January Pics 2012

You: "What a nifty-looking old leather book, Peter!  What is it?"

Me: "Actually, it's no book at all.  It's a..."

"... stylish, protective case for my MacBook Air called BookBook that I bought for myself with X-mas money!"

 My first time hiking through the woods that are west of the seminary...

There's Jeremy (left) and Thomas (right, pronounced Toe-mahss)

These are trees.

And this is moss on logs.

More trees with the sun shining gloriously from behind.

The hiking group.  From right to left, that's Thomas and his wife Liesl (a very fun couple from South Africa), Liesl's friend Petra visiting from South Africa, Jeremy (Canadian), and I (USA). 

The trail kept going gradually higher and higher until we reached the lookout point... 

... with quite an amazing view.  It was much nicer than I expected it to be. 

 On the way back we came upon these logs.  These are my attempts at artistic photos of them...

Ask and you shall receive.  I asked the Fort Wayne Seminary if I could have free access to the LiveStream of the Symposia, and they gave it to me!  So during the week, there were a handful of us students who watched several of the lectures that were going on across the ocean in FW.  It was quite enjoyable.

Would you look at this?!  Dr. Scaer, right here in Oberursel on our common room wall!  Just look at it!

Enjoying Scaer's lecture on an early dating of the Gospels, from left to right, Roland (S. Afr.), Heinz (S. Afr.), Mathias (S. Afr. - he spent a year in FW), Jeremy (Canada), and Alex (orig. Ukraine, he spent a couple years in FW)

 This was only the second time it has snowed here so far.  And both times, the snow was mostly melted after a couple days.  But it was pretty while it lasted.

Don't worry, I've gotten my hair cut since this photo.

 Mathias, Jeremy, and I decided we wanted to have a(n) (North)American-style cheeseburger cookout.  

Are your mouths watering yet? 

 My niece Sarah and nephew David both just had their birthdays (4th and 2nd, respectively).  I skyped with them the day after their joint B-day party, and they were in an especially cheerly mood.  These are screen shots from my Skype session w/them.

Aren't they adorable?  I love these rug-rats.

I asked them if they could imitate my screeching, pterodactyl-type noise that I like to make, and they both started screaming really high and loud.  It was so funny.  They wouldn't stop.

Still screaming...

Soccer.  Unfortunately the lights at the public field that we play on are out, and the city is really dragging its on getting them fixed.  But we still find time to play during the daylight hours once a week or so.

I got some more battle wounds that day.  It was totally worth it, though.  As goalie, I sacrificed my body to save the ball from going in.

 I really loathe washing dishes by hand...

... but I love the feeling you get when they're all done.

These pics are from back in October.  I just got them from Claudia (Germany theology student, pronounced Clow(as in "now")-dee-uh), who had watched us play one day and took a bunch of pictures on her phone.  

From some of my other pictures, you might not think there are any Germans around here that I spend time with.  But there are.  The three guys on the left (Simon, Frederick, and Niklas) are all German.  That's Thomas and Liesl (S. Afr.) in back and me on the right. 

More Germans: brothers Michael and Sebastian (left and middle) 

The two girls on the right are also Germans.

Far right is Gennadij.  I don't think I've introduced him yet.  He's from Kazakhstan.

Well I hope you enjoyed this slide show.  My next post will be more words and fewer (not less) pictures.