At our stree corner
Penzion JaS-Unlocking 3 doors before entering the apartment-somehow gives one more ownership:)
Thursday, October 25, 2012
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Surviving the Traveling Hulabaloo-for those of you who care to read a list of blessings and woes :)
Got a ride into Buffalo with some wonderful friends
Stayed at the Rectory that night-brought back memories from Teaching in Urban America
Another good Samaritan offered a ride to the airport
But-I told her the wrong airport-figured this out after the bus was a no-show
Met a lovely Canadian couple-the kind of people you meet and feel immediately at home with
Offered to take me to Pearson International
We went shopping before hand (things are cheaper in Buffalo!)
"Now border preparation: Do you have your passport? They might ask you how much money you have. And your flight itinerary? And we met at the airport...ok"
Got through smoothly!
Planes went well
Last one was cancelled
I was placed on flight that came in at 7
Realized my tracphone didn't work internationally (even with a SIM card?)
Flew to Frankfurt Germany before flying Prague.
Sat next to a nice old man that kept flirting in Dutch with the flight attendants
Their airplane food makes US food a joke.
Shopped a bit at Frankfurt airport-have really nice shops-their food is very much like czech, dark homeade breads, lots of pickled things in the salads, beer, rich cheeses etc
Got to prague!
I'd been through so many time zones I wa surprised it was dark
No one from Riverside was there
Bought plug adapters
They didn't fit my computer cord
Bought SIM card for cell
Still didn't work
Had no way of contacting anyone
Called the HS but no one was in at that time.
Didn't have the address to the apartment, only Riverside
Exhausted and emotionally fragile w/ no way of contacting anyone
11pm-grew up-spoke to the taxi booth lady
It was pretty late to get a hotel, but she had a friend....
Got me a taxi to Hotel Alexandra (hotel, converted to a hostel)
Taxi driver desperately trying to find the address she had written down
Meanwhile I'm getting nervous: dark alleys, couldn't read the road signs, shouldn't have mentioned it was my first time in prague
Finallly found the hotel!!!!
Everyone spoke Czech and they were all very nice.
Had my own small room with a bathroom and a small fridge.
Felt grown up and heroic.
All new smells-earthy-smoke-beer-sausage etc
Sat at the small bar and attempted socialization w/ a language barrier
Decided on a plan for next day
Went to bed
Woke up, refreshed.
They agreed to call the taxi service card I had to take me to Riverside
Taxi took me to the airport (the service jurisdiction didn't reach RIverside (no!-same predicament!)
Taxi driver agreed to take me farther anyway (yaaaay)
He knew spanish so we spoke in Spanish briefly :)
Receptionist was in!
Smooth from there-directed to the small apartment/room
Unpacked, settled in!
Finally accessed the internet and responded to my fellow worriers:)
All that to say I'm alive and well and God is good!
Stayed at the Rectory that night-brought back memories from Teaching in Urban America
Another good Samaritan offered a ride to the airport
But-I told her the wrong airport-figured this out after the bus was a no-show
Met a lovely Canadian couple-the kind of people you meet and feel immediately at home with
Offered to take me to Pearson International
We went shopping before hand (things are cheaper in Buffalo!)
"Now border preparation: Do you have your passport? They might ask you how much money you have. And your flight itinerary? And we met at the airport...ok"
Got through smoothly!
Planes went well
Last one was cancelled
I was placed on flight that came in at 7
Realized my tracphone didn't work internationally (even with a SIM card?)
Flew to Frankfurt Germany before flying Prague.
Sat next to a nice old man that kept flirting in Dutch with the flight attendants
Their airplane food makes US food a joke.
Shopped a bit at Frankfurt airport-have really nice shops-their food is very much like czech, dark homeade breads, lots of pickled things in the salads, beer, rich cheeses etc
Got to prague!
I'd been through so many time zones I wa surprised it was dark
No one from Riverside was there
Bought plug adapters
They didn't fit my computer cord
Bought SIM card for cell
Still didn't work
Had no way of contacting anyone
Called the HS but no one was in at that time.
