What's really going on here?

I have a secret for you: I love to write this blog. Actually, it's more like a confession. You see, I really like to write because it makes me feel good. I sit on my hard, uncomfortable wooden chair in my dimly lit room, listening to my roommate blast Hindi music out of his headphones so loud that I think sometimes his ears will explode, but none of that matters because what I'm doing makes me feel good. I like to think that there are tons of people everywhere reading what I write (although I know there aren't), and I also like to think that my words are making a difference to somebody. All day, I think about what to write. I mean, it's not the only thing I'm thinking about, but the thought is always there, somewhere. Everything I read, hear, watch, see can somehow be used. That's what I tell myself, at least.

BUT, this is no longer a secret; it's a confession. It's a confession because I am focusing entirely too much on me. When I'm sitting on my bed reading Acts, I'm thinking, "Ok, now how I can apply this to my own life? or What can I get out of this that I could possibly write about?" Those questions may be ok, but shouldn't reading Acts, or any other book, be about meeting God? Isn't that the purpose of that collection of holy books? Getting to know the person, being, thing that created us and died for us in order that we may never die but actually live forever? Too often, I make the Bible about me. I form it to my own life not the life of the Person it's written about. So, that brings me back to this blog. I write this blog because I like to feel important. I like the idea of people reading what I write. I love the thoughts that I have sometimes that maybe my words are showing people Jesus. Those may not sound like bad things to you guys, but you should know, they aren't good things to me. If you know me well, then you know I carry around several sets of words, in various ways, with me everyday. You may not know what they are, because sometimes I like to keep secrets, but they are phrases that are very important to me. I could fill your ears with quotes, lyrics, words that I've picked up along the way that I think are wonderful, but the ones I carry with me are my very favorite. They have a theme, and that is: it's not really about you, Thomas.

So, if you put all of these words in this entry together, you can see my problem. You should be able to see why I am confessing to you. I don't expect you to forgive me or say, "Oh, it's no big deal holmes."

I just wanted you to know because I think that this is THE problem with the world today. Ok, maybe not the biggest problem, but definitely a big one. We think too much about ourselves and our own glory. For example, I was recently in an intermediate level German course that went very well. The reason it went so well was because all of us students got along. We were friends, working together, not competing against each other. The class above us was a little different. They were an upper level class, and they were all about competition. The students were vying for the professor's attention with every sentence because of their desire to move up another level. Rather than working together and helping everyone, the students worked against each other by only working for themselves. You see this everywhere, especially when it comes to money. It's always US vs. them. There is always a winner and a loser, and we always want to be the winner. We want the best. We want to be recognized. We have to win. Why do we have to win? What do we have to win? Maybe you could get a higher-paying job or a cuter girlfriend or something like a gold medal, but can you keep those forever? Instead of there being a winner and a loser, can't there just be people working together? If that happens, doesn't everybody win?

Ok, I realize that sometimes I say things that may not make any sense to you. You may be wondering why any of this matters. You may be telling yourself, this kid is nuts because he actually thinks that there is life after death. Or maybe you're just saying this is stupid. Who knows, maybe this is stupid.

This post is getting long, so I'll wrap it up nice and neat. If you are living a life of competition against everybody else, ask yourself what you're gaining from it. Maybe you are just trying to be the smartest person in class or continually telling all of the people around you about your new car. Those are stupid examples, but you understand. If you are trying to beat other people, I think you're the one losing. You can't gain, win, or achieve anything more valuable than Love. Try starting every day by telling yourself the words 'to God be the glory'. We aren't deserving of any of it. I don't deserve anything. This blog is just a bunch of words. Everything good comes from Him.

My semester classes start this week in Klagenfurt. I forgot to say that. Tell me how you're doing. Have a great week.



"Once we've really discovered how to love our neighbor as ourself, capitalism won't be possible and Marxism won't be necessary." -somebody

Firenze

Im in Florence right now at an internet cafe waiting for my train back to Klagenfurt. You are about to read an entry with misspelled words and wrong punctuation because I dont know how to use this keyboard. I left Perugia earlier this afternoon, which was a bummer because today was the most beautiful day Ive seen in a long time. It was 50 degrees and sunny, wonderful. All of the other days I spent in Perugia were rainy and chilly, and, of course, the day I leave is the only sunny one. Oh well, I got to enjoy the sun for a couple hours. More important than the weather was hanging out with Mike. It was good to be with a familiar face on the other side of the world. I had the chance to meet a lot of his friends and take part in a lot of the stuff he does everyday. I even got to go to class with him. How exciting. A couple days ago, we decided to go to Assisi. If you dont know, Assisi is the hometown of Saint Francis, a really cool guy who started a revolution as a teenager. I dont know enough about him to tell you much information, but I do know a little. I know that he was very young when he devoted his life to serving other people. I know that three important words in his life were obedience, poverty, and chastity. He was a monk. He was poor. He was young. He hung out with homeless people. I kind of like him. His hometown is amazing too. The entire village was a maze of mini streets on a hillside. Every street ended in either a large piazza or huge cathedral. The talk of the town is the cathedral on the west side, San Francesco Cathedral. I didnt take any tours or gather any information, but Im guessing it wasnt called San Francescos Cathedral when San Francesco was actually alive. We walked through the sanctuary, saw both the inferior and superior rooms, and visited the tomb of Saint Francis in the basement. In the basement, Mike and I sat in a couple pews while people around us kneeled down in prayer. In the middle of the room was a large tomb that looked more like a shrine to me. There were 4 other tombs in the basement who mustve been friends of Saint Francis. On several of the walls hung art-jewelry made of gold. I dont know what they were doing there, but they were just chilling on the walls. I took in all of the surroundings in the silence, and a question popped into my head. "Is this how Saint Francis would want to be buried?" It was a simple question, and Im positive many people have asked it before me. Would a man who lived for poverty, chastity, and obedience want to be buried in the center of a room for everybody to see? Would he want gold jewelry to be hanging up alongside him? Doesnt that kind of go against the whole poverty thing? From what I know about Saint Francis, he sounds like a pretty humble guy who would rather have the glory go to Someone else than himself. I should read more about him to find out, I guess.

