all good things...

as we all know, all good things, must come to an end. the week was full of fun, laughter, encouragement, and well, simply more laughter! thanks girls for a GREAT vacation! i love you! ... this is my sad face that i took at the airport...

helpin' suz...

my most favorite part of the trip (honestly) was helping suz out at the center. she needed help getting all of these bags of clothing (PIC: upper right hand) organized. we sorted and sorted... after the 2 hours we had, we were able to WALK through the room! good job girls!

the acropolis.

when in athens, go to the acropolis. although, be warned: it may not be your favorite place. honestly, i am glad that i got to visit this incredibly historical and well-preserved place; however, i would like to have visited it with a little less than the rest of the human population! i don't know how many cruise ships docked the day we visited, but if i could guess, i would guess A LOT! even though Mars Hill is only a rock, it was still pretty cool to stand there (pic in lower right hand corner). the herodian theatre was also pretty cool. they still have shows there, so it is obviously well preserved.

nafplio... simply deserves more pics.

well, i decided that the previous blog just didn't do justice to this beautiful place... so here you go!


a view and a rest.

isn't this a cool pic... don't mind the head in the lower left hand corner.

this place used to serve as a prison. it is an island.

Nafplio... incredibly beautiful!

nafplio: the first capital of modern-day greece. the cutest little greek town. so quaint and quiet.
there's castle at the top of a mountain. you can climb or drive there... we wanted the ultimate experience, so we climbed... ALL 1,000 steps! i felt really strong after this!


the beginning... step 1.

a view from one of our rests!

a view from the top...

isn't it neat?

the canal and corinth...

we drove about 40 minutes from athens to see the canal and corinth. the canal was so neat! suz told us that 'amazing race' had bungee jumped there, and we really wanted to try it... unfortunately, it was BYOBJC (Bring Your Own Bungee Jump Cord) Day... we forgot ours... SO, we headed to corinth to see walk some streets that paul had walked... the pic of me and the what looks to be a fanny pack, but don't fret... it's just my camera case... could i LOOK anymore like a TOURIST! ha! anyway, that pic is of me in front of the temple of apollo. then in there, there is a pic of what looks like a castle on a hill...that's acrocorinth, where the temple of aphrodite is... basically, prostitutes lived up there, and would come down into the city of corinth to 'work'... the group shot is taken at the top of acrocorinth... it has a GREAT view from there!

Louise-Estelle... please don't miss this.

i have thought about this moment more times than i can count. i have told this story to the best of my ability about 5 or 6 times. and now, i am going to do the impossible.... write about it. please, please... don't have any food or drink in your mouth at this time, for IF you can totally grasp this moment, it will come out....
::sigh:: here goes...

so, we decided to take a break, sleep in, and do some souvenir shopping in athens. suz took us to this much visited tourist shop in the center of town. we had already hit up the h&m and the zara's, so it was time to do the tourist thing ;)
the shop didn't have any doors... it was in a building, but you didn't need to open a door; you just simply walked in. there were two different areas or parts to this shop: the t-shirt part and the rest of the souvenirs. they were connected by a door, that had a step. (are you picturing this yet?)
we all walked in to the shop. katy and amanda stopped near the front of the store that had postcards and other odds and ends. suz and i continued to stroll through the store (i am beginning to laugh thinking about what is about to happen...).
we walked between these two shelves into another walkway. suz was right behind me. i spotted the section that had books about greece in russian. naturally, i began to gravitate towards that area...
when out of NO WHERE i hear this scream. this mind-blowing, heart-stopping scream... it could have defied death.... it could have shaken the earth... this scream was from the BOWELS of a person... i froze, looked up, and in a moment that seemed as if it extended WELL into eternity, i saw this woman coming towards me... i had three thoughts, all at the same time: a) the woman was crazy, and she was going to kill me; b) she was having a heart attack and she needed help; c) there was a bomb in this store, and we were all going to die.
after the world stopped spinning, the moment came to an end. the woman stopped screaming, looked at me, and said, 'i am sorry honey... i missed that step.'
i swallowed, and stared at her in shock and fear and replied, 'th-th-that's ok.' i blinked and looked around at everyone staring at me. many thought the scream came from me. then, i thought, 'where is suz? i need to find my friends!' i turned around, and through the cracks of a shelf, i saw suz and her gorgeous hair shaking... she was obviously laughing hysterically... the shock began to cease, as i felt little chuckles escaping from my mouth... i walked around the shelf to find tears streaming down suz's face in laughter. i clasped my hand over my mouth as i began to laugh so hard tears were streaming and my knees were beginning to buckle!
suz began, through laughs and the gathering of her breaths, to tell me what she saw...
what suz saw: she saw us walk around the corner... then, the moment extended into eternity. the woman tripped over the stair, began screaming, and as she was trying to regain her balance, she reached out for me... but, out of fear, and not servanthood, i stepped aside, probably causing the woman to scream louder as she had to regain her balance on her own.
i would say that's all of the story, but then, katy runs up and asked, 'what happened? i just saw two african women running from the inside of this store!'
louise-estelle, as we have fondly named her, created panic! the remainder of our time in that store did not go without looks and giggles from our fellow shoppers... they, too, were amused by the moment.

