freakstock 07: the rest

i got a complaint that my report of freakstock was lacking. therefore: the rest of my pictures! i really didnt take many this year.

my team in the drug counselling.. it was... doodili doodili.


someone actually thought this girl was my daughter... because we look alike... huh?!


i ran into alot of friends, too..
peacy from berlin in her stylishly made rain clothes..

steffi my old hamburg roommate, who actually came out of the kitchen once and sat down..

and lokke, who was cold after a hot night..


without my off-roading wheelchair, i wouldn't have been able to do anything at freakstock.. thanks again to frede..

psalters surprise

i meantioned a band in an earlier post called the psalters.. they became my favorite sound for difficult times over the winter. and somehow, that makes their appearence at freakstock even more apropriate.

due to the foot thing, i wasn't having a very good time at freakstock. i couldnt take pain killers because of the inner bleeding, and i couldnt really get around. that meant being dependent on security to come by my tent before i could go to the restroom, trying to get people to bring me coffee, and not being able to make it across the field to the worship time. it was especially hard to be helpless and having people pass me over. and did i mention it really hurt? so after a day of sitting on the sidelines, and needing an hour to jump over to the port-o-potty, i was talking to a few people about how to get away from freakstock and back to a bed somewhere.

"hey.. do you know who i am?" i turned and saw an unmis- takeable apearence- but one thats completely out of place in germany. justin, who was also in LA and working on murr's 27 people show three and a half years ago. i was like "NO WAY." he's with the psalters (which i knew) and touring europe (which i didn't).

so i hung out with him, and the others from the band for most of the festival. it was really cool to meet with people who are on the same wave-length, doing the kinda stuff i am into doing, and loving God. i think the motto of this freakstock for me turned out to be "it was the best of times, it was the worst of times." dealing with the foot and all that brought with it was the bad, meeting up with old friends and new the good. and both taught me alot.

tricky footwork

(not for the weak of stomache)

i was deturmined this year to enjoy freakstock and to recoup a bit. i only volunteered in the drug counseling department (and not in three to five departments as usual), planned to go to seminars and concerts, to see friends, and i was in good shape physically. the was is operative in that sentence. after surviving the set-up with no more clean dry clothes and a deep desire to never play beach volleyball or do dishes again, "it" happened.

i was joking around with a friend, and warned him not to be rough because i was worried about my no longer back starting to hurt. so he picked me up, thereby loosing his balance and fell forward slamming me down hard on my laft ankel at a pretty 90degree angle. it didnt roll, it just cracked. before either of us really knew what was going on i had let out a series of high pitched screams and bit his shoulder leaving bite marks through his sweatshirt. he carried me to a bench and got security to come help, they called a doctor who is also the band manager at freakstock, and he said "hospital!" so we all prayed (well, they did, i was crying and screaming) and the friend (who is remaning nameless because he felt very, very bad), bear from security (great friend/ prayer/ supporter) and another friend driving the van took off to the gotha hospital at midnight.

my foot hurt so bad that it couldnt be touched by anything below the knee without me screaming invol- untarily. they actually gave me something to bite down on in the hospital. they x-rayed it up to the knee because the angle it was in suggested a fractured bone all the way up with possible knee break as well. it was already swollen to the size of a softball. their was also this pretty little square of bone sticking up on the side, as the foot hung at an odd angle...

the doc took a loooong time looking at the x-rays. he finally said, "i don't know how, but you didnt break anything." it ended up onlybeing two hyperextended bands (i dunno tendons or ligaments or whatever.. in german they just say "baender"), a dislocated bone, and some inner bleeding.

introducing kai

so i think i forgot to mention that while i was gone touring europe, corcken and silke moved out. in their places are now kai and joseph (although joseph is only here till mid september). so i thought i would (re-)introduce kai.. its also a good way to use some funny pictures..

el camino de santiago

many will think me crazy: i feel i should walk the pilgrims path across the north of spain.

