Travel – JENuine Interests

Roma! Week 6 Part 2

Posted on April 28, 2019 by jenschuyler

Ah Roma! We finally made it to Rome and our first steps out of the train station felt much like being in New York’s Grand Central Station. People were everywhere hustling and bustling through the station and out onto the streets. Once we got our bearings and located our Air B&B hosts location on our Google map we started trekking through the streets with our rolling carryon luggage in tow. We realized on our first train trip that we could bring more than just a backpack as long as it could be carried up and down stairs, so for this trip we packed a little bit easier. However, I was regretting this decision as we trudged through the cobblestone streets trying to find our Air B&B hosts restaurant where we were to meet him and be led over to our apartment. It was a hidden little restaurant that definitely oozed charm and our host was immediately bubbling over with welcome arms just as one would imagine an Italian restaurant owner to be. We had to wait on his associate to come and take us to our place so we decided to go ahead and eat while we waited after our long travel weary day. We had pizza of course! Americans in Italy – what else would we order?

When our co-host arrived she led us through the streets some more to our apartment. It was down a narrow cobblestone street that was beautiful and old and charming, again ,just as one would imagine Italy – as long as you looked up above the first floor. There is something about Europe and spray paint! If it stands still it gets vandalized. I’m not sure what the source of pent up anger is in these unseen vandals, but they strike everywhere! Not being used to this in small town America, I just tried to suppress the hitch in my spirit and look up.

Once we were settled in our apartment we hit the streets for the evening. First stop – gelato!! Yum this stuff is so amazing and addicting. We were all immediately hooked. Since we had arrived in town later than we had expected due to the train delays, we strolled around and did a little bit of souvenir shopping and just looked around at the local neighborhood sights in the dark of the evening. This made for a packed day to come, so we tried not to stay out too late.

The next morning we awoke early and hit the local bakery for breakfast and coffee then off to catch our hop-on hop-off tour bus. We decided to splurge on this kind of touring since we had very little time to hit the highlights of Rome. Actually we met a couple on our first leg of the tour that chuckled at us as they told us they were in Rome for a week! They did give us this wonderful tip though, that when going to the colosseum we should get in the ticket line for the Palatine Hill as it was a much shorter line and included both places. We had hit Rome in the perfect week we found out as it was some sort of cultural week and most of the museums and city highlights were free! We were excited about this and as it turned out, this proved to work greatly in our favor later.

However, our first stop was actually the Vatican the one place we did have to pay to visit – go figure. I know – why would a Baptist minister and his family visit the central headquarters of the catholic church? Well, we found out that we were not alone in the impression that it was a must see. I truly just wanted to get right to the Sistine chapel to see Michelangelo’s great masterpiece. However, the Vatican museum that you had to go through in order to get to the Sistine Chapel, holds one of the worlds largest treasure troves of artwork! Some, of course didn’t trip my trigger and we were able to zip through some areas that pertained directly to popes and other such catholic notions. But, seeing works of Bernini, Raphael and other great and notable artists was surreal. In one hall they have tapestries that are larger than my house. Hangings that depict stories from the Bible like the sighting of Christ on the road to Emmaus. This was one of my favorites. I’ve often heard the illustration that we, as humans, don’t see the workings of God from the same vantage point that he does, much as a child sitting at the feet of a mother who is weaving a tapestry only sees the underside that looks like a chaotic mess. But, turn that tapestry over and you see how all of the separate threads and knots and colors were woven together to form an entire masterpiece! Until now I had only envisioned small tapestry works that, though pretty, are nothing compared to these hanging in the Vatican. As we finally entered the Sistine chapel I could hardly believe we were there looking at the real thing that I had only seen in textbooks and artbooks until now. However, in all truth, it was crowded in there as they make sure that everyone shoves in to see. Also, though it is a chapel and peopleare supposed to be reverent and quiet, it was loud! Keep in mind we were visiting Rome in the low season, I cannot imagine being there when the “real” crowds come. On top of this, our son, Jarod was just up to his limit in trying to divert his eyes from naked statues and paintings. When we first booked our tickets for this tour we were given specific instructions on what to wear as far as shoulders and knees being covered. Jarod, I believe, was the first to point out the hypocrisy of this rule, poor 12 year old Baptist boy! 😊 We weren’t allowed to take any pictures in the Chapel, but if we could, I think one of my favorites would have been of a random fellow American who wore a t-shirt that said “Ya’ll need Jesus!” So very appropriate. I will probably say this again in my recounts of these 3 months in Europe, but it’s hard to explain well, the mix of awe and of sadness and burden to visit these centuries old cathedrals that are awesome works of architecture and art, but lack the truth of the Gospel thereby leading people astray for centuries on paths of frustration and meaninglessness leaving them as empty as if they hadn’t believed in God at all. Many stand only as works of art and architecture never holding services or ministering to people’s souls.

