Zu Hause ist immer schön.

So it has been almost a month since I blogged last, but I figured that would be the case since I knew it would be crazy busy being back in the States for three weeks. As I write this I am sitting at the airport waiting to leave to head back to Germany. I still can’t believe that it has already been three and half weeks. It seems as if I just arrived a few days ago. Honestly looking back I can’t really say it was a relaxing three weeks, but it definitely had its moments. Culture shock was rough at first and I think the top four things I noticed were:

1)      How many overweight people are in America

2)      How many large vehicles there are (I have gotten used to seeing mainly small compact cars)

3)      How much money it costs to just live everyday life

4)      How horrible the public transportation is. I rode the bus for three hours one day just to get into the city. I swear we stopped at every person’s doorstep. I could have run as fast as the bus.

Instead of writing about everything that I did, I figured it would be easier to just post lots of pictures and write captions underneath. Everyone likes looking at pictures rather than reading words.

Went to Gastov's German pub with some friends. Played high school
 bball with both of these girls

Kevin came in town to visit

Katie got married. She played bball at Drake and these are some of the
other girls that came. I love tall people.

First Twins game in new stadium. :)

Bonfire at Bre's house on Memorial weekend!

Jayna came to see me for the weekend from California

Jason, Dustin and I got some Boba Tea.

Greg's cabin with Laura and Shauna :)

\

Got dinner and stayed with old Drake teammates. Miss them so much

Hung out with the Drake soccer guys in KC

We took family photos at Macy's. These dudes are cool.

All the girls at my house for a BBQ

The girls minus Anna visiting my grandma.

Jackson Dennis Benz (Al and Ty's new baby)

grillen, spielen, lernen

At a team outing

Summer is finally here. Kind of. I am so excited that the weather has been warm. Often I literally walk outside and just smile because it makes me happy. It is crazy what a little sun can do for the soul. Life has been super busy though, but at the same time really good. Hence the lack of blogging. Between German class becoming more intense, ministry continuing, soccer training, and support raising; there isn’t a whole lot of spare time. I still can’t believe it is already May and I fly to America in a few weeks. I haven’t even really had time to think about it or get that excited. But I am excited. I will definitely miss Germany though and especially my team. I absolutely love the team I am on. The girls are great and we have had so much fun hanging out outside of training and getting to know each other. Last Saturday we grilled in a local park and just hung out for six hours. I brought an American football with (a somewhat foreign object here) and we played catch for a long time. We also watched the semifinal for the Champions League as a team, and as many of you know being a Wörle, we are huge Bayern München fans, so it was a big game. Luckily, they pulled out the win otherwise Dad wouldn’t have been a happy camper. It was amazing and I can’t wait for the final on May 19 against Barcelona.

My awesome roomie :)

Soccer has just improved overall and I am enjoying playing even though at times the situation is frustrating. When I think about giving up soccer at some point in my life, it breaks my heart. Yesterday at training, it was one of the first times I just played without thinking and felt so free. It’s as if nothing else in the world mattered and when you enjoy your teammates it makes everything that much better. In bible study we have been going through a series on how God desires for us to be transformed into the likeness of His Son and how we can put ourselves in a place to encounter God’s grace and love.  We connect it to sports and learn practical ways that we can serve/love our teammates and use our talent as a platform to reach others. As you may know, soccer has been a battle the entire year and I was just talking to someone the other day about it and realized how much has changed. It is crazy to think last fall I would be terrified for training and literally would bike home almost in tears singing worship songs, and now I get excited for training some days (obviously there are the lazy days though too). Just another way that God has been faithful. In training I have really been focusing on using it as an act of worship and remembering that even if I work hard and don’t get “rewarded”, it doesn’t matter because I am working for the Lord and not for man (Col 3:23).

