Swiss Trip Play-By-Play

1. Facebook = Clutch/Spojka/L'embrayage
"People You May Know" and The Master's College FINALLY come in handy. I click on a friend from college, and find out he lives close to Geneva, Switzerland. Next thing we know, I'm on a train and in Switzerland for 3 days.

2. Swiss Entertainment
-A man spits out his gum and drop kicks it all in one motion.
-A bicyclist and motorcyclist tangle in an intersection. Bicyclist kicks motorcycle while holding up oncoming traffic.
-A woman crosses the street too early and a car honks at her. Car and woman both pause, then car and woman both proceed. Woman's nose and toes get roughed up by said car. Woman keeps walking, only to pause again in front of the next car and dramatically stomp her foot.
-A Colombian man explains every group of men on a corner in Geneva is a drug deal.

3. Lake Geneva
It has a lighthouse, a playground slide, an unnatural geyser, a flower clock, boats, birds, gardens/parks with swings, sunsets, and sidewalks. I add chocolate, and I create paradise.

4. Multiculturalism
-My friend's dad is a pastor, so I go to Swiss church and sing Michael W. Smith songs...in French.
-I eat American (Mississippi mud cake), Belgian (waffles), French (crepes), Italian (gelato), Swiss (chocolate), and Turkish (kebabs) food, as well as a Coca-Cola at an Irish pub.
-My dreams are affected; I now start sentences in French and fill in words I don't know with Spanish and English. For instance, "Où est [Where is - French] la otra [the other - Spanish] shopping area [mall - English]?"

5. Milestones
-Why use a regular camera when you can VIDEO and capture EVERYTHING?
-Watch the video: Autour de la France et Genève.
-New way to solve people's problems (obesity, depression, anxiety, fear of heights, whatever): give them a stick of bubble gum and put them on a swing.
-First hostel experience? I like hotels.

6. USA Flight in 11 Days
I pack 2 bags and a box and give them to my Brussels friends to store over the summer. Back to hobo mode.

7. All Swag Tours Include

 

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Frolicking in Flanders

Oostende - Brugge - Gent

What up!

This day was actually a repeat vacation.

I felt like I "had to" go to Brugge again, just because it is The Tourist Attraction in Belgium. But as I wandered the streets, I realized the only thing I really remember about Brugge is that I have pictures of it in a Europe album from when I was 15. Everything else was a fuzzy blank. What I do remember is being in Belgium and Northern France and having a bad attitude because we were "only 4 hours from Paris by bus" and our bus driver refused to take us.

My new theory on tourism: eat dessert first. I need to do what I'm most looking forward as soon as I can, and only then can I really appreciate what happens next. It's the same reason I always ate cookies in the cafeteria while waiting in the lunch line.

Brugge was great; I found windmills, strolled through neighborhoods, and went on a boat ride (see video below). Brugge also had excellent shopping, and of course, the token H&M store.

I hopped the train to Gent next, and exited the station to the most bicycles I have ever seen in one spot. I didn't really know where I was going, so I just moved toward a large crowd on the other side of the square...and ended up in a movie. It was all in French, and I stood there, staring at these actors and extras who kept walking in circular patterns around each other. I think they were trying to create the allusion of a busy sidewalk?

My reverie was interrupted by a woman who said something in Dutch, which she eventually translated to: "Don't look so closely, you're in the shot." Thanks for the advice, I'll work on appearing more natural next time I stumble onto a movie set in public.

When I hear English, I must eavesdrop, and this is what I overhead a teenager say in Gent:
"I don't know why people think Brugge is better than Gent. Gent is so much cooler. Brugge is for old people."

I have three main questions after spending a lovely sunny day in the Flemish region of Belgium:

1. What is with Dutch people and bicycles?
(I almost got hit by at least 3 bicyclists. They are like racing ninjas that zip from out of nowhere, and you are trapped on their ninja speedway. They go on roads, sidewalks, dirt - and they do not stop. Good luck.)

