our journey so far…

We are starting this blog because we are pursuing moving abroad to work at a school called the Black Forest Academy.  BFA is in Kandern, Germany,which from photos looks like a quaint little puzzle you might put together with your family at Christmas.

Many of you know that we have both been interested in working and living abroad since… well before we even met each other!  In fact it was something that attracted us to one another! After we got married the question became when will we go?  We thought about it, and prayed about it, and decided it would be wise to wait to pursue opportunities abroad until we had been married for a year, this gave us some time to transition into life together! And time to enjoy our friends, family and new marriage!

Well, we celebrated our 1 yr anniversary this past May! We decided to dive into exploring our options!  All sorts of questions came up! How? When Exactly? Where? Doing What?

After doing some research We decided to pursue working with the organization Teach Beyond.  Teach Beyond partners with people who want to serve at international schools around the world and helps to place them in a school that will fit their skills and personality best.  They also help through the process of applying to schools and raising support to go.  Yup. We have to raise support… don’t worry, we’re not there yet. So there was the answer to How, TeachBeyond!

You might wonder, why international schools?  Good question! Currently we both work with kids, I work as an art instructor and Jamison is a community support specialist, Jamison meets with “at risk youths” in the community and helps them develop life skills and self confidence! We both really love working with kids. I dare say, it is even something we are good at!  At an international school I could teach art, this means my skills and strengths would be being put to good use!  Jamison is great with helping kids understand who they are, and helps them work on the things they want to be better at.  At an international school he could be a guidance counselor. Long story short, working at an international school gives us both the opportunity to serve together at the same place, in different ways, using our skills!

We were very fortunate in our initial inquiry with TeachBeyond, One of their recruiters, was going to be in the area soon and we set up a coffee date with him.  At this point we didn’t have any clue about the when? aspect of things, we were given a few schools who were in need of both art teachers and counselors for the coming 2011 school year.  One of which was BFA, We were really drawn in BFA!  When we met up for coffee with TeachBeyond’s recruiter we had a great time talking about the different schools and opportunities as well as the practicalities like raising support, and when we would go.  He knew a lot about BFA because he had spent several years working there.  After talking about the practicalities we decided to aim at leaving this coming summer of 2012.  We planned to apply to TeachBeyond and BFA, begin raising our support, live intentionally this coming year with our family and friends and hopefully be set to leave for the 2012 school year!  So there was the When and potentially the where!

Teachbeyond encouraged us to contact BFA to let them know of our interest.  Amazingly enough their recruiting liaison was going to be in our area in a few weeks. (crazy? or crazy awesome?) We got to meet with her and talk more about our potential fit at BFA.  It was really a joy and a blessing to get to meet with both of these individuals, talking with them gave us such an excitement to pursue working at BFA and also gave us both a strong feeling of affirmation that we were headed in the right direction.  BFA’s recruiting liaison gave us a lot of insight into what life at the school could be like for us.  She told us about different roles we might fit into at the school and a little about the kids there too!

We began the long process of applying to both Teachbeyond and BFA.  There were pages and pages of questions and essays and we had many references to ask for!  Thanks to everyone who sent in a reference for either of us!  It has been several months of applications and then finally a 2 hour+ phone interview each!  We were recently notified that we have been accepted by Teachbeyond to serve at BFA!

We are now in direct contact with the school, BFA, to work out the logistics of what their needs are for the coming school year and where we will fit in.  We are anxious to get everything rolling and begin the more concrete plans like plane tickets! However, we know everything will come together when it is supposed to.

We greatly appreciate your support through out this process!  Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we continue pursuing this dream!  Keep checking back to hear more about our journey and get the latest updates on where we are at!

<3  J and J Loop

Spring Break… Romania!?!

This spring break we will have the joy and privilege of leading a group of BFA students to Baltesti, Romania!  We were asked to help lead this trip with another BFA staff member and we are very excited about the work we will be doing alongside our students during spring break!

We are partnering with Habitat for Humanity specifically to build homes for Gypsies in Romania.  We are still waiting to see if we will be starting a house, or finishing a current project, either way, we will all be working hard!

There are 5 BFA students coming with us to Romania, Jennifer is especially excited because 3 of them were in her ceramic’s classes this semester and another is going to be in her class next semester!  An older Dutch couple is joining our group, they have lived in Kandern before and are back after spending many years, in Africa.  They are both physicians by trade and are friends of BFA.

In addition, we are partnering with a school called “FES”  FES is a German Christian school in Lörrach, Germany.  Only 20 min drive or so away.  They will be joining us and bring about 20 students and several staff with them!  All together we are quiet a big group!

Before break we had our first meeting together as a large group, both BFA and FES.  We shared a meal together and played some get to know you games.  Jamison created a presentation about the people group we will be serving in Romania that we watched together.  We broke up into small groups to talk about the presentation and our reasons for joining the missions trip.   It was exciting to hear the passion the students of BFA and FES have for helping people in a tangible way.  Many students said that it was important to them to go and physically help build the house for the people in need, because it was more personal than simply giving to fund a project.  They want to connect with those they will be helping and give them the gift of their service.  It was also fun to eat pizza with the FES students.  I taught the students at my table a tongue twister in English, Sally sold sea shells by the sea shore… and they tried to teach me one in German, but that didn’t go as smoothly!

