van Til World Tour

a word from hilge

2006-03-17T16:13:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone, this may be super late, but I thought I would add a little piece to this, for closing. The trip was a great expierience for me,and I am glad that we took the time to do it.At times it was pretty full on, spending so much time with my sibling, but I believe that it has proven to be well worth the while, especially now that it's all over. I think we all know each other alot better, almost too well, haha. Well I guess I will add to the "thanks" and "no thanks" lists; Thanks: God, for his protection,dad and mom for thier prayers and support, the Ellis family, James and Joel, Bruces, Luke, Volks Wagon,Frank, Mekelas, Ravi, Julies cousin for the board,Simon for the wetsuit, and not to mention, Nate Crouch, for all his help with the computer,and website. No thanks: speed cameras, bad moods, Sri Lanka airlines,Indian Train outlets, and thai tuk tuk drivers. that's all, over and out

A Look Ahead

2006-03-03T10:30:00.000-08:00

A question we have been asked a lot is, "What comes next?" I think a lot of people are wondering what we will do to top what we have just done. I can't speak for the others but my plans for the future are a little more domestic. I'm currently staying with some friends from college at their place in Cambridge. I will be here for another two weeks and then travel up to Summit College to work as an intructor for them. They will be doing am extended river trip to Arkansas that will include classes in rock climbing and kayaking and I have been invited to join them and help with the teaching and anywhere else I can make myself useful.

Following two months with Summit I will spend the summer in Tuftonboro, New Hampshire as am employee of Camp Merrowvista. I have been hired as a trip leader for their Four Trails Wilderness Program. My days will be spent in a canoe or a kayak, on a bike, or with a backpack on my back, leading trips for high school-aged students from New England.

After Merrowvista comes the fall and there are no plans in place yet for then. I have a few ideas but nothing concrete. I would very much like to finish my degree via distance education and to continue working in the outdoor industry as an instructor or a guide. But these are just ideas, and reality may look completely different come September.

As for the immediate present, I told you about my living situation but not about how I am spending my days. The trip did a number on my level of fitness and the first order of business when I got back was to join a gym and get back in shape. Thankfully, because of the Olympics the YMCA was giving away free month-long memberships so I took them up on it and have been spending my afternoons at their Cambridge branch, on a treadmill or a weight machine. Besides my exercising I have been arranging paperwork for the summer. Working as a Canadian in the States and actually getting paid to do it is quite an undertaking and requires and appropriate amount of paperwork wrapped in red tape. But I am making headway.

I think this is the last time I will put an entry into this blog. Thanks to everyone for reading and being so supportive. Thanks for all of the letters and cards and e-mails and care packages. An adventure isn't really an adventure unless you have someone to share your journey with. Thanks for being that someone. Cheers, E

Thanks and No Thanks

2006-03-03T10:20:00.000-08:00

Thanks to:
God; without You, this trip would not have a happy ending. Dad and Mom; this was your idea and you made it happen and supported it all the way through. Your sacrifice will not return void. Everyone who showed us kindness and mercy on our trip: Nathan, George at STA Glasgow, Toni in Stratford, Emirates (the best airline in the world), the Ellis Family, the Bruce Family (and Granny), Simon and Jodie, James and Joel, Warrnambool Baptist Church, Henna Street Video,Tim Tams,Bendigo Bank, the Pressers, Flight Centre for all the deals,Sarah Anderton, Volkswagen, Holden, caravan parks, Woolworths (and TJ Stewart for the card), Coledale Camping Reserve, Mitsubishi, Hillsong Church, the people of Thailand, Noel at AAAccommodations, our Sri Lankan driver, the Alpine Hotel, Ravi Tej, Sunil(the Godfather), the Mekala Family,the Connelly Family, Christ King of Kings Ministries, EuroHostel, CIBC, Bank One, whoever invented the credit card, Starbuck's, Mac Computers, Tom and Christin, Mark and Bianka, ATIA, and all the people without names who helped us with directions, advice, phone numbers, and any type of help big or small and anyone else that we may have forgotten. You rock.

No Thanks to:
Sri Lankan Airlines, Joe from Europcar, tuk-tuk drivers, train food vendors, inconsiderate snorers, body odour, Big Bill in Bangkok, and anyone who ripped us off. We hope your mom will teach you to be kind to strangers.

Thoughts From Erick

2006-03-03T08:57:00.000-08:00

Now March is here and we four have returned to our respective homes and lives. We are really glad that we have been able to keep this blog and that people actually read it. The most common thing that I have heard from people that I have seen since coming home is that they read the blog and were able to stay up to speed with what we did. Some went as far as to say that they felt like they were right there with us. Special thanks (and props) to Nate Crouch, loyal friend and brilliant computer genius, for his help in getting the site up and maintaining it while we were out. Nate kept an eye out for spam and other harmful cyber-enemies that may have been the undoing of our website. Here's to you.

