So yesterday was yet another beautiful day in Luzern.

I woke up with a jerk. I looked at the clock, 8:08. Crap. I flew up the stairs hitting maybe 2 of the 20 taking full advantage of my 4 foot legs. I hopped into Alex’s room and both remorsefully and fearfully said, "Dude you got to get to school. Its 8:08 I just woke up sorry man." He looked up from his book with a perplexed look and said, "Its Sunday"; which only made me burst out laughing. "OK you can laugh hard at me now Alex"

"You’re weird"

"Sorry ok. True.

“Can we play GameCube? “

“What no I need to get ready for church. Ok 15 minutes.”

“20”

“15”

“20”

“10”

“17”

“15”

“Ok 15. Let me get dressed.”

I went downstairs and started getting dressed and my bag ready for the trip down the mountain.

“What game do you want to play Ryan?” he asked upon entering?

“I don’t care?”

“Sonic?”

“Sure.”

“I will kill you... hahaha”

“I’m sure you will Alex, I’ve never played this before.”

“Oh it’s a good game.”

“Ok. Let’s play.”

So we played for 20 minutes.

“That’s enough Alex, I need to finish getting ready for church, and I don’t want to miss my train.” “Ok I kill you without you.”

“Haha, go ahead Alex.”

I ran up to the kitchen and ate a quick bowl of cereal. I slapped on some deodorant, finished getting dressed and realized that I still had some time. So I went and picked up the control. Alex was happy, so we played a few more levels.

Shoot Alex, I got to go” I realized that it was 5 after 9, and the train that leaves at 9:15 takes at least 7 minutes to walk to. So I grabbed my things and sprinted out of the house. I got to the train station to see that the train had not even arrived yet. So I ended up waiting on the platform for about five minutes more.

Once on the train I sat and basically zoned out. I was in the middle of a great meaningless thought that I will never again remember when a group of children woke me. I had three or four year olds plop down on the bench in front of me. Then an elder lady sat next to me, and a small blond haired girl with super blue eyes jumped up on her lap. I have no idea what the group was, but these kids were stinking hilarious. They were full of innocent energy and curiosity. It led the chubby toddler by the window to slam his head against it trying to look out the window harder. Everyone who saw had a little giggle at this enthusiasm. He didn’t even cry. He just had a look of, “what’s so funny? What did I miss” as he rubbed his small head.

Upon reaching the station, I waited for the children and then walked out. I took the western exit and walked into Starbucks for the second time that week. The train arrives in Luzern around 10:20 and church starts at 11, so I had about 40 minutes to kill. I bought a tea and went into the longue area. I cracked my Steinbeck book and read until the red pony died. It was a sad story, but then again, I was reading Steinbeck, so what did I expect?

I left Starbucks and walked the 4 blocks to church where we were celebrating the harvest. We sang a few choruses and the offertory was Great is thy Faithfulness. I love that song, but the church didn’t quite sing it with the emphasis that Belleville first does. I think they were lacking the bass vocals, or maybe people just haven’t sung the song understanding just how triumphant it can be. Which I find as hard, “Morning by morning new mercies I see. All I hath needed thy hand hath provided. Great is thy faithfulness Lord unto me.” Those are great lyrics. Perhaps we sing those words but don’t actually mean that we do see new mercies everyday. Lately I have been learning that God really has provided me with all that I hath needed and even more so.

It was great to sing this song again, but also disappointing. I mean how can anyone who understands the lyrics to the song sing it without enthusiasm? Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth, Thine own dear presence to cheer and to Guide, Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow Blessings all mine with ten thousand beside.” It’s so true and so wonderful. He really does take care of His children, and we are truly blessed. Others don’t see it, so I shouldn’t be quick to say we; I guess I know that he has always been faithful with me. So I love singing about how faithful He is.

After singing we had announcements and a time of prayer. The church is incredibly informal by American standards and I love it. Every service before prayer they ask for requests. So the community humbles itself enough to speak out about their problems or their concerns. Following the lead of all those willing spirits at Belleville first, I am jumping into the community, and I requested prayer for my uncle and his family. To those who know that situation, be encouraged that a small English speaking congregation in Switzerland is sending petitions to heaven on Dave’s behalf.

After the informal prayer with people praying in the empty spaces, the pastor gave a sermon on the Real Jesus. He warned that we ought not to make Jesus in our own image as we often do. He didn’t exactly say who the real Jesus was, but instead he reminded us that a good metaphor for the real Jesus is a shepherd who takes care of his flock. He explained Jesus’ compassion on the crowds that followed and how the crowds that followed were most often the poor, the sick, the homeless, and the unemployed. Most often those types of people had nothing else to do with their time. So Jesus looked out on the crowds and had compassion, then he said, the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few, therefore ask the lord of the harvest to send out workers.

The pastor said he loves Jesus’ style. I agree. The world has tons of work, the harvest is ripe, and God could use workers, I wish he would send some out. But I cannot petition God to send others if I am not willing myself to become one of his workers. It was quite challenging. We closed with an adapted form of Patrick’s Shield with God before us, behind us, below and above, next to and inside. Then we had a chance to greet everyone with coffee after the service.

