Ode to a Board Game

I can't believe it's taking me this long to finish recapping my trip to Europe, almost a year-long process. It's like school is busy or something! It's great to look back and remember a fabulous summer, although I think the details are slipping me a bit.

Being the nerds that we are, upon discovering a board game that my sister and I like to play called Carcasonne, was based on an actual place in France, we had to go there. I don't feel like explaining the game right now, but it's based on a medieval city in the south of France, and it turns out this place has a pretty interesting history. We (and by "we" I really mean "I") made a bit of a travel oops on the way to Carcasonne - rookie mistake I guess. With most of the places we went, I didn't need a reservation for the train because I had a global Eurail pass. Apparently France is different. Catherine had her own ticket, so I just sat beside her and figured I'd stay there until someone else claimed the seat as their's, in which case I'd find another vacant one. I happened to slip over to use the washroom just at the time the ticket-checker was checking tickets, so my pass didn't get checked. Later along the trip, some guys came on the train with tickets for where I was sitting, so I just got up and went into a dining car to find an empty seat. It was there that a ticket checker came to check my ticket and started yelling at me in French, speaking really fast. My French is not so good anymore. I can still read it pretty well, but having a conversation is a lot harder. Anyways, turns out you need to buy a reservation on all French trains even with a train pass. Oops.

Carcasonne

Carcasonne is an old fortified medieval city in the south of France. We only spent a day here, but were able to explore the city and eat some delicious French food. We also met a teacher from England there travelling by herself, so she joined us for this part of our trip. We all stayed at a tiny hostel about 20 minutes outside of the city (the closer ones were super expensive), and so the hostel owners gave us rides to and from the city and train station for a small fee. The hostel was converted from an old castle. It was really small, had a narrow, slanted staircase, and a bit of an ominous look about it, but they also had cheap sangria, so we enjoyed a good nightcap each night.

In the city of Carcasonne, they had a jousting show, which I thought was going to be lame. It wasn't cheap, so I reluctantly went with Cath and our English friend because they really wanted to go. It was AWESOME! Well worth it! They made it really authentic (as far as I know) and it wasn't as fake looking as I expected. The guys were super talented on their horses, doing different stunts. The dialogue was all in French, but you could still kind of understand what was going on for the most part. Very cool. If you are as crazy and nerdy as us to visit this place, go to the jousting show. It is not lame :).

This is a cool place to check out, but one full day was definitely enough time here. I don't know what else we would have done here. We are a bit fast-paced, especially with museums, but I think 2 days would be plenty to see everything, even if you're slower.

See you in Paris!

Mexicali 2012

I was so blessed to be able to go with Fleetwood CRC to Mexicali, Mexico again this year, for the most unique Mexicali trip of my life (out of the 4 times I've gone). I got to be part of Peter Neumann's worship team leading worship for about 1200 people in a dirt field in Mexico. It was one of the most amazing experiences of my life.

Check out the blog on Peter Neumann's page to see what we were up to. A bunch of the photos were taken by me, including the crowd shots when I wasn't playing.

God is good, all the time!

Cinque Terre

We have finally made it (slowly due to intense busy-ness of life) to one of my absolute favourite places in Europe!

We took the train from Rome up to the north coast of Italy, close to the south of France, to visit yet another UNESCO World Heritage Site, Cinque Terre. Cinque Terre is a series of 5 villages on the Italian Riviera that run along the Mediterranean Sea. They are pretty remote and there are massive cliffs surrounding them, so a pathway was constructed so that goods can be passed from village to village. To get from one end of the Cinque Terre to the other is about 10km. I don't remember exactly how long it took us, but we also stopped in each village for a dip in the sea. Several hours for sure. There's a train you can take from village to village if you don't want to hike, but Cath and I are always up for outdoor adventures, especially when we can save a bit of money that way.

There are not a lot of cheap places to stay in the area, but we managed to find a campsite at a village not too far away that had these little canvas cabins. Our was just a wood floor and 2 beds and there were bathroom and shower facilities on site as well, so it worked out great for us.

