That end of the year post...it was a doozy!

It's been quite a year, and who wouldn't want to reminisce about it? ;) Let's begin this obligatory post with December of '08, just because that seems to be when all the fun began. It's like a 13-month year in review. Kind of like a 16-month calendar, which makes no sense either.

December 2008 ~ the month I moved to Greece. It was a day later than intended, because of an air traffic controller's strike, but I made it. I moved into a tiny room below a family with three cute little boys in Piraeus and celebrated Christmas with my new Greek friends. This is where the photo in my banner came from, a five minute walk from that house.

January 2009 ~ lots of adjusting! Had visitors from Talbot and spent a day with them at Corinth - so good to see familiar faces. Later in the month I left for Thailand to visit a couple of anti-trafficking & prostitution ministries. That was such a great trip on so many levels, from being with a great group of women from the US, to learning so much from the ministries we visited.

February 2009 ~ kicked off with a solo trip from Bangkok to Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Can't say I'd recommend that as an on-your-own travel destination, but still learned a lot and visited another ministry there. Started making friends in Athens, taught the first Greek Hands That Heal course in Thessaloniki, and was traumatized by the Greek health care system! This month I also started volunteering on outreach with Nea Zoi.

March 2009 ~ Just the general hum-drum of trying to settle into a new place. A bit of loneliness and discouragement, boredom, language difficulties, and cultural frustrations. I was growing frustrated with where I lived outside of Athens and not having much community around me. Did have a lovely day trip to the island of Hydra - my first Greek island. :)

April 2009 ~ This was a crazy month. I still remember, and I'm not sure I would ever choose to repeat it! Except the part where Janell came to visit! And the part where I got my own apartment in a great neighborhood in Athens...except for the moving and delivery nightmares surrounding Easter. Anyway - we kept busy: first a quick trip to Istanbul for a visa trip for me, then a couple of days on Santorini which were not restful in the least. :) I was so thankful to have her visit for a few weeks! April was also Easter week, in which the whole country shuts down and I skipped town again like any good Athenian for a couple days in Crete. Ok, so April was a bit of a nightmare.

May 2009 ~ But May was worse. For some reason, this was by far my worst month of the year. A number of things happened with family/friends, or at home, or to me in Athens, etc. etc. to make this a really difficult, lonely, and depressing month. I did get to go to France for an anti-trafficking conference and a weekend in Paris (paid for by a supporter - thank you!). I also made some friends at the gym :) and start spending more time with one of the girls we were working with. We also started teaching Hands That Heal for a second time, this time in Athens.

June 2009 ~ Recovering from May (this took several months). Took a visa trip to Albania.

July 2009 ~ I enjoyed summer in Athens. Lots of swimming in the sea, turning 30, making friends, and of course, Sakis. We did some intense street outreaches in July which were pretty exhausting, and I started a three week intensive language course. (I guess it was an intense month!)

August 2009 ~ Vacation month! Athens shut down and we were left in this "ghost town" of a city. I finished up my intensive language course and spent 5 days in Cyprus, learning about trafficking and trying to rest there. (Ha ha - what is rest?)

September 2009 ~ Things slowly begin to start up again in Athens after a month off in August. I watched the city fill up again and come back to life. We started regular outreaches again and began to plan for the third Hands That Heal class. I was sick, questioning the meaning of life (my life in particular), and trying to figure out what exactly I was doing in Greece.

October 2009 ~ Still sick, started Hands That Heal with a great turnout, had a weekend away with our friend who had left prostitution, and escaped with a few friends for a weekend to Meteora. There were rumblings inside and outside of me about my future in Greece and what that could look like. Lots of prayers and tears and questions. :)

November 2009 ~ My trip to Amsterdam, where it all began to come together for me to make the move to join International Teams. Also had probably the best visa trip ever to Jordan, courtesy of Andrea. :) Had a great Thanksgiving with neighborhood friends and realized that Athens has begun to feel like home.

December 2009 ~ And here I find myself back in the States, for Ramesh's wedding and the holidays. It has been a whirlwind - not relaxing by any means!!! It's good to be with family and friends, though, and I am realizing that I will be sadder than I expected when it's time to head back to Athens in mid-January. But I think I'll be ready.

