I have recently been working to create an online course to teach independent, self-directed language learning. It’ll be a big project and I hope to have it up and running by the end of April.
In order to cut my teeth on the whole idea of course creation I decided to make a smaller course first. This course, called Master Your Time, is all about getting more from your busy days.
It is a grey, windswept and cold day with intermittent flurries breaking forth here and there, not so gentle reminders that winter’s grip remains still. I’ve been hoping for spring, for a warming of days and a thawing of the ground, but it has not yet come.
Today we traveled over to our old town, Freeman, for the annual event that is Schmechfest. For a small town it is an amazing event, held on the Freeman Academy campus and featuring a yearly musical and the Schmechfest meal, a smorgasbord sampling of German Mennonite food. This year’s musical, Fiddler on the Roof, is once again being hailed as a masterpiece for a small town to put on.
One of the more important stops while taking in Schmechfest is at the German Sausage making presentation. Not only can you watch them pack intestines with sausage, you can pick up some the best tasting and freshest sausage around, you can get it for a really affordable price. In the same building you can get delicious sweets like New Years Cookies and Rosetts – you’ll just have to come down next year to see what those are.
The idea that a town the size of Freeman can put on such amazing musicals year after year is truly remarkable. There are few in the area who haven’t at one time or another been a part of a Schmechfest show. This year Fiddler is getting the rave reviews that all shows get. I was able to write the review for Cinderella a few years back – that was a fun challenge. While each years production does happen in a small town, the quality of the productions are far from small town.
Homemade jams, jellies and other good treats! image creditOne of the servers who helped feed nearly 1,000 people a night. image credit
Schmechfest means festival of tasting and this is one area that – for fifty five years now – Schmechfest really shines. There is so much food and so much of it is so good. I was able to serve coffee at the first evening’s meal and enjoyed seeing nearly 1,000 happy and well fed people eat family style.
Schmechfest happens over two consecutive weekends each spring. It will happen again next year, the third and fourth weekends in March.
In Turkey we enjoyed staying at pansyons – youth hostels of a sort that are widely available as you travel from town to town. These inexpensive hotels attract all sorts of budget travelers and are known more for their common rooms and shared kitchens than for their comfortable beds. And I suppose it is this focus on creating interactions that always attracted us to stay at pansyons. We’ve met people from all over the world traveling around Turkey and it always fun to hear stories and to learn a bit more about other countries.
Back in the U.S., travel has afforded us once again the pleasure and economy of camping. KOA’s seem to be our campground of choice as we get back into camping with our kids. On a recent road trip down to Arizona in February, it was too cold to camp and so we needed to most likely stay at a motel.
But I didn’t want to stay at some generic motel where everyone retreats to their room to watch TV. I wanted the pansyon experience. And so I began googling for youth hostels. I didn’t even know if a youth hostel would take us because we have kids but I thought it was worth a try.
The Route 66 Hostel
I found the Route 66 Hostel in Albuquerque and called to see if they had room for us. They had one family room and it was available. The price – $43.00 – was a lot cheaper than the many motels in the area and came without all the disturbing customer reviews. $60 for a hotel room seems likely to get you dirty sheets, a drug deal or two and front row seats to the fight that goes on in the neighboring room.
The Route 66 Hostel on the other hand was in an old two story home in the heart of historic old Albuquerque. The gentlemen at the front desk were both extremely helpful and friendly. The beds were comfortable, the room large, and the whole experience quite pleasant. Breakfast was included in the price though we had to make our own. We had toast and eggs enjoyed with coffee and orange juice. We did have to clean up our own dishes but that was done over conversation with a nice lady from Germany who was traveling around the southwest.
For the price, Route 66 Hostel was an immensely better experience than the average motel ever could have been. If you are ever passing through Albuquerque, be sure and stop in for a stay.
Last week we put out a bird feeder. I suppose we put up a bird feeder is a more apt description as this first feeder is a small, window mounted feeder that now hangs just above our kitchen table. So far the suction cups have held it well though we have not yet had any visitors. It takes time though I think our neighborhood will soon bring our feathered friends for a meal.
I have been putting up bird feeder since I was sixteen. I love the idea of having birds around and look forward to creating a thriving habitat for song birds in our yard. When the ground thaws I’ll put a post in for another feeder or two and then put out a birdbath as well.
For now, our window feeder – plus the handfuls of seed I throw out on the ground – will have to do. And we’ll continue to await the arrival of our first visitor.
We have now found ourselves moved into a new home. Our house sitting arrangement was an amazing blessing and served us well for the last six months but we are ready to begin settling a bit more.
We are renting for now. Perhaps we will buy this house and settle here for good . . . at least for now.
Settling for good sounds a little too presumptuous for us though we would like to settle for a while at least.
Our reading corner.
The new house is filled with memories as it was Consuelo’s grandparents house for the last fifteen years. This has been both a tremendous blessing – it really feels like home, and a bit more complicated – every change we make it a change to those same memories.
But it is good for now. With just two bedrooms the kids now have to share a room for the first time in a while. So far so good, but at some point in the future it would be nice to have another bedroom. The house hasn’t been updated in probably 20+ years and so there are a lot of little projects that all need to get taken care of if we buy it.
