Finally I mustered all the discipline I have to sort out my photos! I´m not done yet, but have decided to split up the photos to venues, so that it´s easier to blog too. Wanna apologize for the long absence, esp. to my faithful readers - u know who you are. It was a big rush after Dad left as I had to deal with 2 weeks of washing and ironing, plus start work immediately. There´s a lot of new things to learn and I´m probably using double the amt of time others need to prepare lessons. On top of that, I fell sick on Monday evening with a high fever and bad throat so much so that I got 4 days of medical leave. So, its been 3 days and I feel better now.
Work´s been a joy mainly. I really enjoy what I do and I´m so thankful to God for that. I think the one thing that has changed since I started work is that I feel that I´m beginning to sink my roots deeper into Germany. Before, I knew that God wants us to be here, but I never knew "for what?!" Now, I have the peace about what I´m doing, I don´t dread it (other than the usual nerves when I start smth new) and I actually look forward to it! I even delayed a meeting with a friend on a Friday evening just to teach another 2 hrs since a teacher couldn´t make it.
I know that I´m earning a fraction of what I could earn, compared to at a bank or an accounting firm. However, I´m trying to shift my priorities to do what God wants me to do and to exercise the talents and skills that He gave me, instead of trying to be somebody I´m not.
I´m really enjoying my time talking to people, helping them in their English and trying my best to relate with those who struggle. I´m beginning to understand why I learnt German for 1 year! So many of my students are facing the same struggles that I faced when I was learning a new language. The frustration, the impatience, the wanting-to-get-everything-right..... I completely understand! That´s why Jesus came to Earth too, so that He could say "I understand! I´ve been through EVERYTHING you are going through and are going to go through in your life. Trust me!! "
Ok, enough of my monologue. Back to Dad´s and Grace´s trip - the German part. We picked them up at Frankfurt on the 13th of March and went straight to Heidelberg where we walked through the streets, went up to the castle ruins and had a traditional German dinner. :)
The next day, I cooked a big breakfast for the four of us since the hotel where they were staying were charging exorbitant prices for breakfast - almost 25€! I made mixed berry muffins, German sausages, scrambled eggs with onions, mushrooms, herbs.... We went to Neuschwanstein Castle in Bulvaria and it was really beautiful (on the outside). Most of the rooms in the castle were not completed as King Ludwig died at a young age out of mysterious circumstances. The interior of the castle was very elaborate - with paintings filling up most of the walls but there was this overwhelming sense of darkness. I preferred the exterior way more. The walk up to the castle was very pleasant too, lasting about 30mins. We had nice weather, at least it didn´t rain until we got back into the car - thanks to Grace´s prayer.
For more photos, please click on my flickr badge on the right. I haven´t uploaded everyone yet, cos I want to choose only the nice ones to upload. Will be right back for the Switzerland leg of the trip. :) Oh, and have I mentioned that my Dad´s fashion taste changed so much! He looks so much younger now! hahah, that explains why people at church commented that my Dad looks so young.....
3 comments:
Beautiful castles and something which I learned from it is that, most of the King's bedroom has a dedicated personal chapel beside the normal main chapel in the main hall..Never realized that Kings did have much reverence to God.. This brings to my mind about King David era. He is a man after God's heart and there are so many wonderful written verses in the Bible especially in Psalms that King David agonized, prayed, cried to God whenever he had trouble, joy or laugher. So it seems that King David also would have such a 'temple' within his bedroom, I think...If the Kings did it, how much more should we also follow suit, by having a dedicated God honouring 'temple' beside the resting place to commune with our Almighty daily day and night before resting our heads...just a thought..
Could you believe that was my first trip to Europe! I think, overall, Europe is blessed with beautiful handiwork of God with clear blue sky; clean air almost like pure O2; very scenic mountains, valleys and lakes..just like in wonderland or dreamland..; inspiring building structures, churches, etc..You are all so blessed..Cheers...
Dear Dad, I´m really so happy that you came to Europe and certainly hope that it won´t be your last time! On the contrary, I hope that it would be your favourite destination from now onwards! There´s so much to see in Europe and I think it takes a couple of trips to really visit all the important sights in Europe.
Well, I guess you could have a small chapel beside yr bedroom if you have the space..hahah. Its probably more applicable if you have spare capacity.
We certainly hope to travel more in Europe but for now, its gonna be Stephan´s exam first. Definitely targetting winter 2009 (jan / feb)to go skiing and hoping and praying that it will work out! You can join us if you´re interested!
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