Reflections On a March Morning

The sun crept through the bedroom window and fell gently upon Avril's alabaster skin. At first a soft sensation, the warmth built into into an uncomfortable heat, waking her from a deep and pleasant sleep. Avril slowly sat up in her bed, cherishing the last of sleep's fleeting moments upon her eyes. As they finally embraced the new day, her attention was drawn to the garden just outside her window. Her crystal blue eyes were lit with rapture as she spotted the tiniest new bud peaking its head through the still frozen earth. She reached for her shawl and, so as not to wake the others, tip-toed briskly to the kitchen door. With a heart full of joy she leaped into the yard to welcome Spring's triumphant return, but was then halted with a sharp and bitter breath.

Another deceptively cold morning, devoid of Spring's elusive splendor.



A friend of mine told me to reflect on the "gorgeous weather" we're having in the style of Anne Shirley. This is the best I could do, keeping in mind that my vocabulary is substantially less extensive than hers.

So, as to my life.

Well, to be fair, it certainly LOOKS warm outside, but it's assuredly colder than I would like. It's March and I don't live in Minnesota anymore, so I was kind of hoping for an early Spring. That, apparently, is too tall an order for Northern Minnesota. However, the snow is FINALLY melted (after two and a half months!) and Jakob is enjoying playing outside on our (former hayloft) "play plateau." It's brilliant! He gets fresh air, gets to ride his tractor, run around, and he can't get out (thank you, childproof gate door) so I can stay inside where it's WARM. I have gone on a few walks in the area, though, which has been really nice. There's a little side road that goes across the river behind us and between the fields, and beyond stepping aside for the occasional tractor you're have it all to yourself... which is excellent if you happen to enjoy singing aloud to your iPod :)

A few weekends ago I went to Mainz (situated on the Rhein where the Main river connects) to visit Hanno's parents. It was during Karneval, which is celebrated by all the cities along the Rhein. It's like a five day festival right before Lent (Fastenzeit) begins, but it's based in politics. It even has official colors, which are blue, white, red (as in the French flag) and yellow. Not that I can tell you exactly why, but it's got something to do with the French Revolution and... what a good idea it was? Okay, officially not a German history buff. HOWEVER, this is the time of year when Germans wear costumes- NOT Halloween. Halloween is an American holiday brought overseas to make money, and the Germans don't really dig it... and probably because they have their own costume holiday, and they don't need our stupid candy holiday because theirs has alcohol. Probably.

Anyway, the first night we went over to a "party" at friend's from Hannos where they were watching a live show that was happening in Mainz. It involved some sort of counsel, a jester, and several other people to give (what I'm sure was very witty and relevant) political commentary. Every time somebody said something even REMOTELY funny and/or pertinant, the band blasted one note- BAAAAH. Also, apparently each city on the Rhein has their own greeting for the Karneval zeit. In Mainz it's "Helau!" which is really only yelled in threes. Lets be honest, I was starting to crack. However, Hanno then introduced me to a girl who is from the Ukraine and first came to Germany as an Au Pair, but then stayed to go to University and has been there for seven years now. She invited me out the next night, and even gave me cat ears and drew whiskers on my face to help me blend in the with the crowd :) We had a really great time, even if every bar DID have a cover charge (eight bars went in together for a 10 Euro cover that would let you into all eight bars. We only went to two, but it was worth it... otherwise we wouldn't have had anywhere to go). We then found our way to a Döner restaurant where I heard someone singing the Canadian national anthem (which I learned for a play I did in college). I began singing along, and thusly introduced myself to a Canadian. We then sang the Canadian national anthem very loudly, called each other North American sisters while sliding backhanded compliments at each other's country, and spoke English faster than either of us probably had in several days (due to lack of native English speakers). It was bizarre, and glorious.

So, for Lent I decided to do a double whammy this year. Not only did I give up sweets (ice cream, chocolate, gummy bears, muffins, gummy bears, cookies, gummy bears... etc.) but I also decided to ADD something for Lent! I bought a daily devotional book back in November, and as of the beginning of Lent I was up to January 6th (having started at January 1st)... so I decided to add a daily devotional to my Lenten challenge. I actually was going to try to add going on a half hour walk every day, but that didn't work out. But come on, two things is still pretty impressive, right??

Exciting news! A friend and I (a Canadian Au Pair in Oldenburg) have booked our tickets and will be going to Barcelona March 28-April 2! I am SO excited, and even though I don't speak more than five words of Spanish, I am really excited to pick up a dictionary there and attempt to communicate! SWEET! We were going to try couch surfing, but we didn't get any responses so we just went with a cheap hostel :)

Confession (this one's for you, Grandpa): My time with this family ends in May, but I've been putting off calling my grandpa about buying a plane ticket home... because I'm hoping to find a family for the summer in the London area. Unfortunately, I haven't gotten any positive responses yet, and I know that I need to buy a ticket soon if I'll be coming back at the end of May/beginning of June (travel time!) My dream is to live in London, but I don't want to be gone another year. I figure, I was going to be gone until the middle of the summer anyway, so why not just go until August or September and then come home? Of course, ideally I wouldn't be there as an Au Pair... however, I's po and can't afford to stay there any other way. Yesterday the thought occurred to me that although I'm hoping/planning to visit both Italy and Greece before coming back, maybe I should consider those two countries for the summer. Who knows, it could be an amazing, exotic experience. There is, of course, the language barrier... because unless we communicate only in art songs, I don't speak Italian, and I CERTAINLY don't know a word of Greek. But maybe that would be good, right? Pick up a third language?? Or, you know, a few phrases here and there.

So, in terms of prayer requests, I would ask that you all pray for my post-Germany plans! Matthew 6:25-34 has helped me so much in the past few months, and I know that I can give God my worries so that he will work things out according to his plan. I do, however, need to figure out what he wants me to do. My plan is to explore all opportunities and let him open the doors I'm supposed to go through. But I could use some prayer help :)

Final thought: I TOTALLY found a gray hair today. To my own surprise, it didn't make me freak out about getting old (*reminder- my birthday is in 17 days! I'll be 23!!*)... it actually made me feel kind of... mature? Weird.

Okay, bis später!

Liebe Grüße,
~Julia~