because I drew all my graphed functions on graph paper, cut them out with neat, square corners, and pasted them onto the notebook-paper where I would write sub-captions and explanations. Don’t worry, I’ve relaxed a little since then to a more reasonable level. But doesn’t the thought of a person with such professionalism in even the smallest details excite you about supporting that person as a professional missionary? Please say it does!

There’s something to be said for spinning straw into gold. Exhibit A: Cirque du Soleil has made a huge business out of it - taking the lowly art of the circus and elevating and perfecting it into something beautiful and amazing - and expensive. Exhibit B: Life for Children Ministry had a bunch of video clips and pictures from their work in Kenya and needed someone to put it all together in an engaging, exciting package. They came to me and asked me to make a video for them in my spare time - check it out above. It ain’t perfect, but I have to take a step back and admire that, yes, even my half-hearted attempts still turn out pretty good.

Now I just need to charge Cirque du Soleil prices.