My minutes are almost up, which is a great thing because it means that my train is almost here. First, I have to find the train station. I arrived in Florence a couple hours ago, and Im not sure if I remember how to get back. I got off my train and just started walking, not really paying attention to where I was going. I will be arriving in Klagenfurt tomorrow morning at 4 am, and Im hoping that there will be a taxi at the train station. I live about an hours distance walk away from the train station, and thats not exactly what I want to be doing at 4 am. Ill wake up in my own bed around 9 am, then head to campus to meet with an adviser. Tomorrow is a big day because I choose my classes for the semester. I have no clue what to do, which is why Im happy I have an adviser. My time in Italy has been short and sweet, and Im happy to be returning to the Alps of Austria. Italy is nice, old, relaxed, but not really for me. Its perfect for week long vacations, though. Who knows when Ill return too? Ill talk to you soon. Hope you all have a wonderful day. Ill probably be sleeping on a night train to Klagenfurt when you read this. Ciao.

Europe takes advantage of people...

who have to go to the bathroom. I left Klagenfurt Friday night around 11:30 and arrived in Florence at 6:30 am. I slept through the night, and, of course, had to go to the bathroom when I woke up. I stumbled off the train in search of a toilet. After walking through the whole train station, I spotted the familiar sign of a man standing next to a woman in a dark corner. What a relief. I had to go really bad, so I rushed through the door to find what looked like an airport security check-in. There weren't any guards, though, only machines demanding 1 euro in order to pass. I've run in to this situation too many times on this continent to remain quiet. Poor people who are desperate for a toilet are being taken advantage of because they don't want a fine for going to the bathroom on the street. I paid the fee for the toilet, and I made sure to make the most of my payment. Next time, I'm going to brave the dangers and go on the sidewalk. I hate paying for a toilet.

I stayed in Florence for about an hour before boarding a train to Perugia. 2 hours later, I was in what seems the oldest city in the world, giving my friend Mike a hug. Coming from Klagenfurt to Perugia is a big change. The streets here are so small, but cars still manage to drive down them. Buildings are all old and crooked. So many hills. It's wonderful, though. I got here yesterday around 10:30, and Mike took me around the city. We ate pizza, tried to view Assissi through the thick clouds, sat on the steps to a giant Catholic cathedral, and watched the slow Italians stroll through the streets. Last night, we went over to a friend's house. She's from Holland, and she's, interesting. It was a quiet night, but I was pretty tired because I didn't sleep very well on the night train from Klagenfurt. Today has also been fairly quiet. We slept in, cooked some eggs, drank some coffee, then went out to lunch with some of his friends. There was only one man working at the restaurant. He was the host, server, and cook. I can't believe he was doing everything, but he managed it fairly well. I guess it goes with the overall attitude here of never being in a rush to do anything. We've spent most of the afternoon in the apartment listening to music, eating my mom's cookies, and doing puzzles. The weather is chilled and rainy, though I must say much warmer than Klagenfurt and Iowa. It's almost 50 degrees here, but the clouds and rain make it seem much colder.

Before I left Klagenfurt, I felt a little strange. My thoughts weren't about the place I was going to, rather, about the people and place I was leaving. I felt weird leaving. The past three weeks have been spent with the same people everyday, all day. We'd become sort of a family; something I didn't expect the first day in Klagenfurt. I was kind of sad to leave, and it wasn't until this afternoon that I really thought about all of the places I've left. Usually, my thoughts the first day upon arrival are much different than the day I leave. It seems everywhere I go, I have such a negative attitude about my future in the city. At the end, I can't imagine leaving. I've lived in several places over the past couple years, and it is the same everywhere I go. I arrive somewhere new and immediately regret going there. The first days, weeks are difficult. I take some time to meet new people and experience the new things. Once I meet new people, though, I fall in love. It was that way in Boulder, San Francisco, Herrnhut, Klagenfurt, and I imagine anywhere else I happen to go. You don't really realize the power of friendships until you are without them for a couple days. I know I don't. When I'm with all of my best friends, I want to be alone. When I'm all alone, I realize how much I need other people. Community is necessary, more than you think. Everywhere I go, I think I can do it by myself. I fail every time. I need people. I need community. I need them for encouragement, guidance, friendship, and meaning to life. I believe that we are supposed to be in community always. I mean, of course we have to spend some time by ourselves. You can't be surrounded by people always. You need time for your own personal growth, but you always need community too. That's what the whole loving others statement is talking about. Life is about relationships, I think. Too often we forget about that. We try to do everything by ourselves because other people have let us down too much. We think that we are smarter than our friends because of the things we've experienced or the knowledge we've gained. That may be true, but you still can't do it by yourself. Try. You will fail. Life is about relationships, friendships, community. That is love, and, as always, love wins. Try to imagine your life without family, friends, coworkers, neighbors, teachers, students, roommates, Somebody who loves you. Just try to imagine that. How terrible would that be? Maybe you think you can do it alone. Maybe you say that you don't need anybody. Maybe you don't think you need God. If you can do it all yourself, why would you? It's a fair question, and I think we can all find out the answer if we try to do it ourselves. We may make it a couple days, months, or years, but is it worth it? Are you satisfied? Do you feel like you are loving? Do you feel loved? I just don't think it's enough if we are alone. Everywhere I go, I try to do it by myself, and I always learn that I can't. I always hope that you read what I write and think about it in your own life. I hope I say something that makes you question yourself. You can question me. What do I know? Not much. I'm wrong, a lot. Say something to me when you disagree. I think it's just so important to ask youself questions. We can't live life passively, just going with the flow. To not be questioning what you believe and why you believe it would be a waste. Our lives are too important to be spent going with the flow.

These are just my thoughts on a quiet Italian Sunday, and they all started because I thought about the 1 euro I had to pay for a toilet.