You might remember that I mentioned that FES is a German school, Es ist eine Deutsche Schule, so… they speak Deutsch!  Most of the students from FES also speak wonderful English, though they might tell you it is not very good, what they mean when they say their English is not so good, is not the same as what I mean when I say my German is not so good!  I mean, that there are only a few sentences I can string together in only one tense…  They tend to mean that they might not know a few words.

At any rate, we will have the chance to improve our German language skills on this trip which will be a bonus!  The funny thing is that out of our 5 BFA students, well, all of them have lived in the German speaking world all, or most of their life and are fluent or pretty near so in German… This means that Jamison, myself and the third staff leader, Jay, are the only ones who don’t speak German!  We better work on that!

We are excited about the work that we will be doing alongside the students of BFA and FES.  The trip will be funded by our various fundraisers that we will soon begin.  The FES students have already had a few hotdog sales at their school during lunch!

If you want to help our team get to Romania you can send fund to us thru Teachbeyond with our names and “Baltesti, Romania Trip” on the memo line.

Here is a photo of our whole group!  Click the photo to enlarge it, so you can see all our adorable faces!  Can you find the Loops?

Catching Up…

I started writing a grand post to catch you up on everything… the last few weeks before Christmas break,our adventures during break, All the resting we did… I thought I was being very concise but quickly realized… It was just too much to read… I think none of you would have read it all! So I have decided to summarize the time between our last post and today’s in list format.  Because I like lists… And they are great and they are useful… So here goes…

2 weeks left of school

Both of us get sick, Jen gets really sick! BOO!

Art show and Sale!  So Wonderful!  So proud of the art students and teachers! Link here!

Both finally feeling better

Good last few days of classes, bye students!

Trip to BARCELONA SPAIN!

Cathedrals, amazing! gorgeous!

walking, walking, walking all around Barcelona (pictures on jennifer joy’s FB)

Restful, relaxing, reconnecting

Back to Kandern

To FRANCE, To FRIENDS

Christmas with our friend’s French family near Strasbourg

Escargot, and lots of other really tasty food, tastier than escargot…

Food, Food, Food

Christmas, The day of hope!

Missing Family, Reminiscing on past Christmas’, Calling Family.

Thankful for friends who share their family

New Years, 2013, where did 2012 go?

Thankful for where we are

Thankful for the near year, where God has taken us, how faithful he is, and where he will take us this year!

Resting

Ready to get to work! But still break! 

Time in the ceramics lab, cleaning, organizing, curriculum planning, goodness!

One laziest Sunday ever before returning to school.

And that brings us up to this week!

Monday we had an all staff breakfast and we were reminded of the calling placed upon us and the responsibilities we have been given to guide and care for the students of BFA.  What it means for the students, their families, and missions to have BFA available is huge, we watched a video of a few parents talking about the impact BFA has had on their children and on the mission field where they serve.  It was very inspiring, we were already pumped to get back to school but taking the time to come together as a staff and be reminded of the importance of what BFA stands for and what it means for the families and missions across the globe was a great way to start the new year.

Tuesday all the students came back to school!  I (Jen) was so happy to have a full classroom again and after a short recap of break and a bit of a break down of what the last two weeks of the semester will look like in class, kids got to work glazing their remaining projects! 

Tuesday was especially exciting in ceramics for two reasons…

1.  The wheel we were blessed with through a private donation this fall finally arrived!!  My independent study student and I unpacked and set the wheel up and quickly tested it out, It was splendid!  The best part of the new wheel was when my next class came in and asked who was throwing, instead of naming 2 people I named 3!  So they all went screaming and yelling and whooping into the wheel room to marvel at the new wheel, and then fight over who got to use it!  No, not really, my students don’t fight over such silly things… haha!

2.  A plant started to grow in one of my student’s cups over break!  During the excitement of the third wheel one of my students was unwrapping his pots, he yelled from the other room, umm, can a seed grow from clay?!?  Sure enough when I came to check it out a little plant had BURST FORTH from his pot!  somehow a seed must have been in the clay and when it was stored all break in a wet bag it was the perfect little greenhouse!  we are going to transplant it into a new permanent home tomorrow.  

So far an exciting start to 2013, and a delightful and eventful beginning of the week!

It is staying lighter a little longer these days, though it seems dreadfully dark in the morning when the alarm goes off!  But I think that’s pretty much old news this side of the equator!

I hope you feel caught up in our life… I am sure you would be just as overwhelmed as I was to try to summarize your holiday season!  We would be lying, a huge lie, if we said that we didn’t miss our friends and family tremendously during the beautiful Christmas season, however, we were able to enjoy the blessings of new friends here and chose to happily reminisce on past Christmas’ instead of being mopey!

We have much more to tell you, but it will have to wait till the next post!  Check back soon for an exciting post about what we will be doing during spring break!!!  Here is a hint… we get to serve others, with students….  We will just keep you hanging for  a few days on that!

 

Much Love, and Thanks!

