Fall Party, The Joys of Teaching and Pumpkin Pancakes.

One of the student’s hightlights of this season is the Fall Party. Each year, the party takes on a different theme and this years was Black and White. As you can imagine, this theme was so broad, the costumes ranged from students dressed up as Black Tea to Oreos and Milk (they won the most creative costume). Some of the other hightlights included Black and White Chess pieces and things sold on the black market…so funny. Here are some pictures…

Two of my collegues dressed up as a Kidney and um...not quite sure. It's a bit sketchy.

 

My clown friend and I...a picasso portrait. I was the most expensive thing there.

So this semester has been easier than the last in some ways and a bit more crazy in others. BFA is going through the reaccreditation process with ACSI (Association of Christian Schools International). You have to reapply every 10 years so here we are. It has involved more work on our (teachers) parts which has been challenging on top of other school duties…not to mention remembering to go to meetings at 8am in the morning. I realize that isn’t very early but man, I must have no memory because I’m always forgetting! I’d appreciate prayers for patience, diligence in doing what needs to get done and maybe a better memory? Let’s start with the first two things at least.

So far as my feisty class goes, there are still days when I think I’m going to loose my mind. They are very talkative and although sometimes their conversations are interesting (anyone interested in learning about the slovenian school system?), it’s getting harder to get some of the students motivated to complete their work. Please pray that I can channel their willingness to talk into something constructive!

These past couple of weeks Becky’s Uncle and Aunt were here visiting us. It was fun to be able to take them around and have them meet people here. We took a trip to Frieiburg on the regional train this past weekend. The hour car ride is only supposed to take 20 minutes on the train…but about 10 minutes into the trip, the train stopped. Apparently, there were children playing on the track and something must have happened because about 5 minutes later, the conductor announced that everyone was to get off the train because they were heading back to Basel! So strange. We got off along with everyone and spent the next hour in Heitersheim talking with a nice German couple, eating chocolate and reading James and the Giant Peach. Kind of funny and wonderful.

 

A pretty view of Freiburg. Becky and I took her Aunt and Uncle here this past weekend. Such a pretty town about an hour away.

 

Today Becky and I had our small group over for dinner before small group time. The dorm girls are always really excited to have a home cooked meal and everyone was glad to have the time to get to know eachother better. We made a bunch of different kinds of pancakes and I have to say they were really good…blueberry, chocolate and pumpkin. If you’ve never had pumpkind pancakes, you’ve got to try them. The recipe is a bit involved but quite amazing. Here’s the link to the recipe if anyone wants to try it:

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/SPICED-PUMPKIN-PANCAKES-104198

They don’t have canned pumpkin in Germany so we bought a pumpkin and made puree ourselves…it was an adventure (just imagine pumpkin flying out of a blender) but we finally got the hang of it and mastered pumpkin puree

That’s it for now!

much love

Small Group

Becky and I are leading a girl’s small group again this year and it has been so rewarding even in these first three weeks. We have six Junior girls in our group and they are so precious! It’s exciting to see their desire to know God and I’m praying that we will be able to grow together this year.

Towards the end of the evening there were at least three girls that shared their concern for friends of theirs who need encouragement and prayer. I have been realizing more and more how many students here are broken, lonely and hurting. Just because students grow up in a Christian home or in a Missionary home doesn’t mean that all is well with their souls. Many students have been turned away by the hypocrisy they have seen in the Church and need to refocus their attention on the only one who has and will always follow through on His Word. Please, Please pray with me for the MKs here at BFA. Pray that those who seek Truth would find it in the Lord and be blown away at what is gained when all is lost in Him. Pray for me as well as I continue to learn what it means to make God the King over my life.

Last week, my two roommates and I got to relax a bit and went out to eat with one of our friends Ramona. Becky and I got to know Ramona at the end of the summer as we started attending a german church and it has been such a blessing to hang out with her.

 

My Roommates!

Ramona und mich

 

School, Small Group and…Aerobics?

The view from outside my window

Summer officially finished August 27th. The summer was full of wonderful memories and seeing much loved family and friends. I’ll be sending out a news letter soon (hopefully) about all that but just want to update on the more recent news. The biggest news of the summer was the move to “The Harris House”. One of my friends Delice (a french MK that I met back in middle school) and her family live here in Kandern. Her family went back to the States for a year of home assignment so Becky and I moved in with her! They live in one of the oldest buildings in Kandern (more than 600 years old) and it’s definitely been an adventure so far.