Time to Travel

My friends, I'm sorry it's been so long (according to my Mom) since my last post. I know you've all been rushing to your computers the moment you get home everyday to check if I wrote anything that day, so I'm sorry you've been let down by me. BUT that's actually a good thing for me. I used to update this blog everyday because I had nothing to do. I had nobody to talk to, nowhere to go, nothing to do. Now, I have things to do. I've made friends in my intensive language class and from my dorm hall. I've been going on class field trips, just like junior high school, to different places like the local television station, radio station, Chinese restaurant, Fasching celebration, and the Catholic High School. Those are strange places to visit for field trips, I know, but they were all amazing. Not necessarily the places, more the people I was going with. Today was the last day of my intensive course. For the past 3 weeks, I've been going to German class with the same 11 people 5 days a week for 3-5 hours each day. If there's one word to describe it, it'd be intense. We went over a lot of information in a very short amount of time. During these 3 weeks, we spent a lot of time together, and, naturally, got to know each other. We learned about the different places each of us comes from. More importantly, we learned about each other. We were always doing interviews asking questions about previous jobs, future goals, family, friends, studies, and discussions always came up about really important topics. In short, we got to know each other very well. We started off as complete strangers, but I would say now that we are all very good friends. I've never been in a class like this before where we hang out together on the weekends, or go to our professor's house to eat, or visit a classmate's apartment to have an end of the course celebration with all of the students and professor. It's been really great, and today was the last day. The past few days, we spent a lot of time talking about our own lives; the things that have been big influences on each of us. Many times, it's been relationships, but also beliefs, conflicts, personality traits, and whatever else. I really can't tell you enough how different this class has been from any other class I've had. Our professor was the key. He brought us all together. Someday, if I'm lucky enough to be a teacher, I'd like to be able to create a classroom atmosphere like he did. An atmosphere that is non-judgmental, makes you feel important, and thought-provoking. He did an excellent job. The class was wonderful. Now, I have one week off until the semester actually starts. Tonight, around midnight, I'll be taking a train to Florence, where I'll catch another train to Perugia to see my friend Mike. We'll see how it goes. I don't know much Italian, but I'm hoping the name Panicucci will help me. I should be arriving in Perugia tomorrow morning around 10, and I'll be there until Thursday. Thursday is a big day because I have to make my way back to Klagenfurt from Perugia, and I also have a meeting with an adviser to set up my classes. I'm afraid that I won't have my computer with me in Perugia, so, my friends, you are going to have to wait at least 5 days for my next update. I'll try to get on sometime between then to let you know that I made it ok, but I have no guarantees. Think happy thoughts for me about getting there.

I forgot to tell you one thing. After our last class today, some of us went out to eat with our professor because he invited us to a buffet. At lunch, he told us how much he had learned from us. The main thing we taught him (a man who speaks 8 languages, has seen more than 3/4 of the world, been a journalist in Kosovo, Afghanistan,and Pakistan, and continues to amaze students semester after semester) was to have hope. I thought that was cool. He ended the conversation by telling us all of the nicknames he had in his head when he thought of us. Many of the girls were famous actresses or characters from books. I was the preacher.

not my own idea...

"I must admit, while at first critical of religious leaders for rejecting Christ, I began to wonder what it might feel like if Jesus came back today, you know, right in the middle of America, right in the middle of our church culture. I imagined the second coming of Jesus as prophesied in various Scriptures of the New Testament. The prophecies aimed at us about the Second Coming have Jesus showing up like a thief in the night, returning as trumpets sound, and riding a horse. When I imagine this, my mind has Jesus riding through the clouds, very suddenly and to much ado, the entire world trembling at His return, all people awakened from their sleep, acknowledging the King of the universe.

But what if the guys playing the horns turned out to be a few men playing on a street corner in a small town in Arkansas, and what if the horse Jesus rode in on wasn't a Kentucky thoroughbred, but a belligerent donkey? And what if Jesus, after he got here, frequented homeless shelters and bars and ate and drank with the kinds of cultures evangelicals have declared war against? And what if, when He came like a thief in the night, He came very quietly so that nobody noticed, and what if, crime of all crimes, He was ugly and when He went on CNN producers were uncomfortable with His appearance and only shot Him from the waist up, in a certain light? And what if, when He answered questions, He talked with a hick accent, and only spoke in parables that nobody could understand, and what if He didn't kiss anybody's butt?

If you ask me, He'd have to do a lot of miracles to overcome all that stuff. And even then, most of the people who would follow Him would be people who were oppressed, marginalized, and desperate."


I read this in a book today. It's a good book; nothing to live by, but certainly relevant. I think the most important things in those sentences are the question marks. How do you know what's right? What if your idea of right is actually wrong? Then what would happen? I guess I could ask, how do we know what is right? How do we know when we've found right? I don't know the answer to that. I can't tell you what is right and what is wrong, but I'd love to tell you to never stop asking questions that lead you to Truth. Have a wonderful day. I love you.

Lei Lei!

I forgot to write the other night. We had Albanian food, the third of four total international food nights. So far, we've had Indian, Italian, Albanian, and next is American. My neighbor and I are still a little lost trying to figure out what to make. That's not important, though. What's important is what happened yesterday. In many Catholic areas of Europe, a pre-Lent festival called Carnival is coming to its end as we approach Fat Tuesday. In Austria, the festival is called Fasching. A neighboring village Villach has the largest Fasching celebration in Austria. The city is only 30 minutes away by train, so our class decided to take a field trip. Our professor lives in Villach, and he invited us to come celebrate with him. He's great, really great. I don't know what you guys know about Fasching (Carnival) because it's not well-known in America. I don't know if you can compare it to anything we have, either. The best description I can make is if you combine Halloween with the state fair, only Fasching is a lot bigger. Every person, old and young, wears a costume. I saw so many smurfs, pirates, elves, witches, Flinstones, and everything else. It was unbelievable to see the whole community participation. I mean, everybody was dressed up: babies, teenagers, parents, grandparents. Much better than Halloween. In Villach, the main celebration is Faschingsamstag. It happens on the Saturday before Ash Wednesday. There are local vendors setup throughout the city, decorations stringing from building to building, a large musical parade, and it all culminates with every person partying together at the end. I've never seen such a thing before. The entire city, every building, every person, everything was celebrating Fasching. Some of us students met in the morning to walk to the train station together. Our professor was going to pick us up from the station in Villach. I didn't get the memo about dressing up, so I went as myself, unfortunately, because every other person in the city was wearing at last a mask. We got to Villach, and our professor took us first to a little cafe overlooking the river and bridge where the parade would be happening. It was wonderful to finally have some good coffee. I've been without coffee now since Germany, and I didn't realize how much I missed it until I had a real cup yesterday at the cafe. Then we found a spot to view the parade outside on the street.

The parade was filled with different groups and bands, everybody dressed up. It lasted a couple hours, and then the party began. The parade ended, and the people flooded the streets. Music came from what seemed like the sky. Some students and I, along with our professor, found our way to a little Irish pub that was packed full of Ghostbusters, pirates, and stone-aged men. After the pub, we heard about a large dance party happening in front of city hall, so, of course, we went. We walked through one of the squares, rounded a building, and rested our eyes upon the largest group of people dancing I'd ever seen. Christmas lights lit the entire square, along with flashing lights from the music stage.

