Awaiting the Awakening...

My deepest apologies to you all. I've got very little for you to really think about or at least I hope for this to be fairly easy to comprehend. It's okay if it takes you awhile, I'm still not really sold on the idea that I'm in a foreign country doing things I've never done before. Is this really happening?

Towards the end of last week, I became very familiar with the schedule or at least the one I'll have until we head off to Hamburg, Germany on October 30. (From October 30-December 18, the schedule is going to suprise us on a regular basis as we will be traveling. Great!) To fill you all in, here is what my daily schedule consists of...

During the week, I have a wonderful work duty to perform. I'm sure you other YWAMers are very familiar with the term and you probably can remember your work duty. Well, being use to lack of sleep and waking up early to serve people coffee, I figured that breakfast prep would be the best. For my work duty, I have to be in the kitchen, Monday through Thursday, at 6am. Therefore, I wake up at 5:55am and head down to get all the ingredients for breakfast ready.

Breakfast is from 7-7:30, so it's quite the rush of students. Somewhat entertaining to watch after I've already enjoyed my breakfast fifteen minutes earlier (quite the advantage when you're on the breakfast prep crew). Usually we have an arrangement of things to put in our yogurt and cereal. And of course, there's bread. And when the breakfast prep crew sees that we have a lack of food, we have oatmeal. Oatmeal here is the same as in America: easy to make, boring, and cheap. Luckily, there are a ton of different things, like flaxseed, raisins, jelly, nutella, sunflower seeds, and lentils, to help make the oatmeal, cereal, or yogurt unique from the previous day. It's nothing in comparison to the variety offered at the wonderful Quesadilla Factory. But for now, it's all I've got that offers variety.

After breakfast, everyone, except the breakfast crew, has quiet time till 8:30. Breakfast crew cleans up and we're usually done around 8. Then I head upstairs to grab my Bible and lecture notebook to take to class. Unlike the other DTS school that is also here with us, I get to go on a twenty minute walk into town where my DTS is having our lectures while we're here in Herrnhut. The walk is absolutely gorgeous and I really wish that pictures uploaded better but for now I'll have to wait till I get back home to show you all the awesome pictures I've taken. Basically, I get to walk through Narnia. If you know the song, Svefn-G-Englar by Sigur Ros, try to imagine what kind of scenery that song is trying to create. Yeah, my walk is about ten times better than that song my cause you to imagine and it hasn't even snowed here yet! Don't be jealous. I'm probably exaggarating, just everso slightly though.

We have our lectures in a small building off the church I've being attending. It's perfectly named the Jesus Haus. There's just the right amount of space for all the students and staff to squeeze in and become one big happy family. We usually start our mornings off with a set of worship songs and then begin the teachings. About halfway through our lecture, we have a kaffeepause. Think about it...yep, a coffee break.

Oh Cuppa Joe, you would be SOO disappointed in my decisions. Why? Because if I want to make the most of my kaffeepause, I'm gonna add as much sugar and creme as I possibly can. This week I plan on just drinking tea. Kaffee? Espresso? I'm not in Washington State anymore. Am I? Hopefully somewhere along this excursion, I will happily be reunited, or introduced for that matter, to a true taste of European espresso. The castle is offering its best, but it's more about quantity than quality. Did I mention there's over 220 people to provide for? Enough said. The castle is doing a fabulous job. Once our break is over, we have another hour and a half of lecture. After the final half of morning lectures, we head back to the castle to have lunch.

Oh, wait.....There is another meal that offers variety. Lunch is always a surprise. Lunch is the only hot meal. Sometimes, I can tell what it is but most of the time I just see it as food and that's really all that matters. I'm not much of a picky eater so I just grab as much as I can without causing a huge backup in the enormously long line. Also, Americans have it WRONG!! Not so sure if I agree with that previous statement, but nearly all the Europeans here claim that this way of eating is "healthier." So for now, I'll believe them.

After lunch, most everyone else who doesn't have breakfast prep as their work duties has to do work duties from 2:30-4. For this reason I am very grateful that I get to wake up early in the morning, assured to have breakfast without something running out, and I have quiet time in the afternoon. Currently, everyone is working and I'm sitting on my laptop, journaling. So GOOD!! (*Random story--I had a dream that all the Rabbs dyed their hair blonde in rememberance of me. I really pray this doesn't happen. Kate and Linda could maybe pull it off, but definitely a no-go for the Rabb men. Sorry, rabbit trail. The "So GOOD!!" reminded me of that dream....so BAD.)


Another short lecture session follows work duty and then we have dinner. I really think that we (Americans) have WAY better dinners. Actually, the thing is that they just have our lunches and dinners switched. Dinner usually comes with cucumbers, tomatoes, a variety of cheese, ham, turkey, carrots, and bread: everyday. The idea of sandwiches are what they're aiming for when it comes to dinner. I've learned to be creative when eating this arrangement of food. I rarely eat it as a sandwich. I'm not too much of a sandwich fan. For now, I just suck it up, admist all the European fingers pointed at me, followed by uproars of laughter, and continue to eat my dinner in my own special little way. Really, it's not bad at all. These kids love Jesus. Despite my unusual eating habits, they love me, too.

The night is OURS after we have dinner. Us mobile DTS kids have become very fond of having game night. We're really trying to be social. Nearly every night, there's a group of us playing games or just hanging out. And, I learned how to play Spades the other night. Silas taught me how to play. He and I played a game with another team for my first time and lost. Just last night, Dominic and I played on a team against Sammy and Adam. Dominic and I DOMINATED!!! Hahaha...the pun...did you kinda hear it? get it? Maybe that wasn't a pun.......ugh! I don't understand English anymore...What's the difference between a sweater and a sweatshirt? What does "special" mean? Vas?!!!

There's so many things I haven't even described. I'm doing things I've never done before. I'm living in a room that's about the same size as my whole room with five other girls. I'm learning that it's WAY easier to make your bed when it's just a sleeping bag. I'm reminded every night that I made a great investment for my sleeping bag. I'm doing my laundry out of a sink and then hanging it to dry over a course of two days or so. I'm finding out so much more of what I want to do and what I don't want to be doing during my DTS. I'm starting to be able to focus on the NOW and stopping to think about the LATER. I'm here now and I'm absolutely loving it. Sure, there's things that aren't the same as I've known, but it's all so new to me that I am exploding with giddiness [sp?:-)]. I want to be fully present and absorb it all in. I want to live life at its fullest and enjoy every second of it.

Please don't tell me this is just a dream. I feel like I'm awaiting the unwanted awakening. And if this is a dream, I don't want to wake up.


Dare I say it: God is rocking my world and I'm lovin' it!