Playin a Little Football

Well, I have to say. I have been busy these last four months - like crazy. Work is crazy. Home life is always crazy - lots of juggling. Church has kept me very busy. The occasional personal moments have been short and not long enough to write.

One positive note. I did get released from my calling as a primary teacher. I served as primary teacher to our two oldest children, but even so that was an extra burden - preparing a lesson every week and trying to motivate 8-11 year olds to be motivated to follow the Lord is a lot of work.

We've had some great days recently. By great I mean brisk, sunny, fall days, where it warms up in the afternoon. I love that type of fall weather. The last two years I missed football whenever the weather was like this. I told Tamara the other day that I like the weather even though there is no football.

Well, next weekend I hope to get a little bit of both. I hope the weather holds and is pleasant and that we'll have a big turnout for our football event. See the picture of our flier below (translation to follow):



Flag Football in our Town (for boys)
location and time are given

This time we have a player, who will play for the BYU cougars after his time in Germany.

*In flag football the defense stops the ball carrier by pulling a flag from his belt.

--Fathers should also feel free to attend. Come along and learn a little about the game. Fathers who attend, please bring something to eat. So we can spend a little bit of time after the game with the boys.

Definitely looking forward to playin' a little football.

In Search of the Perfect Hamburger Bun

So, we've been in Germany for a while, and when Tamara recently placed hamburgers on the menu (I take the veggie version due to my persnickety and often peeved pancreas) I was quite excited, until I started dealing with the bun.

Why does the bun matter. I can't explain it, it just does. And, so these two small complaints, though piddly have been getting me out of sorts the last few days as I ate the veggie burgers and the subsequent leftovers.

I looked at Kulturvergleiche's blog, but didn't find a comparison on this topic.

Here are my complaints.

Number one - huge buns (from one store). I have to cut almost half of the bun off in order to enjoy eating the hamburger (I circle cut the bun so it is simply smaller in diameter - going in half didn't really work).

Number two - unsliced buns (from all stores). the buns are unsliced. that means you have to cut the buns in half in order to make a hamburger bun. For me this results in uneven top and bottom slices of bread - for instance a concave bottom and an obtuse top.

Cut Off

Yesterday a storm passed through Germany, knocking down trees, and causing a bit of mayhem. When I arrived at the train this morning there was a lot of commotion - hoards of people jumping in taxis, more people than usual shuffling around the bus portion of the station.

When I reached the platform an announcement came over the loudspeaker indicating that the there was a problem with the Oberleitung, or the electrical lines that are used by the trains just north of our station and that no trains were running up to Essen. Luckily the trains were running into Düsseldorf.

When this type of storm hits Germany (there have been a few since we arrived) I realize how fragile our existence is, and how heavily we rely on technological advancements to make our day to day lives possible. Then my mind jumps to the worst case scenario - if all transportation stops - there is no option for walking home. In this case I mean, home, home, i.e., the United States.

Natural disasters always lead one to ponder. I was stunned by the recent earthquake in China, typhoon in Myanmar, and flooding along the Mississippi. But when a storm hits Germany and disrupts daily life, I think of this worse case scenario - we would never make it home. I think this comes from the weight of responsibility I feel as a father who packed up his wife and children and scooted off to Germany, with no exit strategy. Whatever the cause, it is a an emotion that I didn't experience when devastating storms hit my town or surrounding towns back in America.