describing a world

Yeah, He Can Shake It!!!!

2008-02-09T13:32:00.000-08:00

It's been a long while since i've written on my blog. I've often thought about what i need to post on here, but just haven't gotten around to it. I think it's funny that this is the post that i felt had to be shared with the world.

I went dancing the other night for the first time in what seems like a really long time. In the midst of having fun and letting myself start to loosen up and dance, a certain skilled dancer comes to mind time and again.

"The Carlton Dance" should be a regular tool in any dancer's repertoire. While most are familiar with the hilarity of the dancing of Carlton Banks, played by Alonso Ribeiro, on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, not everyone is aware of his dancing expertise.

Here's a compilation of "The Carlton Dance"

For the ill-informed, Carlton loves the singer Tom Jones, who's song "It's Not Unusual" was Carlton's song of choice. I'd like to point out here that Tom Jones is Welsh. Tom Jones has an incredible voice and was obviously really hot when he was young.

I'm half Welsh, which, by default, means my voice is pretty good and i'm kinda hot.

While being the originator of "The Carlton Dance" is incredible in and of itself, I'd like to point out that 'Carlton' is a much better dancer than that. Alonso Ribeiro was a star dancer as a child, appearing on commercials, TV specials, and more. I love it that his dorky character could move like this. I could seriously watch these clips all day, laughing all the while.

And you know i can dance like that.

You Should See Me Move!!!

2007-11-26T12:28:00.000-08:00

well....... it happened. i packed up my little VW golf with lots of clothes and other interesting things and headed north in good company. the first few days were packed full and went by rather quickly. it's monday, raining, cold, and it's starting to sink in that i'm here for real. i'm working on finding an apartment/room, which is the next step. i'm enjoying being here, though it feels a little weird to be back in this place in an extended sort of way.....
in other news...... i might be switching cars. VW for VW. i'll keep you posted. cause you're dying to know.

I wanted a deer..... i got a deer..... kinda.

2007-11-11T16:51:00.000-08:00

i've only been hunting twice in my life. i've never had a hunting license, so i just go to spot. you know.... "THERE'S A SQUIRREL!!! SHOOT THE SQUIRREL!!!!" i'll just say that a number of squirrels were shot, solely because of my presence. moving on.....

scott from work talks about hunting, guns and whatnot on a regular basis at work. i mentioned once that i'd only been hunting one time and since then he's been offering that i could go along some time.

it's archery season here in virginia, so i finally took up his offer and went along with he and his son, chance.

nothing crazy happened. i dressed warm, happy to be able my boots. they were in camouflage. we climbed up into a tree stand and waited. and waited. and waited. i'd say we were up there for over 2 hours. as scott said, 'the woods were dead.' we didn't see any animals besides birds the whole time. i wasn't really expecting to see any carnage, but thought i'd be nice if it'd happen. or at least to see something.

once again.... WE SAW NOTHING!!!!

then today, November 11th, my 28th birthday, began.....
it began quite nicely, i might say. mindy called just after midnight to wish me a birthday. then my mom had a birthday cupcake waiting for me when i got upstairs. i left for church, running late for worship team practice.

about 4 minutes after leaving home, i followed the road through some woods, moving at around 45 mph, and right when it was opening up into a field i saw something at my far right and then BANG!!!!! my passenger side window exploded and glass flew all over my car.

i knew right away that it had to be a deer. i was pretty shocked, but slowed down while checking my rear-view mirror and seeing the deer lying in the road. i pulled into the next driveway, cleaned the glass off my clothes and out of my hair, and started walking back down the road towards the 'scene of the attack.'

i guy had been driving behind me and was now coming up the road. he slowed down to ask if i was ok. he said that he had seen the deer coming towards my car and there was pretty much nothing to be done. i was bolting across the road and just had either terrible or wonderful timing, depending on how you look at it. it ended up laying on the road for a few seconds before getting up and running off.

the damage........ passenger side window completely broken and scattered across my car, side mirror broken off with mirror shards throughout the inside of my car, a third of my windshield shattered and knocked in, dents and scratches on the side and front panel of my car, deer hair stuck on the window and door. i think that about cover's it.

so, to rap this up. i sat up a tree in the cold for 2 hours hoping to get a glimpse of a deer and was disappointed. then this morning, one came to me.

Easy....... Fun....... Tasty

2007-11-10T08:35:00.001-08:00

I haven't written on here in a long time. i'll be writing more very soon about other interesting things in my life, but first.....

i saw this on the BBC News website and had to check it out.

www.freerice.com is just awesome. you click on a word that best defines the word above. If you get it right, they donate 10 grains of rice to the United Nations World Food Program. If you get it wrong, you get an easier word. so either way, sometime you're probably going to get a word right. or am i right? or am i right?

I just did it and got to vocab level 33, with 280 grams donated. my brain hurts, so i think i'll come back later and start over. they definitely find some interesting words.

so, enjoy..... learning and helping others.

Where Can I Go With That?

2007-09-01T14:00:00.000-07:00

I finally got around to using a day of vacation. It's been about 10 months now that i've been working for Munns Manufacturing. I never wanted to ask for a day off, cause i felt bad leaving the other guys to work overtime. anyhow. i finally decided that the benefits outweighed my negative feelings of leaving the guys hanging.

So i go to my boss and ask how many days of vacation i had saved up, not having taken any days yet. 10 months of work. if you're in Germany you might be thinking something like 4 weeks. that would be acceptable. if you're from the states, you know that's ridiculous.

30 hours. that's right. just 3 of my normal 10 hour days. not a week or maybe even 2. i MIGHT come out of this whole year of work with a week of vacation. that, i might add, includes working mostly 50 hour weeks.

so what can you do in a week of vacation? sorry folks, but i'm not flying to Germany for a week. i'd rather quit work and make it a 2 month trip. a week is nuts. i'll probably just end up using a couple days to make some long weekends, then a super long weekend to go somewhere further away, like the beach or the mountains, or........ probably to lancaster.

why, you may ask, is this such a big deal? i find myself working and dreaming of what i could do with 5 weeks of vacation. why do we work so much and get so little vacation? why are our lives so overshadowed by this work junk? work so much that your vacation is you trying to get back the lost life/energy that was sucked out of you by work. yeah..... i'm exaggerating. :-) but it kinda does feel like that. between the driving, the unpacking, packing and driving, it feels like such a short time to be and enjoy. no 3 weeks........ more like 3 days.

I found this chart online, which got me thinking about this again. finland: 44 , Germany: 35 , USA: 25. ahhhhhhh, but may i point out that germany's 24 minimum paid vacation days are a definite. no ifs, ands or buts. the USA, however, has a cute little footnote thinger. we have no law that sets a minimum amount of paid vacation. so those 15 days that they're counting are an average for employees "with 10 years of service."

I'm enjoying my extended weekend, but can't ignore that little kick in the gut that reminds me what all this work isn't getting me. or....... i guess i'm not so worried about myself. i'll be ok. but my co-workers, working over time to make ends meet and to enjoy those few hours/days that they get to spend with their kids amidst it all, or waiting for friday to drive to their cabin to soak in every minute of escape that they've fought for. i wish they'd get to have a 5 or even 3 week vacation getaway with their families.

i know i'd see a difference in their eyes when they'd get back.

Ein Jahr.

2007-08-01T19:35:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking about this for a while..... i left germany and arrived back in the US one year ago.

time flies by... on the one hand it feels like so much has happened/changed since then, yet it's all still so vivid in my mind. i think about germany all the time, day dream about what i miss, talk to myself in german, and just still feel really connected.

three and a half years. that's a long time to spend somewhere. definitely longer than one year.

ganz sicher.

i was planning to write alot more, but i'm just so tired from work today. :-/

Can't Wait to Hear the Star Spangled Banner.

2007-07-21T14:19:00.000-07:00

I'm been working at Munns Manufacturing the past 9 months and most days we listen to the WCYK 99.7, a local country radio station. Besides playing the same songs over and over and over again every day, the station also has a creative way of announcing the lunch hour.

When twelve o'clock rolls around, there's a short pause and then it begins..... The Star Spangled Banner
. An accapella men's vocal arrangement signals that i am free to sit down for the wonderful half hour lunch break.

So whether or not i'm a super patriot....... i look forward to hearing the national anthem every day, hopefully as quickly as possible.

Allergic to....... America?

2007-05-29T20:29:00.000-07:00

Growing up in pennsylvania, my allergies usually got really bad twice a year. i'd have several completely miserable days where i'd be sneezing all day long, blowing my nose, wiping snot all over the place,.... you get the picture. it just drains your energy and frustrates you. i'd get the good meds to help me make it through the day.Then i moved to germany. my allergies barely bothered me at all in germany in the 3 and a half years that i was there. i might have had slight sniffles one day, but not even enough to take medication or really be bothered by them. i thought about it and enjoyed the notion of not being tortured twice a year.

.....now i'm back in the US. we're in that spring/summer phase thing with stuff blooming/blossoming and lots of pollen in the air. i don't know what it is, but there's SOMETHING in america that i'm allergic to.

Work today was unbearable. i somehow felt that it would be a rough day, so i took a handkerchief along in my back pocket. i was constantly pulling it out to blow my nose or sneezing all over the place. it was soaked before lunch and i was miserable, wondering if i could go home early because of allergies. i pushed on through the day, wishing it would all be over and wondering what i could get some medication.

Long story short, i called my mom and found out that she had some hidden at home. i'm happy to say that i made it through bible study this evening without snorting loudly, sneezing, or hocking up snot.

i wish i knew exactly what it is that i'm reacting to. or could it just be america?

The Scanning has Begun!!!!

2007-05-27T17:59:00.001-07:00

I've been wanting a scanner for a long time and just wasn't able to make a decision about which one to get. right. indecisive. i want to scan all the old pictures that we have laying around, from my immediate family, great great great grandparents, friends and all that good stuff.
long story short, i made a decision and bought a scanner.
I got a Canon Canoscan 4400F online and after receiving it several days ago have started scanning such wonderful pictures as this one.As you can see, being able to put pictures like this online was well worth the investment. i'll be scanning alot more and posting lots online.

Yeah, I'm Movin on Up....

2007-05-02T16:17:00.000-07:00

Well folks, my time in Virginia is about to come to an end. As of May 14th, I will be working as a Refugee Case Manager/Social Worker for Lutheran Refugee Services in Lancaster, PA.
I've really really enoyed my time here in virginia with my family, new friends, church and work. when i came back from germany, i figured that i wouldn't stay here very long and didn't make much of an effort of integrating myself or puttin down my roots.
Despite that, I started relaxing in the little amount of time that i wasn't working.
So when the job offer came, the decision was harder than i thought it would be. I didn't give a straight up "yep. i'll take it." it was more like "umm........ i'd like the weekend to think about it."
i had been hoping for a job like this since i got back from germany. i'll be working with refugees, helping them to overcome obstacles to employment, whatever they might be.
i'm really looking forward to starting this new job after spending the last 6 months building steeples and wondering what my next step in life should be. the decision was also hard because i had been toying with the idea of going back to school for a masters in social psychology or international studies. i just don't think i'm the greatest student. :-) change that......... i don't like to study.
my first day of work will be in philadelphia, then it's back to lancaster. it feels strange moving back to lancaster, the place where i spent 20 years of my life.

things have changed. i've changed. i'm shaking just thinking about it.
starting over. again.

oh. did i mention that i wanna buy a house?

