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!