i was asked if i wanted to be on her team for the pumpkin carving contest. since i’m horrible at cutting snowflakes i figure i’m probably horrible at carving pumpkins as well (i know, they don’t have that much to do with each other but it’s what i was thinking), so i said no. she then told me that she was signing me up.

a few days later, i gave the idea for what to carve, we figured out who’d draw it on the pumpkin, and she’d carve it. there were so many people, surrounding the tables, busily cleaning out pumpkins and encouraging each other on. one hour later, a candle was placed in each one, and the judges went around to have a look. they only ever award two teams for their raw skill and creativity but they said this year they had to acknowledge one more team for trying to earn brownie points from the staff, who happened to be the judges.

yup, it was my team. i had suggested we carve the Torchbearer symbol (the school’s symbol) and my team had thought it wonderful. we just didn’t realize how everyone would take it. we were teased but were able to say, “at least we were recognized!”

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a conversation between a boy named david, who is half american, half canadian, and a boy named samuel, who is german:

“samuel, is this your paper sitting here?”

“yes. it is my paper.”

“dude, this is horrible.”

“why is it so bad?”

“i mean, great job at trying to write your paper in english, but this is terrible. you should have one of us look at your papers before you hand them in.”

samuel is the funniest kid here. his accent sounds a bit like arnold’s and he’s the most random person ever. he talks tons (i taught him the slang), uses the poorest english i’ve ever heard, and his vocabulary is pathetic.

a few hours after this conversation he brought me his paper and asked me to go through it with him. with my red pen in hand, i started crossing out most of it. in the first paragraph, i took out half of the first sentence and replaced it with one word. he played with his hair and said, “my english is this bad? why didn’t my teachers make it better?” most of the time i’d read a sentence and then have to say, “what does this mean, samuel?” it took an hour and by the time we were done there was red ink everywhere and he was suddenly worried that it wasn’t going to meet the quota of 1000 words. it did.

today he asked me if i’d help him with all the journals he has to do for the Old Testament reading. he’s such a funny kids… this should be interesting.

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before it was all about speaking in tongues. this week everyone wanted to discuss relationships. somehow i get asked a lot of questions… about everything. but that’s cool, right? by the end of these six months i’ll be a pro at explaining why i believe what i believe.

good practice at apologetics. : )

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i came here determined to learn some german. so far, the only thing i’ve learned (that stuck) is how to ask, “are you insane?”

hopefully i’ll learn a bit more.

we spend hours in this one building. we take walks to the lake, ride a bus to town, and eat ice cream whenever we get a chance (once for this little girl). we play volleyball (well, they play), sit around campfires singing, and talk for our social times together. most afternoons are full of homework and scrambling to get our Sport Points in. we wake up every morning, eat breakfast and then make our way to the lecture hall (even on sunday mornings).

and we love being here.

i didn’t even realize how “small” my life has become until this afternoon everyone was talking about ONE thing. the new boy had arrived — one of the last students and the one who was supposed to have come a week ago. once it was announced that benjamin smith had walked through the door with luggage in hand, the school was a-buzz from the excitment. everyone was asking questions. how old was he? what did he look like? what was he like? would he fit in and would we like him?

to my horror, i found myself in the middle of it all doing my usual thing — making jokes about the situation and finding myself so funny that i’m laughing the hardest. it was just funny to see what a stir something so small created.

i guess it’s the little things in life, eh?

“i like you, louissa.”

“thanks amy.”

“i didn’t know about you at first — you know, knowing that you’re a new yorker and all. i didn’t know if you’d have an attitude or not.”

the other day i was learning line dancing (oh yes, i was learning line dancing and beans, i was dancing to shania’s, “any man of mine”) for our American presentation and someone thought it was so funny to see the new yorker “pretending” to be country. i started to explain that i’m surrounded by farms, cows, and lots of green fields, but it still didn’t seem to register. a week ago i heard someone say, “oh yeah, louissa must know all the ghetto slang. she’s from new york.” i have some ghetto music on some of my cd’s and that’s more reason to assume that i’m so urban and cool.

i’m starting to just laugh whenever something is said. eventually they’ll really get to know me and realize how uncool i am. but for now, i’m the mac daddy (see, i just called myself the “mac daddy.” so not cool.) and i’ll enjoy it.

