EuroConference 2011: Part 3

The ride home wasn’t nearly as eventful as the ride up. We did run into a bit of traffic the first day, which added a few extra hours onto the trip, but it wasn’t too bad. Driving through Germany and Austria I caught myself thinking what it would have been like for my ancestors many years ago when they were living there. I’m definitely not a history person but there’s something about being in a place so rich with history that makes me stand in awe.  Are there any similarities still today? Or is everything completely different? I tried to envision what life might have been like back then and wished I had the chance to ask and discuss this with them personally. Thankfully we’ll have a lot of time to catch up in heaven. ;)

Sunrise in Germany

Anyway… back to the story… On the return we spent the night outside of Venice, Italy and had about 2 hours to spend in the city. It was beautiful. There is just something about water that I find very attractive and relaxing. We had just enough time to visit St. Mark’s Square, get some pizza, and head back to the hostel. 

Venice, Italy

Add caption

St. Mark's Cathedral

Venice by night.

We were all wiped out, and as our head hit the pillow that night we were out. Another early morning to ensure we returned the rental cars and caught the ferry on time.

We got to Bari and were hit with good news and bad news. The good news was the rental cars were returned on time and we didn’t get charged an extra day. The bad news was the ferry was delayed… of course, a reoccurring theme of our travels.

We split up into two groups. One group stayed with the luggage as the second went to get dinner and then we switched. It was a long 8 hours of sitting and waiting, sitting and waiting, sitting and waiting (Yes, I feel that repeating myself three times makes it more dramatic.)

A pretty sweet castle in Bari, Italy

Waiting for the ferry... (L-R: Katie, Me and Dawn)

Waiting with the luggage for the delayed ferry.

The ferry finally arrived. We made it. And, well, the rest is history. 

The End. 

EuroConference 2011: Part 2

The conference itself was pretty exciting but not nearly as exciting as the journey to the conference... really though, how can you follow that adventure? I felt like I was living my dream of being on the Amazing Race.

It’s always a pleasure being around like minded people. People with the same mission and goals. People who can relate to things you are going through. And after only a month in the field it was nice being surrounded by native English speakers again.

The conference was a time to worship. A time to learn. And a time to grow. The speakers were all very inspirational and left us with good practical advice to take back to the field with us.

The center we stayed in was beautiful. It was really nice being able to drink water from the tap (and brush our teeth with tap water) and take long showers. Though I gotta admit I didn’t take nearly as long as I could have. There was internet access available, the roads were paved and there was tons of grass everywhere. Minus the fact that the natives spoke German and not English, I felt like I was back in America. It was refreshing. 

Schonblick Conference Center

Schonblick Conference Center

Schwabisch Gmund, Germany

Each afternoon we had a block of free time to use at our leisure. A few days we walked into town. I'm always amazed to be in a place that is so rich with history. It makes me feel so small.

Schwabisch Gmund, Germany

some shops

stereotypical German building

beautiful cathedral

having fun

EuroConference 2011: Part 1

Every year the Europe Area has a conference where all fields gather together. It is a time of praise and worship. Fellowship and camaraderie. Inspiration and motivation. And a time to create and share goals for the upcoming year. 

The location: Schwäbisch Gmünd, Germany. 

In attempt to save money 8 of us (the Bishop Family, Danika, Katie, and I) decided to pile in the 9 person van, the BLemon, and drive to conference. Surely this would be exponentially less money than it would cost for 8 plane tickets. 

The plan: take a ferry from Durres, Albania to Bari, Italy. Drive from Bari, Italy to Schwäbisch Gmünd, Germany via Trento, Italy. We had 2 drivers. It was infallible.

...or so we thought. 

So off we went. We left on a Thursday night and took an overnight ferry from Durres to Bari. 

our little room on the ferry

I claimed the top bunk

We woke up in Italy, bright eyed and bushy tailed for our 8 hour trek to Trento, Italy for the night.

Ready for the road-trip, unaware of what the future held in store.

pulling into Bari, Italy

4 hours into the trek the van started to make noises. 4 hours and 2 minutes into the trek the van was making louder, more consistent noises. 4 hours and 10 minutes into the trek we were slowly coasting into a VW dealership in Seniqallia, Italy, only to find out the dealership was closed for another 30 minutes on lunch break. 

Lunch break at the VW dealership

Approximately 5 hours into the trek we were informed that it was a broken piston in the van and we would have to leave the BLemon at the dealership for the week. 

the BLemon

Emptying our luggage, leaving the BLemon in Italy.

Have no fear there was a train station down the road. 

Go with plan 2. Take a train from Seniqallia, Italy to Stuttgart, Germany and a bus to Schwäbisch Gmünd. Problem: all trains were booked for 2 days.

...Plan 3. Take a bus (or multiple buses) from Seniqallia, Italy to Schwäbisch Gmünd, Germany. Problem: all buses were booked for 2 days.

