Days 44 & 45.. not quite the end of the Summer! Couple of hours to go! #45daysofsummer

Well I'm not quite finished as there is still one more evening left of the summer! And I've not yet posted about yesterday either! So here goes..
Yesterday will be summed up in more photos than words (but a picture paints a thousand words though, right?!) and today's events as well as an overall (short!) summary of my entire summer follows at the bottom..

Laura gave me a brief but detailed tour of Bilbao in around 2 hours! I decided that if I would live anywhere in Spain (although of course I haven't been to every place in Spain) I would live in Bilbao. I loved it there! The atmosphere, the buildings, the river. Everything. We started our tour at what I think is the Old Square.

And walked round to the New Square (which didn't look that new to be fair, but was wonderful and was lined with cafés and bars and later on there was live music here!)

The library was rather modest and hidden, I felt. But had a grand door that was worth a snap.

A tiny little stage for the City Orchestra.

Live music in the street! This was on one of the main streets in the city, and had lots of shops and gorgeous little pastelerías (cake shops).

We reached the Guggenheim Museum! Selfie necessary.

A giant puppy made from flowers. Why not?

The Spider in the distance... Can you see the bride and groom in the distance having their wedding photos with said spider? Weird.

And the exterior of the museum was enough to look at without having to go in! 

The spider...! Crazy. Weird. Bride and groom finished and moved on to some other unusual spot for the rest of their shoot.

View down the river.

Arty bridge.

We went for a quick bite to eat in a gorgeous little Tapas bar in the New Square.

 

There was sooo much to choose from!

 Really, so much!! But the kind Spanish waiters helped us decide what to have and poured my mosto (grape juice) for me in a wine glass with ice, an orange slice and an olive on a stick. Wonderful.

Basketball World Cup fever - this year it is held in Bilbao!

There were loads of people milling around and taking part in all the activities in the streets.

We got free balloons :) yay!

And then, after a spot of lunch, and really all to quickly, I caught the bus to the airport.. Where my case was 26kg instead of 23kg and I had to get rid of some stuff and move some things around in a fluster as the queue for the Vueling desk was huge and out the door of the airport! After misunderstandings about hand luggage and being sad that my last proper Spanish conversation was a total muddle, all was well in the end and I reminded myself of my competent and lengthy conversation with Juanma the previous day, and my entire time with Laura which was almost totally in Spanish!! I landed back in London last night where mom and dad met me to take me home! Phew! (We did get lost in the countryside looking for a pub to eat dinner in, but alas gave up and ended up having pizza in Oxford services.) Home and bed. Yes.

Today, on my last official day of my Summer, I had a well-needed lie in, before heading to church at Zion. It didn't occur to me at the time, but thinking about it now, it was very nice to be sat in an English service, to be able to understand everything without my brain working on over time to try and translate. And how good to worship, and let God revive and refresh me. And don't get me wrong, I'm still tired and I'll be hitting the ground running as I start back at work tomorrow but I am so excited about what He is doing in my life at the moment and how clearly I can hear Him speaking to me, challenging me, encouraging and inspiring me. I hope and pray that in the busyness of this new season, I will still be able to hear Him and make time do so. 

This afternoon, we celebrated with some close family friends of ours. Two birthdays and three wedding anniversaries in these past couple of weeks! How exciting to be able to celebrate 55, 52 and 25 years of marriage with those couples, in a world when so often marriages have broken down. What a blessing to share with them in their celebrations today :)

And finally tonight, a brief but detailed and very exciting meeting about the future plans at church and about where God is leading us as a community in terms of our building plans!! 

Sadly no time for Grey's Anatomy tonight (soon I hope!) because the last 1.5 hours of this summer, I intend to be sleeping in order to be up for an early start tomorrow!

But what an incredible Summer it has been. Of adventure and challenge. Of learning and growing. Of new places, new people and new opportunities.

And what an incredible God I serve, who takes away, but who also gives in abundance. Who mends and restores what is broken and lost (and is continuing to do so). Who I don't always understand but who I am learning to trust more and more. Who makes my paths straight. Who sings over me and whispers words of love and truth to me at the times when I most need to hear them. Who is faithful to His promises. Who has said 'yes' to much more than He has said 'no'. Who has given me so much more than a great Summer. He has given me hope. He has given me Jesus. He is all I need.

#45daysofsummer #blessed

Now, what's next?!

Day 33 - Deciding to make a change. Why not? #45daysofsummer

When I heard last night that we were going to the beach today, I was well excited! When I heard that it was just Mihaela, Bianca, Betsy and me, I was even more excited. Girls day out at the beach?! Wooo!

Then I heard it was a two and a half hour drive away.
Less excited at that point.