Didn't have the address to the apartment, only Riverside
Exhausted and emotionally fragile w/ no way of contacting anyone
11pm-grew up-spoke to the taxi booth lady
It was pretty late to get a hotel, but she had a friend....
Got me a taxi to Hotel Alexandra (hotel, converted to a hostel)
Taxi driver desperately trying to find the address she had written down
Meanwhile I'm getting nervous: dark alleys, couldn't read the road signs, shouldn't have mentioned it was my first time in prague
Finallly found the hotel!!!!
Everyone spoke Czech and they were all very nice.
Had my own small room with a bathroom and a small fridge.
Felt grown up and heroic.
All new smells-earthy-smoke-beer-sausage etc
Sat at the small bar and attempted socialization w/ a language barrier
Decided on a plan for next day
Went to bed
Woke up, refreshed.
They agreed to call the taxi service card I had to take me to Riverside
Taxi took me to the airport (the service jurisdiction didn't reach RIverside (no!-same predicament!)
Taxi driver agreed to take me farther anyway (yaaaay)
He knew spanish so we spoke in Spanish briefly :)
Receptionist was in!
Smooth from there-directed to the small apartment/room
Unpacked, settled in!
Finally accessed the internet and responded to my fellow worriers:)
All that to say I'm alive and well and God is good!
Sunday, September 23, 2012
Aesthetics
Awww, the last meal I cooked at home:
Did I mention I love to travel? This picture reminds me of our girl's-night out in Tenerife.
When you don't have clothes to hang....
Some poems I hope to get published
Between the lines
You are sleeping
5 hours ahead me
And three thousand one hundred and seventy six
Miles
Stamped on my letter
Sent to the only address I could find
Unfolding the Atlantic Ocean
Memorizing every line
The coordinates of your irises
Tell me you are 53 degrees North
And 8 degrees West
It is 6:39 am
There
It is 1:39 am
Here
I stay up
Waiting for those scribbled lines
To fix the time zones in between
Until they are nothing more than a piece of pasta
On a plate we share
12am
A smoking cigarette would dangle from your fingers
If it weren't for the creosote stains on your lungs
The lungs of your grandfather
Who wont stop coughing despite
Every glass of sweet tea that touches his lips
The lips you kiss home from the mine
The taste of sweat and coal dust
Dusty children fishing in the creek
The sun beats down mercilessly
Their little tan bodies wearing
The clothes on the line that used to be white
White like the ceiling you stare up at
Collapsed on your bed after stripping
Strip-mining
The bare mountains that lay outside your window
Hidden in the night
The night that trains run through
Loaded with sparkling black coal
Blood and sweat
The debt generations have been paying
For these black diamonds
Diamonds that cut like the train tracks through every county
Counties filled with people made of thin invisible steel
Steal back the burnt out shells of past homes
Steal back the lives that lived within those walls
Steal back all the blood and breath
Steal back the sound of silence
Silence as the preacher reads of
Elisha's lips touched with a burning coal
The embers of all that was taken
Burning behind your closed eyelids
But you sleep
And the mountains survive
And the thin invisible steel stays
And the green trees grow again proud
Reaching once again for the sparkling black sky
You are sleeping
5 hours ahead me
And three thousand one hundred and seventy six
Miles
Stamped on my letter
Sent to the only address I could find
Unfolding the Atlantic Ocean
Memorizing every line
The coordinates of your irises
Tell me you are 53 degrees North
And 8 degrees West
It is 6:39 am
There
It is 1:39 am
Here
I stay up
Waiting for those scribbled lines
To fix the time zones in between
Until they are nothing more than a piece of pasta
On a plate we share
12am
A smoking cigarette would dangle from your fingers
If it weren't for the creosote stains on your lungs
The lungs of your grandfather
Who wont stop coughing despite
Every glass of sweet tea that touches his lips
The lips you kiss home from the mine
The taste of sweat and coal dust
Dusty children fishing in the creek
The sun beats down mercilessly
Their little tan bodies wearing
The clothes on the line that used to be white
White like the ceiling you stare up at
Collapsed on your bed after stripping
Strip-mining
The bare mountains that lay outside your window
Hidden in the night
The night that trains run through
Loaded with sparkling black coal
Blood and sweat
The debt generations have been paying
For these black diamonds
Diamonds that cut like the train tracks through every county
Counties filled with people made of thin invisible steel
Steal back the burnt out shells of past homes
Steal back the lives that lived within those walls
Steal back all the blood and breath
Steal back the sound of silence
Silence as the preacher reads of
Elisha's lips touched with a burning coal
The embers of all that was taken
Burning behind your closed eyelids
But you sleep
And the mountains survive
And the thin invisible steel stays
And the green trees grow again proud
Reaching once again for the sparkling black sky
A toast
To packing and unpacking.
