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Dear borthers and sisters!
Here i am, once again
I pour out my mind
and i type down a mail
Every sentence,
you are reading it
No matter what state
your eyes are in...
You are faithful, to answer,
with words that are true
And some news that are real....
Seems to me i send updates between "sections" of my life. So it is now. I started college on shedule (Oct. 18) and was quite overwhelmed in trying to cope with all that new information, requirements, friends, church... i guess that's just normal at the beginning of something new. The city i live is a city of angels...la la la and is called Braunschweig, located up in the north of Germany, close to Hannover. Roughly a quarter of a million people live there. I lie down my head in a 12 sqm room with sink on a twenty person floor. This students residency accomodates about 500 people from different nations. I find it quite enjoyable to be inmersed by "international flair". See a picture of it here .
I used to go to university by bus but recently i got my loved and missed mountain bike flown over by some friends. My adress there is:
Jan Unmann
"An der Schunter" Zi. 3502
Bienroder Weg 54
D-38108 Braunschweig
Germany
Tel.: +49 531 353635 (ring it long, it's our community hallway phone. I live in room 3502)
My studies will take up 5 years of my life and (hopefully) provide me with an Electrotechnics Engineer degree and a dual graduation as a Master of Sciences. For now, we concentrate of "heavy duty math" (too too much :->), mechanics and basic electronic. First exams are due February. I'm also attending 3 weekly hours of spanish classes to get an international certificate of proficiency (i ought to manage this quite easily, i arrogantly suspect). Meanwhile, i'm forced to improve my cooking skills (for those of you who know him: Can Cook is assisting me faithfully, =[:-) ). I bought a used guitar and will be taking my accordeon with me as i go back; combined with some spanish songs, this should remind my neighbors of my presence :-)) I had some pretty good talks with a chinese student and also with a girl from Rumania (she is from the Orthodox church).
Speaking about church, i found a very nice Baptist Church here, with active youth and music ministries. I wanna join the choir next year (sounds far off but actually is right around the corner...). I was attending a "cell group" out of town with an old friend but i will switch now to a different one where my fellow students go to. This is new to me as i was used to a church where we knew everybody personally... this is waaay bigger! Oh well. I'm really thankful to God for providing me with friendly people to make me feel confortable in Braunschweig. As for now, i am living off a bank account my spiritual father had build up over time and gave me for my birthday. I don't think it would have been possible without it. Thank you, God! Sometime next year the "Bafoeg" should kick in (monthly support from the german state, 50% being a grant, the other a low interes loan). I will be working and doing "Praktika" during vacation.
'Nough said... i am back home over christmas and new years, enjoying the "slightly" higher temperatures. (In Germany i looked like a walking mummie, fighting my way through snow and ice; here i've been to the beach twice and enjoy the prickling sun on my skin as i stroke our cats and dogs). Christmas we spend as "enlarged" family (with two "added" nigerians :-)) and "The Big Turn Around" will meet us at the 5-star Hotel we've been invited to by the owner (who happens to be a christian friend...).
Well, this should do the trick. You are all informed and "updated" now, just in time before the dreaded Y2K sets in. Whilst i don't fear the problem itself, i'm pretty sure the paranoia will do enough damage to fill the news. I'm thinking about "End of the World" sects and suicidal groups, barbarism and mobs driven by alcohol. I'm glad i don't have to be in a cosmopolitan city for this event; La Palma will face the jump without major differences to other times.
God bless you and keep you,
God shine his face uppon you
and give you peace. Amen.
Love to hear from you and keep track of each other,
Yours,
jan
Munich, Wed August 4th, 1999
Hello you guys!
Let me tell you briefly whats going on since i reached Germany (for those who have read my posted newsletter). You'll have your peace back soon enough :-))
Slowly things are coming together for me, believe it or not. I started my job here at the SLV Munchen on monday. It's really kinda cool. Lot's of people with different areas of expertise from which i can learn a lot. One of the "profesors" seems to have taken me into his heart and so i follow him around.
We do all kinds of things, different types of metal works. He has russian inheritage and is some kind of "communist-know-it-all-make-the-world-better" type of philosopher ... :=} He's funny and talks all the time trying to impart some higher teachings and life discipline. Well, i'm exagerating. And his name is "Rosenberg" (Cherrymountain) We've been working on taking digital pictures of friction-welded (past tense?) two-metal connections.
