This'll be Quick

i'm back and the time, all in all, was not only phenomenal, but went by really incredibly fast and i can't believe it is already august when it still honestly feels like it could be march.
alas, now real life hits and i have to start getting things ready for fall.

i would go into details but who am i kidding...it is currently six in the morning and i have been up since four, after having a whopping 5 hours of sleep following a 27 hour stint of being awake.

my eyes are burning.

talk to you later!

Time goes by...really fast.

Clearly, the reason I haven't been posting as much is because 1) I don't have easy access to internet, and the more obvious reason 2) because of facebook.

But, I am not going to post an entire entry about the evils of that other time-consumer...simply because everybody else who has a blog already has.

Anyways...this will be quick. My time in Deutschland by myself has come to a close. I can't even believe how fast the time has gone by. I have been gone from Canada for over 2 months now. Am I sad that this part is over...not really. It was a really good time for me...in an unexpected way it was really good for me and God...I was able focus on what needed to be focused on (that sounds horribly broad), and make some decisions about the path of my life (away from certain influential people). I know that this time was what I needed. However, Hebbs comes in one day and I am incredibly excited.

After I pick Heather up in Frankfurt, we'll head over to our first destination...Köln. Then it's up to Lubeck, then over to Berlin, down to Würzburg, Regensburg, and then over into Austria to Salzburg where we are most definitely doing The Sound of Music tour. Yah, believe it. Then we head back into Germany to Munich, and then back up to Feuchtwangen where we will spend the remainder of our days making day trips to little towns and stuff. It's gonna be good times.

Anyways, I desperately miss home. I'm not home-sick...it takes a lot for me to get home-sick these days...with my parents having been gone for 4 years. But I really do miss home. 21 more days. It's crazy.

See you then.
Love, kate.

So Far...

Well...time for an update, I guess. I have now been in Germany for three weeks, have traveled around different towns in the south, and am now gallivanting in the big cities of the north. So far I have eaten the cheek of pig, escargot(aka snails), deer, and baby horse among other things, and have tried a multitude of different beers, liquors, and wines. I've also taken up to running almost every day...which apparently must not be a very popular sport here since pretty much every person I pass on the trails stares at me like I am out of my mind for strapping on running shoes and moving in a motion faster than a walk.

Anyways, I have realized that this trip is much less of a working trip than I thought it would be...in fact, it has seemed more like twelve weeks of vacation where I have been attempting to learn German. I feel somewhat useless, as my days are often spent either golfing (oh, if you could just see how good I am...jokes), going out for coffee and cake...or some other form of good food, shopping, or reading...either one of many English books or one of many German childrens books...yup, you read correctly...kids books. And I am slightly embarrassed to admit that it took me no less than a week to get through a story book about a young girl going on her first shopping trip to the grocery store to buy milk and plumcake...although, it probably took that long because I would throw the book aside in frustration at my lack of understanding. And for someone who reads A LOT, it was very frstrating when I couldn't understand something that was meant for a four year old. Thus, I would turn to one of my trusted English novels...of which my supply is slowly dwindling. I have had to make several trips to the Feuchtwangen library just to stock up. One particular time, I remember sheepishly walking in and asking the lady at the front desk, "Wo sind die Englishen Bücher?" She hopped right out of her seat ad began speaking in the most rapid German, all the while booking it around the library (no pun intended) to lead me to the small selection of English books. So, there I was -- running after her (actually), pretending to understand her and firing off my feeble array of "oh, vielen dank," and "Ja, ja..." with the appropriate head nods. Ah...good times. Needless to say, in the last six weeks I have read The Count of Monte Cristo (completely different than the movie), The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night (one word: weird), Catcher in the Rye (read it...if you haven't already), The Nanny Diaries (had to read it before the movie comes out), Eragon (bit cheesy...but ok), Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (for the second time -- still obviously phenomenal), and am now simultaneously reading Eldest (the second book of the Eragon series) and The Hobbit. I read a lot...and apparently really fast, cause one book doesn't ever seem to last me more than two or three days.

So, right now I am in Schwerin...a beautiful small city of about 100 000 people, situated between Rostock and Hamburg, formerly East Germany. It's crazy, when you look at the old, crumbling, simple structured buildings, to see just how suppressed this side of the country actually was, having been previously under Socialist rule. Yup...but I'm not going to pretend to understand everything about the politics of a country I am only just visiting, so I'll resort to tell you that I have been having a great time here. I've made a few trips into Hamburg to go shopping and to see the sights, spent a morning in a Grade 5 classroom talking about Canada, and have spent the others days sitting by the lake and tanning...it's awesome. I leave to head back to the south tomorrow morning (the train systems here are much better than in Italy), and next week will travel to Munich, where I will stay with another family for a few days, and hang out with a friend from Calgary who will also be visiting. It seems bizarre that three weeks have already passed by...I have been away from Canada for six weeks now, and my trip is half over. Only three more weeks and then Heather will be here.

