12.26.2008

I feel it in my fingers, I feel it in my toes...

Christmas is all around me. In beautiful understated Germany with the quaint little Christmas markets and closed stores. The stores closed a bit afternoon on Christmas eve and don't open up until tomorrow morning(Dec 27). It is quiet and just a nice time spent with wonderful people.

Lots of Christmas movie watching has happened. Some wonderful flicks. What is you favorite Christmas movie? Die Hard?

The movies that I can think of that I have watched this year are 'A Christmas Story', White Christmas', 'Charlie Brown', 'Grinch'(cartoon), 'Grinch'(Jim Carrey), 'It's a Wonderful Life', 'Home Alone', 'Santa Clause', 'Elf', 'Muppet Christmas Carol', and I think that's it. All enjoyable watches although some more than others.

Have a great holiday.

12.05.2008

Found it interesting

I have always thought that my music listening was a little eclectic, but I have listened to 6 different artist this morning.

Snow Patrol - a hundred million suns
Vince Guaraldi Trio - Charlie Brown Christmas
Ben Folds - rockin the suburbs
Journey
Chicago - chicago IX
Hillsong United - i heart revolution

Just to let you in a bit on my listening these days

11.24.2008

Snow nestled hills

Hey all one of you, :-)

I am sitting in here in Germany thinking about life. There are hard times and good times. Sometimes you do good things. Sometimes you hurt the people you care for. Life still goes on and doesn't seem to stop for anything. But man, there are moments that you wish you could take back...at least I do.

This weekend has been a long one. Lonely also. Sometimes the hard times wear on me and I don't feel like I have much left. That is about how I feel. I am tired of being alone. I am tired of not knowing what the next year will bring. Everyone else wants to know, but I can't tell them if I don't know. The uncertainty is hard. We aren't meant to go through this life alone, yet we pull away from each other and hurt each other. We are human, that is going to happen. That doesn't make it any easier though.

Thinking....

10.02.2008

War

Tonight I am leaving with our junior class here at school to drive to Normandy. It is a history class trip and I am fortunate enough to go. In preparation for this trip, we have watched a couple different things. The first three parts of Band of Brothers and Saving Private Ryan. Needless to say that watching all this got me thinking about war. The horrors of it and everything. It is going to feel a lot more real when I go to this place. I had the chance to go to Bastogne last year and that was good but hard at the same time.

It will be interesting to see Normandy. To see the beaches that the troops landed on. To see the cemeteries commemorating them. I just found this out yesterday. The largest cemetery there is not the US cemetery. It is the German cemetery. Interesting?

I look forward to this weekend and hope that it will give me a new perspective on the awfulness of war and the sacrifice that these men made.

9.18.2008

Am I becoming more European

I think that I am. One of those things that just happens the longer you live somewhere. You get more used to seeing certain things and your opinions about styles change. I still am very influenced by living in the US for 28 years, but the last three years I have noticed a change.

Certain clothing, shoe and other various styles that seem weird to me when I first came here, I now like. I think that I will miss being able to buy those things when I go back to the states, much like I miss certain things from the states while I am here.

Anyway, I like Europe.

9.03.2008

Top 5

A friend of mine went to see Coldplay on Monday in Strasbourg, France. She said that is was an amazing concert and loved it. It got me thinking about what some of my favorite concerts experiences have been. So here they are in no particular order.

-U2 in Philadelphia. They are great in concert and my ticket was randomly selected to go inside the ellipse they had set up. 15 feet from the Edge all night is pretty cool.

-Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra at WolfTrap. This is an outdoor venue and an incredible jazz band. There was a 10 minute drum solo in the middle of one of the songs.

-Athlete at World Cafe Live. Small club with a couple hundred people. Very intimate show from a big European band.

-New York Philharmonic at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center. Amazing pieces performed. I also got to see Ling Lang play there when he wasn't very famous. Nice outdoor venue.

-The concert to yet love. I love going to see live music. I can't wait for all the chances to see small or big bands live. So this spot goes to the one that will perpetually happen for the rest of my life.

