Triple praise report!

Three good "praise the Lord" moments from the past 24 hours!

First one was, I had been worried about being able to print my boarding pass for my return flight from Paris, because I wasn't sure if the hostel would have decent computer access and I can only check in 72 hours before.  Last night I sent a message to one of the other students who just went to Paris.  I asked her how she did her boarding pass, and she said that the airline I'm taking, Germanwings (which is the low-budget division of Lufthansa), will print your pass for you at the ticket counter if you don't have it.  So phew! One less thing to worry about.

Second, I went to the chiropractor this morning and he cracked my back, which took a grand total of two minutes.  Muscles are still tight, but hopefully my rib cage is in alignment now and it will be better.  I can twist to both sides without pain now, so I think it helped.

After the chiropractor I went to run more errands.  (Amazing how much you can get done when you're out of the house by 8:30!)  Took the train downtown to the Rathaus to try and get an appointment for my residence permit.

So here's the quick back story on the residence permit:  If you're only staying one semester, it's recommended to use up your 90-day travel provision and then get the temporary permit so you don't have to pay the permanent residency fee.  I got to Hamburg on February 27, which gave me till May 27 to apply for the permit.  The school told us to wait till May to apply, when our 90 days were almost up.  However, I failed to realize how far in advance you have to make an appointment--usually at least a week--and I was traveling so much and so busy with school the first two weeks of May that I wasn't quite on top of it.  Marni wasn't either--she had to do a mad scramble to get hers done before she left for her Israel trip this past Sunday.  And I suddenly realized last week that if I didn't get the permit ASAP, I was going to be in Paris till May 28 and when I tried to re-enter Germany, they would see my passport stamp and know it was my 91st day in Europe and ask for a residence permit I didn't have.  I panicked and tried to go make an appointment on Friday before our field trip at the Kunsthalle, but the line was too long and I didn't have time to wait.  By the time our field trip was over, the office had closed for the weekend.  So I sent them an anxious "what will happen if I don't get this permit before I leave for Paris?" email.  Up until this morning there was no response.

Thus, I found myself going back downtown this morning to try and find out if I would be okay without the permit for an extra couple days.  The guy at the desk said the first available appointment was June 2 and that I would just have to try to talk my way out of it in Paris and tell them I was "scheduled" to get the permit.  I said "okay" and booked the appointment.  Not the most satisfactory situation, but at least I had an excuse this time.

I also went to Budni downtown and bought some bug spray.  I had another anxious moment yesterday when I started checking out reviews of the hostel I'm staying in and found that some people had recently gotten bed bugs or some other kind of bites while staying there, plus it supposedly has not-very-friendly staff and not-very-secure rooms.  Yikes!  It was too late to book a new hostel though, so I figured all I could do was plan to sleep with my iPod, phone, and passport on me and buy some Deet to wear to bed.  Again, not the most satisfactory solution, but better than nothing.  At least I won't be caught off guard if it's a poor-quality place . . . and I suppose there are worse things than sleeping with Deet on and all my stuff tucked under my pillow.  All part of the adventure, right?

Anyway, then I went to school and printed my list of "things to do in Paris" and my outgoing-flight boarding pass.  When I opened my email to find the boarding pass, lo and behold, there was an email from the lady at the Welcome Center!  She basically said: "Don't travel with your residence permit unfinished or there will be trouble!  You can have an appointment tomorrow at 11:30!  Be there!"

I have class tomorrow, but there was no way I was going to turn her down.  I sent an email back saying, "Yes, I'll be there!"  Talk about a close call--I got an appointment ONE DAY before I leave for my trip!  Double praise the Lord for that one!  

So of course, God came through for me once again!  He is amazing and so faithful!  I was trying my best not to freak out last night because I knew in the back of my mind that He would work it out, but in the moment I was super nervous.  But now it looks like it will be okay.  And even though I'm not quite sure how the hostel situation will turn out, I'm sure that since God already worked out the other stuff, He will watch over me at the hostel too--even if the bedbugs DO bite! (Which I'm praying they don't.)

Indra was making gnocchi for dinner, and she showed me her easy broccoli-pistachio recipe.  It was yummy!  I added Parmesan cheese for a topping.

Ladies' study was really good tonight too.  Ivanna just got back from Ukraine, so she wasn't able to come, and I think Elaine had to work, so it was only me, Rebecca, and Anja.  But even with just three of us it was awesome.  We read Philippians 4, which is such a good chapter, and then we prayed for a while.  Came away from it so encouraged, like I always do!

Today was warm and tonight was positively balmy!  It was one of those nights where you're walking home and you don't want to go inside because outside is the perfect temperature.  Sky didn't get fully dark until 11 pm.  Weird how long the days are--and we've still got a month to go until the longest day! I seriously think we have maximum 5 hours of complete darkness right now.  The sun keeps waking me up so early!  This morning I woke up and thought I had missed my alarm and it was already close to 8, but it was only 5.  I need thicker curtains on my windows . . . or I need to start wearing my eye mask to bed . . .