Rahel and Rebecca and I went for a hike today (4/28/05). Just went out the back door and started walking and this is what it looked like. I kid you not. Crazy eh? So beautiful. We spread out and hiked separately but together (we can't go by ourselves) and parked it for a bit on a grassy knoll to read and pray. On the way back down we sang worship songs and got a little lost but eventually found our way back without to much trouble. I love to hike. It brings me great joy.  

Last saturday we hiked way far up a mountain to a half frozen lake which some people decided to swim in. Crazy kids. That's Josh V. (from C-wray) and Daniel from England. Yep, the swam in a frozen lake in their boxers. Apparently it was an experience not to be missed... to bad I missed it... 

Ok, so this doesn't really do it justice because the picture leaves out my tennis shoes and tall white socks. But to make a long story not quite so long we had "super hero" night and because more and more my name here has become "mama Pam" I dressed up as superhero mom. Basically I just had all the steriotypical mom stuff - huge bag, skirt with tennies, fanny pack, messy hair and lipstick, sweatshirt and nice neclace... mwahaha... no offence mom I didn't get my style ideas from you.  

American Sonnet

We do not speak like Petrarch or wear a hat like Spenser
and it is not fourteen lines
like furrows in a small, carefully plowed field

but the picture postcard, a poem on vacation,
that forces us to sing our songs in little rooms
or pour our sentiments into measuring cups.

We write on the back of a waterfall or lake,
adding to the view a caption as conventional
as an Elizabethan woman´s heliocentric eyes.

We locate an adjective for the weather.
We announce taht we are having a wonderful time.
We express the wish that you were here

and hide the wish that we were where you are,
walking back from the mailbox, your head lowered
as you read and turn the thin message in your hands.

A slice of this place, a length of white beach,
a piazza or carved spires of a cathedral
will pierce the familiar place where you remain,

and you will toss on the table this reversible display:
a few square inches of where we have strayed
and a compression of what we feel.

(Billy Collins)

 

Ok mom and dad, this is 1 of TWO of the beers that I drank the whole time I was travelling and it was only because you HAVE to drink a beer sometime when you're in Prague. It's what they're known for. Plus it's literally cheeper than water. This whole mug cost approxametly 50 cents. Crazy eh? So this is my friend from home Beka. I love Beka. We went out to a pub this night and watched one of her students play in a little jazz quartet. It was really cool to see local life and SLOWLY enjoy sipping away on this fine tasting amber beer. Nice. No more of that anymore though. I'm at bible school now.  

To complete the tour of this fine facility (well you're seeing it in reverse I guess since each picture is published on top of the last one but you'll see what I mean when you look at the two pictures below this one) that red building in the corner is the lecture hall where we have our lectures. Those are pretty much 3 three buildings of Tauernhof except the new bookshop which is opening today which they're all real excited about around here. This week Hans Peter Royer lectured on Revelation. It was amazing. Intense, but amazing. He is honestly one of the wisest men I have ever met. It just kind of flows out of him when he speaks. Crazy. I am so blessed.  

Tauernhof main building

Here's the main building. I don't live in it. But that's ok. The building I live in is actually better than the main one unlike the conference hall in England. But yeah. Here it is, Tauernof. On the other side of this picture is a street which is part of a town in which we live. Yes. We live IN a town. Heck yeah. It's really nice to be able to just walk on in whenever want and not have to pay $5 for a bus every time.

So I've said a lot about past adventures but what about current ones? Well I'm currently in Austria, as you probably know, attending some more kick-butt bible classes with more rad people. It's so gorgeous. The hills really are alive with the sound of music! Like I'm not kidding. Whenever it's clear like this it just makes me want to sing. My room is the one on the bottom left in this picture. I love my new roommates even more than I love the fact that we have our own bathroom and shower. And that's saying a lot.  

Here Chaz, Rebecca, and I stand on the Charels Bridge in Prague. I loved Prague. It's a beautiful city and it was all the better to be reunited with my dear friends Chaz and Rebecca and then later Rahel as well as staying with my wonderful friends from home Jake and Beka Dorr. It was rad to reminice about home with Jake and Beka who've been away from home even longer than I have. It was also great to explore this excellent city with my beloved Capernwray friends. Go Prague! 