Letters of Christmas Past.

2007-03-14T19:10:00.000-07:00

Our family has sent out yearly christmas letters for who knows how long. My mom keeps everything. This year she came up with the cool idea to give us each a copy of all the christmas letters from 1984 - 2006. There are lots of memories in there and i thought it'd be cool to share some excerpts. Parts may be difficult to understand without background information, but you'll get it.
enjoy........

1984- Jared's love is nursery school. He can't wait to go on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. He's making lots of friends and enjoying himself. He's also feeling his oats with his brothers and standing his ground. No one pushes him around. Of course, that makes for some fun bouts sometimes.

1985- another highlight of our year was a trip to Disney World in Orlando in July. We sunned on the beaches of St. Petersburg, enjoyed a visit to Kennedy Space Center, and greeted Miceky and friends with a smile.....
Jared started kindergarten this year and loves it. He takes special care of our new hamster "Nibbles".

1988- Jared is a third grader at Quarryville Elementary School. His big thing this year was getting glasses, which he was looking forward to. He now tells everyone, "and now I look like my daddy." To show you how active he is, in a short time he has bent or brokern off 3 arms on his glasses in sporting events......
Jared loves Garfield. In his room you find a complete Garfield library, posters, and stuffed animals.
This seemed to be the "year of the pet" at the Hankee house. Jared started it off with a hamster for his birthday, which died after one week. We still can't figure ou twhat happened. We now have two rabbits which belong to Seth and Tom. They bring them into the house regularly and even want to train them to walk on a leash. (Janet and I might try that with them if it works with the rabbits).

1990- Bruce's father died in September, after a year-long bout with brain cancer.....
In mid-October Tom announced that he was leavning our home, feeling the call to independent living and hte opportunity to "be on his own."

1992- Jared officially announced that Bruce is now the shortest one in the family.

1993- One of the highlights of the year for us was hosting an exchange student from Spain, Miguel Alonzo, for 4 weeks in July. He fit irhgt into the family and we enjoyed taking him with us to Pine Lake Family Camp in Wisconsin.
Jared is an 8th grader at Lancaster Christian and has decided that he will spend his high school years at Lancaster Mennonite High School. Jared played goalie in LCS's soccer team and is currently playing on the basketball team.

1997- Jared, who turned 18 in November and got his braces off as a birthday present, is a senior at Lancaster Mennonite High School. Jared and several of his friends have a "Happy Campers" group. They love to camp out under the stars, even in sub-zero weather. In August, 1996, Jared spent three weeks in Pamplona, Spain, visiting an exchange guest, Miguel Alonzo, that we hosted several times. He works part-time at a local Chinese restaurant and still loveds to play his guitar with friends and at school chapel services.

1998- Jared just completed his first semester at Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, Va, where he is majoring in Peace, Justice and Conflict Studies and singing in the EMU Chorale.

1999- Jared left for Albania November 31 and will return home August 15,2000. On March 8 Janet's Father, Homer Luckenbill, Jr., suffered a stroke and brain hemmorage that left him critically ill.

2000- After fasting and praying for several months at the end of his mission, the Lord led Jared to move into Lancaster at 362 S. Ann St., Lancaster, PA into a discipleship house with 5 other Christian friends.

2003- This time last year janet, Bruce and Seth celbrated Christmas in Germany while visiting our son, Jared, during his InterMenno mission experience. Jared returned home in August from his year in Germany and Switzerland.

After 21 years as pastor of St. Paul's Church, Quarryville, Bruce has accepted a call to pastor Greenmonte Mennonite Church in Stuarts Draft, VA. The Hand of God has been so evident in this call in so many ways. We sold our house on Friday, November 21, the first day on the market.

2004- Jared is still serving in Germany as the coordinator of the German Mennonite Church's refugee resettlement and asylum ministry.

2006- Jared completed 3 years of mission in Germany, arriving home july 31. he is living with us and has a temporary job building church steeples in waynesboro until he decided what the next step will be. Jared left in early september and completed a seven week cross country road trip to california, putting 10,000 miles on his car. He is enjoying reconnecting with seth and playing guitar on the church's worship team.

I know that i mostly included what was written about me, but it would have been so.............. much. i'm you're intested, i'll tell you what happened to who on what year. There was generally about a paragraph per person each year.

diary entry from Feb 14. 2007

2007-03-10T09:49:00.000-08:00

"Well, It's valentines day and the power is out. No wishing anyone a happy V-day by email or anything like that. No Yoko Ono for me.

It's funny, but this is the type of evening that I've been wanting for a while. It feels like switzerland. The lights are all out, the stars are shining like nobody's business, candles are lit, I'm just sitting and relaxing. No TV, no internet, no distractions. Just peace and quiet and time that just welcomes you to be at ease.

It's almost as if i can look across the valley to see the snow shining by moonlight and the farmhouses that dot the hillside. Warm tea in my hand, my hostparents' guitar and just.......... time.

I think there's a big difference in being isolated from the world with your view blocked by trees or mountains so that you can't see anyting... and being isolated with the ability to look out over the world that is quiet and yet distinctly seperate from you. Alone, just being, and nudging the world along and witnessing the small wonders. A cow bell from across the valley. Smoke from a farm house chimney glowing in the night.

Just taking in the world."

thinkin.

2007-03-03T14:48:00.000-08:00

so....... i'm sick. i missed 2 days of work, saturday is almost gone and i'm still pretty darn sick. i was hoping to beat this thing over the weekend, but it's looking like that won't happen.
i started housesitting wednesday night for a couple from my church that's out of the country for a couple months. that means i'm sick in a house by myself. the tv isn't working right now, so i've been reading some.
but if being sick is good for anything, it's good for making you think. think about life, family, the past, friends, faith, love, where you're headed, how nasty it is to be sick.
who knows. if i stay sick much longer, i may have it all figured out.

Bruce. The Man. The Legend.

2007-02-18T18:43:00.000-08:00

Months ago i wrote on here about my dad's cancer, surgery and recovery. it's odd to think that 3 months ago on my birthday he was laying in the hospital in lancaster. He had a really quick recovery and was blessed to not have all the normal problems that often come with his surgery.
He's been pushing himself hard to get back in shape and to continue to lose weight, doing great on both of those. you wouldn't be able to tell that he had major surgery 3 months ago.
The past week brought around my dad's 57th birthday. the man took it all in stride and shows no signs of slowing down.....
basketball season is coming to an end, but he kept fit with his favorite past time, reffing basketball games. here's a little clip of a game i showed up at.
Another year has passed and i continue to be blessed to have an awesome, loving dad.

my first trip with work.

2007-01-14T18:44:00.000-08:00

I've been working at Munns Manufacturing for about 2 months now. We build steeples, which means that we also deliver them so they can be installed. There are several guys that drive for most deliveries.

We'd been working on a steeple for a while that was to go on library in Toms River, New Jersey. This thing took forever. We had to put copper shingles on the top of it, cleaning the copper first, then spraying it with a solution to start the patina process.

Then, we had to take part of the steeple apart to get it out the door and so that it wouldn't be too large to be delivered. This past monday morning 4 of us left with 2 trucks and trailers. It was a 4 day trip with all the driving, re-assembling, and installation.

I had lots of fun with the good company of my co-workers. Oh, i should mention that the steeple went on an old church building that's attached to the library and which will be turned into a coffee shop/cafe.

This is what it looked like when we arrived. Most of the gables and one side were not attached. It took us a full day to re-attach the one side and the gables, all while it was still on the trailer.

I was gonna comment on all this, but it's pretty self-explanatory and i'm tired. We certainly had issues with putting it back together and getting it placed. Ask me if you wanna know.

Before the Cut.

2007-01-07T16:09:00.000-08:00

The last time i had had my hair cut was at the beginning of september for brad's wedding. i'd been hearing "about time for a haircut, isn't it?" for a while. so before my sister and law, melissa, cut it at a christmas get-together, i felt the need to document my mane before it got chopped and i shaved off my facial stubble as well.

You can tell that i kinda enjoyed this.

Stuck on the inside.

2006-12-10T18:13:00.000-08:00

I was at work saturday morning to help finish a steeple that we needed to get ready to ship to wisconsin. It's not a big steeple, so the inner structure isn't very large. someone needed to climb up inside the steeple, which is lying on it's side, to put some rivets on the inside. the inner structure is a long narrow pyramid, with braces holding it together, making several squares on the inside, getting smaller towards the top.
the 4 of us there started discussing who would fit through the second to last square in the structure, where you would need to rivet the pieces into place. long story short, i tried and just barely fit my upper body through, having to push one arm and shoulder through first, and then the second. it was a really tight fit.
the square was 11' 3/8 inches (29 cm) across. the fun started when i tried to get back out. i pushed an arm back through and started trying to squeeze out. it didn't work. i layed in side for several minutes, trying different angles and techniques.

the thoughts ran through my mind.......... is blood rushing to my muscles, so i can't fit back out....... can i crawl out another way......how would they get me out of here if i'm really stuck........this things would 10s of thousands of dollars....... oh man, how dumb.

I finally found the right angle to get my second shoulder back through the hole. I spent the rest of the day thinking about that hopeless feeling. the bruising on my ribs helped keep the reality of the stupity of my actions, or what could have been, running through my mind.

My shortlived taste of helplessness and fear........

I was listening to a show on public radio on the way home from church the other week and was interested and hit pretty hard by what was on. it was a special on juvenial delinquents. In no other country are youth treated like they are in the US legal system. In certain cases, youth can be charged and sentenced as adults. the craziest part of the program, or of US laws in this area, is a law in the state of Colorado that says that a youth that is involved in acrime where someone is murdered can be sentenced to life in prison without bail. That means..... I'm 15. my friends and I decide to rob a store, but not to hurt anyone. i don't bring a gun, but a friend of mine does and ends up shooting and killing someone................... I, go to jail for the rest of my life.

Crazy stuff. This law just seems crazy to me. I don't understand how we can have laws that are just this brutal. I've never had someone close to me that's been murdered and can't say that i can even begin to know how victims' families feel, but this just seems wrong in so many ways.

I can't imagine going to jail as a 15 year old, knowing that i'll never get back out again. never live a normal life again. that, and the thought of being in jail just scares the bagibits out of me.

I started writing this several weeks ago and haven't been able to get it out of my mind...... take the time to listen to that show if you have a chance.

Doing well.

2006-11-11T10:25:00.000-08:00

hi y'all.
just thought i'd give a little update on my dad. he came through surgery fine. The doctor said that there were no other signs of cancer, so that's a good thing. he'll get tests back in about a week to see if there was cancer on his lymph nodes, which they also removed.
I stopped by the hospital today to see him. He looks better than i thought he would, but he's still in pain. He moved to a chair while i was visiting with him and they were going to have him try to walk a little later.
Thank you so much for your prayers and concerns. he'll probably be in the hospital another 2 days, then with friends for a week or so until they remove his catheter.
He was joking around today and definately being himself, so i'm pretty upbeat about his recovery.

oh... and thanks for the birthday greetings. i'm not feeling too old, though my age is starting to scare me.