Our aunt had been in Italy not long before us and she had gone to the Cinqu Terre. We perused through some of her pictures on facebook, which gave us the wrong impression of what it's really like. I know now that my aunt opted to take the train from village to village. She was dressed all nice and wasn't all sweaty. We were definitely shocked when we saw what we were up against. There's something to be said about mental preparation when doing physical tasks.

Anyways, Cath and I both put on our swimsuits and just shorts and a t-shirt overtop. Cath decided to wear her hiking boots, partly because her sandals were not great for walking, but I chose to wear my birks. Let me also mention now that it was the beginning of August now and HOT outside. When we got to the trailhead, we had to pay at a booth to walk the trail - a small fee mainly for maintenance of the trail. There were signs all around the booth that if you weren't wearing good shoes, they won't let you go. My sandals were good enough, but they warned us to be careful. Immediately, we head into a steep descent up to the top of a cliff. The pathways were narrow and dusty along the edge of a cliff, and then sun was beating down on us already early in the morning. 

We did the hike backwards, so we started with the longest distance between towns first. We figured that way when we're tired in the heat of the day, the worst would already be over. By the time we reached the first town, we were ready for a swim and some lunch, so we had lunch on the beach and cooled off in the Mediterranean. 

Houses along the water where we had lunch

The heat was intense! We downed our large water bottles quickly. The views were incredible! This is one of the most gorgeous places I have EVER been. I would love to go back. As the day went on, I was feeling more and more fatigued, hot, and my head started hurting. Cath asked me if I wanted to take the train for the rest, but I didn't want to give up, and we had to finish what we started, so I fought through it. By the time we made it to "lovers lane" in the last village, I was ready to collapse. Heat stroke had taken over my body and I felt awful! I was pissed - we wanted to have a nice Italian dinner on our last night in Italy, but I didn't feel like eating anything.

We ended up going back to the campsite with some crackers and 7-up, and Cath went out to spend the evening watching the sun set on the Mediterranean, while I slept in the canvas tent. 

In spite of it all, this place was fantastic. I highly recommend taking the hike rather than the train, but be prepared for a good workout - it's no walk in the park, and the heat of summer doesn't help. Take time in each village to explore a bit and enjoy the refreshing blue waters of the Mediterranean. Make sure you wear good shoes! This doesn't exactly capture the steepness of the trails, but gives you an idea of what it's like.

There was a wall along the last path - "lover's lane" - where people wrote little messages, and we came across this little gem...

When in Rome...

The past few weeks have been crazy busy, so now I finally have time to continue my journey of blogging my Europe trip.

Colosseum by Day...

We have finally made it to Rome! We only planned to spend 3 days there, hit up the main sites, and move on, for several reasons. First, Rome is expensive, and this trip was intended not to break the bank. Second, Rome is HOT! in the summer, and me and extreme heat don't always see eye to eye. Third, Rome is crowded with tourists in the Summer. Although we would be considered tourists, I like to believe Cath and I are a different kind of tourist. Tourists drive me crazy! We like to go off the beaten track and try to live like the Romans do, but that's hard to do when the streets are crowded with photo-crazy groups of people.

Colosseum by Night...

We didn't realize how long it would take us to get from Croatia to Rome, so we ended up losing a day from travelling. We took a ferry from Dubrovnik Croatia to Bari Italy, and then had to run from the ferry terminal, grab a cab, and race to the train station to catch our overnight train (which we didn't have reservations for yet). It felt just like The Amazing Race! We made sure to be at the front of the line of ferry passengers and ran off that ferry with our backpacks as soon as the ferry employees would let us.

It was in Bari that we ran into our first issues with all the financial crises going on in Europe. Roads were blocked off by police, and journalists with camera crews were everywhere. Our cab had to take the long way around to get us to the train station. We managed to get on the train just in time before it left. Our train was just a small cabin with seats that reclined a little bit, so it was a bit of an uncomfortable night. Plus, there was one of the most smelliest men ever in our cabin. Cath and I both had to cover our faces with sweaters to muffle the smell. Ugh!!

