Fahrrad fahren

This post is going to mainly about one thing and that is biking. Or in German “Fahrrad fahren”. Since the weather is getting warmer here I have started to bike more places. This includes biking to German class every morning.  First of all let me start out by telling you a little about my bike. I got it for free from a woman whose father passed away and she didn’t want it anymore. I have a sweet basket on it as well. The seat is a little low for me and squeaky at times and the backward pedal brake doesn’t work. Other than those things, it is a great ride. Here are some things that I have come to know about biking in Germany (you would think it wouldn’t be that complicated, but I guess I never biked in America so maybe I didn’t notice all the “rules”): 

1.       There is a bike lane that is painted red here. If you are walking in the bike lane you will get ran over. Literally. Or if they will repeatedly ring their bell at you until you move. If you want to die, walk in the bike lane.

How cool is this foldable bike! I really want one!

2.       The Bike Bell: this is important because of what I mentioned before. See I feel rude to ring a bell at a person so I either go around or bike slowly behind them until they move. I have been informed that this is worse and ruder. It is the polite thing to tell someone to move out of your way. Partly I avoid using mine because it sounds like a dying cat, which is a little embarrassing.

3.       The passing rule: I have no idea what side I am supposed to pass on, so I always just go as fast as I can and ride on the people walk way. People probably think I am really rude, but when I think I am being polite, I am most likely doing just the opposite

4.       My friend got a ticket for not having a bike light at 12pm in the afternoon. How can you even tell if someone’s light is working? I got lucky because I use to bike home every night from training without a light until my host mom bought me one because she was worried I would get hit.

5.       I don’t understand how people like biking because it hurts my butt, and what makes me even madder is that every day when I bike to German everyone passes me and I am pedaling so fast it seems. I swear I am pedaling faster, but they are moving faster. This is NOT logical. Then I switch mine to a higher gear and it’s like my quads are about to rip. Either EVERY biker has crazy strong quads or my bike SUCKS. Maybe there is a biking trick I am unaware of.

6.       I still haven’t figured out if I am more like a car or a human on my bike. For example, when I am biking down the side of a busy road and it’s a red light, but there is no reason for me to not go do I need to sit at a red light? Or can I bike through it? I usually just pretend I am a human when it is convenient.

7.       I actually love biking on busy roads because I feel like a race car driver. Even though I am going WAY slower. It is just so freeing and I guess it is the closest I get to driving over here, which I really miss right now. Germans are really safe too, so I never really worry about a bus side swiping me or anything. Sometimes people have to slam on their brakes, but I think they would get in more trouble than me. I guess I would get more hurt, but I don’t worry.

If only rollerblading was the equivalent of biking in Berlin. Imagine if we lived in a rollerblading society and instead of hoping on your bike to go to work or school, you strapped on your blades. I would LOVE this. Maybe there is a city where rollerblading is the popular thing to do. It is crazy to me how in certain cities it is not the cool thing to do. Whereas in college in Des Moines we rollerbladed everywhere and I then I visited my friend in Madison and she said that NOBODY rollerblades. I guess whatever. That’s all for this post. Doesn’t give much of an update, but at least now if you visit you know the biking dos and don’ts.

Frohe Ostern!

Britt and I before her game

Well it has been a long time since I have blogged. Life has been crazy busy and usually when I go to write a blog I have something to write about, but that isn’t the case today so I will just see what flows from my mind (always a scary thought). It is crazy it Easter was already here. Last year, I spend Easter in Prague so it is a bit different being in Berlin this year for it. We couldn’t really go anywhere because we had a game on Easter Monday and had this fan club thing on Good Friday (Karfreitag). Holidays are always somewhat lonely in other countries because you just think about all your friends and family being together and you aren’t there. Most of my teammates went away to their parents’ houses. Yesterday, I went to my host family for Easter lunch after our game. I get so excited to eat warm, homemade meals now that I live on my own because my meals are pretty boring. They are such a blessing. I thought I would have outgrown the whole Easter egg hunt, but this year I got to do two hunts.

