Day 117- London and lots of Love (Wedding in Antwerp!)

London/ Christmas time (Kristin/Rudolf’s wedding)

Day 117

Wow Day 117, that’s a little ridiculous. These past ten days have been yet another whirlwind, starting with my trip to London, England.

I was really excited to be visiting London  a) because they actually spoke my language there and b) because I would be staying with some good family friends.

Me and a friend from my program, Sarah, headed out on Friday evening. I was listening to some songs on my iPhone (R.I.P) on the train that night and as I randomly shuffled through some songs, I stopped on a song by Stephen Curits Chapman that talks about how all of this earth is God’s, and no matter what kind of craziness is going on, He’s got it all under control. I almost skipped the song and went to the next one (I’m not the biggest Stephen Curits fan sadly) when I heard the first line of the song and it made my heart skip a beat. The song starts off and says…

I walk the streets of London

And notice in the faces passing by

Something that makes me stop and listen

My heart grows heavy with the cry

Where is the hope for London?

You whisper and my heart begins to soar

As I'm reminded

That every street in London in Yours

I smiled as I was reminded that my God has it all under control. It’s his. And no matter where in this crazy world I end up, It’s HIS. Anyway, we arrived in St. Pancras and headed to the nearest local trainstation, Waterloo to stay at my good family friend’s house, Tara Allen. I have known Ms. Tara and her family since I was born (She and her husband Jim were friends with my parents in college), and I was so excited to see a bit of Texas in Europe!

            After two trains and a couple of moments of getting lost, we arrived at Ms. Tara’s beautiful home in the countryside suburbs of London. Mr. Jim and Ms. Tara picked us up in their car; my only issue with this whole thing was that Mr. Jim was driving on the wrong side of the car. I remember at one point someone asked me if I wanted to sit in the front seat, which I promptly said NO Thank you to…I’m pretty sure if I sat in the front on the wrong side (where the driver is supposed to be) I would start act like I’m driving, with hand motions, feet stomps and weird noises. To save everyone that trouble, I sat in the back and enjoyed the beautiful sights of England.

            We got to their beautiful home, and all I kept saying was wow I feel like America is in England…there home is HUGE and wonderfully decorated…and definitely had an American feel to it. Me and my friend Sarah walked in their house around 11PM, but Ms.Tara refused to let us go to sleep without making us something to eat or getting us something to drink…such southern hospitality. I can’t tell you how good it felt to be eating chips and drinking cold ice tea (with sweet n low) and hearing Ms. Tara tell me all aobut her adventures here. I thought maybe England had changed her a little bit, nope…still the wonderful, hospitable, Texan women who taught my Prims class so long ago. Felt like a found little bit of my childhood in the middle of London, England.

            The next morning, Mr. Jim drove me and Sarah back to the local train station and told us how to get downtown. From there, we headed to the London Tower and saw the crown Jewels, the burial places of several of Henry VIII’s wives, and where they were beheaded. Not the “kindest” of stuff, but growing up a history nerd, I was ecstatic about this. We had one of the “Yeoman” tour guides who made jokes about Americans the whole time. I guess the liberty bell was once held in the Tower of England before it was given to us in Pennsylvania…and at one point our tour guide said, “You know Americans…when we gave it to you it wasn’t broken, but you guys broke that AND our language as well”. Quite funny mister.

            After that, I used a tour book Mr. and Mrs. Douque had given me about London and headed off to see as many sights as I could (Sarah went to see Stonehenge for the rest of the day). I ended up seeing the London Eye, the House of Parliament, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, the Churchill War rooms, St. James Park, Buckingham Palace, Picadilli ciricus, Hyde Park, the Marble Arch, Covent Gardens, and the Fortune theatre. Wow. Lots of walking. Lots of seeing where old people were buried (Westminster Abbey), and lots of “ooing and ahhing” at everything. Westminister was so cool because not only did I get to walk right where Prince William and Kate had just walked for their wedding, but I got to see the burial places of Queen Elizabeth and Queen “bloody” Mary. My AP European History teacher, Mr. Schulz would’ve been very proud. As I walked around all day and read history about the different places I saw, I could hear him in the back of my mind giving loud lectures about the deaths of Anne Boleyn and the world changing decisions of the Elizabethean era. So neat.

            The Churchill War rooms were also incredible. I have always looked up to Mr. Churchill and what he did for the Allied forces in the war. His quotes like ,“Never, never, never give up”, have kept me going at times. The war rooms are underneath one of the government buildings outside of the House of Parliament. They are located in a basement of one of these buildings and many of the rooms inside haven’t been touched since the war. It was so eerie and neat to see the rooms where the cabinet of Mr. Churchill would gather at all hours of the day and night to talk about huge events in history. They also have a spectacular museum there about Mr. Churchill that about brought me to tears. I love his honesty, his frankness, but also his desire to persevere and see good in the world. One of the quotes on the wall of this museum read, “I think we are all worms in this world…but I do believe that I am in fact a glow-worm”. I love that. I am definitely a worm, but through the grace of my savior I can be a glow worm!

            That night I joined back up with Sarah and went to Fortune theater to see “the Woman in Black” which is one of London’s longest running plays. It only shows in London and has been going in the same theater for over 20 years and is being made into a huge feature film with Daniel Radcliffe this spring. The theatre was so small and quaint, I was kind of confused about how this play could be so famous and occupy such a small space. Well as soon as the play started, I realized that the small quarters made the play so much more intimate and gave it the star quality that some huge productions are lacking. It was so scary and jumpy, but such a fun and different experience.

            Sadly, that night…I lost/got my phone stolen. I was on the tube (subway), standing next to a thousand people and I remember crossing my arms most of the time instead of putting my hands in my coat pocket…which is when it probably got snatched (my phone was in my front coat pocket). I realized about ten minutes after not touching my phone that it was gone and even went back into the tube to see if I had dropped it. I definitely think it was stolen. I was really bummed that night; I had such a great day in London with such wonderful pictures and now I have nothing to show for it.

