Lots Going on

I havn't posted anything in awhile. I'm not sure why because there have certainly been enough things going on. Maybe that's why. First, I havn't told you about the Long Night at the Museum(LNM). Before that, did you know that Mark Twain lived in Heidelberg with his family at one point? I didn't. Yeah, apparently, this is where he wrote ch. 16 of either Huck Finn or Tom Sawyer.


I mention it because LNM is this night in Heidelberg where all museums and restaurants open up in three towns in the area. You buy a pass and get free transportation and entrance into all these really awesome museums from 7pm-2am. SO MUCH FUN! The streets are just packed all night long. I was thinking, "come on, go home and go to sleep!" There were special exibits (jazz performances, art exibits, speakers, concerts, parades, and so much more!).

One of the museums that was open was the student jail at the Heidelberg University. I had heard of it before, but was a bit confused at the idea of there really being a jail for the students or not. Well, they weren't joking. And this is where our old friend, Mark Twain, comes into the picture. Apparently, during his time in Heidelberg, he stayed in this prison. It was by choice, and I'm not sure if it was in protest of the living conditions or for research. I just got a book from the library about his time here, and will report more once I've read it. I just thought it was interesting. Just one of Heidelberg's small claims to fame I suppose.



Here are some pictures of the prison. The walls were completely covered in all this grafitti. They depicted everything from knights in armor to
cameos of students from differnt gangs (notice the differently colored hats? They really functioned like fraternities). Students were sent here for mostly minor infractions (drunkeness, dueling. Yes, dueling. Twain writes about going to the underground duels that were held betwen these different "gangs", which I"m sure isn't the right word for them. They were held out of sport and not malice. But, by this time, dueling had been outlawed.) One thing I can tell you is that there was an overwhelming sense of sadness about the place. Like all the sorrow and lonliness from a hundred years ago until the present had soaked into the walls. I couldn't stay too long.

There were happy things to see! My new profile picture was taken with a new friend of mine who I wish I could take home with me. You guys would really like her-Monika. At this art exhibit we heard a FABULOUS swing band. Yeah, a music form almost as American as Country is huge over here. I'm in heaven.=) Oh, and we saw some art.;)

What else is going on in my life?...

My parents will be her in just four days!! Hooray!! I cannot WAIT to see them. They arrive late Friday night and will be in Europe ten day. Unfortunately, I will be teaching during the week and won't get to see as much of them as I would like, but they are anxious to see Europe including some of my local hangouts. We will be seeing Heidelberg and Bodin-Bodin the first weekend. Bodin-Bodin has these baths apparently...I'll tell you more once we've acutally gone and I have more to report. The second weekend we plan on driving to Prague. We'll see how that turns out. I know they don't let certain cars in (like Mercedes and such) because of the high rate of vandalism. And I don't mean the silver and gold kind (did I get the school colors right, Adam?=) ).



As soon as I leave them, I will be riding a bus to the mountains of Slovakia for Spring Break. I will spend nine days there with a local youth ministry (Club Beyond). I'm still getting all the details, myself, but it looks like I'll be training high school students in how to share the Gospel and maybe some ESL with the children there. I'm super excited to put my degree to use and get more experience with missions. It's only a couple of weeks away and I'm trying to get my heart set on God's purposes in this trip. I don't know anything about Slovakia. Like, nothing. Which is kind of exciting! I get to start learning about a whole new language, culture, people's history, and how God wants to uniquely minister to them through us. Oooo, this is like candy.=) If it seems like this trip just kind of popped out of nowhere, I apologize. I wanted to be sure before I started publicizing that I was going. It came up somewhat recently. So, please pray for me. It will be a trip working with high schoolers, which I don't have a ton of experience with. And in a leadership position that I havn't really done before. I am looking forward to living up to the title of my blog on this one. Adventurous and learning a whole lot, I'm sure.=) Bless you all.