Viele Sprachen

      The title of Today's Blog (Viele Sprachen) is German for "Many Languages." And it is very fitting for AFCOE Europe. We have German, Russian, Bulgarian, English, Romanian, Serbian, and Portuguese. With all these languages it is not hard to imagine how it must have been at the tower of Babel. And one thing about Europe that one must learn to get used to is the low drone of a foreign language in the background translating during class, talking after class, ect.. I so wish that I was at least bilingual! Some of the students know 3 or 4 languages. Luckily most of them know English well, so they can talk to me.

      So the building that we are staying in is very nice. There are 3 floors and the Basement. The guys stay on the third floor. I share a room with Cristoph who is German and speaks English very well, and Dobri who is Bulgarian and doesn't speak English well. It is quite interesting speaking to Dobri, with the help of lots of hand motions and the help of the Bing Translate App. Across the hall a couple are staying, Goran (who is Serbian) and his wife (who is Russian, and I can't remember her name at the moment).

      Germany is so different from America. The Streets are narrow, the cars are all small. I've only seen one pickup truck and it was just a small one, no F-350's or anything like that. Many of the buildings are old, and just right down the street by the River there is an old castle. (I will try to get up some pictures in a few days.) Another odd thing is that German doors do not have a door knob on the outside that you can turn to open them. You must have the key in order to enter. Also Police men sometimes just stop cars on the street and ask for identification and information even if you are not violating any laws. Oh and people park on the Sidewalks here, I guess because there is not enough room in the streets.

       Today (tuesday) we went out for our first outreach. And it was much different than any outreach I have ever done before. Basically we went out in pairs to get acquainted with the area, and ask people for directions. Our goal was to learn the area, but also to try and strike up a conversation with the people. I went out with a Girl named Natalia, she is originally from Ukraine, but she now lives in Germany and speaks German and English well. So while we went out I first asked if the people on the streets spoke English, and if they did not Natalia would ask if they spoke German. We asked for Directions to the Castle, to the Train Station, to find a small bakery, and to find out if there were any good restaurants around. A few times we met some people from Eastern Europe who spoke neither English or Germany. With these people Natalia spoke Russian, while I just stood by praying and trying to get the just of the conversation.

      We met one lady named Susan who was 91 years old, and she walked with us for a bit. She only spoke German, and so Natalia was doing all the talking. But the lady told her that her birthday was only yesterday, and Natalia interpreted what she said. So I told the lady, "Happy Birthday!" and she smiled a very wide smile! I keep praying that that sometime while I am here in Germany I will meet some Americans or Canadians that I can connect with. But I am still glad that a majority of the People speak English. Often though the people are very modest and say they only speak a little, but when you start talking you realize that they understand a lot more than they say.

     It has only been two days, but I already enjoy AFCOE Europe very much! Even the food is very good! I just can't wait for Heaven when all people will again be united in one tongue! Probably some heavenly language that is very musical and sweet to the ears.