Austrian, German, Spanish, and American songs were played the entire night, and nobody stopped dancing. It was for real the largest dance party I've ever been a part of. Several hours of dancing wore us foreigners out, so we decided to head home. It was only 10 pm, but it felt so much later. We rode the train back to Klagenfurt, walked home from the train station, and passed out from exhaustion. It was a wonderful day. So many costumes, so much community, so much dancing, so many smiles. It was the best day I've had so far in Austria, and one of the craziest days of my life.

Today was a little quieter. As I've said, Klagenfurt shuts down on Sundays. I woke up this morning and went to the kitchen to make breakfast. To my surprise, my neighbors were in there making something similar to funnel cakes. Evidently, the tasty treats are an Italian Carnival tradition. Funnel cakes are so much better than yogurt for breakfast. Try it sometime. This afternoon, we found out that there is a skating rink in the city center that has public skates on Sunday. I thought everything was closed, but I guess I was wrong. One grocery store, one kebap shop, and the skating rink are open. The only problem is, they are a long ways away from campus. We walked 40 minutes to the rink, skated for awhile, then came back. Now, I sit in my room, tired, hungry, but satisfied with a great weekend in Austria.

TTT

Tonight was Italian night. My neighbor is from Udine, Italy. She made homemade pizzas, delicious. Tomorrow night is Albanian night. I've never eaten anything from Albania, so I'm excited. I believe Monday is Slovenian night, and sometime next week is American night. What could my neighbor and I make for American night? Any ideas? It has to be easy too, we are not professionals.

I just finished writing an essay, which is harder than most essays I've written. One, it's in German. Two, I have no access to a printer, so I have to write it all with my hand. People of my generation are not supposed to have to do physical work for school; that's why we have computers. I'm afraid I have no stories or thoughts from today. I spent most of it in class. After class, I went on a walk to a new part of town with some friends. My mission was to find earplugs. I succeeded, and I'm excited to finally sleep tonight. Every night that I've been here, I've woken up in the middle of the night to my roommate's snores. As soon as he falls asleep, he starts snoring, and his snoring wakes me up. It keeps me up too. It never ends. Tonight, I will finally sleep well. It's going to be so great. I'm so excited to lay down in bed. Tomorrow is a new day. Hopefully the snow stops. It's snowed 25 cm here the past two days without stopping. So much snow. Tomorrow is also Friday. TGIF? Maybe. I'll talk to you soon.

Multi-cultural realization

Sometimes, I am very bored. I sit at my desk, staring at my computer screen while wondering what I should do. I sit, I stare, and I wonder for quite some time. This situation happens every day. Most of my day is spent by myself, so I think about that boredom rather often. Today, this thought came into my mind:

I woke up and ate breakfast by myself.

I went to class with 10 other students; 9 girls, 1 guy. 1 girl from Tasmania, 1 from Bulgaria, 1 from Japan, 1 from Belarus, 1 from Italy, 1 from Iowa, 2 from Slovenia, and 1 other girl with her husband from Iran.

I ate lunch at a table with 7 girls and 2 guys. 1 girl from Bulgaria, 1 girl from Tasmania, 1 girl from Italy, 1 girl from Finland, 2 girls from Slovenia, 1 girl from Iowa, 1 guy from Finland, and 1 guy from Italy.

I attended an intercultural workshop this afternoon with too many people to count from Italy, Slovenia, Finland, Japan, Bulgaria, Iowa, Tasmania, Kansas, Turkey, and Croatia.

Tonight, my roommate from India cooked an Indian dinner for 5 of us. 2 from Iowa, 2 from Albania, and 1 from Italy.

If you add all of that up, you get 13 different countries and too many languages to count, in just one day.

Sometimes I sit at my desk, wondering and staring. Sometimes, during my wondering, I ask myself, "How could I ever be bored in such a place where it is possible to share my day with so many different countries, languages, and cultures?" How many of you get to speak English, German, Spanish, Italian, Albanian, Japanese, and Hindi in one day? How could I ever be bored?

That was my realization today. It's nothing too important, just a neat little thought.

Pancakes

Today was a wonderful day. I had class in the morning for a couple hours, but I got out early. I hate getting out early because there is usually nothing else to do. Klagenfurt proved me wrong today, though. I found out that there is a student cafeteria, so I went over there to eat some lunch. I made it through the line to find a whole group of foreigners that I knew. Eating lunch in a group of people is so much better than eating by yourself. Lonely thoughts come into your mind when you eat too often by yourself, so eating with a group was good. It was nice also because they were a group of higher level German students. That meant that they were speaking German, which is hard to find sometimes on this campus. I spent the lunch hour with them, then found my way to the grocery store. I love the grocery store. It's a short walk from campus, which is a nice time to think. I usually think about random German phrases, or what I learned that day. Maybe I think about what I'm going to do for the rest of the day, but that thought usually gets me nowhere so I forget about it. After the grocery store, I came home to read some German poetry. My professor gives us things to read for fun in our free time. Usually they are songs, poems, jokes, or short histories. While I was reading, I found out that people were coming over to the kitchen tonight from all of the other dorms to make pancakes. Haha, there was going to be a pancake party. I had something to do! I read all afternoon until a knock came at my door telling me that the pancakes had begun. I went downstairs to the kitchen, and sure enough, the pancakes had begun. All of us foreigners were there. It was wonderful. I spent most of the night in the kitchen before coming back to my room to write an update for you all. I started writing, and my roommate came home. I was writing some really good, interesting stuff about a chapter in a book I read, but he kept telling me to look at stuff on his computer. He's from India, so he was trying to explain to me about the caste system and the meanings of the Sanskrit words. That's really great, but I was trying to write and my fingers were going nowhere. He kept telling me random Indian facts, which I love because he always laughs after every one like it's funny that I never knew the random fact about India before. My mind wasn't working while he was explaining things like Shudras and Hindi and diamonds and lots of giggles, so I decided to give up and write this silly update instead. It was straight, to the point, and not very cool. Sorry. Blame Avalanche. He has too many Indian fun facts. I can't pay attention to writing and listening. That's my excuse. Maybe I could tell you a little bit about the chapter now, though, since he has gone back to his computer game. Here is what I had written so far:

I read the best chapter of any novel I've ever read today. It's not actually a novel, I guess, but more like a book of some guy's thoughts. It's called Searching for God Knows What by Donald Miller. It's a rather interesting book, as I told you yesterday, and today he talked about an idea I've never before thought about. The chapter was titled Naked: Why nudity is the point. Odd chapter title, huh? I mean, nudity is ok. I'm not afraid of it, but is there really enough relevant to write a whole chapter about it in a book like this? The other chapters are talking about things like poetry, knowledge about God, the enormous of a creator, and modern warfare (not the type that is being fought in Iraq and Afghanistan; more the type being fought by your soul). He says great things, things that really hit me in the face because they are so simple yet so huge. He says things like, "poetry is a literary tool that has the power to give a person the feeling he isn't alone in those emotions, that, though there are no words to describe them, somebody understands," and "if you happened to be a person who thought they knew everything about God, Jesus would have been completely annoying," and "if we could muster a portion of the patriotism we feel toward our earthly nations into a patriotism and bravery in concert with the kingdom of God, the enemy would take fewer casualties to be sure." These are all things that I would love to write about. For real, I would love to fill this post with comments on just one of those statements, but this post is about nudity. When I got to the chapter, I was thinking, "how is this guy going to go from talking about spiritual warfare to such an immature topic like nudity?" It blew my mind that he was going to try to include this subject in his book. Maybe it doesn't affect you like it did me, but I'll say that it really made an impression on me, not necessarily positive, that he was going to devote a whole chapter to why nudity is the point. I read through the chapter, amazed. Such a simple thing. Such a well known story that people look over. At least, if you're like me, you probably looked over it or saw it one time and thought about it for a couple minutes then let it go to the back of your mind. The chapter was about the Garden of Eden. You know, God creates Adam, Adam becomes lonely, God tells Adam to name all of the animals, God creates Eve, Adam and Eve walk with God, Satan tempts Adam and Eve, Eve eats the apple, Adam and Eve make clothes, God gets upset. They are naked the whole time until the end. That's how the story goes. You probably know that. The thing that struck me was, Adam told God he was lonely. He was searching for a friend, but couldn't find anything that was right. God told him to name all of the animals. Yeah, all of the animals in the world. So Adam was lonely, and rather than God creating Eve right away, he made Adam name all of the animals in the world. How comforting for Adam huh? Many years of naming probably passed before God removed the rib and fashioned Eve to end Adam's loneliness. So now Adam is way in love with this girl Eve. I mean, he had never even seen a woman before (unless of course God looks like a girl), and now he has a wife created perfectly for him. I don't know if you get how much Adam loved Eve. He was alone for so many years because he had to come up with names for animals, every animal. He was lonely, and the thought of a woman may never have even crossed his mind. Then, one night, God creates Eve, and Adam wakes up to find the most beautiful being in existence sleeping right next to him. What a surprise! Years of waiting seemed to be worth it. Don't forget, the whole time they were naked. No clothes necessary. Adam and Eve were perfect, living happier lives than you and I have ever lived, and they were naked the whole time without even realizing that being naked is different. That's because naked wasn't different. They were naked not only because they had no clothes, but they also had no secrets. The couple went on walks with God. Take a step back, read that sentence again. The couple went on walks with God. They were friends, they talked, they probably joked with each other, they smiled and hugged. Adam and Eve were totally naked; they had nothing to hide. There entire life was spent glorifying their creator without anything inhibiting their praise. That's magical. But that nudity ended. They gave in to temptation, and what was the first thing that happened after the apple was eaten? They realized they were naked. Suddenly, being naked was weird, awkward. The grabbed leaves to cover themselves. They hid when God came looking for them. They wore clothes and hid. Why? Because they had given in to temptation. Donald Miller says that Moses, when he wrote Genesis, does not have any point other than this when he wrote the portion that is now Chapter 2 and 3. Do you get it? They were naked and perfect, but then they gave in and started to think that nudity is weird. Do you think nudity is weird? I mean, I'm not really talking about clothes or no clothes here. I'm talking more about the other aspect of being naked. The part where you hide nothing from God; where you let Him see your heart and mind because you don't put up walls. Are you naked in that sense? Do you have walls? Secrets? Do you put clothes around your soul? I do. I do it when I refuse to die to myself. I do it when my faith is small. I do it when I willingly separate myself from the Truth. I put up those walls a lot, but I know what it's like to be naked too. I know what it's like to be totally bare before God, to be completely honest about my stupidity and attempts to run my own life. I have felt what it's like to sing and dance without any worries of who's watching and what they're thinking because I know that my actions are making Someone smile. I know all of those things, yet I still put up walls. It's a terrible situation to be in. Do you know what I'm talking about? Do you even know what it's like to be completely naked? Have you ever felt total liberation while standing before Jesus? Try it out some time. I don't think you can find anywhere better to be than naked right there.

That was what I wanted to write. I hope it wasn't too much. I hope it doesn't sound religious to you because I would absolutely hate to sound religious. Too many rules and judges. I just want to write what I think about. I just want you to read this and think about your own life. Maybe it means nothing to you. Oh well. I hope that you spend more time being naked now. You can do that physically, but I think it would be better to do that spiritually. Break down the walls you've allowed to be built up. Don't worry what other people think about you. Just be free. I'm up far past my bedtime now. I will write again soon. I love you. Guten Nacht.

lazy sundays

As I'm preparing myself for this post, wondering what I should write about that might hold your attention, I'm eating chocolate. I'm always eating chocolate. I wrote about that before, but it deserves to be written about again. The chocolate here is so much better than anything you can buy in Hy-Vee or Safeway. Seriously, it's so good here. There is a word is German that is kind of similar to the word addicted in English. It's called süchtig. Our professor sometimes asks us what our süchtig is. Three or four of us say schokoladesüchtig. We are addicted to chocolate. We're trying to get help, but it seems like nobody really cares about our addiction. Everybody just keeps giving us more. For real, everywhere you go, people give you chocolate; especially in class.

I'm sorry I just wrote about that for so long, but I didn't know what else to write about. Now, I think I have an idea. Often, though, my idea of what I should write about at the beginning of my typing is nowhere near what I actually write about. That's because writing is thinking. Writing is a journey into the unknown. I say that a lot. You don't have to believe it, but I think you would discover it for yourself if you tried it.

Ok, so today is Sunday. Austria, as a country, is closed on Sundays. The only thing open in Klagenfurt, other than churches for morning services, is a grocery store on the far side of town that is too far to get to by foot. That means that you have to find something to do outside of going anywhere in the city. In my case, I have to find something to do in my little dorm room. Let me tell you, there aren't a lot of options of things to do in this room. I have my computer, some books, a journal, a bed, and some fruit. Lucky for me, there is also a common room with a television that receives 5 or 6 channels. So what did I do?