Lately, I have been just so worn out and tired at the end of my long days that I just want to crawl into bed and pretend that my to-do list doesn’t exist. There are times I will sit down on my couch to have my quiet time and say to God, “Can we just hang out right now and kick it?” I don’t know if you have ever been in that place where reading, processing and thinking seems like the most overwhelming thing EVER. It has been good though because it has taught me to just be with God and sit in His presence, which is something I tend to struggle with. Also trying to be a prayer warrior because at times I feel so helpless and burdened by the hurt and dying world that we live in. There are so many people that need the love of Jesus, but where do you start? I have been trying to trust the. At AJ on Wednesday, we heard a story about a married couple that were missionaries in China (1930’s) and ended up being executed (beheaded). When they were taken away their daughter was left behind, wrapped in a blanket, and someone found her and took her in. Eventually she went back to America and was adopted. With that being said, the mother (Betty Stamm) that was executed had written in her journal two years earlier:

Grilling out in the Park 

“Lord, I give up all my own plans and purposes, all my own desires and hopes and accept Thy will for my life. I give myself, my life, my all, utterly to Thee to be Thine forever. Fill me and seal me with thy Holy Spirit. Use me as Thou wilt. Send me where Thou wilt. And work out thy whole will in my life at any cost now and forever.”

I have been trying to read this each day and make it my prayer. I want to pursue the Lord wherever that may bring me. Betty did that with her life. We all can do ministry right where we are. I have been challenged with this though. Do I truly give myself, my life, my all, to Him? It is easy to give the things that don’t matter that much, but what about those things that are really hard to let go of. And at what cost? Support raising has been tough lately, but I keep asking myself, do I truly believe that the Lord will provide? One time, I heard a definition of faith that I really liked. It is: “Faith is taking God at His Word and believing that what He says is truer than how we feel or any circumstance we will ever face.”

So these are the things that I have been challenged with and just been processing through, but I hope to write more soon. 

Fahrrad fahren

This post is going to mainly about one thing and that is biking. Or in German “Fahrrad fahren”. Since the weather is getting warmer here I have started to bike more places. This includes biking to German class every morning.  First of all let me start out by telling you a little about my bike. I got it for free from a woman whose father passed away and she didn’t want it anymore. I have a sweet basket on it as well. The seat is a little low for me and squeaky at times and the backward pedal brake doesn’t work. Other than those things, it is a great ride. Here are some things that I have come to know about biking in Germany (you would think it wouldn’t be that complicated, but I guess I never biked in America so maybe I didn’t notice all the “rules”): 

1.       There is a bike lane that is painted red here. If you are walking in the bike lane you will get ran over. Literally. Or if they will repeatedly ring their bell at you until you move. If you want to die, walk in the bike lane.

How cool is this foldable bike! I really want one!

2.       The Bike Bell: this is important because of what I mentioned before. See I feel rude to ring a bell at a person so I either go around or bike slowly behind them until they move. I have been informed that this is worse and ruder. It is the polite thing to tell someone to move out of your way. Partly I avoid using mine because it sounds like a dying cat, which is a little embarrassing.

3.       The passing rule: I have no idea what side I am supposed to pass on, so I always just go as fast as I can and ride on the people walk way. People probably think I am really rude, but when I think I am being polite, I am most likely doing just the opposite

4.       My friend got a ticket for not having a bike light at 12pm in the afternoon. How can you even tell if someone’s light is working? I got lucky because I use to bike home every night from training without a light until my host mom bought me one because she was worried I would get hit.

5.       I don’t understand how people like biking because it hurts my butt, and what makes me even madder is that every day when I bike to German everyone passes me and I am pedaling so fast it seems. I swear I am pedaling faster, but they are moving faster. This is NOT logical. Then I switch mine to a higher gear and it’s like my quads are about to rip. Either EVERY biker has crazy strong quads or my bike SUCKS. Maybe there is a biking trick I am unaware of.

6.       I still haven’t figured out if I am more like a car or a human on my bike. For example, when I am biking down the side of a busy road and it’s a red light, but there is no reason for me to not go do I need to sit at a red light? Or can I bike through it? I usually just pretend I am a human when it is convenient.

7.       I actually love biking on busy roads because I feel like a race car driver. Even though I am going WAY slower. It is just so freeing and I guess it is the closest I get to driving over here, which I really miss right now. Germans are really safe too, so I never really worry about a bus side swiping me or anything. Sometimes people have to slam on their brakes, but I think they would get in more trouble than me. I guess I would get more hurt, but I don’t worry.