...Plan 4. Rent a van and continue the drive. Problem: rental vans are outrageously priced.

...Plan 5. Rent 2 economy rental cars, split group between 2 cars – 3 people and 1 driver per car. Continue the drive. Problem: none. Activate plan 5.

As you can imagine it took a few hours to get plan 5 in place. So while Ken and Dawn Bishop were figuring it all out, the rest of us sat in the train station with all the luggage for 4 hours trying to pass the time.We kept ourselves busy by playing estimation games and taking shifts walking around town.

The lovely train station we sat at for 4 hours.

trying to keep busy

random photoshoot

After our 4/5 hour setback we were on the road again. With only a few wrong turns we arrived to the hostel at 1:30pm. Thankfully Katie studied a semester in Italy and was able to get out and ask for directions in Italian to get us back on track.

The next morning we woke up early so we could spend a few minutes in Trento before hitting the road again. 

Early Morning, Trento, Italy

At 8am we were good. Starting new. Back on track. Leaving Trento, Italy at 8am we would surely be in Schwäbisch Gmünd by 1pm. 2pm at the latest.

Well it might have been 1pm, or 2pm at the latest if the whole continent of Europe wasn’t on holiday the same week. We ended up getting caught in standstill traffic for 3 hours. But we pushed on and made it through. We endured the traffic and were back on the road again continuing our game of follow the leader.

playing follow the leader

a castle on a hill in Austria.

…until traffic picked up again and we got separated from our leader and made a wrong turn… with no map in the car or an exit off the highway for 100km.

Thankfully there was a rest stop where we picked up a map and were able to navigate our way to the conference center. Arriving around 7pm and only a half hour after the first car.

To Be Continued: Part 2: the conference, and Part 3: the adventure home

Nicole & Katie in Albania: Video Update 5

Do you know the difference between Coca-Cola and Cola Cola? What about the difference between a Souvlaki and Sufflaq? Watch this video to find out.

Eggs In A Bag and Milk In A Coke Bottle

Life here is different. For more reasons that one, but today I will highlight on difference: supermarkets/ grocery stores in the Kenet.

Going to the store is a daily affair. Thank God we have a store at the end of our street (100ish yards,) literally I am thanking God for this. This shop is the most convenient and we visit it frequently, however it is not the only one in our neighborhood. Stores are everywhere. If you want to sell something, open a shop, no problem. There are at least 10 shops (probably more) within 5-minute walk from our house.

There are no Super-Walmart's or Wegman's. Some shops are as small as the size of our bathroom in my house in the states. In the tiny shops, most common, you enter the shop and tell the shopkeeper what you are looking for and they fetch it for you. Much easier than walking up and down the 100 aisles of Wegmans or even 10 aisles of Aldi/ Dash’s.

Along with the size of the store, the selections are much smaller as well. This makes life much a million times easier for an indecisive person like me. You get what they have and you don’t have to decide between 92 types of cereal, 57 varieties of ketchup or 23 brands of toilet paper.

Eggs come in a bag and you can walk into the shop and specify the number of eggs you want. You can get 1 or 20+, you aren’t locked into multiples of 12.

Milk... there are many options for milk; none of which you regularly find in the U.S. You can buy powdered milk. You can buy a box of milk, 1.5l. Or you can order milk from the milk lady. In this case milk comes in a coke (or other soda) bottle. It is cheaper and supposedly tastes better if you get it from the milk lady. However if you choose this route you must boil it before use.

Cheese here is not creamy. It is crumbly like feta, heck maybe it is feta, beats me. It’s salty, has a strong flavor, and delicious. It doesn’t melt in grilled cheese sandwiches. Trust me, I know. We have grilled cheese about twice a week…the nights I am on dinner duty. I’m pretty sure my cooking skills make my mom and grandma proud ;-)

Pop comes in 1.5l bottles, not 2l. Fanta (a coke product) and Ivi (a Pepsi product) are popular here. Fanta Exotic and Ivi Peach are my favorites and should be bought by all if you can find either an/or both in the U.S. If you come for a visit I will treat you to both a Fanta Exotic and Ivi Peach (it’s a great incentive to come visit!)

Corn on the cob sold at the market is not “sweet corn”(?) You can’t just boil it and eat it. The only way to consume it is by grilling. We learned that lesson the hard way. That was a fun night.

Not everything is marked, price wise. Maybe people just know the prices. Maybe they change depending on the person and day? I’m not really sure. All I know is I don’t know the price until I get to the register- it’s always a surprise. Cash Registers and receipts are non-existent and credit/debit cards, what are those? A calculator is used to tally the prices and only cash is accepted.

If we don’t have enough money to purchase what we need, no problem. We can go back later that day or following week and pay off our debt (at the store we visit frequently.)

