So I'm writing this from DEFI's hangout spot - also the place with the best wifi - after spending the last three days in the French mountains!!!
Seriously though.
It's the first real day of Bibleschool. We've just finished lunch and are called to a meeting.
"So, are you all settled in?" asks the leader.
We nod.
"Good," he responds. "Here's a list, you have 15 minutes to get everything you need to go camping."
I'm pretty excited, except for the fact that he didn't say how long we were camping... but whatever.
Next thing you know we're all piled into 2 vans, our huge backpacks in the trunk, wearing camping clothes and ready to hike.
And it was a hike to remember.
We changed walking partners every 20 minutes after talking about our lives and praying together - it was really special. And since there are only 11 students, it was very easy to get to know everyone!
Its a great group. A Texan, a German, a Swiss, two Canadians besides me, and five Frenchies! Only one boy though, so I kind of feel bad for him! However, there are a lot of male staff, so he's not totally alone.
Camping was fun, we survived a 3 degree and a 6 degree night in sleeping bags. There was a lot of Canadian jokes going on the whole time, I'm so happy there are three of us!
One of the most memorable parts was our trek up to a lake high up in the mountain. It was steep, and then it started to rain, and then it was foggy, plus we were tied together.
An adventure for sure.
I loved it though. A great introduction for Bibleschool, the camping made me feel at home and it was a great way to meet everyone and talk about life without barriers. No one was able to shower for 2 nights, so we were all pretty authentic looking. ;)
Plus, this was the first year the debut camping trip for DEFI, so I was very thankful to have been a part of it!
Classes start tomorrow, its going to be full but epic. God is here, He is being glorified, and His children are very entertaining!
Well, bon soiree, a bientot!
Wednesday, September 24, 2014
Absolutely stunning.
Going from Italy to Switzerland was like stepping out of the noisy hot street into a soundproof room.
With mountains and streams.
If Iceland is what Canada looks like without trees, then Switzerland is what Canada would look like with mountains everywhere!
The geography changed gradually - it was really cool to watch from the train window - but the culture shift was immediate.
Switzerland, at least the part we visited, is a lot slower paced, community oriented, an SO much quieter. No crazy accordions or people yelling. Just cow bells chiming on the mountain air. It is utterly peaceful. The scenery is spacious and grand, and people have time to see it and enjoy it even when they live right in the middle of it.
Since we were living with a Swiss family we got to experience Swiss life. The family knew everyone who drove by, who they were related to, and what they did for a living. Sounded like Emo! They had visitors everyday, relatives or friends, who would drop off a gift and then come in for coffee. They got two bricks of cheese in one day!
And I thought the cheese, mountains, cows and chocolate were mere stereotypes.
Nope.
There is so much cheese, and they have a delicious Swiss cheese meal called raclette. You melt a slice of cheese in a special pan and wait for it to bubble. Then you pour it over potatoes and add bacon and spices. It is absolutely amazing! So cheese is really an important part of Swiss life.
Next the mountains. You can't even describe them. You just have to look at them in silence and say if God made these, how much more awesome is He.
Cows. Are. Everywhere. And they are actually cute! They also have horns and cow bells that jingle across the the valley like windchimes on the porch. I mentioned that fact that Canadian cows don't usually have horns to which the family responded, then they are not real cows!
Also, they have Cow fairs and contests, Cows are groomed and cleaned using hairspray and gel, there is a prize for the one with the nicest udder, and you can also win money by betting on which area the cow is going to do its business in. Strange but true Swiss stories.
CHOCOLATE. The family ate it constantly, there was always some on the table. And of course, the stores are loaded. Lindt, Milka, Toblerone..... SO GOOD!
But my favorite part was hiking in the mountains.
Especially when the weather decides to be dramatic.
We started walking, and everything was veiled in fog. Of course, we were disappointed, because we had no idea where we were and where we were going. So we just trusted our guides and our guides trusted the hiking signs!
Eventually the fog started to ebb, and suddenly houses and rivers would appear out of "nowhere." It was really entertaining. Oh look, the trail actually goes somewhere!
