Picture reflections 2: Paris

This picture of Notre Dame brings up a lot of memories Paris from our first week of spending a year in Europe. I remember walking quickly from our hostel to get to Notre Dame early enough to beat the crowds and climb the tower. We didn't actually get there that early, but I remember the long walks we had in Paris (as we thought everything looked much shorter on the little map we had) and the tons of people. I remember thinking this square in front of the Catherdral was pretty crowded when we got there, and it would be difficult to get a good picture of the front without a lot of people in it. But we got a few good ones and got to see the brass marker in the paving from which all distances in France were once measured.
Looking at the building was also quite impressive. It's huge, but doesn't have that many large spaces, so it never looks large and bloated/bulky, but it looks very compact and intercate. Not only is there exquisite carving around the doors telling Biblical stories, but also the rosette windows are gorgeous. I remember looking at the building later from the river boat ride we took at night, and seeing it looming up next to the river with large towers and rosette windows in the dusky air- almost eerie. We did have quite a line to get up the tower, but that isn't at the forefront of my mind. I think about getting up to the balcony walk-way right below where the towers become distinct. Not only do you get a great view of the square and surroundings, but the carvings are great up there too. Old and worn gargoyles and rainspouts sticking out. And looking back over the Cathedral from there, you can see all the intricate work on the roofs and flying buttresses. I distinctly remember a statue of a bishop up there, looking over the city. We got an even better view when we climbed up to the top of the right tower. Walking around the edges you could see up and down the river and even more of the Catherdral. Rachel and I sat for a while in the sun shine at one of the corners and just digested life a little (and some apples). It was a very serene moment because there were only a handful of people up there at the time.
The Cathedral also reminds me of walking around later that night. We circled back to the small islands in the river that Notre Dame sits on, and ended up at the point of one of the islands, sitting and watching all the happenings of an evening in Paris. There are broad paved walkways along the river in most parts, and here, the walk way went right up to the river with no rail. We sat on a park bench and looked across the river at crowds of people at an outdoor market across the way. There were drums and vendors, and we thought that it was just great how many people were out and about in European cities at night.

Picture Reflections 1: Segovia, Spain

Many great memories come out from this picture of Michael and I in Segovia, Spain. The first memories will come from observations from the picture. Then I will talk about the town and how our travels were going.
First thing to observe is that Michael and I are both in the picture. Over our travels Michael became stellar at setting the camera up on a stone or wall, etc. so that both of us could be in the picture. This is a fine example of his great work.
Secondly, notice the backpacks. This is a day we were carrying everything on our backs all day long. Due to our limited budget and necessity of many trips, we didn't really use public transportation very often while site seeing. The wonderful warm sun was out this day, so it made the walking sometimes sweaty and tiring. But as you can see, we were enjoying the sites and Segovia.
Thirdly, there is an incredible aqueduct in the background. This was the first aqueduct that I had ever seen in person and the precise mathematical measurements and calculations astound me. I am very impressed at the work they were able to do with these massive stones and then to make it so precise.
Segovia was part of a short trip outside of Madrid about a week into our France and Spain tour. We did 'rough' it for the most part through these two weeks. We got the basic hostels and shared bathrooms, etc. But our hotel in Segovia was very nice. We had our own private bath and it was pretty with a great balcony. That evening we went searching for our typical sandwich dinning, but we were unable to find any restaurants with cheaper finger foods. We ended up splurging at a nice restaurant close to the hotel. It was a great dinner out. The we walked around this romantic Spanish town at dark. The aquiduct was lit up and as we were walking we looked down the hillside to see a bull fight. We could see in the stadium, although it was far. Finally we could tell the bull had died and the fight was over.
Shortly after this trip to Segovia, we had our first problem while traveling in France and Spain. We missed the train we were to take to Granada because of construction on our subway! Luckily we had Euro passes, but it took a lot of work to find an alternative route so that we could make our overnight train to Barcelona.
This was Michael's and my first time to really travel together and set up our own plans. We developed a great method of traveling throughout Europe and then we got some good experience throughout the rest of the year. We really can do Europe in under $50 a day per person including transportation, etc. That was important because then we could do more trips during our year in Slovakia. One of my favorite tricks is to find a great park in the city and find a grocery store. We buy cheese and bread and maybe Nutella. We sit in the park to eat dinner and enjoy all the people walking, skating, running, playing, walking dogs. And of course enjoy each other. Eating dinner in the parks is one of my favorite memories from our travels in Europe.

January and everything after

I didn't quite get the one update a month that I was hoping to do in January, so I'll try to fill in the blanks as I go this month. Picking up where we left off last, we had a good Christmas break. Family dinners were tasty and fun, and the week in Seattle was pretty relaxing. The weather wasn't too rainy and we spent a lot of time walking along the beach in front of the house Michael's parents were staying in, and doing other family Christmas traditions.

