Thursday, October 14, 2010
Who'da Thunk?
I didn't think, remember how fun that was? Remember all the food you ate and the times you laughed and how often you were lost? Remember your friends? No, that came later. At the moment all I felt was heartache.
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Getting ourselves lost
1. That he GOT UP AND LEFT
really, I think a lot of us as believers hope that God will show up in a dream or in freaking real life and tell us exactly what to do. I don't know how, but some how he told Abram to leave everything he's known in a way that Abram immeadiately trusted.
I find myself on the brink of the same question: where to go, Lord? what to do with my life?
And I see Him seek Abram, whom he chose, and tell him where to go--not the whole story, literally just the next step.
2. That he didn't trust the Lord to protect him when he went to foreign lands
Homeboy is on a mission from God and forgets that God will be with him wherever he goes. Twice he lies and says Sara is his sister, not only allowing the rulers to 'take her for their own,' but doing so in order to save his own life. This is a perfect picture of my life, of our lives. We trust the Lord with our salvation, but can't trust Him to get us through the day. Many times I consciously chose to help myself--whether that be by sleeping less, studying instead of meeting with Him, buying healthy food instead of giving a panhandler my change--just like Abram did when he left God's land because of a famine. Genesis says, "the famine was so severe that..." So severe. Literally foodless, Abram may have given up on the Lord's provision. Maybe he got so caught up in the day to day menialities of life, that he didn't even consider asking God for help. Maybe he thought that God was too busy preparing the far future (aka his promised son) that He didn't care what happened in the meantime (or that He had no plan for the meantime). Whatever it was, we can see that the moment Abram slipped himself off of God's track, things did not go well for him. At all.
It reassures me to know not only that God has a plan for every step of my life (I've seen the evidence before) but also that it is possible to screw up (because that means that everytime I was not at peak joy, it was not God punishing me, or leaving me, or ignoring me. It was me pushing out of His arms like a child wanting to walk. Squirming one direction then right back to him, unable to make up my mind.) Always always always, the words of Paul come back to me: For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.
about to start design--I really don't feel like doing this...
Sunday, October 10, 2010
back at the ranch
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
"We're the richest country in the WORLD!!"
OSLO WAS INCREDIBLE!!! Better then I could have imagined--We probably shouldn't have gone because now I know it exists and can't imagine anything as good.
Sarah, Bethany and I found tickets for 60€ round trip to the most expensive city in the world, and jumped on them. Bethany has a friend that lives there so we had high hopes for an authentic Norweigen stay... Type Oslo, Norway into google and look at the pictures--when we found the tickets we didn't know where Oslo was. When we saw the pictures we couldn't sleep until we'd been there.
We arrived by plane at midnight on Friday with our backpacks stuffed with food and underwear-tuna, crackers and apples for dirt cheap lunches. After getting there I realized I didn't pack anything with long sleeves so I was a little chilly at night...
The moment we stepped out into the street, our jaws were dropped, our eyes wide, and our feet hovering three feet off the ground. There were still traces of the sunset on the midnight horizon--it was taking a short rest before rising again at 3am.
We woke the next morning to 65 degrees and sunny. A children's choir lead us through the town to the Warf where we hopped on a ferry to the Museum Island. We saw hours of folk art and Viking ships and picnicked in a recreated 1600's Norwiegen village. Heaven. Then Beth's friend grabbed us and took us to the ski jump to see the city. Amazing. Fjords and farms and hills in every direction...
Norwiegens spend as many hours outdoors as they can so of course we bought a ''one time grill''---the best invention ever-- and sat in a park grilling hot dogs with her friends. Young people were everywhere in the park, all with these little tin foil pie pans filled with charcoal. Then her friends took us out--they were all so friendly and easy to talk to and happy. The three of us didn't pay for a single thing all weekend because the locals took care of us...Hot dogs at the stands were $10. No exageration. A cooking magazine I picked up was $24. We girls stayed up until 5am talking in our hotel room after that--the sun was up and I was in heaven.