Meg, Britt, and I after a different
game

A few weeks ago Meg (friend from the States) was here visiting, which was so much fun. We just did random things and in the mornings I had German class, but I wasn’t training yet because of my knee so we got to hang out at night. We went to one of Brittany’s volleyball games in Potsdam and since Meg played she taught me some things about volleyball. My other friend in Berlin plays for the men’s professional team here and they made it the finals, which is a big deal. So that is super exciting. I always wished I played volleyball. It looks like so much fun and WAY less running than soccer. I love what I do here, but one of the hard parts is that we work with some Americans that play as professional athletes over here and provide them with community, etc, but then they leave when the season is over. It is hard because you connect and then they leave and never know if they are coming back for the next season.

All of us at the Potsdam Champions
League soccer game

On the soccer front, I am finally playing again and have been running and training. I will probably dress on Monday, but doubt I will go in because I am just coming back. It feels so good to be playing again but I am hesitant with my knee. I try to not be though because that is when you are more likely to get injured. Another bit of good news is that Spotify is FINALLY in Germany. I love it. Makes listening to new music so much easier. I have also started reading the Hunger Games. Along with the rest of the world. I am on the second one and they are so good. I hope to go see the movie here. It is the nice thing about having a Kindle and just being able to download the books instead of getting them shipped from the States.

Easter brunch with friends

Exactly six weeks from yesterday I will be back in America to visit. I am really excited, but at the same time kind of nervous because I think the adjustment will be harder than I think. We will see though. Last time I came home I didn’t have much time to process because it was so busy and I was living off adrenaline the entire time, but this time I will have a lot more downtime, which I am excited for. It will come fast, but between then and now I have a lot to get done. As the weather gets warmer, it is always harder to sit down and do work because I rather be playing outside. I am getting excited to play soccer when it is warm, and every night when we go to training it stays lighter a little longer. I love that. This blog is all over, but it is hard when it has been so long. I will try to keep up better. 

Mustafa's, Die Hunde, Kirsche, Der Fisch

Ten Random Things in my life

1.       Last week I was riding on the train and there was a drunken man standing near me. The train was fairly full and all of a sudden this guy is just shouting/talking loudly about nothing. There was a girl reading across from him with headphones in and he just started shouting at her and saying, “Are you reading? What are you reading?” and going on and on. Then he turned to another woman and started shouting to her about school because she was studying. He literally went on for about 5 minutes. Everyone was staring at him with a straight face and I couldn’t help but laugh. It’s in moments like that where I want to stand up and say, “People this is funny!” I had to laugh into my scarf because otherwise who knows maybe he would start shouting at me.  

2.       My friend, Jessie, was in town for a few days and it was super refreshing. We just did random things and did life together. She volunteered with me on the streets, which was really cool because she got a better idea of what it is like. She lives in Switzerland and speaks German so we spoke German at times, but I think I realize I talk too fast in English often and it bugs me that my German can’t keep up. 

Well trained dog advertising.

         3.   We traveled for soccer and first of all, two dogs came with us on our 6 hour bus ride. I am not a big dog lover to say the least. I mean sometimes if they are super cute, but I am not one of those people that think even a dog that looks like a rat is cute. Regardless, I didn’t know dogs were allowed to travel with us. I wonder if they would let me bring a pet ferret or guinea pig? I should ask. Even though I don’t have either. Speaking of dogs. Yesterday, a man on the train was walking down the aisle trying to sell newspapers and he had his dog walking in front of him carrying the newspaper and advertising. The dog literally was trained to stop at each exit door.

         4.  So many times funny things with language happen. For instance, the word for church is Kirche und for cherry is Kirsche. I can’t do the sound that Germans make when they say “ch” so many times when I say I am going to church it sounds like I say I am going to cherry. The person always just looks at me like I have lost my mind. Tonight at dinner my teammate told me we were having “Carrots and pies” as part of the meal (in English) she told me.  I kept asking like pies as in Chicken pot pies or something. Turns out she was trying to say “Peas” the whole time and thought it was pies. I guess I know how she feels. My language teacher called me out in class and told me I say “r’s” too American in German. He made me practice ten words in front of the whole class, I was so embarrassed. I can’t roll my “r’s” and I think I may have to go back to the YouTube videos.