However, today has been a truly wonderful day!
Admittedly, I slept a lot of the way for the journey there (hey, what's new?! Everyone knows I sleep in the car all the time! And I did warn them beforehand..) But we stopped on the way there, part way up a mountain, almost 2000m above sea level on the winding roads that took us to Gijón, to marvel at the breathtaking views.

It was freezing. But it was gorgeous.

We continued the journey (I went back to sleep) and before I knew it, we were in Gijón. Ready to party.
Well, we were certainly ready for a day on the beach at least, but the sky was rather cloudy and it looked like a storm was brewing in the distance. We braved it anyway!

Waves!

Waves enough for surfing!

And other people with the same idea as us - who cares about the storm?! We're at the beach!

And something occurred to me today, that I hadn't thought of up until now on my travels. There are some definite challenges about coming to new places on you're own and trying to make friends when you can't fully function in their language.. But there are some really great opportunities too.
I realised today, that even though I have spent almost 10 days with these girls, they still don't know all that much about me (herein lies both the challenge and the opportunity). I wasn't about to spoil the party and tell them how much I liked the look and idea of the beach, but that actually I really don't like sand or sea pretty much at all... So I didn't tell them. And therefore had to pretend at first (or persuade myself) that I did actually like it. They knew no different. And rather than it feeling like lying, it occurred to me that I had a chance here to start something new, to change something, to try something that I had previously not liked, amongst people who were getting to know me and find out for myself that I don't altogether hate it. In fact, I loved it!
We only spent about an hour, maybe a little longer, on the beach. And a lot of that time, Betsy, Bianca and I were in the sea. First paddling, then running into the waves! And the waves were big! Huge, crashing, salt-in-your-mouth-nose-eyes-and-everywhere kind of waves. I tried to keep my hands and face out of the water initially, but it was impossible so I gave up and in that letting go, ended up having so much fun, getting drenched and finding out that I can enjoy something that I have previously dreaded! Such an amazing feeling!

We got dry (freezing whilst doing so!) And went in search of other bonitas vistas (beautiful views)...

Salty hair!

Getting dry before lunch.

Ideal spot for viewing the coast.

 

Selfie necessary.

Another, more smiley selfie, necessary.

Host-mom, Mihaela! She drove us all the way, and around the city, and looked after our stuff while we swam. Superstar. 

Oh and then we got chocolate con churros. Oh yes. 

Something else that's new today. I also decided to be brave try and start speaking my thoughts out loud. As yet, I haven't really been quick enough to translate a passing thought in to Spanish and speak it out loud in time for it to still be relevant so I've just not bothered.. I have managed a couple of witty responses and sarcastic comments, but today tried to forget about making mistakes and put in to words some ideas and thoughts I had at different points in the day - about how funny it is hearing little kids speaking Spanish, asking more about where we are and verbalising geneal observations.. And its amazing how much new conversation and vocabulary it opened up! Today felt a lot richer in so many ways. :)

I only slept for a short amount of time on the journey back. Mostly, I watched out the window as we passed yet more stunning scenery. We drove through various mountainous regions, and I kept thinking of Moses and wondering if these were anything like Mount Sanai.. Probably not, but I liked the thought and felt close to nature and to God! Particularly with all that is in the news if late, I just feel so thankful and so very blessed. Trying not to take these experiences for granted.

Day 13 - Good food, good friends, and good news..!! #45daysofsummer

Again we are without WiFi (for the next couple of days possibly), so I will have to update this post with pictures at a later date! But pictures are not always necessary, and I hope for today, words will suffice.

Day 13 of my Summer, here in Germany, was another good one although it was challenging in various ways too. So far the week has been incredible but we all know that life is not always sunshine and rainbows.. 

I have had this trip planned for many months, with the intention of catching up with old friends, resting, exploring, using my free summertime to it's maximum potential... And it's not that I was unaware but perhaps I was expecting too vast a difference - life is the same wherever in the world you are.

My struggles and challenges and the things I am working out and working through have come with me to Germany. So these past two days I have been continuing to process and pray and cry a little too. 

And I know this is OK. 

I also know that I am not alone in any of it. 

Conclusions from yesterday:

I am thankful for Jessie (I have been thankful for her on other days too!). Thankful that she has come on this trip with me, that she is one of the funniest people I know who makes me laugh more than anyone else in the world, that she knows where I'm at and knows my heart, and that she is patient and encouraging and willing to stand with me. 

But more so (and of course Jess won't mind me saying this!) I am more thankful for God. And thankful to be reminded again that wherever I am, location-wise, in my head or my heart, on my journey, He is there. My 'stuff' comes with me, but my God is already there. He is right beside me, dwelling in me by His Spirit. 