With a little help from my friends.

2006-11-08T19:30:00.000-08:00

Some of you know that my dad found out a few months ago that he has prostate cancer. He's been running back up to lancaster for tests and to talk to his doctors. They gave him a couple options for surgery, explained it all, set a date and well........ it's on friday.

The basic idea is that they're going to go in and remove his prostate, along with some lymph nodes that are close by. It sounds pretty easy, but it's going to be a pretty big surgery. He's been pretty relaxed about it, but I think it's starting to sink in that this is a big deal.

My mom and dad left this evening for lancaster. My dad is going into surgery early friday afternoon (November 10th). it's expected to take a couple hours. After that he'll need to stay in the hospital for 3 days, then another week or so up in lancaster until he's recovered enough to come back down to virginia.

So..... i'm asking that you please pray for my dad, his doctors, my mom and everybody involved. you never expect things to happen, but they sometime do. we just wanna cover this in prayer.

I guess that's all. muchos thankos.

Denison Witmer is gettin old!!!

2006-11-07T22:25:00.000-08:00

So i've been listening to Denison Witmer since Lancaster Mennonite High School, where he graduated with my brother and where I would often get to hear him play. I've followed his career and made sure to get to shows.

My German friends might remember seeing him play at Carambolage a couple years ago, or at Kubik NUN Kaffeehaus this year.

Well Denison just turned 30 and decided to reward us all with some great free music. He's done this with a website made specifically for his birthday.
happybirthdaydenison.com

He's recorded a bit lately with a full band or with electric guitar, but those who know him from way back still love the simplicity of just him and his acoustic guitar. That's what he's done for this..... just sat down and recorded himself playing his songs and singing.

I'm so happy that he's done this and love the opportunity to download great classic versions of 33 of his songs.

Cause Ulf asked so nicely.......

2006-11-07T10:47:00.000-08:00

Trip facts.

2006-11-01T15:42:00.000-08:00

I got back from my trip a couple weeks ago and somehow still haven't done a general rap up of my trip. So here's some general info and numbers about my rampage across the country.
Total mileage- 11190 mi/18008 km (about the distance from karlsruhe,germany to peking, china and back)

Mullah Spent in Gas- $821.35
Gas used- 333.283 gallons/ 1261.6 liters
Average gas price- $2.54/gallon
Average gas useage- 33.6 mpg / 7 liter auf 100 km
Oil Changes- 2
Patched Tires- 1
Speeding Tickets- 1

Nights slept in my tent- 9
Nights slept in my car- 18
Nights in Hostels- 2
Nights "Mennoniting My Way"- 1
Nights staying with friends/family- 13
Number of times woken up by Police- 1

National Parks Visitied- 13 (Rocky Mountain NP, Saguaro NP, Grand Canyon, Glen Canyon NRA, Bryce Canyon NP, Zion NP, Sequoia and Kings Canyon NP, Yosemite NP, Crater Lake NP, Olympic NP, Yellowstone NP, Grand Tetons NP)

States/Provinces visitied- 25 (Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinios, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Nevada, California, Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin)

most of the rest......

2006-10-30T13:51:00.000-08:00

I haven't updated my blog in a long while. I was travelling and just didn't feel like sitting for hours in an internet cafe when i should be out hiking around in a national park. It just didn't seem right. So I got to see pretty things, but you've missed out on hearing about it all.
I'm not quite sure how i wanna do this. So much happened and I saw so many beautiful things. It feels wrong to just skim over them and show a picture, but i don't know how else to do it. I'm thinking i'll put some pictures up now, but continue to post about my trip, maybe with a picture and a story every once in a while.
sound like a plan?
Here's a brief run through of the last week or so of my roadtrip.
From Canada, I headed back through the Seattle and down through Montana to Yellowstone National Park. The drive through northern Idaho and Montana was just beautiful.
I slept in my car outside of the west entrance to Yellowstone and woke up to snow the first morning. I slept in the same spot a few days, taking trips into the park during the day. Roads were shut part of the time and they were shutting down the park for the season.i checked out some trails, waterfalls, old faithful, and hot springs. it was just amazing how much wildlife is just roaming around there. it was the "off season" and there were still tons of tourists driving really slow and stopping in the middle of the road to take pictures of stuff. i can't imagine what it would be like in mid summer.From there I drove down past the Grand Tetons. I realized that i should have spent more time down there to hike around the mountains. I ended up only having an afternoon to drive by and take in the view of the peaks. While there, I remembered a little Chapel that faces the mountains and has a great view through the window behind the altar.I stopped in and took tons of pictures, before starting to drive towards Laramie, where my cousin Allison lives. The drive down route 287 was beautiful. The sun was setting behind the Tetons behind me. I kept turning around in my seat for the next 40 minutes to take in the view. They mountains just kept looming over me.
I drove several more hours and decided to sleep in the town of Landers, Wyoming, because i would only have to drive a few hours the next day to get to my cousin's house.I've got a nice story to throw in here. i'll stop and continue with this later. I just realized that i skipped a couple states. I'll have to just write a little bit about that later.
I had a great time visiting my cousin allison and her boyfriend grady in laramie. we just hung out for the evening, and then ate dinner. they love food and cooking. we started thinking about making dinner at 6, decided on making sushi, eggrolls and miso. we went shopping, cooked and ended up eating dinner at 10. it was soooo good!!!After dinner they started to fall asleep on the couch with Dixie Dog. Allison plays fiddle in a bluegrass band and Grady has just learned banjo this year. The next morning I got him to show me clawhammer style banjo and ended up ordering a book online so i can learn.
I left Lamarie the next morning and headed east.......

Lots O' Stuff.

2006-10-03T14:58:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since i've wrote. I been movin round pretty good. i'm presently sitting in a cafe in Astoria, Oregon, right across the river from washington. i'll be crossing over as soon as i finish this little update and get something to eat. i've got a craving for chinese food.

so.... real quick. i went to pasadena after vegas. i stayed with these lovely people.dave and rebekka stutzman let me crash at their place and even took me to IKEA for the first time(where this picture was taken). don't ask how i survived 3 years in germany without going, but i did.

we hung out, went out and tried out there fondue set. matt krabill was an accomplice as well.Dave and Matthew are out there studying at Fuller Theological Seminary. I didn't really wanna get near "LA", but the pasadena old town was really nice.

I then headed up into the mountains to see the Giant Sequoia Trees. They were big and camping cost me $20 for the night. not happy about that.
I drove out of the mountains and stopped in tucson for lunch along the way to at least "be there." i figured tacos were a good choice.then back into them to get to yosemite national park. My brother gave me the contact info for dustin smucker. he's a first generation happy camper that's living right outside of yosemite. he hooked me up with a great burrito dinner and my own trailer to sleep in.I headed into Yosemite, though i only really spent a day there. it would be great in the middle of summer when the water fall would be raging, rather than empty.
After yosemite, i headed out of the mountains, drove through sacramento and slept at a rest stop for the night. the next day i had a long drive to get up to crater lake. i picked up karla and we camped there for a couple days, enjoying the cold nights and campfires.i must add....... this was the first time during my trip that i could make a campfire and thus, use brad's hatchet.this is one BLUE lake.just good relaxing time around the camp site, plus a little bit of hiking and cooking on the rim overlooking the lake.

let me tell you bout the bugs. there are some seriously huge bugs in oregon, or at least around crater lake. i cleaned my windshield and a couple hours later it was caked with the streaks of kamakazi insects. seriously. wicked.we then we headed north to portland, where she lives and where we hung out for a couple days. Portland's a beautiful city. lots of culture. i don't really have pictures to put up right now.

i left portland this morning and drove to the coast, stopping at Seaside, Oregon to dip my toes in the waves and search in vain for a cafe with an internet connection. i'm driving up the coast on rt. 101 and plan to get to Olympic National Park tonight, then we'll see what happens.

the VW is still moving along, though making some funny noises..... keep praying.

Viva Las Vegas!!! hole to throw money into....

2006-09-26T19:30:00.000-07:00

I left Zion NP at about 9:30 in the evening and headed toward california, figuring i'd stop in las vegas for an hour or so. I got there a bit after midnight and found my way to the Vegas Strip.

There were tons of cars on the strip at 1 in the morning with people walking around all dressed up for night clubs and exploring the city at night. Lots of lights and confusion. I had decided to try $10 in a casino to see if i could win anything, thinking that i could get $10 in quarters and just spend til they were gone, keeping whatever i might have won, and leaving.I drove the whole way down the strip, then turned around and drove back until i could make my way into a parking garage. I ended up at The Mirage casino, happy to see that parking was free. I walked inside and took in the whole atmosphere, watched the people play the slots, tables and lose lots of money. i asked some old woman to explain the slots to me, cause they're all computerized now.right...... to make a long story short, it wasn't what i expected. all computerized. i put in $10 and got this piece of paper with how much CREDIT i had. Then i could go the games that i wanted to play and just stick it in. the slot machine "arms" didn't work. they're just there for looks. all push button.

yep. sad.

i walked around a little more, checked out another casino that looked about the same and walked back again. i did spend like 10 minutes watching these guys at a table each lose hundreds of dollars. enough vegas for me.

to Zion....

2006-09-25T12:18:00.000-07:00

I drove the hour or so from Bryce down to Zion National Park, arriving when it was already dark, there were no park rangers at the gate, and i was starting to worry about the funny noises that my car was making. I ended up driving on route 89 through the canyon, not knowing what would come, but just hoping for a campground somewhere. i drove on the windy canyon road with tons of switchbacks and a couple long tunnels. I found myself looking up out my window and the huge silhouettes of the canyon walls besideme. All I saw were the tons of stars above and huge looming black objects towering above me on either side. I knew I was driving into something spectacular.The second campground that I arrived at had space, so i put up my tent in the dark and went to sleep. I woke up the next morning to go register and there were mule deer walking through the campground. I ended up staying 3 nights at the campground.Zion Canyon is narrow and used to be really congested when visitors were allowed to drive their cars into the canyon. so years ago the park decided to start using shuttle buses to take visitors back into the canyon, stopping at trail heads and interesting things to see. I can understand why they do it that way, cause there were lots of tourists around.
I spent a few days in Zion, going on different hikes and just enjoying the nature and incredible views. It's at a lower elevation that bryce canyon, so it was alot warmer.

On the first day, I hike up to the Emerald Pools, then the second day I hiked up to Angels Landing, which is a spectacular view. The hike it's the hardest, but you have to hike along a narrow ridge for a while... It's one of the best views in the park. You standing on a penninsule of rock, way above the canyon floor with a great 360 degree view.Then the last day I hiked back into the Zion Narrows, which is basically a stream hike back into where the canyon gets narrow, further towards the source.
I had blisters on my heels from hiking with my boots the day before, so i couldn't wear my tevas.I ended up wearing my flip-flops, which is definately no to be recommended. most people had special shoes and socks and hiking poles. I had neither. It took alot longer, but i was definately respected for my accomplishment.I thought the river would get narrower right away, but it took a while. I kept going and going........ it ended up taking almost the whole afternoon. I was walking in cold water for at least 5 hours, though stopping often to take pictures along the way.