1 Timothy 2:5⁵For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;

After this we traipsed back through the web of vendors that line the streets and bridges to our bus stop. As wonderful as Rome is, unfortunately you cannot get to any monument, or museum in the entire city without being accosted by selfie stick street sellers. They shove one in your face and when you say no, another comes up behind him and does the same thing – ugh!

I think I’ve maybe mentioned this before, but we are shallow tourists. Enjoying and delighting in seeing sights from movies or books. Some of the sights we had in mind for this trip had to do with the 1950s Gregory Peck / Audrey Hepburn movie Roman Holiday. So we recounted some of the places we had seen in this movie. The Spanish Steps and the Trevi Fountain were nothing like the movies. Of course we expected this, so there was no shock. But, again, look at the crowd on those steps in the off season! I’m not sure the steps themselves could even be seen in the summer.

The Spanish Steps
Trevi Fountain

As we made our way through town, we finally made it to the Colosseum only to find out that it was closing time and we couldn’t get in! This was when we had to really do a spirit check. The kids put on the bravest “that’s ok” faces they could muster they really did. But Lynn and I saw through it and felt the pain of knowing this was quite possibly a once in a lifetime trip and we missed the biggest attraction there! It stung – badly.

We walked on seeing some more sights along the way and were rewarded with the Circus Maximus where the emperor would watch the chariot races as well as another “Roman Holiday” sight – the mouth of truth. The legend says that if you put your hand into the mouth and someone asks you a question you had better answer honestly or else risk losing the hand.

The Mouth of Truth: Thankfully they all walked away fully intact!

By this time the bus tours had stopped running and we found ourselves at the opposite side of Rome from our apartment. We began our walk back which we never regretted as it is in these long winding walks that you really come across the sights you may not have seen otherwise. We were able to view the Palpatine hill ruins from an entirely different vantage point that we accidentally stumbled upon when we took a wrong turn. I was excited to see ruins of actual aqueducts in several different areas.

Funny story time: I’m not artistic – I’m an appreciator. So in highschool when they offered an art appreciation class my senior year I took it! One of the art forms we were appreciating one day were aquaducts. Well, somehow in all of my schooling I hadn’t ever given a second thought to what an aquaduct was or what it looked like. When the teacher started to describe them I was dumbfounded and made him slow down and totally describe these to me. He was frustrated I’m sure at my ignorance, but with a little rolling of the eyes he introduced me to something I had from then on wanted to see with my own eyes. Yay to that wish coming true!

Look Mr. Weaver- I finally saw a real live aqueduct!

Then we were able to visit the tomb of the unknown soldier which was quite impressive.

As we walked, we devised a plan to get up early the next morning and take a taxi down to the colosseum and try to get first in line to get inside. Then we’d take a taxi back to the apartment and then to the train station to catch our next train out of town. Satisfied with our plan, we walked on and decided to eat dinner at our Air B&B hosts restaurant again.

