What an adventure this past week has been! I'm finally getting settled into Leipzig and loving it! It's a great city with so much beauty, both physically and musically. Not too small, not too big and quite green.

So how do I pack in everything in this past week into a post that should be short enough so I get enough sleep? Perhaps I'll just share today, which was somewhat of an anomaly of my days here so far, but indicative of the feeling of the city and what I've been up to. This morning, I took the tram into the city to attend the Jacobstraße Gemeinde, a church similar to the one my family in Vilsendorf attends. I met some kind people and ended up bumping into an acquaintance from Bielefeld (small world!). Unfortunately I had to turn down an offer for lunch, as I had already made plans with a friend from Rice to get together for lunch. We instead went out for coffee/ice-cream :-) and she subsequently gave me a tour of the Musikhochschule, where she'll begin her DMA in the fall. It's in a beautiful area of the city and quite near downtown. She has a simple yet stunning apartment in which we spent the afternoon building a wardrobe from IKEA. Good times! She treated me to a Korean dinner and then we said adieu so I could make it to the Michaeliskirche on time for a concert. Cloudburst, a choral work by Eric Whitacre (the orchestral version of which my youth orchestra premiered) and Carmina Burana were on the program. The singing was great and the soloists were quite impressive. The piano/percussion ensemble not quite so, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

The general atmosphere in Leipzig is historic yet fresh, cultural but not too artsy-fartsy, and intelligent. It's great having so much music in the city and the Uni student population- I feel like I fit right in. The accent/dialect is a little funny but I've been getting used to it. Mostly, any time an "er" sound should be pronounced there's a significant "uh" sound instead. I've been cooking for myself and have really enjoyed having a bakery across the street (it also helps that I have homemade jam from my aunt to put on my broetchen).

Coming soon: A few pictures of Leipzig, adventures to the Cospenuder See yesterday, and a few of the churches I've visited.

I'm sauna-ed out and ready for bed!

Another long day, though this one filled with lots of cello, rest, and a three hour walk through the woods (including a swim in the lake). The past few days have been busy and a bit rough. I spent Monday with my Grandparents, mostly talking over coffee and cake, looking through photo albums and playing a checkers-like game called Müller. For once, I beat my grandfather! Our conversations opened my eyes to how difficult things were during the war and how hard life is without a relationship with God. I look forward to more conversation tomorrow when we visit the botanical gardens here.

Tuesday was spent primarily in Dortmund, a city not too far away. My Aunt and Uncle and I visited a few churches, including one that was built in the 1000s!

We finished off the afternoon with a delicious ice cream cone each:

What has been most difficult is the death of a student in both my cousin's class and in in the local church. He and 4 others fell 400m while climbing in Swiztzerland. It is amazing how in a moment a life is gone. His witness to the world as a true child of God is already being spread through his death and a comment on Facebook to a friend who also died in the accident- "At the latest, we'll see each other in Heaven". This comment has been positively portrayed in the media throughout Germany. Already God is using this for his glory! I've been learning so much about God's timing and his sovereignty over all things. He is faithful to stand by us in the hardest times, and works in all situations for our good and His glory.

I've made a habit of going to bed late, and the sun wakes me up at 5:30 or so. (I actually had a funny moment when I woke up a few days, feeling irritable that Mr. Sun was already up before I was.) Needless to say, I should head to sleep.

Before I go, a few pictures:

My grandparents:

I wish my bike was this cool!

Found a friend near the woods:

It's Germany, after all:

Today was a good day. I'm finally getting the hang of things and it was nice to get out of the house. I woke up at 8:30am, went for a 'barefoot' run and did some yoga, then ate breakfast pt. 1 in the garden: gooseberries, raspberries, and currants. Pt. 2 consisted of raw oats, milk and banana with coffee. I took a shower (you can measure the temperature to the degree!) and got dressed for "warm" weather. It actually was a lovely pleasant day with less humidity than I'm used to. The Germans were all dying! I got in a few hours of practicing, got back into the Heidelberg Catechism, had a delicious lunch with Annette and ventured to Jibi, the supermarket, on my own to purchase some brötchen. I was almost all the way through with no problems until the cashier asked if I wanted a Kassenbong. I asked what that was and she looked at me like I was from another planet. Oh well. Turns out, it was a receipt.

We had 6 kids over for Kinderstunde, a sort of weekly kids Bible study group. Today was the last day before vacation so we watch the movie Letters to God and ate sweets and ice cream. Seriously, there's food everywhere all the time! After they left, I practiced a bit more and waited for Andreas to pick me up for a youth group event with two churches, including theirs. It was just an evening of worship and fellowship and a message by one of the students. I'm still getting used to the time here and 40 minutes of straight German is a little too much for me. I'm sure it was good, but I definitely enjoyed playing bingo and talking with the others more.

A few photos from yesterday:

Baby Hannah Emilie

Germany vs. Italy:

Geniessen Sie die Sonne

What a beautiful sight (and smell!) it is to wake up to a sunny morning in Vilsendorf! Thirteen hours of sleep last night definitely make up for the total of 7 or so hours I got the two previous nights put together. Today has been quite relaxed- frühstück, cello, grocery shopping at Jibi,a walk through the garden and Mittagsessen. The Germans like to eat!

This evening certainly holds for lots of joy- meeting Hannah Emilie for the first time and watching Germany fight the Italians in the Halbfinale of the Euro Cup. The German team has quite the history of losing to the Italians, so hopefully tonight might be different!

I look forward to getting into a routine here and making more plans for the weeks to come!

Here are some photos:

On the plane, almost there!

Sunrise on the plane

The way I love poppies would make you think it's because of the opium!

After a sopping wet afternoon- it's still raining and my neighborhood is flooded in- I'm greatly looking forward to being in Germany. I'm also looking forward to what will be quite a match between the Italy and Germany, the two semi-finalists in the EuroCup!

Here we go again!

While I won't be traveling to the Czech Republic this summer, I will be back in Europe! I've been blessed with the opportunity to study German in Leipzig this summer through Rice University. I'll be spending a few weeks with family (and watching soccer!) before heading to the former East-German city where Bach once lived and worked. After the course, I'll join my parents and David (!) for a family reunion (plus and minus a few: Christopher is interning in DC, but my cousin and his wife just had a baby) and then a trek through France, Italy and Switzerland around Mont Blanc. I hope to share my adventures with you here as best as possible and look forward to bringing lots of stories and photos back!