A Box of Sunshine

Today has been one of the best days of my entire German summer. I woke up to find that a care package from my family had arrived in the mail. The contents included four books (from Jackson's very own Nomad Bookhouse), a glad-ware full of delicious oatmeal-raisin cookies that my sister Andrea baked, and a very tasteful navy blue sweater-vest and birthday card, complements of my Grandma and Grandpa Gaydos.

Not to diminish any of the other care package contents, but I was especially excited about the new reading material. I grossly underestimated my need for reading material during a summer of independence (read: isolation). While my abundance in free-time has allowed for a lot of introspection, I can only handle so much. Here are the books that came in the care package:

Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver
The Ten Year Nap by Meg Wolitzer
The Exception To The Rulers by Amy Goodman (with David Goodman)
Africa on Six Wheels by Betty Levitov

I asked for the first two specifically, and the last two were complete surprises. While I want to save enough reading for my return travel, I hope to post some type of book review for Three Cups of Tea and The Ten Year Nap.

Whenever my family would do any type of traveling, I always remember stopping at my Grandma Berkemeier's house prior to departure and receiving a family care package. These packages would always be filled with treats and goodies, and were always called "Sunshine Boxes," as they always provided a little bit more sunshine for our travels. Today was definitely a day filled with sunshine. After nearly three weeks of overcast, cool, and rainy days, the weather here in Vechta finally came around. For the first time this summer, I was able to go swimming at a nearby lake and do some summer beach-reading.