Greek nerd what?

It seems that I have become a Greek nerd.  The past two nights, as I have faded off to sleep, the thoughts in my head stop being English but turn into the sounds of the Greek language.  I wish that would mean that I hold the secret knowledge of the intricacies of Greek, which is not true.  But guess what? Two days into the course I could translate a sentence.  Then, when declensions and pronouns got involved, I totally lost all confidence that I could do this whole "read Greek" thing.  Many hours of studying later, I feel pretty good about my first week of class.  1/6 of the way done! :)  Though I've heard a rumor that there are 4 different past verb tenses......

I am starting to get the hang of the crazy winding, incredibly tiny Berkeley Hills streets and I feel quite proud that I no longer require a GPS and a few curse words to get anywhere nowadays.

My birthday (aka first day of Greek!) was absolutely splendid.  The PLTS students and staff that were on campus surprised me by singing to me in front of the whole class!  It was a very kind welcoming into the PLTS community.  I am enjoying comiserating with the 10 other students in the course; it is helpful to know that other people are studying and quizzing and want to give up right at the same times that I do.

My birthday dinner consisted of a night in of cooking two kinds of spaetzle: cheddar onion and swiss sauerkraut.  For those of you not hip to the German food world, spaetzle is a homemade noodle that is versatile because you can add anything to it and its instant delicious. :)  Making spaetzle reminds me of the lovely woman, Sophie Schmid, who taught me how to make it.  I remember crouching over a boiling pot and slicing little bits of dough into the pot, while thinking, "How the heck are these weird floating things going to taste good?" But oh, they are amazing.  My mother made her famous dark chocolate pound cake that is melt-in-your-mouth, fattening-your-waist-line delicious.

Berkeley continues to be a beauty.  These past days have been quite sunny up here in the Berkeley Hills; which isn't too helpful when one should be inside studying their second declension endings.  I was lucky enough to see a deer and her two fawns tonight just outside of the dorm.

I think back on how far I have come in this past year and wonder what lies in store for my faith these next months.  I've heard multiple times that the first year of seminary breaks your faith completely apart so that it can be built back up, stronger and more malleable.  I'm glad for the aspect of a building back up from the ruins, but I worry for the breaking down.  What lies in store for me during my first semester here?  The best I can do is be myself in every direction I take and trust that there is a greater plan for me.

I have heard from a few people so far that I have the Berkeley look about me.  If Berkeley means awesome, which I'm pretty sure it does, I'll take that compliment whole-heartedly. :D