Wednesday, October 13, 2010

more fun sevilla moments

More scenes from a great 12 days in Sevilla... helping with a big WOW Week ("week of welcoming") to start off the new semester!
hanging out for coffee, ice cream and a bit of shopping with Leti (short for Leticia; do you like my new Palestine scarf?)
Saturday lunch with Abraham, his friend Narjis, and his mom Angelica...
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she cooked two very typical spanish fish dishes including sardines with potatoes (left)
"Merienda" (light supper/ snack around 6 p.m.)... and afterwards playing card games in my old apartment (Inma, Johnny, me, Hendrik, and Abraham pictured here)
Lots of bus rides to get around town
at our park afternoon, a group of medical school students kept inadvertently kicking their soccer ball in our direction... so finally Lauren went over to meet them, and met the whole bunch! (she's front left, beside the birthday girl Rosa)
Inga passing out our WOW flyers with gummy bears, here outside the Rectorado (one of several main campuses connected with the Univ. of Sevilla, where you can take classes for liberal arts, languages, geography, art history, etc.). We passed out about 1100 of these!

English Club-- we had 2 simultaneous groups meeting on the lawn this day... Manuel is a computer science prof, and Annie in the back speaks great English!
one of our semester start parties-- i was so excited that Inma's mom, Paloma, came as well as her brother Paco (Johnny, Paloma, Paco, Loyda, me, Inma). Inma is my good friend who visited in Germany this summer!
Rafa, Hendrik, Arias, Abraham & Roberto... most of whom study computer science. We are so blessed to have Hendrik and his wife Maggie who joined our Connexxion staff, as of this fall!

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

sevilla-- a world away

Unforgettable-- a whirlwind trip of 12 days in beautiful "chula" Sevilla! It almost seemed like I was back after the summer break-- but alas, just for a visit... great to catch up with friends...Elena and I walking to her suburb of Triana, across the Triana bridge... she has been super helpful getting us a classroom for English Club!
Pedro and Alex having a good discussion at our "Back to School" party... I was amazed that Alex loves poetry and philosophy, while also being good at sciences (studies environmental science).
Alina and Carlos and I on my first weekend back... about 2 a.m. or so after a party!
Lauren with Pedro and Erasto -- she met them about 18 months ago, along with their entire kung-fu team, on a plane coming to the USA from Spain.
hanging out on the balcony with Leti, Daniel and Lluvia (her name means "rain"-- this was the first time I've met someone with that name-- it's lovely!). I've known Dani since my first semester there...
Our first semester -start party, hanging out with about 18 friends including Carlos, Hendrik, Katie, Abraham & Johnny.
In language difference, culture, customs, "feeling"-- Spain is truly a world away from Germany, or America for that matter. But a true breath of fresh air...
Above: Wednesday evening in front of the Rectorado (old tobacco factory) after our Bible discussion group "Charlemos," & on our way to the international fair at the Prado de San Sebastian

A part of me feels really free in Sevilla, and resonates with the vibrant nature of loud, casual, coffee- drinking, street-cafe- life, friendly Andalusia...
Above: A Friday late-night party to kick off the new semester, in my old apartment, with the theme: "Back to School"-- so we wore white shirts, reminiscent of school uniforms. Here I am with Maggie (from Germany, on staff with Connexxion), Lauren (who just moved to Sevilla), and Inga (who helped me for 8 months starting the Connexxion group, in 2008/2009).

Saturday, September 25, 2010

Team Hike

Anja, Birthe and I went on an away trip, just 1 hour south to the Harz Mountains...
where we relaxed in nature, hiked, had time to reflect, and planned for the coming semester...

A "magical" birthday

Ever wanna be king for a day? Proving that you can try are Friddi, Caroline, Oliver... and Rapunzel (aka Birthe!). Two super special friends, Anja and Miriam, have the same birthday on September 24th-- so they made it easy on us and had their b-day party together!

Here I am as a Good Fairy, helping Cinderella turn into a princess for the big Ball.
You guessed it-- the motto was "fairy tales and sagas/legends" (Märchen und Sagen). So everyone got dressed up as a story book character! Below are the Wicked Step-mother (Juani), Minnie Mouse (Caro), and Gretel (Inga).
See that amazingly yummy cheesecake on the corner?? Yes, i made it with a recipe similar to Cheesecake Factory! We had a party theme/ motto, for which the table had descriptions of the various foods-- (such as Poison apple dip)...
With Cinderella (Anja), Snow White (Miri), and a dwarf (Janine).

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

First Days in Germany (again...)