It was just incredible to see how the rocks were carved out and the different shapes along the river. just an incredible walk.In general, Zion is just beautiful. I just love that the canyon has such massive rock walls, but that there's normal vegetation along the bottom. I wish I could have spent more time there to do a couple more hikes into other parts of the park, but i'll have to do that another time. The views in the park were just breathtaking.

I left friday night at around 9:30 and headed towards California, planning to stop at Las Vegas for a couple hours........

Bryce Canyon National Park

2006-09-19T12:03:00.000-07:00

I remember riding a mule in Bryce Canyon when i was a kid. i think i remember correctly. the rest of my family each got a horse, but i got a mule. surefooted they said. oh well.I'm back again for round 2. Bryce is just beautiful in it's own way. the rock formations are wild and the tourists very international. i got here a couple days ago and have spent parts of each day hiking around the different trail loops that they have here. it's just amazing. the weather has been great as well. blue, cloudless skies with a light breeze. the rough part comes at night when it drops below freezing....
I stopped at the visitors center and bought a backcountry pass so that i could camp out in nature. it cost $5 for up to 7 nights i think. i'm just using 2. I then checked out the view from sunset point and hiked down into the canyon with the rest of the tourists. the blue skies were just so amazing from down in the canyon. the contrast between the red rock and the deep blue sky was great. i really wish i could have captured it in a picture.

i hiked down into this canyon for the night.it was a mile hike, downhill pretty much the whole way. the camping site doesn't look like what bryce is famous for, but it was nice to get away. i cooked dinner and settled into bed at 8, then realized how cold it would be. i slept.... but not really really well. i hiked several miles yesterday and came up from the canyon for a little break. i decided to take another blanket in with my to keep me warm for the night. it worked well, i slept well, and all was well.this morning i packed everything up and hiked back up out of the canyon, which wasn't the easiest thing in the world. i'm enjoying the internet connection at the country store before i head over to zion canyon this afternoon. hope you enjoy the pictures.oh...... about the tourists. there are so many german and french tourists here. i love getting to sit here and listen to it. yesterday i asked an elderly woman if she needed help with something, because she looked confused. she responded with "ich verstehe sie nicht." so i happily responded in german and showed her how to get coffee from the machine.

it made my day.

Cottonwood Canyon Rd.

2006-09-19T11:40:00.000-07:00

I had seen that there was a "shortcut" from Powell Lake up to Bryce Canyon National Park. Cottonwood Canyon Road wasn't on most of the maps that i'd seen, but there was supposed to be good hiking off of it and it was direct. the morning that i wanted to head to Bryce, i stopped at the visitor's center and the woman said that they she didn't know if it was passable because no one had come down the road yet that day. She said that any car could go through if the road were dry. so i decided to take it and turn around if it got too slippery.Soooooooooo.......... it turned out to be a beautiful road. 40 miles worth of sand, dirt, rocks, and BUMPS!!!! the road wouldn't have been that bad, but it felt like they used a bulldozer to make the road and left the bumps from the tracks in the road. it felt like driving on rumble strips and my little golf, whatever her name is, shook like mad!!!! so i could either drive 10 or 40 mph, anything between the two was unbearable.But despite that, i had a great time driving the parts that weren't bumpy and stopping to hike a number of the trails along the road. my car made it all right, but now it makes some funny noises when i turn really hard...... i have to say that i'm a little worried.
the hiking was incredible though. i hiked an hour back a narrow canyon, following the stream that flowed through it. climbed over rocks and followed backcountry roads where ever they led me.

i made it through in time to check out the town before Bryce Canyon and hide my car before sleeping in it for the night.

Canyonlands......

2006-09-18T15:06:00.000-07:00

So after leaving Albuquerque, I headed south-west through the desert towards Tucson, Arizona to visit fellow happy camper, Jon Horst, passing through Truth or Consequences and lots of red chili stands.
Tuscon was beautiful!!! I spent 2 nights at jon's place. we hung out the first evening and tried to get my computer online. I spent the next day driving around tucson, going hiking on tucson mountain, and visiting Joel and his new bride.
That evening I played on jon's team in the tucson ultimate frisbee league. i sooooooo wish i had brought my cleats along, just for that.
notice that my muscle is bigger.I left Tucson the next morning, heading up to Flagstaff, where i spent the night in a hostel while it rained and hailed outside. the next morning i headed out early for the Grand Canyon. The weather wasn't best, but it was still incredibly huge. I had been planning to see the southern and northern rims, but decided that the northern rim was too much out of the way, so i stop in at Powell Lake, which my family discovered on a vacation long ago when my father made a wrong turn. i wanted to sleep on the beach ,but it was like a sandstorm, so i enjoyed the view and spent the night in my car. OH OH...... after gettting my oil changed!!!! just so my brother tom know that i'm trying to take care of my golf.
oh yeah...... i haven't heard any good name ideas........

I'm presently in Bryce Canyon National Park and will be leaving tommorrow morning. it's sooooooo beautiful. i've taken lots of pictures and will put them online soon.

Through the Rockies and into the Valley

2006-09-12T10:44:00.000-07:00

well, i made it over the rockies. i woke up sunday morning to grey skies and the radio saying that the road over the mountains was closed. i decided to drive up and give it a shot anyway. so when i got to the park entrance, the nice park ranger woman told me that the pass was open. sooooooooooo.. everything worked out. i had my nice drive up to the top, singing hymns and enjoying the scenery on the sunday morning. God definately provided me with an awesome gift that morning. i really didn't want to have to drive around the park after waiting 2 days to go through. it started getting foggy at the top and i was going about 25 mph most of the way. it wasn't the most scenic day for the drive, so i kinda just kept more through.
i stopped at a couple towns along the way out of the mountains, but since it was raining, i just kinda kept moving south towards NM.
once i got out of the mountains, the weather was still sporadic, but it got really beautiful. i drove down this road through wound between the mountains and had some incredible views. once i started getting into southern colorado, i drove into the middle of a plain that runs down between the mountains. i was seriously on the flattest straightest road i've seen in sooooooooooo long. it would rain , then the sun would come out, then it would rain..... but it was beautiful driving down there and seeing the sun shine on the mountains while i was getting rained on.
i stopped to buy gas at this place called Loaf n Jug, which has the same logo as Turkey Hill now does. I was shocked, but i guess it's some national market chain.I arrived in Albuquerque, New Mexico to a warm welcome from my old bud Rus and his roommates. They put me up for 2 nights, showed me around the town and just made me feel at home. Cooper is also about the sweetest pitbull that i know.last night rus, luke and i went up to the mountain outlook over Albuquerque and just took in an incredible view.
it's definately a place to get to if you have a chance.we stopped at Burger Boy on our way back into town. I'm not one to exagerate, but i seriously need to say that they Green Chili Cheese Burger was about the best I have ever had in my life. that's sayin alot folks. I'm leaving in a couple minutes to head down to Tucson, Arizona to visit Jon and hang out there before heading to Grand Canyon.

OH, this needs to be mentioned. this was in Grand Lake, Colorado, just outside of the national park. i have never seen an "anti-dumpster diving" sign before, but here it is.

Stuck in Estes Park.

2006-09-09T17:48:00.000-07:00

Well i guess it's not that bad to be stuck here, but i was hoping to have gone through the mountains on Trail Ridge Road, but it's been closed the last 2 days because of weather. they're getting snow and ice up there. i drove up to rainbow curve today, but that's as far as they let you go. i'm seeing this as a test for my VW, which did wonderfully. i'm thinking about naming her, but i'll come back to that later. i'm gonna wake up early tommorrow morning and see if they have it open. if not, then i'll have to skip it and start heading south another way. bummer, but oh well.the whole things not bad though. i probably wouldn't have gone hiking around here today if the road had been open, but i ended up taking it easy and hiking back to some lakes, which ended up being beautiful, even if the weather was really sporadic. sunny one minute and then pouring rain the next. it was great, but i can only imagine how wonderful it is on a clear day.
to top the weather keeping me here, it turns out that there's a scottish/irish festival here in town for the weekend. there was a parade this morning and i've been seeing lots of white legs in kilts. it's a fun atmosphere for everything though.

i slept in my car in town last night and will probably end up doing the same tonight to save money. i might see if i can shower at one of the camp grounds around here. i'd camp in the park, but that'd cost me $20, so i'm not doing that. i'll wait till i'm in another park for a longer amount of time and when it's dry.

i realized that i didn't post any pictures from my driving....... so here are a few pictures of the middle of america.

this is where i slept in my car my first night on the road

this is what towns in the middle of america look like. the hardware store was great. i bought batteries.

my view from the road, complete with dead-bug smudges.

the awesome mennonite couple that put me up for the night, fed me and made my week, even though i only called 2 hours before i got to their house in Denver.

david schrott told me that i had to go to breakfast king. i must say, the interior was incredible, the service was hilarious, and the coffee changed my outlook on life.

that's all for now, but there's more to come.......

Mennoniting my Way.

2006-09-08T07:13:00.000-07:00

Well, I made it to Colorado. I guess I'm at the foot of the Rockies, but i haven't seen them yet. I'm still sitting in the basement typing. I know...... but i wanted to at least let you know what's going on.

I slept my first 2 nights in my car at rest stops along the way. I've drank ALOT of coffee. too much, i believe. i've eaten what's even been laying around. chips. yeah..... just chips. but it's all going really well.

My car has been running really well and i've been getting good gas mileage AND gas prices have been great (until Denver). So i was looking and smelling pretty rugged when i approached denver last night. I was hoping to stay with a friend from YES that's supposedly been out here, but i called yesterday and he's now in Michigan. It was pouring down rain about 60 miles from here, so i got out my "mennonite your way" and called a couple in Denver. I explained that it was all really last minute, but asked if i could spend the night. they said it would be fine and the man gave me directions. an hour later i was standing in their living room.

Needless to say, I had a wonderful evening chatting, eating (they fed me) and just relaxing in a normal home. they gave me my own room in the basement, which also has their computer. so i've gotten the full treatment, showered, shaved, and will probably be heading up into the sunlight any time soon for cinnamon rolls and coffee.

You may ask, is there any way to travel? I would say.... did i mention i'm heading into the Rockies and plan to sleep under the stars? it's not a hot shower, but i'm dreaming of a mountain lake to swim in.

pictures will follow shortly......

oh yes......... i just got a cell phone. verizon plan. my number is 717-823-8152. i figure only my friends will really read this, so it shouldn't be a problem putting that on here. so, i'm connected with the world. i haven't been wanting to spend the money, but i must say that it's really worth it. and i've only had it like 3 days. yep. me. cell phone.

The Sound of Your Own Wheels......

2006-09-04T12:49:00.000-07:00

Well I guess i've officially started my roadtrip. I'll just say i have, so it feels longer. I left virginia thursday morning, stopping in harrisonburg along the way to visit friends before moving on towards lancaster. well, actually mount joy.

I was best man in my best man brad's wedding on saturday, so i got up there a couple days early to help however i could and to just hang out with brad and justina before they tied the knot.