If only rollerblading was the equivalent of biking in Berlin. Imagine if we lived in a rollerblading society and instead of hoping on your bike to go to work or school, you strapped on your blades. I would LOVE this. Maybe there is a city where rollerblading is the popular thing to do. It is crazy to me how in certain cities it is not the cool thing to do. Whereas in college in Des Moines we rollerbladed everywhere and I then I visited my friend in Madison and she said that NOBODY rollerblades. I guess whatever. That’s all for this post. Doesn’t give much of an update, but at least now if you visit you know the biking dos and don’ts.

Frohe Ostern!

Britt and I before her game

Well it has been a long time since I have blogged. Life has been crazy busy and usually when I go to write a blog I have something to write about, but that isn’t the case today so I will just see what flows from my mind (always a scary thought). It is crazy it Easter was already here. Last year, I spend Easter in Prague so it is a bit different being in Berlin this year for it. We couldn’t really go anywhere because we had a game on Easter Monday and had this fan club thing on Good Friday (Karfreitag). Holidays are always somewhat lonely in other countries because you just think about all your friends and family being together and you aren’t there. Most of my teammates went away to their parents’ houses. Yesterday, I went to my host family for Easter lunch after our game. I get so excited to eat warm, homemade meals now that I live on my own because my meals are pretty boring. They are such a blessing. I thought I would have outgrown the whole Easter egg hunt, but this year I got to do two hunts.

Meg, Britt, and I after a different
game

A few weeks ago Meg (friend from the States) was here visiting, which was so much fun. We just did random things and in the mornings I had German class, but I wasn’t training yet because of my knee so we got to hang out at night. We went to one of Brittany’s volleyball games in Potsdam and since Meg played she taught me some things about volleyball. My other friend in Berlin plays for the men’s professional team here and they made it the finals, which is a big deal. So that is super exciting. I always wished I played volleyball. It looks like so much fun and WAY less running than soccer. I love what I do here, but one of the hard parts is that we work with some Americans that play as professional athletes over here and provide them with community, etc, but then they leave when the season is over. It is hard because you connect and then they leave and never know if they are coming back for the next season.

All of us at the Potsdam Champions
League soccer game

On the soccer front, I am finally playing again and have been running and training. I will probably dress on Monday, but doubt I will go in because I am just coming back. It feels so good to be playing again but I am hesitant with my knee. I try to not be though because that is when you are more likely to get injured. Another bit of good news is that Spotify is FINALLY in Germany. I love it. Makes listening to new music so much easier. I have also started reading the Hunger Games. Along with the rest of the world. I am on the second one and they are so good. I hope to go see the movie here. It is the nice thing about having a Kindle and just being able to download the books instead of getting them shipped from the States.

Easter brunch with friends

Exactly six weeks from yesterday I will be back in America to visit. I am really excited, but at the same time kind of nervous because I think the adjustment will be harder than I think. We will see though. Last time I came home I didn’t have much time to process because it was so busy and I was living off adrenaline the entire time, but this time I will have a lot more downtime, which I am excited for. It will come fast, but between then and now I have a lot to get done. As the weather gets warmer, it is always harder to sit down and do work because I rather be playing outside. I am getting excited to play soccer when it is warm, and every night when we go to training it stays lighter a little longer. I love that. This blog is all over, but it is hard when it has been so long. I will try to keep up better. 

Mustafa's, Die Hunde, Kirsche, Der Fisch

Ten Random Things in my life

1.       Last week I was riding on the train and there was a drunken man standing near me. The train was fairly full and all of a sudden this guy is just shouting/talking loudly about nothing. There was a girl reading across from him with headphones in and he just started shouting at her and saying, “Are you reading? What are you reading?” and going on and on. Then he turned to another woman and started shouting to her about school because she was studying. He literally went on for about 5 minutes. Everyone was staring at him with a straight face and I couldn’t help but laugh. It’s in moments like that where I want to stand up and say, “People this is funny!” I had to laugh into my scarf because otherwise who knows maybe he would start shouting at me.  

2.       My friend, Jessie, was in town for a few days and it was super refreshing. We just did random things and did life together. She volunteered with me on the streets, which was really cool because she got a better idea of what it is like. She lives in Switzerland and speaks German so we spoke German at times, but I think I realize I talk too fast in English often and it bugs me that my German can’t keep up. 

Well trained dog advertising.

