Randy Stuckey and I took the Intermediate Band and Orchestra students to Europa Park, a theme park with some fun roller coasters and other rides. I chaperoned a group of 4 elementary and middle school girls, so we had a mix of rides – everything from the Blue Fire steel roller coaster to the gentle hot air balloons.
Last Friday I was packing up to head home, when I heard some cackling from outside my window. Yes, it was Mike ‘Greenie’ Greenhoe doing a crazy experiment in front of Ken’s Court.
When people leave BFA, they often say it is harder to transition back to the US than to life in Germany. It might be that the reverse culture shock is more surprising and unexpected in your ‘familiar’ context, or it may be that few people have such close-knit communities as BFA, or a combination of factors. For whatever reason, it’s hard to go back.
Amanda Kelly was an RA for 2 years here at BFA and went back home to Colorado. Last week she came back to Germany to visit. It was really good to see her again, and especially good for me to hear from her how hard it is to go back.
I have 1 more year here at BFA before going back to the States. As I talked with Amanda, I started putting myself in her shoes. Back in Illinois, I will surely begin to miss the green hills, forest paths, waves of wildflowers, sunsets at castles, squealing girls, hugs from friends, German bread, amazing chocolate, the symphony of languages that is my daily routine, teaching 7 different instruments every week, and every aspect of life here in this home. Yes, it is home here. I just bought my plane tickets to go home for the summer, and a part of me wished I could just stay here for the summer and just relax. Every other summer my longing to go home was stronger. Now, that longing hasn’t disappeared; it has merely transformed into a longing to stay home. That was home before; this is home now.
So during the next year, I will soak up every memory possible in this place, enjoying living in the moment, and preparing myself mentally and emotionally to say goodbye to this home.
If you belong to my Illinois home, please pray for me when I make the transition. Be there for me when I come back; I’ll need your friendship, prayers, and understanding as I babble on about things that make no sense to you but mean the world to me.
So on Thursday I said goodbye to Amanda and began to think of all the other goodbyes that will happen in a year. One goodbye happened that very night. I decided to quit the Stadtmusik Kandern community band for various reasons – partially due to a conflict with my small group schedule for next year, and partly because it was a musically unfulfilling ensemble for me. So Thursday night I brought my flute, music stand, music, marching lyre, march book, and uniform to band for the last time. At the end of rehearsal, I gave a little goodbye speech in German, thanking everyone for their friendship and patience with my mistakes. Then we shared some sweet bread I brought, and several of the members hugged me and said we should stay in touch through facebook.
Part of me feels free now – free from my exhausting Thursday night commitment. The other part of me feels sad for the missed opportunities for relationships with these people from the community. Will I ever get to talk with them again? Will they ever hear the Gospel? How will they hear unless someone tells them? I guess the next step is to actively continue with a few friendships outside the context of band and in the context of more open discussion – like meals and shopping trips and invitations to church.
Ok, that’s enough rambling for one night. These are my thoughts just as they come. Next time I get a chance to blog, I’ll either be showing a video of the interesting science experiment I spied outside my window on Friday, or writing about the Europa Park trip on Saturday!
Trying on Caps & Gowns
A couple weeks ago, the seniors tried on their caps and gowns to ensure proper fit. Of course, proper fit with a graduation gown is a somewhat “loose” term. Jill Young and I were checking to make sure the gown came down somewhere between the knee and ankle. The gown itself should fit any size person, but teenage girls have a different opinion.
Mikala – “Miss Musick, is it supposed to look like this?”
Me (checking the hem length) – “Yep, it’s the right size.”
Mikala – “Are you sure? I think mine is too big.”
Me – “No, it’s just right. It’s right in the middle of your calf.”
Mikala – “But it’s so baggy!”
Me – “They’re supposed to be like that.”
Mikala – “Can I make it cuter somehow? Like wearing a belt over it?”
My little brother David is graduating from Wheaton college in the next couple hours. In fact, the ceremony has already started! I don’t think he’s worried about making his gown look “cuter.” Congratulations, David! (thanks for shaving). I wish I could see him walk across the stage, turn the tassel, and magically transform into an esteemed adult. Being here in Germany means I occasionally miss out on life events back home, but whenever I “miss” something, it reminds me of why I’m here. Right now, I’m here for the students of BFA, and in May I will get to watch all 60 of my seniors graduate walk across the BFA stage and turn their tassels, and hopefully I have been a small part of their maturing toward adulthood.
Senior Transition Day
As these students mature, they have to “leave the nest.” Many of them have already left the security of their parents’ homes to live in BFA dorms, so they feel prepared for college. Yet college, even Christian colleges, do not have a supportive network to the extent of that BFA does. Part of our job as senior sponsors is to help prepare these students to leave the BFA environment.
Transition Day, held last Thursday, was a morning to discuss the ins and outs of transition from BFA to college. Part of leaving well is finishing the year on a good note, and saying goodbye to life here. Unlike most American schools, kids can’t come back to BFA in 5 years and find the same people there. Graduation is a real goodbye. Yes, reunions do happen, but reunions always require international travel, so the goodbyes have to happen now.