            I was super bummed, but as soon as it happened it was like something inside me said…ok this is for a reason. For those of you who know me, I LOVE my phone. I have had an iPhone for about three years and claim that I wouldn’t be able to function without it. I bet God heard that phrase and laughed at me. I definitely remember feeling kind of naked without it…but someone told me once that whenever you “CAN’T” lose something, that’s when you know it’s a problem in your life and you need to know you can go on without it. Well that may explain why I lost my security blanket…uhh I mean my phone. J

            The other day I even freaked about not having my phone. I told my mom that I had to have a new one upon exiting the plane. As soon as the words came out of my mouth, I was like SHOOOT, I kind of want those back. God is definitely teaching me a lesson by not having it, and that lesson definitely doesn’t involve yelling at my mother and telling her that if she loves me at all I need a new one the second I see her. So sorry mom, again.

            After getting some kind but heart-checking words from Rudolf, I realized once again how much that stupid thing has a hold on me. It’s so funny…I feel like so much in this life can become a stronghold; I always thoguth that people just got addicted to alcohol or drugs or shopping or other “serious things”. Well, I’m pretty sure I got addicted to an inanimate object. It’s really nice now to not have it and know that for right now I’m not supposed to have it! (Mom this doesn’t mean at all that I don’t want one eventually if by any chance you were possibly thinking about maybe getting me one for Christmas or something). Hahahah anyway. iPhone’s can be addicting, who knew.

            Well the rest of the trip to London was wonderful. The Allen’s took me to see Windsor castle on Sunday and have a proper British lunch which included tea, fish and chips and lots of fun British accents J It was so fun hanging out with them and seeing parts of their new homeland with them…Ms. Tara thank you so much for your hospitality and all your love! I will always remember my wonderful trip to England!

            When I got home from London, I had a wonderful treat waiting for me at the train station! One of my best friends from home, Kristin Walker, was waiting for me. She flew in from Barcelona where she was studying to see me for a quick visit in Brussels. I have now gotten to see this girl in four different countries and have been thankful for our friendship in each one of them! Seeing a friend from home made my heart so warm, but also let me relax so much because we know each other so well. Rudolf picked us up from the airport ( so I got to see two of my favorite people at once!) and that night we watched a chick flick and ate pizza in bed. Typical Bailey/Kristin night that we’ve had since we were ten. Just in Belgium.

            The next day we spent exploring Belgium, seeing the beautiful Chrsitmas market, eating frites, drinking warm drinks, buying presents, and just enjoying each other’s company. I also got to meet some of Rudolf’s South Africa friends that evening who were visiting for a few days. It was so cool to hear some stuff about their life…made me really excited to visit someday.

            The next day I took Kristin to see the headquarters of EU and then she headed off back to Barcelona for a few more days before we both head back to the states. Our first flights actually both land in New York and we take the next flight together to Chicago. Another popular city we will be in together J

            The rest of the week was filled with school work and finishing my last assignments. Friday me and my roommates threw a Christmas party at our apartment. It was so fun seeing everyone again and celebrating the season…it makes Belgium feel more like home. We also had a few “family” dinners last week where all four of us girls make a differnet dish, eat it together and then watch a girly movie. Those are some fantastic nights with four girls I am beyond blessed to know.

            Friday night after the party me and Rudolf headed to Antwerp to stay at his parents house before his friend’s wedding the next day. The next morning we got ready for the church service that was around 11AM. It was so funny seeing the similarities and dfifferences between a Belgian and American wedding that day. First of all, the service is usually in the morning, then a long break in the afternoon, then the reception and party at night. So different from the typical US wedding. The processional of the bride and bridal party was different too, everonye walked in the church at the same time right behind one another. Also, the bride and groom and the whole party sat in pews in the front during the whole ceremony and only stood for parts when they recited their vows. It was neat to see the different cultures and how we each celebrate such an incredible event in our different ways.

            That afternoon I got to take a long wonderful nap and then got ready for the party. When I walked downstairs all ready to leave, Rudolf’s parents were so sweet and kept telling me how fantastic I looked (Rudolf did as well)...then they took a ton of pictures of us, which I loved but my man, who looked amazing as well,  didn’t seem too fond of lol.  We finally got to the reception and I got introduced to most of Rudolf’s high school friends who were all so kind and welcoming to me. I was kind of nervous about this whole night because most of his friends speak Dutch, but I never realized how great their English was as well….All of his friends would speak in English around me to let me get involved with the conversation and they were so warm and welcoming with everything they said. Such a fun night.

            We had a wonderful dinner filled with lots of speeches and lots of me leaning over to Rudolf and asking what was being said and being answered a lot with …ummmm well they love each other a lot. Lol. I probably asked him to translate a million times, he was such a good sport trying to explain to me everything that was going on.

            After dinner, we began to dance the night away. We danced to everything from Grease Lighting, European 90’s techno, to slow romantic classic songs. Such a great night, you can see some pictures from that night on my Facebook page. We danced until around 3 in the morning and let me tell you…I never knew that a whole bunch of Belgian boys could dance more than I could. At several points of the night, many of the wives, girlfriends and fiancées of these boys would be sitting on the side of the dance floor resting our feet for a song or too while these crazy but wonderful Belgian men danced their hearts out to their favorite songs. It was so fun seeing Rudolf like that, so happy with some of his best friends. Definitely a night I will never, ever forget.

            The next day I got to relax and spend some quality time with Rudolf’s parents at their home. I got to see Rudolf’s dad’s amazing miniature train set collection. He has basically turned their attic into a little German town that has little trains running all through it complete with lights, sounds and little cars and people. Rudolf and his dad have been working on this train set since he was very young, but they both claim its still “not ready yet”. But it looked FABULOUS to me.   

            We had a wonderful dinner that night and I realize that I’m going to miss Rudolf’s parents more than I will miss him! Hahah Just kidding, but I am going to miss them a lot; It’s so neat to meet and get to know two people who are so warm, loving and have set such a Godly example for their son who makes me smile more and more each day. It’s evident to me the love for Jesus these two people have and how they have instilled that love in Rudolf, which is one main of the reasons why we are together today.

