Getting Closer...

Today, I feel THAT much closer to getting to Germany. Here's what I accomplished:

1. An incomplete list of the things I need to bring
2. Finished Hamlet
3. Received two "commentaries" on Hamlet from fellow English major Kerry Hancock - Shoutout to Okinawa. Thanks Kerry!
4. Watched Franco Zeffirelli's "Hamlet" starring Mel Gibson - excellent!
5. Found out a second checked bag will now cost me $50 thanks to new airline policies (please note this is only true for international flights to Europe....why me? lol)
6. Received my passport! (Yes, this is my 2nd passport. I regrettably lost my first when moving in between OH and MO after graduation)

I'm so excited! My last semester's tuition and room and board in Germany is all paid for. Now, I just need to work a little bit longer at Red Robin for that cushiony travel moolah! God really has blessed me financially over the summer, working at RR; I'm grateful I'll be able to travel some in Europe but still be prepared for post-Germany expenses.

It'll be interesting to not have a cell phone for 3 months. Not that I use mine ALL that much now, but it's definitely makes life much more convenient. Even for contacting people at Kandern, I'll have to run into them, e-mail them, or leave them a note at their residence. I can't call and say, "hey, where are you? I need to meet up with you." I'm sure I'll adjust before too long, but it's curious to think about. Before the last 20 years, really, this is how people ALWAYS lived. I look forward to the electronic sabbatical. I will still have wireless internet at both the school and my host family's house, now my quickest form of communication with the states.

Only 57 more days! I'm pumped! Stay tuned... :)

Summer and Hamlet

Well, the summer is passing right along, more quickly than I had anticipated. I realize, suddenly, that I need to more seriously get on top of my BFA prep. I've been looking over the syllabus given to me by Miss Young, my supervising teacher, and am really excited about what I'll be teaching. The class, 12th grade British literature, consists of a chronological study of the literature, prevailing ideologies, and cultures of Great Britain from its Anglo-Saxon beginnings to right before the modern period. Being a 2 semester class, I'll be teaching specifically the Renaissance, Restoration, and Enlightenment time periods.

My first 3 weeks (following my initial week (week 1) and the following week when the class will be on their senior trip to Rome (week 2), will be spent teaching Hamlet to the students. From there I will have them read an assortment of novels/short stories/poems/excerpts from the three periods. I'm glad to have the study on Hamlet first because it is a concrete something to teach with a concrete beginning and end date. This will help me to transition into teaching there, I hope. So, I've begun reading it in detail and have just finished the first Act this week (where were the days when I'd read 3 acts in one sitting for my Shakespeare class??? :) I've actually never read the play before and am really enjoying it! Methods of teaching and of assignments are already forming in my head as I read.

The plane tickets have been bought and I'm scheduled to fly out September 17th, returning December 11th. Currently, I am vainly trying to locate my passport. Somewhere in the move, I seem to have lost it. Discouraging, but better I discover this now rather than days before leaving!! More updates to follow!

A Weekend at the Lake

What a fun week! After arriving home from a long but delightful weekend doing the graduation circuit thing, I rested for an evening (5/11) and then set off for Lebanon, MO en route to Table Rock Lake. My friend Leanna, who lives near Lebanon, has a lakehouse near Branson and Kate, Sarah, and I all went down there with her. We first spend the night at her house, watching movies, talking, laughing, and "helping" with the farm chores. I actually did not help at all, but more likely only got in the way. Still, I appreciate her family's obliging me and making me feel like I got the full farm experience. The four of us dressed for the occasion, complete with farm hats, pitch forks, and rubber boots. I had one particular goat friend who thought it her duty to make me feel welcome, rubbing her nubby horns against my jeans and tugging at my jean buttons. I was taken. I wanted to pack her up for home.

