A Work In Progress: Hitting the Ground Running!

So, I’m not quite a full week in, but it’s Sunday and as such has been a day of rest, which has allowed me to process a bit of this past week, and seems like a natural place to ‘pop an update up’ on here...

I think I’m doing ridiculously well here! The first few days felt incredibly full-on and although today has been a nice, chilled day, I've suddenly realised that I have also had a lot of people (lovely people, but people!) this week so I'm ‘hibernating’ for a bit this afternoon while the Neumann's take their daughter Ava swimming...

How am I feeling? Surreal, kind of overwhelmed but not really, floored and a little daunted by the energy and generosity of the guys here in welcoming me, and with a few early ‘feelers’ of the also slightly daunting, “but why am I here?? Why and how will I 'fit'? What is my 'role' to be in a community that I honestly don't see how they need me?” (and this isn't even the whole "oh woe is me, I'm not worth anything", but simply more of a "yay, so...I'm here...what is my role/presence to be like in this community??”)

But I'm also fully aware that it's still way to early to even begin thinking or worrying about any of that aspect, so I'm currently just trying to focus on getting the flat set up, and hoping that that is/will be a kind of prophetic gesture in providing me a rooting/grounding/home base to begin building from...

For a "brief play-by-play" of events so far:

- Arrived Tuesday night, got collected, fed and handed €500 (!?) that the community here had saved for me to go towards setting up my flat...

- Wednesday went and signed off my rental agreement and was given a voucher from the landlords for €250 to go towards painting/wallpaper, etc, for the flat. Got driven around by Jakob (an intern with Polylux who has been ‘assigned’ as my helper for the first week or two and is a man of incredible energy and enthusiasm!) to check out paint prices, by groceries, get a SIM card, etc, before going to the beach for the evening for Tobias’s birthday...

- Thursday, my boxes arrived, I registered with the Town Hall, received the gift of another €100 towards setup costs and a yellow couch, armchair, 4 kitchen chairs, a coffee table and the promise of a fridge, and then ran a few more errands before having supper with most of the community...

- Friday, rented a paper stripper and spent the day stripping wallpaper with Jakob and two other friends who are visiting...

- Saturday, had 4 people show up to help prep the walls, post-stripping, for wallpaper and painting, and then went and bought a whole bunch of liner paper and wall paint, before having a nap and then going for a picnic supper by a local lake with everyone...

This morning was a slow morning, then a trip into town to check out the "Vier-Tore-Fest"(Four Gate's Fest, as Neubrandenburg is known as the City of Four Gates), and then naptime and crash time! :)

It's been very hot here(27-29degrees, yes I know that's not hot compared to some places, but...), so today has also been a bit of a siesta day!

So, on one hand things are happening very quickly (which is good), but then also feels a bit overwhelming, and knowing that even though a lot has been done with the flat already, the "nasty bit" is still to come (wallpapering...). It’s also been crazy to receive so much money towards fitting the flat out, and trying to reconcile that this is what they've given it to me for, while also trying to remain frugal and smart, and already feeling as if it's a massive luxury even have an apartment to begin with, let alone the possibility of it being NICE?!?!? Still processing that one...

So that's kind of where I'm at, at the moment! I’ve also been told that, starting September 7th, Caribuni (the family center Polylux head up) will be running a German language class for refugee/migrant families who need to attain a language certification to receive a longer term visa, and that I am welcome to join in! So from then, on Wednesday, Thursday and Fridays I will be attending 2 hours of German lessons to help me learn the language!

So all in all, I have been incredibly blessed and blown-away by the goodness of God in and through all these people and circumstances, and although there continues to be the continuing challenges of raising monthly rent, etc, I feel that all the ‘bounty’ I have received so far is also a promise from Him that, however it ‘comes in’, He ‘has my back’ and I am where I need to be!

This week will be about wallpaper and paint and trying to find, buy and install a kitchen, and then we’ll be nearly done ‘Stage One - Arrival’! :)

PS - it was exactly a year ago that I arrived here to visit this place and to meet these people for the first time...little did I know! :)