the marks'

tracy and mary, thank you so much for driving us ALL THE WAY to meteora! it was our most favorite place to go, and we couldn't have gone without you! love you guys!

Meteora... incredible!

so, my most favorite place in greece is a place WELL off the beaten path... the land is pretty flat for miles, and then all of the sudden, these CLIFFS just out of NOWHERE! it's truly incredible! the marks' were so great to drive us the 3.5 hours from thess... what a blessing!

in the 10th or 12th century (i forget), monks decided that they wanted to seperate themselves from the world, so they built their monasteries on top of these cliffs. they used to be only reachable by baskets, and the only time the ropes were changed is when they broke... i would hate to be in the basket when the rope broke!

i think some of the pics above are repeated.. maybe 2, but truly, it's a place worth looking up and reading more about! oh... and another thing... the monastery located in the pic 3rd from the right and 3rd to the bottom (pic 11) was in the the james bond 'for your eyes only'... interesting, huh?

Phillipi and Kavala

the marks' drove us to phillipi the next day. wow! it was so amazing and cool to see places where PAUL had been! even now, as i look at the pics, i am kind of amazed.
our first stop was at lydia, where lydia was baptized. the first pic of the three of us was taken at a moument-type thing at the baptism spot. then, just a little ways up the road, is phillipi. i really thought the amphitheatre was really cool. it really is huge! the three of us spread out to take a pic... can you find us? the next pic, is the prison where paul and silas were put the night that they sang, and the earth shook, and the jailer became a believer.
the town has been quite excavated. you can walk pretty freely throughout the ruins. located in the far right-hand corner are the old toilets. that's the pic in the middle. (sorry, it's sideways... i just noticed!)... katy has the funniest pics taken there ;)
the mosaic pic has paul's name in greek... and then we headed to kavala, a beautiful city near phillipi. it was SO beautiful there!!!! i think i feel called... ;)

Arrival in Greece... to Thessoloniki!

so, i arrived in athens, greece, superpumped to see my friends! suz met katy and i at the airport, and when we got to suz's apt, katy gave us a present from nigeria: cool african pants made by widows! we LOVED them! (note pic above) thank you, katy! the next morning, we headed to the airport (it was my 4th morning that week to see 430 am... YIKES!) to pick up amanda! it was so great to see her face! then, we hopped a cab to the train station to head to thessaloniki.
we ended up not having seats, since it was a heavily traveled weekend. SO, we found ourselves being the first-class stowaways. (that's us chilling in the hallway). the commander or whatever you call him was very nice to us and didn't kick us out. he just asked us the normal question that all of us run into in our respective parts of the world: 'Obama or McCain?', and as we, also usually do, we shrugged our shoulders, smiled, and said, 'we don't know. it will be a surprise.'
we arrived in thessaloniki at 3 pm that afternoon, and met our sweet friends who live there. they showed us around their city, and though it was quite chilly, we truly enjoyed our day! the other pics above are of: the White something... it's a major landmark there. you can tell i remember details like that... woops! sorry! :) ; me and the sea; apt buildings ( i LOVE all the balconies!); a church; another church; and the three of us in front of another church.
we had a great day!

i have a problem... of which there is no cure.

the first step to recovery is to admit you have a problem, right? well, folks, i gotta tell ya... i laugh at the wrong times, and often, i cannot stop! 

anyone who knows me knows that i love to laugh! i love humor. i love to make people laugh. if i can make a smile come across your face, or hear a chuckle escape your mouth, i feel as if i have succeeded! SO, this laughing thing should NOT be a surprise!