My car has been worrying me a little bit in the last week. not good timing when i'm planning to go on a huge trip. first i discovered that my heater isn't working, then a bunch of water leaked into my back seat, then my driver's side windshield wiper stopped working in the middle of several rainy days.

the rain continued, but the wedding was so great. spending time with brad and the guys, being involved in such a special day, and just seeing how in love the two of them are just brought me to that great place where i'm content to just sit in the corner and watch beautiful things happen with a smile on my face. thanks for that guys!!!

Family and friends came, there were vows, singing (i did a duet of "Power of Two" with beth), rings, kissing, eating, cake, dancing, then leaving....... the past 4 days just seemed to fly by. i guess it was just that beautiful. I think i had a smile on my face the whole time.

i slept most of the last days at mitch and heathers, then ate at the shellenbergers last night, like back in highschool. then last night, 4 of us guys (kyle, nate, mitch and i) went camping at the stream back behind kyle's house. great time's with great guys. it was soaking wet, but we got a 1 match fire going and found enough wood to keep it going until 2 in the morning, talking the night away about good topics and just enjoying eachother's company. just good times.

I guess i'm just saying that the last 4 days of my "roadtrip" have been awesome, even if it doesn't really feel like i've started my roadtrip yet. tonight i stay with the big bro, tom, then head out tommorrow on the open road.

this is where it'll get interesting......

i'll be keeping track of the states i go through and how many miles i've driven on this trip. i'll also be putting pictures on my Photobucket account if you wanna keep up......

I drive. I'm a driver. drive. me. driver.

2006-08-18T10:07:00.000-07:00

so......... i did it.

i bought the 1989 VW Golf from my brother. i gave him $1,100 for it and then paid another $100 in fees to buy it (transfer fee, plate fee, blah, blah, we want your money fee). everything worked out perfectly. i had to get a new Pennsylvania drivers license to buy the car. it cost me $10. i told them i had to give my old license up in germany and they didn't even ask if i had a german one. hee hee!!!

new license, insurance, car payed for and title transfered. all on the same day.

so i have a pretty little piece of german engineering. there are still a couple little interesting things that we're working on fixing, but it should be good to go before tommorrow, when i drive back down to virginia. i'll be giving constant updates on how well it's running or if it's let me stranded anywhere.

it's got 133,000 miles(~214.000 km) on it. i can't wait to see how many miles i'll put on it going out west.

oh, and since i'm taking this big roadtrip, i also got a AAA membership (ami ADAC). i get the Plus membership, just in case i need to be towed 100 miles any time soon. i got a bunch of maps and i'm starting to plan my get-away.....

Go West, Young Man!!!!

far for gnugen.

2006-08-15T13:00:00.000-07:00

i've been back just over 2 weeks, borrowing my mom's car whenever i want to go anywhere or do anything. it's been nice, but it can't go on like this. i've been debating what type of car to buy, since i definately need a car. i've had 5 cars up till now and the average cost has been $300. the question is whether or not i should splurge and buy a much more expensive car for $4,000 or $5,000, which i don't have, but would have to pay back -OR- if i should spend less money on a car that i can actually afford, but might now be as comfortable or last as long.

i had been thinking it would be nice to get a volkswagen, which i would call dependable. my brother tom has a 1989 VW Golf that he'd be willing to sell me for somewhere between $1,000 and $1,5000. he bought it for alot less and rebuilt it. so i'm debating whether or not i should buy it or look for something else. i test drove it and it runs well. no big issues that i notice or that he can find. he babies his cars and wants them to run well, so it should be fine, but there are always big questions when dishing out this much cash.

the big question right now is "WILL THIS CAR MAKE IT ACROSS THE COUNTRY AND BACK?" i'm planning to head out west at the beginning of september for a month long roadtrip. i guess i'm pretty sure i'll get it, but just working through the decision once more.

so once again.......... the questions:

should i buy a car for $1,000 or go in debt to buy a car for $5,000?

can i trust german engineering to hold up on a trip across the US?

are there going to be mechanical problems that my brother, tom, overlooked?

do i wanna buy this car?

Ok folks. that's it. i'm heading up to lancaster tommorrow and could buy and pick up the car then. please let me know your thoughts on this if you have time. it would be greatly appreciated. once again, the info

1989 VW Golf. 2 door, 5 speed, CD player, air conditioning, new: clutch, tires, brakes. that's what i remember. oh, and ~$1,200

Road Rage 101

2006-08-14T09:19:00.000-07:00

i had an interesting experience on saturday. i guess you could say it was my first "in your face" road rage experience..... and it was definately interesting.
I had my mom's car for the week, because they've been on vacation in wisconsin. so i headed up to lancaster to visit. on saturday it was time to leave and head back down to virginia. i had to take some local roads to get to the highway. most of you won't know the names, but i'll say them anyway.

i was on route 30, heading west toward lancaster, but didn't want to wait behind all the tourist traffic, so i decided to take 896 to 340 and go around it. i turned onto 896 thinking, "now it'll go faster." the problem was that the guy in front of me was going 10 mph under the speed limit, so we were going 35 in a 45. needless to say, i was annoyed. i road his tail to make him go faster, but that didn't help. so half a mile later when no traffic was coming towards us, i passed him illegally. yeah........... not the best decision, but oh well.

i had to stop at the light at 340. i stopped right at the line and the guy slithered passed me illegally on the right and pulled up, half crooked, in front of me. yelling as he did. he stuck his head out the window and started ranting about my driving. something like "what do you think you're doing, you a$$hole!!!!!" i half yelled back that he was going 10 under the speed limit, but figured it wouldn't help him grasp how important it was for me to pass him. so he yelled the same thing again, and i responded again.

this is where it got more interesting. so now this guy is getting riled up. at this point, he gets out of his car and starts walking back towards me like he's gonna give me a good talking-to. i'm sitting in my car with my window down. remember that i'm in my mom's car, with virginia plates. he starts yelling as he's coming towards me and then stops next to my window, continuing with his monologue. i'll see if i can recite it. something like "why don't you learn to drive, you redneck a$$hole!!! don't they teach you how to drive down there in virginia?!!! what the hell were you tihnking?!!!"

that's the general gist of it, just repeated several times for effect. he didn't have alot of deep, meanlingful things to say. i pretty much just sat there calmly, half listening, just hoping he wouldn't flip and reach in the window. that would have been an interesting story though. i just repeated that he was going 10 under, that i wasn't a redneck or from virginia. i really wanted to add that he only had half his teeth and looked more like the redneck, but that wouldn't have helped the situation, would it?

he finally gave up after a couple minutes and went back to his car. he drove left, so i had to drive behind him again. not fun. so i decided to take the next right and take a back way to the next exit.

so what have we learned? only pass illegally when it's clear that there's no stop light coming up where the person that you passed can confront you. sound about right? or am i missing some deeper message here?

I say Kawap..... you say Kawap....... everybody eats Kawap.

2006-08-07T09:22:00.000-07:00

I was so blessed to get to know my Uyghur friends while staying in Karlsruhe. Rod King was able to help them alot, and i felt blessed to be able to reap the benefits of that relationship and to help in any way that i could. there were so many good times had, visiting, helping with moving, picnics and of course, grilling.

grilling must be a national specialty. the guys built there own special grill and would look for any occasion to get it out and make Kawap. Yummy, Yummy lamb meat..... mmmmm....... and lots of it.

it was such an awesome addition to my last week in Germany to be able to see anwar's new garden, plus to relax, and eat Kawap again before i left germany. Kawap is a Uyghur specialty food. Lamb meat marinated in different spices and grilled on a specially made grill. it's just super yummy.

Gulnar explained to me that there isn't a proper representation of true Kawap on the internet and that there should be pictures and videos of Kawap being made and eaten. so i took up the challenge of putting a couple videos online, plus some pictures of Gulnar eating Kawap while wearing a traditional Uyghur dress.

So this post is for Gulnar and all the Uyghurs out there. and cause it's just really yummy.

alot of laying around....

2006-08-02T12:20:00.000-07:00

so it's wednesday and i've been back here in the states for almost 3 days nows. time is flying by, but i must say that i've been spending a good deal of it sleeping. i started feeling sick a week ago, or knew that it was coming. i would have normally taken it easy to try to keep from being sick. that wasn't going to happen though with only a couple days left in germany to see friends, say goodbyes, party, pack and paint. so i decided to push through and deal with the sickness later.

it's caught up to me and i've been sleeping and resting alot. feel pretty wiped out. my throat still hurts a bit, but i think i'm slowly getting over this. just taking it easy and drinking lots of fluids. i don't know if it was all the running around that got me sick or if it was more of the emotional stress of saying goodbye.

my last week in germany was busy, emotional, stressful and beautiful all at once. saying goodbye to so many people that mean so much to me was really hard, yet it's always a blessing to be told how much you are loved and how much you will be missed.
it's definately the hardest time that i've ever had leaving. there were so many moments that were wonderful summaries of my time in germany. i just feel like i couldn't have had a better last week than i did. there were so many things to do, but so many glimpses into my past years in germany. I felt like i was re-living it all over again and getting to say goodbye to all those little parts of "my germany."

and all that ending with Das Fest.... how wildly ironic... i final goodbye.

now i'm sitting in the aircondition across the ocean, wondering where it goes from here. first..... back to being healthy..... then who knows what. that's how i'm feeling right now..... lots of these dots to show that things continue somehow..... though i'm not sure where to or how.

i'll keep you posted..... or say hi in person if it's been that long.

Aint no hole in my bucket.......

2006-07-24T15:47:00.000-07:00

well my flickr account proved to be a dissapointment. i mean..... the free account. i found out too late that i could only put 200 pictures on there.

So i've added a Photobucket account to my list of internet sites. True, there were some cooler things at flickr, but i can upload more pictures now, so it's all good. I even put a link on here, isn't that great!!!

Boyz 2 Men were so right......

2006-07-24T15:23:00.000-07:00

Somehow that song "It's so hard to say goodbye to yesterday" keeps running through my mind. i sang it during my whole bike ride to work today. it feels odd to be singing it, as if it cheapens this whole thing.

I'm definately in the hurting/dealing stage of this whole leaving thing. I've never been much of a goodbye person. i usually just smile and nod and kinda move on. This is definately my hardest time leaving, ever. Karlsruhe has become my home over the 3 years that i was here. Now i'm tearing myself away from all this and throwing myself back into the uncertainty of the "normal world." wait a minute. i didn't mean north america by that. i meant work and starting over in pretty much every aspect.

I've let myself experience life here and poured myself into friendships and the church. it definately makes me feel stupid for leaving....... don't ask me why i can't stay. i'm getting sick of answering or thinking of an answer. it was much easier to answer that question a year ago when i wasn't doing this goodbye thing and running through the lists of things that i'm leaving here.

keep your head up, kid. i'll be ok. don't worry. if it turns out that i'm not ok, then i'm to blame. doesn't that make things easier?

I have been blessed. I can't describe how much "thomashof" means to me. i've told a couple people, but i've been sitting in church the last year and often thinking about what it was going to be like when i would say goodbye to the church. each time i would almost start to cry. somehow i ended up not standing behind the pulpit, like i had pictured it so often. I didn't say the words i wanted to say, though i'm sure i wouldn't have been able to say much at all. I couldn't even finish singing the songs while playing guitar.

i'm rambling. this whole thing is hard. friday was lovely, sunday was a rollercoaster ride with tears. i'm not even gonna guess what Das Fest is going to be like. One thing is for sure though. A stogie will be smoked and tears will flow.

