IrishOboe

The 7^th Day of Christmas (my true love gave to me: a beautiful baptism birthday)

After getting some work done in the morning I took the tram to the Blom’s house and had a good afternoon of intense discussion.  Then the Coopers picked me up and we went to the Manduka’s house (family of the pastor of BCF that lives just over the border in Germany).  I had invited myself over for New Year’s Eve because ever since I was baptized at age 10 I’ve had someone pray over my lit baptismal candle every year on the anniversary.  I tried to be gentle with the suggestion, but they took to it well and didn’t seem to mind my forward request.  The Molls also came, and it was a good chance for me to get to know their kids better.  We had a lovely dinner and good conversation.  Frank works for a company that makes ergonomic devises and he affirmed the health benefits of running barefoot (on good soil at least).  His company makes shoes that make it feel like you’re walking on forest ground and they sell mats of the same stuff.  I’d love to try it someday.  They did an experiment and set up a bank with adjustable desks so workers could stand or sit.  Most workers stood less than 20% of the time but when they gave them the mats to stand on most of them sat for less than 20% of the time.  You can try the marvel for yourself for the low price of 100 Francs.

Most of us shared are testimonies and I got a glimpse into the MK (missionary kid) world.  They prayed over me and my special request for guidance in my relationship with Stephan.  Your prayers are also appreciated and if you have any words of wisdom they will be welcome.  I cannot guarantee I will take your advice, but I will appreciate it.  The kids lit fireworks and we played house with the girls then watched the Germans bring in the New Year with a multitude of household firework displays.  I’m used to Disney, and had a little fear for my life knowing that any Joe could buy and set off rockets that are illegal in Florida.  It was fun.  On the way home we saw Basel’s firework display which strangely went off at 12:30 and not 12.

The 8^th Day of Christmas (my true love gave to me: a play day in the snow)

Diana, Nicola, Aubrey, Stephan and I spent the first of the year playing in the snow atop Mt. Rigi.  It was cold, but fun.  I got a face plant in the snow bank, but Stephan didn’t do it. ;)  Honest.  He behaved himself well.  I was impressed.  He took more pictures of the other girls than of me, though.  Should I be worried?

The 9^th Day of Christmas (my true love gave to me: a reminder of life’s brevity)

I slept in and worked.  Still much to do but I finally got my printer hooked up (thanks to the USB cable in Mom’s Christmas package) and important papers in the mail.  In the afternoon I went with Veronika to visit a former patient since said patient is American and might like talking to someone in English.  She came to Basel to sing in the opera and she still dresses like a singer.  The whole time we talked I could see the painting of her when she was in her prime hanging behind her in the wall.  Looking from that picture of the flower of youth to the frail lady in front of me struggling to find the energy to talk and the will to live since her husband of many years recently passed away I was humbled and reminded of the frailty of life and the relative insignificance of my tiny life.  The generations stood before me: There I was, full of the fresh excitement of love and looking forward to life with great expectation.  Then beside me sat Veronika in the middle of life with her own hopes and fears and broken expectations I know not of.  Across from us both sat a lady who clearly enjoyed her adventurous life and loved her wonderful husband deeply and is now stuck in a nursing home in Switzerland with all her family far away in America.  She seemed remarkably chipper to me though she said she was not herself.  It was not an entirely sad picture.  Life is short, but also full of good things.  Life is worth living and it is worth loving even with the knowledge that it sometimes hard here on earth.  She’s had her time and there’s no shame in looking forward to mine.  I don’t have to worry yet about being stuck in a foreign country alone in my old age . . .

That evening I went to Stephan’s and well, I suppose that’s no longer news.  I’ve been looking through his old photographs.  It’s cute and brings out the most interesting stories.

The 10^th Day of Christmas (my true love gave to me: an easy start to school)

I still maintain that January 3^rd is too early to go back to school, but at least my morning classes were canceled and it was rather nice to have a weekend after a two-day week.  I practiced harp then went to Renaissance dance class, which was fun this time because I got to dance with the teacher and the energy in a dancing pair makes a huge difference – she has such finesse!

