This will probably be a long post. Here's an outline:
1) Airport/Re-Entry
2) Job "Interview"
3) My Friends, and the Womens among them
4) Circuit City
5) Motorcycle
6) Freedom
7) Deutsches Teil
1) Airport/Re-Entry
On July 31st I didn't go to sleep. I stayed up all night and waited for my (free, as in lunch) ride to come pick me up at around 4am, local time, in Freiburg. It just made good sense. So I get to the airport shortly before 8am, which is perfect because my plane leaves at 10am. After some confusion on where I'm supposed to check in I get into the correct line, wait, and then find out that instead of being under the limit of 23kg (about 50lbs), my main piece of luggage weighs 32kg (about 70lbs). I had to pay 40€ for this infraction. Wasn't super excited about that, but all my stuff had to come home, so I paid and sucked it up. Also ended up having to ship back some books, which cost another 23€ or so.
This was getting more and more expensive as the day went on, but I pressed through in the knowledge that soon I would be on the airplane, headed home. I finally got through security where one of the guards commented that I didn't have the Freiburg accent, which threw me through a loop, but I finally figured out that I was wearing my "I'm a Freiburger" shirt, but I don't sound like one. I'm rather proud that she thought I was German and was trying to assess my accent and figure out where I'm from. Very proud.
I get on the plane, sit next to a nice mother and daughter, whose husband and brother are on the other side of the aisle. Talked with them a little bit, but mostly just listened to music and slept a little bit. After some ten and a half hours in the sky, we finally touch down in Portland, where I decided it would be a good idea to leave my cell phone sitting on the seat. Brilliant! Check with Lufthansa (the airline), and they had found it. I hugged the lady who gave it back to me. I was so relieved.
Wait for like 25 minutes to get my luggage and go through customs, get out there and look around, desperately searching for a familiar face. Found Ben, Zach, and John waiting out there for me, and looked around a few minutes and found Cory too! These were the people who came and met me at the airport, and that kind of reflects who some of my best friends are. It was super cool to feel loved like that.
I've noticed a few things that are kind of weird and lead to a little bit of culture shock for me: we don't recycle hardly anything here; we consume a lot of stuff; air conditioning is good; Americans are, as a people, louder and (dare I be blunt?) fatter than Germans; and people are, at times, very superficial. But home is still home, and my friends have remained close, and I am glad to be home. It's a little weird at times, but I feel like I've re-acclimated very well.
2) Job "Interview"
A few weeks before I came home I was messaging my now housemate and longtime friend Ben when he mentioned an opportunity to work at the financial planning firm he started working at around a year and a half ago. They were looking for someone to work part-time a couple days a week to take over some lower level tasks that were hogging up the highly trained talent in the office. Things like sending email greetings to clients, updating the company website with upcoming events, book caterers and locations for company BBQs or customer appreciation days and so on and so forth. The idea is that there needed to be someone to do legwork so that the big hitters in the office could work on things that they're trained to do.
So after arriving I set up an interview with Blane, who goes to my church, and Ben, whom I've known for many years, for Tuesday night at Shari's Restaurant in Oregon City. I got all gussied up and dressed nice and even showered, rode in with Ben, and learned what my mission would be, should I choose to accept. Basically I was interviewing the company as much as they were interviewing me. It was very comfortable and not at all intimidating. I might even say that it was the easiest interview I've had. Maybe I've just always thought it would be harder to get a good job. But when you have good soft skills, people see that, I guess.
So I have a job. I'm going to be starting right after the first of September. I'm excited because this is the first job I've had where I actually thought I could advance in the company and still sleep at night. It looks like a great opportunity; not just for a job, but as a very real career possibility.
3) My Friends, and the Womens among them
After getting home, many many people asked me when I was going to get to see them. Wait, that's backwards. They wanted to know when they were going to get to see me. I still haven't seen everybody, but I did have dinner last night at Catherine, Melissa and Ronni's. We had haystacks, which some people call taco salad. It's good food. Lesssee here, people who were there: Kirstin, Sarah (from Freiburg!), Catherine, Melissa, Ronni, Cory, Jason. Oh, and I was there too!