And then the mountains were revealed.
We had been walking on a plateau the whole time, surrounded on three sides by grand stone giants. It was wonderful. God pulled away the curtains of fog just for us.
Amazing.
So, Switzerland was wonderful. I felt very at home there.
And our hosts said I could come back...
Only once I can speak French!
With mountains and streams.
If Iceland is what Canada looks like without trees, then Switzerland is what Canada would look like with mountains everywhere!
The geography changed gradually - it was really cool to watch from the train window - but the culture shift was immediate.
Switzerland, at least the part we visited, is a lot slower paced, community oriented, an SO much quieter. No crazy accordions or people yelling. Just cow bells chiming on the mountain air. It is utterly peaceful. The scenery is spacious and grand, and people have time to see it and enjoy it even when they live right in the middle of it.
Since we were living with a Swiss family we got to experience Swiss life. The family knew everyone who drove by, who they were related to, and what they did for a living. Sounded like Emo! They had visitors everyday, relatives or friends, who would drop off a gift and then come in for coffee. They got two bricks of cheese in one day!
And I thought the cheese, mountains, cows and chocolate were mere stereotypes.
Nope.
There is so much cheese, and they have a delicious Swiss cheese meal called raclette. You melt a slice of cheese in a special pan and wait for it to bubble. Then you pour it over potatoes and add bacon and spices. It is absolutely amazing! So cheese is really an important part of Swiss life.
Next the mountains. You can't even describe them. You just have to look at them in silence and say if God made these, how much more awesome is He.
Cows. Are. Everywhere. And they are actually cute! They also have horns and cow bells that jingle across the the valley like windchimes on the porch. I mentioned that fact that Canadian cows don't usually have horns to which the family responded, then they are not real cows!
Also, they have Cow fairs and contests, Cows are groomed and cleaned using hairspray and gel, there is a prize for the one with the nicest udder, and you can also win money by betting on which area the cow is going to do its business in. Strange but true Swiss stories.
CHOCOLATE. The family ate it constantly, there was always some on the table. And of course, the stores are loaded. Lindt, Milka, Toblerone..... SO GOOD!
But my favorite part was hiking in the mountains.
Especially when the weather decides to be dramatic.
We started walking, and everything was veiled in fog. Of course, we were disappointed, because we had no idea where we were and where we were going. So we just trusted our guides and our guides trusted the hiking signs!
Eventually the fog started to ebb, and suddenly houses and rivers would appear out of "nowhere." It was really entertaining. Oh look, the trail actually goes somewhere!
And then the mountains were revealed.
We had been walking on a plateau the whole time, surrounded on three sides by grand stone giants. It was wonderful. God pulled away the curtains of fog just for us.
Amazing.
So, Switzerland was wonderful. I felt very at home there.
And our hosts said I could come back...
Only once I can speak French!
Grazie - Ciao!
That's how you say thank you and good-bye in Italian.
I said/heard that at least 100 times while we were in Italy.
Seriously, I was so used to saying that after buying something, or getting my food that I had to stop myself from saying it in Switzerland!
That's one of the main things that stuck with me from our time in Italy, but here are a few more, some are quite entertaining.
Italy is very touristy! We heard hardly any Italian. A lot of English, some German, Asian languages, a bit of French, but hardly any Italian. In France we heard a lot of French and enjoyed watching the locals in the Metro or on the street. Italy, however, was a different story. The only locals were the ones working at cafes/stores which were also full of tourists. I felt like we did not get to see what real Italian life was like, but maybe you just need to be there longer.
Only one place (and the food) felt really authentic:
The Boboli Gardens - my favorite spot in Florence.
(Maybe because there are trees!)
It was absolutely lovely. There were a lot of couples there, tourists as well, but also locals. It was so peaceful, calm, and beautiful - NOT hectic and full like the streets below. Hence, Wanetta and I went there both days were were in Florence. It felt "real" here, if that makes any sense.