Random highlights of some of my first days in Germany (again), which have been full of work, some fun, too, and moving in. Above are some of the Connexxion group at a good-bye party for Marc (front, rt., in his new university T-shirt) ...a night riding bikes around town, with Inga, Anja, Sabrina & Stefi-- enjoying an public exhibition of art in the form of "light", on various ponds and the River Oker...
a small example of the mess (still about 15 boxes to go here... plus need for hanging pictures, curtains, etc.)
Lydia lovingly making sense out of my kitchen boxes... We knew each other when she studied in Jena!
My friend Miri, with whom I made this same photo in 2007, my first Sunday at church (along with a couple other students) ... here we are again!
Some of the crew from Connexxion group who came to pitch in during moving day... (me, David, Birthe, Anja, Stefi, and Marc)Inma and I paddled a paddleboat along the River Oker, beside lovely houses and parks, when she came from Sevilla for a visit! (you notice how cold August is)...My move-in day - early arrivals to help were Bernd, from my church, along with Anja bringing a coffee maker for the movers and staying the whole day (& coming most days afterwards to help out)!, and engineering student Marc (even though he needed to study for exams), to give counsel about where to put different cabinets & appliances in my kitchen.

Inma in Germany

Inma was just with me for 10 days... here we are in Jena, to celebrate Vera W. and her having served with Connexxion on staff for 2 years there! She moves to Hamburg tomorrow, to start a new group. (in foto- Vera, Anja G., Christiane, Inma and me)We got to hang out with my special friend Miriam, who helped in the first beginning days of Connexxion in Braunschweig and is now teaching. From the Italian restaurant, you can see the "schloss" (now shopping mall, made to look like former royal residence/ palace).
When the rain stopped (not often!) we took a stroll in my favorite park....
Good friend Inga L. used to work with Connexxion in Sevilla and was my roomie, too! She was so thoughtful in giving us a city tour and we attended a concert evening in town!

The last good-bye morning, before Inma flew off from Berlin, we visited the Brandenburger Gate.This is the beginning stages of 2 wonderful "tortillas de patatas" (potato omelets), Spanish style, which Inma made for a group of 13 students in my new apartment.Here she is flipping the tortilla so it will cook on the other side! I have on my "I heart España!" shirt!
You have to drain the oil (she used a bunch of olive oil!!). Stefi and Marc are looking on.
My living room dining table enjoying it's first "party"! Inma is ladeling out the gazpacho (cold tomato soup).

Thursday, August 19, 2010

ZOOM: Connexxion Konferenz


It won't be that long... We are having our BIG Connexxion conference this October 28th- to 30th, in Braunschweig, Germany!

It's called ZOOM!

All the infos. you can find HERE on our official website, in English and Deutsch. It will be similar to 2 conferences that we have hosted before... full of workshops, practical training, plus teaching from those on the "cutting edge" of campus ministry in 2 countries where Connexxion is, Spain and Germany! In addition, we'll have some groovy surprise elements (stay tuned!) of campus life, plus our...

10- year anniversary PARTY the final evening, Saturday the 30th! Yes, that's right-- Connexxion was founded in Jena, in 2000.

Plus we'll have special guests coming from the US and around Europe. Chances to hear from them in seminars as well as plenty of LONG coffee breaks to network & trade ideas! (SIGN UP by the end of August, for a discount rate!) If you wanna stay around after the conference, our church is really pretty cool-- the largest Baptist church in Germany, with 3 worship times on Sunday. AND... we'll be out & about on campus for a special training day, Monday, November 1st! More infos. about all the above are at: www.konferenz.goconnexxion.com

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Team Retreat in Spain

Thomas and Anja are all smiles... why? Well, this August we had a most refreshing team retreat week on the coast of Spain, full of planning, workshops led by each other, vision-sharing, and Bible study. We also prayed over Vera, who will be moving to Hamburg this September in north Germany, to start a new Connexxion ministry.
The sense of community was a blessing-- cooking meals together, sharing a morning coffee, singing in worship and playing with Thomas and Anja's boys. A total of 9 adults & 2 small kids.
It was quite intense, actually, with days of seminars and meetings--
and then we worked in a few breaks to take advantage of the beach.
We were blessed with a chance to reflect on the year, trade ideas with one another on reaching the campuses, think about plans for expansion, bring favorite books to share, as well as to review our personality traits (through 2 personality tests we'd done). It was cool for our staff to get to know Hendrik and Maggie, too, who will be leading the work in Sevilla now that I've moved (they'd already flown out when we took the photo below). We also had a friend join us, who works in Madrid with university students.
A major project that we're working on is our upcoming Connexxion Konferenz (German spelling!), October 28-30th in Braunschweig, Germany. Wanna join us??!! We'll enjoy 2 & 1/2 days of practical workshops, main sessions, networking & coffee.... all around our main principles & methods learned over the past 10 years of working with post-modern university students in 2 nations in Europe.