Sunday we went on a hike with Bethany's friend--because that's what you do on Sundays--and the view from the top of the mountain was unbelievable. Farms, Fjords, boats, houses, rolling green hills, blue skies and fluffy clouds--all at 65 degrees and sunny still. It was the worst thing to leave after such a short, perfect stay, but we finally made our way back to the airport...
Have you ever heard Norwiegen?? Not to overkill, but it is breathtaking. The language has so many extra vowels that the words strung together sound like joyful song lyrics. Everyone sang a melody as they joked with each other or debated the names of berries or described old memories. I had no idea.
Now I have two days of classes left and four more until Mere, Chris, Martin, Kayla and Brian get here!! I can't wait to see them, and I can't wait to come home. Berlin is wonderful and this has been an amazing month. I've learned so much...about myself, about the world, about the Lord...and I love the friends I've made. This isn't the last blog, but I'm getting ready to say goodbye to a lot of people I've grown to close to and it feels like the end of something grand. I can't wait to see you all, two weeks actually sounds like a long time, but if a month went by this quickly, two weeks will be a blink.
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
I'm Alive!!
PS this weekend is OSLO!!!!!!
Monday, July 26, 2010
Far and away...
Dear Praha,
I know you are newly democratic and beautiful, but must you be so difficult?
I will return to you because your ridiculousness made me laugh, and your story made me cry.
Please tell Policewoman Yeatna ahoy for me!
Sincerely,
Blair
So Prauge was a great weekend trip--the 7 CEA students and Radka our leader set off at noon on a rainy Friday for a 5 hour train ride--well, 6 of us, Bethany forgot her passport and had to wait for the next train.
Josh and I were in a car that we shared with various other numbers of people. For a while I got to lay across three seats because there was no one on my side, but when I wasn't sleeping I was staring at the BEAUTIFUL German countryside, complete with cottages, castles on hills and senic rivers.
The moment we stepped off the train we all realized how little we all knew Czech, and by little I mean nothing, and realized how western Berlin was. The first night we went to a bbq (yes bbq-sausage and chicken) and it the heavens unleashed their fury...leaving as drowned rats, we intended to go out with the students we had just met, but after running 5 blocks in the rain in a foreign country where we didn't have any money or map, we decided to go back to the apt and have some girl time. We spent most of it at a KFC laughing about arm cannons and mashed potato flakes :)
Saturday was nicer--AND COLD! I'd sweat everyday in Berlin in shorts and finally we could wear jeans!! We spent the morning getting a personal tour ala Radka (she lives in Prauge and knows eveything) through the CASTLE DISTRICT--which every city should have. Prauge was beautiful (even in the rain). The buildings are all connected so it's a continuous line of springtime painted facades and sunset colored roofs along the winding river. After the castle district and some lunch (I got perch) we found our way to souveniers, coffee and hiking. There is a mini eiffel tower at the top of the hill in Prauge that you can climb up to the top of for a spectacular view, and it was worth the climb. Prauge is so hilly and green, but also dense and dirty like you expect in Europe. From the top we could practically see Berlin!
At the base of the tower there was in fact a marbles tournament taking place, so naturally we were facinated and watched a 7 year old beat a 35 year old man. Yes, I made a spectacle of myself cheering for him, but that's beside the point.
On the way back to our apt, we got into a bit of a jam---you see in Praha, there is an underground rail called the train and an overground rail called the tram. We had been buying the cheapest tickets all day which only last 30min at a time, and the only place to buy them is at the train. We needed to take the tram. Mind you, our group of 7 has been without Radka since lunch, and we can't even remember how to say thank you in Czech. So we turn to each other and decide that we'll just have to ride the tram without a valid ticket since we're taking the tram to the train and it's probably not that big of a deal. It's a big deal.
