Testing

Been a while, just checking I still know how to use this thing.

Reentry

Our week of reentry hasn't been as difficult as we had anticipated. However, it has been one of much reevaluation of our lives and priorities. After 3 months of living a different life--one full of adventure, good food, a frequent sense of wonder, an abundance of time, and a conspicuous lack of stress--it is hard to return home. Fritz knew it would be, and didn't want to come home to a dark and rainy climate, a messy and cold house, and a city that we know well enough that it no longer offers much wonder.

But we are hard-pressed to complain, really. To most of the world, our life is a dream, a fantasy, and we are absolutely blessed in every way. But still, our thoughts are nagged by what we had, and we want to keep open and expanded this space that was created in in our minds and hearts in Europe.

We have been working this week to sit down to meals, together. It makes us talk, it stops us from jonesing for constant entertainment and distraction. It makes us focus on enjoying good food. It helps us breathe. We just went shopping, and didn't concern ourselves too much with the cost of good cheese and quiche. I don't know how this works itself into a household budget, but our values have changed: we want to eat good food, not consume it. As someone has noted: Americans are not materialists, they are consumerists. Europeans are materialists, because they enjoy what they have.

We want to be more generous. We want to lavish hospitality on those that enter our home, not skimp.

We want, somehow, to live in the moment. We did this for 3 months, rarely worrying about anything, rarely thinking about what comes next to the detriment of what is currently happening. Of the list, this seems the most difficult goal to attain. I have been working on this for years: slowing down, not worrying, trusting the Lord, being present. But it is a constant process of reminding myself: slow down. Don't rush. Be here.

Use less fuel. We returned home to a nation in uproar over $4/gallon gas. Big whoop, America. Europe pays $8-10/gallon (at least, with our current exchange rate), so it's still relatively cheap here. But more than cost, it's what we were more attuned to while traveling: the changing weather patterns people complained of in Provence; the smog everywhere we went (including visible, from the air, toward the north pole); the broken ice floes in the arctic; the wealth and power wielded by those in control of oil in the Arab world. We work very hard to use as little gas and oil as possible, but we want to use even less. Somehow.

And finally, love. We had a wonderful time together as a couple in Europe. We spent much of every day together, and rarely were short or cross. In fact, to Shannon's frequent embarrassment, we did a lot of kissing (if the Parisians do it, why can't we?). We felt like we were on a honeymoon. We had time and space for each other. We learned more about chivalry and service. We communicated well.

God called us on this trip, and we thought he wanted us to go and bless other people by serving on the mission field. In the end, it turns out he wanted to serve us a little bit, and also to help us serve each other. We are blessed.

Fritz and Shannon, June 6, 2008

Travel Tally

We are in the last leg of our journey, spending 4 days making our way home. We leave Morocco, head through Ceuta to Algeciras, through Gibraltar to London, then to San Francisco to Portland. Please be praying for us as we travel; it’s a long road, and can be exhausting. But we’ve had a good week in Morocco, spending some time with friends here, encouraging them. We’ve both been a bit sick, but are now feeling better.

We've been working, before and after our time in Morocco, in Algeciras, Spain. There we have been working with OM Artslink alongside the local OM team. It's been great, and we feel like we knew these people well after only a few hours together. Fritz has been photographing what they do (making art, leading a bookmaking/life-story workshop with local women, etc.) for OM. And Shannon jumped right in, cooking, setting up, etc. It's been a delight.

It’s been a wonderful journey, and Fritz could keep going, but Shannon is ready to go home. And it’s a good time to do so. We’ve met so many wonderful people on this trip, rested, ministered, served, photographed, worked, cooked, vacationed, toured. Don't forget to check Fritz's blog, to see photos from all these places (www.fritzphoto.blogspot.com).

Here are some fun numbers we came up with as we reviewed the past 3 months:

The Tally

Countries and the number of times we’ve visited them (colonies and enclaves listed separately):

England 2x
France 2x
Austria 2x
Slovakia 2x
Hungary 1x
Spain 3x
Gibraltar (Britain) 1x
Ceuta (Spain) 2x
Morocco 1x

Languages Used:

English
French
Chinese
Spanish
German
Slovakian
Hungarian
Arabic
Italian

Beds (Different Places Stayed):