We arrived in Rome at 6am, then went straight to the hostel we had booked to get a bit of sleep. There was a little drama involved in this that was frustrating, but it would take a while to tell the story, which is more annoying than interesting anyways :). We slept for a few hours, took showers, then went out to explore a bit.

With only 2 full days in Rome, we saw the main sites like the Colosseum, the Forum, and the Vatican City, the Spanish Steps, the Trevi Fountain, and our usual wandering the streets. We also made sure to get our fill of Italian eats and delicious Gelato!! Yumm!!

Pizza!

The only thing we didn't get to see that we had hoped to was the Catacombs, but there is a reason for that which I will get to...right now. Since Rome is hot in the summer, we were recommended by someone to check out the Catacombs in the afternoon at the heat of the day. We figured that was a good idea, so on our second afternoon in Rome we jumped on the subway and attempted to navigate our way there. Here's the problem. The subway line that would get us closest was closed that day, so we picked the next closest subway line. Our subway map however did not have streets on it, so we had to combine the subway map with another map we had of the city. The problem with this other map was that the catacombs were not clearly on it, actually I don't think they were even on the map, and the map only had main streets. It was intended for tourists who would go to the main sites and stick to main areas, but we are wanderers. Anyways, we ended up getting hopelessly lost because none of the streets were on our map. We walked for so long and couldn't find it. We ended up going into a local hair salon to ask for directions, and they pointed us where to go. We ended up close, we knew we were close because we saw a group of Asian tourists, but we were too late, they were already closed. So we ended up just going all the way back to the subway and returning to the main part of the city. The one good thing that came out of this excursion, besides character, was the best gelato we have ever had. The gelato places in the tourist centers make it to be more like ice cream, but this place was in a random neighbourhood and its gelato was legit. It was made with real fruit and they had so many delicious flavours. Fantastic!

 The Vatican City was another good story. I'll keep it short since this is getting long. A lot of vendors try to sell tours of the Vatican  and St. Peter's Basilica. They all claim to give the best rates and have the best guides with the best English and that you can skip the 2-hour long lines. We're not much of tour people since we like to go at a faster pace than large groups and we don't like being stuffed with historical information about everything. If we want to know something, we'll look it up for ourselves. Anyways, I used it as an opportunity to barter a little bit. The first tour said they would charge 40 Euro. After talking to several others to see if they could beat each other's prices, I talked someone down to 20 Euro. When I tried to get it even lower, one girl got angry at me and stormed off. So, word of advice, if you want a tour of the Vatican, don't settle for anything more than 20 Euro. They're ripping you off for more commission. But, to save even more, don't take a tour. The line-ups were not 2 hours long. I think the longest we waited was 30 minutes, at the peak time in season.

Next we head off to one of the most beautiful places I have ever been, and one of my new favourite places in Europe...Cinque Terre, Italy!

Journeying On

"Let the treasures of the trial

Form within me as I go
And at the end of this long passage
Let me leave them at Your throne

 May this journey bring a blessing

May I rise on wings of faith
At the end of my heart's testing
With Your likeness let me wake"

It's that time of year again. Time to reflect on the past year, contemplating what went well and what we wish could have gone better. Time to anticipate the future with excitement and wonder at what the coming year will bring. Time to appreciate the present for what it is, and to use our time well. 

2011 has been a big year for me. Looking back on it brings a lot of joy, but it also brings much sorrow. Through all the highs and the lows in the journey of 2011, God has been walking alongside me, guiding me through the tempests, and blessing me with once-in-a-lifetime opportunities.

The year started with applications to grad schools for worship music. Actually I only ended up sending in one application for a program suited mostly to what I was looking for - at Calvin Seminary of all places. Never would have thought I'd end up there. There were a few hiccups along the way with parts of my application missing, and worries of not receiving financial aid, but everything has fallen into place and I'm enjoying my time in Grand Rapids so far. Not necessarily the classes always :) but I'm having fun, which is the most important part, right?

