Half Way Point

Howdy.

I'm practicing my American.  We just passed the halfway point in our odd assay at life in a foreign country.  I haven't really anything to say today, life was blessedly normal this last week, so I'll muse a bit on the language and show some pictures from our nice snowfall of the last two days.

The view when you step out our front door (below). From 2010-01

Caleb commented a few weeks ago that if the goal is to immerse oneself in a culture and come to understand more or less how it works, three months is plenty of time to live abroad.  If the goal is to become fluent in the language, well, nine months is not going to be enough.  We talked then about how a goal should be to support our brothers and sisters in the small branch of the church here and grow our relationships within our own little family.

There are few boulevards in our neighborhood, so people have to push the snow into the streets (below).  From 2010-01

We (when speaking about language this does not include Kristine, she already speaks very well) are starting to understand more and more and simple things are rolling off the tongue.  A real conversation with a stranger in the street is still not a possibility, though.  That is unless the stranger happened to live in Tuscon, Arizona for five years.  That happened to Silas and me while we were feeding the swans this week.

Lots of people out playing, skiing, walking in the snow (below).

I did have a nice conversation with some electricians yesterday.  We had a small electrical issue (some smoke, lots of reek from burning plastic, no visible flames) a few weeks ago.  The owner of the flat sent a couple of his buddies to work on it.  A few days ago you would have thought Americans decorate for Christmas by stringing extension cords all over their houses (hmm, I guess we do, except these were on the inside), but now all is well.  It was kind of creepy, though, when Kristine and Caleb watched a German disaster film yesterday featuring a tower in flames that started with an electrical problem in an outlet that looked just like ours.

Stream in the park near our house (below).  From 2010-01

One of the things we asked the electricians was about some local lore.  Folks here say that if the men want to go out and have a single beer to enjoy the flavor, they will drink a Budweiser (from the brewery here in town).  However, if they want to drink a lot, they consume some other brand because Budweiser leaves them particularly hung over.  Interestingly, we split a non-alcoholic Budweiser on Friday night and here is what Caleb looked like when he got up on Saturday.

Caleb, the morning after drinking a non-alcoholic Budweiser.  From 2010-01

So, it snowed here on Friday, Saturday, and Today.  The mile walk to church was laborious, but very beautiful.  I went for a stroll this afternoon and took the photos.   I wish I was a skilled photographer, because then I would approach people and ask to take their picture.  Today I would have taken shots of an old man walking with a black lab, a couple snuggled on a park bench with a bottle of wine in the snow next to them, pretty girls flicking snow up at their boyfriends, and the most darling little baby bundled up and riding in a runner sled pulled by her young mother.  Alas, instead you get point and click.

See you all in four months and ten days.  

Peter