Leavenworth, WA

This afternoon Brittany, Jody, and I went to Leavenworth, WA (or "the Gatlinburg of the Northwest", as I like to call it). It's a small Bavarian village in the Cascades that is popular during the holiday season. Today, it was covered in snow and ice which made for an interesting time. (Note to self: Never try to drive down a hill covered in ice again.)

We ate supper at a small place that converts into a wedding chapel. Even though I ate a mini-pizza that I could have made for myself at home, the owner and her daughter were really nice. I have a feeling that when I go back to Leavenworth I'll be going back to their diner just because it made me feel so relaxed.

Another highlight of the night was talking to the men that were going to play the shepherds for the living nativity. We happened to meet them while warming up at one of the firepits that they have at random places in town. It was great to feel the instant bond that Christians have when they meet.

Culture Shock

So, I had my (almost) weekly one-on-one meeting with my supervisor today. He reminded me that I'm almost 25% done with my time in Seattle. On the outside, I'm sure I looked somewhat calm. On the inside, I was saying "Eek! It's feels like I've been here for a couple months at the most. Where did the time go?"
I've learned a few things since I moved to Seattle:
1. There's no point in messing with my hair in the morning if I know that it's going to rain.
2. Getting lost is the only true way to learn a city.
3. Coffee is the new water (at least in Seattle).
4. Living in the city is like being alone in a crowd. Good friends are hard to come by.
5. Being a Jesus-follower on the west coast is neither easy nor popular.
6. As Donald Miller put it so aptly, "It's interesting how you sometimes have to leave home before you can ask difficult questions, how the questions never come up in the room you grew up in, in the town in which you were born. It's funny how you can't ask difficult questions in a familiar place, how you have to stand back a few feet and see things in a new way before you realize that nothing that is happening to you is normal."

I'm leaving Seattle on Monday to go home for Christmas. Am I going to experience reverse culture shock?