For those who might have missed the plan, I took the long route from America to New Zealand for a specific medical appointment. Sure I was happy to draw the lines around the trip to include the opening ceremonies last week, but the priority stop was to get this appointment with specialists at the facility that has done all my other major medical work. Yesterday I had a urologist stick a big long needle in my bladder which I thought would be routine since it was my third go at the procedure. However, when the kind nurses were trying to hook up the IV to put me to sleep, my first vein exploded, and it took another three tries before they could get me properly hooked up. That was where things began to change. I also met the second in charge urologist who was new to me - all my previous work has been done with the head of the department. She seemed nice, and she had a kind med school student who was observing as well. I slept through the rest of the actual procedure, and was my expected groggy self when I wheeled out, but when I cathed before bed, I found mostly blood rather than urine. [...]

I spent a final week in America soaking up all my favorite coffee shops - the photos above represent just four of the seven mandatory locations. Part of my cultural heritage as a PNW hipster is that I love good coffee, and I love spending time with people in coffee shops. It was my norm living in Portland, but I adjusted quickly when I moved to a tiny German town with no Longbottom, Insomnia, Bipartisan, Case Study, Black Rock, Ava's, or Dutch Bros. [...]

The internet is a wonderful thing in so many ways. I'm so grateful for this platform to keep people updated on my recovery and my ministry, and I'm really fortunate to have the technology that allows me to see my family members' faces regularly when I live overseas. There are still limitations, however, and the past two months of visits have been precious opportunities of "IRL" interactions off the internet. When I can hug my nephews in real life, it's a whole lot different than the flippant FaceTime goodbyes of a four year old. Sitting down on someone's couch to explain with all the nuance how proud I am of my student who's pursuing a degree in journalism with a detailed vision for how he wants to use his voice to use his privilege to advocate for others is so much more fulfilling that writing this sentence. [...]

Over the past few weeks, I've remembered that I actually have connections to a few relatively famous people, but it's made me rethink my assignment of fame. For example, I had the most amazing Sparky teachers ever - Keith and Gloria - and although Keith's dad is world famous, I'm way more excited about the dude who told me about Jesus every Thursday night. [...]

This was another full week for me which included some wonderful moments like mother-daughter bonding time downtown Colorado Springs at a place called Tattoo Demon, meeting some of my dad's coworkers, and my sister finding time in her super organized, busy life for coffee with me in my super disorganized, busy life. My life is anything but monotonous, and among the many cups of coffee and conversations through the past week, I've been challenged and encouraged. I've also had my usual insomnia flare up, and the chronic fatigue is wearing on me again after five weeks of shifting cities and beds.[...]

In case you didn't catch it the first five hundred times I've mentioned it, I love my job. I'm only leaving Germany because I have to, but I'm going to be intentional with how I use the year away to rest well and prepare for more years of what I love. In order to maximize the pause from teaching, I planned out my summer to allow me to attend a Sabbatical Orientation Workshop (SOW) at the Navigators during this past week. One of the recommendations the workshop website had was to bring along my sabbatical advisor. Fortunately, my amazing friend Shannon was able to come along with me to this workshop to learn with me about how I can best rest during my break from BFA. [...]

Ten years ago there was a writers' strike in Hollywood, and some talented people got bored and created the masterpiece released on YouTube known as "Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog." It's fabulous and worth the forty-five minutes in fifteen minute increments (or all at once). I belted out the soundtrack with my best friend for a couple hundred miles of Idaho highway this week, and there's some great wisdom hidden in the snarky lyrics. The antagonist, Captain Hammer, sings to a captive audience that maybe "you wonder what your part is 'cause you're homeless and depressed, but home is where your heart is, so you're real home's in your chest."[...]

If you thought my last post was a lot of craziness in my first two days Stateside, buckle up.

After I posted on the Fourth, I woke up bright and early on the fifth to projectile vomit on the King's guest room floor. I'm a fabulous houseguest. My body was overloaded with all the rich American treats, so I've been super careful not to indulge in too much each day since then. It wasn't how I wanted to start my day, but my amazing friend Jen got out of bed and cleaned up around me so I could go back to sleep for a few more hours and prepare for the rest of Anja's nonstop American west coast tour. [...]

My passport is from America, and that will always be part of my identity. Saturday felt strange this week as Korean and Swiss alumni helped me pack up the last of my belongings before I headed out Sunday morning for the long, long journey to my birth country. I said goodbye for now to my little apartment around 9am Sunday and got into the car with an excited German going on her first trip to America.[...]

After I posted last week's list, Caylie and I were lamenting all the great musicals I left off - like Dear Evan Hansen, Les Mis, Phantom of the Opera, and, most importantly, the musical episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Caylie was staying with me for a few days and helping me pack up a lot of stuff before leaving at the end of this week. We'd also planned to spend a good chunk of time while she was here with Buffy running in the background. She'd never seen it all the way through, and I felt strongly about fixing this. We made it through two and a half seasons, and she had the joy of listening to me sing along with "Once More with Feeling" - one of the greatest episodes of television ever made. Since I missed including it in last week's playlist, I decided a whole post on a song from that episode was in order. [...]