PACKAGE.

P.S. My voice is so awkward in this video.

I guess that's my real voice, but you know how it is when you don't hear yourself the same way...

Dachau

"Work will set you free"

The one thing I wanted to do while I was in Germany was to visit a concentration camp. This day was going to be the highlight of my entire semester, travel wise.

The day started at the Munich train station. We had to take an S2 train to Dachau. The city of Dachau. I was pretty excited when I saw the word Dachau on the sign.

Once you get to Dachau you have to take the 726 bus to the entrance. It cost one euro twenty. So like a dollar eighty.

The bus ride was fun...

Bob and Lindsey sat with me

Sarah and Alyssa were there too.

And I arrived. I don't really know my emotion at this point. Excited. Trying to not let the excitement ruin my ability to take in the information.

I didn't recognize what this was at first. It is a statue in reminding us to not forget about those who passed at Dachau.

This is the space where role call was made twice a day. Morning and night.

Thirty thousand people. Ridiculous.

I didn't really know about the different lodging at the camp.

Some prisoners lived in cells instead of traditional camp bunks.

Then, on the other side of the role call space were the camp bunks. There were like 34 trailers. Each held... a bunch of people.

These cutie dudes lived at Dachau.

There was a little shelf on the back. I wonder what kind of stuff people kept on the shelves. The rules of the camp were very meticulous about keeping things clean, so I wonder if people could even keep things in the room area.

Could people actually keep things in the lockers? There were definitely not enough locker s for everybody who would live in a room.

When the camp was rebuilt they only rebuilt two of the hosing tailors. Each tree stands in front of a trailer plot.

Heading to some of the history...

Roughly translated this means never forget the dead.

This I was VERY excited about. I had never seen sketches from this time period. It was pretty fantastic.

This was my favorite picture of the day. In a little corner. Away from the gray, there was a garden. Next to the Crematorium. Light and color.

Make my night America!

So I got a glimpse of America tonight.

This was all via Skype!

That blank spot on the screen is friends. Screen shots can't take images of copyrighted things.

To me. That is an amazing enough statistic to stop this blog right now.

After watching "The one with Ross's new Girlfriend" with Mr. PH, I received a call from my brother.

He truly is a one of a kind cakesniffer.

Love him, love this.

My sister was next in line.

This was post a dance sesh.

This reminds me that I was watching Germany's Next Top model in my hostel this morning.

So, thank you America. Though I may not be able to watch your television programs, or view your American pop star music videos, I can still feel like I am spending an evening with some of my favorites.

Have fun at the party, and let's rock some dresses soon!

I will mention that Karen was also in this, but I didn't think to snap a screen shot when my best Karen's face was on it. Too busy chatting.

All my fountains...

Today, I miss America.

I also miss Passion and my church.

Half way through. Miss me yet?

I cook for myself.

I made polenta. It didn't turn out right. I will try another day!

So, it's summer....

At least today it was.

Remember when it was the middle of summer and you saw a {fire truck, ice cream truck, cop, sketchy van, man in a dress on roller blades} and you had all the time in the world so you and you [friends or siblings] decided to chase them down and see what they were up to? Well, that happened today.

All the kids were out.

P.S. Where did these kids come from. The streets around my house have looked like something out of Zombi-land, but today the kids are running free. It may have something to do with the nice weather and the fact that they didn't have school for Fat Tuesday.

They were chasing a fire truck.

When I walked into MY park, there was an actual child playing there.

Who does he think he is? He would have been less creeper if upon seeing me for the first time he didn't run out of the park.

I smelled the smells of something that smelled GREAT!

The weather was beautiful. It felt like summer's in Belle Chase at 101 Zeta street, or summers in the Springs at 6755 C Pahokee Ct.

Running around without a care in the world. Meeting up with my friends, making decisions and feeling grown. We would ride bikes and see friends not normally seen out of school.

Yeah...

Summer.

Packages

All of my room mates get packages from the United States.

Rumor has it that I too have a package coming.

