Mein Gott ist so gross

No, my God is not gross, but that happens to mean "big" in German, so what could I do but sing along? Actually, I learned three new songs in German today: Dies ist der Tag ("This is the Day"), Mein Gott ist so gross (noo, not the coffee version daily sung at the ARC), and Vater Abraham. I won't insult your intelligence by translating that one. I certainly hope you don't need me to.

The reason I learned those songs is because today we headed out to Altenmarkt, as we do every Thursday, and I had to take Eileen's place today during music since she was sick and couldn't come with us. Thankfully, Miriam did it with me, so maybe the kids were none the wiser that I never took my eyes off the posterboard.

I find it so frustrating to not be able to speak to people. As I've mentioned before, after the children's program is when we split up into twos or threes and visit families staying in the Pension. I really enjoyed doing this last week, and I did again tonight, but at times it is extremely difficult to make conversation. If I were staying here for longer, say three months or so, I would absolutely insist on learning some basic German. As it is, I catch a few words here and there, and that makes me feel like I've accomplished something. Anyway, I'm getting a little off track. All that to say, I really like visiting in the Pensions (particularly the Chechen family I met last week), and I would so love to be able to communicate properly. Ah well, such are the ramblings of a short-termer.

I discovered today that if you mix hazelnuts, almonds, walnuts, and browned oats with honey, it makes a really good snack. So much of it went to children who didn't eat it - what a shame.

-Kendra

PS. I blurted out "Eimaste mazi" yesterday when I was ordering a pizza (referring to Becky and myself). Knew it wouldn't take too long for the Greek to start coming out!