Christmas season and New years in Europe

First off...happy new year friends!!!

I may have already mentioned it but the christmas service which I was part of this year was amazing. It was neat to see over 1200 people coming together in a big cathedral (catholics, protestants, christans, none-christians, and people from all over the world) to worship our Lord. At the very end of the service we sang silent night and while doing so one of the boys from the chruch walked down the isle with a burning candle. He then gave the candle to the pastors (english and french pastors sharing the stage-really cool to see). From there each of the pastors shared this new light to those of us in the choir and continued on until every candle in the cathedral was lit. It was neat to see the light starting as one and spreading as we came in contact with those around us. The message that night was about challenging ourselves to look at Jesus' birth through new eyes (whether we had heard it since we were a child or if it was the first time hearing the story), looking further and deeper into his birth.
It was neat because I was involved in a small group which spent a couple of weeks doing just that. One of my friends here asked why she would get so excited about friends birthdays and yet did not find the same excitement in Jesus' birthday. It was interesting this year to look at christmas with a deeper meaning. It really helped me be excited and happy about christmas instead of wishing I was home. Do not get me wrong...I missed my family a lot on christmas and during the holiday season but it helped take the bite away. I was able to enjoy christmas more for what it really is.

This holiday season I went to germany and the french alps. It was so much fun. I stayed with my friend Geraldine and her family for a couple of days. Some of you may remember her from last year..she studied at Whitworth and went home with me last year for part of the christmas break. They do things a little different here for christmas. Most of the family gatherings and gift opening occurs on Christmas eve. The family I was with for Christmas eve has a tradition of sending all the kids upstairs (if you are the younger generation even if you are 30 you were still considered a kid). We were supposed to hide in this little room and wait while the parents put out all the gifts and pretended santa came while we were up there. All gifts are exchanged before everyone eats. The dinner was really good. So good you could gain 20 lbs just by looking at it. ; ) Meals here generally take about 2 hours so you can imagine with Christmas how long it took. I think we were there for just about 6 hours (granted we were not eating the entire time but still). During my stay there I was able to go skiing and fell about every 5 or 10 mins. Man I forgot how bad I was at it. Granted it did not help to have shoes that were far too small for me. The people at the ski place measured me but I do not know what happened. I could not feel my feet by the time we were done. Every night we played games as a "family". I loved it.

Then christmas afternoon I took a train to germany to visit a friend(my homestay sister) who I had not seen in 4 1/2 years. We had a blast together. It was like I had just seen here a couple of days before. Her mom has and always will hold a special place in my heart. She can not speak english and I can not speak german but it was neat seeing both of us trying to communicate. She would ask how to say things in english and I would ask how to say things in German. We spent most of our time together just hanging out...we played games, chattend and hung around the house. We also spent two days in the Black forest going sleiding. That was sooo much fun. We just were goofy and enjoyed the sunshine and ofcourse the snow. Her boyfriend was really happy I was there because it made him practice his english. I ended up staying two days longer than I had expected and spent new years with them. It was only a couple of us but we all had fun together. When it turned 2008 we went outside and lit fireworks. It was fun lighting them but also watching all the other ones that others in the neighboorhood were lighting as well. It was simple but soo much fun. The next day I had to return to Aix, which was bitter sweet. It was good to get back and get some alone time but also sad to leave. Frauke (my homestay sister) started crying as I got on the train. If any of you know kids in highschool sign them up for People to People. It is amazing what that program does.

I know I told some of you that I was going to keep this shorter...ok so I guess I lied because this one is not short.

This semester has been a great experience for me. I have learned a lot and have tons of fun stories and memories. Currently I am in a weird transition period. I am trying to keep myself here while planning for my return. I can feel myself loosing the motivation to really learn and practice my french, and seem to be needing more days to hang out with friends here. One semester is too short to learn and apply a language. I feel like I am just now getting the hang of speaking and interacting in french. I am starting to pick up on some of the phrases which are spoken but are never taught in class.There are some things I am not looking forward to or know I will miss from here when I return. For example I love walking down the street and hearing several different languages at the same time. There is a very big part of me which is not ready to leave but, at the same time I am getting very excited about coming home. I can not wait to see my friends and family upon my return. I am very much in a tug of war at the moment.

Not only am I preparing for coming back to the states and what the reverse culture shock is going to look like I am also in the process of doing things for this summer and next year. This summer I will be working at camp again but hopefully this time in a leadership position and at the end of the summer I am looking at going on a mission trip to China during the olympic games. After that I will spend a month at home and in the process of applying to be a teaching assistant in france for the next academic school year. I would be teaching english to the students and will hopefully working with Jr. high students and helping with an after school program.

OK I know that was long but I think this will be my only entry in January, seeing that I have 2 weeks of classes and then finals before heading out. This semester has flown and is continuing to fly. I can not believe I will be back in the states in 25 days. Look forward to seeing you all when I get back.