Things we have learned

I don't think I will have any pictures for this blog entry (oh, the agony of just reading words...) I know for some of our students at RIA, weaning them off of children's picture books into the world of just words is an interesting process. We start with specific age-level readers (think Clifford or some of the Magic School Bus). These have more words that the child can read and understand, still with pictures on every page but definitely a step towards the ultimate goal. The children than graduate up to chapter books. These books may have a picture on one page and text on the other. They also begin to have chapters (hence the name). Then, we go up to having pictures on every few pages until eventually the child is making the pictures completely in their own minds. That was what I really loved about reading, both as a child and even now. For Christmas, the parent group gave each staff member some really nice gifts. For me, I received a significant gift certificate to one of the bookstores in Basel that carry English books. Because English books are hideously expensive (well, they all are, but especially English books) I have refrained from purchasing many for personal consumption. A paperback book is somewhere between 15 and 20 CHF which translates to $12.00 - $17.00 - FOR A PAPERBACK! It is no wonder that the annual Anglican Church Bazaar does such a booming business selling used paperbacks for like 3 CHF each. (CHF stands for Swiss Franc - one of the only countries in western Europe to not use the Euro €). The CH is from the country designator Confoederatio Helvetica which is actually Latin for Swiss Confederation. They chose Latin because it is language neutral and therefore does not favor any of the three official languages of Switzerland - German, French and Italian.

Whoa! Tangent... I wasn't even planning to talk about books in this blog entry... What I was going to talk about were some of the unique things we have learned here over the last 18 months. Certainly, we have learned to take some risks, put our lives out into a new place to learn, serve and love. We have found great friendships, a wonderful church body and exciting opportunities to serve God while here in the Dreiländerecke. But we have also learned some less esoteric lessons like...

Europeans use a lot more deodorants than anti-perspirants. Yes, it's true. Now, I can say that in general a LOT more deodorant is used today than when I lived in Germany in the mid-1990's. It makes riding the older, non-air-conditioned trams significantly more tolerable. (Picture in your mind a full tram of people, packed together while holding the hand straps attached to the ceiling - you get the picture...) Anyway, I was intrigued that when I went to Müller (a local drug store - but you can't by drugs there...) that the men's toiletry aisle has probably 10 times more deodorants than anti-perspirants. I did some research and found that anti-perspirants, which I have been using ever since I started to stink - or at least be aware that I stank - can be a pretty nasty collection of chemistry designed to essentially plug up the pores so that you don't sweat. Now, deodorants also have alot of chemistry inside but they work in a fundamentally different way but attacking the bacteria that makes your armpit smell like... well, an armpit. Anyway, I decided to switch over to deo a few months ago and Delynn has yet to complain - I guess the real test will come in summer. This is probably way too much information but hey, you're reading this blog voluntarily.

So, when is a drug-store not a drug store? And the answer is: In Europe! So, this takes some explaining. In America, if you want to buy some asprin, or Visene, or cough syrup, you simply trundle down to the local Walgreens (or any of a hundred different drug-stores or drug-stores within a mega-store) and get your non-perscription drugs. In Europe, what we would call a drug store or chemists is a Drogerie. However, Drogerien do not carry any perscription or non-perscription drugs. You can get naturopathic remedies at a Drogerie, along with toys, DVDs, shampoo, the aforementioned deodorant, office supplies and diatetic foods but no drugs. To get drugs, you go to an Apotheke. Also, I don't know of any Apotheke that are located in larger stores like we have in the states. Most are small, family run businesses that are scattered throughout the town. All Apotheken are closed on Sundays, just like everyone else, but each Apotheke takes it in turn to have someone on call during Sunday in case of emergency. In our hometown, Weil am Rhein, the Wednesday paper publishes which Apotheke will be open on the following weekend.

On a more personal note, I have learned that I don't need so much coffee, espresso, or other forms of caffeine delivery that I was so addicted to (yes, I must admit addiction) back in the states. When I was commuting to Intel every day from Vancouver, we would normally stop by Starbucks in Jantzen Beach and I would get a triple or quad-shot espresso con panna (that's with whipped cream folks and it is Yummy with a capital Y). After I got to work, I would soon get an IM from my work-colleague to go get a cuppa. We used our stroll down to the café to discuss the upcoming day, meetings, etc. While he headed over for a Dr. Pepper, I would get in line for another double or triple shot of espresso - all before 8:00! It was insane. It seemed like I needed to 5 shots of espresso just to be human - I didn't get the shakes or headaches or anything. Cut to 18 months later, living and working in Germany. As we have said before, our lifestyle is slower. We walk, bike, tram or train most places. We carry our groceries home in a fabric bag. We read (Michael) and knit (Delynn) and play Sudoku (also Delynn) more in the evenings (CNN gets repetitious rather quickly). At church, we have become more select in our ministries and commitments even though much of our non-school related activities revolve around our church family. In general, we try to sleep more. Part of the reason that I didn't blog last Sunday was because a rather nice nap enjoyed in the sunshine took priority. Because of these changes, after a couple of cups of coffee at home as we get ready every morning is enough to get me through the entire day. Quite a stark change from the caffiene-hound of two years ago.

