Computer Problems

Hello Friends! It has been a really really long time. I would like to say that I AM SORRY about that! It has been one issue after another. My goal is to soon update you some current information. But here is a list of why I have been difficult to contact:

1. I turned my computer into the computer store on Dec. 31, 2009 to get the DVD player and sound fixed since it was under warranty. I did not get my computer back until Feb. 16, 2010.

2. After paying a lot of money, I found that all of my info. on my computer was lost. Luckily I had a external hard drive with most of the info. on it.

3. About the hard drive... before I sent my computer away it was on a 32 byte system and then the company upgraded it to at 64 byte system. My computer can no longer read my external hard drive. To switch over the info. I need to use the dorm office computer and put the info. onto a thumb drive. Then put the thumb drive into my computer to put the info. back onto my computer. After I have all of the info. back on my computer I should be able to reformat the external hard drive...hopefully.

4. On Wed. Feb. 10, 2010 my yahoo email address was hacked into and so was my facebook account. I have not been able to access either of them and they have been shut down. At this point I am trying to rebuild my contact information. Yahoo seems to be helping me with this! So that is good. If you got an email saying that my nephew in the UK needed a kidney transplant and I want to send him to China for medical care...THIS IS NOT TRUE! Please do NOT SEND ANY MONEY TO THE UK.

Thanks for understanding. Please email me at my new address: bonnie.spallinger@gmail.com

Soon, very soon I will give you some more info. about my life here at BFA!

the REAL Bonnie Spallinger

MEXICAN FOOD IN AMERICA

Many Americans take for granted the JOY of having Mexican food everywhere you turn and being able to get FREE chips and salsa with your meal. I however, have been deprived of that JOY in Germany. So one of my first trips home was to Banditos with my family.
Here are my two wonderful brothers, Steve and Caleb, with their "Big, Bad Burritos!" They were huge and this was the lunch menu!

Amy, my favorite sister-in-law, and I had more moderately sized portions...it was still a lot of food.

After filling our bellies with yummy Mexican food we had to take Julian on a helicopter ride. Since Steve is an Indiana State Trooper, the police helicopter is quite a draw for his little boy.

Alaskan LeAnn visits GERMANY!!!

My awesome friend...and former roommate, LeAnn Rees came all the way to Germany to visit me!! I mean sure she is spending her Christmas in Switzerland with friends, but she still came to visit me. We had just over 24 hours to hang out. So it was busy and it was right before all of the BFA students left so my Palmgarten girls got to meet LeAnn. She followed me around and said repeatedly to me, "Bonnie, I like your life." That is a pretty sweet compliment.
I took LeAnn to downtown Kandern on Thrusday. Every Thursday the people of Kandern have a Christmas celebration. The sell brats and gluwein (warm wine) in the Bloominplats (Kandern town square). Here LeAnn is with a large burning log. The Germans will sand near to keep warm in the December cold while they enjoy fellowship and food.

LeAnn and I enjoy the beautiful Hauptstrasse, Kander's main street. It is beautifully decorated with lights.

Ahhh the Euro Airport. This is a place where I come often. At the beginning and end of each term, I get to drive here and pick up or drop off students. It is called the Euro Airport since it is in Switzerland and France. I am on the French side right now.

LeAnn is loving her cultural experience and the fact that she can check off a couple more countries she has visited just by coming with me to the airport in Basel.

I had a joint run with 12 students going to the airport. I drove a van as did another dorm. Here is the end of the train of students taking their bags to fly home for Christmas. We had the middle eastern crew.

I also got to go into the airport just to make sure everyone was able to get out and that their bags were not too heavy to fly. Here brother and sister "D" and "K" wait patiently in line. They are flying to a "closed" country to see their parents.

After LeAnn and I dropped all of the students off we went to Freiburg, Germany for MEXICAN food....yummmmm. On the way there we stopped off at the Birkenstock store and found this lovely horse stature next to it! LeAnn and I have a tradition of posing next to random things. This tradition began on our New England road trip we took in Oct. 2007.

The Craziness of the LAST weekend at BFA!!

The busy weekend of December 11-13 began with Friday Night Ice Skating. We went to Weil um Rhein, Germany (almost into Switzerland and next to the Rhein River) to go to a indoor ice skating rink. Here is "E" enjoying her first time on the ice. She loved it and had a great time.

All of the dorm students and a few of the home students went ice skating...you might say we took over the rink. The disco ball with lights was a new element to ice skating.

Look at these cute RAs loving their time on the ice. This is Erin, CB, and Julie. (Yes that is Julie Thompson from Bluffton, Ohio!)

Julie and Amanda show off their ice skating skills. The are runners up for the Olympics! After an evening on the ice, we tucked the kids into bed for an early morning adventure in Frieburg, Germany. All of the dorm students jumped on the train in Schillingin for a day of shopping the Christmas markets.

Frieburg is a bigger city and has STARBUCKS..which all BFA people love. After getting shopped out, I went to get some coffee and hang out.

While I was at Starbucks, I became sort of the BFA home base. Many students and staff filtered through and I had my little spot where they could join me. Here "S" and "D" are enjoying their Cokes and chatting it up with me. We discussed what we were giving people, BFA, how they will be as seniors next year in Palmgarten and life in general.

When I was not talking to people I was enjoying my comfy chair, a toffee nut latte, and a good book. What could be better than that? After the shopping we went home and encouraged the students to study. The Palm girls were also invited to Les and Elva's house for Christmas goodies. Les and Elva were the dorm parents last year. They had a great night of games. While the girls were enjoying the party the dorm staff was cooking for the Sunday night Christmas Party!

