Found my first local music store and the selection was so amazing. You can tell, I hated it.

 Trippin' to Freiburg with my room mate and partner in crime...

 "Klavier musikkkkkk" 

 These Irish brothers made my day  singing some Johnny Cash outside of H & M

 Beautiful church in Freiburg

 My room mate Mary Grace Owen. We might have ridden the train with eggs (yeah I don't know) Not knowing that we were sitting in first class and just hoping that we wouldnt get asked for the ticket I lost while we were in the city.. "Ah..Ich spreche kein Deutsch!"

Egg toss!

OK, so any of you that experienced the JH staff bike training know that I am not the greatest with the bike. However, if I want to get anywhere in this town or go to the store on my own and actually make it home with all of my groceries... this is now a necessity. Heaven help me as my knuckles turn white every time someone or something comes within 3 feet of either side of me. (I actually told that to my mom on Skyoe yesterday and she said, "Chrissy, your knuckles are always white, whats the big deal?") Wow. Thanks mom! haha

 And I rewarded myself greatly for conquering this monster without spilling or wrecking in the first 24 hours. Very productive time at the Rewe, AKA "Publix". Actually, reward for getting through 12 hours of straight German this week. Need. Sleep.

 Need. Exercise.

 To my right at 9:00 at night.

 Straight to my house...

To my left.

This weekend and first Sunday at church: I cannot believe that it is exactly one week since I have stepped foot on this beautiful countryside. The weekend passed quickly with a lot of catching up on rest  from some serious jet lag and maybe a few episodes of Downton Abbey (again) from the beginning..  But Sunday morning was my first experience with the church I am here to serve. Neuenburg International Church (NIC) is a pretty small plant housing between 15-20 families and about 50 people. The service was done in German and in English, the worship also being sung in both languages. I took the day to observe. There is so much for me to learn especially with a language barrier but I am praying that the Lord will allow me to learn quickly at least on the music and singing end. Please pray for me in that! I will update you more as I plan for this next week!

**Please pray for our pastor Stephen Spanjer as he is under the weather with pneumonia and his pregnant wife Laura is not feeling so great right now.Pray for them to be at their best as soon as possible.

Seems to have been a long weekend... until you find out that I was at school by 8:30 this morning! I have not had an 8am class since my Junior year of college! If that was not the worst, it was all in German! I realized quickly that if I was going to ask a question that it would most definitely NOT be to the teacher but the unfortunate person siting next to me (who happened to be from Singapore!)  Please do not be too disappointed that I did not take "first day of school pictures". I figured I was past the age of allowing that. But I did think about it :/

One more bit of exciting news and I am out for the day. But this afternoon we had softball practice. (Practice is usually on Tuesday and Thursdays from 6pm-8pm) You can just picture me there of course. Yes, I did go run before so I felt that I contributed somewhat to being athletic. But I just took the time to make some new friends and lo and behold, I did! Last week was a school holiday for most of the high schoolers so our practice was very small and casual.  But today we had 5 new girls that I have never met. One of them happens to be a classical pianist and also plays blues!! I am so thankful for this provision in even the smallest way. She lives in the homeland of some of the greatest music of all time. Cant wit to get to know her more- but all of the other girls too! Hopefully they will not kick me off of the team too soon... everyone needs a sideline cheerleader right?