On a different note, this trip has been challenging in ways that I didn't expect. I was excited that maybe these twelve weeks would prove to be similar to my time in Winnipeg after my engagement was broken off...a time when I felt incredibly alone and yet so very close to Jesus. I look back on that time and often miss the hours I spent with God...totally immersed in His presence. Considering I am quite similarly alone over here in Europe, I have been surprised to find how much more challenging it has been to make time for God. My desire for Him has not stemmed from heartache, as it did just over a year ago, but rather from the need to feel something that is familiar, or from the need to just rest, or, in all honesty, from the need to speak English with someone.

Anyways, this is getting long...but I promised an update. There will be more to come...hopefully with pictures, if I can ever hack into a wireless signal on my stupid computer.

I miss Canadian life, and I miss all of you...and can't wait to be homein 43 days.

Love, Kate

Möchtest du Sauerkraut mit deiner Bratwurst?

My summer adventures have begun and I can already conclude one thing: Ich spreche nicht so viel Deutsch. Oh well...I suppose I will learn...hopefully.

Jon and I travelled around Italy for three weeks...one week by ourselves and two with our parents. If you have Facebook, I have put up some pictures that you should check out. There are a lot missing, though...since my brilliant brother, Jon, forgot his cord to download pictures onto my computer. Nevertheless, the pictures are in my brain. Italy is incredible...although hopelessly tourist unfriendly. I can honestly say that I will never in my life recommend TrainItalia to anybody I know who takes a trip to Italy. Our first happy encounter with the wonderful company involved getting on a train from Napoli to Florence...a supposed four-hour train ride. Luckily for us, however, we got to endure a drawn out seven-hour trip sitting opposite from a couple who undoubtedly were having marital disputes over the fact that he was very fat and was ordering chips and pop when she had gone off to the bathroom. This, along with the two American women behind us who kept complaining because "no one on this train speaks english"...and the girl beside us whose two cell phones kept ringing off the hook simultaneously, made for a ride which we enjoyed very much.

Our second encounter involved a trip from Florence to Asti with a stop over in Pisa. First off, we were told that we didn't need a ticket to be on the train from Florence to Pisa (all we needed were our Eurail passes)...but Jon was sceptical. So, the morning of our trip we headed down to the train station to make sure all was well, and found out that not only were our tickets booked for the wrong day and that we would have to pay again, but there was a train strike and the only train leaving for Pisa was leaving in five minutes and if we were going to get on it we had better run. Well, the train left in four minutes...and we weren't on it. So, we had to catch a later train, which literally stopped at every stop in every town on the way to Asti, and our, once again, four hour trip, turned into an eight hour one.

Anyways, in Rome we saw the Colliseum and the Pantheon, the Vatican, Spanish steps, and the Trevi fountain (well...I saw the Trevi Fountain. Jon got real sick and so I went on an adventure around Rome by myself)...and much more...all the typical sights. We went down to a little coastal town called Sorrento, along the Amalfi coast...and to the island of Capri. Then we travelled up to Florence where we waited in line for three hours to see the statue of David -- doesn't seem worth it but somehow we manged to weasel our way in for free. Don't ask me how. Then we went up to Asti where we met my parents and a friend of ours who owns a villa in Piemonte. Then it was down to CinqueTerra, a quick jaunt over to Maranello to go to the Ferrari factory, and then over to Venice, which was really very picturesque, but also kind of smelly. And then finally we travelled up to the north where my relatives live, in the Italian Alps. Lots of travelling but well worth it, and I would go back in a second...however I would most definitely opt for renting a car.

Hmmm...so now I am in Deutschland. My parents and Jon left this morning. It poured rain for a couple dazs and was really cold, but still beautiful. I love it, and am excited to be here... however, I am a little scared about being here by myself for six weeks, and I really do miss everyone. I am here for two more months, three of which I will spend travelling with Hebbs...she gets here in 6 weeks and I can't wait.

Anyways...I should jet. Don't know who reads this anymore, but whoever does...I'll try to keep you posted on the travels, and how the Deutsch Sprechening is fairing...ha ha.

Tschuss!

10 days from now...

It is sunday night...and although it might seem just like any other sunday night of the year...it was a little different for me. I went to church, came home and went out for supper with Jack. Usual things for an end of the weekend evening...except for one.
I didn't study tonight.
And I don't have to go to school tomorrow...because school is finally done!
I officially finished my last exam on thursday morning...physics. Had to go out with a bang I guess.


Anyways, now I have 10 days to ready myself for a summer away from home. I can't believe how fast this whole trip has approached...I leave so soon and I feel like there is so much to do!