The Picture Taker.

2006-07-10T07:49:00.000-07:00

Been keeping busy lately. Along with this blogging thing, i've been travelling, camping and watching soccer...... all the while taking pictures and putting them in the internet.

In case i haven't mentioned it, i have a Flickr account, where i've been putting some of my pictures. The flickr thing is ok, but there are things about it that annoy me. not that important......

He's a brief recap of the last week or so......

I went away for a weekend with my church's "young adult" group, called JUKAMEN. we camped in christine's parents'
I've bebackyard, just hanging out, picking cherries, relaxing, going swimming, and for myself and 2 others, sleeping under the stars. it had been so long since i got away and slept under the stars. just amazing.

Then this wednesday morning i started helping the Ungers pack their things into a couple vehicles and head to Regensburg, where they'll start pastoring in September. They're house is great and i'm so happy that i was able to go along to help move and set things up. Jens and i definately enjoyed the 3 day trip to bavaria. It also ended up being a great chance to see Michael and Susanne before i leave.... good times partying and eating weisswurst.

I was lucky enough to have people along to eat my salad for me.

The world cup final came up on me way too fast. I'd be looking forward to the whole thing for so long and then it was gone in the blink of an eye and many many hours in front of a TV. i watched in final in front of the schloss in karlsruhe. good times, though i still can't believe italy won....... or that zidane went out like he did.

There will definately be more to come.........

Today is what?

2006-07-04T07:57:00.001-07:00

The world cup semifinal game? oh..... Independence Day. Right.....

So i completely forgot that today is the 4th of July. I've seriously been so wrapped up in hoping that Italy loses to Germany that it just didn't register. I must also confess that i haven't been thinking about it for weeks. It dawned on me today. Go figure. It's not like i have people over here reminding me. The world cup just seems more important at the moment. So sue me.

I've decided that if Germany wins tonight, then i'll celebrate the win and July 4th together. I've got fireworks hidden in my dresser. But IF italy should win, then i am in no way going to celebrate anything. i'll postpone it for a few days or something.

That aside, i searched the internet for a taste of US nationalism to get me in the right mood. I'm missing the fireworks at Longs Park in Lancaster, so i've gotta have some type of replacement. Those who know me, know that i'm not that patriotic anyway...... I love my country, but often don't like what's done in my name. Seeing how nationalism and patriotism are often used as means to a certain end..... they worry me a bit.

So I celebrate our independence day half-heartedly. Appreciating the freedoms that I was born with, the privileges that were handed to me and that blue passport that my refugee friends eye with envy, a ticket to a life without the worries they've had. I just get worried when I see how extreme we get in our patriotism. I guess I'm glad i'm not in the states right now. I think it would be too much for me to have all that nationalism at one time. It's enough to see the Germans start to show excessive amounts of nationalism during the world cup.

This all makes me thankful for the mennonite ideals that I have. An ability to question the actions of my government, knowing that my highest allegiance is not to them. Maybe i'm overly cautious, but patriotism has been abused and misused so often.

Soooooo........... Happy 4th of July!!! Let us enjoy our freedom, just not forget what has been done to make it possible. Good and Bad.

"Those of us who shout the loudest about Americanism are all too frequently those who . . . ignore some of the basic principles of Americanism — the right to criticize, the right to hold unpopular beliefs, the right to protest, the right of independent thought." - former Senator Margaret Chase Smith

To lighten things up, here's a little quiz to see if you're able to properly celebrate the 4th.

I guess that's what i wanted to say.

Pray for Junior.

2006-07-02T12:46:00.000-07:00

Junior is a good friend a mine. He's a refugee from cameroon that's been in karlsruhe for a while. he's a good contact of mine at the camp, is always ready to help others out, play soccer, or just talk about important stuff. we've had some good discussions about racism and history.

Junior told me on friday that he will be having surgery tommorrow, Monday, July 3rd. His eyesight has been getting worse lately, so he went to a doctor to get it checked out. It turns out that he has a tumor in his head, which is pushing against his eyes. I don't know specifics, but he'll be in surgery tommorrow.

I'm going to try to get there tommorrow before surgery or to be with him. Please pray for him if you have a chance.

Update*** Monday, July 3rd -

I went to the eye clinic this morning and found junior at the end of his first round of tests. It turns out that they just did tests today. He'll be going back tommorrow for an x-ray and will then meet with the neurologist. right now it's really not clear if he'll actually have to have an operation. The nurses couldn't give me any real answers today. It all depends on what the neurologist says. He's doing well, but is still stressed out and scared of the operation. I'll keep you posted.

Italian gambling....acting... soccer.

2006-06-27T07:02:00.000-07:00

I love the world cup and soccer in general, but the italians are trying to ruin that. just when it looks like some cinderella teams that are playing good soccer are going to make it further into the tournament, the italians go and ruin the game and the "purity" of soccer by throwing themselves on the ground to get a foul and a penalty shot to win against australia. what a sucky end to a game and the chances of australia coming further.

And this after all the crap that's been going on in the italian soccer league.

I know. i'm just annoyed because i think italy plays dirty. don't get me wrong, they have great players, but they play dirty, dive and just don't deserve to win games like the one they stole from australia.

the fury continues.

Back in time. in Berlin.

2006-06-27T06:18:00.000-07:00

I had a great time in Berlin. My 4 days there flew by, but i got to see lots of the city and just enjoy being there without the stress of having a schedule.

Everything worked out so that i could just take off sunday night and come back thursday. Markus had called his friends sunday and they said i could crash there. they had an empty room because their new roommate hadn't moved in yet. so i thought i'd just jump on an over-night train, but they were full, so i sat in trainstation for a couple hours and then had to change trains.

I got to berlin at around 9 in the morning on monday and just started walking around the city to see sites and whatnot. Saw the Siegersäule, Reichstag, Brandenburger Tor, the Fan Fast Berlin and some other stuff. i ended up not buying a tram ticket, but just walking around till my feet hurt.

I spent the next days just relaxing, watching soccer on the fan mile, taking it easy and enjoying my first time in the capital. i also saw the (berliner dom, fernseher turm, museum island and the marx-engels park thing.

Oh yeah. It just so happened that there was a "night of music" in the city wednesday night. Bands were playing on the street and in all different parks. It was just a great atmosphere and a nice little surprise on my last night in the city.

Here are a couple pictures. You can see the rest on my Flickr account. Unfortunately, flickr doesn't let you put the pictures in the right order. either way. enjoy.

Berlin, Berlin, Ich fahre nach Berlin!!!!

2006-06-18T10:25:00.000-07:00

Hi kids.
I've been in germany for, lets just say 3 and a half years, and i haven't been to the capital. I've been debating when i'll be able to go and waiting and waiting, and i finally decided that i'm going tonight. i'll take this week off, get back thursday night maybe. yeah.

markus called a friend today and i can crash at their place. so it looks like i'll take a night train and get there tommorrow morning, hit the city and whatnot. i'm thinking i'll come back thursday night or so. we'll see.

another great thing is that germany plays against ecuador in berlin on tuesday, so it'll be great times in the city. i'll take lots of pictures and post them later.

Too much?

2006-06-13T02:12:00.000-07:00

The world cup started 4 days ago and there have been 11 games so far. I'm happy to say that I've been able to watch each game up until now. there have been some good games, but just as much of me sitting around on my ass in front of a TV. if i actually watch all 48 first round games, that will be at least 72 hours in front of the tube.

Don't get me wrong, i'm loving it. but such a level of dedication calls for a certain amount of reflection. When was the last time i sat on my ass to read my Bible for an hour and a half? let alone 4 and a half hours a day, like it is with the world cup now.

I'll continue watching, but i think i'll be planning worthwhile activities during the break between games or when i'm not watching. frisbee, Bible reading, cleaning the bathroom, etc......... anyone have any other ideas?

I Wish I Were Jared..........

2006-05-29T13:26:00.000-07:00

I've got a sweet name. Let's just get that straight. I just never knew so much about myself before. But this week I took to the internet to learn more about this wonderful thing called Jared.
Other people were also asking who the heck I am and I learned that I can be downloaded.

Being a volunteer and not having a real job, i never thought that i'd do this or be able to buy jewelry.

I just didn't know that my story was so sad..............

Jared does dinner.

2006-05-17T04:31:00.000-07:00

So i'm sure you've all been wondering what i eat on a regular basis. my roommates quickly recognize the wonderful aroma of onions frying in a pan, and know that i'm making "gebratene Maultaschen."

ah yes........ maultaschen. a swäbisch specialty. here i need to mention that maultaschen are usually eaten in a broth, like soup. then leftovers are fried, which i prefer to do. cause i can add onions. and onions are yummy.

i cut my maultaschen up, so they fry better and are distributed throughout my onions.
a basic description of this process would be:
1. cut up maultaschen
2. cut up onions
3. put oil in a hot pan
4. fry onions and maultaschen
5. chop up garlic
6. add garlic to onions and maultaschen
7. continue frying
8. put yummy meal on plate
9. open beer and place next to yummy meal on plate
10. enjoy.

and pretty pictures...........

Bustin it out.....

2006-05-03T11:48:00.000-07:00

Cause it's just that time of year.

Today was the first day of spring, or summer for that matter, in my book. It was a long winter, but the flowers on Hengst platz are blooming, i've got shorts on and......................
today i made spring official by biking to and from work.

Pack away your sweaters folks, it's time for sweaty t-shirts and having the wind blow through your hair as you cruise through the city. I'm excited about summer, if for no other reason than flying around the city on my bike. Thanks Wilhelm!!!!!!!!

If you hear a green aligator squeeking behind you, then get out of the way!!!

Sing along.

2006-04-29T04:55:00.000-07:00

i was stumbling through the internet when i came across a huge posting of vidoes of sesame street songs at Foldedspace.org. i didn't spend lots of my childhood watching, but still have good memories and enjoy the creative stuff they do.
i know most americans will know these, but the germans had their own. hope you guys like these.
Here are a few that i especially like.

"one two three FOUR five, six seven eight NINE ten, eleven twelve"
Telephone rock
Mahna Mahna
King Minus
the subway
The rhyming song
Robert DeNiro imagines he's Elmo
The Martians meet a telephone
I Love Trash : Oscar
C is for Cookie! : Cookie Monster
It's Not Easy Being Green : Kermit the Frog
A-B-C-D-E-F-Cookie Monster
Don't Take Your Ones to Town" :Johnny Cash and Big Bird
The Alphabet Song" : Ray Charles
"Don't Know Y" : Norah Jones and Elmo

Hair Loss.

2006-04-17T09:52:00.000-07:00

So it started because i was just lazy and didn't want to shave, then i thought it would be fun to just let my beard grow again and see what happens. It didn't look good, but it was fun for a while. I decided that i'd let it grow until my ski vacation, then slowly experiment. please feel free to comment or give ratings on the different styles.

Here' the full beard view which, granted, was a bit out of control.

Then I shaved the chin out. yeah. I look alot better in other pictures, but there aren't any.

Proceeding onward, i removed the nasty stache and ended up with the mutton chops. I have honestly say that i like this the most.