Here Courtney contemplates the complexity of life and where we find meaning in such a vast world. Ok, so I don't know what she was thinking, but I do know what she was looking at. We climbed up to this beautiful park at the top of Rome which overlooked the city. Sooo... she was looking at Rome, probably thinking abou the fact that I was taking a picture of her, I don't know. I liked Rome though, and I like (present tense) Courtney and therefore this is a good picture.  

This is another scene from Cinque Terra. We started our hike down in the harbor there and hiked up and up and up (this isn't even nearly the top yet) and then over a ways to the next town. Wow. It was so gorgeous. Indescribable. Pretty much everything here was picture worthy so I had to limit myself a lot. My friend Janell didn't and ended up with like 500 pictures of Cinque Terre alone. Nice.  

This is Helga and Wadim who I stayed with in Germany for a week. I love them with my whole heart (ok so I'm saying that about everyone... but it's true!). They are like seriously the cutest people you've ever met in your life. Maybe the nicest too... wow, cutest and nicest in the whole world! They must be amazing people. Yep. They are.  

While we're on the subject of boys from Capernwary these are 3 of my very favorite. J, Kyle, and Tyler. Aaww! Aren't they so cute that you just want to eat them up? Yep. J and Kyle are from Indiana and Tyler is from um... Ontario(?) Canada. They all make me laugh waaaay too much and I miss them lots.  

Here's my friend Caleb and I looking feirce at the banquet. Aarrg. Caleb's from Bellingham. I love him A LOT - but only plutonically (sheesh, I always have to specify with you crowd). I'm excited for him right now because he is finally re-united by his darling girlfriend who he is very in love with.  

This was my room 2nd term at Capernwray. Here we're all dressed up for the final banquet. Dang, we're hot! I love these girls. From left to right they are: Courtney from Canada, Diana from Canada, (me), and Sopie from Austria. 

This is the castle which I called my home for 6 months. I'm not there any more (tear) which is fine but it was really pretty... the building was probably the least of all the cool parts about Capernwray though. Mainly it was the people. I miss you guys a lot! 

This is the Fount de Trevi. It was very cool. One of my favorite spots in Rome. I'm just kind of posting pictures randomly and I know they don't really align with the ones referred to in my trip journal but that's because I wrote that with pictures and all in word and then just copied it onto here... Yeah. But this place was rad. The statues are like 2 or 3 times the size of real life.  

These are all the people I travelled with for the first 2 weeks through London and Italy. They are (let's go clockwise from the left) Danny, Ken, Ben (they're brothers), below Ben is Josh, then Allison, below her is Courtney, then Janelle and finally there I am, right below Danny which is where we started. Aw. I love those kids.  

This is Hillsong London where we went Eastery Sunday evening. It was so rediculously huge and amazing. It takes place in a huge auditorium they rent. The rest of the week the auditorium is used for the Queen rock opera We Will Rock You. It was like a freaking concert with really great teaching and like 50 people get saved every night. Rediculous (in a very good way).  

This is the bridesmaid's dress that I bought for my sister's wedding in Rome. If you look around me you can also see the hostel we were in. Man, I was so stoked about this purchase! I never thought I'd find a dress that both my sister and I would like but I think (hope) the goal was fully accomplished in this beautiful 100% silk dress from the cutest little botique in Rome you've ever seen. Only one on the rack and it totally fit me. THAT NEVER HAPPENS. Do you have any idea how rare it is for a dress to fit me?! Crazy.  

This is my German friend Bianca who I stayed with in Hamburg. She stayed at our house on exchange for 2 weeks about 2.5 years ago. It was really cool to see her again and have her show me around Hamburg. She is such a sweety I love her oh so much! 

This is as close to the exact spot that Audrey Hepburn ate gellato on the Spanish Steps in Roman Holiday as I could get. Mmmm gellato, I ate it every day I was in Italy without fail. Jelous? Yes. You should be.  

Janell, Courtney, and Allison 3 of the hottest girls you will ever meet in Rome. We spent this day shopping downtown Rome and having amazing girl time. I'm so so happy becuase all 3 of these girls came to Austria with me. Kick butt! 

Oooo.. Big Ben at Sunset. This was I think our first evening in London. I like London, it's real nice... but way to expensive.  

This is an amazing sunset in Cinque Terre from the little Itallian town we were stayin in. This was one of the most beautiful places I've ever been.