Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Zwei und Zwo

We didn't have a memory card on day two so we have no pictures to show. I have to admit, it's a blessing in disguise when I have no camera around my neck...

I think, in general, day two went better than day one at KIBA. Not that day one was bad. It' just that, on Tuesday, we knew what to expect and were better prepared to take care of the babies and actually be of some help. And we are getting to know the German team here a little better so the connections are becoming deeper. Day two was very similar to day one in terms of structure:

1. Songs
2. Classroom (Sean, Sarah and I "help" in various classrooms each morning)
3. Small group
4. Craft or active game (Brian leads the games each day)
5. Lunch!
6. Chaos Free play time
7. Creative or active workshop

But the active workshop (American football that the kids all think is soccer) was cancelled because of the rain {it rained all. day. long.} So almost all the kids chose crafts. Dave was purposefully vague about the craft alternative, but as soon as the craft kids heard that Shrek was playing, we lost a lot of our make-up-making/knitting/card-stamping crowd.

One interesting thing about the rain is that we saw what a morning commute was like in a primarily non-car city. The bikes still buzzed about. Parents still pulled their kids in trailers or walked alongside them to get on the tram. The children looked adorable in their rain pants that looked like waders and their matching galoshes. I don't think I've ever seen so many umbrellas in one place.

After KIBA, we stopped at the mall to:

Get dinner: Sean and I finally had the currywurst we'd heard so much about
Get milk and bread: This trip to Kaufland was easier because the cashier spoke English, but a little tricky because we didn't have any one euro coins so we couldn't get a shopping cart
Buy delicious fruit for our guests: Yes, even in a foreign city in a rented space, we couldn't go a full week without having someone over.

Our guests Tuesday evening were the Berlin City Team {the team in Berlin with Reach Global} and some of their guests. It was wonderful to get to hear their stories about why God has them in this city at this time, how God has worked in their lives to get them to this point, what drew them here and what keeps them here. The variety of life stages, passions, interests, skills, etc. really demonstrated how God uses all of the gifts He gives us in so many different ways.

Before coming to Berlin I only knew how to count to three. Part of the church service on Sunday morning was a countdown. So in the mile walk from our flat to the church, I learned 1 to 10 and 10 to 1. On Tuesday as I was watching some boys play the classroom game, I heard them counting from 1 to 6 and heard them using a different work for 2 than I'd learned a few days before. I learned Tuesday evening that when counting in a series {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6} it's common for the kids to use zwo instead of zwei to better differentiate between zwei and drei because it's less confusing. Now, lest you think you'll impress your next group of German guests, be warned that zwo is only used when counting a series. So don't offer your guests zwo desserts. Always offer zwei.

And now, even though I'm still a day behind, I can't keep my eyes open one more second so I must say gute nacht and fill you in on day three of KIBA tomorrow.

Thank you for your prayers.


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