            This week I have taken a few finals, which hasn’t been a big deal to me (Shocker!)… I guess some things are more important than a finals grade J (I bet my mom wishes I understood that fact a long time ago). Anyway, last night me and Rudolf got to celebrate Christmas and he surprised me by taking me to a beautiful restaurant downtown, when I thought we were going to a small place by his house. The night was wonderful and was a perfect way to continue my Christmas season.

            Alright, well I probably should start studying for my final. I leave here in two days. Which blows my mind. I don’t really want to think about it. I know that God has a plan for back home, just excited to see what that entails. I know that if I continue to put my trust in Him, He will lead me down the right path. So cool to see what God has done in my life in the past few months. We serve a big God! Remember he can surprise you out of your wildest dreams every single day. Just know that he’s got a plan and a reason behind what he’s doing…and even if you’re far away from home, He’s still watching, loving and smiling down you every single step of the way.

Love you guys,

One more blog post on the way home.

Bails

Here's some pics from the wedding  :) 

Southern Europe

Day 102

For my dedicated blog readers, all four of you, here is the long awaited update you have been craving: my trips to Italy and Spain.

Let’s start with Italy. Me and my roommates were really excited about this trip because we knew it was the only trip that all four us would be able to go on together with just us girls. So Friday afternoon, me, Chrissy, Ellen, Maddie and Jacki (one of our other good girlfriends from the program) all headed out for Venice, Italy. We left so excited and kept telling each other, “Guys we are going to ITALY TODAY!!!” We couldn’t really grasp what was going on.

            So we headed off on our Ryan Air flight, which was my first experience with this “wonderful” airline. Ryan Air is the cheapest airline you can find for flights in Europe. And it is cheap. And that is about its only positive characteristic. Ryan Air only flies out Charleroi, Belgium…which is called “South Brussels” by Ryan Air, but is actually a small remote town no where near Brussels. And it takes  three modes of transportation, two hours and 13 euros to get to Charleroi. So worth the cheap flight? Not so sure. Well I decided that Ryan Air actually wasn’t worth my money when I finally got on the plane and found out that they played ads from different sponsors through the speakers by every seat during the entire flight …I was assured that next time I would spend the extra twenty euro and fly on a normal airline.

            So me and my friends finally got to Venice. And, well we really didn’t have a plan from there. We knew we needed to actually get off the actual land part of Italy and over to the little island of Venice, but didn’t really know how to do so…so we kind of followed the crowd and ended up on a bus that we hoped would take us to a plaza somewhere close to our hotel. We get off the bus and look around…and realized we have no real idea where we are.  But thank goodness for iPhone’s and the ability to pull up a map of Venice while on Wi-Fi and use that map even without Wi-Fi. Which is exactly what we did. We walked through the little (and I mean LITTLE)  streets of Venice being led by our friend Jacki, who has a much better sense of direction than I do thank God (if it was up to me we would’ve slept somewhere in Florence probably). And she used my iPhone all the way to the hotel. Which was called Hotel Pantalon (aka Hotel Pants), not the greatest of names, but hey…it was only 90euros for a room that sleeps four. So what the heck?

            We check in and the nice hotel man tells us that our “apartment” for the night is actually just down the street. And by down the street he meant a fifteen minute walk across two bridges, down two alleyways and with two different sets of keys to actually get in. Our adventure continued. We finally got to our apartment and found a very clean, nice, GAUDY room which was perfect for us five girls (we snuck Jacki in). Everything in the room was red, gold and velvet…exactly the colors and fabric I would use to decorate something ;)

            Anyway, that night we had a lovely evening, grabbed some dinner and went to bed pretty early in our medieval looking Venetian apartment. The next morning we all showered and got ready for what we knew would be a long day. Because that night we were heading out on a overnight train to Rome. So we showered, checked out of our hotel, and officially became homeless for the day.

            We started off our Venice tour by going to St. Mark’s basilica and St. Mark’s square…so wonderful and breathtaking. After we visited the basilica we wandered towards St. Mark’s port and asked one of the many gondola boat drivers prices for tours…he told us some extremely high price, so we walked away knowing we would go look for one elsewhere. Well, of course the man came running back after us telling us that we were “special” and he would give us a “special deal”.  Absolutely he would.

            The gondola ride was so fun, filled with singing by our driver Alessandro, lots of picture taking, and being in awe of the restaurants, stores and houses you could get to by boat. It really is crazy. The entire city runs on water and it feels like you have traveled back in time about three hundred years. No cars, no big businesses. It was very peaceful and relaxing for the day. After the gondola ride, we went shopping in one of the markets and then headed out to find a nice long dinner because our train wasn’t leaving until 1130 at night. Well for once when you want to find a European restaurant that takes forever to serve you, you can’t. Our waiters were very kind but wanted us to keep ordering things in order to keep the table (despite the fact that no one was waiting for a table and there were several completely empty tables). So we did, bread, dessert, etc. etc.

            It was at this dinner that me and my friends got our first taste of “rude Americans”. Three boys and one girl walked up to the table behind us, grabbed some chairs from another tabled and sat down without asking anyone to seat them. They then began yelling things at the waiters walking around. They wanted some “fu**in fried octopus” “why don’t you have my “fu**in octopus” “Stupid Italians” “I’m Fu**in hungry”…me and my friends were so embarrassed, for our country. Well the worse part came when those boys figured out that we were speaking English... they started to harass us…yelling things like “Hey sluts, talk to us…we hear you! You’re speaking English!” We politely ignored them and kept with our pleasant dinner. The boys then kept trying to get the waiter to pull our table next to theirs so they could talk to us. Eventually the manager came out and nicely asked them to leave. We were just thankful we didn’t get roped in with them because we were English speakers as well. As the boys left they yelled slurs at us, calling us every name in the book because we wouldn’t talk to them. With each remark one of us would get so mad we almost wanted to do something about it, but thankfully the others were there to calm each one of us down. I remember wanting any man who knew any of us girls to be present, it would’ve been pretty bad. All I wanted to do was walk over  to the loudest of those boys, kick him in the balls (scuse my French) and tell him how ashamed I was that he was ruining the reputation for all the nice Americans abroad, like me and my friends.

