Dresden

June 2nd-5th we were in Dresden for Protestant Church Days. It was a first for me and a regular event for Ben and his parents. My father-in-law said this was his 11th Church Days. They are only held every other year so the hype and excitement was really in the air. I had heard so much about this event, but never participated. It was really well organized as over 100,000 people invaded Dresden for the weekend. Every day there were speakers on all topics, music concerts indoors and out, discussion forums, and activities for all ages. There were a few lectures in English they I attended, but mostly I enjoyed the music. Every street corner had a band or choir group playing and with our main ticket we could go anywhere and do everything. No restrictions!

Dresden is in the far east central part of Germany and was a new area for me. It is south of Berlin and only 60 km from the Czech Republic. The city sits on the beautiful Elbe River and is really a neat city with lots of historical buildings. I found it to be a bit of a hidden gem. We crossed an old checkpoint on the interstate that separated east from west during our 4.5 hour drive across the country. It is still different in eastern Germany in my opinion. They are still rebuilding after 66 years. In fact they just finished rebuilding the Frauenkirche in downtown Dresden. The dark stones are from the original church that burned down after the entire downtown started on fire from all the bombing. Usually churches were never bombed during war, but the heat was so extreme that the church crumbled.

A very unique cultural experience for me and a big decision to make about attending 2013 Church Days in Hamburg.

Week 1

I survived week 1 of work, but can honestly say it almost killed me. I've never been so exhausted in my life. Finally by Friday evening I just crawled into bed at 6:15 pm and slept for 13 hours. I knew that working in another language was going to be tiring, but there is just no way to prepare for the hours of German reading and concentration that are involved with learning a new job in another culture. Thankfully we have a three day weekend for me to recover before tackling a shorter four day work week. The real question is how long will this exhaustion go on before I can start actually accomplishing things in the evening after work. My average bedtime this week was 7:30 pm and that was thrown by me staying up late until 9 pm on Ben's birthday Thursday evening. It took everything I had, but I did it for him.

We had to cancel our planned North Sea camping trip this weekend as I was just too exhausted to camp anywhere. Saturday morning over breakfast we spontaneously decided to attend Ben's brother's birthday party 4 hours south of us. We showered, packed, and were on the road one hour later. Even after 13 hours of sleep I managed to sleep the majority of the 4 hour car ride. I can't explain my comatose state other than to say I was finished after one week of work. I've concluded my body is physically rejecting work, however I'm determined to press on and prove that after two years I can still work. I'm praying that the most difficult times are behind me, but I have the feeling it is going to be months before I fully understand what is going on at work. Until then I will continue to nod and smile as it seems to still be working effectively.