wow. it feels like years have passed in the last two days. I have many things I want to talk about, but I think I'll save those for later. I want to talk about the things I've found to be universal the last two days: Justin Bieber, laughter & death. There are many other things-- but these are the three that have stood out. Allow me to elaborate

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So-- Weiden is pretty much in the middle of NOWHERE. It took me four trains (for 7 hours) to get here. Let me tell you, in small German towns, no one speaks English. On one of my trains, four teenagers sat next to me. After a while, you can totally tell I'm not German. about 9.9999998 % of the time, I have no idea what people are saying around me. At one point, one of the girls said Justin Bieber. I looked at them & laughed-- repeating JB. We all laughed. 

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One of the guys spoke some English & we started talking. All of us talked for a while, & I found out I was the first American they ever met (that's a cool fr*ggin feeling). They asked about my travels, & I asked about their plans after school. One of the boys got my WhatsApp number & talks to me every once in a while. We parted as friends & they promised to visit in America. I love the little things us humans find to connect to one another. This time so happened to be JB & Chewbacca. We were from such different worlds but something so small made us friends with plans to meet in the future. Life is so strange, unpredictable & beautiful. The smallest things can make the greatest connections. 

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Laughter. Laughter is one of my favorite things in the entire world. I mentioned it above, but I want to dig into it a little more. I walk about a mile to the grocery store & 3 miles to the center market of town (I must have burned like a trillion calories by now). Many, if not most, Germans walk or bike everywhere.. so there's always a plethora of people outside that I pass. It's energizing to see so many people enjoying nature & a healthy lifestyle. As I walk, I don't know what people are saying (I know four words in German, literally). But when they laugh. I know what that means. I know that means happiness. I know that means friendship. I know that means enjoying life. I may not know what the old men outside the meat shop are discussing, but I know what they are experiencing as they laugh with one another. It's a reassuring feeling. It can be lonely in a place where no one speaks your native tongue, but there's something about laughter that feels like home. It's human. It's so wonderfully human. Laughter is a universal language

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This last one may seem like a downer, but it's something I've been reflection on a lot on this trip: death. I walk past a place that carves gravestones on the walk to Norma (the grocery store). I realized as I passed it, the universality of dying. Maybe that's obvious, but seeing it in person is something else. Today as I walked back home, I took a different path into the woods to rest. I stumbled upon a cemetery. Truly, it was one of the most beautiful & serene places I've ever been. The graves are scattered through this trail in the woods. There's vegetation EVERYWHERE. Every gravestone is embraced by a garden. There is so much life. I've never seen anything like it. They have little wells through out the cemetery with a rack of watering cans. I watched women who have been long since friends with time slowly & purposefully fill their cans. It is a place of peace. It is a place of life. I've never viewed death in such a regard. I have never truly been in a sanctuary before this. The cemetery mirrored life: twisting, turning, alive, often steep, scattered, creative, colorful, full. I have never seen life celebrated so peacefully & gracefully after death. I learned many lessons as I walked the trails-- lessons about life in a place dedicated to the dead. I'm attaching a few photos of the cemetery, & I hope no one is offended by sharing the stones. I want to share the life & beauty I saw (you can see them if you click "see more photos". 

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As I left the cemetery, I wandered down a street. I heard singing & saw a church on the corner. They were singing "This is My Father's World" in German. I went to the door & peered in. I thought to myself-- how like the Giver & taker of Life. Something as scary, painful & dark as death made a sanctuary of peace, contentedness & life-- the graves tended to daily. This is my Father's world. Life & death. One in the same at times. Universally, this is my Father's world. 

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Outside of the church was a lavender bush. When I got back home, I looked up what Lavender signifies. The first results: serenity. tranquility, calmness. How fitting. Uses of lavender: calming & rest, promoting peaceful sleep & happiness. I looked up some history. Apparently, people used to use lavender attached as a scent in love letters. 

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Outside of a church the King teamed up with life to send me a love letter about life & death. What a gift. Death can bring life. Death can be life. Yahweh turns grounds dedicated to death into lovingly tended to gardens of life. 

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There's a quote on top of the graveyard outside my school. It says: Something as universal as death must be a gift. I never fully understood that until my feet walked the sacred grounds of that cemetery. Until my ears heard the tune of a song about Home. Until my senses smelt the love letter of lavender. It's all a Gift; death is no exception.

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Humanity is miraculous. We are all connected & it's truly beautiful to witness in such an intimate & sometimes lonely/scary way. The strangest things might connect us. Laughter is not contained by cultural boundaries. Justin Bieber could end wars prbly tbh. Death is a double edged sword. Living is a universal, beautiful struggle. Being human. I cannot wait to see the streets of Home-- laughter. Justin Bieber. & the gift death brings. 

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I have much to say about Weiden, so I'm not quite done... but I'm off to Nuremberg tomorrow bright & early (I decided tonight lolol)

Further up & further in,

Brie