Bedroom doors, Hedgehogs, and pretend boats

Well, I always have good intentions of getting on here and blogging more than a once a week update, but so far, not so good. Our internet is still shaky, but we're still working on figuring it out.

Right now, Amber and I are sitting in our living room with the door and window open and LOVING the sunshine and cool breeze (I will add that we are also playing hostess to a number of flies...or fleas, as our language teacher calls them--as we have no screens on our windows). It's sunny and actually warm outside today! One of the things that I don't think I realized would be weird about being here is how much I would miss the end of the school year. It's weird not having an official "finishing point" to be working toward and thinking "just x number of days and I'll have a break for the summer!". While it is true that we'll only be meeting with our group of girls for about four more weeks before the University is out for the summer, we won't really be on vacation...we'll still have plenty to do. So, this is how the rest of the world (non-teachers) lives....

Anyhoo...things here this past week have been...well, a week. The Lord has been so gracious and has continually reminded me that my joy and hope are in Him, and He never changes or leaves, no matter the circumstances and how unenjoyable or undesirable they may be at times. That's just a part of life. He never promised that my circumstances would be perfect, easy, or enjoyable, but He did promise that His presence and strength. He also has been reminding me that the whole purpose of these hard circumstances in life is to grow to know Him more and be changed into the woman He wants me to be. In a nutshell, things here are still no longer "quaint" and "interesting", but God is faithful and there is joy in the Lord!

So, as usual, here's the rundown:

~we went to a HUGE party with some of the girls we've been meeting with at the University called Kortowiada; y'all, this was WAY beyond anything I've ever seen. I don't even know where to start. There were around 10,000 students, fireworks, large amounts of beer and other substances, concerts...they hold all of these events on the campus and cancel classes for three days! Wild!

~on the way to Kortowiada, we saw a hedgehog running around! He was really cute!

~I finally have a bedroom door! Well, some people call it a curtain on a shower rod, but after three months with nothing, I call it a door!

~we met another American! We were on the bus the other day and being tossed around (I like to pretend I'm on a boat...it makes it way more fun) and I crossed over to the other side to grab ahold of a handle, when I heard someone asking me in English where I'm from! Turns out, he's an exchange student from Fostoria, Ohio! Whatever! There are a few other American students here, too, so we'll hopefully get to meet them and maybe they can introduce us to some of their Polish friends, too!

~we met again with three girls on Thursday and found out that two of them may be around for the summer, so hopefully we can continue to meet with them (the picture above is of three of the six girls we've been meeting with)

~we had houseguests for three nights; a couple with the IMB came here to train us in how to recruit and use volunteer teams from the states and stayed here at our flat. It was nice having some new people to visit with and get to know them and we learned a TON!

And now, we're finally relaxing a bit after a busy week and getting geared up for another busy week. And, on that note, I think I'll publish this post and sign off! Bye!