Indiana is just like Iraq

I don't know how widespread this video is over there, but it really made me laugh. Rep. Pence really set himself up for this one. I've sent it to my international friends to show them my state. :)

Nothing like a summer market in Indiana!:http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/ver/223/popup/index.php?cl=3796315

Thanks, Jeff, for sending me this!

Kristy

Hamburg Friends

Some of you who have been able to visit us have met the great people we've gotten to know here in Hamburg. It occurred to me that I haven't shared these amazing people with the rest of you.

Back Row: Left to Right: BJ Lee (US), Judith Eichstaedt (Ger), Cuba Eichstaedt (born in Spain but now lives in Germany), me (in case you forget what I look like), Eva-Maria Siegals (Ger), Steffen Eichstaedt (Ger), Priscilla MacDonald (Australia), and Chelsea Winter (Canada),

Front Row: Luther Lee (Ger)

This group of people is one of my two Bible Study groups. The group started to do a study called, "Starting Point" which is an overview of the Bible designed for people who are not Christians or recently became Christians. Often people who have been a Christian for a while also join it.

BJ Lee and I co-lead the group. He is a Texan who married a German he met in an airport. It was a Romance novel love story. Now he and his wife Sylvia live here with their daughter Phillipa. He teaches English to make money while he works on a Masters Degree in theology.

Judith Eichstaedt is probably the person that I spend the most time with here outside of Ken. And I love it! She is a fitness trainer so her afternoons are free like mine. She is training to be a Pilates instructor. One day earlier this summer, she asked if she could practice on me. I was elated. The kind of personalized, me-specific training that she has given me would cost probably over $60 an hour in the US. She's been training me at her house twice a week. We also then tack on fun things like dog walks in the park and trips to the pool with our work-out.

That leads to Cuba. He is 4-5 months old. Judith and Steffen got him at 8 weeks old when their other dog died. He has been a wonderful comfort to me when I miss Aggie. Judith sheepishly asked if I could take care of him sometime since, next to her and Steffen, "You are the person he knows best." That was music to the dog lover's ears. Ken and I got to watch him Saturday. He was so good. I also now know obedience commands in German. My next dog will be bilingual.

Eva-Maria is a woman who is passionate for Jesus. I love spending time with her for that reason. She also has a cool job. She is in the hotel industry and currently is working in management for a hotel that is staffed by people with disabilities.

Steffen is Judith's husband. He co-owns a business that sells fitness, rehabilitation equipment for hospitals and therapy practices.

Priscilla and Chelsea are two of my four dancer friends. (Ken'll have to take a picture of the other Bible Study that we're in to show you the other two.) Priscilla is starting her last year of ballet school next week and will be looking for professional jobs this year. Chelsea is a member of the world-renowned Hamburg Ballet.

I don't know too much about Luther, so I'll just have to pass on that one.

Being sick in Hamburg

Ken finally convinced me after 3 straight sleepless night that I needed to go to the doctor. I've been playing with a bug since last Tuesday and have been coughing my lungs out since Friday. It was so bad that it would take me 1.5-2 hours to fall asleep because the coughing would worsen when I would lie down. Then it would wake me up every 1-2 hours. It was a huge celebration when I stayed sleeping 5 hours.

So I called my friend Judith. She made an appointment for me with her doctor. I have to admit that I was scared. She assured me that to become a doctor, people have to learn English. She was right.

So I have sinusitis and now am on an antibiotic and a cough suppressant to take at night so that I can sleep. YEAH!

There are two observations that I've made in my German medical experience.
1.) They took a blood sample. Dr. Yerks never took my blood for sinusitis. The tech that took it didn't wear gloves. She didn't touch my "wound", so I'm not worried about myself, but she did handle the blood vials. I thought that was really strange and unsafe. Maybe the US is more worried than the rest of the world.
2.) German medication is administered differently. Ken and I have had a few colds here and have about 5 different medications. Two of them were drops that you shake onto your tongue. Two were tablets that you dissolve in water and then drink. Then my antibiotic was a normal pill. The dissolving tablets and the drops are disgusting. Why can't then just give me pills? I suppose it is faster-acting, but I'm willing to wait!

I spoke German!

Periodically, people will ask me how my German classes are doing. How do I answer that? Yes, I've completed level A1 and am the 8th of 10 lessons in A2. That probably won't mean a thing to anyone.

Here's where it really counts. This morning I went running with three German gals and was talking to them in German! We went about 3.4 miles and probably 2.75 was in German. This was a big moment for me. Not only do I have German friends, but I was sorta talking in their language.