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i’m wearing my retainers every night.
i’m walking and exercising every day.

i don’t journal every day.
i don’t drink as much water as i should every day.

someday i’ll be able to do it all.

we sat at lunch talking about all the yummy fall desserts that we miss so much. she said her mom was going to send her pumpkin cookies but decided not to since they would be hard by the time they arrived. i said that i missed our pumkin cookies with cream cheese frosting, apple crisp, and pumkin pie. i told them that my mom always decorates for thanksgiving and the table went, “ahhh!” i guess some people don’t do it as big as us — but then again, when i told someone that holidays are a big deal at my house, she replied, “if half your family is like you, not only are holidays big — but everyday is made a big deal!”

i’m not sure, but i think that was a compliment.

but i digress… we finished our main meal and jokingly wondered if the regular yogurt would be brought out for dessert. now mind you, i wasn’t complaining — they feed us entirely too well here (so well that i’m assuming i’ll know what the frehsman fifteen really means by the time i come home) and i really do love yogurt (i eat strawberry yogurt every morning for breakfast) but north americans do not consider plain yogurt with pineapple chunks in it dessert. and not only is it not a dessert, i don’t like plain yogurt with pineapple chunks in it very much. so needless to say, i’ve not been eating the dessert they serve very often, but don’t worry — it’s not like i’m not getting any sweets (heaven forbid!). i simply devour chocolate in my room promptly after dinner.

today was an exception. right after we talked of all this the servers got up and brought us apple crisp. i was in heaven. unfortunately, i didn’t look like i was in heaven afterwards. i ate so much of the real food and then my friend gave me so much apple crip that my stomach looked as though i was pregnant and a few months along. afterwards i felt like i understood a bit of what pregnant women go through when everyone is patting their belly. to a certain extent, that must be awkward, but be thankful that the reason they’re touching your stomach is because there’s a baby inside of you — i was just getting patted because of the consequences of my gluttonous habits.

but hey, i made people laugh.

which reminds me. my little mailbox has been empty for the past few weeks but yesterday a fellow student left me a little note saying how much she loved my laugh. it brought a smile and made me feel loved.

today my tiny mailbox was stuffed with a package from home. and that my friends, has made my day. nothing can go wrong after you read letters from home, look at a picture that includes the Milkyway Galaxy and a skirt and pair of socks that you left at home. i have a big bulletin board in my room and nothing is on it right now. not only will my sisters cd’s be famous by the time i leave but my merrick william’s artwork will also be known — at least by my roommates.

i flew out of the states three weeks ago. this friday will mark three weeks of being here. somehow it feels like an eternity ago. i’m loving it — if you want to dive into the Word of God and have it consume your life, a school like this is the place to be. but you want to know the ironic thing? i’m here at Bible school and it’s a bigger struggle here than it was at home to spend time alone with my Jesus. from the moment i wake up at 6:30 in the morning to when i go to bed at 11:00, my day is full of meetings, lectures, meals, exercise (ask me at some point about the Sport Points), and homework.

so i’m learning how to prioritize.

i’m learning how it’s important to have that quiet time each day even if your life revolves around teachings about Jesus, reading books about Jesus, and writing papers on different books of the Bible. that can’t replace the special time when you spend time with Jesus each day.

i’m learning that my insecurities have ruled my life long enough. i said something the other day about being insecure and one of my roommates said, “no, not you! you can’t be insecure!” i know, it’s amazing but true. i’ve learned that my insecurities don’t bring glory to God, that it has made me a selfish and prideful person, and i’ve also learned that even though i know a lot of truth in my head, at times it takes forever to get to my heart.

and i’ve also learned that 80’s love songs are great background music…

time goes by so slowly
and time can do so much

i’ll be coming home
wait for me, wait for me
are you still mine?

i need your love

i’m starting to realize why so many say Germany is the most beautiful country they’ve ever visited. these people love nature, simplicity, and beauty. the broom is not just something used in the kitchen — it is also used for the outdoor world where there might be brick or cement on the ground. around homes you’ll find that every space that has dirt has flowers planted and even now, in october, there are flowers in bloom everywhere. i’ve found nature paths along the lake that everyone uses — including women in business suits and heels coming home from work.

i’ve never been good at decisions. i have a travel weekend once a semester and before i came i automatically assumed i’d go and visit liz (she’s located on my list of links) in italy. in the past two days i’ve received invitations to visit paris (ooh-la-la) or austria. oh my. i don’t know what to do…

we have another guest in. he grew up in Holland and will be sharing out of 1 Peter this week. this place is amazing.

i know, boring post. sorry. just wanted to keep you updated.

so yes, they must lie to us students in order to stretch us or something because this post is not coming through an email to a sister and having her post it. i, louissa sinclair, am on “the web” even though i’m not supposed to have access to it. i don’t know what’s going on.

i never thought i’d say this, but i’m getting behind in my emails. if you’ve emailed me and i haven’t emailed you back, forgive me. you can call me a lame loser or something like that and i’ll get back to you in the next few days. for now, accept my posts as a mass email to everyone and yes, i see your comments. i set it up so i get all the comments through my school email address.

today found me an hour and a half, by train, away from school in a small city near Switzerland. it’s old and lovely and we spent three and a half hours wandering the curvy streets, looking at old churches, and drinking coffee in the coolest coffee shop ever. with the small shops and a cafe on every corner, i really felt like i was in europe today. it was rather fun.