It's hard to properly absorb what I have just been through. A six-month, 11-country world trip isn't the sort of thing that you can process in one sit-down by the fire. It doesn't help that modern life moves along at a furious pace and that while I've only been home for two weeks plus a day, I am already in the midst of plans and preparations for my next adventures(more on that later). In the time that I have had to sit alone and mull over our trip, it comes to me that it was less than three years ago that I was in Africa, on a six-month trip there and that my Africa trip hasn't even been properly filed away in my mind. Having said that, what hope is there that I will be able to understand the depth and scope of what I have just been through? Probably not very much. But maybe that's OK, because I don't feel that the experience has been lost on me at all. Sure, maybe there are parts that I will forget or that will slip through the cracks of my mind. But what I do have is a far greater appreciation for the world and my place in it. And what does that mean? It means that I realize that the world does indeed extend far beyond Canada and the DR and even the other places that I have seen in my life so far. I have been fortunate to have parents and family that support my adventures and my travels, that actually want me to get out and do these trips in spite of the dangers that come with them. This being the case I have seen a great deal of the world for someone who is only 25. But even with all the places I have seen and people I have met, my understanding of the world is very limited. It boggles my mind, but there are people being born and living and dying without any real concept of the world around them. Sometimes you see those posters of a globe with people of every race and people group standing hand in hand in a ring around it. If only that were the case. In reality, the world is really only what I perceive it to be. The globe, the earth, is the blue and green thing I see in the atlas or on the wall at school. On its surface is not one world, but many worlds vastly different from each other and entirely self-existent. As a person from North America, I start with the same mentality that most Westerners do: that our society is better and more organized and therefore desirable to the rest of the world. After all, we are the ones sending missionaries to them and we are the ones that help when they have disasters, right? When was there ever an Ethiopian Red Cross team in Louisiana for the floods there? Or an Estonian relief team to help search for survivors of an avalanche in British Columbia? There never has been. We are the ones controlling the majority of money and resources in the world, and with that goes the assumption that we have the corner on culture and sophistication too. We couldn't be more wrong. This trip made me realize that pain and confusion and hardship is universal, and that so are things like kindness and hope and satisfaction in life. I can't tell you how many people from the West I have had coversations with you seem to think that the solution to the world's problems is financial. That if everyone had enough food and good clothing and a comfortable house that everything would be great. If that were the case, places like Canada and America would be the happiest places in the world. But of course they are not. I'm beginning to realize that money has very little to do with it. I know plenty if people with more money than they know what to do with and are perfectly miserable. I also know poor people in the same boat. But then I know rich people who are happy and carefree and people that are penniless who are cheerful and have a bright outlook on the future. Now, more than ever, I am resistant to the idea that putting money in someone's pocket is going to solve their problems. I'm beginning to see that Solomon was right when he said that the best thing a man can do is to work hard and enjoy the fruits of his labour. We met thousands of people on this trip and observed thousands more in all walks of life. Soldiers, policemen, sailors, salesmen, students, politicians, office workers, managers, on and on. The happiest people I met were the people that loved their work and the living it gave to them. Some of them made a lot of money, most of them made very little. What they had in common is that they did what they loved to do and they were content with their situation. And that gave me hope for the future, because that prospect is possible for many of the people in world, even a large majority, including me.

This understanding is only the tip of the iceberg in relation to what I have come away from this trip with. We said often that it really seemed like we spent a lifetime away from home. It reminds me a bit of the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, two brothers and two sisters leaving the world they knew to spend years and years in a land far away and have adventures and experiences that they will never be able to fully relate to the people they know, and then to return to where they came from only to realize that they've been gone only a very little while. If you've seen the movie or read the book, no doubt the question enters your mind, 'How can they just go back to what they knew? Surely whatever went on in Narnia has to affect the way they deal with normal life.' I can assure you, as I'm sure the other three will, that following our life and adventures away from home, being gone a lifetime only to return and realize it's been a little while, normal life and the way we view it will never be the same.

E

A Tribute

2006-03-03T08:12:00.000-08:00

During our trip and now following it, we have been sobered many times over by the types of danger that we co-existed with while out and are humbled and grateful that none of these things came upon us. I suppose that it would be easy for us to remember the trip as 'everything turned out fine in the end' and quickly sweeping over what an unusual thing that is. There was, in fact, danger at every turn, and our returning to where we came from unscathed is nothing short of an act of God. I'll explain what I mean so that you can appreciate our safety in the way that we do.

While on the trip we were able to keep up with news in the countries that we were in or about to visit, or just had visited. This was a great thing to do as it kept us in the know, but it led us to realize some very alarming things unfolding around us. While we living at our beach campground in Coledale, in Australia, there were riots going on at the beaches just down the road from us. Racial tension had come to a head and people had seen fit to resolve their issues by brawls and gang fights. Thankfully, none of this violence reached our area. A week later we were in Brisbane and the beach that Hilko had just recently surfed at was closed because of a shark attack that resulted in the death of a girl about our age who was swimming there. Two weeks later we were in Thailand, staying at a hotel on a beach that had seen a British girl raped and murdered only a week before we arrived. From Thailand it was off to Sri Lanka where tension between the Tamil Tigers and the existing government had begun to boil. Though we felt the unease, that was the height of things for us. While we were in the country, though, several bombs were detonated all over the country to send the powers there a message. Again, we were out of harm's way. From Sri Lanka on to India, where an American girl had been raped and murdered on the same train system that we had spent 60 hours travelling on the same week that we arrived. While we were staying in Visag we read in the paper about an abduction attempt on another American tourist in Bombay, the city we had just recently come from. Also while in Visag, we spent a day in mountains crawling with naxilite terrorists who made it a practice to kidnap foreigners to then use in negotiations with the government. Again, we walked away unharmed.

The list could go on and on. I haven't even gone into all the terrifying driving we were subject to, the strange foods we ate from even stranger sources, the diseases we were exposed to, the flights and boat rides and motorcycles,and the danger from theives and other criminals we no doubt crossed paths with. And what about the fact that we were able to keep all of our personal belongings? Never once were we without enough cash, or the right documentation, or directions, or at the very least, a friendly person to help us when we needed it the most. At the beginning of the trip there were far more jitters. By the end of the trip we began to feel far more confident that things would turn out right, and that we would be protected and provided for.

Now we sit at our homes, safe again, and we are eternally grateful. Grateful to God the most, for His protection and intervention despite all the odds. People told us that we were crazy and doubted that we would make it. They had every reason to feel that way. This trip probably shouldn't have ended the way that it did. By all indications, it could have very well ended in tragedy. But it didn't. And we attribute that not to our prowess, because we had very little, or to our ability to rise above danger (as it seems we were hot on its heels all the way around the globe), but to the kindness and mercy of the Lord. And how could we forget all the people we met along the way who extended kindness to us? Some of these people we knew well. Many of them we had only just met and others still we didn't even know. But what they had in common is that they understood that we had needs and that they had the means to meet those needs and they stepped out to make that happen. We often had nothing to give back but thanks. Sometimes we offered them money, and they refused it. Sometimes we promised to get them back, to reciprocate for their kindness, but even there we have no idea if we will ever see them again. The people that helped us out did it because they wanted to, not because they had to. They did it because it was the right thing to do and didn't ask for anything in return. Often it came up between the four of us, and I will mention it here, that one of the things that we will take away from this trip is that in the future we will do all we can to show kindness to travellers and strangers, because for the last six months, our survival depended on other people doing exactly that. Without them, it is entirely possible that we would still be out there, stranded and a long way from home. If you are reading this and you are one of those people, if you gave us food or shelter or a ride or directions, or you prayed for us or you let us use your house or your car or even your phone, thank you for what you did. It was critical and it did not go unnoticed. You've turned us into lifelong believers in the power of kindness. We hope very much to be able to make it up to you. God Bless you all.
E

