An Update on Classes and Oberursel

I posted a post about worship in Germany (and America): I encourage you to read that also, if you haven't come to my blog in a while and first see this post.

So I noticed that I use the word "so" too much, so I'm going to try to do my best not to use it so much. I discovered it reading through some of my previous posts, felt ashamed at such literary incompetency, and immediately corrected the glaring overuse. It's interesting- I love writing and formulating quirky and poignant sentences, because it's a part of being human to want to express thoughts and ideas, and convince others to take them (what men tend to do) or to listen and sympathize (what women tend to do). And now, when I try to engage in this in Germany, I find myself severely limited; I can't use the language how I want to; I can't convince based on eloquence anymore. But it's been good, because without eloquence, one focuses much more on the facts at hand instead of wandering into side topics or questions. That doesn't mean that facts alone convince, and that doesn't mean I understand everything, which is difficult at times.

I don't know how far separated from schooling you my reader  might be, but in every class there's important and not important material. Often the non-important material is additional information, or sometimes it bolsters the prof's argument, but whatever its reason, competent students pick up pretty well on what they should be learning from a lecture. It's this last part that I have problems with. I'm still in the "learning German" phase, so I'm picking out words, and putting them together in sentences, sometimes understanding what the professor is trying to say, but it annoys me when all that is finally done to find out that it's just not important. I'm not complaining about the professors; they're doing what they should be doing. But this has probably been my greatest annoyance in the classes.

Classes for the Winter Semester are quickly coming to a close. There's only two weeks left before our two month Spring Break, during which the students are expected to write papers. The classes themselves are coming to an end as well; the professors are starting to see how much time they have left and pace themselves to conclude all the material. So, for example, in my Romans class, after getting through the important chapters 6-8, taking a few weeks to do so, we've gone at a brisk pace through 9-11. No, not September 11th, chapers 9 through 11. My Reformation History class is coming to an end as well; we just finished talking about the formulation of the Formula of Concord and other Reformed (Calvinist) confessions as a comparison and will continue through various topics to the 30 Years War. I'm not going to write a review of each classe; all I'll say is that I've learned from every class, regardless of my understanding difficulty.

I guess I've forgotten to talk about life on campus. I try nearly every evening to do something with the other students; sometimes it's choir, or brass choir, but sometimes it's just playing cards or watching a movie. There's a movie night every Sunday night, and we have a "Reading Circle" on either Tues or Thurs evening. We're reading through Werner Elert's The Morphology of Lutheranism. It's been good a good book, and I've enjoyed hearing the theological discussions. About ten of us students gather for "Mittagessen" in the cafeteria at 1pm- its the largest meal of the day for the Germans. Considering I'm not that much of a cook, the provided food is very welcome. Therefore I really enjoy it when we have brunch every other Saturday, since I can see what the other students decide to cook and/or bring. Last time I brought something very American- "Ants on a Log." It's celery with peanut butter inside, and raisens put on top. I'm not sure the Germans enjoyed it, but they were at least courteous and tried them. It's American, because it contains peanut butter, which is not eaten at all here. They tend to eat Nutella instead- it's a hazelnut paste with chocolate. It's also very tasty, but not a replacement for peanut butter.

There's chapel service in St. Johannes Gemeinde on Monday and Wednesday at 9:15 am, and Tuesday and Thursday at 6:45 pm. Some of these services have sermons by the professors- I think about two out of the four. The non-preaching services are usually Matins and Compine. In addition, the students have Matins on Tues, Thurs, and Friday mornings at 6:50 and a mid-day office after lunch at 1:30. I don't make it to all of the early morning Prayer Offices, because I don't have classes on Tues and Thurs until 9:15, so 6:50 is a bit early to wake up for, but I sometimes make it there on Friday, when I have a class at 7:30. I'm glad that we have these services; they remind me a bit of the services in Ft. Wayne. I miss our Anglican hymns (though not Timothy Dudley-Smith, let the reader understand), but I've enjoyed singing the good German hymns and seeing how we have changed the melody to make it more Americanized. Paul Gerhardt is certainly loved by the Germans (and by me), and I'd recommend everyone to sing his hymns more often. They are packed with good Lutheran theology, and he has a way of bringing biblical consolation to the soul through his hymns.

I did stay up to watch some of the Super Bowl with one other student. It started at 12:30 here, but I went to bed shortly after the power outage was fixed, about 3:15 or 3:30. I had a class the next morning at 7:30 and didn't feel like pulling an all-nighter, though the second half certainly sounded much more exciting. The commercials were German commercials, so I watched the American ones on YouTube and various websites. I've gotta say, the farmer one was pretty funny.

Probably the funniest German one I saw showed a German soccer player on the ground wincing in pain, holding his head. A trainer came over, quickly diagnosed the problem, and pulled out shampoo, quickly lathering his head and styling it. The player got up, smiled, and everything was alright.

Let's see...and that leads me to my last topic. Sports. Soccer (aka "Football") has slowed down now that there's snow on the ground. It can be a bit dangerous at times, plus we can't play at night any more due to problems with the lights, so we rarely play now. But it'll pick up soon in spring. There's been a ping-pong tournament to keep us active, though, and boy, has it been competitive. There were two groups of six that played, then a final tournament of the top 4 from each is happening now. I came in third in my group, so I played the number two guy from the other group, and lost. So now I'm playing in the losers' bracket, hoping for fifth place. Hopefully I can win the two games necessary to get that; I just need to cut down on the mistakes that I make too often.

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