July 18

This morning I got up early for a two hour train ride to Weinheim, where Karla Veldink's friends, the Pestels, live and go to church.  I got there on time, and with only one small hitch, was able to walk over to the church in time for the services.  It was a baptism service for a lady who had recently come to the church after having been in and out of other churches somewhat sporadically, as far as I could tell from her introduction of herself to the congregation.  After the service I talked with a man who did the photography for the church, but worked for the German government's version of the FCC, dealing with wireless interferences and how to fix problems in places like military installations and airports.  He was really cool, and I wish I could remember his name.  It was on the tip of my tongue, but I completely forgot it now.  He introduced me to a man who works at Roche, which had been purchased by Böhringer.  Not my Böhringer it turns out, but Böhringer-Mannheim.  Apparently that is what my taxi driver had been talking about, which explains why I knew nothing about it, and why no one had ever mentioned a Mannheim location to me.  After the service, I managed to meet Dörthe Pestel, and had lunch with her and some other ladies from the church, as part of the Baptism celebration.  I met Christian (Pestel) briefly after lunch before heading off with a man and woman from the church (whose names I actually never got even though we spent the whole afternoon together) to a golf course to learn about golf.  If you would like to know exactly what the man looked like, and I mean exactly, look at a picture of the man who plays the corrupt Senator in the film 'Shooter.'  The two may as well be identical twins.  From how they explained it, I assumed that we would be playing golf, which I am bad at, so I was prepared for the worst J.  It turned out though, that a large group from the church was going there to learn about golf.  In Germany, golf is not very popular, and is thought about as a rich people's game.  Apparently the people at the course are trying to change that perception and make it more accessible to more people.  So, I got to learn about golfing in German, take some swings on the driving range, putt around and play a mini scramble.  And by mini, I mean mini.  If you want to understand how small the "course" was, picture a mini golf course, then separate the hole locations a bit and add about 20 yards of "fairway".  Now, I am certainly no good at golf whatsoever, but compared to people that have never golfed before…I still wasn't very good.  It was fun though, and we ended up tying for the win in the scramble.  The driving range did help, because the people who were explaining the game were actual golf professionals, and whereas previously I had no idea what I was doing wrong, now I have a foggy clue.   After golf, we had some pizza from the clubhouse, which was actually real Italian pizza, cooked by an Italian man, and it was free for me, and possibly the whole church.  In terms of ways to end a day, that was a good one.  Essentially the only name that I remember from Weinheim, aside from Christian and Dörthe, was another pastor named Ben, who was 29.  He was a cool guy, and on my team in the scramble.  I really liked that people felt comfortable speaking German and having me try to speak German back to them.  Typically what happens is that I will say something in German awkwardly, then the other person switches to English and then I really can't practice listening in German.  Today I got to speak a lot of German, which was mostly out of necessity.  I could do that again.  I really didn't speak with the Pestels much today, other than with Dörthe at lunch, but really felt welcomed by them and especially their congregation.  Also, the sermon was easier to understand, than the service at the Evangelical Bergkirche here in Ingelheim.  The train ride back was as uneventful as the train ride there, and though it cost me €31 to get there and back, it was entirely worth it.  Not only did I get to meet some cool people that Jim and Karla know, but I got to attend a worship service that was more of the style that I am used to in the U.S., and they even played a song in English, because the youth were in charge of worship today.  I can't remember the exact name, but it was David Crowder Bandesque, and had a very upbeat danceable rhythm to it.  It is pretty popular here, and I should really be able to remember it, but no matter.  It was nice, because it was very familiar, and I could really sing it out, in my native tongue.  Oh, and as I am going to bed, after having a wonderful chat with my family, who just brought Katie somewhere again today, I am watching an awesome movie about giant snakes and creatures out of 'Avatar' fighting the typical U.S. Army, mixed with a crazy ‚Lord of the Rings: Return of the King' last battle scene, where it looks like they are in Mordor, even though they were just in New York City, and holy crap there are two giant snakes fighting each other right now run-on sentence.  I'm sorry, did I say snakes?  I meant snakes without wings that can fly.  So far, this movie has combined 'Cloverfield', 'King Kong', 'Lord of the Rings', 'Avatar', 'Alien vs. Predator', the newish cartoon movie about the Norse/Viking kid who tames a dragon, and quite honestly I wouldn't be surprised if they threw in a bit from 'Juno' in the next couple of minutes.  Yes, that was a poorly made joke.  But seriously, this movie is amazing.  My final observation from today is that German TV-show producers don't pick convenient places in the action to place commercials.  They put them in the middle of whatever in the world they choose.  It's kind of nice, because now I know that they will be picking it up in the middle of an epic CGI fight, instead of wondering what that wistful look in an actor/actresses eyes means.  I really need to go to sleep now.