The Motherland

2006-02-21T07:56:00.000-08:00

We have arrived again in the true north, strong and free complete with snow drifts, howling winds, and closed roads. I feel like a figurine in one of those shake n' snow glass jars stranded in the midst of a winter wonderland. If this sounds like complaining, I would hasten to add that we are absolutely loving it!
Reuniting with friends and family has been the best part about coming home. We have not had much time to simply "be" since we have many people to see and little time to do it. The infamous four is no more with Erick's move to Cambridge. He is living in a bachelor pad with friends from Summit for the next month. He will be sure to update soon and let you all know what his plans are for the next year.
Hilko, Annette and I head to the Dominican Republic, Lord willing, tomorrow. If this Candian weather keeps up we may be forced to extend our stay. (Could this be an answer to your prayer yesterday, Matt?)

It is very hard to sum up what the past 6 months have been like for us. I have a feeling that our memories will come as snapshots spreading over years to come. Encountering a smell, song, or accent will, inevitably, transport us back to a time in our trip. Right now it still feels like a dream.

Someone asked me what the most significant lesson was that I learned on this trip and I told her that it was the kindness we encountered in every place we went. Often we are fed information that the world is all evil but what I learned is that there are still many good people: Angels of mercy. We have all agreed that we want to be kind to travelers wherever and whenever we come in contact with them. We realize that our trip would have been impossible without their kindness and we are more than ready to return the favor.

We love you all and cannot wait to see you face to face.
Your prayers, e-mails, comments, letters, and interest in our lives and trip have literally overwhelmed us. Thank you sincerely~*

~Grace-Emma

Homeward

2006-02-14T03:39:00.000-08:00

I'm writing this from a small Internet cafe in Bombay Airport. It's Tuesday and we were supposed to be leaving two days ago. Then things got a bit sporty. The nice man at the counter told us that our flights had been cancelled and that there was nothing he could do for us. I called the airline in Dubai and the nice lady there told me that the next three flights leaving the country from their airline were full. The best she could do was get us on a flight on Tuesday night. Then I called the hotel we had booked in Dubai and the nice man their politely told me that because we were cancelling so late they would retain the rate of our first night's stay which was $140, and that there was nothing he could do for me. This all in the space of a few hours. But something cool happened. Nobody freaked out. Nobody even flinched. We had something similar happen to us while we were in Scotland at the beginning of the trip and it was a different story. Nerves were raw and things were tense. This time around there was a sort of air that said that since option A was no longer an option, option B would need to made up on the spot. We gave our friend Ravi a ring and in two hours he was back with a taxi. We went back to the hotel we had just checked out of and re-checked in. And we had two fun days in the city. Ravi was the guy who helped us out when we first got here and he has been good as gold all the way through. Today during lunch he introduced us to a friend of his who is a big-time politician. He told us that if there were any problems with getting our flight today that we could call him and he would fix the problem. Thankfully it didn't come to that and we have our boarding passes in hand and we are set to go.

Right now it is 5:30 in Bombay. We will fly to Dubai tonight spend a few hours there and then catch a flight to Glasgow, Scotland in the morning. We'll spend 24 hours in Glasgow and then hop the 11AM flight to Toronto and land(thanks to flying with time changes) at 1 in the afternoon on Thursday. So the next time that you will hear from us will be from Canada. It probably goes without saying, but we are all really tired and ready for a chance to unwind at home. More on that from our beautiful homeland.

Pictures from India

2006-02-06T09:42:00.000-08:00

More India

2006-02-06T08:15:00.000-08:00

Up to Speed

Tonight I write from the city of Vishakapatnam, India, otherwise known as and from here on refered to as Visag. Here in Visag is an orphanage. In that orphanage live two hundred little Indian boys and girls. On the third floor lives the Mekala family and, at present, a little band of displaced Canadian freeloaders. We have been boarding with the Mekalas for the past week or so. We know them because Grace Emma and I know Donna Mekala (formerly Connelly) from our Indianapolis days. Grace and Donna were in the same EQUIP class. It has been some years since that time, but this is one of those friendships that you pick up where you left off. I say this from my observation of Grace and Donna and the relatively short amount of time it took for them to get down to business and start giggling and telling eachother their life stories and so on. You know how it goes. So we are all one big happy family. Donna has a brother and two sisters here from Arizona and the whole bunch of us have been having adventures this week.

The Kids
So before I get too far I will say a little about the kids here at the orphanage. There are, as I mentioned, two hundred of them running around and they are quite happy and well taken care of here. The youngest are 5 or 6 and the oldest 14 or 15. The language here is Telagu which sounds like nothing you've ever heard not counting Klingon, and so it has been a bit of a trick to communicate. But putting the trusty arm and leg number in use has made it possible for us to let them know we are from far away, that we love them, and that we mean them no harm. All they want to do is play games and for us to tell them what their names are. It's 200 vs. 4 so we're doing poorly with the names. There is one little guy who looks at bit like ET and so we can remember his name but apart from that we are stuck. The kids are fond of playing their version of pattycake with us. It's not wimpy or uncool to play pattycake in India, even if you are a teenager. Plus it doesn't involve a lot of talking. There is a lot of pattycake going on at the orphanage these days. The staff are able to speak English and Telagu, but they are not always around. Maybe they are tired of translating. But the kids are great and spending time with them is not a drag at all.

