I'm walking on Sunshine

Well, I must've been under some sort of cloud yesterday because today was great! Work went really well. First off, Klas and Arkady were back! They seem to make everything better; probably because they don't speak Danish as their first language and they're just fun to be around. I heard a little about the craziness that was Rothskilde last week (the big music festival) and how many people, including them, are still recovering. As far as work goes, I relearned how to titrate today. Anders was my teacher. He's great. It's really hard for me to think of anything negative about the people I work with, except the language barrier. It's just an easy place to be besides that. Anyway, he was a patient and very clear teacher and told me I was an excellent student. Peter came over to ask what was going on and we had a laugh when Anders said he had a clever student. :-) Oh, another funny thing: 1 M NaOH is not "nice" so, when Esben came to watch the first titration he reminded us of this and I had to stop and "get safe." Gloves, goggles and a lab coat--I looked ridiculous. :-) Standard procedure but still kind of funny when the two men watching me work aren't wearing any of that.

Anywho, it was a great morning. Arkady came to get me for lunch and we met up with Klas only to realize it was raining outside. This wouldn't be a big deal if the canteen in our building were still open. However, being summer time, the only canteen open is across the train track in another Topsoe building. So here I'm standing with three grown men, one of whom does NOT want to go out in the rain, trying to decide if we're just going to go or if this shower will only last a few minutes. We're soon joined by another group of people and eventually Klas says he really doesn't care and heads out. Esben and I followed with Arkady telling us he hates us all--he was in all white, I'm sure you can understand. :-) We made it safe and sound and within a few minutes the rain stopped. Go figure, right? :-) Lunch was good. With two of them still recovering and the other two of us just being quiet there wasn't much talk. I'd already told Klas I am going to Sweden and we'd talked about Stockholm while waiting on the rain. After lunch it was back to work. Little work up, another titration, and a new reaction were all I had. Took some observations and did some flight searching for my trip to Munich. At the moment I'm afraid of where I'm going to stay. I hadn't quite thought that far ahead and, since at the moment I'm going alone, I'm not quite sure what to think. I'm hoping to gain some experience this weekend.

I left about 4, was home before 5, and took my computer outside. With our host gone, Yujie and I spent the whole evening downstairs. We made dinner together (SO GOOD!), ate too much, and just chilled with our computers and watching TV. I really can't tell you how nice that was. Granted, I'm still managing to not go to bed before 11 but it was still really nice.

My prayer requests for today: physical health, courage, trust, and patience. I seem to have a new physical complaint every week if not every day and here's this one: I think my wisdom teeth are moving because the back, right side of my mouth hurts and I accidentally hit it while brushing my teeth--bad idea. So if you would pray that they would stop moving until I got back to the States that would be great; but also pray that if they continue to move that the discomfort would not be great and I would endure it without complaining, something I rarely do. As for courage: everything here takes courage, and determination at that. Trust: that I would trust God knows what is best and that each new challenge and experience is preparing me for something in the future, good or hard. I've experienced so much already and there's still so much to learn and see and do. I really wish that many of my friends and definitely my family were here experiencing this with me. It wouldn't be the same though, if they were here. I wouldn't be crying about a doctor or feeling unsure about going site seeing by myself: I would have people to help me and to go with me. And finally patience: just as everything takes courage, so too does each day require patience. I must be patient with myself most of all. It is easy to be patient with other people but when you have high expectations, high goals for yourself and you fail, patience is the last thing on your mind. These are all very self-centered prayer requests, I know, but I do covet your prayers and appreciate them more than you can know. At my brother's most recent school concert they sang a song about "Somebody's praying me through." While I don't think about that very often I know it's true and so: thank you.

Have a wonderful day or night and until tomorrow,
Bekah