After a week of language study we are all very ready for the weekend.  Learning it is really fun and wonderful and everything but our heads are all swimming and ready for the weekend.  So, Friday was incredibly restful.  Class is starting to go even smoother now and some of the concepts from early on are clicking.  Dr. Strickert, it seems there is a fog in every language.  We seem to be lost as we learn but it falls into place as time goes on.  Time is a phenomenal teacher.  

After class yesterday Steve and I grabbed a coke and watched some soccer.  Cold coke has never tasted so good.  We also learned here that the teachers are really into checkers and they are stinkin amazing!  Steve and I got ripped to shreds by a couple of the teachers yesterday.  When the rest of the students finished (Ancy, our teacher always lets us out early) we had a wonderful conversation with some of the Germans.  Everyone is so eager to see Bush go and to welcome Obama in.  The German students are even softening toward us.  It is nice.  They even said that maybe there is some good in America because we aren't half bad.  I hope the world begins to see this.

I also had a great conversation about spiritual practices with a Korean student.  I often hear yelling and screaming in the morning and evening and have been curious about what it has been.  I came to find out yesterday that this is that student.  He taught me yesterday that he lives in the mountains in South Korea and it is their local tradition to yell their prayers to God so that they can break through any demons trying to block them.  It is amazing the amount that I am learning about faith and practice from myself, the local students and the international students.  I knew this would open me up more to new practices and ideas but I never expected to learn so much in such a short amount of time.  I hope to bring these things back to enrich the practices and understandings of both myself and the people with whom I am a fellow worker in the revolutionary and radical kingdom.  

We had a really unique experience late last night as we were all waiting around in the common room.  Peter went to get his laptop in our room and came back flushed.  He told us that there was a "pet-sized" lizard in our room as he held up his hands to portray the size of a small dog.  Peter is not ok with lizards.  After finishing our work we went to the room.  When we arrived, the lizard was crawling on the other side of the door.  The little reptile was actually maybe three and a half inches long.  I was weary of it until I saw its size and then I couldn't move as I had been paralyzed by laughter at Peter's intense heebee jeebees.  It was amazing.  So, Steve being the only one who could move got a broom and swept it out.  Really we should have let it stay to kill the bugs.  (Peter's fear may come in useful later.)  It would have been nice as our next door neighbor came down with Malaria two days ago and it has been on our mind.  Lizards are good protection.

Today was a very lazy Saturday.  There was a little excitement as Hilary the carver came today.  I found some pretty amazaing stuff and Steve and I got to know him pretty well.  He invited us to his shop in two weeks so he can better explain the way he carves and paints.  Steve was even invited to work with him someday after Hilary found out that Steve is a good artist.  Ok.  I am going to run.