2. I liked Brugge much more than Gent - does this mean I'm an "old person?" (I hope so.)

3. How many European dogs die from secondhand smoke?
(This is not only an observation from Flanders. It just finally occurred to me on this day, so it goes in this blog. The dogs go everywhere with the owner, and the owner smokes everywhere they go, so it stands to reason that these Euro dogs would be most exposed to the secondhand smoke. Where is PETA when you actually need them?)

Can you place the voice? 

It reminds me of some movie character...

PSA: Seagulls

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VLOG: Ice Cream

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Go Big, or Go Home

Our team was on TV.

That's what happens when you upset the top team in your division (in 4 sets, 25-21, 24-26, 25-10, 25-13). You get on Belgian TV, and have a strong shot at moving up an entire division.

The first two games were close, then we ruined them in the third and fourth sets, securing the top seed in league with only 4 matches remaining. With 3-0 or 3-1 wins in each of these matches, we will be crowned conference champions and move up to Nationale 1A Dames. Think of it like if you win the GSAC title, you now get to jump to the PAC-10.

[2018 Update: this video link no longer exists! For footage of my Belgian team, go HERE.]

This is the "inside look" on my new volleyball life in Belgium. Please note the American music in the background, and now YOU get to be in my French movie with no subtitles. HA!

RTC Télé-Liège Broadcast

(I am still #12 and setting on the team with the blue libero.)

(The video plays better the second time when fully loaded.)

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La Joie de Vivre en Belgique

Over the past two days, I have...

1) Boiled eggs and potatoes for the first time.

2) Asked bus drivers for directions in French - twice. The first time, the driver dropped me off about 10 minutes from the real stop I needed. The second time, our efforts were not in vain.

3) Officially stopped driving. While a good learning experience, I had to weigh if it was really good to learn how to experience risking death by driving.

4) Mopped with a broom.

5) Found the local post office, and it's actually inside a quasi-7/11. Just no Slurpees while you wait.

I had to pick-up a package (thank you, Jenny Hopkins) and send some postcards, so the lady needed my ID card. She gasped and pointed to the "CALIFORNIA" on my license, and said, "Ah! Californie! SUN!" and proceeded immediately into the back of the store to tell the other 2 employees, who then came out and were asking me all sorts of questions in Franglish. "Sun" and the French equivalent "soleil" (say "so-lay") were the recurring words. After stumbling through several "Je ne sais pas" (I don't know), they smiled and went back to work. I'm sure you can guess what they sang next.

 "Californieeee, Californieeeeeeee, here we COOOOOOOOME!"

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Yo, Do-Re-Mi. Let's Kick It.

Someday I will have the full Vanilla Ice parody for you. That day is not today.

Did you know it takes at least 10 hours to get from Belgium to Austria by train?

So even though I had delightfully planned a 3-day experience in Salzburg, 2 of those days were spent chugging through Germany. But it's all good. The "good" is made possible by a lot of great food and a day with The Sound of Music that I will never forget.

My iPod battery died within an hour of leaving Charleroi, but I thought it had malfunctioned and I would be friendless my entire trip. My train connection was canceled in Frankfurt, so we (all of us who missed our train) all had to squeeze onto the next train. I literally stood, then sat on the floor between train cars in the "hallway" for two hours before a seat opened up. When I finally got on the Salzburg express train in Munich at 7pm, the overhead lights inside the train were so bright, I wore my sunglasses for the next two hours. At night. Inside a vehicle. Super cool.

The hotel ended up amazing, which is always a shock since I usually book the cheapest thing I can find. When I walked into the cheerful breakfast restaurant the next morning, I actually heard the "Hallelujah Chorus" ringing in my ears...and playing over the speakers. It was the first cereal I've eaten with milk in two months, and the food was so good, I sneaked a sandwich and fruit for lunch - both days.

As a solo traveler, I reserve the right to take every best seat. I sit by the windows, in the front, and with plenty of leg room every chance I get. My day in Salzburg was no exception.

At breakfast, I had a view of the main street. On The Sound of Music Tour, I got on the bus first and sat with the tour guide. At a cafe, I planted myself at the front window seat. For dinner, I claimed the entry way to watch everyone who came by.