I am not alone. And God is even more patient and encouraging, allowing me to experience all that I am this week, with friends, nostalgia, new experiences, adventure, fun.. but also allowing me to continue to face and work on the things I need to, to grow, to change.. albeit a painful process, but a good one. He is so good.

So that's a bit of what was going on under the surface of the day... now let me give you a quick run down of the rest of the days events! (pictures to follow!)

Jerina, who was on Pais in Canada the year after I came home to England, lives in Frankfurt which is only an hour by train from Marburg. She arrived just before 10am and we all had a remeniscent Canadian style breakfast (pancakes, maple syrup, bagels, cream cheese, blueberries, fruit salad etc..). Needless to say, delicious!

Then we went out to expore the city some more - I have some great photos of the city from up high, at another local landmark (which sadly I can't remember the name of... I do remember that there were A LOT of stairs involved though!). This was followed by Casserole, a typical German dish (again, delicious!) and then our goodbyes were made... :(

The tower we climbed..

Top of the tower, here with Jerina!

View of Marburg.

The journey to Keltern began. :)

No storms this time, yay! In fact, minus the quick detour we had to Mannheim (just to say we've been there.. there is a German band both Jessie and I love called Söhne Mannheim), we made pretty good time until we actually made it to Keltern and got lost. After meeting what felt like half the village to ask if anyone knew 'Frederick Beck' (surprisingly, it seems that everyone does know him.. and each person got us a little closer to finding his house!) But we arrived finally, to see the lovely Anna. She had made Spezel (not sure of the spelling of that, I will have to find out) - basically a baked dish with pasta, vegetables and sauce (again, delicious!! Danke Anna!)

When Freddy arrived home, we drank Irish coffee and ate dessert and we heard their good news... THEY'RE ENGAGED! (Cute picture of them with their rings to come.. honest!)

They have been engaged since June and are announcing it mostly as they see or speak to people. Of course they told us the story of how and when (so unbelievably romantic!) but we were privileged to be the first people to whom they told the story in English!! So cute! :)

The rest of the evening was spent eating more dessert, catching up, playing music, booking tickets for the William Fitzsimmons gig we are going to tonight... and then, finally, to bed!

The above are pretty self I explanatory. We stopped off in Mannheim for some quick snaps of the city!

The happy couple - Freddy & Annschön and their rings!

Day 12 - tourists in Marburg, lots of rain, lots of laughs. #45daysofsummer

Our first morning at Waldi and Ruth's involved a lovely long lie in (in a very comfortable bed!) followed by a typical German breakfast.

Fresh bread, eggs, cheese, avacade, cucumber, tomatoes, jam... Mmm! 

After a couple of hours chatting and catching up some more, putting the world to rights etc.. we wandered in to Marburg, and looked like proper tourists with our cameras out as W&R told us about the history of the city and other interesting facts.

Walking by the river.

The weather was gorgeous and the scenery beautiful..

 The church and castle at the top there, is where we were headed.

 Streets of Marburg.

R&W being cute :)

Jessie and I having a proper tourist picture!

Higher up the hill, looking down at the city.. We were actually walking up to see Landgrafenschloss but I didn't get any photos on my phone so will have to wait til September to see those!

The hill was quite steep, we stopped for a brief rest!

 Beautiful gardens at the top of the hill. They were telling us about a festival here a few weeks back that sounded like so much fun! There's a big outdoor cinema up there too!

On ur way back down, we passed the house that the Grimm brothers lived in for a year while they were in Marburg. They didn't like the city, and were very open about that.

They took us to an adorable little cafe called Die Pause (the break) where we ate delicious food and sat for another few hours, talking, laughing, enjoying ourselves!

I had goats cheese with apple and honey, and some curry lentil soup. Jessie's chips were incredible (that's not an overstatement) and we all helped her to eat them haha!

After a spot of shopping, we made a start for home. That's when the rain started. And carried on. We found shelter under some places, and when it eased off we continued on. But then... Oh how it rained. Absolutely chucking it down. To say we were drenched would be somewhat of an understatement. It was hilarious. We had to walk for about 15 minutes in it as well. In fact, while I write, our clothes are still drying on the airer despite it being like 15 hours later... 

So we dried off, and curled up on the sofa and Waldi played guitar and we all talked some more. It was like the old times, but new times. We talked about how much we have all changed and lots else. Then we had homemade bread (thrown together by Waldi) and salad for a late night snack before heading off to bed. It has to be said, I have not laughed so much as I have today in months. In years potentially. Its been fabulous, and funny. And really freeing. Thank you Jesus!! :):)