            After dinner, we headed to the train station to embark on our wonderful journey to Rome. By now it is 1130 at night, and I am exhausted from walking all day. All I want to do is curl up and fall asleep in a nice warm bed. I guess I had some mild hope that the overnight train we picked wouldn’t be as bad as I had heard from my friends. Those of you who know me well realize that my bed is a very big part of my life. I like my own bed, I like comfy big beds. I steal the covers, I like sleeping for long amounts of time, I am a cranky mess without my 7-8 hours.  I love being all warm and snuggly in bed. I would rather go home early and sleep longer than go out most nights. SO yes, I love the entire sleeping experience, it is an activity that is extremely close to my heart.

            So what I’m about to tell you about my seven hours on the train hurts me with every keystroke. So we got on the train, and realized that we all were in different little pods. To make you able to understand what these pods looked like, picture a pretty large restaurant booth that has two benches and seats six. Now take away the table in the middle. Now separate the benches with arm rests to make three seats on each side. So me and my friends say goodbye to each other kind of warily, not sure if we were ever to see each other again. I remember hugging my friend Chrissy and honestly thinking, I can’t believe I’m about to go through this experience alone.

            I walked into my pod and sat down in my single seat next to two black men who seemed relatively nice. I sat down, put my backpack up and looked across from me and saw a sweet American girl who was also studying abroad and doing the “cheap” thing as well. I HAVE NEVER BEEN SO HAPPY TO HEAR ENGLISH IN MY LIFE. I knew if she was there we were going to get through this. So there ended up being four black guys speaking some African language and the two American girls. The weirdest part of the whole experience is that outside our pods, people were sitting and standing around in the little hallway. I guess you could pay like ten euros cheaper and not be guaranteed a seat, and just sit in a little seat that pulled out in the hallway or just sit on the ground. Or think you were going to get real lucky and no one would be in one of the regular “nice” seats inside the pods. You’ve got to be joking me….so people actually paid money to stand outside in the hallway or  sit on the floor for 7 hours? YOU THOUGHT YOU GOT A GOOD DEAL?? You saved ten euros and gave yourself the worst night of your life. You sat and stared at the little pods the entire night, so every time a normal person like me would wake up (which was quite often) they would see you staring in at them. WEIRDEST EXPERIENCE OF MY LIFE, Oh and when I mean those four men spoke some African language? Well they spoke it, and spoke it and spoke it, and then spoke it some more. Basically by the time the train ended,  I thought I was somewhat fluent in that African language because of the amount I heard over the night.

            You know that common courteously when your on public transportation (ESPECIALLY OVERNIGHT TRANSPORTATION) to not talk in order to not bother everyone around you??? WELL I GUESS THAT COURTEOUSY GOT LOST IN TRANSLATION BECAUSE THEY TALKED ALL NIGHT LONG. I remember looking at my watch at 430 in the morning after being woken up by their conversation and wanting to cry, and catch the next flight from Rome to Brussels back home. We got to the train station, we all disembarked and hugged each other to give each other some kind of comfort for what we just went through. One of my roommates, Chrissy got her picture taken randomly throughout the night by an Asian couple who were trying to document the experience properly. Needless to say, it was an interesting night, and Rome promised to be even more interesting.

            We got off at the train station and took public transportation a little ways to find our hotel, where we would get ready and head out for the day (it was now only 7AM). So we got off the metro and walked about 3 miles to our B&B each with 20 pound back packs strapped to us. We got to our B&B, rung the doorbell a million times, and tried calling the number, yelled up at the windows, disrupted the old Italian neighbors, and STILL could not figure out how to get into this hotel. I guess the B&B is so small that the owner only comes by when her customers are going to check in and I guess she didn’t get our email that we  were coming at 730AM that we sent  at midnight the night before. I remember sitting outside our B&B thinking, well I’ll just stay here today, this is a great view of Rome. And I was dead serious. Thankfully, my roommates had more sense than I did and they figured out how to get back to the train station without walking 9 miles. We got to the train station, got ready for the day in the train station bathroom. Such a lovely experience. And then stored our backpacks in the train’s locker room. So now we had gone through 3 frustrating hours of being let down and trying to figure out how to get ready for the day and it was only 9 AM! Wonderful. I was hungry, tired and kind of mad at Rome. Already.

            Well our day got a whole lot better really quickly. We ventured out to Vatican city using directions my friend Ruthanne Hoggard gave us, and we ended up in St. Peter’s Basilica about an hour later. Little did we know, mass started (because it was Sunday morning) about ten minutes after we got in the Basilica, which was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen in my life. It’s hard to describe St. Peter’s. It’s like you step into a different world, the atmosphere is completely different and there is such a reverence about the place. I am not one for big grandiose displays of religion, but it is hard not to be in awe of your surroundings while at the basilica. I wandered around just thinking about all the people who had worshiped here in this church, and all the men and women of God who had appreciated his glory on that same ground. It was magnificent. It is very cool to think about the fact that I have worshipped in such an ornate place as well as an open air church in the middle of Missouri, just goes to prove once again that our God is everywhere and can be found everywhere. After we finished our time in the basilica, we headed outside to St. Peter’s square to get a spot to listen to the Pope speak. I remembered one of my friends telling me that every Sunday the Pope speaks at exactly noon from the same window in Vatican city. Because of this, we left the basilica around 1115 and found a good spot to park ourselves to wait and hear the pope. He came out around noon and the square was SO PACKED. He said a blessing in Latin, then greeted all the people in different languages. It was so cool to see all the different ethnicities and hear the pope address them all! Such a neat experience!

            The rest of the day was wonderful; we visited the Coliseum (super eerie), the Roman Forum, the wedding cake monument, the Trevi Fountain, and the Spanish steps. And we actually got to spend a good amount of time at each place and had a picnic in between. It was crazy to me how close everything was to each other. And it was also crazy that everywhere we went, Roman ruins were just chilling on the sideline; pieces of walls, parts of old buildings…everywhere in Rome there was something cool to see.

            That night we were completely exhausted so we headed back to the train station, picked up our bags, then found a tram that would take us directly back to the street our B&B was on. Well we came to find out that the trams are absurdly packed at night and we couldn’t even fit in the first one that came by. People were being shoved in by other people and parts of their bodies were sticking out of doors and windows. My friends and I eventually figured out that we needed to find the stop before ours in order to actually get inside the tram. So we ran to that stop, found our way inside and were incredibly smushed for about 30 minutes.