In February, I was in a car accident and totaled my first car. A lady in a minivan ran a stop sign in the snow, so it wasn't my fault, but the damage was bad enough that the car wasn't worth fixing, so it was replaced with a satisfactory cheque from ICBC. Two days later, my uncle was in a serious head-on collision with a truck, which put my small accident into perspective. God protected him and it's a miracle he's still alive. It's even more miraculous that he's walking and has no brain damage. It has been a long year and long recovery, but things are starting to look up.

I finished my degree officially in April, but ended with a coop job anyways, so the school work was done last August. I was able to have my first cap and gown experience at SFU and graduated in June. Before this happened though, another tragedy struck, and a friend, coworker, and classmate (all one person) committed suicide just before his final exams. As part of my grieving process, I found release in donating my hair to make wigs for cancer patients. It was something I've always wanted to do and I was able to cross it off the bucket list. I did it as well in support of a friend who had lost her mom that past November. She had shaved her head for donation, but I was not bold enough to do that. I had enough to give 10 inches and still have some left for me. After that whole experience, it felt like a weight had been lifted off of me, and now every time I think of haircuts, I remember Wakhile and Caitlin.

Ever since traveling to Europe in grade 12 with the school, I have wanted to go back and do things my own way. I found out in that trip that I'm not much of a tour person. I'd rather plan my own holiday and do the things I want to do and have my own adventures without someone telling me when I have to go to this museum or explore that old building. I love The Amazing Race, and planned my own trip with that in mind. My sister was able to come with me, which was exciting, and we're both pretty adventurous and spontaneous, so our travel styles work well together. We spent months figuring out where we wanted to go, but left ourselves with enough leeway to make changes on the fly. It was one of the most amazing experiences of my life and probably the thing I am the most grateful for in 2011. See previous and future blog entries for more specifics on my travels.

3 days after returning from Europe, I was on my way to Grand Rapids Michigan, with only 2 suitcases and a box of winter clothes. My roommate is fantastic and I'm having a great time and meeting great people there. I can't believe I'm already 1/4 of the way done!

In November, I had to say goodbye to my Grandma. I miss her so much, but at the same time I know she is in a better place and a better state. In a way, we said goodbye 4 years ago as Alzheimer's wore down her memory. Every time I would see her, I'd say goodbye as if it were the last time. That's 4 years of final goodbyes. It is a mercy to know that she is in her Father's hands and that she is completely herself, as she was meant to be, in heaven. 

And now the Christmas season. It's great being home, even though I had dental surgery a few days ago to get my wisdom teeth removed - just something that had to be done.

Here's to the coming year, with all the excitement it will bring. Even in good times and bad times, God is here with us, walking alongside us, picking us up when we fall, and carrying us when we lack the strength.

Blessings on 2012.

Croatian Heat - Dubrovnik-style

 It's nice to be remembering beaches and hot sunshine as I see rain pouring down outside my window. We took a gorgeous ferry ride from Hvar Island to Dubrovnik Croatia, which also happened to be the hottest ferry ride of my life. There wasn't a lot of seating inside, and we wanted to be on the deck anyways, so we carried our packs out to the deck to find somewhere to sit. I insisted on something in the shade since it was already boiling outside and still early in the morning, so we sat along the side of the ferry on the ground with our packs and layered on the sunscreen. It was so intensely hot it wasn't even funny. Cath was loving it but I was dying and wanted it to be over. By the evening we had arrived in Dubrovnik and got a ride from our hostel owners from the ferry terminal to our hostel which ended up actually being about 20 minutes outside the city. It's what you have to do to save some money :).

Boats in a Dubrovnik Harbour

 We didn't have much time to spend in Dubrovnik, so we made the most of the time we had. We went out early the next morning to explore the old city, relax on the beach and swim in the beautiful blue water. It was a scorcher of a day. By 10am I was already feeling fatigued from the heat. We walked around the old city for about an hour and I couldn't take it anymore, I needed to cool down, so we went to the beach. After changing into swimsuits, I ran straight into the water for the ultimate refreshment. It felt so good. We spent about an hour in the water, then ate some lunch while we dried off on the beach, then were ready to explore again.

