Czech Republic and beyond

Well, I'm finally back from my never-ending trip (with church youth group to Czech Republic). Really - that was a long trip! The first part of it went by quickly enough. We stayed in host family homes. Stayed with people who spoke little to no English. It was interesting. We learned their culture, spent time with their families and ate their food. The food, by the way, is all deep fried. Yep, just what a granola girl likes! I was dying. They also expect you to eat everything they serve you. I thought I was going to explode.
During the first few days, we spent time with the gypsie kids. Every morning we would walk from house to house in the little village and invite kids to come play and listen to the Americans. Our youth group did a great job sharing their hearts, their personalities and their musical talents. The gypsie kids loved the American kids. It was quite entertaining to watch, really. They liked to jump on us.
We also helped run a basketball clinic, visited two nursing homes and one refugee camp, each time sharing how God has touched our lives. It felt good to think about someone else for awhile, to be focused on a common goal - to share the love of Christ with these people and to encourage them. I needed this time to focus on what was important in life, to get away from the rat-race.
The last three days we spent site-seeing. We spent a few days in beautiful Prague. I loved the cobble stone streets, the Charles bridge and Prague castle. Berlin was just amazing because of all the historical aspects. I was able to see the Berlin Wall which really fascinated me.
The train ride from Prague to Berlin included a crazy woman screaming at us in German. A passenger said, "She says she is going to throw your bags off the train unless you move them now. Welcome to Germany." In our haste to locate our bags (because we had to move them to all different locations on the train), some of our youth group kids got stuck on the train as the doors closed. I stood there in horror, watching the doors close and the sad little faces of our teens staring back at us. After a tense moment, the doors were opened and our kids were free. But, one girl left her passport on the train which would almost delay my and my husbands' return on the scheduled day. However, by some miracle, we were able to get her emergency passport in less than two hours on the day we were to leave.
When we were finally home, I just wanted to kiss the ground. Really! After being on a plane for some crazy amount of time, eating deep fried crap for too long and not getting enough sleep, it was time to be home! But, I'm still so glad I went. It was a fabulous experience. I just wish I could get over my jet lag now.

Distractions of life

I know, I know. I haven't been here in awhile. It's not like I have adoring fans awaiting the next drop of literary wisdom streaming from my fingers. Ha! But, I do enjoy creative writing or random thought writing and it's been suffocating to be hindered in that department.

I started an interpreter training program in January. I loved it! It was stimulating and challenging. Unfortunately, it consumed all of my time. I gave up, eating, sleeping, marriage, breathing and . . . pretty much everything. Okay, it wasn't that bad, but it was really intense. I, therefore, ceased to continue my writing or my blogging. Instead, I found this little thing called MySpace. Heard of it? It doesn't require much attention and it's fun.

Now that the summer is here and I have a little more time, I am trying to get back to that thing called, "Life." Whatever that means.