J and J

 

 

 

 

Transition… and “David After Dentist”

It is “hitting” some of us.  The reality that we live here in the Black Forest of Germany, away from everything we had known before.  We did this, we moved and now our lives are different.

This week I feel like many of us new staffers came to the realization that the weight of it, the transition, has sunken in and pressed down on us.  I find it both strange and reassuring that this fog of heaviness came down onto us at around the same time.   Transition is a strange thing, I am thankful there are so many people here to talk about it with when needed.

I am thankful that it is okay to admit to your friends that you may have had a bit of a breakdown… for “no” reason.  No reason, other than for a moment you felt brave enough to acknowledge the reality of your situation, complete with all of its new joys and sorrows.  And staring into the “face” so to speak of your new life you find, it is just a bit too much, too much to absorb at one time.

One of my students told me this week that I am “just always so cheerful”  he said this like it was the most bizarre thing, I was somewhat relived to be honest, that I am still my cheerful self thru this journey of transition and change.  It was refreshing to hear that the core of who I am (which is more than just cheerful) is still there, intact.  Mostly it is my mind swirling around whenever it has the chance, that causes those moments of sadness of confusion.

Please realize.  Please know.  That with the sadness of being away from home, missing the PNW, friends, family, buying gas in gallons not liters… There are just as many new joys here.

The joy I have in teaching the students here, sharing time with them and working with them in a medium that I love!  My days are full, full of cleaning, recycling clay, loading the kiln, unloading it, teaching, planning lessons, and organizing.  But the joy of teaching, teaching here, teaching these kids, is wonderful.  It is a blessing.

The joy of the Black Forest.  I grew up in Washington, I lived in Oregon the past 7 years, I LOVE the PNW.  And I miss it dearly.  But I have been given the gift of living in an country full of beauty, one that pleasantly reminds me of the PNW.

There are amazing paved paths all through the countryside here.  I run out through them each week and I am refreshed by the beauty surrounding me as I pour my energy into the run.  The hills roll as I pass by farms, vineyards, and fields waiting for the planting season.  The sun plays all around the hillsides and trees, bouncing off of beautiful old buildings as I run through towns on cobblestone sidewalks.   Sometimes as I run, the beauty of this place overwhelms me.  I say to myself over and over as I run, it is good, and you are here.

David After Dentist

So maybe you just are reading to find out what I have to say about David After Dentist.  As long ago as that video went “viral,”  it is still pretty hilarious.  If you haven’t watched it recently, please watch it… here.

I would just like to compare the emotional process of transition to the way that David is feeling in this clip.  I feel, there is really, truly, a very valid connection…  Maybe… Let’s take a closer look…

David: “I didn’t feel anything” This is how I feel often, transition?  what’s that, I don’t feel anything, it is all good…

David: “uhhh, I feel funny….” Uh, oh, wait… this isn’t what I’m used to!  I guess, things are actually different, maybe it does effect me?!

David: “Is this real life?”  I ask myself this question on a very regular basis… weekly at least. Am I really here, living. LIVING. here?

David: …”I have two fingers”  You gotta focus on what you know right… Jamison and I are here, loving, living and serving.  And that is good.

David: “I can’t see anything!”  It is both easy and tempting to create lies for yourself, like that you are alone in your transition, just like David thinks he can’t see anything, we can be blinded  and deceived into thinking that we are alone in this time.

David: “UHHHHHHHHHH AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH”  Yes, Yes, this is how it feels sometimes, followed by collapse… It really does feel good to let it all out right?

David: “I…. I feel funny”  Yes, it has come full circle, the feeling of “funny” still remains, despite recent explosion of emotions. Just can’t shake that feeling that things are not the same here! (they are not!)  

David: “Why is this happening to me?!”  David’s dad has to tell him it is okay.  Friends, and family tell us it is okay, other staff tell us it is okay. We realize, it is really, okay.

David: “Is this going to be forever?”  Is this transitional phase of strange feelings going to last forever?  Will I always be this torn over feeling intense joy at where I am now, while simultaneously feeling intense sorrow for where I am not?

No… No it won’t be forever.  I don’t doubt that I won’t continue to miss the people and places I was familiar with, but as Germany becomes my home, I will be able to focus on the people and places here that make it home for me.  And with practice I believe there can be a balance, that the joys and sorrows of what and where we have been called, can work together in harmony.  Because the sadness we experience from missing friends and family, is really a blessing that we miss being closer too.  It is not gone, but different.

Well,  Maybe it was a stretch, but watching that clip, I sympathize with David.  And, It makes me feel better about this transitional time.  When I feel upset or frustrated, I will just express myself like David… UHHHHHH AAHHHHHHHHHH!!  And it will be a little better.

I do always like to leave you with a photo, So I wanted to share this photo that I took yesterday!  The art department took some of our students on a field trip to Beyler Foundations, the art museum in Basel, Switzerland (remember Switzerland, is just 30 min away!) We had an amazing time enjoying the art of Degas which was being featured there as a traveling show.  I was also able to see a beautiful painting by Vincent VanGogh, my most cherished artist.  I just stood as close as I could to it, soaking it in.  So beautiful!

This is a montage of our trip!