"Go, my friend, without expectations, leave behind your fears, give in to your beauty and growing excitement. The meltdown has already started, no doubt, but the "total meltdown" is waiting for you in Spain. It'll be good and, yes, potentially transforming, but you have to be willing to immerse yourself in it. The Camino Frances? The Camino Norte? Doesn't matter, for what we're talking about here. Give yourself in to what you cannot figure out,"

this quote sums it up pretty well. the camino is a chance to be alone with God, meditate on Him and walk through issues (literally). i have heard about the camino for several years now- first from my friend falko who has done it twice now at key moments in his life, and most recently on my trip with kate. up till now it has interested me, but left me cold. now its electric within me. i feel a sence of urgency and expectation concerning it. i need to do this.

there are a few concerns surrounding it, and maybe i can get some prayer support on this one.
first, its about 800km. you literally cross spain. i am not exactly the most physically active person out there, but i have been assured that with the right gear and by allowing a few extra days, i should be fine. fine meaning no worse off than anyone else choosing to walk 800km.

second, it isnt cheap. although i would literally just be walking, i would need food and water along the way, accomodation at least every third night in a hostel with shower, and the train ticket to the spanish border. i also need some equipement (hiking boots, zip off pants, a light weight tent [my old one was stolen by a girl i mentored], a pilgrims passport, guidebook, and staff).

third, it should be clear why i am doing this and when i should go. the why is pretty clear. when is still a question. all logic says to take 6 months, train my body and prepare my pack. my heart says GO! the walk takes between 4 and 6 weeks, and i am thinking it best to go in either october or mai due to weather.

i'd love some feedback on this one.

trip pics 2

checkpoint charlie


kate at berlin, alexanderplatz


the woolly mammoth in praha


world clock in praha


birthday dinner at the needle in praha


praha


praha


a few minutes before her birthday


and a few minutes after her birthday... see the change?


klaus and i


vienna


vienna


kate's birthday cake and the extermination of it's candles


klaus, tom, and mona of the jesus freaks vienna


third best gymnast in hungary doing a backflip for us


budapest


my prescription sunglasses broke in zagreb.


the roof a a church in zagreb, croatia


zagreb's coolest street


hiking in the croatian national park






the sea organ stairs of zadar, croatia


roman ruins in split, croatia


split, croatia


reading (book 12) on the boat from croatia to italy


kate on boat


hiking in cinque terra






cinque terra


dinner company in vernazzo


vernazzo


vernazzo


luxembourg

back in bremen, bad news

we got back late in the night between sunday and monday. on monday night i went to cafe chance for the volunteers meeting... thats where i heard that:

hille and joerg both died, and kahle is in the hospital.

hille and kahle belong to the "old mens table" that was a set group when i first go to bremen. i have a really long relationship with these guys. hille was the crazy brazilian, and we'd been watching him slip and worried for a year now. you could always hear when he was comming, because he had loads of little bells sewed to his clothes. he looked rather hippie- long hair and a strip of dyed leather around his forehead, jeans jacket vest over brightly colored shirts- open to the navel, tight pants with flair.. he never took off (or turned off) his walkman (i never saw it, but he isnt the kind of guy you would suspect of an mp3 player..) his moods were hard to predict, he could be your best friend one minute and mad and swearing at you the next. but then he never got loud, he just swore repeatedly, sayin g over and over again how he thought you had wronged him- and he was usually mistaken. the main thing that would upset him about me was always that i could never relate, as a german, as to how hard it is to be a foreigner here. no amount of talk convinced him otherwise. he died of an overdose in his apartment in the ghetto.

kahle is the guy who pretend to be my dad- and even fooled his ex! he's the one who first took me to cafe chance, because our counselling wasn't finished but he wanted to be there on time to get a seat. i always sat with that same table the first months, and went with them afterwards. we saw each other three more times a week while i was passing out soup (hille, too), and kahle started comming to street group often, and occasionally the jesus freaks. he gave me the cross/pocketknife that has started so many conversations. this isn't an obit yet, though, so i guess i should stick to the current situation.. he is on the intensive station after being operated on his lungs. this is the second trip to the er this year that has resulted in a long stay. pray that he make it through!

joerg kaiser i only knew threw the cafe, and not quite as long. for brevities sake, i won't say much more. he was kind, and could take a joke. we'd call him the "kaiser"- that means emporer. he wasn't as bad off as many, despite being ill... he died of cancer.

10km? me? I DID IT

yes, thats right. on the fourth of july we left florence (which i am afraid we didnt like so much) and arrived quite tired in a group of five little italian villages called cinque terra. i had first heard mention of them from simone in bremen, but along the way it seemed like everyone we meant raved.. so we came.

what they are is five really picturesque towns along the northern coast connected by a strenuous 10 kilometer hike. we set up camp (ok, we are staying with a cute italian lady who is a story in and of herself) in vernazze and completed the most difficult 4 km section of the hike last night. this morning at 9 we set out to meet people for the other sections of the hike... and that after being out till 3 am.

we ended up completing it in good time, and really enjoying ourselves. well, the beginning pain and panting aside.. i feel good. i DID it. yup.