Day 11 - In Perspective

I woke up on time and had a quick breakfast before walking to bus stop. This was not the same one as usual so I enjoyed walking through a different neighborhood. However, I did have to switch buses at a certain point and needed to ask someone in order to find other bus stop. The Christian Center, the church I was going to, was near an area called Nørrebro and I had to try to remember what the map looked like because the road names were hard to find (they're usually on the sides of buildings at street corners). I actually made it there on the first try and was surprised to see Marion just inside (another international student at DTU I met during introduction week). We followed sound of the music because we were a little late. The worship was similar to what I was used to and we even sang a couple songs I knew, but the congregation consisted of so many people from different nations which I really appreciated. This service was in English, but at other times there were also Danish, Thai, Filipino and Spanish services. New guests were welcomed and I filled out some of my info. Eventually Michael (a Danish pastor at the church) introduced a new series focused on Corinthians. He also talked about how we are still in danger today of making something other than Jesus Christ the focus of our life just as the Corinthian church had. It sounded like they have communion every first Sunday of the month so we shared the Lord's supper together later in the service. Overall it was a very good reminder for me to focus on Jesus and live for God's glory. After the service Jarrod (another international student at DTU from Canada) saw Marion and I and we talked as we left the sanctuary. There was free coffee and tea in another section of the building and this was naturally a popular place to congregate. I met many people involved with and in charge of the young adults group. I think I'll get more involved perhaps with the international young adults group and/or a men's small group. At some point someone suggested going to eat somewhere and after quite a while we decided to go to Kosk Kebab (one of the many kebab places nearby). I don't think I've ever had a kebab before, but my new friend Dmitri had plenty of experience (he was also one of the primary advocates for going to a kebab place) so I asked for a recommendation. As I expected it was a good choice. The restaurant was fairly busy and with a group of about 10 people we had to try to make ourselves small, but that was better for fellowship. After lunch (or perhaps dinner considering it was about 4pm) we went our separate ways and I went with part of the group towards my bus stop. I waited for a while and then asked the guy next to me if I was at the right bus stop (more than one route ran through the stop we were at). He checked on his phone and I was in the right place, but then a girl next to us mentioned there was something going on with a bunch of motorcycles. I hadn't realized until then that I had seen a lot of motorcycles pass and they were completely covering a nearby street where our buses had to come through. Gina, the girl who pointed out the motorcycles, happened to be from Texas and was an exchange student from Columbia University in NY. We both decided not to wait around for the elusive buses so she went to another bus stop and I took the train from the nearby station. I knew I needed to get off at another station and switch to a different train to get back to Herlev, but... I had some trouble. First I unintentionally explored the entire station which included the overhead metro track, the cafe, the 7-eleven, both side of the track I was just on and the other overhead track. When I finally got to the right track (the last one I went to) there seemed to be a problem with the train or track, but it was in Danish. At this point I had to go to the restroom so I forgot about the train and asked in the cafe about a restroom nearby. There was restroom just outside around the corner, but it was locked so I waited a few minutes to see if someone was using it, went back into the cafe and found out the 7-eleven across the tracks was in charge of unlocking it, climbed the stairs to cross the track, talked to the guy at the 7-eleven who unlocked it remotely, climbed back up the stairs and found the bathroom was still locked. Fortunately the guy from the 7-eleven could see me and came out side so the remote worked and then I was able to use the restroom. I was glad to have that problem solved, but I knew I still needed to figure out what was wrong with the train because I really didn't want to take a bus (at this point I was convinced trains were superior to buses). After waiting a little while at the right track I asked someone if he could interpret the Danish (but not quite in those exact words) and he said there was some problem, but the train should arrive soon. I was relieved when it did and enjoyed some time reading before reaching Herlev. The train station is about a 25-30 minute walk from my apartment so I went to one of the bus stops. With it being the weekend the buses don't run as frequently and it was going  to be a while before one of the buses came that I needed so I walked the rest of the way. I didn't mind though and I had plenty to think about after an already long day. When I came back I went over to Dang's room because the door was open and Stephen, who I met briefly yesterday, was there too. We talked for a while, but then suddenly my left contact slipped into the upper part of my eye and I had to excuse myself to go fish it out. After struggling a while I finally retrieved it and saw that it was almost completely torn in two. No wonder it was so painful (not to mention out of focus). Needless to say I wore glasses for the rest of the evening. I was still hungry so I went down to the kitchen and found Jokub (one of the Lithuanians I had met previously) and met Amalia from Athens, Greece. She was still trying to move in, but had first been given the wrong key and then I think because of miscommunication her room was occupied for one more day. And I thought I had trouble! I can remember coming to the apartment the first day and I don't know what I would have done if I had the wrong key or someone was living in my room. After I talked with her and she met some of the other guys she seemed to calm down a bit. One of the other Lithuanians happened to be the one who was still in her room and that was because she had been granted an extension. She worked as quickly as she could to move the final things out of her room and cleaned so Amalia could move in. I'm sure she was glad for that.