This is the final result. well, as of now. the normal pointy sideburns. I'd debating going back to the chops though. let me know what you think.

Up yonder with the master.

2006-04-01T05:40:00.000-08:00

I called yesterday at around 10 AM to talk to my grandpa. i had planned to call at 11 so my mom could be in his room to pick up the phone. i forgot that we've already turned out clocks forward, but that hasn't been done in the states yet. my grandma was luckily there to pick up the phone and give it to my grandpa. we talked for a few minutes, mostly in german. he then said he was tired and wanted to go.

i went to play basketball for a couple hours and when i got back there was a message on the answering machine from my dad saying that grandpa had died at around noon their time. i called him and asked about details. here's an email he sent to the church, saying basically what he told me:

"Janet called at noon today to tell me that her father, Homer Luckenbill, Jr., had just died and went home to heaven. Praise God! He went peacefully.Homer was in his wheelchair outside the beautician's, who was going to givehim a haircut. Janet and her mother, Jean, were there also. Homer gave abit of a gasp and rolled his eyes (the aneurism apparently had ruptured).Janet wheeled him back to his room. They put him in bed. He was able totalk with Janet and her mother. They called Janet's sister, Nancy, in TN,and she was able to talk briefly with Homer. Nancy said, "Daddy, go to bewith Jesus." Within a few minutes he blinked his eyes, shut them, and wentto be with Jesus forever. About an hour before his death our son, Jared,called from Germany and got to speak with Homer. Jared had sent a CD thathe made for Homer, singing the song "In the Garden" for his grandfather.Homer was listening to Jared sing in the background when he died. God is good!"

Here's an excerpt from the last email that i got from my grandpa about a month ago:

"By grace we are saved, by grace we receive daily love and blessings, by grace we have friends and loved ones,by grace (a gift from God) we have so much!God so loved the world!
He loved, and loves us- and still does, but it has been as a result of His GRACE that we are saved!
I love you very much, but my love cannot save you! Only the GRACE of God can accomplish that.
What a wonderful blessing!! Grace!!!
I have not been too well lately, but by the love and Grace of God one day my soul will depart my body to be with my Lord!, where I shall see those who too have been saved by Grace!"

I feel so blessed to have been able to talk to my grandpa several times in the last week of his life. To have that connection to be able to talk to him in german. I was dealing with the whole thing of being able to be there with him and to hold his hand. I had decided to stay here, instead of returning for a few days. I just didn't want to regret not being there when i had the chance.
It was also so meaningful to be able to sing for grandpa and to at least "be there" in that way. I know it meant something to him, but for me it was one of the only ways to be there to comfort him or be present in his last days. How awesome that I had almost a week to prepare for his death and to say my goodbye.

I praise God that he died in peace with his family around him. He had fought to stay alive until there was nothing more that he could do. He was ready to go home to his father and had several days to spend with family and friends before doing that. What a wonderful, caring, loving, thoughtful grandfather that continually lived out his faith and gave all the glory to God. I can't wait to see him again.

Here's the text of my grandpa's favorite song that i recorded and sent to him.

I come to the garden alone
While the dew is still on the roses
And the voice I hear falling on my ear
The Son of God discloses.

Refrain:
And He walks with me, and He talks with me,
And He tells me I am His own;
And the joy we share as we tarry there,
None other has ever known.

He speaks, and the sound of His voice,
Is so sweet the birds hush their singing,
And the melody that He gave to me
Within my heart is ringing.

Refrain

I’d stay in the garden with Him
Though the night around me is falling,
But He bids me go; through the voice of woe
His voice to me is calling.

Refrain

Homer Francis Luckenbill Jr.

2006-03-26T13:24:00.000-08:00

I've been crying alot the last 10 hours. I came home from church and read an email from my brother about how my grandpa is doing. He's in the hospital and they've decided that the numerous problems that he has can't be operated on. Tommorrow afternoon at 3pm they'll be putting a valve to drain the buildup in his stomach that's been blocked from entering his intestines.
So he'll be able to drink liquids if he wants, but will be getting no nutrients. That means he'll start to fade.
I'm dealing with it. I've known that his health hasn't been good, but i somehow expected that he'd be around when i get back in july. Now i'm sure he won't be. It's been a year since i've seen him.
I talked to my parents and then called his hospital room. My bro Tom has been holdin down the fort in the hospital for us brothers. Many thanks to him for that. He was there and i was able to talk to grandpa. just a couple sentences. it hurts for him to talk.
i had a nice time talking to tom and then my grandma and uncle keith came, so i got to talk to them.
then with grandpa once again. i just wanted to get to tell him again that i love him and miss him.
he loves speaking his PA dutch. he said:

"ich lieb dich" (i love you)
"wir werden uns wieder sehen" (we'll see eachother again)

then he sang

"oh wie lieblich, wie lieblich, wie lieblich ist Jesus..
er ist mein erlöser.........."

and i finished with
".......mein herr und mein freund."

(oh how lovely, how lovely,lovely is Jesus.
He is my redeemer, my lord and my friend)

Now it's a matter of time.

Giving to annoying people.

2006-03-14T12:16:00.000-08:00

Refugees don't have money. They come and ask for stuff.

We don't really have money.

We usually can't give much, but try to do what we can. I have a problem turning people down. Especially nice people that seriously need help and are so thankful for everything.

A person that i've known for a while and who has received help from me and our church for a while stopped by for a favor. He's not thankful. He expects you to help him and look after his every need. He was stopping by because i said i would do him a favor. So he comes in and after a couple seconds looks at me smiling says "So. What do you have for me? I'm going grocery shopping and need money."
Ahhhhhhhhhh Man!!!!!!!!! I don't have much to give the poeple that need help and are thankful for what they get. Then this punk comes and considers it his right to get handouts when he is in this situation because of a decision that he consciously made and continues to make.
No way was I rolling over and lining his pocket. I gave his the pretzels that had been laying around for 2 months and that was it.
I justify my actions. I'm called to show him love as a christian and to help him, but not to roll over and become a victim. But then I think again on Jesus' words, calling us to give to others when they ask. I want to be right in my decision, it still makes me wonder sometimes if I just want to make that decision and rationalise my way through. Anyone have this same problem?

So it makes me wonder if I'm truly carrying out Jesus' call to serve and love others. Did Jesus really mean that I should give something to this jerk? Am I really serving him by catering to someones requests?

Standing up...... like I should.

2006-03-03T02:54:00.000-08:00

So some americans might know that it's expected that everyone(guys included) sit down to take a leak when here in Germany, or Europe in general. There are often little signgs that say "urinate sitting down" or something like that. I don't like it, though i respect the rules when visiting others.
I remember in highschool when we Happy Campers were talking about building a cabin and that it definately had to have urinal in the place. Just a guy kinda thing.
Then during a trip to Hamburg we stayed with family of a friend and i saw this in the bathroom. They had a urinal!!!!!! I mean. I don't think i'd even seen one in a private home. we're talking about a little bathroom, but they had it there. oh......... and a heated floor. yeah. it was deluxe.
So of course i had to get my camera and take pictures of this monumental event. Just thought i'd pass on the joy.

Wanting.............. Needing more.

2006-02-27T07:16:00.000-08:00

My eyes are dry
My faith is old
My heart is hard
My prayers are cold
And I know how I ought to be
Alive to You and dead to me

But what can be done
For an old heart like mine
Soften it up
With oil and wine
The oil is You, Your Spirit of love
Please wash me anew
With the wine of Your Blood

-keith green

aaahhhh...... TK

2006-02-23T09:08:00.000-08:00

So I got a message from this girl on myspace that is doing a grad school project on Turkey Hill Iced and is asking people to comment about it. She wrote:

"hey there...i saw that Turkey hill was your fave drink...I'm doing a grad school project on it and was wondering if you could tell me why you love it, the first time you tried it, what you think about it, the taste, pretty much any info about it....i would really appreciate it....thanks so much.... "

I couldn't really resist this and had to write back. She put her email online, so I think it's ok to write it here, for any of you that want to write. lex32001@aol.com

I definately didn't write it well or double check anything. Just kinda went with it. I'm wondering if I embellished the florida story in my old age. Anyone remember how many gallons we took along? Well, he's what I wrote. Let me know what you would write.

>hi.
first of all i was wondering how you picked this as a topic. i think it's great, but just a funny subject for a grad school project. oh well...... let the memories begin.
i can't remember when i first had TK, that's the term that all my friends in lancaster county call it, or maybe that was just my school, Lancaster mennonite. who knows.
anyway, growing up in lancaster county, i just kinda remember always having it there. turkeyhill mart on the corner with the old indian symbol and TK in cartons and gallons.
In highschool it was an addiction. it's offered at lunch at school, but i would often buy a half gallon on the way to school which would bring me through the schoolday, staying in my locker for refreshment between classes. we would always bring gallons for parties or going camping.
original TK has a interesting taste that changes depending on whether it's cold and direct from the store, or if it's been sitting around for a day. I don't know how to explain this. I personally like it more after it's been sitting around for a couple hours. :-) don't know why.
i've been wondering recently why i like it so much. i've been living in europe for he past 3 years and don't get to drink it on a regular basis, so it makes me think about just what's so wonderful about TK. when i come home or see friends, that's the first thing that i ask for. a gallon of tea. I think for me that TK isn't so totally about the taste, but about the memories and meaning of turkeyhill in lancaster county and all that i've gone through with it. this sounds hilarious as i write it, but oh well. i remember in 1998 when i was a senior in highschool and my brother was on a mission trip in miami. some friends and i went to visit and took down 10 gallons of TK.
i've travelled over to europe 8 times now and i've brought TK over with me 6 of those times, rationing it to make it last as long as possible. I think it's become more of a symbol of home to me in the last years. TK just always belonged to any activity with friends. Sporting events, camping, roadtrips, weddings and where ever we were.
Just having a piece of lancaster county around, driving by the plant down by turkey point, or just always having a half gallon around.
i'm rambling. :-) thanks for letting me reminisce and ramble. let me know if you have any other questions or what happens with your work. i'd love to read what you write or what other think.
thanks.

jared seth hankee

Called to be how much of a blessing?

2006-02-11T07:30:00.000-08:00

I'm definately behind in my blogging. I've experienced things and have wanted to write them down and reflect for quite some time now.
Working with refugees has definately changed me. I'm still a really nice guy and all, but having responsibility or authority makes you ask questions and give answers that you might wouldn't have faced otherwise.
I'm the only fulltime person at the immigration counselling office, meaning that I'm kinda in charge. I don't necessarily like that. I'm responsible for how money is spent, decisions are made and also for the relationship to government, our church, other organisations and our organisation in general.
It's been a rough road for me learning when to say no or taking a stand for what i think on an issue. This is definately only in relation to work.
I've determined that life gets more complicated as you get older. You agree? Good. I'm right. I wouldn't have thought 10 years ago that I would be having to make decisions like I do now. I wouldn't have wanted to. Don't get me wrong. I don't have alot of money and don't have lots of say or power in the world. But the emphasis that I put on each decision is crazy. I want everyone to be happy and don't want others to disagree or be uncomfortable.
Right. It'll never happen. I know that. But I'm still a wimp when it comes to telling others that they've crossed their boundary and that their actions have to end.
Whether this means that someone can't call their country to talk to someone, to get money for a train ticket, to use the rooms from our organisation, or to determine my actions in a certain issue.
I love serving others and trying to make them happy. BUT I've come to the point where I see that it's neither good for them, nor for me if I do what they ask. The situation becomes unhealthy.
I tend to be a realist. Or maybe I just mean that I doubt what people often say or plan. I've learned that this is not negative, but a reality check that I should learn to listen to. Accept your own advice.
I'm not answering the question that I posed, but I don't care. These are things that roll around in my mind and bug me. I learned my whole life to serve others and do what's best for them. No. I wanted that. I would decide not to voice my opinion, rather than to offend others. If it was for fun, that's ok, but I would duck out of a real decision.
Oh there's a lot more in my mind on this. I'm writing a book and can't stop. It'll come up again later with another picture so that it looks like a new topic.