So what a crazy year! Ten countries, I counted; lots of work, lots of learning, lots of amazing opportunities, and lots of processing yet to be done. Maybe I'll actually get to rest and think when I get back to Greece. ;) It's fun to look back over this year with thankfulness and a strange sense of awe, and I am really excited for what's to come with International Teams. So, stay tuned, I guess. :) And happy New Year!

Christmas (and Eve, and the rest of the week)

awkward!!

I was just looking through pictures and had a laugh. Here are two very awkward photos from a few years ago that I didn't realize were awkward until I saw them (after the fact). Guess I should be more conscientious in my posing!(Shame on you Jorge for taking that second one without telling me what it looked like!! Ha ha)

portland

Went to Portland over the weekend to visit Kristin and her family! We have been friends for 12 years (!). Thanks for a fun weekend, love you :)

happy birthday linders

Lindy's 28th birthday celebration - unexpectedly in the urgent care center tonight! Our grandma got a little bump on the head that turned out to need a few staples. She is ok, but we had quite the adventurous evening!

photos

A few photos from Ramesh's wedding are online. Go to amberfoxphoto.com, click on "blog" and then click on the photo under "Ramesh and Allen Wolf" to see them.

processing

Kristin and fake snow at The Grove shopping center, Hollywood, CA

I've been back a week now. Seen lots of people, driven on 8 freeways (most of those in one day), gotten used to throwing my toilet paper in the toilet instead of the garbage, eaten more than my share of all that food I've missed out on this past year.

And, through talking with people and answering their questions, I think I have processed more about the last year in this week than in the whole year itself. It's really quite different being removed from it - when it's your daily life, you often don't think twice about things that I am now realizing are horrendous and not part of other people's daily lives!!! I often need the reminder "this is not normal," and I get that when people respond in shock to things that I just breeze right over. Oh yeah...they aren't used to these things. Really, I shouldn't be either.

But I have realized things like when I don't really feel much emotion when I find out about the death of one of the Nigerian girls, but then I weep for days at the plight of women in the DRC that I will never meet, I really am processing things. It just comes out in other areas that are not my daily reality that I must cope with. I detach from the streets of Athens so I can work every day, so the emotion comes out in other areas that I don't have to deal with personally.

It's really fun to be concerned with what restaurant to eat at and shopping for makeup for a change. Ha.

ramesh got married.

It was a CRAZY weekend. Spa and bachelorette stuff Friday, rehearsal stuff Saturday, hotel in Santa Monica, wedding yesterday. Persian dancing, a professional makeup artist for us (she has an Emmy!) :), Buster from Arrested Development!, more than a couple freak outs, very sore feet, amazing gluten free chocolate cake, lots of laughs and prayer ... She was a beautiful bride! I am so happy for Ramesh and Allen, and now we can all begin to recover. :)

I made it!

Today was a long day. About 26 hours long, so far.

First impressions of being back in the States for the first time in a year: So much English everywhere! I understand what people are saying all around me! People patiently wait in lines, walk in an orderly fashion, and when someone said "excuse me" to me I nearly fainted (not sure if it was because it was in English or if it was the politeness of the statement).

Americans are goofy. I remember my German friend Claas in Athens telling me that their impression of Americans comes from Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (Americans shouting "Move that bus!" all together) and Obama's campaign (Americans shouting "Yes we can!" together). This is what they think of us in other parts - patriotic, cheering ourselves on, lots of team spirit. I remember climbing a big hill in the center of Athens a few weeks ago with a friend and passing some Americans on the way down who said "You're almost there! You're so close!" We didn't know them, of course, and my friend and I were amused and thought they were a bit silly. No one else in the world really does these things. So tonight when the customs officer started doing a little dance to get the attention of the next person in line, I marveled again at the "friendliness" and cheer and even camaraderie of Americans, like you find nowhere else. It makes me laugh, but after getting used to opposite behavior over the past year, I kind of like it. :)

And Yogurtland. Went straight from the airport. God bless America.

Important information about your flight...

I just got my email for my Athens-LAX flight...that is on WEDNESDAY. I can't believe it's close enough to get the email! I have just one full day left in Athens. I am excited to see friends and family and also a little sentimental about leaving my friends here for six weeks. Neither of these feelings is overwhelming - it just is what it is. What will be weirder, I know, is coming back to Athens after being "home" for six weeks. Never done that before. Now I know I will be here probably at least two more years, and unlike the last time I came here, I know exactly what I am coming back to. Yet, I also will be reminded for six weeks just what I am missing - in a way of comparison to Athens that I was never able to do before living here.

