the part of the blog where wanda comes out and regales you with a silly story.
A HEAVY YOLK
once upon a true time, which happened to be last week wednesday, a miss erin luth, a miss melanie fehr, a miss monique wielemaker and a miss wanda thiessen made their way to the edinburgh airport. from there, they had made arrangements to fly into frankfurt, germany. seeing that they would be travelling all day without easy access to inexpensive food, and, being the thrifty and somewhat cheap women that they all are, they had decided to pack a lunch previous to their departure. part of this lunch included a dozen hardboiled eggs. after these four young women checked in, and checked their baggage, they continued on to the security check point.
SECURITY LADY : ma'am, do you have any liquids in your bag?
WANDA (who was carrying the dozen hardboiled eggs in her pack) : no. that being said, i do have a bit of an odd question to ask you. there is no restriction against hardboiled eggs going through security, is there? because i have a dozen of them in my pack.
SECURITY LADY : *laughs* no, i guess not. if they were raw, then i guess they would technically be liquid. but you said they were boiled, right?
WANDA and MELANIE : oh yes!
SECURITY LADY : *again, laughs* then i guess you're fine! now, just out of curiosity, why on earth do you have a dozen hardboiled eggs in your pack?
WANDA : well, you see, we are travelling all day and decided to pack a lunch because it's cheaper and we just all had a giant hankering for eggs!
SECURITY LADY (to the screen scanner man) : *still laughing!* hey! this pack i'm about to send through...don't be alarmed if you see 12 eggs on the security screen!
SCREEN SCANNER MAN : *laughs*
and so, with laughter still escaping the mouths of the security lady and the screen scanner man, the four young women were cleared through security, their dozen hardboiled eggs safely in tow, jetset for frankfurt.
this concludes the silly story with wanda. stay tuned for next time, because you just never know what sort of silly story wanda will regale you with then!
Monday, September 28, 2009
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Guten Tag, Meine Freunde
Wanda is reading her book, Erin is sitting on the windowsill overlooking a main Frankfurt street, and Mo is reading by the window as well. This is how we are spending a Thursday evening in Frankfurt. Some man is singing in a language I don't understand over the speaker as I watch life go by outside our hostel windows. I apologize for how long it has taken me to let you in on the adventures which have made up the last week or so...I honestly don't remember the last thing we wrote about on here so forgive me if I repeat. We flew into Frankfurt from Edinburgh yesterday afternoon. Let me say this, we stayed in Scotland longer than we expected because we absolutely loved it. When we first arrived in Scotland we made our way to Aberdeen where we stayed with friends of mine (Mel), Wes and Nicole. That was absolutely fantastic!! What a beautiful city, what wonderful company, how brilliant to be staying in a home once again. It was a great 5 days. We walked down to the North Sea and spent an afternoon there, spent some time wandering through shops. We did laundry. Overall, a very relaxing and beautiful few days. We then made our way to Edinburgh where we found the most incredible Starbucks ever!! The staff knew us by the time we left 5 days later...yup, embarrassing. Edinburgh is the craziest city ever, with a castle on a cliff in the city center and another ridge cliff face thing that we climbed also in the city center. You should most definitly check it out sometime. We met some fantastic people along the way as well. My description of the last 2 weeks is not nearly sufficient but I'm sure the other girls will drop in with their views of the last little bit. Just a note from me...something that's been running around in my head and I thought I would just put it out there...Saturday evenings we usually pick a random church to visit the next morning in whatever city we are inhabiting at the time. We have only been gone for three Sundays but I will say this, Sunday morning is one of my favorite times. It is incredible to me how we are half way around the world but on a Sunday morning we can gather with our brothers and sisters and it really feels as though we are family. When I walk into a church it is as though I can breathe a sigh of relief for it feels safe and warm and , for the most part, friendly. When the music starts, whether the words are familiar or not, the songs bring to life a deeper song within me. There is life in those songs, in the scripture that is read, and in the fellowship after the service (I have never appreciated people reaching out more). The church is a treasure. This has been made so incredibly clear to me in the last bit. I am so grateful that God has called us to be the church, to be family to each other. This is a gift. There is more to say but that's just a bit of what I have realized. One day, maybe I can say more. I hope that this post finds you doing well. From the beautiful streets of Germany, Aufwedersehen.