Typical grill out? I think not. My roommates and I along with a couple friends grilled out with one of those new fangled gas grills and all of a sudden, fire started consuming the nobs controling the gas and quickly began spreading. Really kind of funny in a "I can't believe this is actually happening" way...I ran for the baking soda only to realize that there was no way to put it out without first turning off the gas. Yeah, so we got a guy to risk his life doing that and then I put the rest of the fire out with my B.S. haha..

 

Before the fire

The first day students were back, energy was high on the Black Forest Academy campus. Students who had been separated for the whole summer were reunited. As they live here most of the year and share life together it’s almost like watching siblings reunite….such a wonderful sight. It is also heart breaking to watch parents letting go and seeing students struggle with home sickness.

I’m teaching Foundations of Art and Drawing and Painting I this semester (two classes of each). This past week was the third week teaching and everything is going relatively smoothly. Both of my Drawing and Painting classes are going extremely well and students have really commited to the class and the work I’m having them do which is exciting to see. One of my Foundations classes has been more of a struggle as it is much larger than any of my other classes. They are also extrememly CHATTY…classroom management here we come Other than that I love my students and am stoked about developing relationships with old students/getting to know new students.

One of my Drawing and Painting classes on the first day of school

On the first day of school, I set up pictures of art all over the room. I had all the students get up and pick two pictures off the wall. One piece that reminded them of where they grew up and one piece that they thought represented their personality or character is some way. It was a great time to get to know them a bit through their explanations. The answers ranged from “The women in the drawing remind me of my aunts back in Kenya” to “This painting reminds me of where I grew up in the Czech Republic”.  I love hearing a bit of their story and hope that more will surface as the semester goes on.

 

This last week, High School small groups started up. Becky and I are excited about our group. Three of the girls are from last year and then we have four news girls. They all really want to be learning more deeply in their faith and growing closer to God which is so beautiful and refreshing to see. These next pics are just a couple of the collages I did for our small group girls.

So the last part of this post is that yes, I joined a german aerobics class. Pretty great. It’s a free class that uses the school’s gym every Tuesday and Thursday night. An american woman leads it as a ministry to the german community. It’s been fun and I’m slowly getting to know some of the women there.

Ok, this is all for now…I’m seriously going to try updating this maybe once every couple of weeks. The hardest part is getting caught up

Got to go Lesson plan…yay yay

When trees stutter and sing

The sun decided to come out a few weeks ago and we’ve all been singing God’s praises over here in the Black Forest. There is so much to reflect on and tell you about but for now I’m going to give you some poetry. This is a piece by E.E. Cummings and I fould the words describe what I cannot.

i have found what you are like
        the rain,

                (Who feathers frightened fields
        with the superior dust-of-sleep. wields

        easily the pale club of the wind
        and swirled justly souls of flower strike

        the air in utterable coolness

        deeds of green thrilling light
                                      with thinned

        newfragile yellows

                          lurch and.press

        -in the woods
                     which
                          stutter
                                 and

                                    sing

 

These past few days I’ve had some time to spend outside and it has been wonderfully refreshing to delight in the wind, colors and sounds of the trees. What a creative God…I’m in wonder.

There is an art show, graduation, summer plans, etc to catch you up on but that will have to wait. More to come…

“The art teacher”

I’m going to attempt to keep you all better informed on what is happening over here. In case you forgot, I’m in Kandern, Germany It’s a little town a half an hour north of Basel, Switzerland. Yes, yes, it’s beautiful here…but don’t worry. It’s also a ton of work and there’s a ton to worry about. That’s what I’ve been struggling with lately. I would so much appreciate your prayers as I’m getting settled over here. I’m still trying to balance so many things (teaching, living on my own, figuring out bills, getting along in a foreign language, buying groceries, keeping in touch with supporters, working on raising support, grading….just to name a few). Life changed over night. It’s exciting and scary all at the same time. I have a lot more to tell you but it’s getting late so I’ll be going for now. More to come….