Most people tell me that it's going to suck when it's time to leave to come back, and that the first few days back will be tough, but as I start to see my friends here and settle back in all will be fine again. It helps knowing I have nothing material to go back to - no house, no car, no real place that I belong. I belong here in my apartment in Athens, for now.

What a long way I've come in a year! I arrived with no friends, no house of my own, no language, no sense of this city or my place or the culture. What a difference a year makes! :)

it is still my favorite holiday!

My first pumpkin pie = success! Andrea (staying with me for a few weeks post-Jordan) was the Potato Queen. We are quite a Thanksgiving combo -- fabulous green beans (I'm a good recipe-follower), mashed and sweet potatoes, and the pie. It wouldn't have been Thanksgiving without us... :)
We had five Americans, three Greeks, two Brits, one Canadian and one Greek Australian. It was a great time with friends and fabulous food!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Garbage strike, Athens

It is very fragrant around here these days. :) I am preparing to make my first ever pumpkin pie today, and joining a few friends in the neighborhood later on for Thanksgiving dinner. Hope you have a fabulous one!

Sunday!

What a GLORIOUS sunny warm day. I sat outside at a cafe for 5.5 hours with some friends. I was supposed to be working, but who wants to work on a day like this? (Don't worry, I am working now - this is why I am blogging instead of doing my financial report.) Is this really November, when I am sitting outside in short sleeves and sunglasses, drinking tea and then raki and then tea again?

Helping to teach a volunteer training tomorrow night on how to start conversations with girls, crisis counseling, and caring for ourselves - I can't remember which part I am supposed to teach, actually, so I suppose it really is time to get working. :) It's been a productive weekend, though; I am crossing things off my long list left and right. I'm hoping to be as stress-free and enjoyable as possible during my last 9ish days here. I'm also super excited for Thanksgiving - we have a great night planned with friends and all the traditional fixings. I think it's my favorite holiday and I'm so excited for it every year (which means I'm usually disappointed, but I guess that's ok since it's part of my expectations). :)

Jordan, Day 3, cont. - Petra

I knew Thursday would be a long day - little sleep in the desert the night before, a 3:30am departure from Amman that night, 5+ hours in the car, and seeing as much of Petra as possible in the middle. We were in the car leaving the desert by 8:30am Thursday, and set out on our hour and a half drive to Petra. Thankfully the road signs were clear and there actually were road signs this time, so we found it without difficulty. We had been told that you need a full day, even two days, to see Petra adequately, so we were in a hurry to get going.It really is quite spectacular - you walk through the crevice/canyon/whatever you want to call it for about a mile, and come out and see this:That is the Treasury. 2000 years ago, an Arab people group called the Nabataeans found a jungle of rose-colored rock and started carving. The place wasn't known to the western world until 1812. It's a huge place, stretching for miles, with much that lies undiscovered still. There are temples, facades of palaces built into the rock, tombs, a theater, city gates, hundreds of thousands of caves all over the area that are still home to some Bedouin families. The colors in the rock are unreal:Caves:Tombs:The colors on the inside of one of the rooms of a tomb:By lunch time we were exhausted and dragging. We had only made it three hours and were considering calling it a day. After fending off another little guy offering us donkey rides (the camels and donkeys abound!), we grabbed some lunch, hoping for a pick-me-up. We got that, indeed - and then the fun began!

So, "If you haven't been to the monastery, you haven't been to Petra," we were told. A mere 800 steps separated us from this ancient wonder, so we weren't exactly jumping with excitement. But a little Bedouin guy named Mahmoud offered us a good deal for some donkeys, and after getting him to throw in a trip to some nearby springs as well, we agreed to the ride.
What fun! Mahmoud was 18 and wanted to marry me before he found out how old I was; then we settled into a friendly companionship for the rest of the afternoon. :) Some parts of the trail up to the monastery were quite treacherous by donkey, but thank goodness for their sure footedness!Look out, pedestrians!Halfway up we heard very loud, drunken-sounding singing coming up the mountain behind us. It was this guy, who we had seen at the bottom, riding his donkey and moseying his way up:
This is Abraham, a friend of Mahmoud, who joined us at the top. Once at the top, after meeting Mahmoud's mother who was selling jewelry and figurines (a few feet away from Abraham's mother, also selling jewelry and figurines), we encountered the monastery. Wow.
Almost a replica of the Treasury far below, but wider and not completely encased by the rock around it. You can see how huge it is by the people in the photos. I spent much of the day in awe at how these things were all carved directly into the rock - how much work, time, and energy must have gone into it.
There was a great view from up there, a sign calling it "the end of the world" - looking into a huge valley with Israel on the other side. After we finished hiking around, we went back to the boys who were lounging around drinking tea. (Don't you think Abraham - on the right - looks like Jack Sparrow? It's the eyeliner, which most of them wore, to fend off the bright sun a bit.) Mahmoud and Abraham led us back down the mountain on the donkeys, which at times was even more treacherous than going up, Abraham singing all the way. He has a special mixture of Bedouin tunes and other favorites like "Happy Birthday" that just echo all the way down the canyons.