Team getting ready to walk on the field.
Most likely I was dog sitting somewhere

5.       I had two friends over for dinner last night and I get really nervous cooking for Germans because I want them to like it. I never want to make anything too weird, so I decided to make Chicken Parmesan. Partly because it is easy. I started cooking before and I had brought some of that premade bread that you stick in the oven and we only have one shelf so I decided I could just lay it across the pan of chicken. Bad idea. The bread fell in and got soggy in the sauce. Thankfully I saved it and then put it in after on some bake paper (not sure what we call it in the States) and when I was taking it out the paper started on fire and at the same time the noodles were boiling everywhere. I was trying to blow it out without burning myself. All in all, I could have burned the house down. I am gaining a new appreciation for cooks. You have to be so detail oriented. My logic is how ½ tsp. of something can make that big of difference so then I just don’t put it in. But I guess it does matter. 

6.       My twin friends had a little disaster trying to find my place. Both their phones had died and I don’t have my name on the bell outside or on the outside of my door because I just moved in a little white ago and it takes a bit. Regardless, they didn’t get my message of which bell to ring so they came to my place and started ringing random peoples. Eventually they got inside and started walking up every floor looking for my name, which didn’t exist. We have seven floors so it is a lot of stairs to walk. They couldn’t find it so they decided to start knocking on random doors and ask if they knew a Liz that lived there. Of course, nobody did because it is not like I know anybody’s’ name either. Finally they happened to stop on the fifth floor (mine) and knock on the girl that lives diagonal from us. They asked if she knew where a tall, American girl named Liz lives. Sure enough, this is the one girl I had rode in an elevator with and she has a crazy scary looking dog. So she said, “Oh yeah the big, American that wears sweatpants?” and told them where I live. Crazy that they happened to knock on her door. Funny thing is; I never really leave the house in sweatpants unless I am going to the grocery store quick or in our soccer gear, but I guess some things never change. All in all they showed up 45 minutes late and had a good workout in the process.

7.       I found the best döner place in Berlin with Jess. It is so good and now every time I have a visitor I am going to bring them here. Not to mention it is next to the best curry wurst stand in Berlin as well. Nothing like Berlin’s best. It is called Mustafa’s, which is another reason I like it. 

8.       I think there needs to be a tutorial on what are leggings and what are tights. I see WAY too many girls wearing what they may call “leggings” with a shirt that doesn’t cover enough. Sometimes I just want to ask if they are aware that they are exposing themselves. People! Leggings and tights are NOT the same thing. Legging vs. Tights 101 needs to take place in Germany!

9.       Most people don’t like Monday mornings. Honestly my least favorite day is Tuesday. You ask why? It is because every Tuesday morning on my way to German class walking to the train station there is a market. In the market is this big, fish stand with TONS of bulging eyed fish. It smells SO bad. I literally think they see that I walk by plugging my nose every time. Who wants to be greeted at 8 in the morning with fish smell? As you can tell, I don’t eat fish or anything that has gills for that matter. I go fishing, but I throw them back. All in all, it is miserable and Fridays is a close second because the fish stand is up then too, but at least it is Friday.

My tape that makes me looks like spider man.
It is on both sides of my leg. 

10.   My knee is still injured. This week I got the third possible diagnosis. Somewhat frustrating. The physio put this weird tape all up my leg and it looks like spider man. It is supposed to help with drainage. It is interesting seeing the cultural differences in doctors and how they treat things. I am not sure this is doing anything but I just follow the orders. Doctor appointments are always really stressful and I just want to cry because I don’t know doctor terms in German and you so badly want to communicate. Ok this blog is long. More a different day. 

Glücklich blog.

So I get an email from my mom the other day and she writes. “I read your blog. Hope your day is going better. Write a happy blog.” I laughed to myself and thought, A. Ok, Mom. (literally) B. Moms are usually right. C. Good sentence formation. So I guess this is my “happy blog” just for you Mom. Life has been crazy, busy lately I guess, but I look back sometimes and don’t even know where the days go. I have been more tired than ever and sometimes wonder if I have mono even though I know I don’t. Since coming back to Spain, the Lord has really been rocking my world and challenging me. It all started in Spain where the Lord just completely broke me and made me realize how much I don’t trust Him with certain areas of my life.

I have just been anxious in so many areas, whether that is getting healing, or just knowing what my future holds. I have realized more and more since coming to Germany, how much being an athlete all my life and having the “athlete” mindset, often carries over into my spiritual life. I am a do-er. I am goal oriented. I am high strung. I like to- do lists (I am the person that writes, “Make my bed” on a to-do list just so I can cross it off).  I like to conquer things. I like to overcome challenges. I will work as hard as I need to get the job done. I will do what I need to do to beat adversity. All of these sound like good things in a lot of aspects of life. But when it comes to my walk with the Lord lately I am realizing how much it hinders me. The Lord has revealed many things that I want to work on, whether that is pride, comparing myself to others, prayer life, etc. I am realizing that all these things I can’t conquer and that drives me absolutely crazy. I want to be able to check things of the list of overcoming them and not worry about them. The problem is that isn’t really how things like this work, because in all reality most of those things I will never “overcome” because as humans we are innately prideful and selfish beings, but with the power of the Holy Spirit in us we can live a Spirit filled life where these things do not consume us. We can learn to walk in the Spirit. All in all the Lord has brought me to this place of being so overwhelmed with all these things I want to fix and overcome that really all I can do is be broken before Him and just surrender my life. I am working on just resting in the Lord’s presence and learning to truly trust Him. It is easy to say I trust the Lord, but I think actually believing it is a whole different story and I guess that is where I am. What areas of my life do I truly trust the Lord with and what areas do I not?

After talking to a few different people about this and just verbally processing with them, one in particular challenged me to really go back to the basics of Christ. And that is salvation and what Christ did for us on the cross. There are so many days that I go without thinking about what Jesus did for me on the cross, when in all reality that is the foundation of why we are here and what our purpose is on this Earth. My friend also challenged to me to just sit and meditate on God’s sovereignty rather than getting caught up in the to-do list of being a Christian. Going to church, having a quiet time, journaling, discipleship are all great things, but at the same time if they are only on my to-do list, then I am missing the point. Since I have grown up in a Christian home and been a believer since I can remember, I think often I know all the right things to say and do rather than to really focus on my personal walk with the Lord and His love for me. Do I truly believe that the Lord loves me? That He is sovereign over everything and has my BEST interest in mind? I watched this little clip from Brennan Manning this morning after I listed to a great sermon on comparing you to others and it really hit home with me. Also another friend shared a song with me that I have listened to every day since he told me and it somewhat sums up what I have been feeling. Lastly, the verse that I have really clung to in the last week is, 1 Corinthians 1:25, “For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength.” No matter how much of a do-er I am, God’s doing is always going to be better than mine. He is sovereign and His way is better, now just believing His truths and learning to rest in His presence. 

Alles Gute zum Geburtstag Jayna!

Well first I will start off with Happy Valentine’s Day! Woohoo! Yes, I do think that this is a pointless holiday, but it is not because I am single and feel bad for myself. It is just so overdone and commercialized. It isn’t that way in Germany as much and sometimes today I wondered if people even knew it was February 14^th. February 14^th is important for another reason because it is Jayna’s birthday! Poor girl, how much would it suck to have your birthday on Valentine’s Day, when everyone is busy going on dates and forgets to celebrate your special day. Regardless, Valentine’s Day or not, the last two days have been two of those days when nothing seems to go right.

Yesterday I had a doctor appointment and I don’t know why but whenever I go to the doctor and it is in German I just want to cry. Not because I am in pain, but because I am so frustrated with the fact that I can’t communicate over important matters. It is the time when I feel as if I cannot express myself. My German is good enough to communicate, but it is not like I learn doctor terms in my German class. All I know is that I was there and I had thought the doctor told me to take my pants off so he could look, but I guess he didn’t so I probably looked like a freak. Then he got a shot and I was unsure what was in the shot or why I needed it, but I just went with it. He said to not panic, so I guess I didn’t. After that fiasco, I was headed to my director and his wives house for prayer and to hang out there for the night, which is about an hour from where I was. About two train stations away I found out that I am supposed to go to watch our practice game (let me remind you it is outside), which was on the other side of town in about two hours. So that left me about 45 minutes with Kevin and Lisa. Annoying. Oh well though. Finally got home from my day at about 10:15 pm and just crawled into bed.

Today started out great and I Skyped with Jayna before German class (9 hour time difference is the worst). After German class, I went grocery shopping to get supplies to bake a dessert for my brother’s birthday party tomorrow and to make homemade tomato soup. I was making a peppermint chocolate dessert that my mom always makes. The problem is they don’t have cool whip in Germany, so last time my host sister and I had to improvise and make it by mixing these other two ingredients. Once I began I realized the middle layer needed to be mixed with cool whip, so I mixed the ingredients and then realized I didn’t have an electric beater, so I tried stirring as fast as possible. Didn’t work (I think the air needs to get in and make it fluffy or something). Next I tried putting the lid on the bowl and shaking it as much as possible. Didn’t work. I quit and just mixed in the runny liquid. The bottom layer is supposed to be crushed up vanilla wafers, which I found something similar, so like Paul Bunyan I was hammering away. Then I had to crush Candy Canes (my mom brought from America) to put in this layer. They were a little large in size, but hopefully nobody breaks a tooth. Then came the next layer, which is chocolate pudding. I thought, "Okay, there is no way you screw this up. “I mean what I could translate from the directions I figured I knew what to do. Guess I still am not sure where I went wrong. Pretty much I have a liter of chocolate soupy pudding sitting on the stove with floating chocolate chunks. I thought maybe it needed to sit to thicken. Yeah, that didn’t happen either. After that I quit the cake and tomorrow I will buy already chilled pudding and use that. The cool whip layer I will hopefully figure out at my host family. Seriously I am done trying to bake and cook in this country. I was literally grunting and yelling in my kitchen.

Up to this point I was somewhat over it. I figured now for my lunch. Tomato soup. Can’t screw that up. I went to open the cans and either I am stupid or the can opener is stupid. It didn’t work. I tried for like 15 minutes. At this point I was so frustrated that I was about to hammer the lid in. Instead I decided to walk to the store and get a can opener. Little did I know they are NO WHERE to be sold. I went to one grocery store, didn’t have any. Then I went to two places that have EVERYTHING, and by everything I mean everything but a can opener. Then I walked the entire street of stores that I by my house and there was NOTHING. So I went into this designer store called KaDeWe, which is huge. Well let me tell ya, they had a can opener. For 40 euros. I was desperate, but not that desperate. So last resort I decided to hit up the grocery store I had already been to today, and sure enough they had one. Now that I had spent 45 minutes walking all over to find a stupid can opener. I got home, made my soup, ate it, looked at my runny pudding and disaster dessert and took a nap. Only to wake up and write this blog. It is one of those days where you just need a big hug from someone who knows you. I had planned on writing my next blog about what God has been teaching me, but then today happened and I think he was trying to teach me patience, which I lack. My day doesn’t even sound that bad probably, and it wasn’t compared to most people, but the things just added onto each other. My next blog will be about what I have been learning. 

Malaga, Ner-JA, Gibraltar, Irish Annie's

Where to begin? It has been awhile since I blogged about current life since the previous posts were all about my Europe trip. Yesterday I just returned from Spain for our midyear CRU conference, where all the STINTers and International Campus staff that are long term meet in Nerja, Spain to get refreshed and just get “coached”. I traveled last Thursday with the rest of the Berlin STINT team to Malaga, Spain a couple days early because of flight scheduling. There were about 14 of us that went, so it was quite the large group for traveling. We stayed at a hostel in Malaga for two nights and did some different tourist things on Friday. We went and say the Roman Theatre and the castle there, which were both really cool. Malaga is right on the Mediterranean Sea and it was an incredible view. It was interesting traveling with such a large group because I am not use to being around so many people. I do many things alone in life, so waiting for a large group to make decisions definitely was a patience tester at times. There were tons of cute shops and coffee shops that we went to in Malaga and just relaxed. I hurt my knee in soccer training last Tuesday and the team physio said I strained my LCL, so I was supposed to take it easy, which is hard to do when you are walking everywhere. I think one of the BEST parts of Malaga was that there was Taco Bell, so we ate there twice. It was SOOOO good. One of the girls that we were with shrieked so loud when she saw it because it is her favorite. They even had a one Euro menu. Boom baby!

It was so hard to remember to not speak in German. I kept saying Danke or responding with German numbers. Then I would said the wrong Spanish words because all I really know is "Como tse de tse?" or whatever that is, but then I realized that just means, "how do you say?" So it didn't help me much. Pretty much every waiter or waitress looked at me as if I was crazy.

Flat Stanley and I in Malaga

Steffi at TBell!

On Saturday, we had to meet at the Malaga airport to get bussed to Nerja (pronounced with a silent “j” even though I liked to call it NER-JA) for the conference. When we arrived at the airport it was super overwhelming, and seriously it was a few too many Americans at one time. I mean when you haven’t spent time with a lot of Americans and then you are thrown into a room with 150 of them, it is a bit much. It was weird being around only English. We loaded up on the busses though and 90 minutes later arrived in Nerja. After registration, we went to our rooms and if only you could have seen the sight from the balcony of our hotel. It was breathtaking. I got to room with my college teammate who does ministry in Paris, so that was so MUCH fun. Someone that really knows you and just being able to talk about life and not have to give all the background details.

The view from our Hotel balcony (and Flat Stanley)

The whole week was just so refreshing, but at the same time hard because the Lord really revealed a lot to me (which will be in my next blog post). I met so many cool people that are serving all over Europe and even in the Middle East. It was neat seeing how many people are experiencing the same things in a sense and just being able to relate to them. One highlight was the English worship music. I guess the little things in life. My coach (the person that comes from the states and spends time with you to see how you are doing, etc.) brought me Oreos and Reese’s. Boo yah! It is funny how much we all just crave the same things. There were only 4 AIA STINTers there so at times the lessons didn’t relate to us because we aren’t on a campus launching a movement or anything. It is funny how many people don’t even know that AIA exists or exactly what we do. The rules are different for us and I guess a lot more flexible because there are less of us, so it was humorous having people be like, “So, wait you do what? You play soccer in Germany? and you have been there since March?” The typical STINT year is Sept to June and then you go home to raise support in the summer for your second year if you want to come back. After two years you have to decide if you want to join staff.

All of us at Irish Annie's

Every night after our evening session, we would go to this pub called Irish Annie’s. I think our CRU conference is what keeps them in business for the rest of the year. Not really, but maybe. Anyways, we would just all hang out, drink beer (or Sangria because we were in Spain) and talk. Or play categories. I think that is what I love about Europe and serving overseas is that drinking a beer or two isn’t a big deal. Whereas most likely when you put 200 CRU people in the states together, they wouldn’t sit around a drink beer together over good conversation. The context of drinking and being a Christian is just so culturally different I guess.

One night we were hanging out at the hotel and we heard Spanish music so we went to check it out and it was this dance party. I think the style of dance is called Flamenco, pretty much you twist your wrists and wiggle your hips. Both of I clearly suck at. I walked in and all of a sudden these people put a cowboy hat on me, a lei, and a boa, and a hula skirt. It was like "Hawaiian Gone Western" and these old Spanish men would come up and dance with us. It was hilarious and seriously one of the weirdest things I have ever participated in, but it was hilarious and fun.

"Hawaiian Gone Western" dance night

I went swimming in the Mediterranean Sea one day. It was FREEZING, but I wasn’t going to let that stop me. Seriously after all the oceans or seas I have swum in you would think I would learn to close my mouth when diving in, but clearly I haven’t learned. I always end up getting a mouthful of salt water. Gross. We had to wear our onesies at the conference since it was a CRU event. I always laugh to myself because many Europeans probably know we are Americans by the fact that we are wearing one pieces since lots of people hang out nude on the beach.  One day we could choose between going to Gibraltar and Sevilla. I decided to go to Gibraltar because I wanted monkeys to climb on me. J Plus people spoke English and from the Rock you could see Africa, Spain and be in the United Kingdom. I finally got a monkey to jump on my head. It kind of pulled my hair, but it was worth it. This kid Sage I met, he got bit because he was trying to high five the monkey and then the monkey decided he didn’t want to high five anymore. Haha. It was definitely refreshing being able to use sarcasm for the week though and just joke around.

The Rock at Gibraltar (and Flat Stanley)

Monkey on my head.

The lessons and talks were really good. I will blog later and write more about what I learned and what God has been teaching me. He definitely rocked my world in certain aspects and put things in perspective. I came back feeling somewhat refreshed even though I didn’t get much sleep there, but refreshed with knowing this is where the Lord wants me and He is using me to further His Kingdom. But more to come next time. 