9.02.2008

I wonder if people still read this...

Yesterday was my day off here in good ole Germany. In the location that I live, I have the distinct privilege of being within 30 minutes of Basel, Switzerland. Basel was always a nice European city for me, but not anything incredible. I think that I have been selling it short since I am so comfortable with it. Living so close it is easy to jump in for an hour or two and back out.

Only recently have I started to really how great the city is. It is beautiful. I wish I had taken my camera to take some neat pictures. The city has museums, squares, a river, and nice riverside park. It is a quintessential European experience. I know it well and it may be one of my favorite cities in Europe. I think that the more time you spend in a city just enjoying the people and place you are, the more you can enjoy it.

Back to yesterday, I went in with a couple of other guys for about three hours. We walked around for a while, sat by the river, walked through streets and parks and were just enjoying the beautiful weather. On one side of the river, there is the big cathedral of the city. It is up a hill and by Basel old university. Around it is what in English would be the 'church square.' It is quiet with no real shops around and has a few trees in this one area and benches. We sat down and just enjoyed the city as it was itself.

It was so relaxing. People were biking and walking by. Some were just enjoying the benches like us. A group of guys came and were playing boche ball. It was just a nice beautiful and serene moment of time.

I am so blessed to have this opportunity.

7.31.2008

Airplanes

I think that i talk a while back about the relationship that is developed between people on planes that sit next to each other. Even if you don't talk there is something that happens. Well this time it was a bit different. I was flying from Philadelphia to Frankfurt. I got to sit next to this German guy named Sebastian who was from Leipzig. We had a grand time talking about many things for a good bit of the flight. It made the flight go much quicker and be a bit more enjoyable.

I don't know if I will ever see Sebastian again. I highly doubt it, but for those 8 hours it seemed like he was one of my good friends. It is incredible the good people that you meet oll over the world. So thank you Sebastian.

7.04.2008

I Wanna Go Home

A long while ago I posted about what home is and the fact that I didn't have a home.

I haven't thought about it in a while, but usually my answer is that I don't know what home is for me. Until today. I was watching a movie today that made a quote about home and it got me thinking.

I think that I do know what home is. Wait for it...wait for it...

I think that I have many homes. Home is one thing, but I think that I have many pieces of home that make up that whole. I think that my parent's house where I grew up is a piece of my home. I think that Marzell, Germany where I currently reside is another part of my home. I think that Harrisburg, Pennsylvania where I lived before Germany and where so many good friends live is part of that home. I think that little parts of my home lie with people that are very special to me yet live elsewhere. Maybe there are other parts of my home that aren't yet defined or complete. Life will bring those together.

People say that home is where the heart is. Maybe that is true. My heart has pieces that recide with many people. And that seems to be where my home is.

6.27.2008

Grocery Stores

It has been a while. Sorry all. The end of the school year is crazy at good ole BFA. Still I did have a couple of minutes to write something. As for now, let's talk about a thing called culture shock and how it affected me on Wednesday.

I landed in the states on Tuesday after my second year of living in Deutschland. And my mom needed some groceries for the house so I went with her on Wednesday. In Germany, grocery stores have many items, but only one or two choices on each item. So needless to say, it was a bit of a shock when I walked into a grocery store and saw about 20 options for one thing. I did a lot of wandering around that night because I was a bit overwhelmed.

My mom and sister had a good ole time laughing at me and I am sure that I was very humurous to watch. Oh man, the silly things that we do and the ways we react. Well, I am sure that there will be many other cases and ways that this will show itself. So I will just laugh at myself and try to enjoy American culture for the next 5 weeks.

5.19.2008

Here I am.

I lay myself at Your feet Asking You won't You meet
Won't You meet me
I cannot do it on my own
I cannot do it all alone

Here I am, tonight
With my arms open wide
Won't You come inside
Won't You come inside
Come and fill this heart of mine

I'm in need of You
Of Your touch, of Your life, of Your love
I need You
I need You
-Shawn McDonald


In other news, the new Death Cab for Cutie album is pretty good.