I woke up this morning around 8 am in order to shower and eat breakfast before setting off to find a church that I had never seen. All I knew was that it was an evangelical church somewhere near the city center. I also knew that the service started at 9:30, so I gave myself about 45 minutes to get there because I was going to be walking. The walk to the church took almost the whole 45 minutes because I was slowed down a little bit by the snowfall from last night. Like I said before, nobody shovels here. I walked along a bike path next to the land canal that separates part of the town into two portions. It was a nice, cold, snowy walk, but eventually I found the old cathedral. I walked in the large wooden doors, and realized that I was the youngest person in the building by about 30 years. The service was nice, but I didn't understand a thing because of the dialect. I found myself sitting down when everybody was standing up and never knowing which page to turn the hymnal to. It was fun, though, and I was happy to get out of my room. I passed on communion because I get nervous enough when I take communion at an unfamiliar church in America. I never know how I'm supposed to respond to the person handing me the bread. That's in America, this is the southernmost province of Austria. They barely speak German here, and you should know that I was never taught words in my university classes like Savior, worship, peace be with you, and so on. All of this was going through my mind, so I decided just to stay sitting in my back row pew.

After church, I walked home through the snow again and ended up sitting in the TV room. I found Germany's version of American Idol, and it held my entertainment for awhile before I switched to a handball game. I can only watch TV for so long, though, so I headed back up to my room. My roommate disappeared after I left for church, so I had the room to myself. I decided to read one of the few books I brought with: Searching for God Knows What. It's a book by Donald Miller. You should read it. You should read all of his books. They are interesting. He says a lot of great things, and the reason they are great is because many of them are things that have passed through my mind at one point or another. They are simple ideas, usually ones that we look right past, but they are important. So I read, and I snacked (chocolate). Most of my afternoon was spent reading and listening to music. Sundays are so lazy. I guess it's good, though. Remember I wrote about the Sabbath? It's almost like I'm forced to observe the Sabbath every Sunday if I'm going to be in Austria.

Tomorrow, I start my second week of intensive German. We flew through so much information last week. It was all stuff that I had already learned in high school or at UNI, but so much of it had to be dug out of a dusty corner somewhere in my brain. I'm excited to get back into class tomorrow. The weekends are nice to relax, but they seem a little long and lonely. This building is so quiet, like a ghost town. It's good to get out and socialize with people, and it's fun because it's in German. Our class is like a little family, too. We spend every day together. We're planning trips together and times to cook together. It's great. It's really helpful to have connections with other people who are totally new. We are basically the only people we know here, so we hang out with each other. It's cool because most of the people who I'm spending time with are not necessarily people I would be spending time with if I was in Cedar Falls. Some of them are quite a bit older, and most of them are girls. Not saying that's bad, just describing the group. In fact, there are only 3 of us guys in the whole group. In the group, there are so many nationalities and languages it's unbelievable.

I think I'll stop writing now. I don't really feel like this was a successful post, but more like it was an obligation. I don't want my posts to be obligations. I apologize to anybody who read this and thought it was boring. I thought it was boring too. I promise not to write about boring things anymore. I'll talk to you soon. Send me an email this week thomaspanicucci@gmail.com. Tell me what you are doing in your life. Ask me a question. Say anything. I'd love to get a message just saying hi. Ok, Guten Nacht. Go Saints.

Samstag

Hello my people. I realized something today after I received an email from my Uncle Gord Panicucci, and I'd like to write about it.



What am I doing in Austria?

I mean, some of you know because I may have told you or you found out from somebody else. I think there are several of you who don't know exactly what's going on, though. That is my fault, because I haven't clearly stated what's happening here. That includes where here is, what I'm doing, and why I'm doing it. Maybe, I can explain so that you can know better. I think that even those of you who know what I'm doing here don't even know exactly what I'm doing right now. Where do I start? First, I'm in Klagenfurt, Austria. Klagenfurt is the capital of the province of Carinthia. It's a relatively small city with a large history that includes a constant tug-of-war between Austria and Slovenia about who really owns this land. For the record, I'm in Austria, not Slovenia, although I'm very close to Slovenia. Actually, how many of you actually know where Slovenia is? Do you know the capital? Do you know anything about it? Probably not, google it. Ok, so that is where I am. Before I was here, I was in a magical village called Herrnhut. Herrnhut is in Germany. I was in Herrnhut only for 2 weeks. It was sort of a buffer zone I had planned between Cedar Falls, Iowa and Klagenfurt, Austria. In Herrnhut, I was staying at a YWAM base where I met so many amazing people. Read my previous posts to find out about what I did there. Now, for what is currently happening. I am living in Klagenfurt in what is similar to a student dorm. This semester, I'm going to be studying at the University of Klagenfurt. I will be studying German: linguistics, grammar, translation, and so on. The semester doesn't start until March 1, though, so right now I'm in an intensive language course held at the university for foreign exchange students. I go to class every day. The goal of the class is to prepare us for the upcoming semester that will be held in a language different from our mother language. It's a great class filled with people from all over the world; seriously, there are people from every continent in my class except Africa. This class goes for 2 more weeks before I have a week off to further prepare myself for the start of the semester. The semester will run from March until the end of June, with a break in the middle for Easter. Ok, so that is where and what that I've answered; time for why. I feel like I've already answered this question in a couple essays, but it's important to tell you too. I'm studying in Austria simply because it is an amazing opportunity. In America, I study Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages, and German is kind of tossed in there. I decided to study here because I am hoping to further my abilities in German. All of my classes will be in German, so I think that I will be able to take plenty away from this semester pertaining to classroom education. I came here for more than just school, though. I came here because I love to experience new things. I love to be in situations that aren't always easy peasy routine. I like to be challenged and to live a life outside of my comfort zone. Those are some pretty dangerous statements that I just made, and they could come back to bite me but I think it would be worth it. I like the unknown. Austria, to me, is unknown. I knew nobody when I came here. I knew nothing. All I knew is that it was time to get out of Iowa again to explore this big world around me. The opportunity arose to come here to learn German and experience new things, so I took it. My plans, while I'm here, are to study during the week in Klagenfurt and travel on the weekends the rest of the world that seems to be within a couple hours reach. Austria is fairly centrally located, you see. It touches Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Czech Republic, Slovenia, Hungary, and Slovakia. That's a lot of countries, and I plan on seeing them all.