            We got back to our B&B to find that no one was there. Again. I started tearing up. I was for real going to be homeless in Rome. We tried calling the owner’s number, no luck on our cheap Belgian phones, we tried getting a neighbor to help, no luck. So finally we figured out that we could call a Belgian friend back home to call the number and then they could tell her to come let us in. After about 20 minutes of scrambling, the owner finally showed up. I had never been so happy to get into a room in my whole life. I HAD A BED AGAIN!!!! Needless to say, we got in the room, watched a bit of Italian TV, and fell asleep around ten pm.

            The next day I felt like a new woman. We woke up around nine, and ventured back to Vatican city to go see the Sistine chapel, since it was closed the day before. We were told it would take us hours to get inside the museum because of the long lines, but we were prepared to wait. We walked up to the museum…no line…we walked inside the museum…no line….I kept asking people where the line was. I guess all the tour guide people outside the Vatican were lying to people over and over trying to get the scammed into paying extra for a tour that could “skip the long lines”. So glad we didn’t listen to them.

            Anyway, we wandered through the Vatican museums for hours, it was all breathtaking; lots of gardens and little hallways with beautiful pieces of art, but unfortunately sometimes I feel as if I must be an art history major in order to fully enjoy Europe. I look at a piece of art and think wow that’s nice, but where’s the food? Or …I wonder if there’s any benches in the next room where I can sit down. I love looking at art, but I wish I had more of an understanding of why these specific pieces were placed in certain rooms or in the Vatican in general. Anyway, we journeyed through the museums and finally got to the Sistine chapel. Which is just as cool as everyone says it is. I think I stared up at the ceiling for a good thirty minutes. The picture of God stretching his hand out to man (to depict the moment of creation) has been one of my favorite representations of God’s love towards man for a few years now. If you look at the painting closely, you can see how God’s strong hand is reaching out so hard just to try and touch the tip of man’s finger…He’s trying so hard to save us, to take care of us, to keep us close to him. And then you look at man’s finger. The man’s hand is limp, as if he doesn’t care at all about touching God’s hand because he’s off doing his own thing and has it all figured out. Not sure if Michelangelo planned it this way, but that’s how I see it and it means a lot to me. It shows me once again how man constantly ignores the great love his creator has for him, and how much God is willing to fight to help man, even if man wants nothing to do with Him. Look at that picture today and don’t just see a piece of artwork, see God’s everlasting love for His creation!

            I also really love how all over the Vatican museum there were signs that talked about how the Vatican was a holy place and people needed to be respectful with the loudness of their voices and the clothes they wore. The Vatican had no shame in announcing that the area we were in was Holy to them and we all needed to respect that, even if we didn’t have the same beliefs. I guess in this day and age I don’t see a lot of people stand up for their beliefs and especially don’t see them demand respect for something religious that may be really important to them. I loved that about Vatican city. They were followers of Christ and unafraid to show it. You didn’t need to be a follower of Christ to visit the sights, but you needed to show respect for everyone else who did see this area as a holy place. So neat. I wish more people had the guts to stand up for what they believe in, no matter what it is.

            We had a wonderful day in Rome after that; we visited the Pantheon, and the Trevi fountain once again and we had time to do some fun shopping where one of my friends bought an Italian leather purse. It was overall an incredibly successful and memorable trip to Italy.

            The next morning we got ready to board our plane back to Brussels. Ryan Air doesn’t have assigned seats, so people just wait in line to board as soon as they get through security. So me and my friends stood in that line for about 30 minutes, and just before we were about to board, around fifty Italians got up from their seats and tried to board with us. Bailey was not a happy camper. One of my friends who studies in Rome told us that Italians don’t understand that concept of lines. Well this became really obvious, and I tried with all my might to explain the concept of lines to a few Italian women who tried to get in front of us, which in the words of Glozelle… “Ain’t gonna happen”. Now I should have been a Christian witness and ignored these women and let them get in front of us, but it was very early in the morning, Bailey was wearing a very heavy backpack, and she wanted to get a freakin window seat so she could sleep for two hours, and two older Italian women who were making mean faces at us were NOT going to take that away that dream. So I told them in my broken English, complete with Italian accent that I didn’t even really know I had, that they needed to get behind us that the line started back “there!”

            Well they  got behind us, but made fun of us in some other language the entire time. I just smiled at them and preteneded like I could understand everything they were saying.

            The rest of a week was a blur. Basically I got back to Brussels, got to see Rudolf a couple of times (thankfully), went  to work and class…then headed out once again on Friday to Barcelona. I was really excited about Barcelona because one of my best friends from St. Louis, Kristin Walker, was studying there. I didn’t really see Barcelona as a trip to go see everything in the city, I saw it as an awesome time that I would get to spend with one of my closest friends. I got in to Barcelona and hung out with Kristin from the very start. We got dinner, lots of tapas and went out exploring with some of her friends that night. Barcelona is a beautiful city with so much Roman  and Medieval history that I had no idea it possessed. After seeing Rome, it is crazy to see how remnants of that dynasty still exist in other parts of Europe…even as far away as Spain and Germany (I’ve seen Roman ruins in Barcelona and Trier). So crazy. It was a wonderful weekend in Spain. We ate A LOT. I guess that’s what the Spanish do, they eat, they siesta, and then they fiesta. So it was wonderful to kind of take a break from the busy traveling of Europe in order to have some good catch up time with wonderful food and drinks.

            Saturday we got to see the Sagrada Familia, which is one of the most famous churches in Spain. The different sides of the church depict different scenes from the Bible (like creation, the passion, the return of Christ, etc.) and each have a different feel to them. You can really tell the difference between the joyfulness of creation and the harshness of the passion all by the choices the artists made with the formation of the different pieces. The rest of the day was quite rainy in Barcelona, so we hid inside a pizzeria for a while, went shopping and eventually went to a jazz concert later that evening. It was really funny because the concert was all in English and it was something that Kristin really would have enjoyed going to back home…so it was basically like she and I had never left St. Louis, but in fact we were across an ocean in a little overcrowded restaurant hearing two Spanish men sing the blues. Pretty cool moment.