But we like it. It’s cozy and feels like a home we could grow into.
Seed Catalogues and Planning for our First Garden in Five Years.
One of the most exciting prospects of being back in the states is to be able to garden once again. I saw a great TED video yesterday and the speaker, Ron Finley said, “Growing your own food is like printing your own money.” That is of course just one of the benefits of gardening, but a big one.
I mostly love gardening for the chance to work with my hands and grow things but I’ve looked forward to it ever since we returned last summer. It is still below freezing here, but we both have the bug and have all of our seeds and our seed potatoes are on their way.
On another note, we checked out an interesting movie from the library yesterday called No Impact Man. The movie is a documentary fill sharing the story of a man, his wife and young child’s quest to live for one complete year in New York city with zero carbon footprint. It was an experiment to see what they could live without: no car, no elevator to get to their 9th floor apartment, eating only food grown within 150 miles of the city, no trash, no coffee and a lot more.
The film asks some interesting and no important questions and pushes the limits of what it means to live a sustainable, no impact life. I think there are a lot of great takeaways from the film and it has certainly given me much to think about. I certainly don’t agree with all the reasons behind what Colin Beaven does but I think there are more than a few lessons to learn from his experiment.
You can follow along with No Impact Man at his blog HERE.
[The link above to No Impact Man, the movie is an affiliate link.]
Here in southeast South Dakota, we are in a “blizzard watch.” Not sure if it will actually hit with the full fury that they’ve warned us about, but we have had a nice four inch snow to start our Sunday.
I’ve been AWOL from Cobbled Together lately. It’s been a busy few months and my need to cobble together an income has meant more time and mental energy has gone into places other than the creative outlet that is Cobbled Together.
I’ve been putting together a new resource for language learners, working with more clients as a language coach and am creating a new online course that I’ll feature at a very cool new platform called Udemy. The course is called Language Learning 101 and I’ll begin shooting the lectures next week.
On top of that we’ve begun packing in order to vacate the home we’ve been able to live in for the last six months and preparing to move into a new home at the end of the month. We are excited to get to a place we can call home for a while.
We ordered seeds for a garden and my wife and kids are talking seriously about raising some chickens for eggs in the back yard. I’m dreaming up ways to build that home office I’ve been thinking about for the last eight months. (after a chicken coop perhaps)
I’d like to build it completely (mostly completely) with second hand or natural materials. Strawbale has always been a dream of mine, but I’ve recently come across a new idea that excites me to no end. Building with shipping pallets.
Seriously!
A small guest house built with pallets. Image Credit
Malachi is pretty insistent on whatever structure I build having a living roof. Better insulation, cost savings and another place to grow strawberries are all part of his reasoning – and I agree.
I am going to create an email reminder to put a little more emphasis on writing more regularly – namely each Sunday if I can. Once a week, just for fun and a change of pace from all the language writing I do. We’ll see how it goes.
I just received a free copy of Jeff Shinabarger’s new book, More or Less: Choosing a Lifestyle of Excessive Generosity. My receiving it free highlights one of the true advantages of the digital age – advanced copies of books are virtually free to give away and help spread the word.
I am excited about the book. The endorsements and table of contents get me very excited. Living simply is a topic rich in the history of my personal journey and one that was put far back on the shelf when we lived in Turkey.
Now that we are working to settle back into life in the states, simplicity – living more with less – is a value I’d like to recapture and I am hopeful that this book will be part of that journey.
We’ve enjoyed nearly six months house sitting a grand home but will be moving into a new home at the end of the month. We are looking forward to getting into our place that we can take a bit more ownership over, even as we rent to begin with. We just today got a package in the mail filled with packets of heirloom seeds from Baker Creek Heirloom seeds.
Very Exciting.
[Sorry for the long intervals between posts. Life is a bit crazy and I’m working really hard to develop the business over at The Everyday Language Learner. I’ll try to be a bit more regular]
I’ve been thinking a whole lot about discipleship since returning from Turkey.
As I read through the scriptures and read the biographies of those heroes of the faith who we esteem I am haunted by the suspicion that perhaps we are missing something.
I’ve read again and again that passage we call the Great Commission and will share it here:
Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.
A few observations:
First, I am always stunned by the admission that some doubted.
Some Doubted!
Jesus is alive and some doubted. Out of the very men who walked with Jesus for three years and watched his crucifixion and then got to witness the resurrection – some doubted.
It seems pretty clear that God can handle a little doubt.
Second, Jesus gives them the command to go and make disciples and then a second part to that command – teach them to obey everything I have commanded you.
Okay. So going and making disciples is no longer optional. Jesus commanded it.
Third, Jesus didn’t say, “Go and make converts.” “Go and get people to say the sinners prayer.” “Go and invite people to your church.”
He said, “Go and make disciples.”
So now I am left to wrestle with that. Am I making disciples? And what does that mean?
I am still working through what exactly that means, reading the scriptures and praying and trying not to rationalize my way out of hard answers.
Cobbled Together 