Men get served first. If you, a woman, are waiting in line and a man comes to the check out he gets priority. You wait.

Life is different, and I like it.

Nicole & Katie in Albania: Video Update 3

Live, or not so live, from Albania -Video Update 3.

Have questions that you would like addressed on one of our video updates, email me or send me a facebook message and we'll be sure to include them in a future video update!

Kafe

Now I know what you’re thinking... Nicole is in Albania. There are no Starbucks in Albania. How will she survive?  Valid question. But have no fear. I have found a solution that might even, dare I say, top Starbucks *gasp* … The solution: Turkish Coffee.

Mmm… so good.  Not only does it taste good, I know how to make it, it doesn’t cost a fortune, I don’t have to leave my house to drink it and did I mention how good it tastes.

I’ve never really been a coffee drinker.  It’s true. Vanilla latte drinker, now that’s a different story.  I much prefer a latte or mocha to a cup of coffee.  And the few occasions I would drink coffee I would fix it like a latte, a shot of coffee and the rest cream/milk, never did I add sugar to the mix though.

Here the ratio of coffee to milk to sugar is perfect. One spoon coffee, one spoon sugar, the rest milk. It is a creamy drink, not too sweet, and strong enough so you can taste the coffee flavor. Oh, and did I mention the cups we use to serve the Turkish coffee are the size of a tea cup you would use to have a tea party with a 4 year old... tiny. 

Here are a few things that you should know about Turkish Coffee:

The coffee itself is the texture of powdered sugar.

The pot you brew it in is small with a long handle on the stove.

Never drink the last sip. Unless for some reason you like drinking coffee grinds. 

Drinking coffee is huge here. Men go to the local coffee bars and sip coffee all day. Women stay at home and drink with friends and enjoy the fellowship in the home.  I’ve also heard that the cup of coffee you make will determine what kind of wife you will be and this skill is favored while choosing a woman for your son to marry. This is why I’ve started making it my second week here; hopefully I can prefect this art by the time I leave. Though I’m not so sure this skill will help me find a husband when I return to the states. But at the very least I’m sure I can add it to my resume: Master- Pro Turkish Coffee Maker.

making coffee

Smells delicious (this picture may have been posed.)

enjoying coffee on our balcony

mmm. mmm. good!

Nicole & Katie in Albania: Video Update 2

Are you enjoying the video updates? Here is the second in the series. Check back often for more videos. And if the videos are not your cup of tea I'll post a written update soon. I promise.

Nicole & Katie in Albania: Video Update 1

Here is a new video update from Katie and me. It is supposed to be funny so please don't take it too seriously. We use video journals to debrief our days.

Disclaimer: I do own more than one shirt, it just happened that this video was taken the same day as the house tour.

Welcome to Albania

I made it.

I'm here. In Albania. And it is good. It is hard to believe it's just approaching a week that we've been here.

Katie and I flew out on Monday morning. It was tough leaving the fam. but really it was just a see ya later, not goodbye.

God is good. When we got to the airport both our bags made the weight limit (they didn't even weigh Katie's bags) and we didn't have to pay the second bag fee. whhaatt?? We even called ahead to check on prices and weight before we got there so we were shocked to find we didn't have to pay. We had a 4 hour layover in Charlotte so I was able to meet Katie's family before heading out. And... we wee both able to get some sleep on our long flight to Germany. Dawn Bishop was waiting at the airport for us when we arrived in Albania and the rest is history....

It's summer. It's really hot but everything is new and exciting that we barely notice all the sweat dripping down our faces. Ok, that's a lie, we do notice but we try not to let it bother us. I don't know how to explain it, but being here is right. It just feels right.

Now I will take you on a video tour of our house-

Check back often for updates on life in Albania, new videos and how God is working over here.

See ya Later!

Thank you to all of you who came out to our send off service. Once again I am just totally overwhelmed by the support and encouragement of so many wonderful people in my life. It's such an awesome feeling to know that I will be covered in prayer, that no situation I face will be to big for God and that He has everything under control. I'm also thrilled that so many of you got the chance to meet Katie as well!

My bags are packed. I'm feeling good. Excited. I'm ready to take the next step in this journey.

It's been amazing watching the way God has been working in my life this past year and I'm so excited for the many surprises and adventures He has planned for the next two while I'm in Albania. I know it's going to be great. It might not always be easy, but it will be great.

Listed below (and to the left) is my mailing address. Just to kill any curiosity I should inform you that I do like mail...a lot. (Katie's address is the same, but would read: Katie Hawkins instead of Nicole Schara)

Nicole Schara

AEP Box 41

Kutia Postare 119

Tirana

Albania

Also for anyone interested, to the left, you can subscribe to my blog via email.  This just means anytime I update the blog you will receive an email informing you of the update. This way you don't have to keep checking... All you have to do is enter your email address in the box that says "follow my blog by email"

Welp... See ya later!