To everyone who has written their first love letter
To those moments when your worst students suddenly care
To hours grading papers in coffee shops
To penny pinching and free meals.
To art galleries.
To Home-knit wool socks.
To phone calls home
And the last of the wild flowers
To everyone who has written their first love letter
To those moments when your worst students suddenly care
To hours grading papers in coffee shops
To penny pinching and free meals.
To art galleries.
To Home-knit wool socks.
To phone calls home
And the last of the wild flowers
Thursday, August 23, 2012
"So long. Farewell."
Of course this next post is going to be one of those delightfully cheesy ones where i wax poetic about all the wonderful memories. And seeing as I haven't kept you all updated in quite some time prepare for a long one ;)
To remember:
Sitting on the boatdock late at night...chatting, joking and talking about nothing at all.
Dancing around to crazy kids worship songs.
Those moments when your co-counselor shows up and saves your cabin from imminent death at your hands.
Wondering what is really in that "chicken."
Sitting up till 2am around the fire during camp out.
Praying with campers after the Jesus Walk.
Having life chats with Theranza.
Walking to Mr Twisties for the best Caremel Greek Frozen yogurt ever.
Standing by Niagra Falls and getting soaked by the mist.
Indian food! Jamaican food! Legit Chinese food!
Wondering aimlessly around the most massive Walmart I've ever seen.
Swimming in the pool-taught myself to dive!
Every single camper I was blessed to work with-drove me crazy at times but could also be my saving grace.
Those moments when a camper says something brilliant and hilarious.
Discovering random roads-that one stone cabin with the blue shutters-I could live there quite happily for some time.
Movie nights and dancing the Cotton-Eyed-Joe and chocolate muffins.
Watching my fellow staff members be Jesus to their campers, I was so blessed to get to know each one of them for however short a time.
AND NOW: headed home for 5 days and then off to college for Student Teaching-pray for the much needed and much procrastinated paper work to come through.
To remember:
Sitting on the boatdock late at night...chatting, joking and talking about nothing at all.
Dancing around to crazy kids worship songs.
Those moments when your co-counselor shows up and saves your cabin from imminent death at your hands.
Wondering what is really in that "chicken."
Sitting up till 2am around the fire during camp out.
Praying with campers after the Jesus Walk.
Having life chats with Theranza.
Walking to Mr Twisties for the best Caremel Greek Frozen yogurt ever.
Standing by Niagra Falls and getting soaked by the mist.
Indian food! Jamaican food! Legit Chinese food!
Wondering aimlessly around the most massive Walmart I've ever seen.
Swimming in the pool-taught myself to dive!
Every single camper I was blessed to work with-drove me crazy at times but could also be my saving grace.
Those moments when a camper says something brilliant and hilarious.
Discovering random roads-that one stone cabin with the blue shutters-I could live there quite happily for some time.
Movie nights and dancing the Cotton-Eyed-Joe and chocolate muffins.
Watching my fellow staff members be Jesus to their campers, I was so blessed to get to know each one of them for however short a time.
AND NOW: headed home for 5 days and then off to college for Student Teaching-pray for the much needed and much procrastinated paper work to come through.
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