Praha Holesovice = Trouble

Well let me paint the scene for you. A 186 cm tall girl with a backpack, a rolling luggage, carrying a pillow, wearing sweats tucked into ugglike (this word came up in spellcheck as ugliest, which is true at times because everyone here stares at my feet it seems) boots steps of the train at the station marked Praha Holesovice. The advice I received to follow upon arrival was, “Just get off the train, follow the crowd and I will be waiting at the Burger King. It is the first thing you’ll see.” So what do I do? I get off the train and follow the “crowd” which consists of five people that all go different directions. To myself I think, “Which one is the crowd?” and choose a kind man that was sitting across from me. We go down a long stairwell and I come to a three way stop, where there is no Burger King in sight. I hang a right and walk outside and nothing to be seen. I check every way and still cannot find a Burger King. Mind you, I do not have a cell phone at this time and do not know Czech. I can’t even use my go to phrase, “Ich kann kein Deutsch.”, when people start speaking to me because that means nothing to them. But don’t worry the only English that I do hear is over the loudspeaker saying, “BEWARE OF PICK POCKETING!” Great, so I now have my head on a swivel as well.  At this point I find this long tunnel that is underground where I see some people going, so I decide to follow since reading signs is a hopeless cause considering every letter has some kind of dash or upside down v over it. After walking through the tunnel I come out at a bus stop and I must have had a sign on me that said, “I AM AMERICAN.” or extra limbs growing out of me because EVERYONE was staring at me. I saw a sign for McDonald’s though and thought that maybe Kelsey confused the two (common mistake right?), but sure enough she wasn’t there.

Kelsey and I in front of Powder Tower



 Now I am starting to panic a little, because I literally have no idea what to do. I realize McDonald’s has internet so I whip out my ITouch and email Kelsey since I don’t have her phone number. I then decide to start asking people where Burger King is. I first ask if they know English and of the first eight people I ask not one person does. Finally, I find a person at a bakery that knows a little and I ask where Burger King is and she throws her left arm in one direction and points. I decide to take a chance and listen, but this only brings me to more bus stops and a busy intersection with no businesses. I am sweating profusely because I am dressed for winter and it’s like 60 degrees Fahrenheit. My last hope is asking a woman at the currency place, she informs me that I got off the train three stops too early. Perfect, not only am I lost, I will now be late to our meeting place and Kelsey will be nowhere to be found. This is exactly what happened, a man with one tooth, helps me get on the metro and find my way to some other stop with a name I can’t say. This time I follow the “real crowd” and find Burger King. Only to see that Kelsey is not there because at this point she had looked up where my train stopped and put two and two together and left for the other train station. Just perfect. I go up to the Burger King counter to start to buy something so I can get the internet password to check my email, only to realize they don’t use Euros, they use Crowns. I try to explain this to the woman and thankfully she gives me a piece of paper with some letters scribbled on it. The nice German man next to me helps me decipher the second grade hand writing and I get on the internet. I ask the man if he saw a tall blonde here, but he says no and just as I look up I see Kelsey walking towards me. Such a relief! 

Kelsey, me and two of her friends
at Starbucks in Prague.



So this is how my weekend in Prague started off. You probably are wondering why in the world I went to Prague when I just arrived in Berlin. Well you see, my director gets home this week and once he comes back I will know more specifics about living, team, etc., and also my roommate was gone for a basketball game five hours away. Clearly as you can see from the previous story, me in large foreign cities by myself does not make for a wise idea, so I decided before my life gets started and before Kelsey leaves for the states I should go visit her. She is a STINTer with AIA in Prague and plays on a professional basketball team there.  The weekend was so refreshing and definitely made me even more excited about my ministry in Berlin. I went to their AIA staff meeting on Friday, which was fun to see the dynamic of their team and what the ministry in Prague is like. I got to meet a lot of the women that Kelsey has been hanging out with for the last year and I was very encouraged by the relationships she has built. It reminded me that I will have relationships like that in due time; I just need to be patient. The most encouraging part of the trip was getting to have a great conversation about God with a girl that I met there and just hear where she stands and challenge her on some things. Being in a place that is spiritually dark and getting to have this conversation after knowing her for an hour was such a blessing. Overall, after an overwhelming first week in Berlin and at times wondering how am I ever going to make friends and share with them, it was super encouraging to see Kelsey and her ministry in Prague. Plus it is always good to see a familiar face that you have known for some time. Prague was definitely beautiful and it was such a great weekend and I left feeling refreshed.

eins, zwei, drei, vier, funf....