Herbst in Deutschland (Fall in Germany)

The trees in the woods behind our house, and everywhere else, have changed from their summer greens into their fall time hues of earthy browns, oranges, yellows, and reds.  When the wind blows it sends a rush of leaves swirling everywhere and this week I had to sweep leaves out of my classroom!  I think it would be safe to say that Fall is very much so upon us and that the Winter season is slowly creeping closer!

Last weekend we had a funny little snowy weekend.  It dipped down to freezing and snowed all day Saturday, it didn’t stick much until the tempature dropped further in the evening.  In the morning there was enough snow to cover most of the ground, you could call it a thick dusting.  I took Gatsby up the hill into the woods behind our neighborhood and there was more snow to be seen there!  We hiked up to a little lookout where you can see the town of Kandern and it was all white and hazy with snow and chimney smoke.  It was a sneak peek into the beauty of the winter season.  The snow quickly melted Sunday evening.  The sun came back out this week and we have been able to enjoy that bright and brisk weather that Fall often brings!

But, enough about the weather.  While the season has been changing we have been changing as well.  We are continuing to adjust to our new home in Germany and learn more each day about what it means to be here, for us, for the community here, and for the students!  October has been a full month for us in so many ways!

End of a Season with BFA Tennis

The last week of October I (Jennifer) traveled with the top 3 girls and top 3 boys from our tennis team and the other coaches to Wiesbaden, Germany.  We were able to participate in the European Championships there!  It was a really wonderful way to end the season.  Though all our players ended up getting eliminated on Friday and not playing in any finals matches on Saturday, we had a great time together as a team.  We were able to spend some quality time together and celebrate how far these students have come in their first tennis season.  I am very proud of our BFA tennis team, they are a wonderful example of being a light in the darkness.   Their sportsmanship this season went above and beyond.  Even when they experienced bad sportsmanship from other teams they held their heads high and did the right thing, always.  Such a great group of kids.  Even though the season was very tiring for me I am thankful that I was able to be a part of it!  I am also thankful now, to be less busy, and to have my Saturdays back as a part of my weekend!

Jamison’s Small Group

Jamison continues to meet with his small group of freshman boys each Wednesday night.   Each week they start by talking about their highs and lows from the week and then they go thru their bible reading for the week, they decided as a group that they would like to go thru Matthew as part of their small group meetings.  They spend the remainder of their time together playing games, eating snacks and just spending some good quality time together.  Last time they got together Jamison taught them how to throw cards, so they ended their night together with an epic card throwing battle!

End of 1st Quarter!

This week was the end of 1st quarter so it was full of tests and quizzes for many of the students and lots of grading for the teachers!  My ceramics 1 classes just finished a big project, their Japanese tea bowls.  They worked hard on making a pair of tea bowls for weeks and as part of their 1st quarter grade we had a day of critiquing their tea bowls!  Of course part of the critique was that they had to use their new bowls to drink tea from!  And it wouldn’t be right to have tea without some sweet cookies and treats to go with.  I think it was a good “break” from the papers and tests they had to complete this past week.  They were all so happy with their work and each class did such a wonderful job of discussing one another’s work!  It was a fun day to take time and appreciate the work they’ve created.

Jamison’s guidance classes with the middle schoolers are still going well.  He tries to make the information interesting and sometimes he even gives them candy, which always helps get their attention!  Jamison is co-teaching an elective at the middle school this quarter, PUZZLES!  Not the regular jigsaw type, but mind puzzles, like sudoku, cryptograms, and strategy games too like battleship.  It should be a really fun class!

Herbstmesse!

This past Wednesday was Herbstmesse (Fall festival) in Basel, Switzerland.  Every year BFA takes the kids down for an evening of fun and festivities at Herbstmesse.  We rode the bus into Basel with the kids and walked all around the town.  The festival is held all over the city with mini carnivals popping up in each of the market places.  So as we walk around this old city we see old churches and buildings… and a ferris wheel.   It was a fun experience, we hadn’t been to Basel yet even though it is only 20 or so min away.  The highlight of the night was BUMPER CARS.  BFA gets a good rate on the coins you have to buy and put into the car to make it go.  So BFA buys them at the discounted rate and then sells them to staff and students for even less.  I think it is a highlight of the year for many!  I must say that I had a great time coasting around.  The most exciting part is actually GETTING a bumper car.  See you are just going to have to watch the short video to understand fully.  But imagine an entire highschool students and staff.   All standing around with bumper car coins, wanting to get a car.  As soon as the bumper cars stop it is MASS CHAOS and maybe you get a car and maybe you don’t!  The other fun/funny thing about Herbstmesse is that it is notoriously when guys ask a girl to the Christmas Banquet.  so there were tons of girls walking around with flowers all night, or making their banquet date hold their flowers while they drove the bumper cars!

German Church

We went to a German church today called G 5 in a nearby town.  They have some of their worship in english and some in German.  They also have a translator for the sermon so we could listen to the sermon in english through a headset.  Going to this church was something we have wanted to do since we moved so we were excited/scared to go!  It was fun, though very different to have to listen to a sermon through a headset!  I really enjoyed the worship, isn’t it awesome that all over the world people sing praises to the same God in their own language.  I just felt really excited about that.  I was able to pick out some words and get the gist of what some of the German songs were saying which was exciting.  I tried to listen to the pastor without the head set for a while though and that didn’t work so well for me.  So a funny way of feeling both encouraged that I am learning some of the language, and it’s sticking, AND also feeling like I don’t know anything!  Just have to keep at it!

