The only thing that makes life worth living

As I have come upon my last week in Berlin, I am trying to do as much as I can in the time we have left. This week we have visited the zoo, the Jewish History Museum, an outdoor Kino (movie theater),  gone to the Turkish Market, visited a Palace, swam at a lake, and went to the flea market. 

Turkish Market-

I accidentally coordinated all too well when I went running last Monday-

Picnic with other Humboldt Students-

 And then it started to rain-

 Zoo! Did anyone know that this is what a porcupine looks like?

 The pigeons seemed to find their way into most of the exhibits-

 Mr. Old Grumpy Gorilla-

 Owl from The Legend of Zelda? Anyone?

What the heck kind of animal is this?!

We liked the Penguins.

 Last Friday-

Waiting to get into Sans Souci

and Wannsee-

It is becoming a little surreal that I will be returning to the U.S. in 7 short days. Living abroad, I have kind of forgotten that I am not in the U.S. anymore. Germany is definitely culturally different than home, but it looks very similar. Also, I feel like I have become accustomed to the cultural norms (well, most of them) which differ between Germany and the U.S. In consequence, it is easy to forget that this place is miles from the alternate universe from which I came. I have only had the small window that is my iPad to take glimpses of life back home. 

Over the past nine weeks, if I have learned anything it is how small I am. How small my world is compared to the bigger one in which we live. There are billions of people in the world that I will never meet, billions of situations in each of the lives of those people that I will never hear about, and I am only one of those billions of people who billions of other people will never meet. Now, you might say"Sam, that sounds a little existential" to which I might respond "maybe so." However, being small and insignificant in the context of the entire world is almost empowering. It empowers one to be able to live passionately and worry little about the consequences. All of this may sound a little reckless... But I am thinking about it more in the context of living for Jesus. There are times when I have too little faith to allow the Holy Spirit to move as freely as he would like because I think the world might fall apart or atleast be a little too uncomfortable for my taste. When one has a sense of relativity- or how small we are (and in consequence, how small potential discomfort may be) compared to the size of the world- we are empowered to live more freely, with a smaller amount of concern for temporary discomfort.  If we are so small and insignificant, the only thing that makes life worth living would be living for something greater than oneself. 

Discomfort may come from rejection. It might come from going out of your way to love someone. It might come from humbling yourself enough to not only ancknowledge and admit your faults, but to change them. Lets face it - being a Christian in this world is full of uncomfortable situations. But what does that discomfort matter, really? It is selfish to live life comfortably when there is a world at hand that is in desperate need of the Gospel. 

Scary as it seems, pray with me in asking for uncomfortable situations and the faith needed to gracefully handle potential opposition in those situations. 

"There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love" 1 John 4:18

Making up for lost time: a photo montage

Last week-end, we traveled by ferry to several different towns near Potsdam. If I have learned one thing while being here, it is that Germany sure does have a lot of Palaces. Those Prussian princes were not too shy with the pocket book.

 My picture taking drive was a little low that day. We did not end up eating lunch until 4:00 after walking around in the hot sun all day, so my mind was elsewhere.
Yet another Schloss (German word for Palace).

 I thought this small church we went into was decorated very beautifully and simply. Much different than most of the churches you see in Europe. Small and modest.

 View of part of the Wannsee, along which Potsdam and its surroudings towns lye.

 Sometimes I get tired of asking people to take pictures of me. So I apologize for the selfies:

 There was a table with bags of homegrown apples for sale. So tart and yummy!

Last week, we decided to wait in line at this Döner place that is suppossed to be one of the best in Berlin. We waited in line for over an hour. Bahhh, I don't even think that it was worth it. 

On Friday, we visited an old Stasi prison. Our tour was in German, and I think our guide was not used to giving tours in German to people who barely understand the language. I think he kept cracking jokes at us the whole time. At one point, he told us not to lean up against the walls inside the buildings because the paint is chipping and we would get old paint all over our clothes. Then he stared at us for a minute, not sure if we understood what he said, and said 'I guess we will find out who did not understand me by seeing who leans against the walls'

We got back last night from spending the week-end in Dresden. Dresden is very interesting because the city center was completely fire-bombed (courtesy of the U.S. miltary) in 1945. It is part of the former Eastern Block, so the town is a mixture of classic Stalinist style architecture (a.k.a boxy and concrete) and older German architecture that was left standing after the fire bomb.

I really liked this fountain, which lies in a stalinst-style shopping square.

 We later saw it with the water turned off and it looked like an underwater mine.

Classic stalinist style art. It glorifies the everyday laborer.

 Inside an old Catholic church in Dresden. I was excited by this because I could actually understand what was written on the confessionals. Usually you will find them with Latin writing. This one says 'Leave the world and give yourself to me'

 It was hot. And Germany has no air conditioning.

 We went to dinner and after we ate, instead of giving us breathmints, the waitor handed us each samples of perfume...?

 The Frauenkirche was destroyed during the 1945 fire bombing, but the back stones are ones that were recovered and used to rebuild the church.

 An entire section of the Kuppel was recovered from the old building.

 As we were waiting for a ferry to take us across the river to see another Schloss, we had fun taking pictures of the ducks.

 Hello Mr. Duck.

 And, after a long day of walking around in the heat without the relief of air conditioning in any of the buildings, I did not even feel guilty about spending €4,30 on this bar of chocolate.

And there you have it. Little words and lots of pictures.