The Joeletter
I realize that it's been quite a while since I last wrote a Joeletter. This is partly due to my schedule over the past month, and partly due to my own laziness. To be honest, I haven't felt like writing since after Taize. In addition, I felt like I needed to "be" there in Prague while finishing up our time there. Then, this past week we've been at our Indiana base site, debriefing. I wanted to spend my time there, being there. So I didn't take any time to write. I'm sorry for any inconvenience.
Now, here I am. I am home, after nine/ten months of Deeper. As the next couple months progress I plan to write more about what all has happened this past month since my last Joeletter. But I will share some of the things that I did in this letter.
The first place that we went to following the last Joeletter was Taize, in France. It's been a while since I wrote about Taize, so let me refresh your memory. Taize is an ecumenical prayer community located in the charming countryside region of Burgundy.
We drove from Prague to Taize, one long drive beginning at 3:oo a.m. We drove to Germany and got onto the Autobahn. Let me tell you about the Autobahn. It's insane. But, like all things German, it's not just any crazy mess of insanity. It is most definitely a well ordered insanity.
You may have heard of the German autobahn, and how there are no speed limits. And you may, like me, have pictured this nice, four lane, divided, interstate-like roadway. Nope. In most places the German autobahn looks like a divided highway. Both sides of the highway have two lanes, but most of it still looks like a highway.
We got onto the autobahn, and we are doing about 75 mph. I must specify mph, because over there everything is in kilometers, including the speedometers. So we were doing 120 kph. Most of the other vehicles were going just a little bit faster than us, I'd guess doing 135 to 145 kph. But every so often, some car would come screaming past us. Every time it happened I would almost get goosebumps. They had to be going at least twice as fast as us - and it was legal!
While on the way to Taize, we passed a large number of cars parked on both sides of the Autobahn, on dirt Frontage roads. After maybe a minute of passing all these vehicles parked on both sides of the autobahn, we started wondering what the crowd was gathering for, especially in the drizzle that was coming down. Then we saw the outside of the track, and realized that these people were attending Europe's answer to Brickyard racing - Formula 1.
The rest of the day went well, except for the rain that continued coming down. By the time we arrived in France and were close to Taize, a large number of the fields were flooded. Several roads were impassible, and a bridge was out. This forced us to follow a detour and make a couple of educated guesses as to how to get to Taize. At one point the question was asked, "With all this raining/flooding, what if they close Taize for the week?!"
Fortunately, Taize was open, and we did make it. Ben and I attended the "Welcome" for people under thirty, and Jeff attended the Welcome for all those over thirty. It was at this welcome that we received sleeping assignments and work assignments. At it was at this Welcome that I received the best job on the Taize campus. This job, difficult as it may sound, was preparing lunch for from 300 to 2000 people.
But it was the best! We had a wonderful team leader, a Swedish girl named Erika. She, along with several other guys and gals, was a "permanent." This meant that they were there at Taize for an extended period of time, rather than the week that most people came for.
I say that my job was the best because of what all we didn't have to do. We didn't have to wash dishes. We didn't have to work every minute that we were there. In fact, we would arrive, prepare all the serving boxes, and then have 30 -45 minutes for tea and cookies. I enjoyed spending time with my fellow workers. Christian, Philip, Michael, Annika, and Danielle were their names, all from Germany. Fortunately for me, everyone in the group spoke English, at least to some extent. I must confess, spending that week at Taize made me feel quite dumb. Everyone spoke at least two languages, several three or four. Me, I limped through high school with Spanish, which I'm definitely not fluent in. And spending three months in Prague didn't help my Spanish retention at all! I would try to speak one or the other, in my limited way, and always come up with the word in the other language. Very frustrating.
But enough people spoke English, and could translate for me, that it worked out okay. Here is a like for the pictures that I personally took or had taken while at Taize. Ben and Jeff took many, many more, but I didn't have access to them to put them on the website.
http://photobucket.com/albums/y84/DeepSky8/Taize/?start=20
I'm feeling a bit tired now, so I think I will go to bed. Tomorrow I have to get up at 6:00 to go with my sisters to a Bible Bowl tournament, the Indy Round Robin. I'm looking forward to seeing all my Bible Bowl friends again, and seeing my sisters play. So, good night.
Oh, yes...
Next Monday, the 23rd, my family will be taking a vacation. So, I won't be writing for a couple of weeks, unless I get Internet access. And I don't expect that.
But you ask what we will be doing. We will fly from Indianapolis to Boston, drive up to Maine for a day, and then work our way down the coast to Washington D.C., and see our capitol. Then, we will fly back from D.C. to Indy, getting home on June 4. I must say, after Deeper I'm really looking forward to getting back into a plane and a van, even if only for the two weeks that we will be gone! But it will be really nice to be with my family, and to see all the sights.
Thank you all for your interest in my year at Deeper. I have enjoyed hearing back from you, and I'm glad you have (seemingly, at least) enjoyed reading about what all has happened. Like I said at the beginning of 10.1, I am planning to continue writing The Joeletter, and continue to write about what all happened in this past month. At the same time, I realize that now that Deeper is done you may wish to be removed from the Joeletter mailing list. Unlike the list reformatting this past Christmas, I am not going to actively drop anyone from the list. If you would like to be removed simply send me an e-mail from the address you wish removed, and I'll do it. Thanks.
In His Time,