5.05.2008

Relax, Take it easy

What helps you to relax? People, doing things, time by yourself, doing nothing. For me, I unwind, process and relax by doing things with people. Especially in the job that I am in, working with high school kids the whole time and having very little time off, talking with adults and having time with friends.

This helps me to unwind which is probably the biggest thing that I need to do. When I get the chance to do that, I am very grateful. When I don't, it can make for a long week to follow. Mental relaxation is helpful and helps me to respond much better to the guys.

I didn't get that chance today and I need to figure out how to best deal with it. Getting out in beautiful weather today helped. And maybe something neat will happen this week or weekend that will give me a bunch of refreshment. We shall see.

4.15.2008

The Tale of Two Films

It was the worst of films, it was the best of films. Okay, that isn't quite true because both of these films fall somewhere in the middle of best and worst and not the extremes. Once film is a small indie film with nobody that anybody has ever heard of. The other is a major film company's latest release.

First film: 'Enchanted' I went into this thinking that I was going to watch just a good ole Disney movie. But alas, it didn't happen. With music and the high recommendations from others I was seeing it with low expectations. And those expectations weren't fulfilled. It was a long 100 minutes or so. Things that many other people laughed at, I spent my time cringing at. So many moments reminded me of cheesy chick flick as opposed to Disney film. Needless to say, it was not thouroughly enjoyed. Now for the other film.

'Once' This is an indie Irish film and also a musical although very much not in the same way. It is about a street musician who meets a piano player and they record an album. The music pops up as they play songs with and to each other. It feels and flows very naturally. The film is very simple and the script shows the awkwardness of relationships well. It is so basic that the main male and female leads don't have names. The music is solid and it is just a nice story. Now me being a music person probably lends me more to liking it. But I loved it. (Be warned, 'Once' does have language in it.)

Interesting how we react to movies, isn't it.

3.25.2008

Far far away

So much has happened since I last stopped in here. I need to stop in more often, even for a shorter stop. Just to let y'all know that I am alive and that life is good.

I love snow. It has been snowing for the last week. Pretty much everyday has brought an accumulation of snow. It is just gorgeous although a little odd due to the fact that BFA is on spring break. I guess not to springy for us yet. It will come though. It should bring a beautiful spring. I love all kinds of weather that brings out the beauty of creation. Snow falling may be my favorite though. Especially in streetlight. It looks so clean when it is fallen and is also fun to throw at people.

Maybe one day I will have someone special to walk through the snow with. As for now, I will just enjoy the friends that I have been given. Some of these people I only have the next two months to spend with before they move back to many different areas of the US and I stay here in Germany.

Time is precious and every moment should be as good as it can be.

3.04.2008

As the snow falls...

It is snowing and so beautiful. Glad that I get to live in such a beautiful place. Friends come and go and some friends come back. A friend that was here in Germany with me last year is back for a few days. So very thankful that I get to see her and at the same time missing my dear friends from back in the states.

The hard and easy part of living overseas. I am so grateful for the people that I get to share this experience with. It is hard sometimes and being very thoughtful right now is causing me to miss people.

So to all of you back in the states. I miss you deeply and am very fortunate to know you.

2.18.2008

Encouragement

I have been thinking about encouragement and correction lately. Have you noticed that many times when correction is given, there are specific items and instances mentioned of when something wrong was done. Eg: When you drove you car you are supposed to use your turn signal.

When encouragement is given it is very general. Eg: You are a good driver.

I wonder if by making encouragement general, we trivialize it. I wonder how much more appreciated it would be if we encouraged people while using specific instances.

2.11.2008

So I was sitting in a coffeeshop in Basel, Switzerland...

Man, it is fun to start a post like that. You would think that after living here for a year and a half and being only 30 minutes from Basel, that it may get comfortable, but it still feels pretty cool. Wow, I am blessed.

Anyway, I got my coffee and then walked upstairs to find a seat. I found a comfortable one and sat down in it. There was a man reading the newspaper on the other side of our little coffee table. I was getting my book out and his friend came over and went to sit down, but then realized that there were some comfortable chairs for both of them across the room. So they got up to move.