When we finally made it to the apartment that night we heard a ruckous down the street. It looked like a fight was taking place and there were at least a half dozen people involved. I sort of whispered to Lynn to hurry up with getting the door into the building unlocked. When I heard a bottle break and yelling pick up in volume, I was definitely whisper yelling “get in the door get in the door!” My family was amused at my panic.

After a nights rest, we awoke early and headed out the door to hail a cab. Well, it’s not as easy in Rome as in New York to do this. We kept trying and trying. It was all the more difiicult since we were a family of five. European cars or so opposite of the huge trucks and suvs of Oklahoma. Anyway, we finally found one and down we went. However, this obviously isn’t that unique of a plan. We got our tickets fast enough and thought we were doing great until we got to the line for ticket holders to get into the Colosseum. It was over an hour long and we did not have that kind of time.

Another kind of business you find around these monuments is the last minute tour that will promise to get you into the place in under 10 minutes. Since we didn’t have to pay for the tickets, Lynn went ahead and paid for this tour 50 euro. However, the minutes kept ticking away. We frantically kept checking our watches and phones. We had explained our dilemma to the man when we first gave him the money so he knew we were on a tight schedule. When he took us over to the group with the English speaking tour, the tour guide was as slow as molasses. Lynn talked to him and said “Look, we have a train to catch, so we basically are just paying to get in with you and ditch you is that alright?” to which the self impressed tour guide was not sympathetic. Lynn reexplained to the original man who sold us this “tour” He finally seemed to understand that we weren’t kidding and tried to hustle us up in the line. Security is tight at many historical landmarks these days and there was no way to get around security. My arm got worn out from my constant jerk upwards to catch a glimpse of my watch. When we finally made it through we were down to 5 minutes to enjoy the entire Colosseum! We literally ran through snapping pictures with all of our phones willy nilly and stopping only to take a quick family selfie. We were yelling to each other “touch a column touch a column!” and we literally were running our hands down the walls and toppled columns as we ran through. I was in a panic at the time, but know I would look back on this laughing.

We then had trouble again, trying to get a taxi cab and when we finally got one, he refused to stay down in front of our apartment so we could grab our luggage and get to the train station. We ended up having to wheel our luggage again through the streets of Rome trying to catch our train. In the end after running through the streets, entering the wrong part of the train station and booking it over the cobblestones– we missed the train.

This was heartbreaking to me because it meant we had to pay for the next train and it would cost another 50 euro! So all in all, we got the 5 minute 100euro tour of the historic Roman Colosseum. Ah Roma – Gorgeous, Historic, Awe Inspiring, unforgettable, and exhausting😊!

This made our next stop all the more delightful!

Rome certainly wasn’t built in a day, but the Schuylers toured it in a day (and some change).

Associate/Youth Pastor's Wife, Travel, Uncategorized

New Friends and Local Places: Germany Weeks 4 & 5

Posted on April 7, 2019April 7, 2019 by jenschuyler

On the fourth and fifth weeks of our time in Germany we stayed close to home (feels a little bit odd to use that reference) with the exception of just a couple of day trips around the area. It was nice to get our homeschooling in and have a little bit of a routine around the house. Lynn worked upstairs in Bro. Walters office area getting sermons prepared for Sundays, working on the Bible Study and trying to work ahead for when we returned to the states.

The kids were able to get lessons in and even get ahead a little bit in their lesson schedules. Meanwhile, I was still plugging away at trying to learn my way around the grocery store and run a house in a foreign country. We were also able to do some outreach and passing out invitations to the church with some tracts.

It’s a little bit hard, with the language barrier to start good conversations unless we can come across someone who speaks English very well. Passing out these tracts is about the best we can do in this area. We’re just praying that the Lord will use it to further his kingdom some way.

