This has been a very crazy and very difficult week, probably the most difficult so far.
For those of you who have been keeping up via Facebook/email/Skype, you know that we left for Berlin last Sunday afternoon to apply for our long-term visas and employment cards. Jadon, myself, and our teammate Annie had an appointment for 1:00pm Monday afternoon. We were prepared with all the right documents, but these appointments are always stressful. Thankfully the woman at the Berlin office was incredibly kind and helpful, and she really made us feel more at ease. She also helped us apply for another short-term visa because the visas we were on expire in 5 days, not nearly enough time be processed & approved for the long-term ones.
Thankfully, we were approved for the short-term visas, but we had to return to Berlin late Thursday night to pick them up at 10:00am Friday morning. While this really went as well as we could have expected, it is difficult to do four 5-hour bus trips in one week, especially when we never really had much time to explore/enjoy the city. We were in Berlin for 36 hours total this week - 20 on Monday & 16 on Friday.
This was also a difficult week at school. We are at the end of the quarter this week, and we needed to give the names of the students who were failing our classes or the students who had not turned any assignments in. While this seems simple, because we teach a conversation class, every student has some grades because they get participation grades every day. So though some students may be struggling or missing assignments, none are failing and all have at least two grades in the grade book. It took a lot of communication, miscommunication, apologizing, translating, explaining, and frustration for us to express this to the teachers we work with and for them to explain to use exactly what they are looking for with these lists.
More than a language barrier, we really had an experience barrier. We are used the the US system where if a student is struggling, their name goes on a list. Or at quarters, you submit all students' grades, not just the students who have zero assignments turned in (how do you get to November and have zero assignments turned in?!). Whereas the teachers we work with could not understand the confusion. Our confusion was met with looks of "Of course this is how you do it, why would it be different?" And I'm positive there are things in the US school system that I would struggle to explain to an "outsider."
So all these things added up to a week of frustration, exhaustion, homesickness, etc.
Then, on Friday night, we got right off the bus from Berlin and went to the One Republic concert, which we have had tickets for since August. It was an amazing show (of course) and a fun way to end the week, but more than that, for me, it was a perspective check.
One Republic sings a song called "Good Life," which if you like One Republic or are a casual radio listener, you will know (and probably love) this song. You can listen to the whole song below, but part of the song goes:
"We all got our stories but please tell me
What there is to complain about."
While they performed, they projected pictures from all over the world where the band has toured, but many of the pictures were of Prague. And it is such a beautiful city, and there are so many wonderful people, and though it is not always easy, it is always an adventure. And in that moment I just felt a little God-nudge. Look where you are. Look what you're doing. Remember how I'm with you? What's there to complain about?
Praises:
- Everything worked out going to & from (and to & from) Berlin
- We now have visas until February 2015
- No school Monday! A 3-day weekend will definitely be a welcome rest.
- That God continually nudges, and He does so in ways & from places you don't expect
Prayer Requests:
- That we are approved for our employment cards & that they are processed quickly
- Continual understanding and grace, both given to us from others and that we are able to give it to them
- That we are the Light and Love we are supposed to share with everyone, even when we are frustrated, exhausted, confused, homesick, etc.
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