So we're riding along, halfway to our stop and a lady dressed in civlian clothing comes up beside me and shows me a badge. A man begins to do the same thing at the front. "Tickets," they say in a monotone voice and immediately I search my pockets and hand her every ticket we have bought this weekend. Everyone in our group is on their feet, everyone is talking, no one has tickets. They ask for our passports (which THANKFULLY we all happened to have on us instead of safely in the apartment) "Americans," the woman says to the man. (and I know what some of you are thinking--why would you ever give your passport to a stranger? are you an absolute idiot? Don't you know it always helps to defy the police as long as possible whether you believe them or not? Especially in a foreign country where you have to pay extra for toilet paper in the bathrooms) Yes, obstinance is always helpful... Anyway, Kevin, Kari and I handed them our passports while some of our group jumped off the train unscratched. The woman turned to me and said, "700 Crowns." I almost freaked out, but then I realized that's about $35. Of course
That night we got pizza in the Old Town square and went out dancing until the wee hours. The rain held off until we left the next day and after seeing the Museum of Communism (which was really touching because Radka was 8 when the swtich happend and remembers key things about the communist lifestyle), we boarded the train and laughed and walked and read our way home.
Being back in Berlin was a wonderful thing--especially the sweet, familiar language--and made me really realize how much of the city I have yet to explore. I thought 3 more weeks would seem like an eternity, but I'm glad I have just enough left.
Today, Bethany (Joy, she reminds me a lot of you), Kevin and I got some various wursts and lounged in the Tiergarten (the HUGE park) all afternoon. The weather is staring to cool down and it was an absolutely beautiful day. Here's to many more!
I love you still!!! Hugs and kisses!
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Ich bin...
Oh my goodness it took a while to remember how to add a post to this thing...Halo! Ich lehrne groß Deutsch---except that's not a real sentence at all--but I am learing German! My class of 15 is so sweet because we're all the beginners in a sea of proficients. Meine Lehernin, Frau Annette, ist super! She is patient and uses a lot of sign language when she speaks.
- A typical day in Berlin für Blair is as follows:
This is mandatory--Wake up later then planned (7.30) and decide between breakfast or showering... - Hop on the U-Bahn with about 20 classmates (unless #1 went too well) and transfer until it drops us off near school.
- Fumble through Deutschkurs A1 with much needed short breaks from 9-13:30 (Mace, they use military time) then walk to the Mensa for a cheap lunch with everyone
- 15:30-21:00 explore the city with any new friends.
- Get some dinner around 9pm, whether that be Jogurt und Granola oder the best Turkish food in Krezburg.
- Head home after the sun goes down, do homework, decide between sleep and shower, go to bed later than planned
It has been great, the weekend starts tomorrow!
Food I like from Berlin:
- Cappuccinos mit milche...
- Crepes mit Nutella
- Imam
- Brotwurst in a bun (I think...I actually just pointed to what a girl in front of me got)
- Ice cream--their ice cream is soooo good!
- Dönner
- Pork with cheese and bread--actually I didn't really like it, I just realized I haven't eatten very much stereotypical German food...
- The veggie patty I just ate in the cafeteria
There is also a legit burrito place that I will try before I leave...
Yesterday, some of us went to the East Side Gallery, which is the longest strip of remaining wall in the city. The city comissioned artists to paint on it and it. is. powerful. It is a 12 ft high wall the length of two city blocks with beautiful artwork about freedom on it. The wall fell on August 13th at 11pm because at 8pm a dioplat on a tv interview said he thought it would be possible to one day cross freely from east to west. The people watching assumed that meant it was crossable right then, so they rushed to the wall. When the guards had to choose between killing the people and giving up the fight, they gave up and the people literally broke the wall the the ground. It brought tears to my eyes to imagine the young and old pouring over the top and pushing through the bricks to freedom for the first time in 30 years-- like taking a gulp of fresh air when you've been stuck at the bottom of the ocean.
I think I will head to the Tiergarten now and walk around the forest...the many sandy river-beaches are on the list too. Berlin not only has the coolest builgings (especially the newer government buidings), but beautiful parks and gardens as well. The time passes so quickly, that I will miss meals without a second thought--and you know that's rare.