The following morning we had a hearty farm breakfast (yes, I really milked the farm experience) of fresh, scrambled chicken eggs, homemade hashbrowns, and homemade toast. Boy, we were ready for the day. We set off for the lake and made a significant stop in Springfield on the way down. We found two used book stores and spent about two hours pouring through classics. I had forgotten how much fun it can be perusing books with fellow book lovers. I bought 8 or 9 books for about $20 including Ethan Frome, The Time Machine, Poems of George Herbert, Middlemarch, a few others, and best of all Go, Dog! Go! Yes, I like your hat. We stopped at a Thai restaurant for lunch, delicious! They even let me call ahead and request cymbolic Thai songs for Kate and Sarah. ;)

At the lakehouse, we crashed for a little bit, watching Hogan's Heroes and playing Farkle. We made dinner, alfredo bacon pizza and homemade humus with rosemary oiled pita. Yum! We then pulled out the aged sparkling grape juice and toasted each other. Apparently, there was a little something in it because they said I was acting drunk afterwards. I know I wasn't, however, and I would prove it, but I can't remember much, so... :) After dinner we watched Gaslight, an old Ingrid Bergman movie. Great movie, but I fell asleep for the climatic last hour. But, I do know that the good guy won!

The next morning, after a sound sleep in the two sets of bunkbeds (there were two other bedrooms available, but we of course all wanted to sleep together), we played tennis. That was great fun and we all learned something new! Posted is a picture of our amazing prowess.

After tennis we took a dip in the lake until we were chased by snake heads headed our way and then raced back to the house and sat in the hot tub till we were all pruney. :) Then, we showered up, ate leftover pizza, smoked up the house with the oven again, haha, and then cleaned up and left for the outlets.

At the outlets, we shopped till we dropped and were mostly successful, though Kate never found a suit. I found a $3 Ann Taylor wool skirt that makes me look about as teacherish as I can get. I hope it'll make me look like more of a prude in Germany and less kiddish. :)

After a delightful ride back to the Baumer's house we shared our goodies with Leanna's parents and had more homemade mint chocolate chip ice cream. yum! Though we were planning on watching another movie, we were too tired and lounged on Kate and my bed. The next morning I left for Stl while the girl's stayed to do some archery/shooting. I wish I had been able to as well, but I didn't have the time.

Needless to say, it was a great weekend with great friends. Praise God!

A New Season

Wow! Graduation Day was hectic, fun, exciting, exhausting day. I'm pretty sure I've never had a fuller day. However, I am so blessed for the days events which included graduating, seeing family, packing, saying goodbye to friends, and becoming a girlfriend. I am continually amazed by God's providential hand in my life, planning events in ways far beyond my ability. For one, my family forgot their graduation tickets at home, leaving me wondering how they were going to get in. As I was waiting in the crowded AC lobby for them, I overheard a woman talking to one of the staff members, handing him five tickets, explaining that they were extras. I went up to him and asked if I could use them for my family. He not only gave them to my family, who was walking in at that exact moment, but also kindly helped us find a few more. Who would have known? I admit my own lack of faith in the process and looking back regret that instead of praying for God to provide a way, I schemed and fretted about how to get the tickets. God is faithful to us even in our unbelief. In my class, Romans and Galatians, we have learned how one of God's main points in Romans is that He is faithful to His unconditional promises, and that this is what really saves us, not our faith in Him. Praise God, for I am daily reminded of my own depravity. He is good all the time.

So here I am now, unpacking a never-ending supply of worthless possessions and thinking of what I've left behind. I am in STL for a reason this summer, and want to live intentionally while here. I am excited about some opportunities I have and the time I have to do them. Yet, they are quieter things, not the busy and social bustle I am used to. This'll definitely be an adjustment. I've really come to enjoy being an RA, being around tons of people, running from group to group, and sharing my life with a wonderful group of meaningful friends. Here, in the "real world," there are not crowds of Christian peers at your finger's reach wherever I turn. I wonder how my adjustment will be to this? Moving from one phase to another, very different, phase. I am again thankful for the consistency of God's faithfulness and the wisdom of His provision. I am excited for this season, but bittersweetly reflective of the last. Is life always this way?

In the midst, breathing

It's been a while. Life has been rather crazy. I've always felt that the two month stint from January - March (spring break) felt the longest and most depressing. For one, it's the longest time at CU without a holiday. Two, the weather is oh-so-cold-and-dreary. Three, you don't have the summer vigor to run off of.

Yet, despite the spring semester's cons, and my busyness, I've really enjoyed myself. Little thoughts keep popping into the back of my head saying, "This is it. This is the last semester. Don't waste your time. Invest wisely." And it's true. I'll never be at college or experience this phase of my life again. The last thing I want is to look back at this semester and kick myself for wasting it.

I think, first, about my many close acquaintances here at school - those people I don't necessarily hang out with regularly, but see often and attend classes with. These are the people, after this May, I will probably never see again. Thank the Lord for facebook. In all honesty, it's the only reason I have one - connection.

