Now I say goodbye to you

I'm flying out to the Missionary Training Center in England in less than two days.

Am I nervous? No.
Stressed is much more accurate.

It doesn't help that much of today was spent buying last minute items. I realized it's kinda chilly over in England right now, so I had to get some tights. And then, when I went to put some things in my backpack for the flight, I discovered there was mold on it. Thank you, humidity, for killing my backpack. We've been through a lot together. I got it in tenth grade, and it's hauled not only high school binders and college textbooks, but it's helped me across the continent and the Atlantic several times.
Did you know it's really hard to find a decent backpack this time of year? I don't even want to talk about the several stores we had to go to in order to find one.

Guys, I have so much to do. I should not even be blogging. But somehow venting is calming me down. Yes, it is 2:00 AM. But it kinda just hit me how much I have to do TOMORROW.

At least my suitcase is packed.

I had planned to do much more last week, but then a man at church gave me a job for the week helping him organize and clean his home office/man cave.

Where did this month go? I had so many good intentions...

And my Darth Vader flash drive is still MIA. As are some other things. Bad things happen when I thoroughly clean my room.

I better get back to important things. Maybe even sleep. Hopefully some family member of mine will keep this blog up for me while I'm gone. Well, since missionaries are gradually gaining permission to blog and use Facebook, mission by mission, I might be on here sooner than later. Whatever. Until we meet again!

P.S. Here's the song for the title:

Nothing is real

Yesterday the strangest thing happened.
Not only did I go jogging, but my dad came with me. Both of us hate running with a fiery burning passion. We decided, though, last week that we should jog every other day. He's diabetic and so he should exercise, and I just want to lose weight. Like every other girl ever.

You may be thinking that this isn't so strange, BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE!

As we were getting ready to go, Kelsey, my littlest sister, asks if she can come along. I'm still in shock. She's in sixth grade and has to run a half a mile in PE almost every day. Every day she comes home all gross and sweaty and we ask her if she had to run. And every day she wrinkles up her nose and says yes. And now she wants to go running with us every night. I'm supremely weirded out. I tried to get her to run with me earlier this summer, since I knew she'd be in PE, but she backed out on me. Pansy.

I may be the world's worst at jogging, but I try. And now somehow this idea has caught a hold of the two other people in my family least likely to run. We're all horridly out of shape. Not fat, just not, well, trim. Just imagine the three of us stumbling down the road, gasping for air as if we had just been saved from drowning. If I had been a spectator, I would have just smiled at the pathetic effort.

Today, Kelsey and I were cleaning out the cabinet under the sink in our bathroom. You wouldn't believe the stuff we found down there... I digress. Anyways. She started asking me if we could go running. My mind is blown.
We'll see how long this trend lasts. I'll only be around for another 16 days, after all...

I also think it's ironic that earlier this summer, my headphones were broken and so jogging was even less fun. That was when I asked my sister to go jogging with me. Now that the headphones been replaced (thank goodness for warranties), I have jogging buddies.
That's life for ya.

It's all I can do to keep waiting for you

So ever since my date to report to the MTC was verschoben, I mean postponed, I've had to find stuff to fill my time. You're probably thinking I'm a pro at this by now, seeing as I've blogged about a couple of boring summers and managed to not go completely insane. There is a profound difference in my situation this time. I have no transportation. Ok, I have a bike, but to bike here is to risk being ran over by cars going about 50 mph (80 kph). Nope, we don't do sidewalks or bike paths. Super lame. Not that I'd have anywhere to go. All my friends now live at least 100 miles (160 km) away. Most of them live a couple thousand miles away.

Mondays or Tuesdays I take my dad to work so I can use his truck to buy groceries for the week.
I make dinner for the family several times a week, depending on mom's school schedule.
I help my sister with her math homework.
Once I even swept the garage.

I feel like I'm in Freaky Friday or something. I've turned into a stay-at-home mom without having kids.
I still wonder what stay-at-home moms do all day. I've wondered for years... Let's not get off on that tangent.

When the sister missionaries need me, I go out with them. I've gone finding/tracting, helped with lessons... I even went to a baptism last week. Maybe I'll blog about that later.