Munsie-Rodman Family, Hazel Grove, Manchester, England
Carnegie-Brown Family, Old Maids Farm, Brompton-on-Swale, Yorkshire, England
York Bed and Breakfast, York, England
Manna House, London, England
Paris Apartment (converted 16th C. horse stables), Paris, France
Drouet Family, Nantes, France
Plaster Family, Paris, France
Nesca Rt. Ctr., Torremolinos, Spain
Sebo Family Cabin, Blatnica, Slovakia
Nameless Soviet Era Hotel, Budapest, Hungary
Sebo Family Home, Bratislava, Slovakia
Mercure Hotel, Montpellier, France
Gite Coume, Plavilla, Languedoc, France
Mas de la Senancole Hotel, Les Imberts, Provence, France
Wycliffe Hospitality House, Algeciras, Andalucia, Spain
Hernandez Family, Cabo Negro, Morocco

Modes of Transport:

Planes
Trains
Automobiles
Bus
Underground

Trolley
Ferry
Canalboat
Bicycle
Foot

Favorites:

England: Hiking the Yorkshire Dales
Paris: Hanging out until 2am over dinner with Parisian friends; Musee d’Orsay
Western France: Mt St Michel
Torremolinos, Spain: Sunshine and Birdsong in the Garden of Casa Nesca
Slovakia: Barbecue and Home Winery Tour
Hungary: Budapest’s Schezenyi Spa
Languedoc, South France: Hiking the countryside, Hill Towns, Wine and Pinochle, and the All Night Bird/Frog Serenade
Provence, South France: Hill Towns, Bories
Algeciras, Spain: The First Communion Parade
Morocco: Riff Mountains to Chefchaouen

Overall Favorite:

Getting to know people from all over the world (English, Welsh, Irish, Zimbabwean, Filipino, German, Dutch, Finnish, Singaporean, Chinese, French, Slovak, Hungarian, Moroccan, Nigerian, American, Canadian)


Things we missed most about America:

Plentiful public drinking fountains
Free wifi
Shannon’s bicycle

Thing that surprised us the most:

Squatty-potties in France

Thing that most annoyed us in Europe:

The exchange rate on the weak US Dollar

One thing we wish America would adopt from European culture:

The leisurely, multi-course meal, with more cheese.

Pierced in Carcasonne

I've been wanting to pierce my nose since I was about 15. Not sure why I never got around to it in my younger days, but of late the idea has come up again. I love being in my thirties, and I feel like I am turning into myself, if that makes any sense. I wanted to celebrate this great time in my life and this amazing European journey, so in Carcasonne, France, I searched out a tattoo/piercing shop and had it done.
Fritz tells me I squealed like a little girl, but I don't remember that part. It was pretty startling, though.

Since the last time we wrote, from Slovakia, we have been spending time in the south of France with our dear friends Jeff and Joanne Peterson. They are a great couple with a relaxed attitude and a fantastic sense of humor. Jeff had us in stitches a number of times. Here they are in the medieval part of Carcasonne.


We traveled around and saw much of the Languedoc region, as well as Provence. The weather was good, and the poppies were in bloom. We went to markets, visited tiny villages, ate good food, enjoyed the wine, and did our best to speak french.

Here is Fritz in Roussillon, a town famous for its ocher pigments, mined out of the hillside next to town. (You can view his photos of the town, and others, at his photo blog: www.fritzphoto.blogspot.com.)

This was the head of an ad hoc reception committee in the town of Beziers. I had to include him because it is such a sweet story. Our friend Joanne is in a wheelchair, so we had parked in the handicap spot. This fellow came along and started talking to us. As you may know, I speak some French, but I am certainly not fluent, and at first I thought we were in trouble for using the handicapped parking, even though we had a real reason and a permit. After a moment, though, I realized that he was just explaining very thoroughly to us that because it was Saturday, we did not have to pay for parking, and he was very concerned that we might pay when we didn't have to. He went on to tell us all about the town of Beziers, where we should go to visit, and pointed the directions we should go to see various things. I understood about half of what he told us, but got the gist of it all. Then, as we were setting off, he strode into the crosswalk and raised his cane like the sword of an avenging angel, stopping traffic so that we could all pass safely across the street.

We thanked him and said our goodbyes, but his warmth and kindness was exemplary of what we received all through the Languedoc region. People were kind and welcoming, and seemed amused, not annoyed, with our shabby French. Provence seemed a bit more tourist weary, but still friendly. If your ideas of France are formed by what you have heard about Paris, this felt like a whole different world, and we recommend the southern countryside wholeheartedly.

This weekend we are back in Southern Spain, pitching in on an Arts outreach project with OM's ArtsLink, and we leave Monday to visit some dear friends in Morocco for the week. We return home to Oregon on the second, and I have three weeks to get everything situated before I start nursing school at Linfield School of Nursing, in northwest Portland.