Italy is colorful! That was really fun to see. Especially in Venice will all the masks and feathers and ribbons and glass and sparkles... It gives the old buildings a lot of energy. And everyone's clothes are bright and summery as well making the streets a moving rainbow! :)
Which means that the streets are VERY crowded.
The main street Wanetta and I walked down in Florence was always so packed! Even at 9 in the morning. Of course, that means you can't go very fast, hence I grudgingly had to have a few patience lessons. But in the end we always got where we wanted to go!
What is that noise?
So Italy has a lot of weird noises. First of all, we were a street away from the Duomo which had a bell tower. Now, usually bell towers ring on the hour, 6 rings for 6 o'clock. That makes sense.
Not these ones.
They rang at the weirdest times, and would not stop ringing. Seven in the morning, 11:45, we never heard them on the hour. So that was interesting.
Then the sirens here, that is another odd noise, really nasely and loud, but the best and most entertaining sounds in Italy came from the
ACCORDIONS.
One the streets, sure that's normal. At midnight? Not so normal. And of course they were right under our hotel as we were trying to sleep.
Suddenly all of Italy's best folk music starts blasting into the night sky to amuse all of the late night diners. Keeping us awake.
They sounded great though!
The Conclusion
Italy was an adventure! Crazy and fun and ridiculous, but we survived.
Would I go back?
Yes. But I'd go straight to the countryside, I already saw the cities. ;)
I said/heard that at least 100 times while we were in Italy.
Seriously, I was so used to saying that after buying something, or getting my food that I had to stop myself from saying it in Switzerland!
That's one of the main things that stuck with me from our time in Italy, but here are a few more, some are quite entertaining.
Italy is very touristy! We heard hardly any Italian. A lot of English, some German, Asian languages, a bit of French, but hardly any Italian. In France we heard a lot of French and enjoyed watching the locals in the Metro or on the street. Italy, however, was a different story. The only locals were the ones working at cafes/stores which were also full of tourists. I felt like we did not get to see what real Italian life was like, but maybe you just need to be there longer.
Only one place (and the food) felt really authentic:
The Boboli Gardens - my favorite spot in Florence.
(Maybe because there are trees!)
It was absolutely lovely. There were a lot of couples there, tourists as well, but also locals. It was so peaceful, calm, and beautiful - NOT hectic and full like the streets below. Hence, Wanetta and I went there both days were were in Florence. It felt "real" here, if that makes any sense.
Italy is colorful! That was really fun to see. Especially in Venice will all the masks and feathers and ribbons and glass and sparkles... It gives the old buildings a lot of energy. And everyone's clothes are bright and summery as well making the streets a moving rainbow! :)
Which means that the streets are VERY crowded.
The main street Wanetta and I walked down in Florence was always so packed! Even at 9 in the morning. Of course, that means you can't go very fast, hence I grudgingly had to have a few patience lessons. But in the end we always got where we wanted to go!
What is that noise?
So Italy has a lot of weird noises. First of all, we were a street away from the Duomo which had a bell tower. Now, usually bell towers ring on the hour, 6 rings for 6 o'clock. That makes sense.
Not these ones.
They rang at the weirdest times, and would not stop ringing. Seven in the morning, 11:45, we never heard them on the hour. So that was interesting.
Then the sirens here, that is another odd noise, really nasely and loud, but the best and most entertaining sounds in Italy came from the
ACCORDIONS.
One the streets, sure that's normal. At midnight? Not so normal. And of course they were right under our hotel as we were trying to sleep.
Suddenly all of Italy's best folk music starts blasting into the night sky to amuse all of the late night diners. Keeping us awake.
They sounded great though!
The Conclusion
Italy was an adventure! Crazy and fun and ridiculous, but we survived.
Would I go back?
Yes. But I'd go straight to the countryside, I already saw the cities. ;)
Wednesday, September 17, 2014
Lorianne and Wanetta's Transportation Adventure
Up until this point our train days have been normal.
In fact, they were very easy.
We were not stressed, we knew where to go, and everything cooperated with us.
But September 16th was a different story.
A much different story.