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Wow, hi all, so here goes thirty minutes of internet time!
It feels like ages already since we arrived in Ireland. I am pretty sure that we left for Ireland on Tuesday but with all the travelling that we have been doing lately I am not really sure. Dublin was our first stop and needless to say I think that we were a little ambitious because in our first day there we managed to accomplish the Dublin Writer's Museum (Mel and I were the only ones brave enough to risk this one along with mostly a gray haired crowd... I owed it to Swift and Prof Hales :)), the Guiness Storehouse (which included a complimentary pint!) the National Irish Museum (we pretty much had the place to ourselves... a little creepy with ancient mannequins (sp?)), napped on the grounds of the Christ Church Cathedral and walked past Trinity College. We thought that after such a day we would treat ourselves to a restaurant meal but were shocked at the prices, nine euros for MD's are you kidding me! We found a grocery store, or I guess I should say supermarket and ended up with the fixings for spaghetti, at about two euros a head, not bad...
Day two in Ireland we headed to Cork and stayed at Sheila's Inn, a little less cush than our last hostel but it was still nice and was perched on the top of probably the steepest hill in town, not a bad workout with our thirty pound packs after a long day... From Cork we took the advice from the Russian guy working at the hostel and headed to Kinsale, a beautiful seaside town on the Southern coast of Ireland. I think that this was by far our favorite spot so far, the pace of life was much slower, the weather was spectacular and the castle ruins and grassy knoles breathless. Ireland is beautiful! This morning when we woke up we kind of forgot that it was Saturday and that booking hostels might be more difficult and ended up in Belfast, somewhat by default. Our train passes have been fantastic out here and we haven't had to pay any reservation fees as of yet! We are now at the Linen House Hostel, Linen was a major export from Belfast and our hostel seems to have once been some type of linen factory and has a kind of industrial feel, the beds are pretty cramped but the people have been super helpful and friendly! Anyways, it is looking like we will be heading to Robin Mark's church tomorrow and spending the afternoon exploring Belfast.
Well, time is up for me, love you all!
Erin (Mel, Mo and Wanda)
flewtodublinwritersmuseum,guiness,irishmuseum,christchurchcathedral,trinitycollegecork,hugehillsupper
It feels like ages already since we arrived in Ireland. I am pretty sure that we left for Ireland on Tuesday but with all the travelling that we have been doing lately I am not really sure. Dublin was our first stop and needless to say I think that we were a little ambitious because in our first day there we managed to accomplish the Dublin Writer's Museum (Mel and I were the only ones brave enough to risk this one along with mostly a gray haired crowd... I owed it to Swift and Prof Hales :)), the Guiness Storehouse (which included a complimentary pint!) the National Irish Museum (we pretty much had the place to ourselves... a little creepy with ancient mannequins (sp?)), napped on the grounds of the Christ Church Cathedral and walked past Trinity College. We thought that after such a day we would treat ourselves to a restaurant meal but were shocked at the prices, nine euros for MD's are you kidding me! We found a grocery store, or I guess I should say supermarket and ended up with the fixings for spaghetti, at about two euros a head, not bad...
Day two in Ireland we headed to Cork and stayed at Sheila's Inn, a little less cush than our last hostel but it was still nice and was perched on the top of probably the steepest hill in town, not a bad workout with our thirty pound packs after a long day... From Cork we took the advice from the Russian guy working at the hostel and headed to Kinsale, a beautiful seaside town on the Southern coast of Ireland. I think that this was by far our favorite spot so far, the pace of life was much slower, the weather was spectacular and the castle ruins and grassy knoles breathless. Ireland is beautiful! This morning when we woke up we kind of forgot that it was Saturday and that booking hostels might be more difficult and ended up in Belfast, somewhat by default. Our train passes have been fantastic out here and we haven't had to pay any reservation fees as of yet! We are now at the Linen House Hostel, Linen was a major export from Belfast and our hostel seems to have once been some type of linen factory and has a kind of industrial feel, the beds are pretty cramped but the people have been super helpful and friendly! Anyways, it is looking like we will be heading to Robin Mark's church tomorrow and spending the afternoon exploring Belfast.