On Sunday we had church like normal and then there was the BFA Christmas Concert. Here "S" is playing her cello. She does an amazing job and right now is the only cello player at BFA.

"D" also showed off her skills with her violin. They preformed wonderfully.

Here the choir is singing. The two girls with the Santa hats are Palm girls. Aren't they festive.
We all scurried home for our Palmgarten Christmas Party. It was filled with yummy food, good fellowship, and a awesome gift exchange.

These Christmas girls wait in eager anticipation for the food and the presents.

We also had a mom visiting from Spain. Here is Mrs. W with her daughter. The parents love seeing their kids and we loving have their parents here visiting.

Waiting, waiting, waiting. What could be under that tree. After some wonderful fellowship we enjoyed a time of being thankful for those in the Palm dorm family. All in all, it was a wonderful weekend. Now EXAM WEEK comes.

A Visit to an Old Friend in a OLD city

This weekend I was able to visit my roommate from college who is also an Avant missionary in Prague in the Czech Republic. Meet Deb Fox who is busy writing Christmas card to her supporters.

Deb's Czech friends love her posh apartment on the 10th floor. The view is amazing.

Deb and her roommate, Kelly, love looking out the window and seeing all of the apartments.
The apartments are a reminder of all of the people in Prague who need to meet Jesus Christ. Only 0.33% people in Prague are Believers in Jesus Christ.

This is a statue in downtown Prague called "Wenceslas" and it is not far away from where 2 people lit themselves on fire in protest to Communism. They died soon after. The Czech Republic was under Communist rule for 40 years.

Roommates reunited in Prague: Deb Fox and Bonnie Spallinger

Busy downtown Prague.

This is the most beautiful POST OFFICE I have ever been too. Look at the detailed paining around the windows. Debby is mailing her Christmas cards.

There are many store windows with wonderful displays, but this puppet display caught my eye.

I am in the Square. There are at least four different types of architecture here. This is the Church of Tyn. The two spires I am in front of represent male and female. The tower on the right is a bit larger and represents the male.
The beautiful clock, The Prague Astronomical Clock, was created by a man who was then blinded so that he could never create anything as beautiful. Rumor has it that shortly after being blinded, he had his assistant take him to the clock tower where he broke the clock and they could not fix it because he was blind.

More lovely spires in Old Town Square in Prague. This is St. Nicholas Church.

This is a stature of John Huss. He was martyred by the Catholic church because he wanted the common people to have access to the Bible.

This is the "Powder Tower" where the gun powder was stored away from the building next to it.

In the middle of Prague there were some Native American Indians from the USA preforming their traditional dances and songs. Deb says that the Czech people really like cowboys and Native Americans.

Deb is overlooking the city of Prague, a place in need.

We went to the castle and we saw Czech guards. There are not able to smile or laugh similar to the British guards. Deb told me I should plant a big kiss on him....but I was too chicken!

Here I am in front of the St. Vitus Cathedral in Prague. Isn't is amazing?

Prague's famous Christmas tree...with a guard to protect it?!?!

The view of Prague when walking down from the Prague Castle.

The grounds below the Castle.

Here I am on the St. Charles Bridge. It was a bit crowded, but we made it though.

December 5th is an important holiday, St. Nicholas Day, to the Czech people. St. Nicolas comes with his angles and and the devil. The children need to recite a poem for a piece of candy. The Czech people are mostly atheist, but they believe that baby Jesus brings gifts on Christmas day.

My wonderful hosts and fellow Avant missionaries on the Prague Team: Deb Fox and Kelly Dawson. What a great learning experience to see a Short-Cycle team in action.

Barbie Birthday Cake!!!

On November 16 "S" turned 17! All she wanted for her birthday was a Barbie Birthday Cake. I was a bit overwhelmed at the thought a creating a Barbie Doll cake...put perseverance and friends proved helpful. My small group leader, Jen, had the Pampered Chef 2 quart glass measuring cup that is also used as a Barbie cake...so while we met for small group I brought over the cake batter and we cooked the "skirt" part of the cake. Instead of taking 35 min. like it was suppose to it took an hour and a half to cook! But we did it!
Here is "S" with her beautiful cake. You can also see a smudge of nutella on her face from a nutella kiss from her dorm sisters.


Here is the other half of the cake so that everyone gets a piece of cake!


The final product!!! A Barbie Cake. I frosted it myself!!!! Isn't she beautiful! I am pretty proud of my cake decorating abilities.

Candy Land Christmas Banquet

Just a few of the Plam beauties.

Lizzy, myself, and "J" are ready for the evening.

These girls...are so beautiful!

"J" and "E" are beautful on the outside and inside.

Just a few of the beautiful Palm girls before they left the dorm.

"A" is a huge supporter of the Sevilla Soccer team (it is a Spanish team) and she always wears their flag when they play. "L" is looking great as always.

Look at these beautiful girls, "K" and "H". Both were excited for their evening out with their dates.

Here Luke the Dorm Dad gives "J" some wise words before the banquet.

Here Stephanie (Dorm Mom), myself and CB are ready to enjoy a fun filled evening.

Here is "K" with her date "H" for the Chrismtas Banquet. The theme was candy land and you can see the candy on the talbes and in the goblets with candy.

Some of the Palm girls sang "When Christmas Comes to Town" which is on the Polar Express soundtrack.

My friend and myself enjoyed the even as we watched the students preform. This is CB, myself, Katie and Amanda.