in the past few weeks, i have come across moments, that wouldn't ordinarily be funny, or in the case of louise-estelle, it would be HILARIOUS!, but these moments should not make me laugh as hard as they do! it's just, well, inappropriate!

for instance, on the train from meteora to athens a few weeks ago, this man stole my seat. ordinarily, i would clear my throat and politely say, 'excuse me. this is my seat.' but that particular night, i began laughing and couldn't stop. then my two friends with me (in whose laps i was sitting in, b/c my seat was STOLEN!) started laughing, and it took us all through forever to stop and to gather our composure so as to not draw attention to our american selves.

i wish that i could continue to tell stories, but unfortunately i can't... there are many reasons why, but just take my word for it: this uncontrollable moment always occurs at the MOST inappropriate moments...

i am pretty sure i inherited this from my mom. but... i kind of like it. is that ok?

below: in the midst of laughter after my seat was stolen...

when in riga...

here are a few pics of this beautiful city. it has been great preserved, with cobblestone streets and old buildings. reminded me a lot of prague. hmmm... beauty.

the souvenir street. several vendors lined up waiting for tourists. there aren't a lot in this city, or rather there aren't a lot of americans. but most everyone speaks english. it was nice. truly a place to think about visiting. really.

this park was amazing. simply beautiful! i love LOVE bridges.

gotta love fountains.

i know that this pic is a little blurry, but i just like it. it's, obviously, a church steeple. this church is in the city of the old town.

a weekend with friends... in riga.

so, a bunch of us decided to meet up. in riga, latvia. who knew that place existed?! it was a great time of laughter and encouragement. a meeting of old friends and new. what a blessing it truly was! here are a few pics...

they decided to drink latvian kvas. not at ALL like russian kvas, which tastes like malt vinegar! YUCK! this one tasted like coke... i even liked it! DEFINITION: kvas. n. a popular drink in Russia, esp during the summertime. made like beer, but not fermented as long. tastes like malt vinegar. (definition not websters. it's by alys. famous dictionary.)

then we decided to play the funniest game known to man: ipod karaoke. choose a song, turn up the volume as loud as it will go, put in your earbuds, and sing like there's no tomorrow! pictured above: mariah carey and boyz2men with 'one sweet day'... oh hold me! hilar!

these are my precious girls. i love you. 'nuf said.

then i have to put this one here. i must continue to give them a hard time. they took about 1,000 pics of this astin martin. seriously. can we walk now? i need some coffee. :)

thank you all for making it as great as it was! PTL! truly.

sarah and katya have a birthday!

sarah and katya celebrated their birthdays together this year. we had the big celebration at katya's home, and it was SO fun! i wish that i had a pic of the wonderful and AMAZING eclairs that her Baba Lela made, but unfortunately, i don't... i probably ate the pic... in hopes that it would TASTE like the wonderful, light, puffy, eclairs... mmmmm.... our good friend, Zhenya (in the pic with me and sarah) was able to attend. she moved to moscow... and we miss her :( ... i am pretending to eat the kabob, known in russia as 'shashlik'... it was quite tasty! :) then, the cute, sassy girl with the coffee cup is our precious kat... what will i do without her? great celebration girls!

summer came... eventually.

Summer eventually came this year. We thought that it wouldn't, but, it did! Several days, we headed to our favorite park, which is almost right next door. It has a lake/river/creek/ocean (well, not really an ocean!). We love to grab our ipods, towels, and head down there... and pick up some ice-cream on the way. And, usually, our best Russian galpal, Katya... she and I love to take funny pics together!

a somewhat normal pic... minus my mile-long arms!

and now, of course, a funny one... SEE, i DID get somewhat of a tan this summer! :)

it's been a while...

wow, i didn't realize how long it had been since i updated my blog! it has been crazy busy here! after the student group left here in july, i felt as if my whole team and i were on a roller coaster! so much happened, from illnesses to emotional breakdowns and then the sad news of the death of a fellow colleague. we had our yearly meeting at a campground place south of moscow. it was a great time of renewal and rejuvenation with close friends! we were able to worship in our heart language and be encouraged by the Word and by each other. 

i returned from that meeting feeling refreshed and rejuvenated! i was ready for university to start so that we could meet new students! i even began a jogging routine, which i am still remaining faithful to! ask my family... THAT is an accomplishment! :)

so grab a cup of coffee... or juice... maybe some water, or even a coke... enjoy the next several posts b/c i have got some fun pics to show! and maybe a fun story or two :)