The Mountains
My favorite. Yesterday we took a trip to the mountains. Not the Himalaya as it is in the north of India, but the smaller ones here in the south. The orphanage has a church/orphanage it supports in the foothills of said mountains and a small congregation up in the higher parts of the mountain. We drove in a school bus to the church in the foothills and then hiked to the mountain village for a service with the people there. The village is very remote and the people there had not seen very many white people. Which made it even cooler to be there. The area and the view on the way up and then down were amazing. It was like time hadn't touched the place at all. There was no garbage and no noise, only quaint little villages here and there and terraced rice patties as far as you could see. Every field was a different shade of green. Really the only noises you heard were the water buffalo grazing on the dormant patties and the people working on their piece of land. I told the others that if I had a hut and a lifetime supply of books, the next time they would see me would be in ten years. The church service was very small but special. It was a big deal that the white people were there so the village people had taken their sarees (brightly colored wraps) and hung them up in the street as a canopy for us to sit under. When the service was over they asked us to pray for their sick children and also to pray for their houses, which was an honor. It was getting late so we had to make our way back down to the bus. It would have been nice to stay longer but the mountains are quite unsafe for foreigners(due to terrorists that hide up there) so we returned to the foothills and then back to Visag. We hope to make another trip before we leave here later this week.

The Wedding
Sunil (Donna's husband) had a friend who happened to be getting married on Friday night last week. Weddings in India are a very big deal with lots of food and noise and bright lights. Even though we didn't know the bride or the groom, we crashed the pre-ceremony party and took in a bit of the culture. We were accepted and treated like celebrities. It wasn't long before we were on the platform beside the happy couple being photographed by everyone there with a camera. Imagine a movie star showed up uninvited at your wedding. That was our reception. This was fine with us. The actual wedding ceremony started at 1:30AM. Only family members were invited. Even the movie stars had to leave. No worries, though. It was worth it for the time that we were there.

A Word on Begging
Time is short and we need to be off, but first an observation about begging in the places we have visited thus far. In Australia there were bums who sat on the sidewalks with a sign asking for help. There was no pressure to give money or even to say anything to the guy sitting there. Helping was suggested.
Then we were in Thailand and the beggars were nowhere to be seen. I imagine the government had done something to get rid of them. Or maybe they are just too polite to beg in Thailand.
In Sri Lanka, they were all about making their needs known. There was no conversation or anything. One lady walked up to me and said very forcefully, "Money!" Ah, yes, my sweet lady, it is a great thing, isn't it? I wish I had a bit more myself. "Money!" No, no money for you. If I hook you up, all those other guys over there will want some flow too. Sorry, but not today. She realized she wasn't getting anywhere and at the same time I pointed out some other rich-looking tourists to her in hopes that they would have what I didn't have to spare. That was that.
Now we're in India and here the theme is strength in numbers. Once you step out of your car and positively identified as a white person, the mob heads your way and demands money. No asking here, folks. In fact, they are so professional here that if you give them one rupee, they will be insulted and demand more. I didn't see that coming. I didn't know there was a going rate for beggars. The trouble is there are so many beggars that you could never keep them all happy. To say no to them means that they need to try harder or to physically convince you that they really need you to give them some rupees. This can cause some discomfort. The only way to get away from the beggars is if a local shoos them off or if you duck inside a store or a museum or something. Beggars are a fact of life.

We don't anticipate beggars in the UAE or Scotland but should we come across any we'll be sure to see how they compare to their counterparts here.

Now we're definately out of time. More to come.

E

Ahoy India

2006-01-26T04:01:00.000-08:00

We have just recently arrived in India. As we were leaving Sri Lanka the airline gave us the option to stay an extra night on them in exchange for free tickets or duty free vouchers. The flight was overbooked and they needed some folks to sit out. Being the kindhearted and selfless people that we are, we took them up on their offer and spent the night at a five-star and left this morning for Bombay. We got handed a twisty route that took us through the Indian domestic flight alley, but it was alright in the end and a few hours ago we landed here in Bombay, aka Mumbai. Take the confusion of Colombo, multiply by a few, and swap the Sri Lankans for Indians and you have Bombay. Oh yeah, and throw in a few elephants and holy cows. We haven't seen much of the city so far, but what we have seen is pretty crazy. We checked in to our hotel and while it looked spiffy on the Internet, it is many things but not spiffy. We are there for two nights before catching the train out east, so it will have to do.

That's the latest for now. More to come soon.

E

Sri Lanka Update

2006-01-24T03:01:00.000-08:00

Hello hello

I'm writing from a gloomy little internet cafe in Kandy, a city 110km west of Colombo. Since I last posted we've been on a 600km loop around the southeast of the country. As you could tell by the last post, we weren't quite sure what to expect. We definately couldn't forsee the events of the last few days. First, and most importantly, we were all quite safe and even enjoyed ourselves. And continue to be safe. There were quite a few roadblocks with mean-looking soldiers with even meaner looking weapons, but they were there to protect people like us, not harm us. We did get stopped once by the police, but they were just doing their job and checking on the registration of the van we were in. It was all good. Here's a quick reel of the last few days.

Saturday: We pack up and drive out of Colombo and down the east coast. Toward the end of the day it's time to find a place to stay. Our driver takes us to a place called the Lighthouse. It was perfect; we loved it. It was available for the low low price of $400(US) for the night. We left a patch of rubber on the parking lot and made our way to the beach. There we found some bungalows for a fraction of the aforementioned price. It was perfect. We had a quiet dinner sitting at a table in the sand. It was picture perfect(picture to come...)

Sunday: We regretfully leave the beach bungalows and make our way further down the coast. As we are driving we can see signs in front of new buildings and building projects noting that these are reconstruction projects in response to the tsunami disaster. When I thought tsunami I thought Indonesia, but this coastline was damaged quite seriously as well. Throughout the day we see evidence. Toward the end of the day it's hotel time again. Driver takes us to a safari camp. It's really posh so we start to get nervous. The nice man at the counter says that this place is only $300 for a night and I smile and we burn out of there too and I think scare some of the leopards and water buffalo in the bushes. There is this guy who has been following us in his Range Rover telling us that there is a place he knows that is affordable. He is persistent and so we follow him through the park and along the fenceline of another reserve. It was hot and long and all, but we did get to see some elephants 'in the wild' and more of the water buffalos. (We sang the VeggieTales song about Zebus as we went on our way.)Dude in the Rover was right. He did know a place and we did stay there. It wasn't the Taj Mahal, but hey, we're not in India yet.