Now you know what I'm doing. I am studying German, living in Austria, meeting new people, traveling to crazy places, and every step of the way, learning to live a better life. I have met many people so far, and I've been to so many new places. I've only been gone for 4 weeks. Who knows what will happen in the next 5 months? I hope something sweet.

ADDRESS!

I found out my address today for all of you dying to send me something. Here it is:

Thomas Panicucci rm. 213
11 Nautilusweg
9020-Klagenfurt am Wörthersee, Austria

I hope to be getting packages and letters everyday. Haha.

Freunde

Good news everybody: I made my first friends today. After class, I went out to lunch with some people to an Italian restaurant not far from campus. It was great to sit down and talk to people. We went straight from lunch to an intercultural workshop, much better than the ones I've been to in the past. At the workshop, there were people from every continent, I think. It was amazing. We talked about cliche things like are goals and expectations, but we also had a great conversation about what we think best represents our home nation. Before each of us answered, the others tried to guess what we would say. For America, people guessed hamburgers, cowboys, country music, famous actresses, and other things that I guess are stereotypical of Americans to non-Americans. It was fun because we got to say the good things and bad things of each country. As you all know, there are many bad things about America, but we also talked about a lot more good things. The only thing that brought us all together was that we could all speak German. It's kind of funny hearing people from Chile or Japan speaking German. After the workshop, I expected my day to be over because it was almost 5 pm. I was surprised to find out, though, that a couple students were going over to my neighbor's room to hang out and use the internet, so I went with them. Another student met us in the hallway, and he told us that there was going to be a pizza party tonight in the kitchen. Several students were meeting in the entrance to go to the grocery store to buy ingredients, and then we were going to come back and make pizzas together. Let me tell you, after a couple days of not spending anytime with people or talking with anybody, the idea of cooking pizza with total strangers sounds like absolute heaven. None of us knew each other, and we all came from different countries, but we all bought food and cooked together. At one point, there were 6 of us guys putting ingredients on one pizza at the same time. All of the girls were watching, taking pictures, and laughing at us like we were fools. After dinner, conversations died down, but then more students from the floor came in to the kitchen. Natürlich haben sie viel Bier getrunken. We were all getting to know each other, new Erasmus (Exchange) students with old-timers, the ones who are students here all of the time. When conversations started to die, we did what any group of people from mixed cultures does; we talked about sports. Naturally, we started talking about the difference between soccer and football. There was one Australian in the room, so he had to bring Footie and Rugby into the play, and everybody tried to convince one another that they were right. Eventually, we started talking about different accents, dialects, and words that each speaker says funny. A lot of times, there are sounds in one language that don't exist in others, so when those speakers are forced to make the foreign sounds, they sound strange. We each made fun of each other and laughed together. This may sound all kinds of cheesy and cliche, but it was so perfect. As always, I was worried when I first got here that I wouldn't be able to make friends very easily. I was wrong. The great thing about this place is that there is a large international group, and we are forced to be with each other all of the time. We are forced to live together, eat together, communicate with each other, and take classes together. We would be lost without that guidance. I would be lost, maybe not the others. It's unusual for me to be up this late, 11:15 pm, so it's time for me to go to bed. I just had to let you know how great of a day this was for me. Everyday that passes pushes me to realize the importance of staying positive and living life with a smile on my face. It's more important than I think we can know. I say it to you so often, so I'll say it again: Smile today. Who knows how powerful a smile can be to the right person?

Sunsets

Sometimes, at different times during the day, I think of something great in my mind, and I tell myself to get back to my computer immediately to write it down. Today, that happened to me, but I was 20 minutes away from my dorm. I was worried that I was going to forget everything, so we'll see how I do with my memory. I guess none of you will know if I told you everything or not, but just trust me that I am trying to write down all of those thoughts that go through my mind during the day.

Last night was my first decent night of sleep since I left the castle. That was last Thursday. Ever since then, I've been sleeping in the same room as guys who have terrible snoring habits, and my sleep just doesn't coexist with snoring. My roommate, Avalanche (Aveenash?), doesn't snore nearly as bad as the other guys, but he still does a little. I fell asleep before he got back from the kitchen, though, so it didn't matter. Back to the important stuff, I had my first real intensive language class today. I spent 5 hours in a classroom in 3 different shifts. You might think that sounds like a lot, but I enjoyed it. It was nice to have something to do. During those 5 hours, I think I learned as much German as I have over the past 5 years. 5 years of German in 5 hours. It was a lot, but it was fun. We started off with an exercise where the professor asked each student a random question he made up. My question was how does the future look for America. Is it optimistic, pessimistic, poor, something else? I was also asked what I would improve about the country if I was the president. I'm not a very political person, but I had an answer. The only problem was, how do I say all of this in German? I made it through, and he went to the next person, asking them if they would take a chance in a game of dice to win either $1 million or get their little pinky cut off. It was a fun way to start the morning, and in the afternoon we moved on to settings of time. Grammar came next, and last was culture. Lots and lots of information. It's going to be great to have those classes everyday for the next 3 weeks before I start my actual university classes. After class, I went grocery shopping with my neighbor, who is also from Iowa. Let me tell you, everything looks different in a grocery store in Austria. It was fun to get away from campus and actually spend time in a conversation with somebody.