I try to prepare for my mission. I'm supposed to read the lessons in the Preach My Gospel missionary manual. It's slow work though, because once you read a section, there are a billion Bible and Book of Mormon verses to read, sometimes even whole chapters. I'm almost done with the first lesson.

I tried to do some genealogy. Those ancestors are trying very hard to stay in their hiding places deep within old record books.

My mom had me borrow dad's truck one day and go job hunting. That was pretty fruitless and frustrating. I almost had an interview at Kroger last week. It was a group interview, and as I was introducing myself to everybody, I mentioned that I would be serving a mission soon. The hiring guy then asked how soon and how long etc. and then said I should just leave. There would be no point in hiring me because by the time they trained me, I'd be gone. I'm just wondering how much training it takes to put groceries in a bag.

Too bad there's nothing more interesting to say. 22 days! AGAIN.

London Calling

Ok, so technically the call came from Preston, England, and not London. But hey, when else could I use that line?
I got my travel information in the mail yesterday. I should be going to the Missionary Training Center next week. I looked at the envelope, and noticed I'd be there for six weeks. Apparently they now have a six week course for people learning German. Um, guys, I'm not exactly a beginner when it comes to Deutsch. In my opinion, the class for natives would suit me better. I've had three years in high school, two in college, and a year in Germany.
So I sent the MTC people an email about that. They got back to me rather promptly, given the five-hour time difference. They sent me an email last night asking for my phone number so we could have a little German Exam. I replied about half an hour ago, saying that my mornings are free, and hopped in the shower. What I didn't know is that they were going to call me right after getting that email. I tried calling back, but my phone plan isn't good enough to call the UK.

