Summer is heeeeere! For all of you who have been keeping up with me for a while, you know how long I have waited for summer to come, and also how much I love being in the sun. One of my goals every summer is to turn a nice healthy shade of brown - not Mexican, I'll leave that to the experts (like my sister-in-law, wink wink), but enough to feel comfortable in the sun and not get burned after 2-3 hours outside. We have had plenty of warm days to be able to go to the pool or just let the kids loose in the yard with a sprinkler. It still is nothing like a Texas summer, for which I am thankful, as we don't have the air conditioning here with which to handle such steaming hot temperatures.
However, Saturday was an exception to the rule, and as the temperature climbed into the mid-90s, I began to wish for spring again. But that was only because on Saturday, I didn't have the possibility of cooling myself off at the pool - instead I was in a hot, stuffy classroom in Stuttgart, taking the Goethe Institute German proficiency exam which is the culmination of the last two years of hard work. I don't know what the normal time allotment is to go from zero German knowledge to a business level ability, but learning so much in two years has stretched and challenged me in many ways. But, as you all know by now (I hope), I do LOVE a good challenge. ;-) After a lot of stress and worry that built up as my day of reckoning with the German language grew nearer, I felt a huge weight lift off my shoulders when the exam was done. Overall, I feel confident in how I did - it was by no means perfect, and I could think back over the mistakes I made - but there is no help in that. I finished. I believe I passed. In 6-8 weeks, I will receive the results and let you know how it really went.
As soon as I finished my exam, I literally ran out the door to catch the first train over to the church where I was spending the rest of my evening watching the second half of the Germany vs. Argentina game, giving God thanks for taking me this far at the youth service that night, and diving into a new experience with the prayer night from midnight till 6am. Watching that game was crazy - feeling so much a part of the experience (even more so than when I was in Italy four years ago), and cheering alongside the Germans who were able to see their young team pull off a victory that others (ahem, France, Italy, Brazil) had not been able to achieve. The rest of the evening was spent celebrating and enjoying the company of others as we all met for a common purpose - not the joy of a soccer game, but the joy of a God who is with us, who is mightier than our struggles, and who rejoices over us.
With a few goals reached and others standing before me, I am forging ahead on this next path. My time is filled with job searching and sending out new applications. The time here is slipping past, and I am looking forward to the upcoming vacation when I can savor some time with friends before I make the trek back across the ocean for a little catching-up time. I still have places to visit and people to see - Vienna, Switzerland, and for some local fun, Bodensee. Now I leave you with some long-awaited (by me, at least) pictures from my parent's trip here at the end of April. (sorry, all I have is a link - couldn't get a nice picture to show up this time.) They even have captions, so that you can follow along. :) I love how nicely organized they are. Enjoy, and till next time.
http://picasaweb.google.com/harding5458/GermanyAdventure#
No comments:
Post a Comment