From Mama...a bit of an overview

Where to start? Every day brings so many different encounters and experiences with people in very different countries and cultures, from those we live with at home. Travelling through Germany, Italy and Greece, on the first half of our trip, allowed us to see some incredible, historical sites and enjoy the geographical diversity from mountains to rolling hills to oceans. The grape vineyards and apple, orange and lemon orchards in Italy, along with endless hillsides of olive trees in the whole region were a common site. The Mediterranean Sea in Greece was the most clear, turquoise colour I’ve ever seen. If you can imagine the beautiful landscape, very quaint old towns and beautiful old cities, and watch the people in their daily activities, from the simple farmer who still herds his sheep and goats by foot over the mountains where donkeys are still used regularly in the villages for transport, to the very elegant men and women walking the streets, then you’ll get a little feel for the diverse sites we’ve had so far. The next part of our journey has been more of our missions journey, meeting up with Christian groups, but still enjoying Europe’s countryside. Crossing the border into Albania made me a little more nervous due to other peoples’ unsubstantiated stories. The traffic was a little chaotic and the potholes, open manholes everywhere, and broken streets were out of this world. Thanks to a very good driver/navigator/husband we were able to inch our way along most of the time. All the people we met were very wonderful and generous. The visible difference between rich and poor in Albania was a stark reality. The skyscrapers are being built all over the place while the infrastructure of the towns and cities is quite bad. In Durres, Albania we stopped in to visit David and Valbona Pennoyer. (His parents Keith and Viola used to live on the ranch just before Rock Creek with all the blue roofs). It was great to see them and get a little glimpse into the work they do at their Christian centre; programs for children, food distribution, 2 Sunday services, midweek studies etc. They are a great asset for the community and the city of Durres. We found the best and cheapest place in Durres to eat gyros and Italian ice cream. They were about 1 dollar each. The portions were plenty and delicious. We crossed the border from Albania to Montenegro and the language switched from Albanian to Serbian. Again it was a quick language lesson in being able to say thank you, hello, and goodbye. That’s as far as we got. At least the letters were not like they were in Greece where you can’t even decipher anything by looking at the words. They still have a different alphabet for Serbian but most things are written with our common alphabet also. The border crossings have always been good so far. The border guards have always been a little curious about the stack of nine passports they receive each time. “All one family?” they usually ask or wonder. Germans and North Americans are well liked in these Balkan countries. We travelled to the city of Bar, Montenegro which is a city on the Adriatic Coast. We met another cool, very international, Christian group. There were Germans, Koreans, Americans and one Serbian. The group was nine in total. They have a little tiny cafe in town called “The Living Room” where they offer German and English language nights and host children’s groups etc. Franz and the boys were also able to finish the flooring for a family where the mother had recently passed away. The grandmother, father, and his four children lived in a very tiny house. Hopefully they were encouraged by the small improvement. It’s always hard to say goodbye. During the day the kids and I went for walks through town, went to the beach, bought groceries, and did schoolwork. You can find stores almost every 500 metres through the whole town. The basics, plus fruit and veggies can always be found. The local bakery is always a treat. The lady that we stayed with had some animals that the kids loved. They fed the chickens and played with the dog and cats. Our travels continued to the country of Kosovo. We had made contact with some Christian missionaries ahead of time, so our destination was the city of Peja. Wow! The first site of it was a little shocking. The broken roads, rubble, and remnants of bombed houses, were the evidence of the Kosovar crisis (war in 1999). The ugly Communist structures don’t make the city anymore beautiful. The streets were very busy though with much building and business. The friendliness of the people quickly softened the effect of new surroundings once again. One shop owner was so thrilled to have us in his store that he led me through his whole store asking me if I needed this or that. I’ve never experienced anything like it. He also helped the kids cross the street safely and treated everyone to an ice cream on another occasion. Our activity here in Kosovo was mostly doing some work at a Christian camp, started by a couple, Keith and Pam, from Iowa. The camp has been hosting kids and teens for about 8 years already. They started out in a couple of tents in a gorgeous, mountainous region. Now they are working on a building a little at a time as funds and help are available. Franz and the boys did some concrete work, framing, and pouring. The kids and I helped out with a couple of odd jobs, getting things ready for the busy summer camp season. We slept in a big refugee tent. It was quite cool the first few nights with some rain and frost. We used every blanket we could find. Some of the kids slept in their clothes but still liked it. Pam’s cooking was fabulous and that made the hard work and cold mornings with no showers more manageable. Every few days we headed down to town for other activities. The road up and down to the camp was something else. The few gravel roads I’ve travelled on in Canada, and even Mexico, were nothing in comparison. This road had boulders to dodge, streams to drive through, and a very rickety bridge that crossed over a fast flowing river. Besides one flat tire, and a few clunks on the bottom of our van, we were fine. The locals drive their cars up and down these roads every day. It’s quite amazing. Keith took Franz, the kids, and another family, on a very long hike that took them up to an ice cave and gave them some spectacular views. They got back about 8 hours later and were very wet and hungry, yet still satisfied. The funny thing here though is that you can still get cell phone reception on the highest, farthest peak. Canada’s a little different in that way. We’ve crossed back over to Montenegro and now Croatia. We’re in Makarska in Croatia. We are once again enjoying some beautiful coastlines; some of the nicest so far. We’ve got about a week to ourselves before we head north to Vienna. Hope all is well!