I think, secondly, about my closest friends. The girls I have lived with for all three years, and a few along the way; the guys I've known, eaten meals with or played sports with. Yes, these, I'll probably see again. But oh-so-infrequently compared to the daily, no, hourly, interactions I have with them now. I ask myself, "Do I treasure them? Do I value them? Do they know that I love them?" I know this might sound a little like someone is going to die, lol, but truthfully, the "college split" is very unnatural, and not something, I think, God at all intended for relationships. At what other time in life does one break from their entire social, spiritual, environmental and "work" life and have to completely recreate and start afresh. Granted, some things are consistent, thank you Father for that, but many things aren't. I know I'm not the only one going through this and feeling this way, and yes, we will all make it through, but I think it'll be hard for everyone. Not that this fact is depressing. We should always live fully in the moment; we are called to. I look forward to enjoying every day left at college, and then, when it is time, letting go and seeing the places God will lead me next - places I both know and don't know.

As for now, however, I am enjoying my spring break - reading, napping, exercising, seeing friends, loving on my family, thinking, enjoying life and breathing. :)

New Year Ponderings

Happy New Year! Like everyone else, I can't believe 2008 is going. What will 2009 hold? Well, right now I'm focusing on a few days, weeks, months at a time. Foremost on my mind is my last semester of school.

I am really looking forward to spending this time with my friends and hallmates. I'm also really looking forward to the academics. I love to learn and can't wait for my History of Literary Criticism class. First, the class uses an anthology, which is awesome, and second, I get to read philosophy and become better aquainted with the famed writers of the centuries. Could I ask for better? For most of my studies, I have read the fictional works of authors, not I get to read the philosophy and understand the dynamics behind their works. The class has its downsides as well, considering how many papers I'll have to write.

I'm taking 17 credits, and I recently discovered that 6 of those credits end in mid-march to make room for a teaching field experience that I took last semester. So, for the last 6 weeks of school, I'll be ending with 11 credits. :) I'm lovin' it. As some know, I was originally intending on completing 5 hours of 3-week classes from August to mid-September before I go to Germany, but I've recently decided to fit those in over this semester and the summer so that now I won't be returning to school at all. My reasons for this are that I don't want to move everything back to school and find housing and food for only 3 weeks. Also, those three weeks at home working will provide me with a lot of extra money to be used in Europe or after. And thirdly, I won't have to cram getting ready for Germany in one week, but can work into it over the summer. I'm really glad I've made this decision and can truly say that this semester and May-walking will end my time at CU. Cedarville, I will miss, but I eagerly anticipate what is ahead.

What is ahead? Right now, it's all about Germany. I cannot wait for that experience! I have so many thoughts and ideas, but those I'll share another time. Enjoy your New Year, and God bless!

New Camera

Yes, I am getting very excited about this Christmas for most of the regular reasons plus one or two. First, I love being home. I love my room, I love my bed, I love Missouri water (esp. compared to Ohio), I love my dogs, I love my city, I love my life. In many ways, I'll never be able to revert to the high school ways, but also, I would not want to. No, St. Louis has changed in my eyes as I've changed, but I still love it's new way just as much as the old. This Christmas, I'll be working at Red Robin, and spending time with my family. I got most all of my shopping done and I've really enjoyed recooperating. Every morning I've been getting up at 7 (which means being able to go to bed WHEN I WANT. yay!), doing my devotions for as long as I want, drinking my tea, made on a stove not a microwave, reading my books (currently A Severe Mercy and soon Wuthering Heights.), making quite a bit of money at work, and then baking and doing little odds and ends with my sisters and parents. Ah, home is bliss too often forgotten and too often gone.

But traveling away from my reminiscence, my latest excitement has been the camera I want to get. After some apprehensive searching (apprehensive because of the overwhelmingness of the task), I've decided to purchase the Canon G10 powershot. This seems to be the best of the happy mediums between your compact point-and-shoot and your SLRs. I'm really excited for this! I've often wished to take the aesthetic, creative photographs that I've so often seen online or done by my amateur, friend photographers, but never had a camera that could do it. With this purchase, I will have to really educate myself on how to use the camera and to take such pictures, but I believe my incentive and interest will carry me through the process. Attached are a few pictures of the camera. Later, I will load pictures that I've taken with it, once I get it. :) Until then...