Well, time is up for me, love you all!
Erin (Mel, Mo and Wanda)
flewtodublinwritersmuseum,guiness,irishmuseum,christchurchcathedral,trinitycollegecork,hugehillsupper
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
and the journey begins...
This afternoon we left the very comfortable home of John and Sue; determining that it was now time to make our way to Ireland...all by ourselves. Up to this point we had a wonderful home to come back to at night and a wonderful couple that was willing to show us around. I won't lie, when Sue said goodbye to us I felt as though we were leaving home all over again. And so now it feels as though our adventure has truly begun. Our flight to Dublin was short and quite uneventful. We claimed our bags with no problems and proceeded to find the city bus which would take us close to our hostel. After a bit of a ride on the bus we disembarked and began to make our way towards what we thought was our hostel. A bit of backtracking may have occurred but we finally found our way. We have settled into our hostel room and have just eaten up a supermarket supper (which cost us under 10 euros for all 4 of us...just for those that are counting). We are now relaxing in the common area, mapping out our plans for tomorrow. Still can't really believe that we are in Dublin at the moment...but alas, it really is true.
Monday, September 7, 2009
Saturday, September 5, 2009
a royal escape
Hi all!
Well, we have finally made it over the big ocean to the land of Shakespeare, the Beatles and of course our dear Queen! On Thursday morning after a super long flight we stumbled off the plane, grabbed our packs and were greeted by the welcoming arms of John and Sue. I met John and Sue a couple of years ago when they were visiting some friends who at the time were attending my church and have since stayed with them in London and visited with them at my parents place back home. Anyways, the day we arrived felt like the longest day ever, Mo and I fortunately slept a bit on the plane but the other two were pretty sluggish and figured on only about a half hour each of sleep... Sue prepared an awesome lunch for us when we arrived and then kept us from sleeping with a visit to Marlow, a lovely old village along the banks of the Thames (no big deal!)
Anyways, since being here it feels like we have already done so much, yesterday we headed into Oxford for the day with Sue, it was so lovely... the buildings are all so old and every turn, lane and road is simply gorgeous. There was one point when we were wandering about and turned down as Mel said a 'random road' and were flanked on one side by a grassy field of grazing cows and on the other by a towering stone cathedral, simply surreal. After walking in the steps of ancient intellectuals and feeling somewhat overwhelmed by everything we stumbled into Costa, the local (and much better) equivalent to our Timmy Ho's where we all got pretty jacked up on caffiene. This was do inpart to our inability to actually understand the guy behind the counter, I didn't realize that there was such thing as a small, Mel and Mo forgot to ask for decaff and Wanda, who 'has the blood of her mother' was the only one who survived that one. Sue met up with us again at this point and as I tried to tame the antsy Jack Russel terrier that had some how trapped itself inside my body in the coffee shop we bussed back to the 'car park.' John's daughter Sarah and her friend Bec met us back at their place and helped John prepare an amazing Mexican meal, accompanied of course by a stubby and some great conversation. Afterwards we all gathered up in blankets and sat in the living room around the fireplace talking until nearly one in the morning which was really fun. Unfortunately, a restful night of sleep was not quite in order for Mel and I. After we had both been sleeping for only about two hours we realized that we were both wide awake. Mel whispered into the dark, 'Erin, I a sooo hungry!' I was also feeling suprisingly hungry so we grabbed my flashlight and stumbled down the stairs to the kitchen where we pretty much helped ourselves to a whole new meal from the food left on the counter for us to eat if such a thing were to happen (bless your cotton socks Sue!!)