Then i have to do all the "cosmetics" on the computer. Oh yeah... manipulation everywhere.... Haha, but i learned some stuff about photography and light. Also working with some acids to be able to see the metal structures and so. The stereo microscope is nice... Today i helped with some "three layer spot welding" diameter analisys. Hmm... 7 hundred of them.... "...and that's how i know it goes onnnn..... near, far, wherever you are...." (Titanic for all of you) Ups... i was going to tell you about the computers... yeah, now, i have actually access to some.... so i can write and read emails once i download them. Internet access is only possible from some computers and at limited times. So i will write emails after hours (just like today)
I finish at 4:30, did some over time [as i want to be able to go to the DTS reunion by taking a day off] and write emails) I will send them as soon as i get a change.... So just STILL don't expect me to answer.
I'm actually enjoying not being close to a computer all the time and avoid those things as possible (the "Over-use syndrome") I'm living now in a room that some christians offered to me. It's amazing!!! More than a room it is a whole apartment!!! It's the basement of their house, with my own bathroom, kitchenette (hello riposto!), jacuzzi and sauna (not used now, sorry....), somebody that cleans the place, washroom, ironing and workout place.... huh... Outside a swimmingpool and some garden area. All that placed out of town, in a green region yet close to a bus station. A loving christian family included. What else could you want??? And that's it so far. I'm now living completely on my own, no strings attached, lets see how i manage {:) Food is good yet expensive. Ah! On the 11th the sun will be obscured by the moon (bet you've heard of that before....haha) and Muenchen (or Munich) is in the total darkness area!!! Oouuhhhh yeahhhhh!!!!
Email? You better send it to my old address: jamu@infocanarias.com . It'll reach me for sure, just don't know when i'll next answer...
Brothers and sisters, this has been an update on my life. As always, stay strong in HIS MIGHTY POWER and put on the full armour of God!
Yours, Jan PD.: Remember, updates should be on our homepage
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Friends, christians, countrymen Lend my your eyes! I come to bury email, but not forever! (......)
Time is drawing near,
Germany, oh this i know
And my friends i want to meet
"Watcha mean?" i hear you say
Is it a must, i wanna ask
Don't you worry, there's no need
Time to say goodbye it is jan |
Hello you guys! (On Jharama!) Well, it was about time i wrote a newsletter, right? Since i am about knee deep into clothes and papers and general packing routines, this will have to be quick. Since you don't have a lot of time to spare anyhow, this will be just fine. Hmm.... let me tell you some small small things... After that heartbreaking last week of DTS (De-briefing they call it...) some of us decided to stay a bit long on the ship. So, after working in Guinea for a while, we had the privilege of another sail on our good old Anastasis! Yeah! This one was beautiful... we even had some "star lessons" on the bow.... and dolphins, whales, well you know. And we crossed the... the.... yes, you guessed it, the EQUATOR! (Just for the note, i SWAM across the aquator! Yes, really. I prepared for it and was in the swimming pool at the time...). Then we hit South Africa. Nothing could keep us much longer on the ship and we rented a van ("we" refers to, initially: Katanya, Karianna, Pete, Hans and me. Marta joined us during the second half of our trip through the country). It was a great experience... wow! All those ANIMALS we saw in the game park (extensive use of the camera here) .... the BEACHES.... huge... like a desert, with great dunes and waves.... windy, though. These are kind of famous. At least for surfers. We even camped out by a lake to see hippos... and plenty of stars... beautiful! The garden route is nice too, but we didn't explore it the way we should have, not enough time.
Kat, Karianna, Hans and Pete BUNGEEJUMPED from the highest comercial jump in the world ("You will never fall deeper than into my Hands" says the Lord). We liked the MONKEYS in the "Sanctuary" where they can roam about freely. Some are all around the touristic places and roads.... and they steal! Beware! Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope where very windy but impressive (We saw "The line where two oceans meet"). Table Mountain, too. We saw the most amazing SUNSET from the top of it.
We then flew into London and stayed at Katanya's house.... There, we met up with beautiful
Back in La Palma. I had a warm welcome... at the time we had for young men that work in a
nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Last Minute....
I will leave today (Wednesday, July 28th) for Muenchen (Germany), where i will work for two months. If it is at all possible, i'll go to Switzerland in August to meet some of you guys there. In October i move to Braunschweig (yes, still Germany...) and do a two week math "power class" before starting "real" college. Hopefully, God will provide for me to go home over Christmas. That's all i know so far.
Let us keep praying for one another, let us hold on to the word of life!
With a BIG hug for all of you, |