Is it Monday yet?

Sandra gingerly placed her hand on the old door knob and pushed the door open just enough for her head to peek through. "This isn't the place!" She turned around and quickly ushered me out of the entryway in the old building.

"Well, then where is it?"

"Around the corner?"

"I thought you knew where we were going!" I whispered fiercely. Even though we were outside, I felt the need to keep my voice hushed in case any locals were hanging around the corner where we were creeping. 

"She said it was on the top floor. And this is definitely the right building. Let's try this door."

We entered a side door and tiptoed up two flights of creaky stairs; the second set was certainly less used than the first. Cobwebs cluttered to corners of the steps, and when we reached the landing all we found was dusty broken furniture and an old coat rack blocking the only door. Sandra tried to move it. "Maybe it's in here."

"This can't be right," I argued, "This doesn't look like anyone's been up here in a long time."

We retreated down a flight and found a woman on the second floor. 

Sandra addressed her, and the woman responded affirmatively, gesturing us through the door next to her. I followed Sandra and saw around thirty wooden chairs set up around a piano. It wasn't too long before the first woman entered after us. She greeted us warmly and asked a question. Sandra and I had agreed we'd both say we were second soprano; I caught that in Sandra's response. 

"Middle?" The German woman asked us enthusiastically. 

"Ya," I replied, thankful for a chance to demonstrate that I wasn't a mute who had shown up for choir practice. 

Nothing could have prepared me for the bear hug from the woman who didn't yet know my name, but I knew in that moment that I wanted to be a part of this choir just so I could become friends with this welcoming woman. More women trickled in, and our new friend introduced Sandra and I to the other choir members, emphasizing that we were mezzos. We quickly picked up that this was the smallest section; Sandra and I comprised half of it. The other women were still eager to talk to us, or rather talk to Sandra while I smiled and nodded. I was so excited to understand snippets, and I listened to one woman describe her recent trip to America. I heard, "Something, something, something, Denver, something." 

I gasped in excitement and turned to Sandra to translate my enthusiasm. "My family!" I couldn't really figure out how to express more, but I wanted her to know that's where my family lives. The conversation blazed past me again, but I kept listening for other clues as to what they were talking about. 

I was thankful when the rehearsal started because I felt I could contribute something despite my lack of comprehension of the language. Vowel sounds in warm ups are still the same. It is much harder, however, to sight read music in a language you don't know. I struggle to sound out words in German when there isn't a note to match them to and a fast tempo to keep up with, so this was extra difficult for me. The practice felt like it went on forever, but it loved every second of it because I was completely immersed in my new culture. Sandra was only able to whisper snippets of translations to me, but I was able to follow along with most of the conductor's facial expressions and hand motions. My sight reading isn't the best, but I was certainly thankful for those years of lessons from Jen that taught me how to use my voice. I'm a little out of practice, but I can't wait to go back to rehearsal next week. 

Mondays were already a joy for me because I get to see my students after a two day break from their beautiful faces, and now I have yet another reason to look forward to Mondays. My weeks here run by in a blink, so I'm learning to cherish the things that make each different day wonderful. Monday is my day to celebrate my students again as well as my opportunity to build relationships and break down a language barrier as I learn German and sing with my Kandern neighbors. 

Tale as Old as Time

Germany celebrates their unification as a country on October third each year which means students don't go to school and teachers go to France.

Well, maybe not all teachers do, but three of my housemates, a neighbor, and I chose to adventure over the border while everything in our resident country was closed. We piled in a car and stopped off at the bank to get cash for any groceries or goodies we might find in France. As we tried to pull out of the parking lot in town, we discovered a flat tire was preventing us from going very far. Sandra and I sat aside as the other two Garni girls took charge. It was a humbling experience for me to have nothing to offer the situation. I'm used to being a fairly productive member of society, but I found that stranded in the middle of town, I could do nothing other than sit on the curb and provide moral support for the two girls changing the flat for a spare.

Even once we got home, all I could do was play music on my phone for the same two girls as they changed the front tires to winter tires that we could use to drive over 80kph to actually get to Colmar in a reasonable amount of time. I cheered them on to the best of my ability while pondering my usefulness as a member of society in a country where I don't have a clue what to do in a vehicular crisis. What occurred to me was that my value as a person is not related to my utility by my personality.

When we finally arrived in Colmar, I wasn't a frivolous member of the excursion; all of us were integral to contributing to an amazing day. We stepped out of the parking garage into a street that looked nearly identical to the village Belle wanders in Beauty and the Beast, and we sang and danced through town. It likely looked so similar to the cartoon because Colmar is rumored to be the inspiration for Belle's village in the Disney production.

This was literally right outside the parking garage door.

My long weekend also gave me an opportunity to see some of a closer city to my home over a different international border. My organization's member care team planned an excursion to teach us the local bus system, and a few friends and I journeyed into Switzerland to wander around the streets of Basel for an afternoon.  

The bus dropped us off just outside of a Starbucks, and I enjoyed my first Starbucks in nearly two months. (I did get a shot of espresso at a Starbucks in Freiburg back in August, but that hardly counts.) After savoring my massive mocha, I window shopped through Basel with my friends and had another opportunity to be thankful for the relationships I'm building in this new home. 

One of the unique things about my service here as a missionary in Germany is that I'm not always (often... ever...) interacting with local German (or French) speakers. I'm limited to who I can interact with right now because of the language barrier, but that doesn't limit me from growing in my faith and living on mission with the people I do interact with. These weekend adventures were opportunities for me to spend time with the people I live and work with in an environment different than our daily routine. We don't have distinct lines between work, church, or other friends here. Instead, I get to adventure with these amazing individuals in Colmar, Basel, and the halls of BFA in Kandern. We get the privilege of sharing life with each other and growing in relationship with Christ in our adventurous lives - a tale as old as time.