So here's to SORE legs and expensive water in an airconditioning-less city! I love it more than I thought, and am glad I have a month to get to know it. My study abroad group (CEA) is going to Prauge tomorrow for the weekend, so I won't be able to write until I get back, but I love you!
I'll load pictures when I get back :) look it up online for now
German lesson for the day: Woher kommst du? Ich komme aus die USA.
Monday, July 19, 2010
Willkommen in Deutschland!!
I don't know where to begin--my roomate, Liz, is from Pennsylvania and is very nice and outgoing. I will upload pictures another day since I didn't know to bring my connection cords, but as there are about 10 computers for the entire university, don't hold your breath. the students in my program are from all over--London, South Africa, Brazil, USA, Sweden and Bulgaria. Everyone is friendly for the most part, and it's been fun getting to know everyone (though I feel guilty they all know English). I can't wait to see what it's like in a month!
The first day Liz and I explored the limits of the UBahn (the Subway system) and walked around the university area--we sat and watched people play frisbee and fußball and ate bratwurst around Alexanderplatz! Berlin is so spread out and the sidewalks so grand that there are never people bumping in to you. And there is WAY more than 8 hrs daylight--The sun didn't set until 9,30!
The second day, my CEA study abroad program went on a bus tour around the city--the city is HUGE! We got to see so many buildings I've only seen in my professors' slide shows. Die Altes Museum, die BrandenburgerTor of course, die Bank that Gehry designed, und die wall and Reisctag and various embassies. I even saw the GSW building poking out in the distance, but apparently it wasn't cool enough for the tour. Then we went to a flea market to find some bikes, but they were all likely stolen and it broke my heart to imagine walking outside to a busted lock! We'll try a second hand place. Tonight is the boat tour!
Our apt is on the 10th floor (the elevators only go to every third floor haha) and we have a balcony and kitchen and our own rooms. We sleep with the windows open because there is no a\c and it is sooo nice outside. I can't wait to start class tomorrow (though I fear it will all be in German)!
I'm going to head out now, try to find a frisbee, but don't worry about me anymore! It is more overwhelming than I thought it would be to not speak the language, but soon I will be fine! (I know how to say "where is the ladies room" and "what is that" and "that is a big suitcase"!)And it has just encouraged me to learn more languages (especially Spanish) so I can make people feel more comfortable if they don't speak English well. I think I'll get a children's book to help me start out. Two people in CEA, Josh (who worked at Pinecove) and Bethany, just finished another 5 week course and can get around fine. I'm journaling every night so I can remember more details later!
I love you all!!! I miss you and am glad to know you're reading this!
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Is This Thing On?

I realized last night as I lay staring up at the dark ceiling above my bed, that in two days I will be laying on a new bed, staring up at a different ceiling, waiting for sleep in an unfamiliar room. The thought struck me in a profound way, and I immediately thought of all of the faces I would not have near me in these next weeks! When I woke up, the first order was of course to print pictures of those wonderful faces, and the second was to make this blog. This is for all you lovely people I wish I could take with me, not only for company, but so you can know the beauties and moments I will be blessed enough to experience. I will do my best to upload pictures (because I'm so on top of things like that) and update you on how the journey is going for these next 6 weeks! For those of you who aren't sure (I'm pretty sure most people think I'm already in Berlin) I'll be studying German July 17-Aug 14 and then tromping around Europe with some incredible friends from architecture until the 23rd!
Eight months ago, my precious friend Hailey planted the idea of studying in Germany in my head, and as I pack up my things to leave for that trip, I can't say I'm much better prepared than I was back then. Whatever I don't know, I do know this: God is God in Austin and in Berlin, and I have hope that He who has provided so many things in love will make this trip larger than the bags I can carry.
Please pray for me and the people I will meet. Please praise Him for the friends that have encouraged me to go and live for His glory. I love love love you all, and I will see you soon!