*Editor's note: Unless I re-type all of Sally's emails, the background stays white, instead of the green she set up, because I am copy and pasting them. I may actually start retyping them, but not until I figure out the German shortcuts. NONE of them seem to work on this out-dated computer!
Guten Tag von Tübingen! Ich habe in Tübingen für 5 Tage gewohnt. Tübingen ist SEHR schön :)
I apologize in advance for misspelled words: This computer marks anything not written in German as misspelled, so basically every word in this email has a red squiggle underneath it.
Tübingen has been nicknamed the "Rapunzel Town" because it's this bright and colorful little villiage/town located right on a river. The cobblestone sidewalks and marketplaces resemble the ones in Tangled. I really enjoy it here!
So, I got a janky computer, and I can't send my photos. Kind of upset about that, because I have some really great ones of the town, along with all the goodbye photos from the MTC :( It'll just have to wait until next week.
Saying goodbye to the MTC was easy. Saying goodbye to the people I spent my time in the MTC with was not. One of our teachers, Bruder Toropainen, left a couple days early to spend some time with his family in Finland. We all knew he was leaving, but for some reason, it didn't click within me that I wouldn't be able to hug him goodbye until all the Elders were hugging him and I felt incredibly left out. (For those of you who don't know, there's a rule about not hugging people of the opposite sex while on a mission, for the purpose of avoiding potentially inappropriate relationships. The point of a mission is to serve the Lord, and relationships can be really distracting) But yeah, that was weird for me, not hugging someone goodbye. It was easier the second time around when we said goodbye to Bruder Wilkinson, but that was also a bit difficult. We had bought them Thank You cards and chocolate. We really did have great teachers.
The travel to Munich was simple enough. Relatively short flight, a train to the mission home, food, training. We stayed in a hostel for the night and then went to our respective areas the next day. I met my companions (I have two!) and we got to work!
So, my companions: My trainer is named Sister Ahlm. She grew up in D.C. and is super chill and kind. She's been in Munich for 6 months and is brand new to this area, which is why we're in a group of 3. Sister Baugh grew up in Utah and has been in Tübingen for 3 months. She knows the trains and busses and is teaching Sister Ahlm and me. I try to say hello to as many people as I can. I've been meeting so many people over the past few days, it's a little hard to keep track of who is who. I also have been told a bunch of names, but I haven't seen any of their faces yet, so that's also difficult. It'll come with time.
We have a rule in our companionship where we speak only German from 9 am to 9pm. There are some obvious exceptions-- if we're running late and I need to be clear on something, they'll explain in English.
Our days are a bit hectic. We get up and study, I learn more about how missions work, what I need to do and such. Our area is pretty big, so we spend a lot of time traveling on busses or trains.
So the three of us are the Sister Training Leaders for our area, meaning every two weeks, we go to Munich to receive updated info and more training. I think. I'm not entirely sure what it all entails, to be honest.
Ummm, in other news, a lot of the people we teach speak Arabic, so I've decided to learn enough Arabic so that I can help them find scriptures. So really, only numbers and then the titles of the different books in the scriptures. My companionship also teaches a German class every Thursday night, and we mostly have people who's native tongue is Arabic. Arabic is weird.
Okay, so I've covered the Hard Goodbyes and the Countless Hellos... If I could send pictures, you'd understand the Rapunzel Town part. So now it's time for my Dog story.
For those who don't know: I LOVE dogs. I've always had at least one dog growing up, and I think they're the best pet ever. So my companions and I went to lunch at a Church Member's house yesterday. They own a dog. They kept the dog away while we ate-- common courtesy type thing. My family has often done the same thing. I noticed that the dog had a bit of sass-- kept giving little woofs after being told to be quiet and such. He reminded me of my old dog, Tango. I didn't think much of it. So after we've eaten, we're all sitting in the living room and the dog has been brought down, but is being kept by the Father. Still emitting little woofs. So everyone is talking, and I feel really awkward because I don't understand much of what they're saying. I also feel pretty darn inadequate. It's not fun having to sit out on a conversation because you don't know how to communicate. So this dog gets up and starts walking around the room. I get a little happy, hoping I might be able to pet it. It comes up to me, sniffs my feet, I reach out my hand to let him sniff it as well and he straight up BITES me! Took a chunk of skin right off my left ring finger. I yanked my hand back and just stared at the dog in shock. I've NEVER been bitten by one and it took me by complete surprise. The father effectively scolded the dog and they helped me calm down (it scared me pretty badly!) and they helped me clean up and bandage my hand.The poor family felt really bad. Apparently, they had been saying something about the dog being weird, but I, of course, couldn't understand them, because I don't speak German well enough.
I'm laughing at it though, so no one worry. Just picture some brand new sister missionary living in a land that doesn't speak her language. She's got all these crazy emotions and stress, then this cranky and stupid dog bites her hand. Kind of sad when you write it out like that, but really, I'm laughing. It's just so ridiculous.
Sorry if this email is poorly organized. I'm still pretty overwhelmed with everything and I'm having trouble remembering what you all would like to know, so I'm just kind of saying whatever I feel like saying and that'll have to be enough for you :P Honestly, if this darned computer would let me access my photos, I'd be able to remember more of what's been going on. Oh well. You'll just have to wait.
That's all I've got for now! Have a great week! I'll be more organized next week (Hopefully!!)!
Love,
Sister Sally Priest
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