            The next day I got to see Kristin’s parents and sister who were flying in for the week (it was the week of Thanksgiving)…it was so great to see them and even greater to see how happy it made Kristin to have them there. I headed back home a few hours after they arrived, and was ready for some time in Brussels.

            This past week has been filled with papers and homework assignments, not the fun part of “studying abroad”, but thankfully me and Rudolf got to escape to his parents house this past weekend. They live in a small town outside of Antwerp, which is about 45 minutes away. It was such a wonderful weekend getting to know them and seeing where Rudolf comes from. His parents made us a wonderful dinner and then showed me countless pictures from Rudolf’s childhood and a lot from his trip to Africa. The next day we headed out to Zeeland, which is basically an island on the coast of the Netherlands, to celebrate Rudolf’s dads birthday. The town we had lunch in looked like it belonged in Rhode island or somewhere else in New England. Lots of boat harbors, little shops, and piers. Such a great day. It was so nice getting to know them and realizing again that there are people who serve Christ diligently over here. Rudolf’s mom is involved in the same Christian women’s ministry that my grandmother was in when she lived here some 40 years ago. After seeing Rudolf’s parents it was easy for me to see why their son was so wonderful and had such strong faith in Christ. It was a wonderful day and shows me again and again how blessed I am to have gotten to know Rudolf.

            The rest of the week here will be pretty busy… going to the Brussels Christmas market today (which is supposedly filled with food, little booths, an ice skating rink and a Ferris wheel!), then my last day of work is tomorrow. And I head out on my last trip Friday! I am heading to London with a girlfriend of mine! So exciting! After that Kristin is coming to see me in Brussels! Should have another blog update once she leaves.

            Between now and then remember the verse Deuteronomy 31:8 which says that the Lord goes before you and will be with you, he will never leave you nor forsake you! Remember the picture in the Sistine Chapel! He is always fighting for us and wants the best for us, His ways are not our ways, and it may be really hard sometimes…but He will provide! And someday soon, His hand will finally stretch out enough to grab ours and take us home with him. 

Love you guys! Home in 18 days

Bailey Jo 

Giving Thanks

Day 96

            You all probably want to here about my many adventures in Italy and Spain. Well sorry about that, you should probably stop reading this if that’s what you’re looking for.  This post really has no significance, its just me trying to make myself believe that its really thanksgiving. And I’m really sititng in my office outside the EU. And I’m in work clothes. And its 9AM. I think every part of that sentence is against the law and probably some sort of sin.

            Thankfully, me and Rudolf went to breakfast this morning to “celebrate” thanksgiving before work. And later on my whole program is putting on an elaborate Thanksgiving dinner. It still can’t compare to the homemade cornbread southern dressing and mashed potatoes I would be eating at home, or the amount of TV/movies I would be watching…but hey, I’ve gotten to go  to nine countries in the past three months. So I’ll shut my mouth.

My dad always makes us go around the table at Thanksgiving and say one thing we are thankful for. And just because I am not with him this year doesn’t mean I’m not going to do that…in fact, if I get my way, tonight at dinner we will go around and say one thing we are thankful for.

So to add on to the tradition that my dad has started here are ten things I am thankful for this year on Thanksgiving:

1. I do not have to take public transportation at home and it doesn’t take me eight different forms of transportation to get from one place to another.

2. Ranch dressing. And Dr. Pepper. And Chipotle. I will be ever more gateful for you when I get home.  

3. I have three beautiful, loving roommates that have made my first time living in an apartment so memorable and so fun.

4. At home I just have to swipe a card in front of a door to get into my “home”. Here it takes three keys that are ancient looking and sometimes just decide to not work. So I am thankful for my prox. (Evangel term)

5. My mom, dad and sister who got to have one of the greatest weeks of my life with me and celebrate my dad being healthy again J

6.  Blue. I miss you more than anyone.

7. For Facebook, Skype, and IPhone’s that make me feel connected to and loved by the people that matter the most back home. All my shool friends, kanakuk friends, klife girls, evangel friends and more :) Thank you guys for being so kind and thinking of me over here! 

8. My Internship here because it has taught me so much and given me so much that I never expected J 

9.  My Aunt’s who read my blog every time I post it and who I look up to so much…they are such amazing examples of Godly women who can live life to its absolute fullest.  

10.  A God who is present all over the world and has shown himself to me in such intimate ways while abroad. He and I sure have had some laughs these past three months. I’m sure he giggles while he looks down on me trying to talk to foreigners and unknowingly imitating their accents. So thankful for that God who loves me unconditionally despite all of my failures and mistakes and has given me such a blessing by being here. 

Let us give thanks today! For our God is good and has given us so much to be thankful for!

Love

Bails 

Day 89- JOY

Day 89

Wow , can’t believe I am in my “80’s” on this trip.  Seems like I just got here and like I have been living here my whole life all at the same time. Ok so its been a while since I’ve updated everyone reading this blog (all three of you people )…and I’ve had a great reason for not doing so…MY FAMILY CAME HERE FOR FALL BREAK!!!! AND I WENT TO VENICE AND ITALY (but first…fall break)

            For those of you who don’t know, my family surprised me at the airport. This entire trip I knew that my mom was coming to see me during fall break, but my sister and dad were supposed to be at home still. For those of you who know me, you know that I am a bit analytical and tend to overthink things….in this situation my analytical nature kind of helped me out. As weeks flew by and the trip got closer and closer, I began to realize my mom was not telling me ANYTHING about our trip.  I kept asking her if I could help book train tickets or hotels or tours or anything…and she kept saying she had it all under control. Weird. Then all of a sudden a few days before the trip Gracie’s facebook “disappeared” to me. She claimed it was some virus she had gotten and her friends had trouble seeing her facebook as well. Weird. So needless to say, by the time the trip was right around the corner…I knew something was up. And I was determined to get some kind of information out of them…I kept trying to make them spill the beans about what was going on, but no one budged.