Monday: We start driving inland. For some reason this makes me nervous. It may have something to do with the fact that everything looks a bit like Vietnam with rice paddies palm trees and my imagination starts to get the better of me. But it is actually OK. At noon we arrive at a reserve for orphaned elephants. 'So cute!'(not my words, mind you) Feeding time was just over so we saw them from a distance, dodged a few more guys trying to get us to join overpriced safaris and headed for the hills. On the way we stopped at a beautiful waterfall whose name escapes me, but it was a really cool place to check out. There was an ice cream man there, too. It was perfect. Now it is almost dark and we are driving and driving and go higher and higher and quite suddenly we are in Bavaria. Three hours ago it was monkeys and huts and now there are gabled houses and hotels and cliffs and the air is clean and cold and I am really confused. We are in the town of Nuwara Eliya in the heart of tea country. The elevation is almost 7000 feet and the whole place looks like a ski town out of the Alps. We checked into the Alpine Hotel and had dinner at the Collingwood. I'm still confused but not complaining. The exchange rate is very much in our favour so we are staying at a four star for $25 a room and a steak meal is $4. Yes. After the Collingwood, we sit on our huge beds and watch American TV piped in via dish and it's not really feeling like Sri Lanka at all. It feels like Colorado.

Tuesday(today): We stay at the hotel as long as we possibly can. We check out just in time to dodge the late fee and load up in the van for a twisty ride back to the foothills. I was still in awe as we were driving. It was terraced hills as far as you could see and waterfalls and blue lakes and huge forests. If you had told me I was in Alberta, I would have bought it. But that wore off. Now we are back in the city and it is loud and crowded and there is lots of fresh exhaust to breathe in. We are catching up with e-mail and I am doing the update, then we will get some dinner at the Pizza Hut across the road and then back to our guest house for the night. Tomorrow we have a plane to India to catch. It leaves at 4 in the afternoon. We have a bit of a drive to get there from here, but the roads are good from here on out. Most likely the next time you will hear from us will be from India. Before I sign out, I wanted to say thanks for all the e-mails that have been filling up our inboxes from people letting us know they are thinking of us and holding us in their prayers. This trip is by no means safe and we appreciate your support very much.

Over and out,
E

Sri Lanka

2006-01-20T21:16:00.000-08:00

Hello from Colombo

We arrived here two nights ago and have been staying at the 'AAA' Guest House here in Sri Lanka's capital(although we may rate it just one A.)

Yesterday we got in at 2AM and crashed hoping to sleep off the jetlag of the flight from Bangkok. At 7 there was a knock on the door. It became more persistent. Must be important. Hilko pulls himself out of bed and there was a girl at the door with our tea. Hilko smiled and took it, put it on the table and was asleep in a few minutes. It wasn't long before there was another knock with the same vigour. This time it was our breakfast. We were running out of room on the table. Thankfully, we were not bothered again and slept into the afternoon. After getting up and watching a few rounds of the English Asian news, we caught seperate tuk-tuks(they have them here too) into the city. Hilko and GE's decided that he needed some gas so he stopped off to fill up and completely lost us. A few hours later, after looking around the city to no avail, we doubled back to the hotel to find Hilko and GE waiting for us. We discussed the pointlessness of trying to find eachother in the market downtown. First of all there are hundreds and thousands of tuk-tuks and they all look about the same. Second, Colombo is so confused and busy and crowded that it makes Haiti look like Switzerland. I guess I thought I had seen busyness but this city sets a new standard. Thankfully, we did find eachother. It was a tense moment since I was the one with the money and the passports and all the information. If they would have had to find their way back to the hotel without any help, things could have been pretty desperate. Thankfully, it didn't come to that.

By the time you read this, we will have checked out of the 'A' Guest House and will be on a five-day tour of the southeast coast of the country. Sri Lanka is on the brink of civil war and as such, heading north from Colombo is unsafe for travellers. As I was checking out websites before we got here, there were things saying not to go north because the roads are mined(as in there are explosives there, not they are digging for buried treasure) and the north is were most of the tension is. Everywhere we go there are signs calling for peace. And rightfully so. This place has a very distinct feeling of unrest. Today I glanced at the calendar here in the office and beside the number for car accident services is the number for bomb disposal. This is definately not Thailand anymore.

Back to the tour. Mostly we will be seeing the coastline but toward the end we will head inland to see Kandy, which is a holy place in Sri Lanka and is famous for its temple. Should everything go as planned, we will be at the airport on Wednesday in time to fly out to Bombay, India. Your prayers for our safety are coveted as this will be by far the most dangerous leg of our trip. We don't anticipate any of the tension up north to come our way, but 'on the brink of civil war' usually means that it can strike any time, anywhere. We hope to give updates as we go, but aren't sure if Internet will be as easily accessible on the countryside as it has been here in the city. Ideally, we will be able to post some text and maybe even some photos. This country is one of those places you have to see to believe. More from us soon.

Cheers,
E

Snapshots

2006-01-16T03:09:00.000-08:00

Good-bye Australia, Hello Thailand

2006-01-15T00:30:00.000-08:00

Erick here.

Too long since I last posted. More than a few times this week I have sat down at the computer and thought that it was time to write new post and then I would decide that it didn't feel right. Like I needed a certain vibe to produce a quality entry. I think probably it was more like I was procrastinating and coming up with a fancy excuse. No more. Now I write.

My last few weeks in Australia were a bit different than H,A, and GE. While they were in Brisbane for the holidays, I spent my time working at a camp in Victoria, specifically the Gippsland Lakes region. The camp was called Cooinda and went for nine days.
Cooinda is a camp for teenagers (mostly from Melbourne) and has been running for more than forty years. It is a water based camp, meaning that the majority of their activities have to do with...water. Things like sailing and kayaking and the like. The basic structure of the camp is that the campers are divided into groups of about ten, called patrols, taught about camping, sailing, etc. and then taken out on multi-day expeditions on the lakes surrounding camp. Most of the travel is done via canoes, but there was a patrol that used kayaks and even one that was ferried out on a motorboat. Almost all of the activities are done as a patrol and the camp staff use the patrol as a platform to teach(and learn) about relationships and teamwork and so on. That is Cooinda at a glance. I spent my stay there as the canoe instructor, which was a really good time. I wasn't sure what to make of the whole Cooinda thing at first as I am used to working at stricter, more regimented camps, and this one was far more laid back. But I came to find out that laid back is OK and that you can run a safe and fun and adventurous camp this way. By the end of my time in Gippsland Lakes, I had made some good friends and had some cool adventures as well. It was time well spent.

