i leave for my seminary class today (counseling). i hope its interesting, but even if its not the fellowship aspect of it will still be great (a lot of my international friends will be there). i dont think i'll have internet access for the week i'm gone (unless i want to pay two euro for fifteen minutes...not really worth it), so there probably wont be many updates, but we'll see.

i bought a pair of toms shoes today. i'm pretty stoked about them.
most of yesterday and today i've had to spend studying which is anti-fun, but its almost over. i leave for my counseling class on friday and i'm feeling a bit overwhelmed, i still have so much reading i need to do and only a day to do it. o'well i guess, what can i do.

oh, and this made me laugh...

so abbey got here to bitburg on thrusday and spent the night. friday morning i took the half hour that it takes to show her bitburg and then we drove to brussles. brussles was really great. i was able to spend time with my friend liesl and she showed us around brussles and we got to try the stereotypical belgium food (like a belgium waffle). it was so good just talking to liesl and being with someone that shares my same attitude toward so many things, it was such a refreshing and encouraging time. the next morning abby and i headed for holland. we went to leiden and went to the market which was cool and we ate stropwaffles and had tea. that night we were able go to the beach and it was so good to be near water, i was suprised by how much i missed that. the next day we went to this place that was a minature version of the whole country it was cool and after another long meal with her family we headed back. (overall holland was ok, it was a cool country but i think i would have had more fun with y'all.) on the way back to germany abbys gas light came on (as we crossed the holland border into belgium), there were no open gas stations in belguim so we just pressed on (abbey was freaking out and i wasnt that stressed about it), when we got accross the german border we were pulled over by the polezi. they checked to see if we were bringing any illegal drugs back from holland (dont worry we werent). after they had throughly checked our car we asked them if they knew of any open gas stations. they told us the nearest one that might be open was in prum (about 20k away). we made it to prum (about 45mins of driving with the gas light on) but the gas station was closed. shannon ended up having to come get us, it was an adventure but it was fun (i think abbey would have strongly disagreed with that statement). so that was my trip, brussles was incredible, holland was ok.

this was in brussles, liesl told me that rubbing this is supposed to bring me a good lover.


liesl and i sitting in the the centerplots.


abbey and me in the minature holland

trier was a lot of fun. it was fun getting to know some of the girls a little better. and touring around and letting them pick out european outfits for me. it was a good day.
tomorrow i leave for belgium to visit a friend and then we're off to holland, should be a good weekend.

i just wanted to update really quick and say im ok.
ya, its hard and i miss people but God has been so faithful. the only reason i included that last paragraph (in my last blog) was because people keep telling me that it looks like i'm having so much fun on my "vacation". and ya, i'm totally getting to do cool things but all of those other emotions are still a part of it.
but really, God is so faithful.
today i'm going to downtown Bitburg with one of the club girls (beause i'm finally able to drive!), and then i'm going to the other base to hang out with jen. and tomorrow Shannon and i are taking a group of girls to Trier (its famous for something but i cant remember what, some battle i think) to go shopping and such.
then my friend abby (shes on staff in another part of Germany) and i are thinking about going to Holland for the weekend.
so lots of cool things. i just wish everyone was here to do them with me.

oh and here are the two videos from our finger dart ceremony (a song for the fallen finger darts and then a fly by) after middle school club last week.

i dont know if i should just report the good things or if i should be honest, so i'll do both.
the good news...
as i may have said before i found a church home. its the 5pm sunday night service called fresh faith community, its a younger croud so i like that a lot. we also have fellowship meal after so its fun to hang out and eat with everyone. the chaplins are great and the music is really similar to vbc so i'm enjoying that a lot.
i've also been going to the navigators, we're going through the nooma videos which i think is a really cool study.
on friday i went to jen and her family to luxemburg (its a small country near germany) to see transformers. its not a movie i would typically like but i thought it was awesome. so that was good. i actually hung out with that crew every day this weekend which was a lot of fun.
i got molly (thats the name i decided on, i included that just for you spiz) insured today (my 1985 mercedes), and its about $100 cheaper a month than it was for me at home so that is nice.
i'm also feeling a lot more comfortable with people here and in the community here which has been good.

some neutral news...
i went swimming last thurs with one of the club kids and apparently pooping in the pool is not as big of a deal here in germany as it is in california. some kid pooped in the pool and they didnt shut it down or clean it or anything. it was so gross to see it break into parts and just kind of float around. fortunately there are like seven pools in the indoor pool place we went to so rosanna and i just went to a different one.