In my first months here, I worried about going to an English-speaking church that I wouldn't get to know any Germans. God certainly wasn't going to let that happen. I'm in 2 Bible Studies and both have Germans in them. They all give me tests on my speaking. It is hard to talk about God stuff, Pilates, or emotions and feelings, but we at least can do the small talk stuff in German.

Baby steps...

Prague, Czech Republic

On Thursday, our friends Kristi and Cary Smith crossed the ocean to come see us on their way to Scotland. They arrived at the airport at 7:30 and then we loaded them on a 6 (which actually took over 7 due to technical problems) hour train ride to Prague. I have to admit that I had very low expectations for the city. My thoughts were 1.) that it was part of the Eastern Block and had to look sterile and 2.) everyone said that its architecture was beautiful but I am not at all interested in buildings. Boy was I wrong!

Thursday night we checked into our hotel and then ate dinner at the U císařů, an authentic Czech restaurant located near the Prague castle. This restaurant has hosted numerous state dinners for both the Czech Republic and Czechoslovakia including the 1st President Bush. The food there was very good. You'll notice that both Ken and Kristi had the goulash. Cary and I were jealous, so we ordered it a few days later.

After dinner, we had a chance to see the Prague castle and the Charles Bridge at night. It was the perfect night for a walk. The weather was so much better than Hamburg! Kristi and Cary were such troopers as they had slept none and a few hours respectively. They fought through the jet lag really well.

Our best choice was to take a guided tour of the city. We went with the 4-hour walking tour given by Prague Tours. My biggest regret from the Bredemeier trip was not taking a guided tour of Rome or at least the Colosseum. (Oh, well, we all threw a coin in the Trevi Fountain so we can do that when we go back!) The tour guide did a wonderful job of making the history come alive and also bringing in modern gossip such as the fact that that Tom Cruise stayed at one of the hotels while filming Mission Impossible and a group of girls stole all the toilet seats after he left. (Not sure it was true, but it was sure entertaining!)

We would have never see everything that we did without that tour. The maps of the city were confusing and we just didn't know that it had so many gems. The key points were the architecture, the Jewish quarter, the Astronomical clock, and the Prague Castle. The buildings were indeed gorgeous. You can look at one and see gargoyles and the next is topped with a crown-like roof. The colors and the cobblestone streets added to the charm, though we learned on our tour that the stones were only added after the 1989 fall of communism. The question of the trip became, "Is this fake old or real old?"

The Jewish quarter was intriguing because it is one of the few Jewish ghettos in Nazi-occupied lands that did not get destroyed. Hitler planned to save this one as a memorial to an extinct race. The Old Jewish Cemetery there is very famous. They buried around 12,000 bodies there in a very small plot of land. Because of this, the tombstones are piles on top of each other. There were also some very old synagogues. What interested me about them was how plain they are. We've been in so many churches this year. They all seemed to be trying to one-up each other. These were very plain.

The Astronomical clock is the joke on Kristy part of the trip. Our tour guide shared with us that the on on the hour, the clock rings and the 12 apostles come out of it. I really wanted to see this so on Saturday, the gang headed over there. The first problem was that our map was horrible. We wandered the streets and found it 5 minutes before the hour. It was a good thing that the guide's advice about getting there a half hour before to be able to see was not needed. It was SUCH a disappointment. Yes, you saw the apostles, but they didn't come out. A door opened and puppet-like figures rolled inside the doors. Don't bother if you are only in Prague a short time.

The Prague castle was interesting, but not nearly as fairy tale-ish as it looks. It turns out that the castle-like structure on the hill is the church. The castle consists of the square, blocky buildings surrounding it.

Dinner Friday night was at a Medieval restaurant, U Sedmi Svabu Medieval Tavern. It wasn't as good as expected. The entertainment was sparse and the food was not worth the price. However, we got to drink as many waters as we wanted and got free entertainment from the drunken British group (whether we wanted that or not). The best part of the evening was when Cary was selected as the Gypsy's dance partner and had to teach all the rest of us the group dance. The fire juggler/breather was pretty cool as well.

Saturday gave us a chance to go back and look in detail at the things we walked by on our tour. We also got to take a vernicular up on of the city's hills. It is a big park with a fake Eiffel Tower. The guys hiked up the tower and the girls walked through the park and dreamed of being in a fairy tale. If we were in one, it would certainly have Prague for the setting!