Celebrating the XC Season

This Thursday, I had the privilege of hosting the BFA cross-country team for an end-of-the-season celebration dinner at my home. Since many of the runners are dorm students and are used to eating food catered from Sodexo every weekday evening, I thought it might be nice to change things up for them and cook a special homemade meal. Also, instead of bringing the food to the school and eating in the cafeteria, I thought that it would be nice to enjoy the warm and “homey” feeling of the Garni House.

  

After receiving approval from my roommates (when you live with six other women, it’s pretty important to get “house approval” before inviting 12 additional people for dinner…), I went ahead and invited the team. I was now left with two major decisions: what to cook and how much to cook! For any of you who have ever hosted dinner parties, you probably know that one of the biggest challenges is planning how much food to make. This decision can be particularly difficult when the majority of the party are hungry teenage athletes who have just gotten back from a long day at school.

The second big challenge is deciding what to cook. I wanted it to be something fairly easy, fairly inexpensive, fairly healthy, and super delicious, but I also wanted it to be something that all teenagers like to eat. So, of course, I fell back on the standard “go-to” dish easily found at any gathering of runners—pasta. However, instead of boring ‘ole spaghetti, I decided that I would mix up a batch of homemade baked ziti. I had to write home first for mom’s recipe. (Thanks Mom!)

With the culinary assistance of Michelle (Head Coach Hunter’s wife), I was able to whip up a stellar batch of cheesy, saucy, noodley goodness (much enjoyed by all the runners) as well as some tantalizing sides like salad, bread, and sautéed zucchini. Jesse (our awesome volunteer assistant coach and my running buddy here at BFA) brought a delicious chocolate cake…which ended up being a chocolate “lava” cake because of complications with our German oven. ;) Still tasted delicious, by the way.

Enjoying dinner!

During dinner, we went around the table and each of the runners and coaches took turns sharing their favorite memories of the season. In typical high school fashion, responses ranged anywhere from the sentimental (building strong friendships) to the practical (eating nachos at Taco Bell). At the conclusion of dinner, the runners gathered in the living room for a special end-of-season awards ceremony.

XC girls admiring the awards

Coach Hunter and I gave out three awards. The first two awards—the “Perseverance Award” for the ability to press on in the midst of challenges and the “MVP Award” for outstanding athleticism, leadership, and contribution to the team—were voted on by fellow team members. The third and final award—the Falcon Award for outstanding dedication, leadership, commitment, positive attitude, and Christ-like example—was solely the decision of the coaches.

XC guys also excited about the awards

 In addition to the awards, each team member also received their very own BFA XC team T-shirt. The back of the shirt was decorated with the exotic nicknames we had invented during the season, such as “Leaf Catcher Supreme, Sausenford, Sunshine, The Lost Boys, Captain, and Canadian Fairy.” There’s a story behind each of those names, I promise!

Yay! New T-shirts! :)

 Altogether it was an awesome time of fellowship and celebration. I am looking forward to next season and all the new adventures and memories that will come with it!

Racing at Home

Perhaps you remember from my last prayer letter how I talked about missing the fall season back in West Virginia. I missed the changing leaves, the blue skies, and the crisp cool air mixed with bright rays of October sunshine. I missed going for runs in the Arboretum, watching red and yellow leaves float leisurely down from the heavens to carpet the trail in a glorious cascade of fall colors. (Okay, so I admit to using a bit of hyperbole in this description, but when you are missing home, memories do tend to get exaggerated...)

For most of this year, the Kandern autumn has seemed so dreary and colorless to me. I felt trapped in a constant cycle of rain, mud, and green-brown drab. It is funny how feelings—homesickness, loneliness, doubt—can shape not only our moods, but also how we see the world around us. This week, God has been teaching me an important lesson about patience and waiting on him. He is teaching me to look for signs of his faithfulness through even times when I don’t always feel that he is near.

This Saturday, I received a special blessing from God. For some, it might have just seemed like a lovely day in October, but for me, it was a beautiful, tangible reminder of God’s love for me. He knew the aching in my heart to see blue skies, to feel the warm sunshine, and to see leaves begin to change color and decorate the trails with a blanket of red, yellow, and orange. He knew that I was missing memories of home in West Virginia. And so, God chose to give me a beautiful October Saturday—a day that can only be described as autumn at it’s absolute finest.

To add another layer of awesome to this story, this wonderful Saturday just so happened to be the same day that Black Forest Academy was hosting the HOME cross-country meet and our team’s FINAL meet of the season. What a perfect way to end the season!

As you can probably imagine, hosting a cross-country meet is not an easy task. In fact, the amount of planning and preparation involved can be mind-boggling at times. (Hosting a track meet is much worse, so I really shouldn’t complain too much!) However, thanks to hard work of our head coach and all the terrific volunteers from BFA (including 2 of my roomies, thanks guys!) we were able to get everything accomplished on time.

