What am I doing here??

Not a lot of posting here lately due to the fact that we've been super busy with the apartment. Every step of setting up has just felt really labor intensive and seems to take all day for some reason. However, we're really glad to have Stefan off from work for 6 weeks with the summer holidays! It's probably taking us forever because there's been lots of staying up late, sleeping in, and taking our time going on. Still, it's nice to get the living room set up, the front hall more functional, and the kitchen streamlined.
We also had a great extended weekend visit with the Price family a couple of weeks ago. It's such a blessing to have good friends within driving distance!! We spent one day hanging out at a spa/pool complex. It was little Madeline's first time really swimming in a pool and she had a blast, meaning we all had a blast, too! We also spent a day in Nurnberg walking around and looking at some cool and crazy shops. I also picked up two books in English to read, so that was a fun treat. The best treat was just having lots of hang time, good conversations, and riotous laughter! One night the boys walked into town to go to a pub and Sarah and I stayed chatting on the couch. We got a scare later from sudden banging on the sliding glass doors when the boys came running home through a rain shower, soaked to the skin! We all ended up in hysterics and it was a great weekend. We look forward to seeing them again later this summer when they head our way!
Last week I had a meeting about work. I took this picture since I was 15 minutes early and didn't know what to do with myself. This is outside in the hallway going to the chair of the physics department's office at Marburg University. At this moment, and then during the next two hours that I met, I asked myself, "What am I doing here?!?! I'm sitting in the office of the chair of the Physics department in a German university. I have a BA in Biblical and Theological Studies and Youth Ministry! and I'm here in the Physics department!!" I felt confused the whole time, and it had everything to do with what was being discussed during the meeting and trying to figure out the role I would play.

Each of the three people in the meeting communicated in a different style. We all communicated in English, but one person was very scattered, another was off in Physics la-la-land and spent 20 minutes trying to explain the Bose glass phase concept to a Youth Min major and a person with a PhD in microbiology - we were all confused. In the end it would appear that they want me to run a program/class for 12-15 graduate students over the course of the next academic year from September 2009-July 2010. The group would meet once a month for 3hrs on Friday afternoons to discuss a particular aspect of scientific writing. (a total of about 300 class hours) I am to head up the discussions, class work, and homework.

I told them several times that I am only a copy editor and only have some experience with biomedical terminology, but that has not deterred them. At this point we don't know which students will sign up for the program, but I told them the biggest hurdle will come from diversity. Physics, microbiology, biomedical, psychological studies - each of these has their own manual of style and ways to deal with things. All are similar, but each has it's distinct differences (none of which any of us can clearly state as each of the 3 of us only knows about their own area). Alas, running seperate workshops for the different departments is out of the question, apparently. So this freaks me out a little.

I also discovered that "my" class has a prerequisite class run by a Austrian who is flown in twice a semester to do a basic scientific writing class. This woman's main source of income is as a ghost writer for scientific articles. Scientists send her their data, state their goal, and she'll write the whole paper for them. Oh boy. I feel like I should be taking the basic class myself... Thankfully I've obtained a copy of her manual. Yes, I told physicist and the microbiologist that I am only a copy editor. Many times. They seem to ignore me when I say that.

Another interesting twist: a woman who teaches an ultra-basic scientific writing class in the university's Language Center, will be sitting in on each class. She wants to be available as a resource. Right. So....why am I teaching this class?!? I think it boils down to the fact that I'm the only native speaker around who has any experience with any kind of scientific writing. I have the feeling that I will be doing a lot of coordinating of resources/guest speakers.

I like a challenge, but this is more than I bargained for. They also want me to say how much I want to get paid for all of this. I have no idea what to say. Anybody reading this have some input on payment?

Yes folks, this is the kind of work-for-income I can drum up. Stefan and I plan to go to the government employment office in August to see what they have to say, but without certification for anything (Germans like papers, remember?) we don't expect much. We also hope that if they have no work to offer, that they can help us figure out how to get me going as an official freelance copy editor. I need a tax number, paperwork, and more paperwork if I go the freelance route.

It's frustrating to feel like I have no place to plug in and utilize the degrees I actually studied for and feel called to use in my life. Stefan is at least using one of his degrees as a teacher, but at the rate we're using our ministry degrees we both often wonder, "What on earth are we doing here?"

Such goes our journey. The same journey where we believe we've done what we're supposed to so far, yet don't really see the rhyme or reason to it. Maybe we never will. At least we're certain we're following God's will for our lives, no matter how random it seems to us.