Into the wild blue yonder...

Well, we're on our way. In one hour, I will be officially leading my first travel program. "Leading" in the relative sense--I am responsible for the logistics: reservations, tour, payment, tipping, managing public and private transportation, making sure everyone gets everywhere on time... I am pumped. Let's do this!

I lucked out. This is a really fascinating group, diverse in everything from age (22-74!), to nationality (USA, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Bulgaria) to denomination (Lutheran, Episcopal, Quaker, Orthodox) to personality (a very mixed bag). This program is mainly a cross-cultural immersion, and the participants have been living in German host families for two weeks, and dealing with their own group dynamics as well. Yesterday we had an evaluation of the Wittenberg part of the program and I was astonished at the level of cross-cultural sensitivity they had gained. They said, "I learned an awareness of the other: I sometimes forget that my little world isn't the whole world... I want to work on being a welcoming presence to people who are new to a situation..." Many mentioned a newfound patience in communicating: "I learned to listen. I am not always going to be around people who can understand me easily... I learned to communicate despite a language barrier...there is something human that connects us all, regardless of language."

It is nice to know that our programs accomplish something in the lives of the participants. And I am glad that this group is inviting me into the community the have formed (well, not like they have any choice in the matter). Anyway, the upshot of this post is to remind you that I won't be making any substantive contributions to the blogging universe for the next week or so, here or elsewhere. And then I will be HOME!!!!