Merry Christmas from Germany - Toby

Hi everyone, I hope that you are all doing well. I apologize for not writing sooner but for a couple of months I didn’t have internet access and then I’ve been so busy I don’t know where the time goes. I made it to Vechta just fine. I’m working with teenagers in a group home situation. There are 6 homes located on the campus. I’m assigned to the teenagers in house 1. I have a small studio apartment on the 3rd floor with a little kitchen in it.
To get into town I have to walk or borrow a bicycle. My time off is usually on the weekends and the stores are closed on Sundays (it‘s a law in Germany that the stores have to be closed on Sundays.) It’s very different shopping over here as there’s no “Fred Meyer” where you can get about anything you need. I occasionally need to take some of the children I work with different places so I’m able to use the group home’s car and it’s been nice to get out and see more.
I’m trying to get involved in other things while I’m over here so I’ve sung with a choir, taken a language class at the nearby university (which is equivalent to UCC) and I’ve just joined a football team (American style football, not soccer.) I’ve been able to take a couple of weekend trips to visit my GAPP exchange partner in Luneburg and go to our exchange student, Berry’s (he lived with us 2 years ago) farm and meet his whole family.
I wanted to show my home what a Thanksgiving feast was like so I decided to make them dinner. It was quite a challenge because nothing was the same as it is in America. Just a few minor details made it difficult like – how big is the turkey so I know how long to bake it, how to make green bean casserole when they don‘t have Campbell’s soup, no one eats stuffing here so I had to make it all from scratch. It didn’t turn out like ours back home but they didn’t know any different so I just smiled and pretended everything was perfect.
Here is a small overview of the teenagers that I am working with and the life that I am navigating through over here in Germany. Ann-Katrin
AK just turned 18 this last weekend with a party to match those of the 21 birthdays back home in the US. She is very independent and act as a mother hen / older sister to the other kids, which means that she can be very protective of them but also one of the first to go after them for something. She does well in school and can speak really good English; when she has the courage to do so. Ann-Katrin also is taking piano lessons and will be having her first recital this weekend which she is very nervous about.Oliver
Olli is a very easy going 15 year old who loves rap music. He asks a lot of questions about how things are different from the US and Germany. Included in these questions are mixes of thing that he has seen on the Simpsons and is wondering if they really happen in America.
One of the funniest stories from Olli, is when we had Leber Kaes (liver loaf). We were all sitting around the table with Olli right next to me. We had almost finished with lunch when I asked Olli if he could pass me the liver stuff because I could not remember the word in German. Olli turned his head towards me with this most disgusted look on it as if he was going to be sick and asks me, “That was liver“. I have to say at this point that Olli had just eaten two large pieces of the Leber Kaes and had just commented on how much he liked it. The thing is he always new the name of it he just did not associate it with it actually being liver. I then looked at my colleague at the other side of the table who was really trying not to laugh and I told Olli that I think that they made these out of some other type of meat.Fernando
Fernando is one of the hardest people to write about. He is very tough on the outside but underneath what he must portray for others he is very much a 14 year old boy inside. When I first started working in House 1 Fernando and I had a big power struggle over who really had authority over him. As these months have gone by we have grown to be able to really talk with each other and get to know each other a little better. Because he is always wanting the attention on him he is easily influenced by others and must out do everyone to show he is on top. This has resulted in many wrong doing in which television, lamps around the complex, among other thing have been broken or somehow destroyed. Dennis
Dennis is 14 years old and Hyper active. He has more of an appearance and mental development of our 11 year old Kai. Dennis has been one of my biggest learning experiences so far with having patience. I have to go into the city some times during the week with Dennis to get his hair cut, go to the doctor, or some other reason. I have found out that the only way to go through the city with him is to plan a direction through the city that will have the least amount of people for him to go up and talk to and to make sure he has something in his hand to keep him distracted. I also spend a lot of time with Dennis in helping him with homework. Homework most day takes an average of one to three hours depending on how much he receives and how long his attention span lasts.Rene