I know that these are rather random thoughts but they are what's on my mind this week (well, among LOTs of other things that are not blog material). I hope you have enjoyed these wanderings. May God bless you and keep you, may God make his face to shine upon you and grant you peace.

Waiting for Spring

It is surprising the number of Germans and Swiss that have given voice to their yearning for spring to come. Granted, this year has been much, much colder than normal (but no comparsion to what our family in Boston, MA is experiencing), so that probably helps form people's opinions. Having said that, it is relatively balmy this week, we have finally gotten above freezing. Today, in fact, we enjoyed an entire day above freezing - Woo Hoo! Spring is coming! (Okay, I'm being a little delusional)

As Delynn and I were walking to school Friday, I decided to take a couple of pictures of Gelbe Sack pickup day. Back when we first arrived, in August 2007, I wrote a blog entry about recycling that generated quite a bit of interest. So, what happens to all of those "gold sacks" full of recycleable stuff? Every household gets a garbage calendar in January which lists local pick-up days. Well, when Gelbe Sack day comes, everyone stacks their sacks outside to await pick-up.

After taking the picture above, we came across a second stack which looked even more German - notice the nicely laid stack with the closed ends all facing the same way. It was for me the epitome of Gelbe Sack day.
Delynn has been a bit under the weather this weekend, so I have been trying to take care of her. (I think the ice cream helped...) I went to worship alone this morning, but it was well worth the trip - Geoff talked about the beginning of Christ's ministry with the invitation to "Come and see" what the Kingdom of God is all about. I also had the priviledge of assisting in the administration of communion which is alway special. We have a very busy week planned - please keep Delynn's (and my) health in your prayers as we really don't have time to have a cold (just like everyone else...) We have several additional meetings planned in addition to our normal committments.

We long for the day, which gets closer every morning, when the temperatures will be warm enough and the sun out late enough for us to sit at an outdoor café and soak in the warmth. May the light and warmth of our Lord bless you and keep you in the week ahead. Keep praying for our leaders.

So, did we mention it was cold here?

This year has been an unusual one in the Dreiländerecke where we live. The average temperature for December and January swings between a low of -4° and a high of 2° C. This translates to between 25 to 35 degrees Fahrenheit. Last year's winter was fairly typical. I know I have mentioned before that because we are outside more - waiting for busses, waiting for trains, walking between point A and B - that we are more accutely aware of the affect of temperature on comfort. But as the Swiss say, there is no bad weather, just poorly dressed people. Then came 2009...

We have been going through a bit of a cold snap for our region. The temperature for the last several weeks has not significantly broken the freezing point and it has profound effect. This morning for example, I was getting ready to go into church - today I was leading music worship so I had to be there early. At 7:30 I checked my Yahoo! weather (we check the weather here much more frequently than we did back in Vancouver...) and it was -10° (Yikes! I need another layer.) degrees outside. That is like 14 degrees F. We have an Apotheke (pharmacy) just up the block from us which has readerboard displaying date, time and temperature that we can view from our balcony. I didn't even think about venturing out to check their temperature. So, I donned my long-johns to add another layer (4 on top, two on bottom) before going out to catch the 7:57 bus to Basel.

The pictures in this blog entry are of the Tinguely Fountain in Basel. Jean Tinguely grew up in Basel and does a lot of sculptural machines. There is an entire museum, aptly named the Tinguely Museum, devoted to his works. The Tinguely Fountain is located in front of Basel's city theater (Stadttheater) with the soaring gothic Elizabethan church in the background.

The fountain is made up of a collection of mechanical fountain pieces that spray or move water in various ways. As you can see, when we have extended periods of sub-freezing temperatures, it morphs the fountain into something new and rather alien. There was quite a crowd at the fountain today as the sun was shining brightly, adding to the beauty of crystaline water.

We have another use for our balcony - it serves as a secondary fridge during about one-third of the year. We store our drinks outside to keep them cool as our inside fridge has a fairly limited capacity. If we store them close to the windows, they normally get sufficient heat to stay in a liquid state. Unfortunately, this year, we have had to move our liters of fizzy water inside because even standing near the windows is not sufficient to keep them from becoming big icecubes of water and gas.

I hope it doesn't sound like we are complaining - for we most certainly are not. This is just an unusual year (much like it has been in Vancouver/Portland) and I wanted to comment on it. We are blessed, happy (don't we look happy?), content and thank God for every day that we live here (and I heard that it hit -20° in Frankfurt so we're glad we don't live there...).