So, keeping it real here, my Sanguine/Melancholy personality has struggled a little bit with the German people as a group. When I go to the store or anywhere publicly it is with some anxiety. People, in general, don’t smile or wave or even sometimes acknowledge your presence. I’ve even been hit with carts at the grocery store when I’ve paused in front of a freezer section too long. Of course there are exceptions to this every now and again. However, coming from Oklahoma, where people wave from their car if they don’t even know you or neighbors smile and wave as they are out in their yards, it seems very cold and stoic over here. My personal bent is to smile and wave at people and they just think I’m plumb crazy here in Germany. I don’t think it’s a meanness, but it sure does make me sad and certainly matches the mood of the area on the cold, gray, and cloudy winter days.

Some have explained to us that where Americans tend to be friendly on the outset publicly, they are perceived as superficial by the German people because their friendship seems to be fleeting when needs arise. Whereas, the German people may seem unapproachable, but once you make friends here, they are loyal, real friends who will be there for you in good times and bad. Of course, both of these viewpoints are gross generalizations of both people groups, but I can see where they may think these thoughts, though I would hope it wouldn’t be true of me as an American. And yes, it did make me a bit self-conscious for a while as my personality isn’t going to change just because I’m here, but I’ll let God sort that out in people’s minds.

However, one of the blessings of being in a mission work for the length of time we are here is that we get a chance to make some new friendships. In spite of my above statements about the Germans as a whole, the people of Rhein River Baptist Church have been so welcoming to our family, and in these weeks in particular we were able to get to know two familys a bit better and spend some time with them.

Our first outing was to Luisenpark in Mannheim with Evan and Katarina (Kat) and their two kids Robert and Addy. Apparently, every winter Mannheim puts on something called Winter Lights each night at the park through the end of February. I like this idea rather than just having Christmas lights through December. It kind of makes January and February less dreary. We met at 3:00 at the park and when I say park I mean a large scale kind of park. In Ponca City, our parks are on the small side, maybe a walking path, definitely a playground area, or even a splash pad, but this was not like that at all. I add this because I wore the wrong shoes! I was thinking something like, “Oh a nice little park with a few lights and maybe a duck pond or something – ballet flats will do.” Uh – nope! More like walking for mileS and yes the “s” is capitalized. My Rheumatoid Arthritis was not very happy with me and my joints afterward, but it was so worth it! This park was amazing!! There were, of course play areas for the kids, several giant chess sets, a bit of a zoo, storks roaming around, gardens, a Chinese tea house and just miles and miles of beautiful picnic, walking and play area. We ate at the restaurant on the property as the sun went down and then walked it all again to see the winter lights.

These were just breathtaking. Even better was the company. Evan and Kat are really special people. He is American and she a Russian/German. They had great stories and history to give us as we walked and chatted. She told me how her family were part of a group of Germans who had lived in Russia for a time. They had a community just on the border that was all German speaking. I had never heard of this before. They both have a love for the Lord that seems genuine and sincere and growing. We so appreciated them taking the time to show us this wonderful place and educate us a bit on Germany and its people. In a day and age when time is so valuable, we appreciated them using the greater part of a day to get to know us and host us.

A few days later we went to Speyer, one of the oldest cities in Germany founded by the Romans. We were hosted for the day by Rene and Marina and their three kiddos, Leah, Timmy and Baby Ben. Rene and Marina are both German and this was Rene’s hometown.

This town was A-mazing! It had that old European feel to it with people out and about everywhere! Lots of little shops and a town clocktower which is actually called the Old Gate that was part of the city gate in medieval times. It is about 180 feet high and was built somewhere between 1230 and 1250. I couldn’t help but to feel compelled to touch it as we passed under the archway – to feel the history that it contained in some way.

Rene and Marina walked us all over the town visiting old churches. Old is a relative term here as one of them was “only”100 years old which would be very old in my American experience. However, they also showed us the Dreifaltigkeitskirche (and no, I cannot even begin to pronunciate this!) which was built in the early 1700s as a part of the protestant movement. When he was a child, Rene’s church family met in this church building for a while.

Then, to beat both of those, is the Speyer Cathedral which was founded in 1030! As you walk around this cathedral you can see the difference in stonework as it has been through many war times and has needed repairs through the ages.