Now up until now we had just exchanged a couple of glances. But as he left, he was very polite and wanted to acknowledge that he was leaving me by myself so we had a very short, typically German conversation. He wished me a schoenen abend (Beautiful evening), smiled and walked away.

Danke, gleichfalls.

1.23.2008

News

Heath Ledger died.

Over 650 people have died in Kenya in the last month.

1.14.2008

Voting

So I did a blog on politics and it stirred up a lot more than I was expecting. First off I want to say that I picked Mike Huckabee, not to pick on him, but because he was the candidate that most of the people in my circle have been supporting. Since mostly people in my circle read this blog, I figured I would be relevant to that. Most of the people reading this aren't supporting Obama or Clinton so it wouldn't have really mattered to write a post on why I don't agree with them. I have nothing against Mike Huckabee.

But this whole thing goes to a bigger issue. I don't feel like I can support any of the candidates that are currently running in the two party system that we have. Many of them, including Mike Huckabee, seem to have many good points, but there are just things that they support and believe that I just can't support. I understand that I will agree with no candidate completely and many people adopt the 'vote for the least bad one' strategy. I just can't bring myself to do that.

So what do I do? I haven't found anyone that I can support, and I believe strongly that I should vote. The only option that I can come up with right now is to do heavy research and find a candidate from another party other than the two big ones. That candidate won't win, but I can probably in a good conscience vote for him or her.

1.11.2008

Clarification

I want to clarify the last post. It is one person's opinion(me) about whether or not I agree with another person(Huckabee). Just my thoughts on quotes I found on his website. I don't mean any of the statements to be an accusation of the US. I love the states and am very glad that I am a US citizen. I think that the US does a pretty good job in the position it is in the world. It is hard to be the big guy.

1.08.2008

Politics

I almost never step into the realm of politics, but it seems that in certain circles, Mike Huckabee is being hailed as the one to like and vote for. This is long and hopefully doesn't become too much of a soapbox, but these are things that I feel, some very strongly about and others less so. Following are some reasons why I cannot support him. All quotes are taken from his website.

HEALTH CARE:
...We don't need universal health care mandated by federal edict or funded through ever-higher taxes...It consumes about 17% of our gross domestic product, easily surpassing the few European nations where spending is close to 10% and far higher than any other country in the world...
After living in Germany I have seen universal health care work and he states right here that it is cheaper in Europe. The US has attempted to fix health care privately for too long. Maybe we should realize that our European friends might have figured something out.

BORDERS:
...I strongly oppose the economic integration of North America that would have open borders among the United States, Canada, and Mexico. I know we must have closed and secure borders...
With the global environment that is happening, this type of secludist talking will get us nowhere. There are many good things that we can learn from other countries.

IRAQ:
...Setting a timetable for withdrawal is a mistake. This country has never declared war until "a week from Wednesday," we have always declared war until victory...
I could have put his entire page on Iraq here. I cannot support someone who still thinks that we should have gone in or need to stay in Iraq. There isn't even a thought of how to get out of another sovereign country that we should have left alone.

MILITARY:
...I will expand the army and increase the defense budget...
You have got to be kidding me. People are starving on the street and we can't even get health care or help these African nations, but we need to spend more money on the military. Let's get our priorities straight and start caring about people, not taking over people.

ISRAEL:
...As President, I will always ensure that Israel has access to the state-of-the-art weapons and technology she needs to defend herself from those who seek her annihilation...
It is amazing how Israel stays perfect as the country bombs Palestine and Palestine is always the bad country. Maybe we should reevaluate.

HUMAN RIGHTS:
...The United States must continue to lead the world in condemning the human rights abuses inflicted on the Cuban people...
Why can we torture people as much as we want but than claim to be clean. We should clean up our act before condemning other countries.

GUN CONTROL:
...I consistently opposed banning assault weapons and opposed the Brady Bill...
Still don't understand why people need to walk around with assault weapons. This might be a good thing to ban.

These are some issues that cause me to not be able to support him.