I kept looking around, as if someone would come and save me and make it not so hard. It was just an invitation, an offer to eat lunch together. You wouldn’t think it was that big of a deal. But it is. It’s still scary to try to get to know people in this … [Read More]
Rest and Running Away
Should I even be doing this? The doors opened to an abnormally packed train. Could this many people really be trying to get to Horb on a Friday morning? There’s one seat left, waiting for a traveler to find his home there. Was this really a good idea? The alarm went off, and all … [Read More]
Of Unknown Paths
It was there. It was waiting. All of my being was yelling at me to get outside. Blue skies, changing leaves, and a soft warmth from the rays that would come through the trees. Who knows when the sun will come out again? No. It’s time to drop your plans and walk toward the woods. … [Read More]
A Packet of Yeast, A Half Cup of Water
A packet of yeast and a half cup of warm water. I mixed them, let them sit… and hoped the yeast would bubble. You can’t make good bread without yeast that’s active. Gosh, it’s been a day. My brain feels full to the brim. Deeper and deeper we go, into the world of another. … [Read More]
Empty Chairs and Empty Tables: A Psycho-Spatial Goodbye Letter
213. It’s not really that long, and yet it’s felt like a short eternity. I didn’t know so much could happen in seven months. Seven months in a one-room apartment August-Bebel Straße 3, a basement in Unterer Wert. I came to know it as my home, just 6 weeks after my arrival here. It was … [Read More]
Naming the Stars
“Do you see that bright one? Good. Now look to the left, like at the 10 o’clock position… do you see the dim lights? There are two of them… now look up and to the right, there’s a cloudy shape…” Never in my life could I have expected this, but there we were nonetheless. Standing … [Read More]
Taizé, or places between Ancient Prayers and Sexy Kartoffelbrei
“You wouldn’t think that they go together, and that’s some of the beauty of it. These clay tubes that are plain and ordinary, that don’t even fit together in an organized fashion, can come together to be a thing of beauty.” She was right too. There were white cows everywhere. I knew they existed, but … [Read More]
Simple Stories, Shared Stories.
It’s sunsets through shimmering leaves and sitting around the back yard table. The grill is warming up, and you laugh as your hosts are surprised to see a punctual American. It’s quiet and you have spoken a lot of English today, so you are wondering if your brain is going to be able to switch … [Read More]
Loneliness, Nostalgia, and Madeleine L’Engle
It’s awkward at first. You try. It’s an email to someone new, and a hope for a response. It seems like it takes forever to write those first few lines, because it feels like if you don’t do it perfectly, all will be ruined. It’s going to lunch with a group of people after church, … [Read More]
Beating Yourself Up, Jean-Paul Sartre, and also Grace too
“If we make it through this month without hating each other, I will know we really can be friends.” My head was spinning, jet lag lingered in an ache that was settling deep into my bones, and none of the world seemed to even care. Decisions had to be made. Meetings needed to take place. … [Read More]