As I finish up this post Jamison and I are looking forward to our Sunday evening plans.  Every Sunday evening Jamison plays soccer in the BFA gym with pretty much anyone who wants to play.  They play a pretty intense indoor game for an hour and a half. 7-8:30!  I either walk over to my friends house who lives nearby (her husband often plays too)  OR sometimes like tonight I have things to do in the ceramics lab, like, load up the kiln!

There are so many other little things that I know you don’t get to see and hear about, but I hope that you are able to get a bit of the picture of what we are doing here at BFA.  I tend to be optimistic when I am writing our blog so I don’t often include many feelings of homesickness or loneliness but those feelings are there.  Keep us in your prayers as we are blessed with new friendships here but as we continue to miss the close contact with our friends “back home.”  Also continue to pray that we are financially able to stay here as long as the Lord has us here for, we try to trust and not worry about finances!  We must pray and be honest with God, he knows everyone’s needs.  Pray for our relationships with the students!  There are kids we are getting closer to,  it is exciting to mentor and guide a student through the love of Christ.  Pray for wisdom and guidance when students turn to us for advice.

We love and miss you all!  We are thankful for you each day! 

If you want to watch a clip of BFA Herbstmesse bumper cars you can find it on my facebook videos!

Also feel free to click on each of these photo collages to see them LARGER!

tennis team at championships

tennis team at championships

as the weeks fly by…

Did you know that tomorrow is OCTOBER?  Yep.  It is. Wow.

I was uploading photos from my camera and realized that I have no idea how to start this blog and what to prioritize or tell you about because there are more things that have gone on between the last post and this one than I originally thought! Oh well,  here we go!

Jamison and I have been enjoying our jobs more and more, I think the reason why how much we love what we are doing is growing is because as the weeks go by we are getting to know the kids here more and more!  Relationships are being built and familiarity is growing!

Jamison is leading a small group of six freshmen boys!  They meet every wednesday at our apartment and are getting to know eachother and developing friendships!  They are loud and crazy and last week they played spoons so, well, you can imagine what a wednesday night in our living room is looking like!   They are great and Jamison thinks they will be a fun group, they are all excited about the year together!

I am co-coaching the girls and boys tennis team with another teacher.  We have 6 boys and 9 girls playing on the team.  We had our first match of the season LAST saturday (it was our only home match)  It was mostly all the kid’s first match ever and they did a great job!  We even had a few kids win their games!  It was so neat to see the dorm staff and kids come out to support their “dorm brothers or dorm sisters” who were playing.  This weekend we had an away match, far away, like overnight far away!  We left at 2:30pm from BFA and didn’t get to Vilseck until I think it was sometime after 1am.  Woke up at 7am, started matches at 9am played till 7pm (We were playing two other teams not just one.)  Then headed back home to Kandern!  It was just about 3am this morning when I finally got home and into bed!  We had a fun time together, our kids here at BFA are really just the best, they are the most mature and the most hilarious high schoolers I have ever met.  During our bus ride home their was the singing of songs,in several languages, and many kids were talking with each other about where they’d lived and what their parents did, what a richly diverse and exceptionally wonderful group of kids.  I could talk about this weekend all day!

This week Jamison and I had a big blessing and answer to prayer happen in our lives!  We were able to purchase a car!!  We hadn’t planned on purchasing a car here, we were just going to ride bikes or walk!  However, when we got to BFA we found out Jamison would be part time at the middle school would spend the morning at the high school then need head over to the middle school in the afternoon.  Riding his bike that much was wearing on him!  Now we have a little car to get him to the  middle school each day!  It was one of those things where everything fell into place in just the way that there is nothing else to say except thank you Lord for the gift that only you could have orchestrated!  Our car is a little old silver car, it says “Beauty” on it so of course I named it “THE BEAST”  and yes, that is an “I <3 Oregon” sticker on the back.  I knew I would be glad I brought that!

Last weekend we went to Staufen, a nearby town, with some friends to check out a festival where everyone dresses up like they live in the days of old and there are plays during the day about the different time periods!  We didn’t see any plays but we saw the opening ceremony, ate some tasty food and hiked up a hill to an old castle ruin in the dark!  It was a good end to the week!

TÖPFER MARKT!

I can’t believe I almost forgot to talk about the Töpfer Markt that was in Kandern last weekend!  Töpfer means pottery in German.  Every year they have a pottery market where artists come from all over in the area and sell their work!  It was wonderful, simply wonderful! Jamison and I went Sunday morning and then I went in the afternoon with some of my ceramic students, they were in heaven (so was I!)  It was so great to see them finding inspiration in others work and getting excited about ceramics!  I think I say it every day, but it is true, I love my ceramics classes!  As we walked through together students asked me questions about how things were made or glazed and if they could create something similar in class with our clay or glazes.  Very cool to see them thinking through the creative process.

