 | |
| Sweet university friends who helped us celebrate Thanksgiving and who make our lives in Wien so rich! |
Well, friends, I am the only one up in this flat (except the cat), so I thought I'd fill you in on life in Wien. We have had two wonderful days of Thanksgiving celebrations. The first was Thursday, when we celebrated with two families here, gathering together for lots of food and laughter. The second was last night, when a group of university students came to eat and play games. We had a wonderful time, and our celebration lasted until midnight--which is why everyone else is still asleep. We laughed a lot, and (as always) we are grateful for this great group of "kids" that makes our lives so much better just by being a part of our lives. So today, we are taking it pretty easy--decorating our Christmas tree, eating leftover turkey, and watching football (Go Gators!). Sounds like a perfect way to unwind.
I've been doing the thankful thing on Facebook, listing something every day of November for which I am grateful. I have done that for a few years, now, and what I like about it is the chance to concentrate on being grateful. Because--well....you know...sometimes, I'm not so focused on that. Sometimes (don't tell!), I focus on the rotten, the mundane, the awful...and I forget to look at the many things for which I'm ridiculously thankful. So fun and also very good for me to do that, to make that habit and carry it into the rest of the year. Here are some things this Thanksgiving season for which I am truly, truly grateful:
Good artificial sweetener: I did not promise this would be deep and spiritual. :) I am really grateful for the little tablets I use in my coffee and tea. I am struggling with my weight (when am I NOT struggling with my weight?), and good artificial sweetener makes that fight a little easier. I also love my Wii Fit for the same reason. Plus, the yoga lady on my Wii Fit always tells me I have good posture, and that makes me feel really good about myself.
Austrian food: Really, there is nothing we can't get or make here. The quality of food is excellent, and while there are not really a lot of convenience foods (hence my war against the Japanese pumpkin I had to process in order to make dessert last night), everything we buy here is really, really good.
Surprise boxes from home: On Thanksgiving Day, literally minutes before we left for our friends' house, the Postman showed up with a box from my parents! In it were Thanksgiving plates and candy corn, a composition notebook for me, a penguin mug for Han, Peeps for the kids, and mint Three Musketeers for Marc. Want to see a bunch of Americans enjoy something? Pull out the candy corn. Seriously. I also used it to decorate last night. And it was fun to watch one of our Austrian friends try it for the first time. She liked it, just in case you were wondering. Candy corn--the universal language of love. But seriously--it's so nice to be remembered and planned for and thought about and known. Who doesn't want to be really known? Those things made our celebration better. We didn't have to have them. We didn't NEED them. But they brought a smile to our faces as we opened the box and found all those reminders that we are known, we are loved, we are missed. That's something to be grateful for, yes? Yes.
Good over-the-counter medicine: We brought OTC meds from the States, but we are definitely out of just about everything. (You can't ship medicine into Austria.) We have a really wonderful pharmacy, with truly kind people who are ridiculously helpful. (We keep thinking the folks in our neighborhood somehow missed the memo about being really rude and unwelcoming to foreigners.) This week's treasures: really good salve (like Neosporin but stronger) and cough medicine. (On a side note, we also learned the word for mucus/phlegm/snot--Schlaim. Yep. Like slime but with a 'sh' sound. So pleasing.) Maybe that seems like a silly thing to be thankful for, but there's something really comforting about being able to walk into a pharmacy and describe what's wrong and ask for help. Good stuff. Plus, they are really, really kind to us, and they wait until we leave to laugh at whatever weird gesture we've made to describe our ailments.
Our neighborhood/apartment/city: I've talked about it before, but we love it. We really do. Our apartment was all dressed up last night, and standing on the landing and looking down, with all the candles lit and everything so pretty, my heart was really full. I'm so grateful to live in a place we love. Our neighborhood is full of really kind, welcoming people. Honestly. We could not be happier with where we live. And Wien is a city full of history and culture and beauty. I am always amazed at its nooks and crannies, places to explore, great museums, and incredible public transportation. It doesn't mean we don't have days in which the culture gets to us--we're Americans, after all, and this sure isn't America--but those days are really tempered by our great love for where we are.
Learning German: Okay, this one may sound weird to you. But more and more, my brain turns automatically to German instead of Russian. The other day in the grocery store, I was chatting with the cashier, and I made a comment that was intended to be funny. And she laughed. And so did everyone else in line. And not in that poor-foreigner-who-speaks-like-a-toddler-so-let's-giggle-uncomfortably-as-she-makes-mistakes kind of way. Nope. It was a genuine chuckle. And then I realized that I hadn't really thought about what I was saying. I'd just said it. That was a huge triumph for me, because my main problem (in life!!) is that I think too much. Now--I'm not fluent, and it's going to be a while before I speak German comfortably all the time. But I can see that happening. Some day, I'm going to understand every sermon. I'm going to speak without saying, 'um.' I am going to. And oh!! what a day that will be.
Being home and not homesick: Of course, we miss Sarah Beth. Of course, we miss our parents and friends in the States. Of course. But I have to tell you--I don't long for the States. We are enjoying this season of Sarah Beth's life, even though we are enjoying it from across the ocean. Her happiness, her future, her success in the life she has chosen...it's hard to be sad when she is so happy. Our parents are well, so we don't have that sense of being torn between two places. And best of all, when I think 'home,' the image that flashes in my mind is our little flat in Wien, our neighborhood between the two branches of the Danube river, our church here. This is home. That is an amazing work of our great, incredible God. Because what is in His hand for me, for us--that is where home lies. It's not geographic. It might sometimes look geographic. But it's not. It's a matter of trusting Him and knowing that--even when we don't feel it to be true--He knows us and wants our very best. And His very best is home.
I'm so grateful for so many things--this is only the tip of the proverbial iceberg. But above all, I'm thankful that Jesus loves me, that He knows me, that He is faithful and trustworthy, and that He chooses to have a relationship with me. Because out of that flows everything else, and the everything else part of my life is what brings deep happiness and contentment. And that is definitely something for which we can all be thankful. Wherever you are in the world, I pray that your day is looking pretty lazy and rejuvenating, and that you are going to watch the Gators beat those silly Noles tonight, too. Blessings to you and yours!
His,
Kellye
No comments:
Post a Comment