Following my time at Cooinda, I spent the weekend with Lou and Kelly, who I met at Cooinda. My plan was to spend the weekend in a hostel in Melbourne, but Kelly got wind of this and brokered out Lou's spare room and it was an offer I could not refuse. Both Kelly and Lou have been, at one time or another, involved in the Melbourne arts community, so the weekend took on a bit of an arts theme. The highlight would have to be the masterminding of my debut as a stage actor. Explanation: on Friday night, Kelly got a text message asking if she wanted to help with the rehearsal of a upcoming play called 'The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee'. I can't say that I am much of a play person, but apparently this one was a runaway success on Broadway and so now it was time for it to have a go in Australia. Anyway, the writer of the play set it up so that every time the play is on, four people from the audience volunteer upon arrival to act a small role in the play as schoolchildren at a spelling bee. As this was a rehearsal at the company warehouse, there was no audience. Enter Kelly, Lou, and Erick plus a fourth volunteer. The idea is that because you are a volunteer you have no idea about what you are supposed to say or where you are to stand or sit and so the actors sort of rally around you and whisper in your ear and drag you around the stage and this adds to the...umm, randomness of the play. The actors were well-known (but not to me, save the lady who played Mrs. Hoggat in 'Babe') and to say I felt out of place on the stage with them would be a bold understatement. I would like to think that I am pretty calm and smooth up in front of people, but about the time I was dancing in a big circle with a bunch of adults pretending to be children, there was no more smoothness. If ever I thought that acting might be a way for me to forge a living, my experiences last Saturday with the actors of the Melbourne Theatre company put that to rest.

(I'm just now realizing that I've written two sections about two events, one that lasted two weeks and one that lasted an hour and a half.)

Thanks, Kelly and Lou(and Header the cat) for a great weekend and an unforgettable way to spend my last few days in your beautiful country.

Following my adventures(and misadventures) in Victoria, I caught the overnight train to Sydney and met up with the others at the airport. We spent the afternoon catching up and then boarded the flight to Bangkok. Leaving Australia didn't feel as significant as I think it should of. I think that this may be because somewhere in the back of my mind I suspect that I will come back again one day. Whatever the case, I didn't have much time to process because in a few hours the plane touched down and our next objective was to find our way to our hostel in Bangkok. This was accomplished after we caught an outrageously overpriced cab. I think maybe the cabbie is now staying in the beach house next to ours.Forever.

We spent our first two days in Bangkok. It is crowded and smoggy and loud, but for all of those things, it still has some charm to it. I think it is the kindness of the people. I think GE mentioned this, but I am still blown away by the Thai people and their respect for eachother and everyone around them. I know that it is part of their Buddhist religion, but kindness to others is a fundamental of Christianity and we Christian countries aren't doing so hot. I have seen a sort of kindness before in the way that locals deal with visitors, but it is the kind that has strings attached. Here I am convinced that there are no catches; people are kind and serving and the fact that you are a customer or whatever has little to do with it. Even the people on the street greet you and offer to help with advice and little bows and smiles all around. I still don't really get it. Maybe it's not always like this. Maybe this is 'Be Kind to Foreigners Week' or something. I can't get my head around that the Thai community is always this way. But I'm willing to accept it and it is really refreshing.

After our time in the capital, we arranged to catch an overnight train and then a bus and a ferry to our ultimate desination of Ko Samui. The islands are the California of Thailand, where people come for sun and beaches and so on. We've rented bungalows with a view of the ocean for what wouldn't even get you a cheap room at a Motel 6 in the States. (The exchange rate is now our friend.)As I am writing this, we are at the halfway point of our stay on the island. On Tuesday it's ferry, bus, train to Bangkok and then off to Columbo, Sri Lanka. But that is still a few days away. Until then we are enjoying our time in paradise.

One more thought: as we have been here, I have been doing a lot of thinking as to the whole morality of tourism. I see a place like this, a beautiful island getaway since tourism has been introduced now the streets are full of sunburned, hung-over tourists and there is a McDonald's and Internet cafes and anything else that might be of interest to a paying traveller. On one hand, the tourism is good. It generates income for the country, it brings infrastructure to faraway places like this that may not have had it otherwise. I haven't seen anyone, Thai or otherwise, who isn't well-fed, well-dressed and taken care of. The Thai people who live and work here have a very high standard of living. But on the other hand, tourism has a dark side to it as well. Probably the most vivid example of this is the sex trade. It is rampant here. I remember in the DR we would catch glimpses of it and you knew that it was going on, but here it is wide open and in your face. Every hotel and restaurant and train and bus and whatever else, almost invariably, has had some white guy with a very young Thai girl on his arm. Part of me would like to pass it off to a lame excuse, like that they are friends or that they have noble intentions, but there is far too much of it to play that game. My heart goes out to these girls and I am scared to know the sequence of events that led to the life that they are now trapped in. The police have little or nothing to do with the trade and so it goes along unchecked. And there is more than just the prostitution. More than a few times I have seen Thai people being bossed around and mistreated by pushy selfish tourists and then I am ashamed for us.

So I guess that you can see that there are good but also bad things that come with tourism. I think that it should happen, that people should be free to travel the world and that they should take advantage of that freedom. But I think that as a traveller you are still an ambassador for your country and that should a country open its doors and allow you to explore what is theirs, it should be enjoyed in such a way that enhances the country and the people in it and does not detract. You owe that to people who let you come and be a guest in their country. I think about what it would be like if masses of cash-strapped Thai people started coming into Canada and pushing around my countrymen and using Canadian girls as prostitutes whenever they pleased and I know that no one would stand for it. So it goes without saying that I am at a loss when I see the way these kind, quiet, and polite people are being taken advantage of. Reslolution? At this point, my resolution is to be the type of traveller that adds to the country he is visiting and gives a positive impression of the country he comes from. Things like leaving tips and thanking people and respecting their customs. Ideally, I would like to boot out every rude and selfish and inconsiderate tourist in the entire country, and give away their money to the Thai people to say sorry for all the terrible things that have happened, but of course this is unrealistic and impossible. I am thinking of the quote that says, "If a man is to change the world, he is first to start with himself."

