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.