The spring they took us to was not so spectacular, but it was one of the most fun parts of the afternoon. Traveling by donkey down a dried up rocky riverbed, the rocks rising high all around us, listening to Mahmoud's plans for me to come live with his family for a month to learn Arabic "real good," and Abraham's intermittent riddles, songs, random information about the Bedouins living in the area, and his opinion on various tourists ("I love the Japanese, they just come and take pictures - Conichiwa!") was priceless. "Two Bedouins and two tourists!" he shouted to the cliffs around us.
On the way back, as the sun was going down and the park was clearing out, they hopped on the donkeys with us so they could race each other. We felt like helpless passengers as we bounced along, but I don't think we've laughed that hard in a long time. What a memorable afternoon - so glad we stayed around after lunch! :)

The rest of the night is kind of a blur - we reached the park entrance after dark, had a yummy dinner at a local restaurant, and hopped back in the car for the 4 hour drive back to Amman. We were so exhausted after our night in the desert and all day at Petra. Andrea didn't fly out until the next morning so she had a hotel room near the airport, where I crashed for about an hour before going to catch my 3:30am flight (ugh!).

'Twas a fabulous trip - the best visa trip thus far - and now here I am back in Athens, making lists of the endless things I need to do before I head to the States in less than two weeks and still trying to get work done. Ack!

(I love "Ack")

2 weeks

2 weeks from today I will be homeward bound. Home, this time, means the homeland, my flagship, my old stomping grounds, the good old U. S. of A.

It feels strange - I haven't even been in an English-speaking country in a year. I have gotten used to tuning out conversations around me that I don't understand, staying on the outside of things. I realize that I haven't fully inserted myself into life here - still haven't hung more than my initial decorations on the wall; haven't stocked up my medicine cabinet, organized my office ... things I would have normally done in a new place.

I have never experienced "re-entry," (after longer than three months away), or, what I imagine will be stranger, coming BACK to my foreign country after being home for the first time. It will be different, more long term, more permanent, in a sense coming back "home."

When I bought my ticket to the States, I couldn't WAIT to go. Since then, I've settled in a bit more here, grown my community a bit more, felt more at home. So I am still excited, but I will miss my friends and my home here.

So - two weeks! I have so much to do I hardly know what to do with myself. There is still work to do, and it feels like I could just settle back into a normal life routine, but the two week mark is looming on the horizon! I can't quite get my brain around it. :)

P.S. I posted on the other blog ... some updates on outreach and the death of one of the girls. :(

(One final Jordan post is still coming.)

Jordan, Day 3 - the camp & Wadi Rum

We woke up Wednesday morning a little after the sun came up to look around our campsite and see the desert views, since we had arrived after dark the night before. The camp was nestled up against this huge cliff -
There were some separate two-man tents set up for "guests" ...
The two main tents were where the actual Bedouin guys slept and where the meals were made and served. The campfire was in the middle there with mats set around it to sit on...
Our tent. It was so cold!!!! The coldness of my nose alone was enough to keep me awake.A few of our hosts - they sang us some Bedouin songs around the campfire that night...Getting ready to head out in the morning with a cool Belgian couple (here's half of them anyway) -We headed out right after breakfast - we wished that we could have had a few extra hours to explore the Wadi a bit, ride a camel :) and take it all in. We could have ridden camels back to the village from the camp, but it was a two hour ride, instead of the half hour ride in the truck, and we really needed to get to Petra! What we really needed was an extra day, but we didn't know just how much there was to do here.

To be continued...