This is a sticker that is on the front of my toilet tank. Why did I post this do you ask?

Fresh Air

Hmmm...having a hard time settling in on one thing to post about. So really I suppose this is a lot about nothing. I had a free afternoon and slept a little bit and was thinking about my life back in the states and what I did in my free time there. Sleep was my favorite thing to do there too. But the nitty gritties of what made up my days..I just can't seem to wrap my mind around it. It seems too far away to remember. Maybe it is because I have sugar shock from all the candy corn I have eaten today (thanks to the new couple that just joined our team this week) or maybe my RAM capacity is shrinking.
Thinking about what I did in my free time took me farther down the path of how my tastes have changed, or expanded, or perhaps narrowed in the last year. I joke with people, but it really is true: I have been to more kegger parties since I arrived then I ever attended back home. Here it is part of the culture. I wouldn't be able to see my friends if I didn't go. Donald Miller is my favorite author. I love Anne Lamott. I don't agree with her but I love reading about her journey to faith. I read fiction books now, sometimes too. I was on a self-imposed 5 year ban, and I don't remember why. Now it just seems silly. I love Harry Potter books (and movies.) I always was secretly a little wary of them before. I read DaVinci Code and wondered aloud at what all the fuss was about. It is fiction. And to be honest I don't even like the writing style. I am reading through all the Chronicles of Narnia in order, and am currently on The Silver Chair. My music taste is expanding. I like Franz Ferdinand, and Arcade Fire, and right now good ole Air Supply is on. I love British films. Billy Elliott being the tops. Cosmic Dancer by T-Rex is on my new list of best songs to clean the house to. I am making friends with a warlock/goth guy at my video rental shop, and I love trying to understand his broken English as he tries to understand my broken German. I love the fact I have 4 different baristas at the closest Starbucks who know what I order (grande white chocolate mocha with one shot of espresso, and whipped cream) and start on it when I walk through the door. My favorite color is orange. And gosh darn it I can actually hook up a wireless network in my apartment and program my cordless phone. (Those who know how techie challenged I am should be oohing and ahhing about now.)
Most of all I think that what living in a new country has done has helped me to not be afraid of what I don't understand. As liberal and free-wheeling as where I come from is, it was still really easy to surround myself in a bubble. Here, not only can I not do that and be effective, I don't want too. I like life outside the bubble. The air is fresher somehow. I know who I am, and I know what my non-negotiables are. There is so much freedom in that.
All this introspection has made me really tired. I think I will go sleep some more.

Ich MUSS Deutschsprache sprechen

Today was my first day back in language school after a 5 week break. I must say that I am a little bit discouraged. When I look at learning this language with my human eyes it just seems so overwhelming. I got off to a slow start this morning and was having the hardest time even keeping up with some pretty basic stuff. I haven't been fully immersed in quite awhile. As the day went on (and many prayers were uttered) I started to understand more and was feeling pretty comfortable. We were sitting in a circle telling the class in turn what we did for Christmas, how we celebrated New Years, and what our resolutions were. I had it all prepped in my head, had a few key phrases written down that I wanted to include. And then it was my turn. I totally butchered the sentence that I had had running in "perfekt grammatik" through my head. I am not opposed to making mistakes in learning a language, that isn't the point. But when you know exactly what you want to say and you have been reciting it in your head and it comes out like it did...Lord please restore to me my sense of humor! I really need it.

Profound Pithiness..or not.

Aslan pounced. Have you ever seen a very young kitten being carried in the mother cat's mouth? It was like that. The Dwarf, hunched up in a little, miserable ball, hung from Aslan's mouth. The Lion gave him one shake and all his armour rattled like a tinker's pack and then - hey-presto- the Dwarf flew up in the air. He was as safe as if he had been in bed, though he did not feel so. As he came down the huge velvety paws caught him as gently as a mother's arms and set him (right way up, too) on the ground.
"Son of Earth, shall we be friends?" asked Aslan.
-Prince Caspian