now for some honesty...
i miss home. a lot. this is really hard. i miss my friends (i miss having friends) i miss good conversations. i miss knowing my way around and being able to do things for myself. i also miss my bed. and i miss having a space that is my own where i'm not living out of boxes. i miss turning on the radio and having it be current music, not music that was current three months ago. i miss being able to buy things in a store instead of off the internet. i miss the good kind of fruit snacks. i miss having a group of kids that i hang out with regularly. i miss hugs from certain people. but mostly i just miss my friends. i'm totally crying as i write this.
its funny in church we were singing this song about asking God to use us and i wanted to get up and warn people to be careful when they tell God that.

so the rest of my birthday was better than drivers school. shannon surprised me by making me the funfetti cake that lynne bowen gave me. then finger dart capture the flag was super fun/dangerous (which is one of the most fun kinds of fun). i got shot in the eye with a finger dart and was almost certain i would have a black eye, but as of today my face is still appropriately colored. yesterday i took the drivers test and failed, i was pretty frusterated because i felt like the wording was unfair (like here headlights mean highbeams). after that i took the shuttle to the other base (there are two bases that are the same base, its complicated) and hung out with jen, we played guitar hero and then went to navigators. i'm starting to feel more comfortable with people here so thats good. i still havent really made any good friends but jen and i are getting there. today i took the drivers test again and only missed one, the lady was impressed so i wanted to brag about it a little to y'all. i think thats pretty much it for now, i tried to put some videos of finger dart capture the flag up on you tube but it didnt work. if i get it fixed i'll get them posted.

i had drivers school this morning. it was quite boring, very similar to those permit classes you take when you are 15. but i'm now eligable to get a license so thats good i guess. there is a huge dui problem here on base (they average about four a month and that doesnt even incluce aris...alcohol related incidents) so the majority of the class was telling us not to drive after drinking, etc. not too exciting.
on another note i'm 22 today. i'm not particularly happy to be 22, i really liked 21, and 22 sounds old, but at least 23 sounds young again, so next year i can be young again. having my birthday here just really makes me miss home, i wish i could be celebrating with friends and family. but this is where God has me for now and i guess it could be worse. shannon made me chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast this morning and tonight for club we are playing capture the flag with finger darts so that will be fun. i think thats about it for now.

so i ended up going to france with the navigators, we went to strasbourg which isnt too far over the french border. we spent most of the day checking out really old churches and other old things (they were pretty rockin). there was this crazy cathedral that zebra and i were able to visit (see picture) it was huge and so elaborate (it even had gargoyles), i dont even have words to describe how elaborate it was. i was able to eat some typical french food while i was there which made me feel quite cultured. the group i went with was an interesting bunch, not people that you would typically expect to hang out with each other but it somehow worked. there is a lot more i could say about the group but i want to focus for a second on jared (hes the boy in the picture). jared is from a small town in kentucky, population 750ish and he actually lives about five miles from that. he asked me a lot of questions about what it was like growing up in the city (i thought it was a joke at first but then i realized that he genuinely had no idea what a big city was like). jared was telling me that one of his favorite meals is fried squirrel (he says it is so good he would even have it for his last meal). i told him that was a bold statement, but he stood by it. he then told me this story: one day he was at a party (like a pot luck type party) and one of his dads friends had brought some meat (like what you would put on a sandwich, like pulled pork but not) he told me that it tasted like heaven and had eaten a whole bunch of them. he asked the guy that brought it what was and it turns out it was (...ready for this....) a mix of opossum, squirrel, muskrat and sanitized skunk. so thats jarred, just one of the new people that i hang out with.

so today shannon and i took a walk into downtown bitburg. we ate breakfast at this fun little cafe and then just walked around for a bit. it was fun finally getting to see the downtown. i know ive said this a lot but i really like where i live, its such a fun location.

so yesterday jen and i had our date (it wasnt really a date but it felt a bit like one because everyone was so all about us being friends that we got set up on a play date). she is cool and i'm excited for when we know each other better and are more comfortable with each other. we went out and walked some dogs she was sitting and i got to see a few F-16s (which made me think of justin), the runway at our base had been under rennovation and this was the first day planes had returned so it was kind of a big deal. then we went to navigators, it was cool and everyone was real nice, they arent necessarily the type of people i would hang out with if i were at home but i am greatful just to know some people my age. i think i might go to france with them for the day on sat but i havent decided for sure yet. things are good here, with all of that i'm beginning to feel more settled, i was even given a cell phone (people can call me but i cant make calls on it yet, the german system is weird and i have to put minutes on it before i can make calls). i think thats about it for now. thanks for all of the prayers, God is so faithful.

so i had my first club last night, it was really great. we played peeps baseball and ultimate frisbee. there were also some shaving cream games and i gave a little talk just introducing my self (the talk was rough but it was my first one so hopefully i'll get better). i also met jen, she is my age and goes to school here. were going to hang out today so that should be cool, she is even going to take me to navigators (the young adult ministry here on base). so hopfuly by the end of the day ill have some friends...