It officially has been five days since I have been living in Berlin. Time has definitely gone fast, and I am sure it will continue to pick up speed as I meet more people and become more acquainted with the culture. The last few days have been extremely busy with random activities. Saturday night we celebrated a teammate of Leah’s (my roommate, or more I am her roommate since I am on the couch) birthday and I met some new people there. Sunday was eventful because we attended a Bundesliga II men’s basketball game. It was a lot of fun. The fans were really into it and it was interesting because they played “We are the Champions” after they won, but only shortly after I found out that winning this series of three games meant they just didn’t have to move down to a lower league. So all in all they weren’t the champions, just not the worst I guess. Now that is something to celebrate. It made me laugh, but at the same time it was really neat to see how much passion they have. My dad always told me Germans know how to celebrate, and let’s just say now I believe him, among the drums, cheerleaders, and water being dumped over peoples’ heads. I can’t imagine what the World Cup is like here.

With Leah and some friends I met at the birthday party

Monday was a busy day, and another day of learning more about the culture of Germans. One thing I learned among many is that you don’t smile at strangers. I tend to smile at those who walk by, but clearly that isn’t the case here. They just give straight face stares back at me and I guess smiling at strangers has “TOURIST” written all over it. Oh well, lesson learned. So, some of my accomplishments today were opening a bank account, which was somewhat tough. They don’t use checks over here so that is interesting, but it is kind of cool they spelled my name Wörle. Too bad I have no idea how to say it over here though. After getting a bank account, I went and got a McFit membership. Although, you may think that this is being a member at the local McDonald’s, it is not. It is actually a gym membership. I chuckle every time I think of working out at McFit, and there is Mickey D’s here too, so not sure where the name came from because everyone here is skinny. I also drove on the train past the Berlin Wall yesterday, so that was cool; hopefully I get closer soon enough. Speaking of trains, in Berlin you can bring bikes and dogs on the train with you. Not sure about other animals, but I knew dogs were allowed when one started licking my leg today on the train. I tried so hard to play it casual, since I stand out enough the way it is, but if you know me I am not always too fond of little, unattractive dogs, and that is exactly what this was. I managed to let it bathe me, but the whole time I was cringing and praying that our stop would come sooner rather than later.

I am trying to pick up German, it is hard. Now I know how people feel when they say I talk fast. The only thing I get out of people’s sentences are numbers usually. I was attempting my German on Sunday though to a woman and I said tres instead of drei. Pretty embarrassing and the worst part is I don’t even know Spanish. I am making some progress though so that’s good.

On a more serious note though, I have been trying to really dive into the Word and have good quiet times while I have been here. Being away from the comfort of the States and all my friends and family has made me rely on the Lord in a different way. I have always been someone who shows love through encouragement, and when you can’t speak the same language it definitely challenges me to show Christ’s love in another way. It makes me have to be intentional and genuine with the people that I meet. At times, since I like to talk and process with people, it can be hard, but I know as time goes on things will get better. After being sad the first couple days, God has definitely given me a sense of peace and excitement about being here and away from the known. One verse that has encouraged me is, Romans 8:28, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.” I know that God has me here for a reason and I am going to trust His plan even amidst my fears and the cultural barriers that exist.