We had the transport adventure of a lifetime.
We left Kandern at 7:45, having spent three days of fabulous quality time with our missionary friends. The bus ride to Muellheim was easy enough. We got to the train station with plenty of time and even made some train reservations for the 18th - thus I was feeling tired, but pretty confident. Bought myself some tea before getting on the train to Freiburg. Despite the fact that I was in my backpacker traveler get-up I was feeling pretty sophisticated with my tea and European scarf.
Ready to face the day.
We arrive in Freiburg and have only 5 minutes to transfer.
Wanetta and I hustle to our next platform in under 2 minutes.
Feeling confident.
Freiburg to Muellheim. Got to listen to music and take a nap. Awesome.
Find out the train will be 15 minutes late to Mannheim which means we will miss our next connection...
Not so awesome.
No worries though, there is bound to be another train going from Mannheim to Buchloe.
We get to Mannheim and go to the travel department where after waiting in line for a while we get ourselves a new train route. These new plans allow us to get straight to Fuessen without having to do the extra train switch that our old plans had!
Nice.
So Wanetta and I grab some McDonalds and phone our hotel to tell them we would have to check in late. Phoning in a train station through a German operator was quite the task. A bit of a headache. Thank goodness I know German!
Thus, after getting them to connect me to the wrong place I finally get through to the hotel and made sure everything was arranged for that night.
Feeling settled.
Back up to the platforms we go, and begin waiting for our new train. Some announcement starts going off in German, and at first I don't pay attention. But on the second round I listen.
This train isn't coming today.
We have to wait another hour for the next one.
Feeling frustrated.
And right when we wanted to go back up to the travel department the escalator wasn't working.
More stairs with big backpacks. Oh boy.
(Actually by this point I was just laughing because so much stuff had gone wrong and all of our plans for the evening with buses up to the hotel had to been thrown out the window. It WAS funny.)
We try to get a better train route but there are no other options. And now we are going to have to do a 3 minute train transfer - possible but NOT ideal.
Feeling concerned.
Another hour in Mannheim is on the agenda. We try to connect to the wifi - no success. Went shopping - some success.
And finally we go back up to the platform to catch our train to Buchloe.
Its going to be 10 minutes late.
Feeling ARGHHHH!
After waiting for what seemed like forever the train came.
And we got to Buchloe with no problems. 3 minute transfer begins.
THANKFULLY the trains are on the same platform so we can run across the tarmac and onto our FINAL connection.
The ride is beautiful.
Now in Fuessen we find a bus to get up to Hohenschwangau which is halfway to our hotel. Since our place is right next to Neuschwanstein castle we figure we can use one of their bus shuttles to get up there.
They are not running anymore.
Its a 40 minute walk UPHILL to get to the hotel.
With big backpacks.
And the sun is setting
Is this our only hope?
Wanetta's quick thinking saves the day: she suggests we phone the hotel and talk to them about the situation. So I go through some more German operator stuff and reach them first try! They are going to call a taxi for us that will bring us right to our rooms.
The taxi comes very quickly, the rate is really good, and we get up our hotel WAY faster than we would have by walking.
It would have been long and strenuous.
So, with the sun setting on the castle - WHICH WE CAN SEE FROM OUR HOTEL! - our travel adventure ends.
The room is lovely and a stroll up to Neuschwanstein leaves us with fabulous pictures.
Phew. What a day.
In the end we can only say that God got us through the day.
It was ridiculous, but prayers were answered and here we are.
Wednesday, September 3, 2014
The French are gutty.
And by gutty, I mean gutsy, bold, daring, courageous...
And slightly ridiculous.
And I love it all!
Seriously, French people are most interesting. Here is a quick overview:
Bikes and Scooters: I have never seen so many. There is at least one for every 2 cars, and the reason I say that is because French people ride them with the traffic. So you can literally compare the bikes and cars because they are mixed together! Talk about dangerous, but I guess all the honking can be explained as a safety measure. The biking/scootering outfits also need to be talked about, which brings us to
French Clothing. It. Is. SO. Stylish. Even while biking the (some) ladies where dresses! I don't know how they do it. That means you are biking in traffic in a dress - and I'll bet they still get to work looking fabulous. There were so many outfits I wanted (although I would rather not see the price tag) but the most impressive ones were the Parisian work clothes.
