serena, taryne, KYLE, me, jess

we randomly ran into KYLE GOODMAN at the Frankfurt airport in Germany. Kyle is a close friend from HIU in CA, but he left me my second semester of my sophomore year to train in youth ministy in Deutschland. 

Deutschland pics

bus stop. festive, huh?

the Willhelm castle tour

some of the crew at the castle

view from Willhelm castle near Haiger

mai man celebration in Dillbrecht

serena and I in Hebborn

my home-stay mom and dad, sylvia and volkmar

volkmar called himself "big daddy". he spoke very little english - just random words here and there, usually cognant
sylvia was the hippest mom in Dillbrecht

my home-stay siblings in Dillbrecht

our "fussball" is their "kicker"

beautiful playing surface in haiger

team picture with Wiedelbach FC

a german guy from my haiger "fan club"

... so after our first friendly match against Weidelbach FC this 17 yr old asked Valerie - one of my teammates - what my name was and if he could get a picture with me. i noticed it was an interesting conversation because he couldn't speak english very well, and neither could his group of friends. he introduced himself to me, but i forget his name - i think it started with a "Y". I became incredibly embarrassed - to the point of tears. I didn't let him see me cry though, it might have confused him ( i wouldn't have been able to explain, that is, unless i snagged a translator).

playing with the kids at Haiger school

this is the field where i shared my testimony with about 40 kids - two classes

watching the first world cup game with the village of dillbrecht

the village was small, believe or not - this is probably the entire village

celebrating the 4-2 germany victory over costa rica

back seat of the motorcade

taryne (CA), abby (MN), me