I haven’t found a team yet, so it is hard to start that part of my ministry. Soccer teams are going into playoffs and the season is ending, but I am hoping to get to some games and watch the different levels to see what would be a good fit. Once I find a team and my director returns from New Zealand, things will look a little different. Right now, it is all a big adjustment so I am just going where the wind blows, which as of tonight is to play at basketball practice with my roommate. They have tried recruiting me to switch over numerous times to basketball because of my large size, but I think they may change their mind tonight after they see how rusty I am. It is a fun workout though for now, and better than running on a treadmill at McFit. So that is where I am at in ministry right now. That is all for now though, but I’ll get back to you on how many air balls I have tomorrow.

Oh yeah, one more thing. If anyone is feeling wealthy and would like to come over to Germany for the Women’s 2011 World Cup this summer (hence the 2011), let me know. Seeing as my friends are limited as of right now and I need to purchase tickets in the near future, I would love a friend to go with. And don’t all you guys (men) jump at the chance to watch women’s soccer, because we all know it is the bomb.com. Sorry this is long; I am not a concise writer if you haven’t seen that by now, but good thing you can just exit if you want.

And the adventure begins....

Alexanderplatz, the World Clock is to the left.

Well, here is the update on my new adventure. I decided to start a blog because that way I can keep you all in the loop about my life in Berlin. I can share what has been on my heart and maybe even some stories of living in a culture where you know nothing. Don’t judge my writing skills, I am not trying and yes, I got a college degree, but right now I am not being graded.

I have been here for almost 36 hours, even though it feels like it has been a few days. I haven’t slept much and my whole wake up at 5:30am to work out and start my dad is no longer in existence. Not really due to jet lag though, because to be honest I still have no clue what that means. What is jet lag even? I mean I get that I am supposed to sleep a lot and be tired, etc., but I guess I haven’t experienced that.

My day yesterday was full of traveling. Nothing like yummy airplane food, attempting to fit my ogre legs in zero space while the inconsiderate person ahead of me leans their seat back, and best of all trying to get three 50 pound luggage (I feel like this should be plural, but spell check says no) to my ride in an airport with signs I can’t read. Awesome! Not to mention, my ride brought a car that is equivalent to an American Geo Metro, needless to say there was room for the luggage and not me.

The day only got better though, because I got to meet my future roommate, Leah, who is great and not to mention has lots of patience with my lack of knowing German. My key phrase I have learned is, “Ich kann kein Deutsch.” (I can’t speak German). Yesterday was pretty low key, I just went and watched/napped at her basketball practice and then we went to a café by her place. I ate falafel and some cheese on a wrap (still not sure), and it was actually great. While we were walking home, we saw a snake in the road and if you know me, you know I HATE snakes. Leah decided she wanted to see if it was real.  She kicks it and the snake flips over, so I jump and she screams, only to find out that it is a plastic, fake snake. So being the friendly American that I am, I see two German girls approaching us on the sidewalk and decide to inform them that the snake in front of them was fake. Only to completely forget that A. these girls don’t know English B. they are wondering why this girl is shouting at them. All in all, they looked at me like I was CRAZY and Leah informed me shortly after that people don’t talk to strangers like that in Germany or shout at people for that matter. Next time I am going to pick it up and throw it up them, and then they can call me crazy.

So today after an amazing slumber last night, we rode the train to a staff couple’s apartment on our team and ate lunch. It was good and we just hung out and chatted. We then came back to Leah’s and unpacked a bit. Leah headed to basketball practice and I went to the café from last night to get internet and because I was hoping and praying that the same man from the night before was working so that he would recognize me. Sure enough, dream come true, he was working and he saw me and shouted, “SAME!” and I was like, “YES!” Boom baby, well I didn’t say that but thought it. He was hesitant to give me the internet code because he thought I was going to download things to his account or something, so he kept spying on me. All in all that is my first 36 hours, and maybe a few more embarrassing attempts at German, but other than that hope that gives you a little update. Miss and love you, thanks for the prayers! I appreciate it so much and it’s so encouraging knowing I have people back home supporting me.

I didn't get internet yesterday so, this is from the first 36 hours I was here. I will blog again soon.