         3.   We traveled for soccer and first of all, two dogs came with us on our 6 hour bus ride. I am not a big dog lover to say the least. I mean sometimes if they are super cute, but I am not one of those people that think even a dog that looks like a rat is cute. Regardless, I didn’t know dogs were allowed to travel with us. I wonder if they would let me bring a pet ferret or guinea pig? I should ask. Even though I don’t have either. Speaking of dogs. Yesterday, a man on the train was walking down the aisle trying to sell newspapers and he had his dog walking in front of him carrying the newspaper and advertising. The dog literally was trained to stop at each exit door.

         4.  So many times funny things with language happen. For instance, the word for church is Kirche und for cherry is Kirsche. I can’t do the sound that Germans make when they say “ch” so many times when I say I am going to church it sounds like I say I am going to cherry. The person always just looks at me like I have lost my mind. Tonight at dinner my teammate told me we were having “Carrots and pies” as part of the meal (in English) she told me.  I kept asking like pies as in Chicken pot pies or something. Turns out she was trying to say “Peas” the whole time and thought it was pies. I guess I know how she feels. My language teacher called me out in class and told me I say “r’s” too American in German. He made me practice ten words in front of the whole class, I was so embarrassed. I can’t roll my “r’s” and I think I may have to go back to the YouTube videos.

Team getting ready to walk on the field.
Most likely I was dog sitting somewhere

5.       I had two friends over for dinner last night and I get really nervous cooking for Germans because I want them to like it. I never want to make anything too weird, so I decided to make Chicken Parmesan. Partly because it is easy. I started cooking before and I had brought some of that premade bread that you stick in the oven and we only have one shelf so I decided I could just lay it across the pan of chicken. Bad idea. The bread fell in and got soggy in the sauce. Thankfully I saved it and then put it in after on some bake paper (not sure what we call it in the States) and when I was taking it out the paper started on fire and at the same time the noodles were boiling everywhere. I was trying to blow it out without burning myself. All in all, I could have burned the house down. I am gaining a new appreciation for cooks. You have to be so detail oriented. My logic is how ½ tsp. of something can make that big of difference so then I just don’t put it in. But I guess it does matter. 

6.       My twin friends had a little disaster trying to find my place. Both their phones had died and I don’t have my name on the bell outside or on the outside of my door because I just moved in a little white ago and it takes a bit. Regardless, they didn’t get my message of which bell to ring so they came to my place and started ringing random peoples. Eventually they got inside and started walking up every floor looking for my name, which didn’t exist. We have seven floors so it is a lot of stairs to walk. They couldn’t find it so they decided to start knocking on random doors and ask if they knew a Liz that lived there. Of course, nobody did because it is not like I know anybody’s’ name either. Finally they happened to stop on the fifth floor (mine) and knock on the girl that lives diagonal from us. They asked if she knew where a tall, American girl named Liz lives. Sure enough, this is the one girl I had rode in an elevator with and she has a crazy scary looking dog. So she said, “Oh yeah the big, American that wears sweatpants?” and told them where I live. Crazy that they happened to knock on her door. Funny thing is; I never really leave the house in sweatpants unless I am going to the grocery store quick or in our soccer gear, but I guess some things never change. All in all they showed up 45 minutes late and had a good workout in the process.

7.       I found the best döner place in Berlin with Jess. It is so good and now every time I have a visitor I am going to bring them here. Not to mention it is next to the best curry wurst stand in Berlin as well. Nothing like Berlin’s best. It is called Mustafa’s, which is another reason I like it. 

8.       I think there needs to be a tutorial on what are leggings and what are tights. I see WAY too many girls wearing what they may call “leggings” with a shirt that doesn’t cover enough. Sometimes I just want to ask if they are aware that they are exposing themselves. People! Leggings and tights are NOT the same thing. Legging vs. Tights 101 needs to take place in Germany!

9.       Most people don’t like Monday mornings. Honestly my least favorite day is Tuesday. You ask why? It is because every Tuesday morning on my way to German class walking to the train station there is a market. In the market is this big, fish stand with TONS of bulging eyed fish. It smells SO bad. I literally think they see that I walk by plugging my nose every time. Who wants to be greeted at 8 in the morning with fish smell? As you can tell, I don’t eat fish or anything that has gills for that matter. I go fishing, but I throw them back. All in all, it is miserable and Fridays is a close second because the fish stand is up then too, but at least it is Friday.