Slovakia & Hungary

This has been one exciting week. We arrived in Slovakia friday afternoon at our friend Monika Šebova´s house in Bratislava, the capitol city. We were quickly whisked off for a weekend in Central Slovakia, up in the high mountains. We stayed in a beautiful village called Blatnica (pronounced blatnitsa). We had a quiet weekend, just resting and walking and puttering around. Monika´s boyfriend Roland made us some fantastic food. He is Slovakian, but has Hungarian roots, so he made us real hungarian goulash over the fire, and other specialties. They each have a dog, both bichon frise breed, so we had some fun canine company for the weekend.

On Monday morning, we returned to Bratislava, only to leave again for a nights stay in Budapest. Roland lived there for 10 years and offered to take us there and let us wander around while he had some meetings for his business. Monika ended up taking the day off and came with us too! I never thought much about Budapest, nor did I ever expect to go there and it was a delightful surprise. We were there for about 20 hours, some of which were unfortunately spent sleeping. We really loved the town, but only got to see a small part of it. We spent lots of time walking around and looking at the sights, and stumbled upon a fantastic Art Nouveau building that is one of the loveliest buildings I have ever seen. I cant remember when it was built, but it had fallen into disrepair when the 4 Seasons Hotel chain bought it and restored it to its former glory. Someday we will come back to Budapest and maybe we could stay there for a night.

Hungarians are big on going to communal baths or spas, so we took the opportunity to go check one out. It was right in the center of town in an enormous park- kind of like central park in New York. It was so much fun. The spa is in this huge old rambling building that has been very well cared for. Lots of light and beautiful tile. There are 3 or 4 saunas, a steam room, a cold bath, a hot bath, a lukewarm bath and a therapy pool. And that is just indoors. Then you go outside and there is a sunbathing area, another hot pool with tons of massaging jets, a cool pool for lap swimming, and a medium temperature pool for just dinking around in. There is a circular area in the middle where huge jets of water get a fast current going, and you can race around in a circle just bobbing along and trying not to get pushed into the people around you. Many of you know how much I love to swim and be in the water, so you´ll know that I was in heaven. We stayed about 3 hours, but I could have stayed all day.

After Budapest, we came back to Bratislava, and spent yesterday exploring central Bratislava´s old town. Much smaller than Budapest, but absolutely lovely and we really enjoyed ourselves. We found a shop that sold old books and Fritz found a gorgeous old woodcut print that he bought for a souvenir. Fritz took a lot of pictures of the beautiful old buildings, and I imagined that I was living here in the early part of the century. Some areas had no cars, so it was easy to imagine that I was in another era.

In the evening, we had a great time with Monika, Roland and Monika´s parents, Imrich and Daniela. We had a barbecue outside in the clear spring evening, and stayed up late into the night drinking wine, talking, eating, and watching ice hockey (Slovakia´s favorite sport!). Imrich, a talented musician, serenaded us with jazz standards and then showed us his wine cellar. He, as a hobby, makes in impressive array of delicous wines in his basement. We talked about the long relationship between Monika´s family and mine, and basically enjoyed ourselves to the hilt.

Today we went to see Devin castle. It was a beautiful ruin on a high hill above the confluence of the Danube river and the Morava river. Pictures are better than words.

Monika and Roland together.

Tomorrow we fly back to France. We are going to Nice, to be exact, to meet our good friends Jeff and Joanne Peterson to have some relaxing time in the sunny south of France.

My Office in Spain

Fritz’s turn for a few thoughts.

As Shannon mentioned, it really has been a wonderful week of rest, prayer, reflection, writing, editing, and ministry here on the Mediterranean coast. I’ve enjoyed it immensely, and feel refreshed and ready for the rest of our travels. The Lord specifically led us here, and now we see why. If we’d kept moving and adventuring continuously on this trip, it would have been too much. As it is, we feel rested, ready, and like the Lord has had plenty of time to speak to us about a number of things. Plus, we’ve had some specific opportunities to counsel and care for some people here, which has been a real joy.

We’ve been talking about how to rearrange parts of our life back home, so it doesn’t feel so cluttered. Specifically we’ve been talking about our house. The idea came to us to move my office from the crammed 10x12 foot upstairs room, where I run 2 businesses and my artwork, and which often spills into the living and dining rooms. It is always cluttered and piled with stuff do to and stuff to arrange. We’ve decided to move it downstairs into the ‘new’ room I built some time ago, tripling my space. I’m really excited about this. Room to spread out, room to work, room to breathe.