Like I said there has been so much more going on to talk about, but those are the big things, the highlights you might say!  Thank you for keeping us in your thoughts and prayers as we continue this journey of a new life in Kandern!

Photos, as per usual for you!

One Month. One Week, Plus One Day.

That is a deceiving headline, it might lead you to believe that we have been here in Germany for a month, a week and a day… but that is NOT what it means.  It means we have been in Germany for one month.  Completed one week, plus one day of school.  So… now that we’ve cleared that all up!!

One month in Germany, Deutschland!

We continue to learn new things about the culture and about ourselves!  It has been a challenge to get by knowing so little of the language!  I (Jennifer) am going to start a German class for adults at BFA next week and I am hoping that I can put in some good energy and time into learning more then how to say “Sorry I don’t speak German”  I think a good way to describe to you how life in general feels is through a story about Jamison and I going into town yesterday to go to Budenfest.

Budenfest is a festival in Kandern that they have every fall where all the clubs (like wrestling club, football/soccer club, accordion club, etc)  All come out and have booths where they sell food and drink, and more drink, to raise money for their clubs.  They take over the plaza downtown for the weekend and play loud music and it is a fun crazy festival time.   We decided to go, we wanted to get ourselves some wurst und pommes (fries!)  We were really excited about going and experiencing this tradition and of course about our dinner!  We walked the 30 min trail walk from our home in Riedlingen to Kandern and into the Budenfest, cheery and chatty, feeling good, feeling German!  We walked thru Budenfest and our eyes get big, and our brains SHRINK, I tell you they really do shrink.  We both simultaneously remember that we don’t even know where to start, we don’t know what any of the signs say (okay we know some) and we don’t know what to order,  We just stand there.  I get upset that we are just standing there.  I get upset that we are so OBVIOUSLY not German, we so obviously do not know what to do and how to act in this market place, at Budenfest.  All the anxiousness wells up inside when you realize you don’t know how to function on a normal daily basis in this different place with different ways of ordering food, and eating, and sitting down to eat, and paying for your food and giving back glass bottles for a return!  So Jamison suggests we go sit at the park and “sort things out”  Okay, let me clarify, we are sorting out how to choose how to buy our dinner and how/where to eat it.  When was the last time you had to think really hard about that?  So we sat down on the bench, watching all the locals happily walk to and from Budenfest with their wursts and pretzel necklaces and we took deep breathes, discussed how to support each other right now and made a game plan of sorts.  What did we see that we wanted to buy, which of us would initiate approaching the vendor, who would say the order, where should we go to sit and eat our food.  Yes.  I even teared up  a bit from this overwhelming task.  So we took a deep breath and we walked back to Budenfest.  We went to the booth selling pommes and we both ordered “eine pommes, und eine coca cola. und eine fanta, danke” Good!  Wonderful! Next we went to get our wursts, Jamison ordered “zwei rot wurst, danke”  And there you have it, we had our wurst und pommes, we had our coca cola and our fanta and life was good once again.  We sat on some steps and ate our dinner.  We felt pretty good after our successful dinner and even ordered a Strubli on our way home, which was like an elephant ear kind of… ish.  We walked home, feeling tired, but feeling good.

So life here is good. It is different and comes with unique daily challenges but we are trying to remember to take things slow and take them one step at a time, to check in with each other about what we need!

One week plus one day.

I love my classes!  I have two ceramic 1 classes, one ceramics 2 class and an independent study with one student.  I won’t say too much about all this because I plan on taking some photos of my classroom and focusing a post on the teaching aspect of things soon.  Jamison is doing a lot of different things in the guidance office, he is working at the High school in the morning doing all sorts of things, and then biking to the middle school in the afternoon and is going to be teaching a class for the middle schoolers, basically a life skills class, one for the 7th graders and one for the 8th graders.  The students here at BFA are wonderful, in some ways they are just your typical high schooler, in other ways they are not.  I think it just boils down too that they have a rich life, really rich, unique backgrounds and good questions.  They are the most genuine group of high schoolers I’ve met.  At the same time, they are regular kids.

I am helping coach the tennis team!  After school we practice till 5:30 and then I come home.  There are a lot of kids on the tennis team in my ceramics classes so that has been a good way to start getting to know some of them better.  Jamison is hoping to lead a boys small group, he hasn’t had a lot of time with the high school kids because he is in the office while he is at the high school so it will be a good way for him to get to know some of the students!

Welp.  That is about it for now!  Once again, I leave you with a photo montage.  This one features some photos of us enjoying our Budenfest meal as well as photos of the walk from our house in Riedlingen to Kandern.  We miss you all, Thanks for your love and support! (You can click on the photo collage to make it bigger!)

New Songs

This week has been full of a lot of training and meetings, we thought it would be a good week to share with you some of the things that are different and new to us here in Germany.  There are many things we are either learning, or re-learning how to do.  Some of them are harder then others and some of them are just a bit funny.