These are my musings and the events of the last few weeks. A quality entry. And I didn't even feel like it.

Tailor of Thailand

2006-01-11T23:32:00.000-08:00

Perhaps several of you have heard us liken Australia to Canada. Thailand, we have agreed, reminds us of the Dominican Republic. In all fairness we have only been in Bangkok so our opinion could change over the next few days.
Our Thai experiences thus far have been, in a word, refreshing. I wondered how the language barrier would affect us but up to this point our meager attempts have been, at worst, effective and, at best, comical. My particular favorite was this morning when Erick was attempting to direct our taxi driver to the travel agency and he kept saying, "I have no idea what this guy is saying." We laughed as the driver impressed us with his own collection of English phrases including "Lock and Loll" (rock and roll), and "Tlaffeek Yam" (Traffic Jam). Rest assured, communication is much more than simply talking.

Another Thai highlight is the Tak Tak . We soon discovered that our driver's definition of 'city tour' was different than ours. We had two options, with consequences we would realize too late. The first was to pay 10 baht <50 cents> for a guided tour of the city and the second was a free ride around the city with a few stops. Naturally, being the dutchies that we are, we opted for the second choice. We must have stopped at 10 shops with vendors eagerly waiting to sell us a wide variety of rings, knives, silk, watches, carved works, sunglasses, and much more. Our driver would then receive 5 litres of gas for every shop we spent at least 10 minutes in. It was quite an effective plan and made for a different, yet enjoyable, morning.

Apparently, Thai tailors are the rage. It did not take long to catch the guys interest, especially with several weddings in the near future. Hilko has ordered a pin-stripe black suit and Erick is getting one black and one grey. They took measurements yesterday morning and by 8 that evening, their suits were ready for fitting. Impressive....

Thai ethics are noteworthy. In each circumstance we have encountered respect for your time, genuine interest in your comfort, and pursuit of customer preference.
They bow when they greet you and serve you with dignity and humility. They have a greatness that I have seldom seen or experienced. Needless to say, Thailand has left a great impression on us. For all of you travelers, this is a country you have to check out~*

Enjoying Brisbane

2006-01-07T02:59:00.000-08:00

a random bloke who wanted to get his picture with us on New Year's Eve

Sydney

2006-01-07T02:46:00.000-08:00

Onward March

2006-01-07T02:37:00.000-08:00

With two days left in Australia, we find ourselves flung into a set of routine sentiments. There is, naturally, the recurring question, "Can our time really be nearing an end?", the highlights (and "lowlights"...), and the feeling of bewilderment at where the next few weeks will take us. Although days seem to have mysteriously faded into months the time in Oz has been well spent.

Erick is currently in a suburb of Melbourne volunteering at a Camp where he is, inevitabley, enjoying time outdoors but more importantly, time alone. Personal space and the freedom to be alone is something of supreme value to us now. "There must be spaces in your togetherness" is a wisely coined phrase.

We are in Brisbane and are scheduled to fly down to Syndey on Monday morning. We will, Lord willing, meet up with Erick there and fly out to Bangkok, Thailand that evening. We have often joked that this trip feels like an episode of the "Amazing Race." Timing is everything!

Naturally, Thailand is a thrilling destination. We would be lying if we did not confess that one of the main attractions is that it is affordable! After Thailand, our last 4 weeks will be spent on a whirlwind tour of Sri Lanka, India, UAE, Scotland, and Canada.

At the onset of each new country there is a thrill about what new discoveries will be made, the strangers who will soon be considered friends, and how our perspective will change when confronted with yet another entirely new culture. When considering the remaining countries, I do not think we will be disappointed.

Merry Christmas

2005-12-23T18:47:00.000-08:00

For the past week and a half we have been camping out at The Coledale Beach Camping Reserve in a suburb of Sydney. Our intent, and resulting success, was to soak up some sun and live as cheaply as possible with every earthly possession fitting, with us, in two tents. By the end of 10 days we felt quite at home in our surroundings and became good friends with the reserve owner and several locals. (Cheers to you Luke, Ben, Chad, & Norm! Thanks for your kindness, hospitality, and for showing us a truly good time)

While every past Christmas Eve has been spent with a host of family and friends, this one finds us en route to Brisbane on the 4:30 train.
Although it does not feel like a typical Christmas, I need to remind myself that it really should not. For one, it seems fitting to be a foreigner commemorating the sacred birth of Christ. Was He not also a stranger, not simply in Bethlehem but to the world at large? He came to live among us but He wandered the earth much like we are doing, living generally on the kindness and hospitality of locals along the way. This trip has opened our eyes to the benevolence bestowed upon us by people we have met. This Christmas we are thankful for the gift of friendship and the way each encounter brings us a glimpse into the heart of Christ. It is His love manifested in acts of kindness that gives us joy this Christmas Season.

A very Joyous Christmas to you and yours!
~Grace-Emma

our home for the past week and a half or so

2005-12-23T18:32:00.000-08:00

Our friend, Luke Irwin

Back In Australia

2005-12-12T18:24:00.000-08:00

Hello hello

Here we are back in Australia. Since our return from New Zealand, we have been on a road trip up the east coast of Australia. We started by renting a car at the Melbourne(a nice one this time) and then, taking our time, making our way up to Sydney. The weather was amazing and we saw some brilliant scenery and met some really cool folks along the way. The kindness of Australians toward travellers in their country continues to amaze us. They must be have a competition with the Kiwis to see who can be nicer.

At present we are living in our tents on the beach in a little town called Coledale. We will be here until next weekend when we catch a train/plane/car/camel to Brisbane for the holidays. Due to the remoteness of our current home, it is unlikely that you will be hearing from us for a bit. But not to worry, we are not dead. Much to the contrary we are basking in the sun on the beach. Don't feel bad for us. We don't.

Many thanks to all of the people who have been keeping up with us via e-mail and comments on the website. It is your support that encourages us to continue with what we are doing, and believe it or not, there are times that world travel gets old and we get bouts of homesickness and the like. This is when contact from all of our friends and family get us through the day.

