So much in just one city

The past couple weeks have been filled with lots of walking, going in little shops, eating and enjoying Germany with more family.  I've gone to stores and places in the city that I probably wouldn't have thought twice about going to if Lydia and Gretchen weren't here.  I tried straight up Syrian food yesterday which was very interesting.  The only foods I really recognized were the falafel and hummus.  I got a platter of a variety of foods which included a yogurty type curry, couscous, some cilantro/herby salad, and a bunch of other delicacies that I'd never tasted before in my life.  It wasn't my typical German lunch of bread and meat by far.  It was very different but I enjoyed trying it because I'd never had food from Damascus before, so it was really cool.

Tuesday, Lydia, Gretchen and I went on a historic tour of all the major Berlin sites.  It included the famous Berlin boulevard, Unter den Linden, the Brandenburg Gate, the Reichstag, parts of the Wall, where Hitler's bunker was (which, oddly enough is now just a parking lot with a sign that shows how it was laid out,) the Holocaust memorial and many others.  It was really interesting to hear about what Berlin started out as, a fishing village.  It then grew and grew into what is now the busy city it is today. It was amazing to hear about all the history that happened in this city alone.  You read about World War II in history books and hear lectures about it in class, but to actually visit where some of the major events happened is pretty awesome.  I mean, I saw Checkpoint Charlie, the place where the standoff of American and Soviet tanks nearly turned the Cold War into a hot one.  I walked over where the Wall used to be, something that millions of people literally would've killed to be able to do.  I've seen and learned about so many places and I learn something new pretty much every day.  And the thing is, this is just ONE CITY.  There's thousands of cities all over the world bursting with history that I have yet to learn about or see.  Only being here for about 2 months now has already sparked an interest to travel more.  I hope I can do that this year and throughout the rest of my life.  

But on a different note, I start my German classes on September 3rd, I believe.  I was going to do the night classes a few nights a week but a spot in the day ones opened up so now I'm going to go Montag bis Freitag (Monday through Friday.  See, I'm already learning some Deutsch! :)) and from 8:30am to 1:00pm.  It'll be a great fit being that I can get up with Talya and the kids and get into a normal routine. I'm excited and nervous, because Talya said that the day classes are more intense than the night ones.  But I have nothing but time to learn right now, so I figure I might as well learn all I can.

I would appreciate a continuance of prayer for a good church in a good location, a small group, friends for me, and anything else you might want to talk to the Man upstairs about. :)

Oh, buddy I'm tired.  I have a bar of Milka chocolate with caramel in the freezer so I think I'll enjoy some of that before I dream of cute European boys and doner kebaps. :)

More Shoups in Germany :)

We've all been very excited for the arrival of my sister, Lydia, and her best friend, Gretchen (who is basically a Shoup as well).  Yesterday, Talya and I dropped off the kids at school/kindergarten and then went to Tegel Airport to pick them up.  We were so happy to see them and began catching up and laughing together immediately.

I love how no matter where you are, if you have people you love around you, it's home.  I'm from small town Georgia and yet here, in the middle of Europe, with a small part of family with me, I'm as happy as can be.  I don't know, I just love being with my family and being loud and turning German heads at our not so quiet laughter.  It's been so much fun just within the past day to pick up where we left off and have that same bond, even though Talya and I haven't seen Lydia and Gretchen in like a year and a half. 

Having them here has reminded me of one of my favorite hobbies, laughing.  With a big family, we're always loud and having a million conversations at once.  And hearing about L and G's stories from the their trip over here has been hilarious.  It's just nice to have visitors and do fun things other than get up in the morning, take the kids to school, hang around and pick them up. 

I just love being with my family, and being with them in Germany, even though it's only been a day, has proved that it doesn't matter where you are.  It's who you're with that makes the difference.

Blessings where you would least expect them

Today was interesting. 

I went to pick up my niece, Reagan, from school with Gideon, who hasn't started school yet.  I was supposed to be there at 12:40pm, being that, since it's the first week, they want the kids to ease into their usual routine.  So, being a Shoup, I leave the house around 12:30 thinking "Oh, I have plenty of time.  The school isn't that far away."  Ha!  I walk up to the school with Gi around 12:45 and there's some kids outside playing on the playground.  We walk upstairs and stand in the hallway where her classroom is for a few minutes, until the principal of the school walks out of the secretary's office.  She says something in German and I reply "Ich sprechen kein Deutsch" (I don't speak German).  She replies "oh" and says something, which I took to be along the lines of "who are you here for?  What are you doing?" and I say "I'm here for Reagan Burnett" and she says, again in German, something that I took for "she's downstairs/outside, not in the classroom."  Then I say "Danke shon," thinking I understood what she meant.  Then Gideon says, after she leaves, "she thought you were picking me up from school."  So I'm thinking, 'well let's just go outside, Reagan must be playing or something."