And speaking of The Sound of Music Tour - perfection. Okay, maybe not totally perfect; we didn't get to go inside houses, meet Julie Andrews, or climb every mountain. But we did get to spend four hours in make-believe, singing along while the bus made its way through the lake country. I felt like I was chasing my favorite movie all over Austria. IT WAS AWESOME.

I had my first apple strudel, and definitely ate schnitzel. I wore my warm woolen mittens, and cream-colored ponies still take tourists in carriages around the city. And it being early March, the silver white winter was still in the process of melting into spring.

At the end of the tour, we were dropped off right next to Mirabell Gardens, which is where most of the Do-Re-Mi sequence was filmed - including the iconic Do-Re-Mi steps. I found everything okay (various fountains, statues, viewpoints, etc.), but you can only imagine my dismay when I found the DRMS, and they were blocked off from the public! Are you kidding me?!

I did not come all the way to Austria to just look at the DRMS. No way. I came to hop those steps, so that's exactly what I did. Watch the video. The arched hedge was also blocked off; you can go ahead and guess how I responded. All the signs were in German, so it is rather fortunate I did not fall into a large hole, meet a nest of hornets, or trip any real alarms.

It was a fabulous holiday!

(Kindly, I recommend you do not try this at home.) 

(Please at least wait until you go on vacation.)

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dream speak grow

"Are you a morning person?" The question hung in the hotel breakfast room as I paused to answer. I had been chattering and laughing with my table, and it was barely 7am.

My mind quickly shifted between possible responses: I am awake in the morning, yes, but I can stay up late, too, and there isn't really a time of the day when I'm any better or worse, so the final answer must be...

"I think I'm a life person."

It was the only truth that made sense, and I think my new friends on the Bring It tour understood. I came into this European experience with even higher energy than I normally have, and nothing was going to stop me from at least giving everything my previous 25 years had taught me.

I haven't always been this way, as my family members can probably best confirm, and God has more or less dragged me through sorrow and shoved me toward joy. I don't claim to have experienced deepest sorrow or highest joy, but I do acutely understand how joy exponentially increases in the face of despair. He continues to knock me out of my comfort zone to prove my human weakness, force growth, and direct my focus to view life from His lens.

I like control; God requires trust - to prove His wisdom. I like independence; God requires dependence - to prove His constant care. I like being powerful; God requires weakness - to prove His grace.

I would have laughed in someone's face if they had painted this picture of my life for me 10, 5, even 2 years ago. But that's why we aren't in control. Life is best experienced when lovingly orchestrated by the Power outside of ourselves.

We won't always be thrilled with our situations (I recall a certain year as a P.E. teacher for that one), and we won't always feel like we are getting our way (I hated that my high school never offered French...and I just hated my high school), and we definitely won't ever know exactly where each day is going to take us. It took just one match out of a 34-match season to challenge and eventually shatter my current life plan and now I'm living in another country.

We had a chapel speaker at Master's once (out of the 3x a week, 9 months a year, 4 years...like church steroids and, yes, I am still detoxing) who encouraged us to pray that God would "break my plans." A lot of plans were broken when Marc and I decided I should attempt this endeavor. Not just my plans, but the plans of our families, closest friends, our various employers, and our Simpson teams.

Life isn't perfect. It's not fair, it's tough, and living is no easy thing. We are all faced with decisions and fears everyday that grow each of us - and others - toward the final version of ourselves.

Be open to change. It's impossible to stay the same, anyway, so we may as well accept it as good. Be open to the growth, and it doesn't have to be painful. This change for Marc and I just means you now have a free place to stayover while you plan your new vacation to Europe. Not all bad, ay?

I am overwhelmed by this second chance at an experience I always wanted but never dared to speak of until this year. It's not just getting to play volleyball. It's the freedom to travel and explore. It's having books and writing in my life again. It's learning a language I thought would never cross my path. It's having to do things I have tried to avoid - driving stick-shift, public transportation, eating new foods - all these things and more push me to be grow everyday.

I never thought I could do this.

Now I can't imagine never trying.

Be brave enough to dream outloud.

Glee - Sing (My Chemical Romance)

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RK knows what's up

Let this empower you today and always.

IF
A poem by Rudyard Kipling

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave you life to, broken,
And stoop and build them up with worn-out tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run -
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!

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