In a dream world of luxury, we toss around names like Mercedes, BMW, and Porsche. I have never been much of a car person and am very happy with a good old Ford. But here in Germany the Mercedes isn't a dream – it's the country's car. So it isn't unusual to see Mercedes and BMWs driving down the road. And BFA actually owns quite a few Mercedes now. I was in a bit of awe when I walked by my first one in the school parking lot but as we acquired more and more the awe turned to mundane awareness. So what's the connection between deer, a Mercedes Benz and groceries? No I didn't hit a deer with a super expensive car while shopping. I finally got to drive a Mercedes. I relished the thought and took a picture of the emblem before I took off.
The glamour of driving a fancy car brand is greatly diminished though when you realize it is a 9 passenger mini-van!
For the past week TeachBeyond (formerly Janz Team) has been running English camps for German teens. BFA's dorms empty out in at the beginning of June and in the middle of July they are packed with German teens. Churches from the States bring missions teams over to run the camps, supplying a director, counselors, a Bible speaker, teachers, cook, an activities coordinator and a few miscellaneous positions. There were three camps going this past week. In church on Sunday the overall coordinator asked for help with grocery shopping so the staff of the camps could keep focused on the kids. I volunteered.My assignment was to show up at the dorm Wittlingen to pick up a van and then report to the grocery store by 3:00 on Tuesday and Thursday. Witt (pronounced Vitt) joined our BFA dorm ranks after a long run as a restaurant-hotel known as the Hirschen (Deer).
The school had to repaint the side of the building to say Internat (dormitory) Hirschen because people driving through town would stop, thinking it was a gasthaus and wander into the dining room looking for a room for the night. The school also had to put up a sign on the front door that roughly says: "This is not a gasthaus, rooms, food and drinks cannot be found." The official name of the dorm is the Hirschen but no one at BFA calls it that – to us it Is Wittlingen, the name of the village.
So I drove to the deer, picked up a Mercedes and packed it with groceries. And not just groceries for a family of four but groceries for a camp of 40+ people. We loaded three vans this full while many Germans stood in the parking lot watching the show. You would think people in town are used to BFA doing big shopping! 
One fun thing about the camp I did the run for is that they are from Evansville, Indiana. So when I told them I was also Hoosier we chatted about back home. Their director and activities coordinator were former BFA teachers so I also had a chance to catch up with them.
