so it's been awhile...

Sorry for the long hiatus - had some low days, then had a bunch of really busy ones, etc. The adjustment to Stefan teaching and me sitting at home waiting for my next course to start hasn't been terribly fun, pretty boring except that there are always things I should be doing here while I'm home. Some things that have happened are:

I've registered for my next course - alone! So that took time and several trips to the school. I will be switching schools since the VHS is a LOT cheaper than the university program and - isn't this weird - the university program isn't approved to meet my visa's language requirements and the local community-college-type school IS! weird. I had to take another placement test and actually placed higher than we thought I would coming from the university, but since I sit on the line between 2 levels I will be taking the lower one (course 3) since the higher one meets in the later afternoon, which is just not the greatest time since that is the time that Stefan is usually home and not working (he's recovering from school before getting back to prep work!).

I've also really worked on sprucing up the house since Stefan's brother came up to Giessen for a few days and stayed at their mom's house. Frank and their mom came up for a cook-out on Stefan's new grill and that was fun. Aside from the 4 foot flames we had on our balcony (and subsequent bucket of water we put out there for stand-by) it was really low key and we all had fun late into the night. The next night we went down to Giessen and they had prepared quite the feast for us. I totally forgot to take pictures which is too bad.

I've also started swimming several times each week at the local swimming complex, which is a mere 5 minute bike ride from our place. I usually hit the lap lanes for half an hour before indulging in the spa-like mineral water pool (see pic i grabbed from their website). Once I start my German class I won't have time to kick back after laps, but for now it's fun. This spa pool has all these jets where water comes out to massage you, the round area is a current line you float along in the whirlpool thing, bubbles come up all over the place, etc. There's a big hot tub on one side too. It's a nice reward after laps! I have to say I'm becoming a believer in the mineral water thing - I've noticed a real change for the better in my skin!

Stefan has preached twice now at the International Worship Service, both times it went really well and he received lots of positive feedback, so that's great. Meanwhile the kids in his classes are getting progressively more naughty as they settle into the school year, keeping him busy. He comes home and sighs about kids with names like Jan-Peter, Jan-Phillip, Jakob, and Tobias.

One thing that's interesting is that in one of the 8th grade Religion classes he is teaching is that there are 2 Muslim students. This is unusual because students can choose between Protestant Religion, Catholic Religion, or Ethics. You have to take one of them each year to graduate. Stefan is obviously teaching the Protestant one, but thought it strange the the Muslim students were there and not in the Ethics class. When he asked them they told him they really wanted to examine the difference between Christianity and Islam and were really looking forward to learning about it. That was a huge surprise to Stefan since 1) this was the first time he'd ever heard of this happening and 2) students in his school aren't really known for caring about their schoolwork. So that will be a particular challenge for him in that class.

I should also say that the teachers are given quite a bit of freedom in how they teach these religion classes. One colleague who has been there for years regularly spends quite a bit of time on the 'occult' section and actually gives all the kids a chance to play with an ouija board of all things! Her rationale is that is just shows them that it's nothing - however, well, don't get me started. Stefan is continually blown away by her methods of teaching.

We are still waiting for our dishwasher. It has been almost one month. It's supposed to be delivered tomorrow morning and then the landlord is supposed to come on Wednesday morning and install it himself. It took us two days to wash all the dishes that were left after the big cook-out last week. I REALLY can't wait for the new dishwasher. I really can't believe we've had to wait a whole month. I also just can't believe how CHEAP this landlord is, thrifty is one thing, but he is just flat out cheap. It has been really hard for me to maintain a Christian attitude about this situation ( he has offered no discount in rent, in fact he is asking us to pay 50 Euro and he wanted Stefan to help install it after he had Stefan help uninstall it and drag it down 4 flights of stairs). It's turned into a saga of it's own. I will be the only one here on Wednesday when the landlord comes to install it, and I will have to hold my tongue. Shouldn't be hard since I simply do not have the German vocabulary to say much about this situation anyhow!