This package is said to be growing with every ship date that passes.

Packages are fun around here.

It's nice to see what kind of things people miss from home.

It is also nice to see the kinds of things parents think their children need from home.

I now am very curious about my package.

What will the mystery person(s) think I need or want?

When will my first package arrive? A question that is actually a question on APO speed.

I'm pretty excited! (You can tell by my exclamation point!)

The Principle of Path: Andy Stanley

"Direction, not intention, determines our destination."

"What feels like Sacrifice now will feel like an investment later."

"You never accomplish the will of God by breaking the law of God."

"Attention determines direction."

------------------------------------------------

"One get's to the place one wants to be the same way one got to the place one didn't want to be- by putting one foot in front of the other and moving in a specific direction."

"If your goal is to drop two dress sizes, you don't eat lunch at a donut shop."

-Don't play the "God" card.-

"You know life is connected. You just don't live as if it is."

"We see trouble coming, and we keep right on going."

"God's will for your life will always line up with his law, his principles, and his wisdom."

"I am constantly amazed at how resistant folks are to take their cues from people who are where they want to be. But I'm even more amazed at how quick the average person is to borrow a page or two from the map of someone who's never been where he wants to be... These are folks who have a good idea where they want to be but are content to follow a map used by folks who've never been there"

"One of the best things you can do is reject the notion that because everyone expects you to have all the answers, you must therefore pretend that you do."

"There is something more important than being right and that is making the right decision."

"It's next to impossible to hear the voice of wisdom if we are not really listening to begin with. The best counsel in the world is wasted counsel if our minds are already made up."

"Every decision we make that hurts us also hurts the people who love us most."

"Now one get's to the place where he no longer needs wise counsel."

"You will never reach your full potential without tapping into the wisdom of others."

"What get's our attention determines our direction and, ultimately, our destination."

"Parent's don't respond the where their children are- they respond the where they see their kids headed."

"Certain destinations can't be reached."

"When it dawns on you that your dreams can't come true, the best response is to lean hard on your heavenly Father- even when it appears that he is responsible for your disappointment."

"Yet not my will, but yours be done."

Walking to work!

So I decided to record my walk to work. Mainly for me, but I decided that I would post it here too. The music is representative of some of the junk I listen to as I walk to work. It's long, for a video, so I don't actually expect any of you to watch the entire thing.

@Skype Me!

So there I was... sitting in my dining room with my Skype on. No one ever Skypes me out of the blue, so I went to change my Skype setting to something better than online. I switched to the "Skype Me" setting. In my mind, this meant that my friends would see the cute little symbol by my name and know that I was in the mood for some serious Skypeing.

No dice. This really means that creepy Egyptian men are going to instantly chat you up, Skype you, and demand that you "Turn on your Cam!"

False buddy, I am turning off my cam, having some fun, and then blocking you and the 13 other guys who chatted my Skype. Thank you, Skype, for an entertaining night with my room mates, but I think your Skype Me setting should come with a warning.

I don't think I will ever be bored enough to try that again, but I will admit, it was nice to have something to laugh with my room mates about!

This is the random selection of pictures I took of the room I consider my original and well loved room.

Notice that there are no pictures of children. They were there. Six of them. I just couldn't show them here. That would be opening their beautiful faces to the likes of the internet. Bogus.

I am really going to miss this room. I love these kids. Especially the Hummingbird.

This looks like a repeat, but it's not.

Did you notice Elmo and his location. He does the Hokey Pokey. My favorites love him!

Also, last night I went to Mama West's. It's a "soul food" restaurant.

She has a good story. Her son is a soldier. She came over and opened a soul food restaurant as her way of supporting the troops.

I promise you it felt like I was sitting in the middle of a grandmother's kitchen, hearing the aunts and cousins complain about gas prices. The food was pretty good, but that isn't why we were there. I went with a friend. A friend I made in Germany. A friend who is leaving soon.

I leave you with

"I am watching Bones, on AFN... Oh, AFN"