Weekly Summation

Holy Wowzers! It's been a week since I posted last. What in the world have I been up to? Hmm...


I pooped a whole lot. Actually everyone did. They all blame me though for bringing the hostile stomach bug into the house...which I probably did but that's beside the point =P The only thing that matters is that everyone is finally fine and dandy. No more shoving each other out of the way in sprint to the toilet.


Beth, Becky and I went out and picked apples off the tree one afternoon. Of course all of the ripest and most delicious looking ones were at the tip top, so I got to shimmy up up up to do some pickin'. It was super fun. I really enjoy climbing trees...and it was just an added bonus that I got some tasty apples out of it.


Thursday, Friday and Saturday were Bajram (the ending of the Ramadan season and a big time for festivities among Muslim culture). It was my first time experiencing this time of year at a place where it was the primary focus of interest, so it was exciting! Three days of continual firecracker blasts, perpetual cake eating, and frequent people visiting. It was awesome! I think my favorite part about the whole time though was when Edin received his present. The Summays somehow had a connection to where they were next in line to receive this bird that had been past around from missionary to missionary...not even really sure what the logistics were... they're irrelevant. Anyways, it had been decided that ten-year-old Edin was to have the bird. And when he got it I don't know if he could have been happier. He came all around the room thanking and giving out kisses, then spent a solid twenty minutes just staring at Miki Zusto (i think that's the name he settled on, but i could be way off. this is at least part of what I caught from the Bosnian that was being said) =D


Speaking of which, I haven't had language class since my last post due to the fact that my teacher's been out of town. But good thing he loaded me down with a considerable amount of material to learn in his absence. I'm really taking pleasure in trying to learn the language though. I think slowly but surely it's going to pay off.




Introduced the Summays to Into the Wild the other day. Don't really know how they responded to it, but I love that movie. And every time I watch it I pick up on something new...whether it be a thought-provoking quote that I didn't quite catch the last time I watched it, or have I some weird, resounding epiphany on the meaning of what living a healthy, organically spiritual life looks like.


As for right now, I'm sitting in Vienna in awe of the city that I have the privilege of visiting for the next several days. Today I visited some amazing cathedrals (just in time to observe some Austrian mass), visited Beth at the hospital (she checked in early this morning for her next round of treatment...prayers prayers prayers!), walked around trying to get a feel for, and noticing differences of yet another new culture (all the while joking around with Becky in our spot on german accents...ha!), ate a bratwurst where the bread was cored out, filled with mustard, then packed with a big ol' juicy brat, explored the public transportation system, started reading Watership Down again for about the third or fourth time, ate a yummy kabob, pinched Jeff's butt cos Becky dared me to, saw cool, old city ruins, sampled some Austrian beer, and...reworked my essays that I wrote for the music history field trip that I'm participating in next week. All in all it was a memorable day. First time in Vienna! Can't wait for tomorrow!


Grace and Peace,


Kaleb