Why?

2005-12-13T13:31:00.000-08:00

Ever had to read a description to someone about how their life was ruined, their family butchered, house burnt down, or body mutilated? How about then telling them that it doesn’t really matter? Would you choose to say “then they raped you” -or- “then they sexually assaulted you”?

Let me tell you that it’s awkward. It’s one thing to read about these types of things, but this is just not a fun situation to be in. The refugees that I work with have an interview where they have to explain to the German authorities why they left their country. After a few weeks they get the minutes of the interview, in German. I translate this back to them orally to insure that everything is correct, since that document is used to decide on their case.
Then they get the decision that says that they German government either doesn’t believe them, or that the hideous things that they experienced aren’t enough to entitle them to protection from being deported.
So many questions run through my mind in these situations.
“Oh Lord, how greatly you have blessed me!” How can so many go through so much suffering? How does a heart become cold enough to be able to do such heinous things? Are they so calloused from hate or have them just been hurt so badly themselves? How does someone emotionally and psychologically survive such crass abuse?
I never know what to say. I don’t say anything. I try to say the words as comforting and understanding as possible. “They forced you to come with them and told you each day that they would probably kill you.” “Question: Did you personally see them kill your father? Explain exactly what happened?”

“Lord, how can this happen?”

“Why do these people have to experience this?”

“Father, take away their pain.”

St. Martin and I are cool like that......

2005-11-14T08:19:00.000-08:00

well 11/11 was the big day. i turned 26 in style. in the states, nov 11 is always veterans day, but over here in germany it's st. martin's day. i've been here for over 2 years and hadn't seen how it's celebrated. barbara came up from freiburg and we went to the st. martin's parade. i had told friends that i was going and they told me that it was just for kids. hmm.........
so i'll explain. there was this nice guy called st. martin. he helped people and road a horse and stuff. so in germany the kids make lanterns in school and then walk through the streets singing songs and whatnot. there are special st. martin songs and the hang a lantern(made of paper with a candle suspended in the middle) on a stick.
i didn't know that my birthday was special everywhere, so this was a nice surprise and a nice stroll through town with barbara and lots of mothers watching to make sure that the lantern candle doesn't go out. hard to explain it all. hope this gives you a glimpse of it all.

growing a spine

2005-11-09T02:46:00.000-08:00

so i've never been the type to ruffle other people's feathers. i don't like conflicts and tend to be more american and indirect than the germans. other's may tell you to your face that you've done something wrong, but i just hate that type of situation.
being in germany has definately "helped" me be more direct and better at making decisions. oh....... that's the other part. indecisiveness. yeah. i don't like making decisions or i usually just don't feel pulled in one direction or the other.
germans are much more direct than americans and will usually tell you what you're doing wrong or what you could do better. it's not rude. just honest and open. :-)
i think the culture, as well my work has made me be more direct and make more decisions on my own.
i've learned that there's a point where i give others too much room to have their own way against my will and my better judgement. i'm still really nice, but i think that i'm more confident of the decisions that i make or the advice that i give. i still don't like telling someone they're wrong, but i'm much better at standing my ground and seeing that i don't let the other person have their way because i don't want a conflict.
i'm right. aren't i?

dealing

2005-11-07T02:26:00.000-08:00

friday night i got a call from my dad that my grandma was in the hospital. something happened and she ended up unconscious. they're still not quite sure what it was, but they ended up doing exploratory surgery and found lots of dead tissue, but no answer why. after a second try, they've gotten her off the breathing machine and she's alert and even sitting up in bed.
but friday night it sounded pretty bad and they weren't sure if she would come through it ok. barbara was with me, so we prayed about it and i decided to get away on saturday. saturday morning ulf said he would be going out to take pictures, so i got a ride up to thomashof and we walked through the woods and took pictures. i just needed the time to get away and clear my mind. later i got to sit in the church and play guitar and sing. it cleared my mind a bit and calmed me.
now all those questions from before about what will happen with grandma and grandpa are being answered quickly. mom is in PA now to help with moving and visiting in the hospital and dad is staying up as long as he can to give support. i have that feeling that alot of going on and i wish i could help or just be present with all the changes taking place.
distance is a wierd thing. it hurts more to be so far away and not be able to help, but it also gives a buffer so that i don't have the direct emotional contact with what's going on. so i swing between being too emotional in wishing that i could be there -and- with feeling too removed and not worrying/praying enough about what's going on there.

Ab die Post!!!!!!

2005-11-02T00:55:00.000-08:00

So this was a long and interesting weekend. Saturday was the yearly "Mennocup" indoor soccer tournament for mennonite churches. There's a wandering trophy that the winner mennonite church takes home, then they're responsible to organize the tournament for the next year. i had planned to play for the thomashof team, but barbara's family decided to form a family team and invited me to play with them. the kärcher family team was called "Ab die Post!" cause barbara's brother, Johannes, worked for DHL. anyway. her whole family played. all 8 of them played. and her 2 foster sisters were cheerleaders for us. we didn't start off so well, losing our first game, but then didn't lose any more games. we just barely made the playoffs, but then went on to win the quarter and semi-final. then in the final we played 10 minutes and no one scored, so it went to penalty kicks. needless to say, we lost in penalty kicks.
so we took second place from 14 teams, and since we were the best team from a mennonite church we got the trophy and thomashof needs to plan it for next year.
you can check out more pics on ulf's website

what kind of goodbye?

2005-10-24T08:48:00.000-07:00

i guess it's starting to hit me. my grandparents' health is starting to deteriorate and questions are starting to come back into my mind. when i left for albania for 9 months in 1999, my grandpa said goodbye like it was forever. he had had a stroke less than a year before and it wasn't clear how long he would live.
grandma and grandpa homer sold their house before i came to germany 2 years ago and now have been living in a retirement home and taking care of themselves without any nursing care being directly provided. mom and mostly aunt dee have been helping them to get around and with other problems they have. their health has continued to go downhill and some big questions are starting to arise about their living situation and how long they will be able to take care of themselves.
i hate being away and thinking of this. i've talked with my parents about what would happen if one or both of them would pass away while i'm still here. we thought i'd would be best that i not come back for the funeral. it makes sense, but it tears me up to think about it and to say goodbye from here. grandpa doensn't want to move to the "dying wing" of the retirement home with full care. it's true. i wouldn't want to go.
but at the same time.... they can't keep living like they are right now. it's too much for both of them.
it's quite a feeling. being here and not being able to influence what's happening there. i don't want to think about it. but i need to deal with it and that means thinking about it.

outdone and sadly disapointed.

2005-10-19T07:29:00.000-07:00

well. i thought that i liked to read classic books and that i had already read a good bit of the "classics", but as i just found out from Time magazine, i have only just begone. from what i figure, i've only read 8 of these classics. that's pretty sad. i will then be starting to read as many of these as i can get my hands on. it'll take a couple years, but i'm gonna increase my percentage.
for now i need to work on finishing pippi longstocking in german. that's my mission for the next week or so.

crazy super quick weekend

2005-10-16T15:26:00.000-07:00

for all your imformation, my girlfriend, barbara, just moved to freiburg where she's studying social work and the catholic university there. she's been there about 2 weeks and we've seen eachother the last 2 weekends. last weekend we met for a day at a wedding and then this weekend she came up to visit.
weekends are just too short, but this one flew by. friday night we helped watch the buffet and wash the dishes at a married couples evening at the church, which went till 1 in the morning. then yesterday i practiced soccer with her family, cause we're playing in a yearly mennonite soccer tournament in a couple weeks. then last night we went to a cameroonian cultural festival with jens. it was supposed to start at 5 PM, so we got there at 6:30 PM to be on time. but they didn't start with the program until 2 hours later. lots of cool drumming and dancing, then we danced around to cameroonian music for a couple hours, getting home after 1 AM.
then today was church, then a 5 hour meeting at my apartment for youth leaders in the church (she wasn't there). she came afterwards at around 7 and we took a walk for a while, then watched the others play Settlers of Catan or whatever it's called.
i'm wiped out from a weekend of late nights and alot of activity, but barbara is leaving tommorrow morning to head back to freiburg, so we hung out and talked until a few minutes ago. so it's presently Monday morning and i need to get to bed and get some sleep for work tommorrow.
though i have more good stories to tell.
oh......... and the chicken was great!!!!! it was really tender. plus the peppers and onions that i bakes with it was wonderful. i also got a great broth from it. after my first chicken meal, i picked off the meat and make a soup with it. so that's how the chicken was. yummy.

a foot in the door.

2005-10-14T16:29:00.000-07:00

so barbara and i were asked to help cater the married couples evening at the church. this meant setting up the prepared food, making sure everything was ok and washing most of the dishes. it was only for married couples, but we somehow were able to sneak in under the radar because of helping and our dating status. we didn't catch any of the special message for the night or the handouts that the couples got to fill out, but we were sideline participants.
either way, i'm tired beyond belief. we started at 7 and went until about 1 in the morning. and today was a long day, starting with 2 hours of soccer with refugees, then climbing to the Turmberg and back down and then cleaning up around the apartment before the married couple thinger. so i'm gonna crash and try not to think about how long tommorrow night might go.

first chicken of the year.

2005-10-11T13:53:00.000-07:00

who would have guessed that it would take me 10 months to finally buy a chicken. i'm not talkin about no expensive or big chicken. we're talkin about the ALDI type that costs a couple bucks. i've been rolling past them with my shoppin cart for 2 years, mumbling that they're too expensive. well i finally became rational and decided to splurge and buy the bird. it's been in the freezer for a couple weeks and i decided yesterday that it's the time. so i got it out last night and thawed it out. after work today i made my best attempt at preparing it with butter, pepper, and salt. then came the red and yellow peppers and sliced onions. it cooked for an hour and looked done, but it was kinda waterblogged and i decided that it wasn't done. so now i'm letting her go another 20 minutes and guessing that that will be enough. i'll be pretty disappointed if my first chicken in 2 years turns out to be crappy. i'll eat it anyway. but it'll be sad.

once and for the first time....

2005-10-11T13:15:00.000-07:00

well............... i don't really know what i'm getting into here, but i thought i'd just on the blog boat and see if i actually get into this thing. i'm sure i'm got plenty of fotter rattling around in my mind to fill this page. so let's see what happens.
.......how about i start tommorrow after actually doing some work today.