My "mini-sabbatical" this past month was full and fulfilling. It began with an intense week of work on a project for my Doctor of Ministry degree, creating a 10-week curriculum on the topic of Christian Nationalism. After that, I was off to Germany, to lead the European Unitarian Universalist Spring Retreat in Saarbrücken.
Like most travels, we had our bumps and education. (I can now extoll the value of googling your hotel name and the phrase, "red light district.") I can also testify with renewed fervor about the importance of our English as a Second Language program as Tom and I wound up in a small town in Germany with a stopped train and the need to find a new route to our destination, while speaking no German. What a feeling of vulnerability! I'm in awe of the ESL students who have to navigate life in our area with a language barrier.
The experience of being in a retreat with Unitarian Universalists from all across Europe was powerful. The program was in English, but throughout the retreat, one would hear participants slip into the languages of where they lived - French, Italian, Dutch, German, and more. Most either came from very small UU fellowships or were "at large" members of the EUU, sustaining their faith on their own, and through these twice-a-year retreats.
After the retreat, it was on to Paris, via the ICE Train. A very different ICE than we are used to, it stands for InterCity Express. Traveling at 300 mph was delicious, and I'm madly jealous we don't have it here. We were in Paris for five days, our first time, and we did some of the traditional tourist things, like a nighttime cruise on the Seine, visiting the Musée d'Orsay, and picnics by the Eiffel Tower, and in Luxembourg Garden. (And of course, un café et un pain au chocolat every morning.) But for us, the most meaningful day was when we left Paris and went to the tiny town of Auvers-sur-Oise where Vincent Van Gogh spent the final and most prolific days of his life.