We look forward to what God has in store for us in the coming year. It will most likely include a move and we look forward to the adventure to come. In the mean time, we live each day in the surety and peace that comes from knowing Jesus.

May God grant peaceful resolutions to the wars raging in Gaza and throughout the world.

Our Christamas Holiday

It has certainly been some time since we last updated the blog. It was a rather unique Christmas this year as Delynn returned to the states to be with family this Christmas after our family discovered that our dad Bill has cancer. It was sort of a last minute thing - we were able to find a well-priced flight and get her back in time before the Christmas snows closed everything down in Portland (that would be anything over 5 inches...). While that left Michael back in Germany, he was able to celebrate with friends and had lots of time to catch up on reading. Before we knew Delynn was travelling back, we had arranged for a trip to München which we decided to take to celebrate our Christmas together before Delynn flew out on the 23rd of December.

Christmas in the Dreiländereck definately has a different feel than in the states. Part of that may be that our understanding of the german language is, while decent, not so fluent that we get caught up in the ever increacing consumer mentality that seems so evident when we see all the advertising in the states.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so here are pictures to describe our Christmas holiday with a few words interspersed as descriptions.

This is the Weihnachtsmarkt in Basel on Barfüsserplatz. It is named "barefoot" square because the monks used to walk barefoot from the hill in the background (about where that tower is) down to the square, which is where the church is located. On this day, it is filled with last minute Christmas shoppers.

The "New" Town hall in München. München is the capital of Germany's largest state, Bayern (Bavaria). As such, München is considered Germany's second captial (after Berlin). Bavarians are fiercely proud of their state and often call themselves Bavarians instead of German. It reminds me a bit of the Texas mentality in the US...
Our hotel was just south of the Viktualienmarkt - an open air market that is open every day (except Sundays of course). Here you can by everything from Devil fish (no idea what we would call this) to Pferdefleish (um... Horsemeat). There was a quite nice outdoor soup restaurant that allowed us reasonably priced and very yummy lunches several times during our stay.
Karlstor (Carl's gate) stands at one end of the long pedestrian zone in the heart of München. The Weihnachtsmarkt was spread over several areas in München, including throughout the pedestrian zone.
Brightly lit for Christmas. Don't ask what the neon orange thing is - I think they call it art...
Here is another small Weihnachtsmarkt in a courtyard of the Residence. The Residence was the primary abode of the Wittelsbach dynasty in München for over 500 years.
It is a tradition, especially in Bayern, for stores to create elaborate window displays. Many of these are mechanized, which makes the stuffed animals move and animate. Children and adults alike clamour for a front row seat.
Creches (Krippe) are also very traditional in Germany and particularly in Bayern. This one was from the Theatinerkirche which is pictured below.

We mentioned the Residence a little earlier. Delynn and I spent one of our days exploring dozens of rooms in the former home of the Wittelsbachs. The extent of the palace was beyond description. It was overwhelming - we only got to see about 60 of the several hundred rooms that made up the palace.


The picture above is the private chapel - just in case the duke didn't want to worship with the rest of the folks.
Nice digs...
Even the Hof (garden) outside is beautiful year around.

Of course, a visit to München is not complete without a visit to the Hofbrauhaus. As we walked through, we saw a table of men dressed in Tracht (traditional garb) which made a nice picture.
We spent another day visiting the Deutschesmuseum, sort of the German equivalent of the Smithsonian, but on a much smaller scale. We had to travel to Germany to see an original Wright flyer...
Here is Delynn in front of a 1930's Junkers triplane (Just like in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom).
The Deutschesmuseum opened a seperate transportation museum in 2003. Michael went to visit this branch after Delynn was winging her way back to the states. An original Model T roadster as on display...
This picture is for dad. He has always loved the Mercedes 300, so I thought he would like to see a picture of one still in great shape.

Sunday in München was gray, cold and rainy - it was a very appropriate day to take time to visit the Dachau camp outside München. The first such camp ever created, it was originally designed to hold political prisoners and those who dissented from the regime, it became the model for all concentration camps to come.

The entrace door says "Arbeit Macht Frei" or "Work Liberates" - the camp was sold to the local population as a work camp for reforming criminals.

This is the outside wall of the cremetorium. The two metal containers let into the wall were designed for introducing the poison gas into the "showers" on the other side of the walls.

This sculptre is situated in front of the induction building where all prisoners were processed. It was an incredibly sobering experience to visit such a place. There are incredible parallels to even more contemporary events but I will not enumerate the way that it struck cords in my heart. My only conclusion is that we humans are capable of unspeakable evil which is not what God intended for our lives.

My hope and prayer for the new year is that we have the courage and boldness to counter all such hatred for other people with understanding, mercy and love.