This morning we headed in to London, Sue drove us to the train station where she showed us how to purchase tickets and made sure that we got the best deal. We then took the train into London and then hopped on the Underground headed for Buckingham Palace. The rest of the day was really a blurr, we wandered around Westminster Cathedral, through Trafalgar Square, ate lunch while enjoying a street preformer show and lost ourselves in Topshop, a fourstory high-fashion clothing store in central London (I think that we all realized just how out of style we are when surrounded by the sequins, glitz and price tags of London!) At this point we were all quite tired and the streets were getting busy so we decided to join the crowds and call it a day.
Wheew, time for me to rest up and join the other weary travellers, an evening of Nottinghill I believe is in order!
Love, you all!
Erin (Mel, Wanda and Mo)
Well, we have finally made it over the big ocean to the land of Shakespeare, the Beatles and of course our dear Queen! On Thursday morning after a super long flight we stumbled off the plane, grabbed our packs and were greeted by the welcoming arms of John and Sue. I met John and Sue a couple of years ago when they were visiting some friends who at the time were attending my church and have since stayed with them in London and visited with them at my parents place back home. Anyways, the day we arrived felt like the longest day ever, Mo and I fortunately slept a bit on the plane but the other two were pretty sluggish and figured on only about a half hour each of sleep... Sue prepared an awesome lunch for us when we arrived and then kept us from sleeping with a visit to Marlow, a lovely old village along the banks of the Thames (no big deal!)
Anyways, since being here it feels like we have already done so much, yesterday we headed into Oxford for the day with Sue, it was so lovely... the buildings are all so old and every turn, lane and road is simply gorgeous. There was one point when we were wandering about and turned down as Mel said a 'random road' and were flanked on one side by a grassy field of grazing cows and on the other by a towering stone cathedral, simply surreal. After walking in the steps of ancient intellectuals and feeling somewhat overwhelmed by everything we stumbled into Costa, the local (and much better) equivalent to our Timmy Ho's where we all got pretty jacked up on caffiene. This was do inpart to our inability to actually understand the guy behind the counter, I didn't realize that there was such thing as a small, Mel and Mo forgot to ask for decaff and Wanda, who 'has the blood of her mother' was the only one who survived that one. Sue met up with us again at this point and as I tried to tame the antsy Jack Russel terrier that had some how trapped itself inside my body in the coffee shop we bussed back to the 'car park.' John's daughter Sarah and her friend Bec met us back at their place and helped John prepare an amazing Mexican meal, accompanied of course by a stubby and some great conversation. Afterwards we all gathered up in blankets and sat in the living room around the fireplace talking until nearly one in the morning which was really fun. Unfortunately, a restful night of sleep was not quite in order for Mel and I. After we had both been sleeping for only about two hours we realized that we were both wide awake. Mel whispered into the dark, 'Erin, I a sooo hungry!' I was also feeling suprisingly hungry so we grabbed my flashlight and stumbled down the stairs to the kitchen where we pretty much helped ourselves to a whole new meal from the food left on the counter for us to eat if such a thing were to happen (bless your cotton socks Sue!!)
This morning we headed in to London, Sue drove us to the train station where she showed us how to purchase tickets and made sure that we got the best deal. We then took the train into London and then hopped on the Underground headed for Buckingham Palace. The rest of the day was really a blurr, we wandered around Westminster Cathedral, through Trafalgar Square, ate lunch while enjoying a street preformer show and lost ourselves in Topshop, a fourstory high-fashion clothing store in central London (I think that we all realized just how out of style we are when surrounded by the sequins, glitz and price tags of London!) At this point we were all quite tired and the streets were getting busy so we decided to join the crowds and call it a day.
Wheew, time for me to rest up and join the other weary travellers, an evening of Nottinghill I believe is in order!
Love, you all!
Erin (Mel, Wanda and Mo)
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
On Our Way
As I write, we are traveling down the 401 from Mo's house to begin our journey overseas. Ontario is beautiful and we are a bit sad to leave Canada but very excited about the future. Not much to report as of yet, but definitly stay tuned for random storie from our adventures. Good-bye for now!
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