When we were at orientation in June a leader who has lived in Kandern for quite some time explained this whole learning and re-learning in a wonderful way.  The changes are really neither good, or bad, but instead she described the differences as learning a new song.  When we go to the grocery store in the States it is easy and familiar, because we know the song of going to the grocery store. Think of the ease at which you hum or sing a familiar song, it is seamless, comforting and known.  When we go to the grocery store in Kandern it is a new song and as we all know it takes a while to learn a new song! Even months later after confidently singing you might find you had a few words wrong!  So we have been learning a lot of “new songs.”

One “song” is the song of greetings and manners.  Yes, we are re-learning our manners here!  How do we say hello, greet someone on the street and say goodbye!  When do we say hello?  On the streets we say “Hallo” “guten Tag” “guten Morgen” “guten Aben” (depending on the time of day!) When we leave anyplace we say “tschüss!” (pronounced kind of like chews!) I love tschüss, it is my favorite word because you ALWAYS say it when you are leaving somewhere, even if you are eating at a little cafe and you don’t know anyone else there, when you leave you say tschüss and anyone within earshot will say tschüss back!!  And please don’t imagine this in some hard spatzy German that you have heard in the movies, it is the most sing song voice that you must use!

Singing at the Grocery store.

-Carts, you put in a one euro coin to use the cart while you shop, don’t worry you get it back when you return the cart! You also bring your own bag, if you don’t you have to buy one!

-You go to the grocery store often!! We go Mon, Wed and Friday.  The reason is, your fridge is small and your freezer smaller!  Most things are much fresher here than in the States and if you bought everything for the week on Monday it would not be so great come Saturday!

-Things look DIFFERENT at the grocery store, and also are in German, of course.  Mayonnaise comes in a tube. There are all kinds of cheese, but not cheddar!  Many things, cheeses, meats, chips, are flavored with PAPRIKA.  A German favorite! Eggs are not refrigerated when you buy them, you can put them in the fridge if you like and they will last longer.  You can buy milch (milk!) in either the refrigerated section or you can buy H-milch which you don’t have to refrigerate until opening.

-If you want to make the cashiers day you will give them EXACT change.  Which is easier said then done when you are getting used to the coinage!  (another thing we are relearning! What money looks like!) When they tell you the cost they will say the Euro amount first.  Then they will say the cent amount but, for example if the cost is ,55 they say five and fifty.  not fifty five.  So when your purchases add up to 8,55 You will hear, “acht, fünfundfünfzig” that is 8,55.  Oh whats that, I accidentally used a coma instead of a decimal?  nope.  In europe it is swapped.  Decimals are used in the way we use comas and visa versa!  EEK! And yes, they like to squish words together as you can see by fünfundfünfzig. which if you sepeprate is really fünf und fünfzig (5 and 50) If all goes well and you give the exact amount you might be told “vielen Dank” which means you made their day!

- A last note about shopping in general is when stores are open.  Stores are open from Mon-Sat.  (Sundays, some restaurants are still open but they close other days!)  Between 12 and 2 stores close for Mittagessen which is midday meal a.k.a. lunch.  This is the Germans main meal and most stores and schools (not BFA) close for 2 hours and everyone goes home to eat this meal.  On Wednesdays most stores do not open back up again in the afternoon.  So no shopping on Wed afternoon (grocery stores stay open) On Saturday IF a store is open it usually closes by 1 or 2 as well.  And nothing is open Sunday!  A bit more planning is required for shopping. Also don’t be surprised if the storeowner has decided to take a holiday and you are greeted by a handwritten closed sign on any given day!

Recycling!!  Okay we love recycling, and Germany has got this song down!  It is a new song to us, but one of our favorite hits!  Once we get all the words right it is going to be great!

-When you order a trashcan you pay the “yearly fee” plus the cost of one pickup per month. You can set out your can every week on garbage day if you need to, but each time you do they will scan your trashcan barcode and charge you per pickup.   This is pretty great incentive to recycle as much as you can especially because…

-recycling is free.

-recycling your plastic bottles.  They have a bottle return similar to Oregon’s where you are charged a deposit that you can get back by bringing the bottle to the store and recycling it.

-DAS GELBA SACK!  means… The Yellow Sack.  In the Gelba you can put any packaging, plastic, aluminum, you name it.  Yogurt bins, meat packaging.  You don’t have to rinse things out but since pickup is once a month it isn’t a bad idea to give things a little rinse.  You can get Gelba Sacks at the city hall for free and you fill up as many as you need.  Once a month you set them all outside on the curb and they get taken away.

-Paper, you can save up your paper and contact a local company for a free bin to put all the paper in and they pickup once a month as well.

-Cardboard and anything else you could ever hope to recycle.  Take it to the local recyclehof where you can literally recycle anything from lightbulbs to furniture to appliances.  Yes.  Still free.

Awesome huh?

here are just a few more things…

-Windows, they have no screens and open either ALL THE WAY or TILTED, this is a neat feature.

-Pillows, they are huge big squares.  I am talking about bed pillows.  Huge. Poofy Bed Pillows.

-Water, you can buy for very cheap (,19 cents) but we planned on drinking from the tap, until we tasted it, metallic!  We bought a couple waters and are now filling them with tap, letting them sit out a few hours (the metallic stuff evaporates) and refrigerating them.