Since we used the Metro a lot and so do the French people especially in the mornings, we got to admire each other. Well, they probably didn't give us a second look, but I definitely had fun studying them. More chic blazers, dresses, pencil skirts, and high heels for the women, and very handsome tuxedos for the men. There are NO comfy dressed people. Everyone is completely put together, and looks AMAZING. The French have such nice hair too, its usually brown, wavy and really thick, but it never appears disheveled. Parisians dress with purpose and perfection. That's the end of it.
(So next time I come to Paris, I am only bringing fancy clothes! But no high heels, I could never walk around the city in their literal shoes!)
Attitude. As long as you are not a very sensitive person, French people are hilarious. They have this kind of joking disdain for you if you do something wrong (like take the wrong exit or something). Besides that, they are kind of crazy as you may have already gathered from the biking paragraph. Very lively as well, and the French accent on their English makes things even more entertaining. Plus they are very open about their feelings, whether they be angry or in love...
PDA in Paris. Public displays of Affection. Very public. Very displayed. Very affectionate. That's France for you. There are SO many couples everywhere and they are very cuddly and whatnot. The "awe, that's cute" line gets crossed rather quickly, and then viewers look away!
So if these have not proven the French to be gutty, here is the last one in the form of a picture.
Notre Dame
When you
A) Build a church like this
B) Use 442 tiny worn steps to get to the bell tower and
C) Let people climb up them as a tourist attraction
You know the French are pretty different.
And I love it.
Can't wait to live here with the Frenchies!
And slightly ridiculous.
And I love it all!
Seriously, French people are most interesting. Here is a quick overview:
Bikes and Scooters: I have never seen so many. There is at least one for every 2 cars, and the reason I say that is because French people ride them with the traffic. So you can literally compare the bikes and cars because they are mixed together! Talk about dangerous, but I guess all the honking can be explained as a safety measure. The biking/scootering outfits also need to be talked about, which brings us to
French Clothing. It. Is. SO. Stylish. Even while biking the (some) ladies where dresses! I don't know how they do it. That means you are biking in traffic in a dress - and I'll bet they still get to work looking fabulous. There were so many outfits I wanted (although I would rather not see the price tag) but the most impressive ones were the Parisian work clothes.
Since we used the Metro a lot and so do the French people especially in the mornings, we got to admire each other. Well, they probably didn't give us a second look, but I definitely had fun studying them. More chic blazers, dresses, pencil skirts, and high heels for the women, and very handsome tuxedos for the men. There are NO comfy dressed people. Everyone is completely put together, and looks AMAZING. The French have such nice hair too, its usually brown, wavy and really thick, but it never appears disheveled. Parisians dress with purpose and perfection. That's the end of it.
(So next time I come to Paris, I am only bringing fancy clothes! But no high heels, I could never walk around the city in their literal shoes!)
Attitude. As long as you are not a very sensitive person, French people are hilarious. They have this kind of joking disdain for you if you do something wrong (like take the wrong exit or something). Besides that, they are kind of crazy as you may have already gathered from the biking paragraph. Very lively as well, and the French accent on their English makes things even more entertaining. Plus they are very open about their feelings, whether they be angry or in love...
PDA in Paris. Public displays of Affection. Very public. Very displayed. Very affectionate. That's France for you. There are SO many couples everywhere and they are very cuddly and whatnot. The "awe, that's cute" line gets crossed rather quickly, and then viewers look away!
So if these have not proven the French to be gutty, here is the last one in the form of a picture.
Notre Dame
When you
A) Build a church like this
B) Use 442 tiny worn steps to get to the bell tower and
C) Let people climb up them as a tourist attraction
You know the French are pretty different.
And I love it.
Can't wait to live here with the Frenchies!
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