My tape that makes me looks like spider man.
It is on both sides of my leg. 

10.   My knee is still injured. This week I got the third possible diagnosis. Somewhat frustrating. The physio put this weird tape all up my leg and it looks like spider man. It is supposed to help with drainage. It is interesting seeing the cultural differences in doctors and how they treat things. I am not sure this is doing anything but I just follow the orders. Doctor appointments are always really stressful and I just want to cry because I don’t know doctor terms in German and you so badly want to communicate. Ok this blog is long. More a different day. 

Glücklich blog.

So I get an email from my mom the other day and she writes. “I read your blog. Hope your day is going better. Write a happy blog.” I laughed to myself and thought, A. Ok, Mom. (literally) B. Moms are usually right. C. Good sentence formation. So I guess this is my “happy blog” just for you Mom. Life has been crazy, busy lately I guess, but I look back sometimes and don’t even know where the days go. I have been more tired than ever and sometimes wonder if I have mono even though I know I don’t. Since coming back to Spain, the Lord has really been rocking my world and challenging me. It all started in Spain where the Lord just completely broke me and made me realize how much I don’t trust Him with certain areas of my life.

I have just been anxious in so many areas, whether that is getting healing, or just knowing what my future holds. I have realized more and more since coming to Germany, how much being an athlete all my life and having the “athlete” mindset, often carries over into my spiritual life. I am a do-er. I am goal oriented. I am high strung. I like to- do lists (I am the person that writes, “Make my bed” on a to-do list just so I can cross it off).  I like to conquer things. I like to overcome challenges. I will work as hard as I need to get the job done. I will do what I need to do to beat adversity. All of these sound like good things in a lot of aspects of life. But when it comes to my walk with the Lord lately I am realizing how much it hinders me. The Lord has revealed many things that I want to work on, whether that is pride, comparing myself to others, prayer life, etc. I am realizing that all these things I can’t conquer and that drives me absolutely crazy. I want to be able to check things of the list of overcoming them and not worry about them. The problem is that isn’t really how things like this work, because in all reality most of those things I will never “overcome” because as humans we are innately prideful and selfish beings, but with the power of the Holy Spirit in us we can live a Spirit filled life where these things do not consume us. We can learn to walk in the Spirit. All in all the Lord has brought me to this place of being so overwhelmed with all these things I want to fix and overcome that really all I can do is be broken before Him and just surrender my life. I am working on just resting in the Lord’s presence and learning to truly trust Him. It is easy to say I trust the Lord, but I think actually believing it is a whole different story and I guess that is where I am. What areas of my life do I truly trust the Lord with and what areas do I not?

After talking to a few different people about this and just verbally processing with them, one in particular challenged me to really go back to the basics of Christ. And that is salvation and what Christ did for us on the cross. There are so many days that I go without thinking about what Jesus did for me on the cross, when in all reality that is the foundation of why we are here and what our purpose is on this Earth. My friend also challenged to me to just sit and meditate on God’s sovereignty rather than getting caught up in the to-do list of being a Christian. Going to church, having a quiet time, journaling, discipleship are all great things, but at the same time if they are only on my to-do list, then I am missing the point. Since I have grown up in a Christian home and been a believer since I can remember, I think often I know all the right things to say and do rather than to really focus on my personal walk with the Lord and His love for me. Do I truly believe that the Lord loves me? That He is sovereign over everything and has my BEST interest in mind? I watched this little clip from Brennan Manning this morning after I listed to a great sermon on comparing you to others and it really hit home with me. Also another friend shared a song with me that I have listened to every day since he told me and it somewhat sums up what I have been feeling. Lastly, the verse that I have really clung to in the last week is, 1 Corinthians 1:25, “For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength.” No matter how much of a do-er I am, God’s doing is always going to be better than mine. He is sovereign and His way is better, now just believing His truths and learning to rest in His presence. 

Alles Gute zum Geburtstag Jayna!