Some of the biggest news is that Michael started a new job about a month ago. He is working for a non-profit company called Docent Group that provides research for pastors. What this means is that Michael is basically a research assistant to a pastor, collecting useful background information and scholarly research for the pastor to think about as he prepares his weekly sermon. It's not too many hours a week and closely related to Michael's school work, so it is pretty ideal so far.

In other news, Michael has been cheering for the Bears for about the last 20 years, and they've been pretty horrible. Out of some freak cosmic accident, the Bears suddenly got good and ended up in the Super Bowl the very same year that the Tigers (Michael's other historically favorite but downtrodden team) went to the World Series. What a year! He was very grateful to be in the States this year to follow both during their fantastic seasons. But, unfortunately they both ended up the same way, not showing up with their best game when it counted the most. Oh well, there's always next year. And if that doesn't work, Michael's looking forward to 2026...

Finally, Rachel is making more progress in planning the mission trip to Guatemala. She is tracking down lots of her old contacts, and planning a well rounded trip that should involve a decent amount of Latino and Mayan culture in their special chaotic, Guatemalan mix. If you are interested in more of Rachel's thoughts about the trip and details, visit the New Wilmington Mission Conference website and view her Summer Service blog.

Most recently, this weekend we took one of our few "nights out on the town" in Pittsburgh so far. We went to a comedy club at one of the big Pittsburgh malls with some of Rachel's teacher friends. It was a lot of fun and nice for Michael to get to meet some of Rachel's co-workers. I doubt we'll ever do the comedy club thing again, but it was quite an experience to have. Hope everything is well with ya'll,
peace,
Michael and Rachel

Christmas Update!

Dear Friends and Family,

This is the year that we are finally getting around to sending out a Christmas letter update. Things are a lot different for us than they were last year at this time. We were in a little town in Slovakia, battling freezing weather and snow, and now we’re in Pittsburgh, PA, frolicking in the mild temperatures and green grass. But we were quite happy with our year in Slovakia.
It came with many challenges and many amazing experiences. Rachel and I enjoyed learning the Slovak language and navigating the new culture. While we didn’t become fluent, we got down the basics for grocery shopping and getting around… and we both got pretty comfortable with the European lifestyle of public transportation, local food stuffs, hiking, seeing ancient things all the time, and even taking it easy in the afternoon once in a while. Other challenges included learning the customs and expectations of the school at which we taught, budgeting our travel plans into a one year space, and communicating enough with family back home. Some of our greatest memories of the year include: traveling to ancient ruins in France and Spain (Notre Dame, Nimes, Segovia, Madrid) in August, going on a weekend retreat with our fellow teachers, hiking in the High Tatras, playing sports after school with fellow teachers, having family visit, and even riding our bikes to school. Overall we look back on our time in Slovakia fondly and miss the European lifestyle.

It’s great to be back home though, and we have enjoyed our months in Pittsburgh so far. The time has really flown by, but Rachel is almost done with her first semester of teaching at Shaler Area Middle School, and Michael is part-way into his second term studying at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. Rachel is having a great experience teaching with a very supportive and fun team of teachers. She loves the math she’s teaching and has mostly wonderful students. The hardest thing so far has been dealing with the over-involved parents. What a contrast from Cincinnati! When she’s not doing teaching work, Rachel is doing homework for her Education Masters degree classes. When she’s not doing that (or while she is), she’s watching the Steelers, running, baking, starting a workout group, or spending time with her groovy husband. On top of all of that, she’s also doing the planning for a summer trip to Guatemala. She’ll be leading a team of 8 college students for six weeks of learning and serving in the areas of Guatemala where Rachel used to live! She’s still working on many details and slow communications…

Michael is enjoying studying at seminary. He has already learned a lot, and is glad to get a chance to read a lot and hopefully put some of his ideas to use sometime soon. When he’s not studying for class, he’s cooking or cleaning, dreaming up big ideas, playing Ultimate Frisbee with friends, running with his lovely wife, or hanging out at the Lutheran University Center in the college area of Pittsburgh.

So far, highlights of this year in the states have been: being mission speakers at New Wilmington Mission Conference, seeing friends and family in Holland in August & December, going to Florida with the Dawson’s for Thanksgiving, going to a Pittsburgh Penguins hockey game for cheap, community dinners at the seminary (and the Mistletoe Mambo dance), starting a Bible study in English, and seeing some Wooster friends at Homecoming and other events. Over Christmas, we are going to spend some time with the Dawsons and then will fly out to Seattle to be with Michael’s parents and brother for a week. We hope that you have a merry, blessed, and peaceful Christmas, and that we will hear from you soon!
Love,
Michael and Rachel Ludwig