So we walk downstairs and outside and I see kids playing and a couple women talking, who I assume to be parents/teachers or something.  So I'm just walking around with Gideon and looking for Reagan/thinking "she better be out here."  Then one of the teachers asks me something in German that sounded like "What do you need?/How can I help you?"  I answer, in English, like I only know how to, "I'm here to get Reagan Burnett."  Her reply was "Oh, Gott!" and mutters something in German and I here the word "English" so she obviously was like "crap, she's speaking English."  So she asks some of the kids around her and the lady she's talking to if they speak English and they all just continue about their business and the other lady is like "no."  I try to communicate, in some way, the fact that I was a little late today in picking Reagan up so I don't know where she is now.  Her class is 3c and her name is Reagan Burnett.  Oh, and I'm her aunt.  I'm not kidnapping the kid.  When I say "I'm her aunt" they look at each other and ask "mother?" (I forgot if it was mother or something else) and I say "no, aunt.  Sister of the mother."  And then they ask "au pair?"  I reply "No, sister of the mutter (German word for mother.)  I'm the aunt."  And I point to Gideon and try to tie the fact that he's my nephew into the situation, but that didn't help at all.  Finally, the other lady says "Oh!  Schwester von Mutter."  And I'm like yes!  Schwester!  Schwester!  They get it now!  They know I'm the sister of Talya!  So they finally understand and I was like "thank you God!" hahaha.  So they tell me, in broken but comprehensible English, that in five minutes she would be in room 304 when all the children go back into the school.  I'm thinking "I've gotta learn German, and I've gotta learn it FAST!  Or at least go look up all the phrases and words that I think I'm gonna need to know for picking kids up from school and whatnot."

Gideon and I go back up stairs for a second time to get her in the midst of a bunch of kids screaming at each other in German as they're going back to class.  As we turn the corner to go up the next flight, I see a tall, tan, pretty girl emerge out of them all.  And it's Reagan.  She has a "are you kidding me?  I've been looking for you, you dumb aunt" look on her face.  I was like "there you are!"  Then I find out, once we go to her classroom that I have to come back to pick her up at 1:50, when lessons are over.  I was, at first, like "are you kidding me?  I went through all this crap just to have to wait another 45 minutes to get her?"  But I think about it, and I realize that I'm glad I found her after all.  She goes to her class and Gideon and I go eat croissants and I drink a latte at a nearby cafe until we have to pick her up.

So after I had my funny experience with non English-speaking teachers, as we're sitting outside of the cafe,  Gideon all of the sudden looks at me, with a big wad of croissant in his mouth, and says "it's crazy that God is our dad."  I thought he said "it's crazy that God is our god," so I was absolutely stunned for a few seconds.  Then I said "What, Gi?"  And he goes, "it's crazy that God is our Dad."  And i just smiled probably the biggest grin I've had on my face all day and replied, "yeah Gi.  It is crazy.  Because even though our daddys here on earth fail us sometimes, our Heavenly Daddy will never fail us because He loves us so much."  And he just looks at me like "really?  That's cool."

Man, now I realize the point of Luke 18:16: "But Jesus called the children to him and said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these."  Gideon was obviously just so in awe in the fact that our Dad is really and truly God.  You would probably never find an adult that would out of the blue, while doing something so monotonous as eating a butter croissant, say something as simple as "It's crazy that God is our Dad."  For some reason those of us who are older than the age of six think that we're past that "awe stage" of faith.  But Gideon showed me in the time span of 3 seconds that we still need to be in awe of simple facts like God is our Dad.  God is still definitely something to be in awe of.  And I'm thrilled that I had the privilege of seeing Him use little Gideon to show me that He has, does and will always definitely deserve to be in awe of. :)

Back to routine

Today was the first day of school for the kids.  Well, two out of three, at least.  Reagan started 3rd grade at a new school which is walking distance from our house, Jesse started back to the normal pre-k/day care that he's gone to for almost two years.  Then Gideon starts the big FIRST GRADE at Reagan's school a week from today!  He's already said several times "I'm so excited to go to school."  So that's a good sign.  I'm also very ready to get into a daily routine and for my German classes to start so I can get in the groove of things for myself.  I've never taken night classes, having gone to public school for most of my life.  And my German classes are gonna be 6:15-9pm three nights a week starting in September so it'll be a little different to prepare my mind for learning at the time that I would be winding down in the States.  But I'm excited.  Hopefully I can meet other people that might be in the same new to the city boat as I am.  I'm just really excited to start school.  Hopefully it won't be too tough :/

My sister, Lydia, and her friend, Gretchen, are coming to stay for a while in about a week.  That'll be really fun to have them to occupy my time before classes start.  It's gonna be so much fun having more family in town.  All of Talya's friends reply to her telling them of Lydia and Gretchen's soon arrival something along the lines of "how many sisters do you have?" and then I usually cut in and say "there's 5 girls and 3 boys in our family."  But of course, being in Germany where three children is a big number, we get the crazy looks.  Classic.  We're used to that haha.  But I'm really excited for them to come.  I'll get to show them the city and take them to my favorite parts and hopefully practice some German when we're at restaurants and stuff. 

Although I might have to warn them that, even though they're coming to Europe, the land of walking everywhere, we're still in the land of carbs aka Germany.  My bike has become my best friend, needless to say.  :)