            And then the unthinkable happened. My mom texted me that morning and told me that Dad and Gracie had just dropped her off at the airport (ok, believable enough)….then Dad decides to Facetime me before he leaves for my Grandparents house…so then I got a little sad because I knew my Dad wasn’t coming. So we get on FaceTime, and all of a sudden Gracie walks into the frame, and my stomach dropped to the bottom of my feet. I guess Gracie wasn’t coming either, I guess I just read into everything too much and got my hopes up. I was pretty disappointed and I couldn’t hold it in from them…while still FaceTiming them I bursted into tears saying how I just thought there was some small chance I would see them…I had gotten my hopes up, and then seeing both of them on FaceTime made me realize how much I did miss both of them. I was still SOOO excited about seeing my mom, but my heart hurt because I knew that I wasn’t going to get to see them this next week, and it just hurt seeing them on the phone and knowing I had such high hopes for seeing them.

            Let’s get a few things straight. I LOVE being here, I have not cried ONCE in two months (huge shock)…and all of a sudden I get on FaceTime and LOSE  it…and all of a sudden my dad just kept talking about how they needed to leave to head to my grandparents house (which is only a two hour drive by car). I kept saying, “DAD! I haven’t been upset in two months, I haven’t cried this whole time…and I’m upset for once and you can’t stay on the phone with me for another ten minutes just to calm me down??” He just kept saying how he needed to leave right then so he could have enough time to help my Grandpa chop firewood this afternoon. I was a little confused and quite frankly, really upset and kind of pissed off. He wanted to chop firewood more than stay on the phone with me for ten more minutes to make sure I was ok. (I feel like that situation should have made some kind of alarm go off in my brain that something was off, because those of you who know my dad know that he would NEVER do that).

            So there I was, sobbing on the phone and trying to pull it together and be happy that just mom was coming (which I really was excited about, but had stupidly gotten my hopes up for more)…and my dad kept saying things like how bad he felt that I was upset he wasn’t coming…he claimed he felt so bad but then kept telling me goodbye! So unlike my dad.

            The rest of Friday night I hung out with my roommates who tried to make me feel better all night by telling me funny stories and painting our nails, etc. The next morning I got ready to go get my mom from the airport. Terry Hoggard (who is a local missionary here who has been connected to my home church WCAG for my whole life) picked me up that morning, and we chatted the whole time about how much fun me and my mom were going to have that week. So that confirmed my thoughts that it was just my mom…Even the missionary was telling me that it was just her! Missionaries wouldn’t lie. Or so I thought.

            We got to the airport, and I stood patiently by the gate waiting to see my mom, which seemed like it was never going to happen. I remember as soon as she walked out that my heart almost skipped a beat, and I knew that everything was going to be ok. As soon as I hugged her, my eyes swelled with tears knowing how thankful I was for such an incredible woman in my life. I was in mid hug, reuniting with my mom when all of a sudden someone tapped my shoulder (someone very short I might add) and said….”Hey, can I come too?”

            I looked down and there was my baby sister, Gracie. I don’t think any noises came out of my mouth, I was in utter shock. As soon as I looked up from Gracie, I saw my big strong Dad standing right behind her. It’s hard to describe how shocked, surprised and overjoyed I was to see both of them. I lost it. In the middle of the airport. Gracie says that I just kept saying “No, no ..noo…I can’t believe it…What are you doing here?????” I just remember crying so hard I couldn’t get any words out. I do remember one of the first thoughts that ran through my head was, “well I’m about to have the greatest week of my life”.

            You never know how much you miss the people that are the most important to you until they are standing right in front of you again, holding you and making sure you are ok. I never knew I could love those people so much. My heart hurt so bad with such joy. Suddenly I realized how big that ocean really was separating us, and how good it was to finally have them here with me.

            So then everyone finally got to tell me what in the world was going on. Mom was just sitting in the other room when dad and Gracie FaceTimed me, and they kept saying they had to leave because their ride to the airport was there! We were about to get in our rental car and roadtrip all across Belgium, Germany and a little bit of Austria. No wonder my mom didn’t want me to book train tickets.

            We stayed at Terry and Ruthanne Hoggard’s (who I found out were in on the plan the whole time) house in Waterloo, Belgium just outside of Brussels for that weekend. Got to see my mom’s old apartment, which happens to be walking distance from where I live now. Got to go downtown and show Gracie the Grand Place (which she kept thinking was a single building until we got there), and got to show my parents where I work, where they got to meet a wonderful man who I have been blessed to get to know named Rudolf who is the same Rudolf that I had that incredible conversation about Jesus with a month or two ago. (see blog post from day 30)

            After a hilarious drive home from downtown Saturday night (where our GPS kept wanting us to make a U-Turn and drive into a road that was blocked off), we got to go to Christian Centre Church Sunday. It was so neat showing my parents everything that I have experienced here, my work, my apartment, the church, the grand place, etc., etc. After a wonderful service, we all headed to this quaint Italian restaurant on a lake outside of Waterloo that was absolutely breathtaking. Lunch was wonderful and it was so great just to sit down and catch up. Rudolf joined us crazy Americans for church and lunch and it was really a perfect day…I’m still surprised he didn’t run away after lunch realizing how loud and crazy we all are. He's pretty amazing. 

           

            Monday morning we left on our European Vaca. I was still in awe that my entire family was with me and that we wer DRIVING through Europe. And by we I mean my Dad was driving through Europe. We first stopped at Monchau, a quaint little “Christmas” german town on our way to Schwangau to see Neuschwainstein castle. Do you know all the little German houses you see on Christmas decorations? Well they really exist…and they are in Monchau! We had a couple of hours in this town where did some sight seeing and ended up eating lunch.