After we ate we just sat around or stood around and talked. It was really one of the greatest evenings I've had in quite a while. It was so comfortable and easy and I just felt like I was at home. I enjoyed myself, and it was really a good experience to be somewhere and to feel so loved by so many people at one time. I was able to be me without worrying, and I was able to be rather open and (yay!) blunt when I spoke, and everybody was OK with that.
The Womens, as promised: Yes, I have seen Her. If you know who She is, you'd already know this, though. I'm at peace, and life is good. I would appreciate your prayers as I seek to follow God's will and pursue my interests.
4) Circuit City
Before I went to dinner last night at the girl's I stopped at Circuit City to cancel the warranty on my camera which I broke while crossing the tram tracks in Freiburg. I walked in and sized the place up.
It was surreal. I looked around and I could see the things that had changed since I had been there, but I knew that really it was the same place, with the same (type of) employees, selling the same stuff, making the same profits. I knew at that point that my previous conviction of not being able to work there, or even another retail sales job, ever again was well founded. I simply cannot work like that again.
I waited a few minutes for my friend Eric, who works customer service, to have a free minute before I approached the counter. He asked how I was, remembered I had been in Germany, and immediately told me not to get my job [at the Circuit] back. It was a real confirmation and drove the last nail into the coffin, if you will. I will never work at Circuit City again, and that is a good thing.
5) Motorcycle
I've been browsing listings on Craigslist for a while, and just today found a 2006 Kawasaki Ninja 250R, which in the scheme of things is a pretty small motorcycle. I'm looking at it tomorrow night, which makes me happy. If it strikes me as a good bike I'll give the guy some "good faith" money until my wire transfer from the online account comes through, at which point I'll give him the remaining money in trade for a motorcycle! That's right, everyone, Justin is going to have a bike! So. Very. Excited.
6) Freedom
I came across a realization in the last few days, possibly last night while sitting in the Man Cave at the new place in West Linn while sipping a beer. Having grown up in a very strict church environment where many things were absolutely not allowed, I used to think that people who did "things" like smoke cigarettes, drink alcohol, or eat seafood were bad people and even if they went to church were probably going to hell. I'm not even kidding.
So I've grown a lot since then, and come to rely on passages like Romans 14:14, 1 Corinthians 10:23, and others which basically say that we have freedom. But the realization I had the other night or over the last few days is this, and it's more a question than anything else: to what end am I using my freedoms? Am I simply relying on grace so that I can coast? Do I claim the "freedom" card so that I can enjoy a beer? Do I do whatever I want anyway under the guise of being "free in Christ"?
I don't have the answers to these questions, but I've been thinking about them.
Post Script: I listened to "Worlds Apart" by Jars of Clay from their self-titled album several times while writing all of this. It's a good song. Give it a listen.
Preface to the following: If you can read German, read the following. If not, don't worry. I won't talk too dirty about you behind your back.
7) Deutsches Teil
Also dann. Ich befinde mich jetzt daheim in den Staaten, auf dem Ranch meiner Mutter. Ich fühle mich mehr oder minders wohl. Ich habe, aber, das Gefühl dass es etwas in meinem Leben fehlt. Und ich überlege mir fast jeden Tag wie das Leben da drüben ist, und wundere mich ob ich doch die falsche Entscheidung getroffen habe. Hätte ich doch bleiben sollen? Passe ich besser in die Deutsche Kultur wie in meine Eigene?
Dann treffe ich aber einen Moment in dem ich weiß, dass ich doch hier in Portland gehöre. Ich bin eigentlich Amerikaner, obwohl ich ab und zu was anders geglaubt habe.
Das mit dem Mädel...es geht, wisst ihr? Ich habe sie leider nur ein Mal schon gesehen, worüber ich schon im dritten Teil ein bisschen geschrieben habe. Es war einfach genial. Wir saßen alle da in einem Kreis und ich bin mal mit ihr ins Auge gefallen. Wir schauten uns ein paar sekunden in
die Augen, haben beide zugelächelt, und dann weiter geguckt.
Alldies zu sagen dass es hier so gut wie ich mir vorher vorgestellt habe geht. Ich bin zufrieden, obwohl ich mich mal frage, was für eine verrückte Kultur es hier ist. Ich muß aber bald wiederkommen. Ich werde wahrscheinlich leider nicht mit meiner Frau kommen, aber vielleicht wenn ich sie nett fragen würde...käme meine zukünftige Freundin mit ;)