We ended the day with the most amazing food at a local Greek restaurant called Korfu. My mouth is watering just remembering this meal!

More importantly we got to know Rene and Marina on a more personal level and consider them new friends as well. As a matter of fact, later that week their baby, Ben had an accident in the home and crushed his little pointer finger. It was scary for all as we prayed for them to be able to save his finger. They had to do a surgery to try to save it and now, some 5 weeks later it’s doing so much better, but he still has to jump through some hoops before we know if the finger is saved. He was the cutest little patient in the hospital though, and still had the ability to give us all a smile!

Getting to know all of these church members better has been a blessing to our family. We came to be a blessing to them, but, per usual and praise be to God, the opposite is true.

Uncategorized

Getting Our Land Beine (legs): Germany Week 2

Posted on March 11, 2019 by jenschuyler

Monday night of this week we had a final supper with the Clarks before their departure to the U.S. This is when they introduced us to a new food called the döner kebab. This is a Turkish dish that is found everywhere around here right now. We, in the states would probably call know some of its relatives, the gyro or shawarma. It’s meat, usually veal or chicken cooked on a vertical rotisserie and then shaved off into portions and served in a German pita bread with vegetables and sauce. This stuff is money! So good! After dinner we said our goodbyes and well wishes and headed back to our little apartment. We were on our own now, with high hopes of being a blessing to this church.

On Tuesday morning we moved from the little Airbnb apartment to the Clarks house. Everything is smaller in Germany including the roads and cars. However, we were determined to do this in one trip, so we stuffed everyone into the vehicle and then Lynn went about stuffing the luggage onto our laps! It looked like a horder’s circus act, but we did it! It’s a strange thing to move into someone else’s house and try to make it your own. They actually have a larger house than ours back in the states with four floors counting the basement. We aren’t used to stairs and especially ones that tend to curve upward and are hard stone. I’m pretty sure it’s going to be a feat of great proportions if we all make it home without anything broken. All of us have had a slip or two on the stairs as we are getting used to going up and down. We’ve found that we don’t even go down without assessing if something needs to be taken with us, the same with going up. I’m also hoping for some calories burnt by this as well.

Moving: One and done!

That evening was our first Bible study night. We planned on leaving early to make sure we got there before everyone and got the church set up with the tables to sit around for the discussion. Well, we headed out a little bit later than planned and wouldn’t you know we got lost on our very first time out! We left the house about 15 minutes later than we had planned. It was dark out and our first time navigating out of the little town of Brühl and into Mannheim, which should normally take just around 20-25 minutes. The Clarks had put the church into the GPS system of their vehicle, but she takes some getting used to. She’ll say things like, “take a right and then go left,” this can be very confusing at times, but we’ve learned that she means that some exits on the right have you travel further down the road so we must stay left until our actual exit. We didn’t know all of that then. So, the very first exit we needed…we missed. One of the quirks of the Autobahn is that if you miss your exit, you’ll probably be traveling a few minutes before there is another one where you can turn around. We finally got turned around and wouldn’t you know we missed another exit! By this time all of us were feeling the panic. You know that feeling where you panic, and you can’t think about the simplest of solutions? Well, we were there. Poor Lynn! I can only imagine how frustrated he must have been inside as he was trying to navigate himself while little miss GPS was also trying to navigate, and I was in the next seat trying to navigate him as well! When we finally made it to the church it was 7:00 right on the dot! Thankfully, the members here tend to run late, so we actually beat them all there anyway. Whew! It was dicey there for a few minutes!

We brought with us, from the States, copies of the study by Jim Berg called Changed into His Image. I’ve been through this study twice already and still learn more each time. It’s an in-depth sanctification book that’s great for discipleship purposes at pretty much any level. We figured it would aid the discussion if we have an actual workbook to go through while we’re here, giving the participants homework each week to fulfill. This first week was just an introduction night as he explained the study and how we will go through it. We also had a bit of a testimony/meet and greet so as to get to know some of the members a little bit better. I loved hearing all of their testimonies of how they came to know the Lord and how they came to this church. I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again, I’m humbled when I realize what a small world we live in and how Christ has permeated all these different nationalities.