Rene is a 13 year that has lived through many problems. Over the first 3 months that I was here is Germany I was not able get to know him that well because he was in the house for only two weeks before he had to go to a clinic where he would call us normally only once a week. For the last month Rene has joined the house again starting out well but what he improved over those three months has now deteriorated to leave him back in the same place he was before he left. Rene does well in school but struggles greatly with homework when he gets nervous or agitated. One of the great things about Rene is that he is a great hand ball player.Kai
Kai is a very friendly 11 year old. Out of all the kids that I work with I have been able to interact with Kai the most do to the many things we have in common. One of the best ways we keep each other entertained when we have to walk in the city somewhere is to start questioning each other about the Harry Potter books (I think he is the only person that I know that has read them more than me). Kai also does very well in school with his major strength being in math.Steffen
Steffen is 16 years old. He was very friendly to me and would do almost all that I asked of him with out any complaint or arguing. I am sad to say that he is not living in house 1 any more and had to move back home at the beginning of fall break because of some legal indiscretions. What I do on a regular day
I start work at 12:00, that is when I have the most time talk with my other colleagues about what is going on that day and how the children are doing. At around 12:30 I pick up the laundry from the Laundry Room, which is located in the basement of another building. I have normally just enough time to sort all the laundry into each kids cubby before I need to go back and pick up lunch from the kitchen; it is located above the Laundry room. After that I wait for the kids to come home some times folding different articles that we wash here in the house, setting the table, and what ever other small jobs that I find to do. The kids will normally arrive in around two separate times, the first group including AK (Ann-Katrin); Rene; Dennis; and Kai, and would arrive around 12:30 - 1:30 depending on what they have that day in school. I should say this now, for the first three months that I was here Rene was in a clinic for medical reasons. Also Steffen had to leave the house because of reasons of a problem after fall break. For the time that Steffen was here he pretty much took the place of Rene. So he would also be here around the same time as the others in the first group. Anyway, the second group of kids would arrive around 2:15 and included Oliver and Fernando. When the kids arrive we first sit down and eat lunch then when they are done they go to their room until 3:00 during that time I will make sure that the younger ones brush their teeth, wash up in between the two groups of kids, and help with home work. After 3:00 the kids usually if they have their homework done go out and do what they want. From 3:00 until 6:30 I will help with homework, play some sport or other activity with the kids, run errands like doctor appointments and food shopping. At 6:30 we eat dinner which consists of bread with different toppings like butter and salami or butter and cheese. After that there is not much to do in the house so I will either be done for the day and can go home or I will stay and just hang out with the kids and watch their favorite TV show like The Nanny. Some Weekend ExperiencesKammer mart
This was a festival that takes place in early fall in Oldenburg (the larger city about 40 minutes to the north of Vechta. The festival takes place for two weeks with different events going on during the days and a carnival ride fair and disco at night. On the second weekend they have a parade that travels through the streets of Oldenburg with different organizations dressed up in different outfits and throwing candy and small what not’s. One of the organizations that participates is the volunteer program that is working along with the ELCA to support me during this year. The program then asked all the volunteers throughout the area if they would like to join in the parade, so the group of us down in Vechta decided to say yes and join them. This year they had all the volunteers dress up in blue with blue provided tee shirts. They then put blue face paint on all our faces and gave us blue wigs and boas. It turned out to be a lot of fun and we got some great pictures to go along with our lovely new wigs and boas.Movie Park
I was also able to take a bunch of kids from the different houses with another volunteer to a theme park called movie park. The day turned out to be very fun and exciting, making me understand my dad saying that it is more fun just going with a bunch of kids than it is riding the rides yourself. Even though we did have a small problem finding all the kids at the end of the day it turned out to be a great day and a great chance to meet some of the kids from the other houses on the complex.
I would like to thank you all for all your support and prayers. This has really been a test of patience and I call upon the Lord daily to help me give the acceptance, love and compassion these kids need. My parents just arrived for Christmas – most all of the children will be going home to their families so I get 2 weeks off and we’re going to drive all around Germany and The Netherlands. I wish you all a Frohe Weihnachten .
Yours in Christ,
Toby