At 8:30 the morning of the race, Hunter (head coach) and I headed out onto to the trails. Our task, marking the kilometers and roping off the side trails in order to keep the local hikers from “wandering” onto our course (Yes, that was a German joke for my bilingual audience). In order to make sure that we finished our task in time, Hunter and I decided to travel the trail in opposite directions. He carried the sledge hammer and the kilometer makers and I took the mountain bike, red and white striped caution tape, a stapler from my office, and a collection of signs which read “Heute 11 bis 14 Uhr – Waldlauf. Bitte Sie der Weg freihalten.”

My task took longer than expected, considering the fact that I ran out of tape about halfway through the adventure and had to travel all the way back to the athletic van to find more. Even though it took a while, I loved the time to just be quiet, calm, and peaceful in the forest. It seemed strange that in about 2 hours the course would be bombarded with the footsteps of enthusiastic high school runners, but for now, the woods were just for me—quiet, serene, and filled with all the wonders of a fresh October morning.

I finally completed marking the trail at about 11:00am, right around the time when my BFA runners were supposed to arrive at the course. The other schools had already set up their camps and had headed out on the traditional “course preview”— basically a chance for runners to walk the course and get a feel for the turns, hills, and terrain. The girls race was set to take place at 12:30pm, so we still had a bit of time to relax before warm-ups.

So, of course, we took full advantage of our extra time to talk race strategy and… take a few goofy team photos. :)

Holding up our smallest team member

Hydrating before the race

After a warm-up jog, some drills, and a team prayer, my girls were ready to step up to the line. Hans Fung, the beloved academic dean of BFA, was the chosen to have the honor of firing the gun to start the race. So with a loud crack, a puff of smoke, and a big cheer for Team BFA, the girls headed out into the adventure of the forest in the fall.

Start of the girls' race

I think the sunshine and the smiles carried our team a long way today. Once again, our places and times may not have been stellar, but the memories were unforgettable. I'm so thankful for each and every one of my runners. :)

And thanks, God, for knowing exactly what I needed to bring me joy on this Saturday morning in Germany.

Enjoying the run with Jesse and Hanna!

Dinner at Wittlingen

This week, I had the privilege of dining as a guest at Witt dorm. A student from my journalism class invited me over to her dorm to share in the Wednesday night Korean meal. Since there is such a vast Korean population here at BFA, each of the dorms cater a Korean-style dinner once a week. The students always enjoy this special change in the menu. :)

After a long day of teaching and coaching, I piled into the “dinner van” with about 5 or 6 of the Witt girls who had stayed late after school. A 10-minute drive later, we arrived at doorstep of the dorm. I watched as the excited girls unloaded the two tubs of food from the back of the van and carried it eagerly towards the kitchen. My student was the perfect hostess, welcoming me into the dorm, taking my coat, showing me where I could leave my bag, and introducing me to all of her dorm sisters. After chatting for a few minutes in the living room, an announcement came over the loud speaker that it was time for dinner and “for all hungry girls to make their way to the dining room.”

My hostess led me into the dining area and we took a seat at one of the many tables. Since Witt used to be a hotel, there is a creative arrangement of seats and benches built right into the sides of the dining room wall. After taking a seat, my student was asked to introduce her guest to the rest of the dorm. I was greeted with cheers and loud banging on the tables—a Witt tradition used to welcome special guests.

At the conclusion of introductions, the dorm mom asked if one of the students would like to pray for the meal. My student immediately volunteered and even offered to pray in Korean. I love hearing people pray in other languages. Even though I can’t understand, it is so cool to know that God understands every word. With the guests introduced and the prayers said, it was now time to enjoy the food!

In the center of the dining room, there was a long table spread with the evening’s dinner selection. There was a huge pot of Korean white rice, two giant pans of Korean-style curry (yum!), and a large bowl of salad. At the end of the table, there was a tub of Korean pepper paste, which sort of looks like ground-up chili peppers. Normally, I would know better than to try anything that looks like ground-up chili peppers, but since my hostess insisted that I try it, I went ahead and put a dollop on the side of my plate.

About halfway through the meal, my student asked me if I was going to try the pepper paste. “Sure,” I responded somewhat tentatively, “can I just eat it plain?” She looked at me kind of funny and shook her head, “I don’t think you want to do that.” I decided to try my luck by dipping a curried potato in the paste. It was hot, but really not too hot. I have been working on building up my spice tolerance recently...so I guess my efforts must have paid off. However, I am sure that if you put a plate of traditional Korean kimchi before me, I probably wouldn’t have stood a chance.

After dinner, my student took me on a tour of the dorm. It was fun seeing the dorm from the “insider’s perspective.” It was so much more warm and inviting than from when I first visited the dorms back in August. Now that the girls have moved into Witt, there is laughter in the living room, typing in the computer room, and sounds of music in the practice rooms. There is even a tower of blankets and pillows in front of the big screen TV for Friday night movie parties.

One of my favorite parts of the tour was when my student began telling me about all the Witt traditions—like getting dropped in a bathtub of water on your birthday or lining the street and doing the “wave” to say farewell to departing guests. By just hearing these stories, I felt more connected to the culture and tradition of the dorm.