We also started back into homeschool lessons with the kids this week. It felt good to establish a bit of a routine. This, of course, has to be a flexible routine with all we have planned to do, but routine, nonetheless.

Late in the week we took the kids over to Heidelberg during the day. We were still getting used to driving in Germany as well as driving a manual stick shift which neither of us have done for quite a few years. We made it thankfully, but on one of our wrong turns we ended up on a hill of a street that certainly seemed one way since there was a stone wall on one side and it was so narrow. But, no, not in Germany they figure you can get a few cars lined up side by side in the space of about two and a half meters wide – Oh wait! Let me speak American – that would be around 8 feet. We decided to turn around in a driveway along one of the crests of the hill but backing out was also a challenge. The Volkswagen that the Clarks own has a sensor system for backing up that beeps at you. We are familiar with cars that have back up cameras that seem very helpful, but this just beeps and as you get closer to any objects it beeps faster and louder which is always a good mix for keeping the driver calm as he’s backing out in a dollhouse size area along a hill on which any second another car could come zipping around. Thankfully, Lynn did it well and we were on our way back to where we needed to be.

Cute Streets of Heidelberg
H

We walked along the old town part of Heidelberg which was our first taste of old Europe and all of the beautiful architecture. We found some really cool shops including a used bookstore that was about 3 stories high with a spiral staircase in the middle of it. Katie was in a wonderland here. She just loves books and to be surrounded by all of these treasures made her giddy with delight. Of course, most were written in German, so we didn’t find any English books of interest for us, but it was still a really cool store. This area of Heidelberg is like the idea of Branson Landing (if you’ve ever been to Branson, Missouri), put into 600-year-old buildings…aka charm galore!

Katie in her element
Bookstore in Heidelberg

Heidelberg university is also situated in this area and is said to be around 600 years old! Imagine the feel of walking on a university campus that is older than our own country!

Architectural Detail: Heidelberg
Church Too Big For My Camera! Heidelberg
Architectural Detail Heidelberg
Architectural Detail Heidelberg
Because why not have a little moxie?
Heidelberg

We lingered and enjoyed the day so much that we didn’t even have time to go up to the castle at the top of the hill. We’re hoping to do that on another day.

Lynn and Jarod Heidelberg
Lynn and the kids in front of Heidelberg Castle
Selfie time!

Our first Sunday flying solo went very well. At first, we were a little worried as, again, people showed up just right on time or a few minutes late, and I mean everyone. However, we were relieved when they did show. Our kids have taken on the challenge of running a Children’s Church program for the young ones which went very well. We brought over some Abeka Bible story cards and the girls are each taking a week teaching the lesson while Jarod helps with singing and games and helping the little ones listen.

Lynn brought an awesome message called “Don’t Pray it Safe.” He’s preached this before, but has to go through his sermons and do some editing for the cultural nuances and applications. He did a great job of preaching and communicating his message without losing anyone language wise. After service we realized that these folks like to talk about the message! This is great as it provides feedback to Lynn on how they understood the message and it’s also encouraging to know that they aren’t just listening but are thinking it through as well. This is always an encouragement to a minister when he knows that the crowd connected with the message.

After church a sweet family from the church, Rene and Marina, invited us to dinner with them at a local döner place that they frequent. We enjoyed getting to know this sweet young couple and can sense we’ll be good friends through this experience.

Well, that’s the week two highlights. More to come as we adjust to living here in Germany.