A Scottish man came up to me and asked about Uncle Dave, and so I told him a bit more about the situation and he reassured me that he will be praying for him. Then when I was standing by the coffee I started talking to the piano player matt who just moved here in April. He is a test pilot at a plane factory nearby. Roland was also talking with us, and I got to know him a bit better.

Matt had to attend to his children and wife, and I asked Roland what he was doing for lunch. He is a single guy in his thirties and he responded by saying,

” do you want to come over for lunch?”

What, well, I didn’t want to ask myself over” I said awkwardly.

Before I had even finished my reply he interrupted and said, no ok we can go out. Where do you want to go?”

“I don’t even have a clue”

“Ok well let’s just walk over here by the lake”

So we walked towards the lake and talked about life. Roland is working as an engineer right now, but before he spent 6 years living in South Africa. He studied at a bible college and I guess interned or worked on staff at the largest church in South Africa. He told me about some of his studies and time there. I also discovered that he is also new to Luzern. He moved there in the middle of July. He has only been attending the church for about 6 weeks. So it was good to know that I am not the only new guy to the area.

Roland is an interesting character. He loves Brazil, bamboo, and leopards. His furniture is all bamboo, he has lots of clothing with Brazil emblems on it, and he has leopard print blankets, curtains, coat, and even table cloth. But whatever, he’s quirky, that’s all. He is also an incredibly nice guy. In our walk to the restaurant we decided it would be both easier and cheaper if we just went to his flat. The view from his flat is of both the Alps and Lake Luzern, it’s wonderful. If anyone has ever been to Luzern, his flat is located about a block from the lake a block behind the Catholic Church. So it’s in a great place.

I made the salad and Roland cooked duck with potatoes. It was a good meal. As we were cooking it, Roland explained that on Swiss TV it is possible to change the language. AS he was showing me, we flipped through the channels and found the Woman’s World Cup finale: Brazil vs. Germany. Roland was ecstatic. He had really wanted to watch the game, since he loves Brazil.

“Is it ok if we watch this” he said.

Half laughing I said, “of course.” I am not sure that he knew of my great love for soccer. So we both watched the game. It was excellent. I will confess that I am usually not a fan of women’s soccer; it simply doesn’t have the pace of men’s soccer. But this game was great, those girls are skilled. I also found the stereotypes still existing. The Germans played together well and capitalized on their opportunities, while the Brazilians looked pretty and sometimes didn’t make the most of their efforts because of their fancy play. Germany ended up winning the game 2-0, which I was stoked about. I felt bad because I was a guest in my new friend’s home and the team he had watched lost, but oh well. I left after the game and then gave Tina a call.

Tina is a girl that I met in Starbucks. She’s stinking hilarious and she wants to work on her English. Since I would like someone to talk in German with, it works out well. So I asked what she was up to, and she said that she had just woken up. I was shocked and teased her, I mean sleeping in to noon is one thing, but 4? She then explained that she celebrated her friend’s birthday after she got off of work. Since Starbucks is open late, she works until 1. That was a bit more reasonable… but not really. She asked what I was doing for dinner, which I said I had no idea. So she suggested that we meet by the train station at seven and get dinner together. Great!

Except when I called her, it was sometime after 4, and I had 3 hours to spend in Luzern. Fortunately Luzern is a wonderful city with a great lake and lots of benches and people walking along the boardwalk. So I walked down to one of those wonderful benches and opened my Steinbeck book. I had about fifty pages to finish, so I slowly read and watched the people passing by. The morning in Engelberg had been cold and rainy, and it turned out to be a wonderful partly cloudy day in Luzern. I was kicking myself for forgetting my camera. I am sure that a handful of other people are upset that I brought my camera as well. When I finished the short stories by Steinbeck, I realized that I still had two hours before my meeting time. So I began walking down the boardwalk. I figured, I will walk until almost six, and then I can turn around and that should take up all of my time. So I walked slowly and looked at the boats coming in and out. I am convinced that one of the boats had nothing but women on it, for the spinnaker had a dark pink stripe on a like pink background. I know very few men who would fly that kind of sail on their boat.

Some others unfurled their colors for the down wind sail, and it was great to watch them go up and come back in. It brought back memories of sailing in Canada.

When I came to the end probably a 2 or 3 mile walk, I found a little a square or a park right next to the water. Boats were anchored in front of me and to my right was the Luzern Yacht club. I ended up walking faster than I thought I would, so I opened the second volume of the Gonzales book that I have yet to finish and started reading about the rationalist option to Christianity. It was interesting to see how many men of the rationalist persuasion I have read or know a lot about. Everyone from Pascal to Kant was listed.