Well first I will start off with Happy Valentine’s Day! Woohoo! Yes, I do think that this is a pointless holiday, but it is not because I am single and feel bad for myself. It is just so overdone and commercialized. It isn’t that way in Germany as much and sometimes today I wondered if people even knew it was February 14^th. February 14^th is important for another reason because it is Jayna’s birthday! Poor girl, how much would it suck to have your birthday on Valentine’s Day, when everyone is busy going on dates and forgets to celebrate your special day. Regardless, Valentine’s Day or not, the last two days have been two of those days when nothing seems to go right.

Yesterday I had a doctor appointment and I don’t know why but whenever I go to the doctor and it is in German I just want to cry. Not because I am in pain, but because I am so frustrated with the fact that I can’t communicate over important matters. It is the time when I feel as if I cannot express myself. My German is good enough to communicate, but it is not like I learn doctor terms in my German class. All I know is that I was there and I had thought the doctor told me to take my pants off so he could look, but I guess he didn’t so I probably looked like a freak. Then he got a shot and I was unsure what was in the shot or why I needed it, but I just went with it. He said to not panic, so I guess I didn’t. After that fiasco, I was headed to my director and his wives house for prayer and to hang out there for the night, which is about an hour from where I was. About two train stations away I found out that I am supposed to go to watch our practice game (let me remind you it is outside), which was on the other side of town in about two hours. So that left me about 45 minutes with Kevin and Lisa. Annoying. Oh well though. Finally got home from my day at about 10:15 pm and just crawled into bed.

Today started out great and I Skyped with Jayna before German class (9 hour time difference is the worst). After German class, I went grocery shopping to get supplies to bake a dessert for my brother’s birthday party tomorrow and to make homemade tomato soup. I was making a peppermint chocolate dessert that my mom always makes. The problem is they don’t have cool whip in Germany, so last time my host sister and I had to improvise and make it by mixing these other two ingredients. Once I began I realized the middle layer needed to be mixed with cool whip, so I mixed the ingredients and then realized I didn’t have an electric beater, so I tried stirring as fast as possible. Didn’t work (I think the air needs to get in and make it fluffy or something). Next I tried putting the lid on the bowl and shaking it as much as possible. Didn’t work. I quit and just mixed in the runny liquid. The bottom layer is supposed to be crushed up vanilla wafers, which I found something similar, so like Paul Bunyan I was hammering away. Then I had to crush Candy Canes (my mom brought from America) to put in this layer. They were a little large in size, but hopefully nobody breaks a tooth. Then came the next layer, which is chocolate pudding. I thought, "Okay, there is no way you screw this up. “I mean what I could translate from the directions I figured I knew what to do. Guess I still am not sure where I went wrong. Pretty much I have a liter of chocolate soupy pudding sitting on the stove with floating chocolate chunks. I thought maybe it needed to sit to thicken. Yeah, that didn’t happen either. After that I quit the cake and tomorrow I will buy already chilled pudding and use that. The cool whip layer I will hopefully figure out at my host family. Seriously I am done trying to bake and cook in this country. I was literally grunting and yelling in my kitchen.

Up to this point I was somewhat over it. I figured now for my lunch. Tomato soup. Can’t screw that up. I went to open the cans and either I am stupid or the can opener is stupid. It didn’t work. I tried for like 15 minutes. At this point I was so frustrated that I was about to hammer the lid in. Instead I decided to walk to the store and get a can opener. Little did I know they are NO WHERE to be sold. I went to one grocery store, didn’t have any. Then I went to two places that have EVERYTHING, and by everything I mean everything but a can opener. Then I walked the entire street of stores that I by my house and there was NOTHING. So I went into this designer store called KaDeWe, which is huge. Well let me tell ya, they had a can opener. For 40 euros. I was desperate, but not that desperate. So last resort I decided to hit up the grocery store I had already been to today, and sure enough they had one. Now that I had spent 45 minutes walking all over to find a stupid can opener. I got home, made my soup, ate it, looked at my runny pudding and disaster dessert and took a nap. Only to wake up and write this blog. It is one of those days where you just need a big hug from someone who knows you. I had planned on writing my next blog about what God has been teaching me, but then today happened and I think he was trying to teach me patience, which I lack. My day doesn’t even sound that bad probably, and it wasn’t compared to most people, but the things just added onto each other. My next blog will be about what I have been learning.