we were told that it was a great place to shop but everywhere my friend and i went, we found a bit over our price range. we saw Lacoste (little alligator store), went into a store that was sold all Diesel clothing and accessories, and one of our last stops was into a store that had a Vogue plaque on the side of the glass door. my friend and i looked at each other and wondered if we were supposed to go in. we did, followed by a few more girls, and we found ourselves whispering as we walked around because it didn’t seem right to talk out loud in that specific store. besides the saleswomen, we were the only ones in there and the cheapest item in the store was 300 euros. that’s a lot of american dollars.

i tried on two winter jackets. i fell in love twice and realized that they were both overpriced. i saw the plaid one first and tried it on even though i knew that it was over 100 euros. the second was black and very euro looking and was once again over 100 euros. i have expensive tastes and no, i didn’t buy either.

there was a big band on the street playing broadway tunes. we sang along and i found it rather stange to be listening to Beauty and the Beast in europe.

i would get into the speaking in tongues thing right now, but someone is in line for the computers. it will have to wait for another time. all i can say is that it will definitely be interesting. i found myself talking to two people about it today as we looked at a very old catholic church today. i’m not pushing my beliefs onto anyone — i’m just answerering questions that involve my saying that my church is spirit-filled and i know many, including myself, who speak in tongues. yeah, it’ll be interesting.

i don’t know why, but i still can get online.

today we had a question and answer session. all kinds of questions were asked but one really caught my attention. a boy raised his hand and said that a few nights before, his room had been discussing tongues and he was really confused. i perked up, waiting to see what the principal of the school would say. as he told of his views, the boy sitting next to me asked, “i wonder what that sounds like. have you ever heard somebody speak in tongues?”

i smiled and said, “actually i have.”

yesterday at lunch, steve announced that regular internet will be leaving us at some point today (i don’t really understand why i can get on this morning). every student has a school email address and we use a program like Outlook and we’ll always be able to use it. they gave us internet for the first few weeks so we’d have time to forward email addresses and let everyone know about our address change.

every afternoon, from 1:00-5:00, two computers will have web access so that we can check banking, purchase tickets, and use it when we really need it. every other computer will just have our email accounts.

so to answer the question that was asked, you can email me at two different email addresses:

louissa(at)gmail.com
louissa_sinclair(at)bodenseehof.de

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i found myself climbing into my top bunk and looking at the shelf that’s above my bed. i have my two pictures and other odds-n-ends up there and then i noticed something else. there was a name carved into the wood above the bed and guess what her name was.

Sabrina. and she was here in 2004.

i thought that was rather fun.

- – - – - – - -

some things make me smile so big, even while my eyes are tearing up.

i do miss home. an incredible amount.

because this browser is lame and won’t let me use links for some strange reason, just click on “brietta” in my long list of people (she’s right at the top and is proud of it). you’ll then understand why i’m saying all this.

i miss my princess baby.

i’m used to eight hours of sleep every night and here i get on average, six. i think it’s slowly catching up to me.

my school used to consist of reading a textbook, answering questions, and writing papers. here i sit and listen to five “sermons” everyday, taking frantic notes, knowing that i’ll be tested on what i’m listening to. they will certainly be interesting tests.

the internet is going tomorrow. and for some reason, when he said that, i immediately missed my family. i wasn’t thinking about the fact that i’m looking at pictures all the time, reading the different blogs, and keeping up that way. oh well.

i have my first travel weekend in november to plan. have i ever told you that i’ve never planned any traveling on my own? i’ve never purchased a ticket on my own and i’ve never booked a room on my own? i know, i sound rather pathetic since i rely on my family so much. but it’s not such a horrible thing, is it?

i often laugh at my little boy, merrick, whose life revolves around movies. he memorizes them, talks about them, and created a “movie game.” and then i realized that i’m not much better. everything makes me think of different movies…

we had a guest in tonight to teach our two evening lectures. he looks extremely french and his accent is so fun that when he asked questions, i wanted to respond with a, “wee wee!” he made me think of sabrina, of cafe’s on the street, and the accordian playing some french song while she writes her letters.  somedays i do feel like her.  now i just need to find linus who has millions…

just kidding.  : )

it’s been raining since dinner time and during one of the lectures this evening, we could hear the rain and saw it coming down on the windows. i thought of that other movie, that starts out with rain in the city, and that certain line, “well, i’m not like every other woman you know” that i quote so often. and one can’t forget that lovely favorite song that goes with it…

one fine day, you’re gonna want me for you’re girl.

see, i really am bad. i’ve felt like i’m living a movie, i’ve quoted a movie, and now all i have to do is play the game. so i’m thinking of a movie…

i’ll get back to you on that one.