Though the community at BFA is great, these seniors will have to create a new community in college. A couple speakers gave some helpful advice in finding that community. They also discussed making wise choices in college and various other issues – some normal to all teenagers facing the dive into college life, and others specific to TCKs (third culture kids). The final portion of the event was a video from last year’s seniors discussing their transition to college. All 3 in the video said the transition was harder and took longer than expected. It was helpful for the seniors to see those who had gone before. As they go through tough times in their first semester, they can remember that those fellow BFA alumni also went through the same things their first year and yet survived and are even thriving.
Senior Skip Day
In a normal school, all the seniors decide to skip one day without any help from teachers. BFA is definitely not normal. In past years, seniors went to the Kandern pool for the whole day, which usually was rather boring as they had nothing to do but try to escape the enclosure.
This year, we combined skip day with transition day. For the skip portion of the day, we (the senior class sponsors and all the students) took a double decker bus to Luzern, Switzerland and let the kids roam around in groups of 3 for almost 4 hours. Amazingly, all 60 students and 8 staff showed up on time! Then we all ate dinner together at a restaurant in Kandern to finish off the evening.
Junior/Senior Banquet
JSB is like prom but without dancing. It’s partly a chance for the juniors to celebrate the seniors, and partly another excuse for the girls to get dressed up in their finest. This year it was on a Friday, which meant there was a bit of a panic from the girls – how could there possibly be enough time to get ready?!? The boys didn’t sweat it – until they realized they had to entertain their gorgeous dates for an evening!
One of the highlights of the evening was when the senior sponsors showed this video to the students. We love them and will miss them!
Copy and paste this url into your browser if the video link above didn’t work: https://vimeo.com/41585657
For more pictures, go here.
Hi family and friends,
Spring is in full bloom in Germany. The cherry and apple trees bless us with their fragrant blossoms, lilacs lightly scent the air down the street from my house, and the world has turned from brown to green in a matter of weeks.
Everything seems to happen quickly in the Springtime – both in nature and in school life. Since my last update, there have been far too many events to cram them all into a newsletter, so I put a few stories in this newsletter to give you a glimpse. Check inside to read a story from the choir trip to Vienna, a tale of a student at Music Festival, and a tidbit from guitar class!
If these stories aren’t enough for you, scroll down to read even more on my blog.
click here–>Newsletter 026
I gave my Guitar Class a song-writing project recently. Here are a few of their (and my) original songs!
After German small group last week, I said ‘Tchüss!’ (goodbye), to which one of the members responded, “Tschau, make it well!”
Confused, I turned around and said ‘Huh?’ and thought for a second. Suddenly I realized he was saying the English version of “Mach’s gut!” which is a typical good-bye phrase, like saying ‘Best wishes’ or ‘all the best,’ but literally translated means ‘Make it well!’
So next time you say goodbye, wish someone to ‘make it well!’
On a rainy weekend, 8 adventurous BFA staff ladies participated in a relay marathon.
The adventure started at 5am when we met to drive to Zurich.
The sun is rising somewhere out there on the Swiss horizon. Why are we awake this early?
After leaving the warm, dry vehicles we ventured into trams and busses to take us to the registration site and starting line.
Susan, Emily W., and Katrina
Megan, Sammie, CB
Emily W. and Susan both ran the first leg of the race, a distance of about 9k.
Katrina and I took the velcro-wristband Datasport chips from them and ran our entire 10.7k together, passing our chips on to CB and Sammie for their 4k stretch.
Yay! We're finished!
The view of the lake cleared up just after Katrina and I finished running. It was gray and rainy while we ran.
CB & Sammie passed the “batons” to Emily K. and Megan for the final portion, the 17k.
When Emily came in for the last 300 meters, I joined her to finish the race together. CB and Susan joined us at the finish line!
Our team at the finish - with our cool medals. We're smiling, but really we were just holding our teeth together to keep from chattering. During the last leg of the race, it rained, cleared up, rained again, and hailed. Weird!
Both teams combined - wet and cold, but happy!
At our last small group time, Emily baked a strawberry rhubarb pie. It’s about as American as apple pie, right? Well, our small group isn’t exactly American.
Eunji – What’s rhubarb?
me – It’s like celery, but softer… and more tart
Emily – Actually, it’s harder than celery
[. . . insert our argument about which is harder . . . we agree that cooked rhubarb is softer than raw celery . . .]
Then Andrea walks in.
Andrea – What kind of pie is this?
Emily – Strawberry rhubarb
Andrea – What’s rhubarb?
Eunji – It’s like celery, but soft!
Andrea – So it’s a vegetable? You put vegetables in the pie?!
Emily – Uh, yeah, I guess you could say that….
April 21 was the 2nd annual BFA Staff Recital. We dedicated the performances to Mari Ellen Reeser. Here are a couple videos from the concert:
