The title to this post is boring, but I've decided to keep the titles simple so each post is clear.
Warning: This post may get long!!! I can get very detailed. Also it may seem disconnected because it was hard to know what to include and what to leave out. Hopefully you enjoy it!
Why I went to Europe. There are many reasons I went to Europe, but if it weren't for my Opa and Oma (German for Grandpa and Grandma), I never would have gone the places I went or met the people I did. For many many years my grandparents have been missionaries in Europe. In more recent years they have started taking grandchildren with them. Since I'm one of the younger grandchildren, it seemed like a long time til my turn came around. But the waiting was worth every moment! And finally our day of departure was set: May 20, 2013!!!
Leah and Miriam are two cousins my age and so we all got to go together. Actually, that was a MUST for us! One time two of us could've gone but didn't dare leave the other behind so we waited some more til we could share this experience. They were the best travel buddies I could have asked for! To this day we still reminisce about our trip to Europe every time all three of us are together.
I can only share a fraction of these memories. I alone took 1287 pictures! The other girls didn't take that many, but combined we probably have 2000 pictures! If a picture is worth a thousand words, this blog post could become a novel. Somehow I narrowed it down to 80 pics in the folder for this blog. We'll see if they all make it on :)
Enough with the pre-adventure info!
Three somewhat excited girls on the airplane-
The flight went pretty fast! Not because the airplane was traveling at hundreds of mph but because being with these girls was fun. And as the saying goes, "time flies when you're having fun"!
We landed in Frankfurt and got taken to the Sheraton, my grandparents favorite hotel. I will say they get the royal treatment there. Pays to be loyal!
Oma and I were a little wiped from traveling so many hours :)
The food. Oh my! The food!!! A decent percent of my pictures are close-ups of FOOD! This pastry was so mmmlicious and the sausage was out of this world! And the fruit, well, it tasted the same.
So thankful for these kind men who patiently toted our luggage everywhere and made sure everything was ok.
L-R: Leah, Enver, Miriam, Me, Ahmed.
The day after we arrived, our hosts' son arrived to take us to Breidenbach. The drive was about two hours long but exciting as we experienced the autoban for the first time and snapped pictures of vibrant canola fields in full bloom.
We were warmly welcomed at Ernst and Elizabeth Pfister's home and soon after arrival enjoyed our first of many delicious German meals. Elizabeth is an incredible cook. Us three girls think she has a magic oven!
Quark is an amazing dessert that unfortunately we cannot make in the States cause we don't have the proper ingredients. It's comparable to an airy yogurt.
Took a walk to Breidenbach in the rain. Love the steeple!!
More desserts! Okay, I'll cut back on the food pictures for a bit:) Just want you to know that our hosts took wonderful care of us and I don't think my stomach ever growled while I was in Europe!
A walk in the countryside.
Trip to a Schloss (a castle built to impress and live in). This one was Braunfels and definitely the fairy tail type of castle!
It was fun to be in a place that is old. With the US being a new country, we don't have stone buildings like this one.
I could not stop taking pictures! But now I wish I had taken more. It was so hard to capture the magnificence of this place!
The stocks :)
Kotti, on the top step, is our hosts' daughter who still lives at home and she and her sister brought us. They were so kind to spend this time with us when they had their own busy schedules!
Coutryard. It was unreal! This picture does it no justice!
Got to climb the highest tower! They could definitely see a lot from these towers!
Yes, we climbed a winding staircase. Just like the old stories!
A real life princess room! No, it wasn't pink. No, there wasn't a pet unicorn. It was very fancy but in a gaudy way.
After we got back from that castle we took off for another one! This time Opa, Oma, Ernst, and Elizabeth came along. So did another daughter, Eudith, (oh, by the way they have 14 children) and her two little girls.
On the way with Stella. She took a bit to warm up, but after that she was a chatter box :) So cute!
Marburgh Catstle. Not near as fancy as the other castle but still very massive and beautiful.
Ernst and his granddaughter Sofia.
So stinkin adorable!
There was a winding road down to a town that had streets lined with little shops. The doorways in this area were spectacular! (Sorry, I'm running out of descriptive words.)
Also in Germany Bjorn Taba taught me how to drive stick-shift! Miriam and Leah were troopers in the backseat while I jerked around the streets of a German town. Thankfully I didn't kill it on a busy road :)
Needless to say our first week in Germany was a blast! But early on Sunday morning we flew out of Germany and into Romania. Again the hospitality was incredible!
For example, we went to this house for lunch and the people spoke little English. My grandpa took a nap so he couldn't interpret German. We were pretty much on our own. We tried taking a walk but it was a little scary since it was our first hours in this country and we were three girls alone.
So we came back to the house. We sat down at the patio and two of their sons picked strawberries fresh from the garden!!! Then they did their best to converse in us with English.
Pretty soon we were friends and before evening church they took us to downtown Timosoara.
Later at church we sat through a service of Romanian and German and did not understand much :) Then we were served a HUGE meal with 5 desserts! It was kind of fun because it was my birthday so I had 5 'Birthday' cakes. They didn't know so I was able to get by with no singing!
Here are four of the five. Mmmmm, delish!!!
Later that night when we arrived at the compound we got to meet 'THE KIDS' for the first time and later the girls surprise me by decorating our room with balloons and streamers and taking me outside for a 'walk' during which they silly stringed me! At least I got half a can :)
During the first day we entertained ourselves with hopscotch, taking pictures of each other taking pictures, etc.
Then supper came. Now I'll introduce our cooks: Etty, Adriana, and Kotti (not sure about my spellings!). Etty and Adriana are busy mothers of large families and Kotti is the busy grandmother. They cooked for us like we were kings and queens! We were usually served soup and bread first and it tasted so good that we'd take a nice portion. Oma had warned us that after soup came a whole meal, but we seemed to forget the first few nights. Pretty soon platters piled high with well seasoned meats, potatoes, vegetables, etc. were placed in front of us. After we took a helping more were added. The only bad thing was that since this food was so hardy we got full so quickly that soon it wasn't possible to eat more. Us glutenous beasts! ; ) I cannot say enough thanks to these ladies who spent hours over the stove cooking 3 meals a day for us. We tried to help with dishes, but unless we grabbed the dishtowel and demanded we help they refused to let us.
These cabbage rolls were spectacular! Makes me about want to eat the picture *yikes*
Towards the end of the week we were so excited to play with the kids that we'd gulp down our supper and run outside before the adults were finished.
Throughout the week we got to take day trips to Arad, Timosoara, etc.
With the girls and Oma ready to hit the market!
Isles and isles of fresh produce.
It wasn't long before these girls we had never met became wonderful friends.
L-R: Kerstin, Corinna, Nathaly, Elvyne
At the square in Timosoara.
Game time with the kiddos!
Hide-n-go-seek. They were alot more squished than this pic shows! Love Gabby in this pic (drinking Mountian Dew)...he was a character and I'm not sure he needed that caffeine :)
One day we spent quite a few hours filling up around 200-250 water balloons! We probably got more wet in the process of filling them than in the actual fight, but it was still a blast!
Yes, we got wet. A fun time was had by all.
And this is why we miss them so much! See how incredibly fun these people are?
More games. This pic is blurry, but it most accurately describes our game times! A flurry of action! Including us three Americans, there were around 20-25 of us every night!
One day we got to drive to Hungary with about a dozen men. They had meetings so we toured Szeged. Driving in I saw this fountain--I really like it!
We were treated to some delicious, fancy ice-cream. That makes any day a good day!
Us three, Oma, and three kind ladies that took us around town.
Back in Romania, enjoying time with our friends.
Most of them weren't so fond of getting pictures taken...but viewing them was a different story!
Katarina-- an unforgettable little girl! They are all unforgettable, each for his/her own reason!
Some dear older sisters who are an amazing example of love. They still take time out of their day to package food for the needy. We couldn't speak to them, but their actions spoke to us!
Oma suggested we have a sleepover with the girls one night! It was a wonderful idea especially because they had never had a slumber party before! They made a scavenger hunt for us that led to some gifts. As if their friendship wasn't enough! Such sweet girls!
Although they were mischievous :)
And liked to play pranks on us. I was supposed to be "washing" my face!
For our last day we decided to stay in town and have a fun day with the kids. We walked to a park where we played on the playground and soccer.
I'm bad and they're good. This resulted in me inflicting some minor injuries upon a few of them! Woops, hope they still want us to come back.
After a day of fun that went by way to fast we had a singing at church. Then came the dreaded good-byes. We prolonged our last moments as well as we could, but soon the time was upon us.
L-R: Leah, Kerstin, Nathaly, Me, Yasmine, Corinna, Miriam, Elvyne
Saying goodbye to Katarina. We suggested she and her little brother Lotsy come along in our suitcases. But sadly, we had to leave them behind :' (
Notice in Miriam's hand the flowers they picked for us :)
We went inside, took pics with our flowers...
...and took our sorrow out on food! It was a very very sad night.
We got back to Breidenbach safe and sound and made it to evening church. It was good to have Bjorn translate. After a sermon and two singings in Romanian, we were ready for some English!
Our time back in Germany was also a blast. We were treated to a super-fun sundae shop that had ice-cream lasagna with fruit sauce and other crazy options. Bjorn took us to a park to play some volleyball with his brother, sister, and her three darling little girls!
Such a cutie!
I took it so for granted at the time, but looking back I am humbled by the efforts of the people who had us in for a meal or spent an afternoon with us. Every time we were invited in the food was so plentiful and amazing. But more wonderful than the food was the love of these brothers and sisters!
Ernst and Elizabeth made us very comfortable. And even though Elizabeth was crazy busy she would take time to drive us around town. We went to a few clothing shops and home stores. But I'll have to say that in Germany most of my souvenirs were from grocery stores! The bread, the bread, the bread! It was soooo good!
We picked out some to take home but unfortunately most of it was hard as a rock by the time I ate it :( They were so cheap that I was sad for my taste buds, not my wallet.
And this is where my Oma's bulging candy tub is restocked every six months. She actually visits several stores with large candy isles to get the perfect selection! Until I saw this I never realized how much candy she brings home.
This is what happens when you have clothes packed for two weeks but still decide to buy a blanket, candy, bread, and chocolates. :) Okay, my suitcase was about as full!
I believe it was our last day that the three of us decided to go to town to shop. We walked there the country way, and somehow got distracted by the beautiful scenery. It is one of the most peaceful places I have been to.
Yes, we all still loved each other by the end of the trip :) I'll say it again, they were so much fun to travel with!
We were given several opportunities to consume alcoholic beverages. Of course within reason! By far the worst was the last night at Pfister's when Mimi and I 'tried' some pear schnapps. It was so strong that I barely got a drop on my tongue and knew it was not for me! Miriam seems to be of the same mind :)
We had to get a pic with Kotti who took such good care of us! Huge thanks to her!
Our last German meal. Before I went I was scared about eating cold meats for breakfast. I even packed granola bars in case I wasn't able to stomach it! Wow, was that ever ridiculous. German breakfasts do have several different kinds of cold meats and veggies. But there are also lots of delicious cheeses, yogurts, breads, jams, spreads, and beverages. As the trip started coming to a close I told my mom in an email I would like to have some cheese and tomatoes ready for my first breakfast back in the States! The cold meats still weren't my favorite but I could definitely enjoy some of them.
Lots of memories made around this table.
We said our farewells to the Pfisters and went back to the Sheraton. Where my grandparents stay on the 9th floor, desserts and drinks are always free for the taking. Us three girls spent quite a bit of time up there :)
The Sheraton is connected to the airport which was quite convenient the next morning when it was time to go. Ahmed was a great help once again and did a commendable job stacking these suitcases on a cart and getting them safely down an escalator!
At this point, seventeen days after we left the US, I was not ready to go home. That is an understatement! While the wheels hit the runway of the O'Hare airport I was wishing I was back in Europe. In some ways I feel guilty that I couldn't be more content leaving; however, in some ways it's a good thing. It means the trip exceeded my expectations!
There were many firsts on this trip, a lot of chances to step out of my comfort zone. There were beauties from the smokey, morning hills of Breidenbach to the strong, old buildlings of Arad and Timosoara. And if you want to know my favorite part, no, it really wasn't the food. It was unquestionably the people.
When I look at pictures or think about my experiences, I have this longing to just be there. I think this quote best summarizes why I feel this way: "You will never be completely at home again, because part of your heart will always be elsewhere. That is the price you pay for the richness of loving and knowing people in more than one place."