I finished the chapter and began walking again. Then I realized I was walking too fast, so I stopped and read another chapter. When I got up and started walking for the second time, I walked by a large dog chasing around a small one. It was stinking hilarious, don’t ask me what kind of dogs they were, one was large and black with a beautiful coat, the other was small and black with a similar coat, but their jaw lines and the brown highlighting of the small told me that it was not a puppy, but merely a small dog. They ran ran and ran. The small one was doing a good job of staying away from the big one by weaving in and out of the park bench. It made tight turns that were impossible for the larger on. Lots of people were looking on this in amusement.

A little further on I noticed that a man had taken the rocks in a garden and stacked them. He had oddly shaped rocks about the size of a coffee can turned upside down with the pointy side holding them up, and that was on top of four or five other oddly shaped rocks. The new sculptures were quite impressive. I was in awe, and then I thought, “Who spends time learning how to balance rocks?” That just kind of seemed absurd, but then again I am in Switzerland, and the Swiss, well, they are odd.

I finally got to our meeting spot, and Tina was not there yet. So of course, I popped open the history book and did some more reading. I took a break for a second when I thought I heard a familiar voice. Tina was right behind me talking to someone. She didn’t notice me at all. It was funny, I made quite a noise opening my bag and putting away my book, but she didn’t notice me until I stood up and took two steps towards her. But it was fun. We exchanged bissous, three of them. If ever someone is in Switzerland then know that they give 3 bissous, not 2 as in France. I had discovered that from another Swiss friend of mine. I do it whenever I greet my new friends, but it is still odd to me. I mean pressing your cheek against someone’s face and making a kissing sound in their ear is a greeting? Sometimes I just prefer a handshake.

“So where do you want to go eat?”

I don’t know. You’re the one who lives here. Where do you want to go?”

“Well do you want French, Italian, and Swiss Food?”

“It doesn’t matter, you show me where.”

“Want to go to my favorite French bistro?”

“Sure let’s go”

So we headed down the street towards a French café. It wasn’t far at all. When we got there, Tina was shocked, “it’s not cold, and it’s warm. Where is everyone? Why are they all inside?”

“Got me, do you want to sit outside?”

“If you do”

‘Which table?”

“Is this one good?”

“Bien sur”

“Ah you and your French. And you can switch into it like its nothing”

“Not really, only certain phrases. Just wait until I have had more time with German, I’ll be speaking in that like it’s my own language hopefully.”

“And you can speak Russian too?”

“Yeah, but it’s not good now”

“Well still, that’s crazy, you’re crazy”

Well I don’t know about that, but whatever”

“Ah Ich kanne nicht auf Englisch sprechen.”(I can’t speak in English)

Und ich kanne ein bitzen auf deutsch sprechen”(I can only speak a little in German)

“Ok, wir sprechen auf deutsch”

“No, you speak in German and I will speak in English”

“Fine”

A few minutes later the menu was brought out. I thought I heard that they had a menu in English, so I just kind of discarded the menu in German. It took me like 30 minutes to order, because Tina kept refusing to translate the menu and I couldn’t quite figure it out. Tina repeatedly teased me’

“We can go somewhere else where they have an English menu. Or we could go to Mc. Donalds, they speak English there. How about my place I can cook something and you can point to what you like…”

“Ha Ha Ha…. No I can try and read this.”

About the fourth time the waitress came by, Tina ordered and I said, get me whatever. So I ended up getting a French version of wings, which was apparently their specialty.

Tina and I talked forever about everything and nothing at the same time. It was great. After our food got cold we decided we ought to eat it. So we finished our meal and then talked some more. About 9:30 we got up and left after paying like 60 francs. Yet food here is expensive. (Exchange rate at time of writing this is, 1 ChF= .851 USD.

The night had become cold, so I threw on the sweater I had with me. (Thanks mom and dad for sending it to me) Tina put on her long jacket that looked rather American. I teased her for being American.

We walked in the direction of “The Roadhouse” a night club where Tina was meeting some of her friends. We went in and Tina said she was going to get me back for buying dinner. She was going to buy my drinks. When I got there I decided I would take a break from my usual… and I got a sprite instead of a coke. She protested enough that I let her pay. When we found a seat she went on to explain.

“In Switzerland, men and women are…” she made a flat line motion with her hand.

“Equal”

Yes, equal”

“Ok, but a guy is offering to pay, he’s not trying to insult, just be nice. Take advantage of it girl”

“Never”

“Whatever”

We then decided we should just make fun of the American tourists in the bar while we waited for her friends.

“Oh look there’s an American over there”

“Oh sure, she’s drunk too.”

“Do all American girls dance like that when they are drunk?”

“You’re asking the wrong person. I bet that guy that looks like he’s yelling over there is an America”

“Definitely”

Tina’s friend arrived and we began talking. Her friend, whose name escapes me, spoke French, German, and English, but French was her first language. So the conversation switched from broken English and German, to broken English, broken German, and French. It was a good time. At about 11:20 we left the Roadhouse because I had to catch a train. I hopped on the 11:40 train after spending a great day in Luzern. I zoned out most of the way reflecting on my day. I am very glad that Luzern is nearby. I might go insane without it.