This Pilgrim's Journeys

This year's return to Guatemala was fantastic.  It truly felt like we never even left.  But I guess I should start from the very beginning of my trip. I went with a small group from our church: Ryan, Miranda, Matthew, Kyle, and I.  We were joining up with a group from Mt. Zion Rd. Church of the Brethren, whose trip it really was, and we were along mostly for support and add-in. So, we left our church a little after midnight, and had a fun and deep conversation in the van.  We got to the airport and settled with our luggage until Brian (the youth pastor of the other group)'s group came.  And, a fun fact, we had Ryan wear his Captain America shirt and then all of our group wore a Captain America shield shirt.  We got several comments both to and from Guatemala in the airport. Matthew and Kyle relaxing during our layover in their accidentally-matching shield shirts. Kyle sleeping on Miranda, as usual.  As usual, trying to get through th...

I had so much yummy food while I was in Germany!  My host mom gave me the recipes for some of my favorite foods, which I am going to share with you.  However, some of the ingredients are different than what we have in the US so I need to find out some more details for some of them, as well as translate it into my units of measurement, and you may have to, as well.  But, here they are!  I may update this post if I find out something important about one of the ingredients.  Happy German cooking! Amerikaner  (sugar cookies, German style) 100 gram butter 100 gram sugar 1 package vanilla sugar 2 eggs 45 grams milk 1 little bottle butter-vanilla-aroma 250 grams flour 1 package vanilla custard powder 2 teaspoons baking powder Mix all of the ingredients.  Make little cookie piles with a spoon (like any cookies) on a baking tray.  Bake for 15-20 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius (350 degrees Fahrenheit) Nuss-Streifen (really yum...

Here is a short snippet of a video I took inside the Hofbräuhaus.  And yes, it was as loud and busy as it appears!

Here's the video of the man I met in Nürnberg who was singing Christian music in English.  Enjoy!

Here is a video I took to encompass the entire castle of Burghausen, since it wouldn't all fit in one picture!

Goodbyes are the worst thing ever.  And that made Tuesday one of the worst days ever. I woke up and felt awful because my stomach felt awful, because I knew I was leaving (and I was tired, since I only got 5.5 hours of sleep).  I ate an Amerikaner (sugar cookie), but couldn't even eat a whole Bretzel for breakfast because I just didn't have an appetite.  Elli didn't either, and even Lukas barely ate anything, which is very unusual for him!  I managed to fit all of my stuff into something to take it all back to America. We left for school, but first Julia said goodbye to me and then her dad, and I almost cried, but I managed to keep myself steady.  Then, as we drove away from their house, the scenery ( so  lovely!) that I'd seen so many times passed by out my window and again almost made me tear up because I probably will never see it again. At school we dropped off my luggage with the others in the one room off of the lobby and basically all of the Ge...

School again!  But we didn't actually sit in class with our hosts, because we had to get ready for the farewell dinner that night.  But first, we all took a field trip to town for most of us to get license plates.  I (and maybe five others) didn't want one.  We then stopped at a grocery store to buy candy (because you can never have too much German candy, for example one of my favorites - Duplo). Back at the school, the others decorated and Frau set Jake and I up with a computer to type up our MC script.  It was in a teacher IPC-type-room, which was kinda awkward, especially when a teacher would be there for a little bit.  When we finished that, we worked on our farewell speeches. Then I had my last German (school) bus ride.  For lunch my host mom made basically meatloaf and mashed potatoes. She also made tomato salad, just for me.  :)  Then I worked a little bit on packing (you know, there is absolutely no incentive for packing when you ...