Vierte Halt: London

       Well, it has taken me forever to finish blogging about our trip. Now for the last stop though: London. We woke up early in Dublin and flew to London. In London, we were staying with the family of my good friend from Berlin. She was actually flying out that evening to go back to Berlin, but we got to spend some time together and hang out during the day. Seriously I don’t think there could have been a better end to our trip. They were so hospitable and took amazing care of us. When we arrived we had to find out way to her house, but we didn’t really have a phone that worked so we used the, “Do you know where a pay phone is?” trick and someone let us use their phone quickly it was great. We knew getting to London that we wanted to avoid public transportation as much as possible because of some random costs we had, we started walking everywhere on our trip and when possible. With that being said my friend lives in the north of London and the bus trip alone was 20 pounds to get to where we needed to go. So we decided we were going to try and walk to her house instead of take the bus. We realized it was too far from where we were, but once again we got lucky because we got on the bus and only had 20 pounds and the woman said she didn’t have change so we could ride for free. Booyah! In London, you need these cards called “Oyster Cards” and it makes transportation like half the price. We didn’t have these yet though so we didn’t want to ride unless we had to. It was so weird seeing everyone driving on the opposite side of the road. We couldn’t get over it. I kept thinking we were going to crash.

The "London Eye"

        Our first day there we hung out and ate lunch. I think I ate more unique animal food at their house than I have ever in my lifetime. We ate rabbit for lunch and then we had some of the best cheeses. Seriously I could go on and on about how great her parents were. You know those people that you meet that are so wise. You feel as if you are getting smarter just being in their presence. That was how it was with them. After they dropped my friend off at the airport, we went to church with them and then out for drinks after with a couple from the church. We had the best strawberry beer. It is definitely a new favorite. The next day we figured we would do the sightseeing part of London. The family borrowed us a SIM card, so we could call them whenever we needed to and also they had some extra oyster cards that we could use. We went and saw the “London Eye”, Big Ben, the Parliament House, London Bridge, and the Tower Bridge. We also finally got the burgers we had been craving for so long. They were amazing. We went to this place called GBK because the people we were staying with gave us coupons. Seriously, they hooked us up. The funny thing was about the London Bridge. We didn’t really know where it was and good thing we didn’t ask because we realized we were standing on it. It definitely wasn’t that cool and the Tower Bridge was WAY cooler. London we didn’t do as much sightseeing because by this time we were kind of worn out from walking and both of us had pain in our feet. We did go see the Buckingham Palace though, which was pretty neat. There were tons of people; you would have thought something was happening, like the Queen was going grocery shopping or something. But nope, she wasn’t anywhere to be seen. The closest thing we saw to royalty was men on horses with red capes. That evening, the parents said that we should come back for dinner and we can all go out together. Instead, the mom decided to cook and it was honestly one of those most amazing meals I have ever eaten. It was lamb, sweet potatoes, some other amazing vegetable dish, and something else that tasted amazing. For dessert we had this apple almond pie or something. My friend’s dad is really into wine and collects it. So we also sampled different wines. I learned more about wine than I have in my entire life. I never knew how much their is to know and I actually enjoyed the taste, when usually I don’t. I mean I guess there really is a difference between expensive wine and cheap wine.

This picture is for my college teammates.
I use to coach soccer clinics for kids and for some reason
they all called me Big Ben. 

Blonde because there were cheap tickets for it, but I didn’t make Michael suffer. We looked into going to Chicago, Phantom, and some other popular ones, but they were all kind of expensive.

Buckingham Palace

                Our last day was when we parted ways. Thank goodness we didn’t have early flights, but we did fly out of separate airports. Michael was flying home and I was heading back to Berlin. It was sad, but honestly the trip was amazing and I don’t think I would have changed anything about it. It was relaxing and refreshing to get to spend time with someone who really knows me and also see other people. It definitely gave me a desire to travel more and I am hoping to in the future. I figure how often do you get to live so close to all these places and it isn’t that expensive to travel. Might as well take advantage of it while I am here. There were so many other little funny stories, but I have forgotten a lot so I guess this is more just a summary.