After class I joined Veronika and some of her friends for a dinner of lox and potato salad.  Everyone loved the salad (I think the foreignness made it more appealing to them) and we laughed over cultural differences in preparing potatoes.  After dinner I let them do their Swiss thing and I went - you guessed it – to Stephan’s and we wrote thank you letters and enjoyed time together before he goes all over the world.  For those who haven’t been following Stephan is a materials science engineer who is in charge of sales in Asia and the Pacific for NanoSurf, a company that makes microscopes.  I hope I got that mostly right.

The 11^th Day of Christmas (my true love gave to me: money!)

Money isn’t everything, but it sure helps.  I’ve been living off of my savings from Japan, but feeling guilty for not earning much.  After all, if I want to stay I have to find a way to support myself.  I’d applied for help in October, but had only received a small tuition reduction.  I didn’t complain about that, but I was disappointed that I didn’t get a stipend.  Not that I thought I would, it just would have been nice.  Well, after my morning practice session on harp I went to the main building for history class and there was another set of official envelopes lined up in the hall.  I held my breath and found my name in the middle of them.  I opened the little parcel and couldn’t believe my eyes!  I’m getting paid to go to grad school in Europe!  It’s not enough to support a family, but it pays the rent, and that is major.  I can’t tell you how thrilled I was with it.  How many more blessings will God pour out on me?  It hardly seems fair, but God is good and I don’t have to worry about his blessings to me taking away from someone else or from my life later down the road.  I only fear that I’ll become so enthralled with the gifts that I forget the giver.

So folks, if there was any doubt, I now have enough to keep me in Basel for a while.  I’ll finish a second year for sure and maybe a third.  Who would have thought?  Certainly not I!  Follow God and trust Him.  He is trustworthy beyond comprehension!

My good mood might have helped with history class, but being in a good mood doesn’t help with German vocabulary so the fact that I understood more than usual was encouraging.  I now have even more motivation to get very much better at German, though in this case dating a local guy is no great help in learning the local language like it would be in Japan.  Still, there’s a willing person to answer my questions, which is important.

Anyway, I practiced harp then went to Stephan’s so I could go with him and his folks to Zürich where Stephan was flying out for China.  One thing that pleases me about Stephan is that he is patient when I do silly, spacey things.  I think this is because he does them himself.  It wasn’t until we were in the car that it became clear that his folks thought he was flying out of Basel, not Zürich.  I had a good laugh at the failure to communicate, but it worked out fine in the end.  We had drinks at the airport and it was nice to have some time to chat.  I had more time to chat with his folks on the way home since we stopped for dinner.  Somewhat frustratingly they are as hesitant to give out advice as my own folks.  I appreciate the vote of confidence, but I think I’d rather hear “I told you so” to advice I didn’t take than “That was obvious” to something I didn’t realize!  Well, I think both sets of parents did a fine job raising their kids so I suppose there’s no reason to assume they are not continuing in the wisest path!

The 12^th Day of Christmas (my true love gave to me: the whole day at home)

I don’t know how longs it’s been since I’ve spend a full day at home alone.  I cut a third of my emails out of my inbox, which had started to grow painfully and still has much that should have been dealt with long ago.  My room looks a bit better but it’s still rather messy.  My sanity is a bit restored from having the day at home.  It’s hard to believe I’ve survived so long since I think of myself as such an introvert.  My Egocsue exercises have been sorely neglected and doing them surely left me sore, but it was good to start getting my shoulders back in place.  Is there any hope for keeping every area of my life in balance?  Now I’ve added a relationship to that.  Good thing I am in the Lord hands and he teaches me all things when I need to learn them.

That was my Christmas in three parts.  I now have permission to gush about how wonderful Stephan is and how incredibly happy I am and how I can’t believe that I might be of the object of his affections.  Yet, somehow no matter how much I might gush, it would never do it justice.  I suppose every couple thinks they are the cutest and the most perfectly suited to one another.  It just happens that in this case it’s true. ;)  I mean, think about how weird I am and how many random interests and experiences I’ve had.  Would you ever think that someone else might have experiences to match and complement all of mine?  I’d hoped for a few big ones and maybe a few small ones, but we match in the big things and also in about a thousand (a million would be an exaggeration) little ones.  I hope that didn’t cause too much blushing, Stephan.  Note that “complement” implies strengths and weaknesses on both sides.

Love to all, and to all a good night!