~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ten minutes later
~~~~~~~~~~~~

I just got off the phone with the German teacher at the MTC and the coordinator. They got my explanatory email and called me right away.
They've decided I definitely don't need the language course. The teacher even said I sound like a German! *major confidence booster* The thing is, the native course doesn't start for another month. And there's one other sister missionary who will have to be by herself. They've had that before though, so it's not to be a major factor in my decision. I would like to have the extra month to get ready, study, and *hopefully* get some sort of employment. I think it's time to pray a lot. Thank goodness God answers prayers.

And bein' apart ain't easy

Sorry to get out of chronological order here, but I need to.
Yesterday we dropped my sister off at college.

I cried like a baby.

Ok, maybe not as loudly. Maybe as often as one, though. I cried more than our momma.
We've been nigh inseparable lately. Best buds.
My Grandpa also decided to come down Tuesday from Colorado. He'll be here until just before my mission. I'm the only one who doesn't have school or work in the day, so it falls to me to hang out with him. I also have a whole lot of stuff to do. Speaking of which... I ought to call about getting police clearance for my visa.

Yesterday she told us, "Hey, you're just losing one person, and I'm losing my whole family!" Excuse me! You will still be able to call and text and skype. In less than two weeks, my only contact will be email and snail mail.

I want my sister back.

Took my chances on a big jet plane

My next big adventure was not even a week after my Frankfurt trip.
The name of the game is Flying into Atlanta on Stand-By in Summer.
Anyone who's tried to fly with a Delta Buddy Pass knows what a joy it can be. On one hand, I saved a ton of money. On the other hand, well, you're about to hear about that.
It just so happens that the two closest Buddy Pass approved airports are about four hours away. And so instead of making me take the train, my host family decided it would just be easier for me to go with them to Frankfurt on a little church trip so that if I didn't get on a flight, I could still have some place to stay.

Day 1.
My sweet host family drove me to the Frankfurt Flughafen, about half an hour away from where we were. I got checked in, sent my two ever-so-slightly overweight suitcases to wherever they send them and went up to security. Nobody was optimistic about me making the flight. And when I got to the terminal, I saw why. When it was time to rebook for the next attempt at getting home, the lady at the desk was beyond pessimistic. I didn't stand a chance of getting home until mid-August. I could try for New York, but as I know nobody there whom I could call upon for shelter, I decided against it. So I called up my family and they came to my rescue (after a couple hours when they were done with whatever they were doing). Poor Dana had cried bitterly and inconsolably when they dropped me off. And so I got another day in Germany.

Day 2.
My host family did not have the time to drive me to the airport, so they stuck me on a train with my two HUGE suitcases, each weighing 52 pounds, my carry on, which probably weighed too much, and a backpack packed to nearly overflowing. So many people helped me! When I got to the train station at the airport, I found that all of the escalators were either off or not working. Great. So I lugged the suitcases one-by-one up half the stairs until some nice people helped. The situation at the gate wasn't any different. As I was waiting for my baggage, one of the workers gave me a hint: try Detroit.
So I left my baggage at the airport baggage place for a few Euros. I was already getting callouses and there was NO WAY I was going to lug those things across Frankfurt two more times.

Day 3.
Things were getting desperate. If I didn't get a flight by the end of the week, I'd have a whole new set of problems, like where to sleep for starts, and maybe even visa problems if it lasted too much longer.
I did try for Detroit, which looked as bad as the Atlanta flights, and did not get on. Then I counseled with the gate agent again. There was the New York flight, but it would be delayed. Well, when flights are delayed four hours, people tend to get angry and fly on other airlines. Hello empty seats! When they finally called my name to get on, I really did start crying tears of pure joy. All thirty-something of us buddy pass people got on, which is a miracle.
The delay meant that there would be no more connecting flights to Atlanta or anywhere else, though. I had to get from JFK to La Guardia for my morning connecting flight to DC. This is where I "slept" for a few hours. Turns out the luggage carts are more comfortable than the chairs behind said cart, where I first tried to sleep. Add jet lag, and BINGO. A nap. Sorta. Every time I finally fell asleep, some employee pushed a huge floor cleaner across the floor. The floor didn't look a bit better for it either.
I still wasn't home, but hey, at least I was finally in the proper country. That's the hardest part- getting across the pond.

Day 4: So I woke up waaay too early. We're talking hours before the place even opens. But I did make the wide-open flight to DC, where there are hourly flights to Atlanta. I didn't get on the first three or four flights. But then, lo and behold, there was a plane with an hour delay. I love delays. Delays get you where you need to go. At least on buddy passes, that is.

And so I arrived home, feeling as if I had accompanied Frodo to Mount Doom. Ok, that may be a bit of an exaggeration, but it sure felt like it took that long.

Happened just the other day...

Hello friends! Good news! My computer is finally working again! The bad news is that it totally and completely died along with everything on it, including my list of potential blog titles. I mean lyrics... And I have more than a month to catch up on- a month full of adventures. Oh man. This is going to be fun...
Not to mention I have a bunch of stuff to do right now that's way more important than blogging.
Frankfurt. I'm thinking this will be easier if I just post photos. Aight. Here goes Frankfurt.
So I carpooled to Frankfurt. The other people in the car were actually very nice- no creepers, crooks, criminals or anything of the sort. They were just some nice, normal people. I got to the Hauptbahnhof where I was greeted by four friends plus two I hadn't met yet. My four friends were now... officially two couples. Ary introduced me to her friend, Anna, who was visiting from Alaska, and Jeanette introduced me to her sister. And I said "Hi! I'm still Shelby and I'm... still single." They all just kinda laughed. Let's just say that Anna and I were very grateful for each other's presence, or else there would have been a whole lot of third-wheeling and occasional fifth-wheeling.
I'll spare you the minutia and cut straight to the exciting things- otherwise known as a choice selection of pictures from the trip.

The Main

Altstadt

This escalator went up about five floors. 

A skyline! Basically the only one in Germany.

This was outside. Beats me why balloons aren't allowed.

Inside the Dom (cathedral)

Some couples fun... I shall refrain from further comments.

Burg Münzenberg. It's been deserted for about 400 years. 

I've been waiting since childhood to see something like this.

A rebuilt Roman Fortress! How cool is that?!?

Standing on the Limes- the German version of Hadrian's Wall.

Currywurst. One of my favorite things.

Botanical Gardens

Kaiser Wilhelm 'stache

The craziest fishies ever. Just look at their mouths!

Goin' Home