Associate/Youth Pastor's Wife, My Interests, Travel, Uncategorized

First Impressions: Germany Week 1

Posted on March 3, 2019March 3, 2019 by jenschuyler

Exhaustion thy name is jet-lag! I cannot recall when I have been more physically tired in my life than upon the day we landed in Germany. We flew out on Monday Jan. 28^th at noon from Oklahoma. We landed at 8am Jan. 29^th in Frankfurt, Germany. However, to us it was more like 1am! The Clarks met us at the airport to help us get our rental car and settled into our apartment for the week. They encouraged us to NOT give in to the overwhelming desire to take a nap, but one by one we fell prey to this debilitating fatigue. I believe someone could have performed surgery on any one of us without the threat of our awakening. Truly this was awkward in many ways. For one, we have never been to their home in Germany. I was hoping my kids, as well as Lynn and I would give a polite and warming first impression. But the luring weariness, just controlled us all. Here I was excited to be in a new country and see my friends’ home for the first time and I simply laid out on her sofa and fell asleep! When I awoke looking for Lynn, I went up to their third floor bedroom/office to find Bro. Walter studying at his desk while my husband was practically passed out across their bed! I didn’t remember having this feeling when we went to Romania a few years ago, but it was the real deal now.

Our random greeter at the rental apartment we stayed in the first week.

That first evening we went to the Bible Study that they hold on Tuesday nights at the church. We were all nervous but also excited to meet everyone. Bro. Walter did a good job leading the Bible discussion, but I must be honest – I cannot even remember what the discussion was as the room was spinning while I struggled to stay awake. At one point I thought I was falling out of my chair! My only hope is that I was able to keep my eyelids open enough that nobody would notice!

After dinner we went to a family’s home that were members of the church. When they can, they hold a prayer meeting on Thursday evenings. We were impressed with their sincerity and openness with the prayer time for their personal needs as well as the church needs. They were all very welcoming and we enjoyed the fellowship after our prayer time. This is where we were introduced to all that the Google Translator App can do!

The view from our little apartment. Yay for snow! Boo for parking, only allowed on one side of the street and usually full. We had to do a lot of walking that week.

Driving was an intimidating concept to say the least. Only Lynn was on the rental as a driver since we would only have this vehicle for the first week until the Clarks left for the States. However, as I observed and learned the rules of the road along with him, I was overwhelmed. There aren’t any stop signs over here, just turnabouts. This is a good thing in my opinion as it keeps the traffic flowing. However, there are many more pedestrians and bicycles than what we ever see in the States. Our family joke has been repeating Bro. Walter when he told Lynn, “Watch out for the bikes and pedestrians. They really frown upon hitting them over here.” As if they don’t frown upon that back home. But we understood what he meant, they have rights over here and are in more abundance over here than at home in Oklahoma. So added to the observation of the driver is the roundabout rules, the yielding rules to the side roads on your right and the bikes and walkers. This doesn’t even touch on the Autobahn and all the rules of that road. you can practically feel the breeze as cars speed by at warp speed. Believe me there are no problems with people dawdling in the left lane around here!

This guy was hanging on the wall at the Schnitzel restaurant making me feel guilty throughout my meal.

Schnitzel: Walter and Dalene took Lynn and I into Heidelberg on night three. By now, we were still tired, but able to function like normal humans. This is where we tried Schnitzel for the first time. Basically it’s chicken fried pork cutlet with any of 101 sauces over it. The atmosphere was great, the company was great, the conversation totally enjoyable. The schnitzel -meh. I think it will have to grow on me. I guess I have 100 more options to try before my final verdict, but so far, I do not care what Julie Andrews says, this is NOT one of my favorite things. We walked around Heidelberg that evening and totally enjoyed the old European flair of this amazing city. The castle was lit up above us on the hill and was awe inspiring to behold! Lynn and I both felt like we were at an amusement park in the States that was built to look like we were in an old European city …but, no, it was real!

Heidelberg at night! The castle is so pretty all lit up!

This leads me to my next impression:

Grocery Shopping: Dalene took the girls and I into town to grocery shop on Friday. We started with the bottle recycling area.