There's a small island off the coast of Dubrovnik that we took the ferry to. Most people go there to spend time on a different beach, but being who we are, my sister and I had to explore the whole island. We walked around for a while then discovered there's an old fortress at the top, so naturally we hiked up the island to see the fortress and the view from above. You could see all of the old city walls of Dubrovnik, so definitely worth the photo opportunities. We decided to take a different way down so we could get a different view on the way back. As we were walking, a French couple came out of a clearing in the bush, and the wife told her husband she was proud of him in French (Cath translated for me). We found that a little odd but figured they had spotted a shortcut, so we decided to sneak through the bushes as well. Cath made me go in front because she said she was scared. It was a wild bush adventure as we got a little lost and had no idea how to get out, so we just kept walking. As we walked we figured out why the French lady said what she did - it was definitely a rough trek. Catherine told me after we made it back to a path that she spent the whole time thinking of the story of Paul in the Bible on the island of Patmos, which would have been in this general area of the world, and the snake that jumped out a bit him. She had been worried a snake would jump out and bite us. Which is funny because I spent the whole time worrying a peacock would come out and scare me. (We had seen a lot of peacocks on the other side of the island and I have an irrational fear of birds.) I do have to admit though that a snake would have been much more troublesome than a peacock.

The View from the top of the Island

 After our bushwhacking, we found ourselves a little rocky private beach area and went for a dip to cool off. We walked around and swam at various points around the island, then headed back to Dubronik for more exploring.

It was a little expensive, but we felt we had to check out the old city walls, another UNESCO world heritage site. The views from the walls were stunning! We cheated a bit and located an English-speaking tour guide with a group and followed closely behind them to learn a bit about the city and the walls without having to pay.

Travel tidbit of the day: Find tour groups that speak your language and follow at an inconspicuous distance so as not to be found out. This way, you glean a lot of useful information without the added pricetag.

Dubrovnik City Walls

Hibiscus in the Old City

Dubrovnik

Taking a Refreshing break

  

I'll let the pictures do the rest of the talking. The weather was fabulous although the heat was intense, but well worth the trip. So glad we included Croatia on the itinerary. You should go.

We took another ferry the next day to Bari Italy as we continued our journey to Rome.

Saying goodbye to Croatia on the ferry to Italy

Croatian Island Hop

The photos I have don't really do justice to the beauty that is Hvar Island. The weather was a little stormy when we arrived, but it was still quite warm. This island is one of the main party islands in Croatia, actually there's a small island not far from here actually called Party Island, but since our trip was already pretty physically grueling and we were only halfway through it, we decided it probably would be wise not to go too crazy here. Plus we were only here for one night, but we made the most of the full day we spent exploring.

We both really wanted to go swimming in the Adriatic Sea (part of the Mediterranean) so as soon as we dropped our stuff off at our hostel, we geared up in swimsuits and went to the "beach". Our hostel by the way was very cute and had this sort of romantic honey-moon appeal to it. Maybe too romantic to be there with your sister :). Anyways, we went to the beach which was really just big rocks that touched the water with ladders attached to them so you could climb in and out. The water was a little cold, but so salty that I could lay on my back and float no problem.

We got a little cold, so we decided to stop swimming and warm up by hiking to an old castle/fortress at the top of the island. As we were walking, the sun started to come out and it warmed up a lot by the time we made it to the top of the island. We explored the fortress and took some pictures along the way, and then decided we were too hot and sweaty, so we ran back down to go back to the water.

View from the Fortress

We spent the rest of the afternoon swimming and lying in the sun. Our hostel had mini kitchens in every room, so we cooked a nice little meal for ourselves, showered/cleaned up, and went out to enjoy some night life. We explored the town a little, looked in shops, and saw a sweet street-side concert of a group of French guys playing African fusion music. It was pretty sweet.

Here's a couple more photos of the island...

The "Beach"

Harbour Sunset

Next stop - Dubrovnik!