I guess with school and studying and work and all the other stuff that I busy my life with I hadn't given much thought to the whole fact that I actually am going away for three months. Three months. In a foreign country. A country where the language spoken is one which I hardly understand.

You know, you make plans to do things like this and the ball gets rolling and things are put in motion but it doesn't really hit you until it's time to go...and then you start thinking to yourself...what the heck did I get myself into?

I am excited to go. Honestly...I'm actually really pumped. I'm just torn because I don't want to miss a whole summer away from all the people I care about...but I also don't want to miss an opportunity to be challenged in a way that I know is going to be so phenomenal.

Anyways, I'm ranting...and I should go to bed. But if you think of me in the next few months...whoever reads this rambling blog...could you pray for me? I've only really ever had one other time in my life where I felt completely alone...and that was last year when I moved from Rosenort to Winnipeg. Those three months were the closest I've ever been with Jesus... and I guess, as I enter into three months that will probably look a lot similar, I'm praying that the same thing might happen.


(p.s. -- these are just some random pics of some really great people...Tannis and Shannon up top there with me (Jack's sisters)... and there's me and Jackson... posing really nice for the camera... as usual.)

Exams, life, and love.

And thus beginneth the two weeks of my most favorite thing to do ever...

Final exams.

However, I really don't feel like writing about the feelings of impending doom that are at this moment eating away at my insides...ha ha...
So maybe i'll talk about something else.

I feel like lately I've been so busy that I haven't given much thought to life. And I don't mean life in the sense of what I want to do with my life, or where I'm going to be in the next 1o years, or what kind of car I want to drive when I'm 55 and going through a mid-life crisis. I mean life more in the sense of why I am here on this earth, and why God felt it important to make me a part of his plan.

My brother Jon leads worship at the church that he and I go to....SEMA. This past sunday he lead all by himself...just him and the guitar. To be honest, I love the simplicity of worship when it is just one voice and one instrument. For some reason, the worship last sunday in particular really got to me. Jon stood up there and talked about how lots of times it is our nature to just bring our crazy lives to God and ask him to fix everything, or how sometimes, when we get the chance, we sit and listen to God and expect him to lay into our hearts some divine blueprint of His will. And as he was talking I was thinking in my head...really, my time with God lately has been centered around one of two topics: either me freaking out because of my busy schedule and needing some sort of divine intervention so that there is more time in the day to get everything I need to get done done...or my sitting and trying to listen for exactly what God actually wants me to do with my life...or more specifically...next year.

Jon mentioned that sometimes when we're with God, he desires to tell us things and help us out with our lives because he is our father and our friend. But the thing he said next really hit me: Sometimes God wants us to just come to him and hear him say that he loves us. He actually just wants us to sit there and listen to him say "I love you"...over and over again. And the crazy thing is that I think the more he says it to us the less we will understand it because Gods love is incomprehensible, yet at the same time it brings a peace that stewing over the business of life or the uncertainty of the future will never ever bring.

I think lots of times I want to hear God say that he loves me, and I want to just sit there and listen to it over and over again. Sometimes I would give anything to just have 10 minutes where I can shut out the world and be quiet, and listen for a little bit...and not fall asleep because the rest of my life is so busy. But I think I don't do it because I feel lazy...and I'm afraid of that feeling. And maybe I also don't do it because I know that God loves me...so sitting and hearing him repeat it to me is just a big waste of time. If I feel like I'm not accomplishing anything, then it is natural for me to think I'm not making any progress in my relationship with God. I'd rather be bringing "more important" things to his throne...which is really lame now that I actually think about it because I can't think of anything more personal or important than a Father telling his daughter how much he loves her.

Anyways, just some thoughts. See yah in a week or two.

Princess Weather

Alright, seriously.

I know Calgary is known for it's crazy weather, but this?

I feel as though the gloomy Alberta skies are like a moody teenage girl. One day she loves you and feels like being nice so she turns up the heat to +18, brings out the sun and warms all of us Vitamin E deprived souls on earth, and the next day she hates you...decides that what we really need is a surprise blizzard, a fresh foot of snow to cover our cars, and a little bit of frostbite to just prick away at our already frozen faces...

I don't know how much more of these emotional weather swings I can take:

I love you, I hate you, I love you, I hate you.

Ha ha.

And you thought it was Spring.

Well, in all honesty, it should be. I mean, it is April 3, and it's -10 outside. What the heck is going on here?

Part of me wants to just leave. And I am...but, unfortunately, I have 5 more days of school and 4 final exams to endure first.

Plus, it's supposed to be +19 on Saturday.

Surprise, surprise.

So that, among a few other things (ha ha)... seems like a good reason to kick around the old cow town for a little while longer.