Fun times recycling plastic bottles! Seriously, we need this back in the States.

Side note: Germany is green extreme! This is not a criticism, it’s an admirable thing. The garbage isn’t even near the same as they recycle everything they can, so there are four trash bins, paper/plastic, compostable, glass, and then the “everything else” bin. As good a thing as it is, I’ll admit, I suffered from a paralyzing fear of putting something in the wrong trash bin for the first week or so.

Basic run of the mill garbage cans in Germany. Can you see why I got nervous?

Anyway, we were walked through the steps of taking plastic bottles to recycle so we could get credit on our groceries. This wasn’t much different than when I was a little girl and we would take in our glass pop bottles to get dimes at the grocery store. We were at the store for a couple of hours I’m sure as Dalene showed me the differences and how to find the things I’m used to finding. This proved to be one of my biggest culture hurdles at first when I tried this on my own and felt lost and rushed. Thankfully, that church members who introduced us to the camera feature on the Google Translate App saved my life as a shopper! I can scan the shelves at the store and translate items so as to choose the right one. It’s not 100%, but it sure is a life saver! It still takes me a couple of hours to grocery shop, but some of that is my own dilly dallying around the store.

How Cool is this grocery cart feature! There’s a little extra shelf that flips out when needed. I could also see myself using this as a step stool #shortgirlproblems. As you can see all stores work like Aldi back in the States. You have to put a coin in to get your cart and you get it back when you return the cart. You also have to bring your own grocery bags/baskets or buy them from the store.

Bratwurst (brot vurst): On Saturday of our first week, we went with the Clarks into downtown Mannheim. It’s a bustling large city like most I’ve been to, so the size wasn’t too unfamiliar. Of course it mixes the old with the new as some parts of the city or buildings are older than our own country! It was here we tried our first pretzel on the street – oh so delicious! Then, for our first real German bratwurst. Of course I didn’t get pics because I was too busy stuffy my face. This too was delicious and large! It was a delightful day navigating around this large metropolitan area. Our favorite part was the marketplace that had stands with fresh cheeses, olives, flowers and the list goes on. It was abuzz with people everywhere. It was unfamiliar with the language barrier and trying to navigate a large city, but we felt at ease having the Clarks with us as guides.

Money: We fast learned that people in Germany do most of their transacting with cash only. Even Burger King! This wouldn’t have been a big problem but that even though we had gone to our bank before ever leaving the U.S. to make sure our ATM card would work, we still ran into problems. After a few emails with our bank’s fraud dept. things were set straight and we were able to access our accounts and navigate on our own without having to constantly trade money with our friends.

Rhein River Baptist Church: Mannheim Germany

Church: The whole reason we are here! We went with the Clarks in the morning to a service of another missionary in town who holds his services all in German. It was a good service, well as much as we could get out of it. We did feel our novice status here as we were observers more than participators in the service.

However, in the afternoon at the service with the church for which we came to help, we were able to feel more at ease. They share the same building as the church that holds the morning service, but minister to an entirely different demographic of people. Rhein River Baptist Church is made up of an international group who all speak English due to their diverse backgrounds. There are people from Brazil, Russia, the U.S., England and Africa all in one little body of believers. I love this diversity as it feels like a glimpse of Heaven to me! Sometimes, in day to day life we get caught up with our own little part of the world and forget that we have brothers and sisters in Christ all over the world! I find it such an energizing feeling when I am able to meet people like this! Of course this is also a relieving detail since Lynn doesn’t have to learn an entirely different language or work through an interpreter for this short 3-month stint as filling the pulpit.

Since it was also the first Sunday of the month, they have a time of pizza and fellowship after the service. This was an enjoyable chance to get to know some of the members and chat for a while.

The Clark family. Our favorite Germany missionaries.

We felt like we were getting our land legs as the jet lag was subsiding and we were learning new things each and every day. That one week felt like an entire month, but we were in for more as we approached the time of the Clarks leaving us for the States…