Wednesday, February 2

We drove to the beach again where we met up with friends again. While we were walking, we came across a playground that looked like a ship graveyard. It was so much fun! Helli and I climbed to the crows nest. I wanted to play more and thought Simon would enjoy playing, but the moms were calling us. 

We went to a café for hot chocolate and tea before saying goodbye. It took about three hours to reach Berlin. I read as long as the light lasted. For dinner, we went to Mark’s stomping grounds to a pizza place just around the corner from his mom’s house.

When we got home I unpacked and quickly checked my email and facebook to catch up on news from home. It was so nice to have so many notes waiting for me! It worked out perfectly to skype mom and dad so I got to tell them about the weekend. Nancy came in and was able to update them with real facts on what’s happening in Egypt. 

Tuesday, February 1

World update: There are one million people demonstrating in Egypt now. The President says the whole country can burn; he’s not leaving, although he sent his kids and wife to France and England with suitcases of money. The President himself isn't even in the country! He’s on some island on vacation while his country is in chaos.

I read this morning while the kids watched cartoons. It is so weird seeing cartoons I know in German. After breakfast we played rummy for a while and then Uno. I lost every hand.

We packed our swimsuits and left for a little indoor waterpark, complete with a slide that went outside before going back inside. We had to hike up a lot of stairs before getting to the mouth of the slide, but it was definitely fun! I had fun going behind the girls and calling out to them that I was going to catch them. They got freaked out and tried to go faster, but most times I caught them. J

I got my first taste of real Germany/Europe. The changing rooms weren’t separated for men and women, but thankfully there were changing rooms I could use. We swam and went in the outside pool for a few minutes, went down the slide several times, swam in the salt water pool (Roman style), ate chicken nuggets, French fries, and ice cream, read, and played with a ball. I took a little nap. 

We drove to a hotel where we met some friends from Berlin. We had the first round of drinks at their hotel. I had orange juice, then we walked to the restaurant which was built in the 1530’s and was a place for skippers to eat when their ships were in port. Ther were old mini ships hanging from the ceiling. It was really cool! I didn’t really know what I ordered, but it ended up being a meat wrap and gravy with mushrooms and some potato thing. It was good and extremely filling.

Monday, January 31

Today we went to Lubeck and walked around shops. Lubeck has a very old section of town that was originally like an island. Years ago, the only way to enter the old section was to go through a gate, but today there are roads you can drive on. Some of the brick buildings originated in the 1300’s. Lubeck is famous for its matzepan, a type of sweet. 

Lunch was at an outdoor market next to an ice rink. The pigeons were huge in this market! They get fed all the time by people like us, who eat and throw them crumbs.

We walked in and out of shops for hours. Mark met with a friend at a café. Since I couldn’t understand most of the conversation, I watched people out the window and recited verses in my head. I also had major hat hair.

I got the hiccups while we were looking for a jacket for Simon. The girls cracked up at how loud they were. Eating some ice cream took them away thankfully. Helena said if you get the hiccup that means someone is thinking about you. I guess a lot of people were thinking of me at that moment!

Sunday, January 30

After getting ready for the day, I spent some time reading my Bible (II Peter), studying the time, date, occasion for writing the letter, and the themes of the book. 

Helena wanted to read and then we watched the news: Protests continue in Egypt. 34 Muslin Brotherhood prisoners were released and bussed into wealthy sections of town to go do their crime (Nancy thinks it’s the presidents way of giving the people something else to think about rather than trying to oust him from office). The military is in control at the present moment, but the internet has been shut down along with the phones, at least 100 have been killed, and there is widespread looting. The country is in chaos.

I played Cranium with the girls and the sister of a friend of Simon’s from kindergarten. The kids played with play dough, I read, and then we played rummy and uno with Olie. It was a quiet day spent at the house, but it was nice down time. 

Saturday, January 29

This morning the girls came in while I was just lying in my sleeping bag. It was the first time since I arrived that they woke up before I did. They came in with fake guns and pretended to shoot me while I pretended to die. It set a good precedence for the day. We ate breakfast all together around the table which consisted of bread and jam with a variety of meats, and a croissant with chocolate inside. It was really good! 

