Did I mention how much I love Mondays?

Figured I'd write a little about my interesting day...filled with surprises. And by surprises, I mean...well, you'll see.

1. I woke up at 6:30 am. When my alarm went off, not only did I not have a clue what was going on, but I was so sure that there was a mistake, I checked all the other clocks in my house to make sure it was actually time to get up.

2. So, why'd I get up so early? Well, for physics of course. Oh wait, my teacher did what? Oh... he called in sick. Thanks for telling me that once I had already arrived at school.

3. I chomped on my lip ring while eating crackers during what was supposed to be my physics class. (shoot...well, mom...you were gonna find out sooner or later...don't worry, it looks cute!)...it started to bleed (not so cute), and now it hurts a lot.

4. I learned about how the Australian Kiwi bird lays eggs that are half it's body size. Um...pretty much super glad I'm not one of them.

5. I wrote a German test. My teacher laughed at me because I had to verify that he only asked me to answer five of the questions instead of all of them. Good thing I'm such a funny person!

6. I came home to find the entire contents of under my sink emptied out on the floor. Guess who did it? That's just it: I don't know! Sweet, hey? Apparently random maintenance men like to come into my apartment during the day and rummage around.

7. They're turning my water off from 9am to 5pm for the next 5 days. Who wants to come visit?

8. I swallowed the retainer post that I put in my lip (cuz you can't have piercings at Starbucks...) while I was eating a piece of something I snatched out of the pastry case.

9. I bought myself some curry from Safeway for supper. I'm pretty sure salt is their new favorite ingredient, because it tasted horrible. My throat hurts now. But, maybe that's because of the shard of plastic I swallowed earlier.

10. I dropped a total of one milk jug, two frappuccino pitchers (all full), and one chocolate chip
cookie on the floor tonight. The front of me is covered with Starbucks. I smell really good. Glad we're gonna have running water tomorrow.

So...that was my eventful monday. Nothing short of exciting.

I might sound a bit sarcastic, but I actually am looking forward to the week. Should be a good one...especially considering we're going to get a blizzard tonight.

Ha ha.

Maybe a little random...

Here's a thought...

(bare with the confusion if you can...I've been studying physics)

So, we live in this world where everyone does what is 'right' for him or herself...a world where what you do is for you and what I do is for me, and if I don't agree with what you do, that's fine because it's all relative.
It's all relative.
I hate that phrase. It makes life here on earth -- knowing who God is...knowing his desire for his Children...it makes living that life so frustrating. I am so tired of the lack of backbone that our world has...wait...that North Americans...no, Canadians have.
And yet, I often find myself slipping down that downward spiral...forgetting to stand up for what I believe in...forgetting to be the aroma of God.
But how do we balance it? I mean, I'm a firm believer that in order to reach this generation I have to be able to relate to them. If I come across as "that Christian girl" I'm probably more likely to scare people away than reach a friend who doesn't know God. Yet, sometimes I find that I'm even afraid to tell people that I went to Bible school...or that the reason I can't work on Sundays is because I go to church in the evenings...or that one of the reasons why I'm decent at writing essays is because I wrote close to five million of them at Bethany...most of which were marked by Randy Klassen.
And what about when I'm confronted with something I don't agree with...like homosexuality or promiscuity...which seriously surrounds me all of the time at school and at work...what then? Because, remember, what's right for you might not be right for me...
Oh, man.
I guess what I'm getting at is that I want to be more outspoken for Christ, but I don't know how. I think Jesus wants us to live radically...and at the same time, I think he wants us to have a really good time doing it. I don't think he means to restrict us, yet at the same time we have to figure out how, in this generation, we can be "in the world but not of the world".

How is that possible when the line between "in" and "of" is just so ridiculously fuzzy?

I'm leaving on a jet plane...

So, back when I was deciding what courses to take at university this year, I had this great idea to take German. I had this notion that a second language would look great on a resume and would just, in general, be very beneficial (that is...if i actually learned it...), and so, i hopped on the 'Deutsch' train and thus began my year of confusion. Probably around the same time that I decided to begin learning German, I had this great idea that it would also be fun to travel in Germany for the summer. Considering my mom had done the same thing for three consecutive summers when she was but my age and has continually kept in contact with the people who she stayed with, I figured that I could head over there after school was finished, and work (aka. bum around) for three months, and 'continue learning german'. Honestly, I didn't think that it would happen because you all know how big dreams like these are...you think, you get excited, you begin to plan...and then....door shut.

Well...the, uh...door has remained nothing but wide open in this case.

I'm going to Europe for the summer! I leave on May 9 with my brother Jon and we will be travelling by ourselves throughout Switzerland and Southern Italy for a week, after which we will meet up with my parents near Turin (Italy) where we will stay with my cousins and travel around Tuscany and Cinqueterra for two weeks. After that, we are driving back up to Germany where I will stay for the remaining two months of summer.

Considering flights are booked, I am getting pretty excited. Really, May 9 is only two months away...which is crazy because it actually still feels like January here. I've been thinking about how I will be alone in a foreign country with a language barrier (yes...language barrier...I'm only 'learning' german) for two months, and although I love alone time and am seriously looking forward to the challenge that those two months will be, the latest news regarding my summer travels has me even more excited than before...I only found out about this last night, and I pretty much jumped around my apartment for an hour straight.

My best friend, Heather, is flying out to visit and travel with me on July 12! We will probably spend a week or so in Germany, probably in the north near Berlin, and then will head (hopefully) into Austria (to do the Sound of Music tour, obviously)...then over to Greece, and then we both will head back home to Calgary on August 2. I can't even describe to you how incredibly pumped I am that we are going to get to travel around Europe together...just us. It's going to be a blast...this is something that her and I have dreamed about and talked about for years...and now it's actually happening!

Anyways, there is lots of planning to do...like booking train tickets and hostels...for both my time with Jon and my time with Heather. Truthfully, I'd rather just go and wing it and see what happens, because I'm really not much of the detailed planner type for things like this...but I also know that if we didn't have anything booked, we wouldn't get anything...and well, you get the picture.

Needless to say, I'm ridiculously excited. It will be interesting trying to stay focused in school for the next month and a half with this all on my mind...

School...that thought is a little depressing. Ha ha...well, I should go to class.
Guten tag!