Mixing old and new

I've been silent for a week due mostly to lethargy than anything else.

But I got a boost of new energy yesterday with the arrival of our stuff from Germany and the news that we had gotten the apartment we were praying for just 3 blocks from Wash-U!

I quickly unwrapped my mattress and Lattenrost (wooden slats the mattress rest on) and replaced the mattress I had been sleeping on at Bethany's parents' house. I can't even express how happy I am to be sleeping on my own mattress and I'll not even start with how happy I'll be when I can rebuild my awesome metal king size bed frame and have our own bedding again in our brand new bedroom!

We shipped our bed; mattresses and a handmade bookshelf along with 39 boxes of personal items (a third of which seem to be books!)

The new apartment is the second floor of a beautifully restored old duplex in Clayton with 1,500 sq ft of aesthetically pleasing 1930/40's architecture, wooden floors, stain-glass windows, subway tiles, modern kitchen and bathroom. All in all the perfect place!!!!

We sign the contract tomorrow evening and move in (DV) on the 10th September.

Now while I've been working on bringing the Old world of Europe to the New world of America I've also been working on bringing traditional Christianity and modern Christianity together in what I hope will be as harmonious a marriage as my furniture and housing clearly are. Matthew 13: 52 talks about the teacher who is influenced by the old and new bringing a double blessing from the storehouse. I feel like my friends and I are working on the same ambition of being both old fashioned and cutting edge simultaneously. I belong to the LCMS (Lutherans) and we're known as rather old fashioned yet among our number are some rather progressive Christians. I also work for Young Life which is often considered cutting edge in how we communicate Christianity to those outside the Church. I belong to a growing movement of traditional Christians who believe we need to bring "The Old, Old Story" to a new generation in a way they can comprehend it.

Mixing old with new is always a risky business. It will take time for our German things to become comfortable and natural in their new American setting. I think it will also take time for old Christian ways to become comfortable in a new world setting.

Sorry for the lapse in communication...... but old and new can often mean silent blogs!!!!

Camping country

I'm just back from Potosi, MO where I visited the YMCA camp. I'm impressed! Here's the link http://www.ymcaoftheozarks.org/welcome

Great cabins, awesome views, great staff..... I'm a camping snob and I'm utterly open about my intolerances! :) So often these small town camps are less than delightful; so it was with profound relief that I found the YMCA's camp so awesome.....

I'm a huge believer in taking people out of their comfort zones and planting them in an alien world with nothing familiar and ask them to do things they may never have tried and to think things they may never have thought. While it will be quite some time before we have enough interest and numbers to warrant an extended stay at somewhere like Trout Lodge I'm excited such places exist.

So my day was filled with dreaming about how we could use Trout Lodge and trying not to freak out after eating a Bison Burger..... My first Bison! I must confess I feel very much like dances with wolves..... Now I've had Bison I feel like I've finally tasted America!!!! Yeah!!!!

I know the life of an Irishman in the Midwest may seem strange..... but then the life of an American in rural Ireland would also seem strange!!!!

Mohawks and Root Canals

This is my Father-in-law Steven Schmich. He is a retired phys-ed teacher who helps run outdoor education camps for middle schoolers in St. Louis. During his most recent camp he shaved his head into a Mohawk. Obviously the kids loved him for it. The truly awesome thing about Steven is he kept it after he got home. He took his 87 year old mother to church on Saturday night and said hello to the pastor without ever mentioning the Mohawk! Then off he goes to the supermarket to pick up the weekly groceries. There an older man mentioned the Mohawk and how odd it was for a man Steven's age. Steven told him he was trying out for a role in a play "The Last of the Mohicans!" It starts a whole discussion between the man; Steven and the check out guy about how cool Last of the Mohicans is!!! I truly admire my Father-in-law! He is one of the most impressive men I've ever met yet he also keeps a Mohawk just to get a rise out of his normal world! People are so concerned about what others' think... Steven cares about other people but he could care less about "looking" impressive to other people! So I want to be Steven when I grow up!

I also had a root canal today.... I love American dentists! Dr. Mears from Arnold, MO, numbs my gums before injecting me to numb my gums! Yes, No pain means American dentists! I hurt more now from having my mouth open for two hours!!!!

So another day another few dozen dollars and I've a swollen mouth and a super cool father-in-law! Hope your week has started as well!

80's music and a day alone

I've spent the day alone writing drafts for a newsletter; support letters, strategic and tactical planning proposals and sending plain old fashioned emails. Alongside that I've been listening to 80's hits.

I doubt there has been another era so utterly stuffed with fluff! The hair was huge, the lyrics embarrassingly overblown and the clothes were just horrific. But I'm delighted to confess I'm an 80's kid! The denim jackets covered in Adam Ant badges and patches gave way to Kizz and Black Sabbath. My hair was outrageously tangled. We heavy metal types defined grungy long before it was cool to look like you slept in a gutter. Getting high on glue and dating girls with short haircuts and florescent orange socks, seems to be all I remember of the 80's. Perhaps that may be a mercy?!?

I've also been invited to an 80's party this month. I'm torn between wearing my torn Levi's; a tight black T-shirt and topping it all by discovering if it is possible to rent a huge wig of curly dark hair that looks like it was last brushed in 1971! Alternatively I could scour the Thrift stores of St. Louis to see if there is an old spangled suit laying around with the turn up sleeves. :)

My poor wife is a 90's kid who just smiles when her old husband plays his 80's hits.....

Another day in paradise

It's a very comfortable 75 this Monday morning and I'm sitting in the suburbs of St. Louis listening to Phil Collins sing "Another day in paradise."

I'm still trying to settle into this new world we've entered. In my head I have the knowledge of what it takes to become comfortable in a new culture. I've read the books, sat in the seminars and even helped other people in their own journey of settling into life in Germany. But my emotions still tumble around trying to find solid ground.

I'm almost swamped by the potential I see all around me. This truly is the land of possibilities. Then I'm floored by the heartbreaking sight of a homeless lady in her 50's begging on the side of an intersection. Hoping against hope that one of the many drivers in their beautiful cars that are stopped in the grinding traffic snarl up that is St. Louis would press the button of their electric window and give a few dollars to allow her to have some of the hope that is all around her.

I’ll be spending today in comfortably air-conditioned offices and coffee shops discussing our dream of creating a safe place for students to explore their spirituality. While I’m busy weaving webs of words describing the insubstantial world of the spiritual, that dear old lady will be at some junction breathing in fumes trying to use her facial expression and eyes to communicate need. And hundreds of people will miss that communication and fail to press the button that would lower their window and force them to leave their guarded world and join her in the stink of too many cars sitting too long at an intersection.

Paradise is hard to get used to.

The promised land for an Irishman

This afternoon the lady at Macy's cologne counter explained that she and her husband were Irish, when I asked where in Ireland it became clear she meant that at some point in history someone in her family's past came from Ireland. Unlike my many times removed country woman at Macy's I'm actually a real Irish legal alien in St. Louis. Unlike many immigrants I began life here with a new car; a safe place to live and a good job.



I spent 8 years; 4 months and 2 weeks living in Munich, Germany. I left that city certain that no matter how long I lived there I would always remain an alien. I've been in America for 18 days and I've been constantly welcomed home. Despite an accent that is thicker than molasses my many American friends have converted me into an American prodigal son who has finally returned to the farm and the fatted calf is on the BBQ!

 This is my first thoughts on being an immigrant in the promised land of America.

 Robert