We left the house for the beach where we walked along the Baltic Sea beach. We stepped in the water, threw ice, played tag, took pictures and enjoyed the cool, but calm and quiet atmosphere of God’s creation. As we walked through and between little stores, Helena and I talked about how she will help me with studying/practicing German. We walked with arms around each other as we talked, laughed, and she tried to explain “her” language (she made one up). The girls and I danced (twirling) while we waiting for the women as they shopped. 

Norway was just over 100 km away while New York was over 6000 km away. We ate dinner at a seafood restaurant, eating muscles for appetizers (which was actually pretty good), fish and potatoes for the main course. The fish there is very fresh and didn’t have a strong fish taste, so it was really good. 

After dinner, we walked round the little harbor looking at the small fishing vessels. It was much colder, but we watched the seagulls and once again I enjoyed the quietness of the little harbor. It was so peaceful as the fog rolled in. 

Back at the house, we ate ice cream and the adults talked about going to see a movie. While the parents were gone, I read while the kids played. When they got back, we drank some bubbled apple juice that naturally had about 4% alcohol. It tasted very good because you couldn’t taste the alcohol. J I showered, read, and went to bed.

Random thought:

Houses here are made out of red brick because of salt in the air from the sea. The town is known for its clean, cleansing air. Nancy said many sick people come here.

Friday, January 28

Today the girls went to school for a half day. While they were gone, Mark, Nancy and I packed for our little trip up north. I tried to get the ironing done so I wouldn’t have to worry about it when I got back and so everyone could finish packing.

On our way out of town, we dropped Mark’s car off at the inspection center (every car has to be inspected every two years). My muscle was hurting constantly when I walked so I was very sluggish. I also noticed a large bruise on the side of my right knee. To top it all off, one of my fingers was swollen and painful.

We arrived at Olie, Newien, and Simon’s house after dark. Newien had made a noodle and chicken dinner. I watched National Geographic World videos with the kids. After the kids went to bed, I bumped my finger and realized the pain was much worse (to put it lightly). I asked Mark if he knew what would cause the swelling and he figured I had somehow gotten an infection under the skin. He had me soak my finger in warm soap water for about half an hour, then pull the skin away from my nail. When that happened, a ball of white junk came out, proving it was indeed an infection. I soaked it for a few more minutes, then let it dry out. 

Thursday, January 27

This morning the girls got dressed in their school carnival outfits. Helena was a pirate and Gloria was a hippie, complete with a huge green afro. They both looked great! Nancy and I got ready and then headed to the school ourselves to get in on some of the fun. All the teachers were dressed up with the kids. There were some teachers who did special things with kids. For example, one teacher was Snow White and she had seven of the kids dress as her dwarfs. I saw belly dancers, pirates, police, clowns, hippies, techno/punk kids, princesses, cowboys, witches, etc. They had a little school rally where they performed a dance everyone learned. Then everyone went to their classrooms or to different classrooms. Almost every class had a special game or decorations or face painting they did. Helena’s class did a scary room. I never gained entrance because kids kept cutting me in line. I eventually gave up.

Gloria won the best costume award and 10 euros to the bookstore. She got her picture taken and a little blip in the school newspaper. Nancy was so proud of her! Before we left, Nancy talked to Helena’s English teacher. They will figure out a day for me to spend an hour in Helena’s English class describing life in America and letting the kids ask questions or practice their English with me. It will be a little different though because they learn British English in their schools.

The girls got out of school early so after picking them up I took a nap, ironed, and ate dinner before we headed to music lessons. While the girls were in their lessons, Nancy and I went to the library where I checked out two books this time. After lessons, Helena had a doctors appointment and then Nancy and Gloria had eye appointments. They finished with their appointments just after 7pm at which time we ran back to the car and drove back to the house so I could quick change and head to the gym with Mark and the neighbor who were patiently waiting for me. 

We warmed up by doing different dribbling exercises with basketballs, played Frisbee and did the different track and field stations. While playing Frisbee, I ran after the Frisbee at the same time one of my teammates did. I couldn’t stop in time to avoid the collision, so we ended up doing a little hug/dance before we got our balance back. I’m not sure what people said about it because I couldn’t understand, but I felt horribly embarrassed! Unfortunately, my already sore muscle got 10 times worse when I pulled it again while warming up so I was a lousy teammate when we played handball and I sat out when we played basketball. I don’t really know who was more bummed about that, me or Mark and the neighbor. The three of us were finally on the same team so I know the guys were disappointed when we couldn’t kick the other teams butt in basketball.