            Now lets talk about lunch with the Bollinger family. For those of you who don’t know…eating is kind of a big deal to my family (and most Americans)…we want it to be just right, just what we are looking for…and we want it now. Even if its at a sit down restaurant…we want it fast. My family and I walked into the first little German café we saw and sat down at an open table. A few minutes went by and a waitress ( God bless her soul) came to our table. She soon realized we couldn’t speak German and so we asked her to read us the menu in English. She went through each dish. EACH AND EVERY SINGLE DISH. And as we started ordering she told us that it would take 45 minutes to an hour to get all the food out. Not ok with a bunch of hungry Americans. So we left. This poor waitress who just spent most of her morning shift reading us the menu in English moved out of the way for us crazy Americans to find some “quick food”. By this time, my 14 year old sister is beside herself embarrassed. Next, we step into another quaint German cafe, we sit down….and wait for about five minutes….and no one shows up….another minute goes by and I quietly explain to my parents that basically this whole eating thing takes a lot longer here and is a full drawn out process. So what do we do? We leave. And Gracie is pretty humiliated and telling us to go as fast as we can out of the place so we don’t embarrass her anymore. Needless to say we were all giggling at this point that we had just left two different restaurants after being seated and handed menus. Thankfully there was a bratweurst, waffle, frite stand down the street that screamed “fast”.

            That night we pulled into Schwangau (the small German town with the two famous castles in it) and realized that we could see both castles from the windows in our room! Felt like we were truly in a fairytale. Later that night, my Dad was trying to encourage us all to go to bed (because it was probably around 10PM which is way past his bedtime) …and he started telling us to go to “sleeperlagen” and quiet downhosen”. Basically he started adding german sounding words to the end of English sentences. And the rest of the trip things became “Germanish” constantly.

            Newschwainstein was beautiful and it was so fun to experience these castles with my family. Check out the pictures on fb if you want to know more. Later that evening we headed out for Salzbourg, Austria.

            When we got there we realized that we were staying in Old Towne Salzbourg which you can’t get to with a car. Our poor GPS told us way too many times that week to “please make a U-turn if possible”. Babs was her name…and Babs didn’t like us too much. Anyway…. My mom and I eventually got dropped off by Old Towne by my Dad and Gracie., and we went and found the hotel. After finding it, the nice hotel employee told us where we could park our car pretty close to Old Towne.. So we ventured out (withtout any working cell phones) to try and find my dad circling the city of Salzbourg looking for a place to park. Needless to say, I was a little overwhelmed. To my surprise, my mom and I turned the corner…and there was my Dad and Gracie driving down the middle of a VERY narrow street in Old Towne with our large BMW….and both grinning ear to ear like they just had broken the law. I guess they found some cop who let them into Old Towne in order to find our hotel. So my Dad weaved through the little shopping carts and stores…and drove on the cobblestone streets of Salzbourg that night. Crazy Americans.

            The next day was one of the greatest days of my entire existence. We got to do the sound of music tour! It was a four hour long bus tour that took us to all the major sights of the movie (including the back of the Von Trapp home, the Mirabell Gardens, the I am 16 going on17 Gazeboo and the I have confidence road. At each stop the corresponding song from the movie was played and everyone sung along. And by everyone I mean…the lady leading the tour walked up and down the aisle of the bus like a choir director waving her arms in the air making sure everyone was singing and having a good time. Even my poor father got into it. I can’t explain how fun it was to skip down the I have confidence road with my mom and sister just like Julie Andrews did in the movie, or dance in the Mirabell gardens just like the children did in the movie. Made me feel like a kid again. Made me feel so alive and so full of JOY.

            Within the last three years, my joy has been stolen for me for a lot of diffenet reasons. Cancer. Grades. Boys. Anxiety. Worry. Fear. Friends. More Boys. More Anxiety. A lot of these different “joy stealers” were no one’s fault but my own as a result of the sinful world we live in…but if there is one thing that I have learned, it is that our God provides a way out of these pits. He provides a way out and joy along so many steps of the way. We just have to choose that joy. We have to choose to get out of the freakin pit. We have to choose to believe that Christ’s sacrifice WAS enough for us. We must openly decide and pronounce that His death and resurrection IS enough to give us FREDOM EVERY SINGLE DAY. One of my favorite hymns says that because He lives I can face tomorrow. And you know what…that is so true. Because He gave the ultimate sacrifice for me I GET TO CHOOSE TO HAVE A TOMORROW. Will everything be easy? No. Will there be days when I still have anxiety about things? Yes. Will people still hurt me? Yes. But does the unconditional love that my savior displayed for me on a cross 2000 years ago ever stop being enough?? NO.

            As I have lived here, it has been such a gift to be able to look back on the past three years and see how I have grown. It has been a gift to see all the hard things I have gone through and how they are now serving a purpose in my life. I still have a long way to go (and always will) towards being the woman of God I know I am called to be, but it is really neat to look back and see the baby steps He is helping me take each and every day. The day that we got to skip around the Mirabell gardens and laugh while we sung every song of the Sound of Music as loud as we could WILL ALWAYS be a reminder to me that joy truly does come in the morning and there is a light at the end of the tunnel. You just have to choose to get yourself up and walk hand in hand with your Savior through each and every step of that tunnel.

            The rest of the trip was also incredible. Filled with laughter and lots of historical sights (the concentration camp Dachau, parts of the ancient Roman city left in Trier, Germany, and a moving experience at an American military cemetery in Belgium). We ended the trip by heading back to Brussels, having a wonderful homecooked meal at the Hoggard’s house and then heading back to reality.

            I remember crying as my Dad left and said good bye to me…not just because I was sad that he was leaving, but because I was so happy to see him in such a healthy place (physically, emotionally, spiritually).  I cried such tears of joy throughout the week because of how far God has taken me and my family. It was truly a moment of celebration for us that I will always remember.

Mom Dad and Gracie…

            Thank you so much for one of the greatest memories I will ever have. It was such a blessing to share a week with some of the people I care the most about. I will never forget getting lost in Waterloo, laughing as we exited those restaurants in Monchau, Dad eating lots and lots of Waffles, singing Do, Re Mi over and over, asking if the internet worked in so many differnet places, Mom asking for ice everywhere we went, and me badly imitating the accents of different foreigners thinking it would help them understand me (shows me that I really am my mothers daughter lol). I know you guys went to such lengths to surprise me and spend a week with me here…and I don’t know if I can ever repay you. It meant the world to me and I am so glad that we finally got to do something really fun after three years of stupid chemo. God is soo good and our hope really does endure!

Ps. When you know the notes to sing you can sing most anything.

Love,

Bailey