-Restaurants: You sit wherever there is space, yes sometimes that means next to strangers!  You can’t order “free tap water” like in the States and there are no free refills.  You eat with your fork AND knife.  You hold your knife in your dominate hand and fork in your other.  Don’t use your fork to cut your meat or forget to use your knife while eating your salad!

That is just a glimpse into the work our brains are doing each day to learn the new songs of life in Germany!!  Here are photos to show what we mean.

A Week in the Black Forest

We have been in our new home for a week now, we figured it was time to post an update!

Interesting note, Kandern is on the 47th parallel, Portland, Or is on the 45th! 

Flight: Flying to Frankfurt and customs with Gatsby went very smoothly!  Customs for Gatsby was so easy that Jamison actually went back to the customs desk to ask where to take Gatsby next. The worker was confused and told him he should go wherever he needs to go next!  After a bit more clarification we realized that we were actually totally free to leave the airport!  We spent the evening/night in Frankfurt we walked up and down the waterfront by our hotel and slept very well that night!

Train: We traveled from Frankfurt to Schlingen (about 3 hr train ride), where our host picked us up and drove us to our new home!  We live in Riedlingen which is a little less than a mile from Kandern, about a 35 min walk to BFA. (We had an exciting train trip, if you want to read about it the story is at the end of this post.)

Apartment: Our new home is much nicer then we imagined!  We were very prepared to be living in a smaller space!  Our living room is spacious, the kitchen is a separate little room, and our bedroom is good sized as well!  It was a pleasant surprise.  We have been enjoying all the light the windows let in and the way the windows work, they can tilt open or swing open fully.

This past week: Was meant for us to get over jet lag (yay!) and to learn some German language and culture!  We spent the mornings in a crash course of sorts learning the German alphabet and many important phrases.  It is fun to learn the expressions and phrases of the Germans!  We learned some of the do’s and don’ts of German culture and how to be polite in a different cultural context!  We were able to grow our relationships with the new staff, many of which we had already met at orientation in Minneapolis.  It was an exciting week!  Seeing all the people we met at orientation who are now also here with us, it is amazing the work that God has done to get everyone here and we know that the work we all have here is important kingdom work!

Next Week: We are gearing up for a week  Full of training and working!  Actually, 2 weeks of it!  We are excited to start meeting the returning staff as they start getting into town.  We are also excited to start planning our classes/schedules and preparing for the student to get here! YAY!

Adjusting:  We really love it here so far! Please pray that we continue to adjust to a new place and to living in a town where the language is not our own!  Pray that we continue to build friendships and establish a support group here!  We are thankful for everyone we have met so far, we feel very supported as new staff here, there are many people who continue to offer their time and energy to help us get settled here!  Pray that we are able to use the skills we have been given to the fullest in the work we do at the school this year.

Photos, Enjoy!

Train ride, extended version:  We took the train from Frankfurt to Schlingen (the closest stop to our town) This is where our trip got “exciting” We rode the ICE (inner city express) until Freiburg, switched to a slower regional train and knew to get off at Schlingen which is after Mulheim.  We thought it was the first stop after Mulheim so we hopped off and just as we were reading the platform sign that said… not Schlingen! The train was already moving!  We had to wait an hr for the next train, knowing our host was waiting for us, and probably getting a bit worried! After an hour the next train came and we rode it one more stop over to Schlingen.  Train stopped, we pushed the button on the door to open it… didn’t open… uh oh!  Train is moving again!! Got off at the stop PAST Schlingen, wait half an hour for the next train going the other way, and THIS time when the train stopped our door worked and we were at the right stop!  It was about 2 hrs after we were supposed to be there so our host was no longer there! (He was trying to figure out where we were!!) Jamison walked into town to try to call him but didnt get an answer.  Just as he got back and we were ready to hunker down and wait until someone came to check for us there again our host walks up to us on the platform!  We were so relieved!  We figured that the rest of the trip had been too easy and perhaps we just needed a lesson in patience and flexibility to start us off here in Germany!  It was funny though to travel half way around the world an get stuck only 3 or 4 miles from our new home!

Joys.

Jennifer here for J and J!

Wanted to take a moment to highlight some of the joys that we have been blessed with amid what may seem like a bit of chaos between saying goodbyes, planning/packing, fundraising etc!

Country Living, We are in Rogue River this week, Gatsby is a happy country dog here, so even though he is slightly unaware (though suspicious) that something big is about to happen, he is enjoying himself immensely.

Family, We came here to visit Jamison’s family, we came from a week at my families! Though it would be easy to think about the TWO years that will soon separate us, we are trying to focus on this time we have now. And it is fun!

Family PLUS! We have been enjoying spending time with Jamison’s Aunt and Uncle and their kids! They are missionaries in Mexico and are currently on their furlough year. We are very blessed that their time in the states overlaps ours!

Friends, oh the friends we have are the best. I know you have a few truly wonderful friends, let me tell you, they are such a gift! They have been our encouragement in these past months and we have been soaking them up as much as we can.

Here are a few pics of other joys for you to enjoy…

 

For those of you curious as to our support level. We are at 74% of our monthly costs goal. We need to be at 90% to purchase our tickets to Germany! If 16 more people pledged $35 pr month we could get our tickets. If 26 more gave at that amount we would be ready to go!