Speaking of offices, this has been my office in Spain:



The view is great, the breeze cool and lovely, the light wonderful.

Shannon and I have always had the desire to run a hospitality house. It’s something of a buried desire, one we don’t have time for and barely room for. It’s something we submit to the Lord and wait for his timing on. We’ve always wanted to have a house and space in the country in which to host people, give them rest. A retreat, private, open for people to come and be quiet, reflect, pray, hear from the Lord. A place for people to be refreshed, and from which they can return to their normal lives and ministries with new strength, insight, and direction. I’d not only enjoy hosting, but also designing and building and caring for such a place. And Shannon is an excellent hostess and cook. Being at two such places now in Europe has only intensified this desire. But we’ll continue to give it back to Jesus, and see when and if he desires for this to become a reality someday. We’ll see.

The Dogs of Spain

There are a lot of dogs in Spain. I’m not sure what they’re here for, maybe they are all watchdogs. The Spanish dogs don’t really seem like pets, the way people treat them. In the neighborhood where we’re staying, there have to be at least 30-40 dogs almost all locked behind high walls, though a few are free to chase me as I walk to and from town. From time to time, they all start barking and howling and baying all at once. It’s not clear what sets them off, but they all get into it together, and then their owners come out and yell obscenities, shoot guns, and kick the dogs. Quite lively. Many of you know my sister Andrea lived in Sevilla (Seville), Spain for a year a while back. I remember her saying that dog poo all over the sidewalk was one of the quintessential characteristics of Southern Spain. Now that I’ve been here, I quite agree-I‘ve stepped right in that particular characteristic! Here is one of the dogs of Spain: Cora--she’s a sweetie, owned by the folks who run the retreat center we’ve been staying at. She’s an anomaly, cared for and loved and well behaved; although she, too, likes to howl on occasion. But we can shush her with a few kind words.


All complaining aside, we’ve had a lovely time staying in Torremolinos, on the Southern Coast of Spain. We are up in the hills a ways, a bit of a hike from the town center and the beach. That’s fine, because we have had a fantastic time resting, praying, reading, thinking, writing, and just spending time with God, each other, and the great people who have been here. There are three other guests besides us, and along with the hosts, we’ve had a lot of fun and some really fantastic times of praying together and encouraging one another. Here’s the whole bunch of us at a potluck dinner (or as the Brits say, American Supper):


I am realizing a lot more about some of the anxieties and ways of thinking that make my life hurried, rushed and stressed. As I prepare to be in school again, especially the condensed nursing program that I am entering, I would like to be able to bring a better mindset to it so that I don’t turn into such a basket-case. I am really working on not always needing to be distracted by books, movies, music, food, etc. I am trying to be clear minded, completely present, and to learn to just rest in the love that Christ offers me. It’s hard work for me, but this week has been a nice time to reflect and identify some of my weak areas. I’m not picking myself apart- not at all! It’s just nice to identify where I might need extra help and ask God and my family and friends to help me in those places. Here’s the garden where I’ve been doing all this deep thinking:


Tomorrow, we leave for Bratislava, Slovakia. There we’ll be spending a week with our old friend Monika Sebova, who lived with my family as an exchange student when Andrea and Carmen were in high school. We are staying with her and her parents, and they are going to help us explore Bratislava, and then they said we’d go to Central Slovakia to stay in a house they own up in the mountains. This is the part of the trip that starts to feel pretty exotic. I’ve never been to central Europe before, and I don’t speak more than two words of Slovak. I know Monika and her family will take care of us, but there will be plenty of times where we’ll be wandering about on our own. I guess that sort of adventure is the whole reason we came on this trip!

Today is May 1st, and we return home on June 2nd, so we’ve just got one month left on this journey. I am excited about the rest of our itinerary, but I’m also beginning to feel excited about returning home. I have a lot to look forward to, and I am getting pretty excited about school, and also about riding the Seattle-to-Portland bike ride again in July. This year, I won’t be riding alone! My dear friend, Melissa Toucet will be riding with me, and I think it will be a blast to ride together. Despite my best intentions, I just haven’t had much chance to ride bicycles while on this trip, so just like last year I’ll be on the “not-quite-enough-time-to-do-this-properly“, accelerated training program. Oh well. I learned last year that if I just keep turning those pedals, I will arrive in the end.


Well, how’s that for a hodge podge of thoughts! I’ll sign off for now.