Regretfully, my visit was cut short as it was time for all dinner guests to return home. Student study hours were about to begin and these have to be kept a priority in a dorm of 24 high school students. Even though my visit wasn’t very long, I know that this will not be the last time that I spend an evening experiencing the dorm life here at BFA. :)

Adventures of Coach Lewis

I’m sitting on a charter bus, listening to the conversation, laughter, and musical stylings of about 30 BFA high school students. For this weekend’s athletic road trip, the 25 girls of the volleyball team joined with the 7 runners of the cross-country team (5 girls and 2 boys) to travel the Autobahn for a competition at the Bitburg Airforce Base (about 6.5 “bus hours” away from Kandern).

Bitburg High School

For me, this was my first time to ever coach/chaperone an overnight meet. Going into this adventure, I wasn’t overly concerned. As a former collegiate runner, I was used to the life of a traveling athlete—staying at comfortable hotels, eating at Italian restaurants, watching TV, and spending time with my teammates doing crossword puzzles in the lobby of the Hampton Inn. I mean, with memories like these, how difficult could an overnight trip be? Piece of cake, right? Wrong! Let’s just say, coaching an athletic team at BFA is not for the faint of heart. :)

In order to preserve the athletic budget for the entirety of the season, BFA opts to spend nights on the military bases. Regretfully, this does not mean on the plush white mattresses of the Hampton. Instead, staying at the base means staying at the high school, in the gymnasium, on the floor. (Or on a wrestling mat, if you’re really brave…)

Armed with Jesse’s yoga mat and Hunter’s extra sleeping bag, I too enjoyed a night’s rest(?) on the hard gym floor at Bitburg. Honestly, by the time we arrived at the base, had our passports checked, got the girls settled in the wrestling room and the boys settled in the open gym, brushed our teeth, and set up our sleeping bags, I was so utterly exhausted that I probably could have slept anywhere!

But just for future reference, don’t park your sleeping bag directly under a lighted exit sign. They’re quite bright and, as I found out the hard way, they don’t turn off at night.

German exit sign

Regardless of my lack of sleep quality, I woke up at 7am (five minutes before my alarm, as usual) bright-eyed, bushy-tailed, and ready to coach a fantastic day of cross-country running! We fed the kids a hearty breakfast of whole wheat English muffins, hard-boiled eggs (the Germans sell colored, hard-boiled Easter eggs year-round), peanut butter, granola bars, and bananas. Thankfully, we only had to pack enough food for the XC team. I think I would have been a little overwhelmed if I had to plan for an additional 25 volleyball players.

While the volleyball team left on the charter bus to play at a nearby base, we rode with some Bitburg parent volunteers over to the cross-country course. Nestled among rolling German hills, the Bitburg course meanders peacefully around a beautiful forest lake. Completely flat with smooth footing and beautiful scenery, this course promised to bring good tidings to the BFA cross-country team. The day was cool, crisp, and clear. The runners were healthy and injury-free and this was our last away meet of the season. I felt certain that we were going to snag a few more European qualifying times on such a beautiful morning. 

Beautiful XC Course

 The girls started their race in a blur of excitement and cheers. Since the course was basically one big loop around the lake, I knew that I would not be able to have too many “cheering/coaching” stations. Therefore, I worked out a plan to run the course backwards, meet them about half way to cheer, and then continue on to meet them at the finish line.

At the halfway point, the BFA team was looking strong. Some of my girls were actually smiling as they ran past me. I cheered loudly, as a proud coach should, and then tore off in the other direction, hoping to be able to beat the lead pack back to the finish line.   

I made it to the finish line with time to spare and stood there waiting in anticipation, hoping that each one of my girls might be having the race of her life…hoping that each one might run a European Championship qualifying time. I watched nervously as the numbers of my watch clicked closer and closer to the 25 minute mark, the cut-off for qualification. The first place girl, a runner from Wiesbaden, finished in around 21 minutes…next pack came in at 22 minutes, now 23 minutes…where were my BFA girls?

I watched in disappointment as the clock turned over 24:58, 24:59, 25:00. It was too late. The qualifying mark was gone and I hadn’t seen a single one of my girls. We would not be running at Europeans.

Finally, about a minute and a half later, I saw them. They were coming in strong and in a tighter pack then they had ever run been before. I watched as each of my girls crossed the line all within one minute of each other—a feat that they had never before accomplished. It was an exciting achievement, but I was still feeling frustrated as a coach. What good is it to finish together, if we all finish in the back of the pack? This not only loses races, but it also doesn't get any European qualifiers. Still holding onto my frustration, I walked over to find my team at the finish line.

What I saw next was beautiful. The BFA girls' team had all turned to face one another. They locked arms in a circle and hugged each other in a tight embrace, each girl laughing and smiling in the beauty of the moment. No, they hadn’t run phenomenal times. In fact, they weren’t even close to running their best times…but today, they had achieved a different type of goal. They were a team, they were united, and they had run entirely for one another. I watched them as they smiled and laughed together. I knew then that even if we didn’t qualify, it had still been a successful meet.

My wonderful XC girls, enjoying post-race french fries!