This evening, I went on a walk to get to know the city where I'll be living for the next 5 months. I decided that I had no pictures yet, so I should probably go out while the sun is still up. It was a miracle that it was still up because it was almost 4 pm, and usually the sun is long gone by then. So I headed out. Somebody had told me that the Wörthersee was in this direction, so I made my way that way. I took some photos of my school and dorm before I left, and when I got halfway to the see, my camera died. Sorry, but I have no photos for you of the beautiful see. You will have to either look it up or wait until I get some new batteries. I persevered through the death of my camera, though, and kept on the path. As I was walking, I quickly got out of the small area I knew, and I realized that campus is really small. It is only a couple buildings; nothing compared to the huge campus in Cedar Falls (just kidding, but really it's not even as big as Hawkeye). I crossed the street, heading away from campus, and on the other side I reached ground never before seen by my eyes. I walked over a bridge and found a nice park. All kinds of neat things were in the park, including a couple giant boards with chess pieces. There were also random stone sculptures strewn around the snowy grass. Near the end of the park, I finally noticed the see. It's huge. There are all kinds of great big houses and castles that surround the see, and did I mention that the entire city is surrounded by mountains? It's beautiful. You don't see the beauty when you're looking out my dorm window, but you can definitely see it when you are by the see. I walked a little ways along the shore, and found a tree I could rest on to watch the sun dip down behind the mountains. I kept telling myself, "Tom, you're in Austria right now watching the sunset. You are on the shores of a huge, beautiful lake, and you're staring at the sun as it slowly slides down the far side of the Alps. Are you getting this?" I mean, how many of us can say that we see that on a regular basis? How many of us can even say that we've seen that once? I realize that there are millions of people who can see that every night because they live here in Europe, but how many of them actually take the time out of their busy day to watch the sunset? How many of you take the time out of your day to watch the sunset over the cornfields on the west side of Cedar Falls or wherever it is you live? I don't think that there are many of us who do take that time. We are often too worried about school, dinner, friends, work, tv, or anything to stop ourselves long enough to notice the beauties put before us everyday. Our lives are crazy, and we often wonder if they are ever going to slow down. I don't think that they ever will unless we set aside time to do things like watch the sunset, go for a walk, have a conversation with out parents, or even just sit in silence with no distractions. Getting back to the sunset and away from that little bit of opinion, I was listening to music on my walk to the lake. It was a newly created playlist titled "Happy, Smile". I named it this because I decided that this part of my life, along with every other part of my life, is supposed to be happy. God says to never grow weary, but to always keep a smile on our faces. I think it's really important to be happy and positive, and that is why I answered optimistic to my teacher this morning. As I was watching the sunset, I listened to these three songs in a row, There Will be a Day, Oceans from the Rain, and Tension & Thrill. You may not know the artists or ever even heard of the songs before, but they were amazing to hear while watching the sunset. So many thoughts started to fill my head. There were thoughts about the words in the songs like the idea that someday Someone will come back to save all of us. There were also thoughts about my immediate future here in Klagenfurt, and my schooling when I get back to America. I had thoughts about the times in my life when I've spoken in front of large groups of people, and I realized when I was thinking about those times that each one of them changed my life. I cried before, during, or after a lot of those talks, but they weren't sad tears. They were very happy. I was also thinking about how beautiful everything was in that exact moment of Lobpreis. It was a wonderful feeling leaning up against that tree, watching the sun slide, remembering the experiences I'd had, and dreaming of the days to come in my future but also the future of the body. I don't know if it's worth trying to describe anymore than I've already tried. I think that you, yourself, have to feel it. It's like being in the perfect place at the perfect time with the perfect thoughts and the perfect Friend. Sometimes, I think my words are silly, like those of a fiction writer or a child in his writing class. I think that a lot, but I hope you can see past my words and discover the words meant for you. Most of the stuff I say is just nonsense, but I want you to find your own sense in the middle of this mess. I would tell you what my dreams were for my future, but I already know that the only thing for sure is the next step. It's like walking in the snow in somebody else's tracks who knows the way much better than you do. You can't look to far forward without stumbling and falling out of the tracks set before you. I think I told you that once, but I said it again anyways. It's time for me to go now. I think I might watch a movie tonight. Tomorrow I have another language class and then an intercultural workshop. Those are always exciting. I hope that you read this today at work or school or wherever so you can go out tonight and watch the sun go down. You never know how many more chances you'll get to do that.

I'm here!

Sorry about the brief post last night. I had no way of getting internet on my computer, so another student took me to campus to let me sign in on her account at a computer lab. I didn't want to take too long, so I just wrote something short. I have plenty of time to write now, though. Let's see, maybe I'll tell you about my trip here from Salzburg since I didn't get the chance to write that last night. My departure time from the main train station wasn't until noon, so I hung around the hostel in the computer room. I had to check out of my room by 10 am, so I had all of my stuff with me. I wrote more emails (who knew you could write so many emails in your free time?), and I watched some videos on youtube called Nooma by Rob Bell. You should check them out if you're ever bored. They aren't stupid videos like the ones you get in emails, at least I don't think they are stupid. I sat and watched videos, waited, drank coffee, ate rolls, and then finally took off from my hostel around 11:15. A miracle happened at the train station; I bought the right ticket. I boarded a little compartment in the second class part of the train, and a young Swiss mother with her little boy and an old Austrian lady joined me. The little boy was very entertaining. At one point, he and I shared chocolates with each other. I think that was the highlight of my day. The train ride from Salzburg to Klagenfurt was wonderful. I had no clue I would be going through so many mountains, but it was almost like the road going through the mountains in Colorado. I believe it's I-70? Every once in a while, a little village would show up, and most of them had mountain resorts. We went through forests and along rivers. It was a great ride. I got to Klagenfurt around 3:30, and an Austrian with an Irish-English accent greeted me. His name is Philipp, and he is sort of my guide for these first couple days. He studied in Ireland for a semester, so his English sounds Irish. It's weird. We went right to my dorm building, where I was put into a temporary room until today. After moving in, some of us foreigners were taken on a city tour by some local students. There's not much to see in this little town. It's the capital of the province of Carinthia, but that's not saying much. After the tour, I went out to get groceries because I'm on my own for food now. No more being fed 3 meals/day by the nice Germans. That's kind of sad because my own cooking is nothing compared to that of the castle. Oh well, I did it in Iowa. We got groceries and came home. I'm living in a student dorm. It's much bigger than the dorms I've been in. Each room has 2 beds, dressers, desks, bookcases, shower, sink, and toilet. Each floor has 2 kitchens. It's basically like an apartment building. The halls look like prison, though. Nothing is on the walls. I think I might have to put something up in order to instill some creativity in the residents. This morning was my first class. I'm enrolled in an intensive language course for the first 3 weeks I'm here, so my actual classes don't start until some time around March. The semesters are different than America. At 9, I went to the main student building where classes are held, and I took a placement test. I also had an interview, so the teachers could judge how much German I actually know. This afternoon, I was placed in a class with some students from Bulgaria, Italy, Serbia, Slovenia, Japan, Iran, and even one from Iowa. We talked only for a little bit about the class, and then we were dismissed. Now, I'm back in my new, permanent room with not much to do until 2:30. My roommate is from India. I don't know his name, but I know it sounds something like Avalanche. He doesn't really speak German, but maybe I can learn some Hindi from him. I have no plans for the rest of the day, but who knows what will happen. If something great does, I will let you know. Talk to you later.