Happy holidays and safe travel to all of you who are making your way to Mom and Dad's house for the Christmas. More from us soon.

Best,

E

2005-12-11T17:39:00.000-08:00

New Zealand Reel

2005-12-07T19:54:00.000-08:00

We have just returned from a one-week hiatus in New Zealand. It would be best described as a whirlwind tour. And in keeping with the tempo, here is a quick rundown of our experiences:

Day One:
Fly to Auckland after camping out for the night in the Melbourne airport. Nice flight. Food OK. Call rental company upon arrival. Car we end up with doesn't look like the sweet one we saw in the ad. Most likely former life as cab somewhere in Asia. Pack stuff in, strap surfboard to roof and head for Raglan.

Day Two:
This country is amazing. Like something out of a fairy tale. Hilko gets some surfing in at the Raglan Beach. Apparently the sets were good. That's what the locals were saying. Today we saw Mt. Doom from Lord of the Rings. Just as imposing as the movies. Reach Lake Taupo toward the end of the day. Good view of the lake. Nice evening at the cafe on the promenade.

Day Three:
Check out of the camper park just in time to avoid late fee. Long drive today. Due to poor sleep last night (or maybe other things) abundance of snide remarks about poor quality and inferior handling of our ride. We stopped in Marton for Hilko to visit his crew at the Training Center. He is welcomed as a returning hero. Everyone is in awe of him and we are in awe of their awe. Everyone wins. After a few hours of interaction, we hop in the car and drive down to Porirua, near Wellington, to stay at the home of Hilko's friend Peter Elder. Peter takes us to the highest point in the bay and we get a spectacular view of the bay and the South Island off in the distance. One day, we vow, we will return to see the other half of the country.

Day Four:
We spend the day in Wellington. Very nice city with a sort of European feel. We split up and spend the day finding our own ways around the place. Hilko heads for the surf shops, the girls to the cafes and clothing stores, I make my way to the book stores, of which there are many. Dinner at the Flying Burrito Brothers. No flying burritos or brothers, for that matter. Another evening at the Elder residence.

Day Five:
Today we make it up to Gisborne, which is quite a drive. The China Cab holds up even in the mountains. It must have been a very trusty taxi back in the day. We had another of many picnic table lunches with food from the local Woolworths. Thanks to TJ Stewart for the WW card. It saved us lots of Kiwi dollars. Props. Gisborne is a ratty town, but their caravan park is n-i-c-e. Great food for dinner and then a movie in the lounge. This place is posh.

Day Six:
We had a scare today thinking that the China Cab had an issue, but in the end it was a stone caught in the underbody making a terrific noise. Hilko's advice was to 'floor it'. He was right on. More beautiful driving with lots of sheep and not a lot of people. Today as we were cresting the top of a hill, there was a guy in a campervan headed the opposite way. He recognized us as backpackers and gave us the thumbs up. Made my day. One of the most attractive features of this country is how friendly and laid-back the people are. It's like they actually want you to see their country. People from Boston should take some tips from them. We spend the night at Waihi Beach. It was a little out of the way but there are few things that beat the experience of falling asleep with the sound of the ocean in your ears.

Day Seven:
Up early and a few hours drive to Auckland. I try for a chance to go bungy jumping but no luck as they are closed for the day. Nice lady says that they will be open at 9AM tomorrow(about the time I will be boarding the flight out of here.) Hard to be disappointed after a week here. Besides, there's no way that this is the only time I will be in NZ so I will just have some bungy next time around. We spend the day wandering around Auckland. Another nice city, but not as nice as Wellington. Too many tourists, though. Wait a second... Drop off the car and catch the shuttle back to the airport. Another night camping out. Better benches to sleep on. We even whipped out our sleeping bags. Bold. When morning comes, we board flight 123 for Melbourne. Big plans already in the works for trips back to NZ when there is more time available. This was a preview of sorts.

There you have it. New Zealand is amazing. And I don't use that word very much. Hopefully we will be able to put some pictures up, but words and pictures don't do it justice. Everyone out there, make plans to visit this country at least once in your life. Enough said.

We are currently on the road headed for Sydney. Hopefully we will be able to publish another post in a few days when we can hook up a camera and let you see some of the things that we have seen.

More soon,

Erick

New Zealand~*

2005-12-03T19:40:00.000-08:00

Somehow the simple life is not as intrusive as i had originally feared it would be. Intrusive meaning a foreigner to my domestic preferences. It has been good for me to see just how "cushy" my life really is.

New Zealand is even more beautiful than we had anticipated. It's beauty is enhanced, naturally, by the fabulous weather we've been having. The locals have informed us that bright blue skies for days on end is not customary for New Zealand so we are doubly blessed.

We have travelled basically all of the North Island in our short week here. Beginning in Auckland we moved southward spending the first night in Raglan (near Hamilton). Our next stop was in Taupo, the center of the North Island. It is a little town on the waterfront with a majestic view of "Mount Doom" (For all those Lord of the Rings lovers, this is the place to visit!) Taupo was definitely my favorite spot in the NZ tour. From there we made a stop over in Marton to surprise Hilko's "fans" at the Arahina Training Centre. Needless to say, it was a huge success! We spent the evening hosted by Pete Elder in Porirua. We liked it so much we decided to spend Friday there as well and spent the day checking out Wellington. Saturday we drove from Porirua up the east coast to Gisborne. Our plan is to drive up the Eastern coastline up to Mt. Maunganui and up to Auckland tomorrow.

New Zealand

2005-11-27T18:26:00.000-08:00

Since our visas expire on the 2nd of December, we had two options:
1) Extend our visas (including x-rays for TB) ---been there, done that--- or
2) Shoot over to New Zealand for a week and return on tourist visas for the remainder of our time in Australia.

We fly into Auckland tomorrow morning and we'll rent a car and tour the North Island from there. We'll keep you posted....

Last Week....

2005-11-27T01:33:00.000-08:00

The "Finished" Project

2005-11-27T01:00:00.000-08:00

friends

2005-11-22T15:14:00.000-08:00

2005-11-21T02:15:00.000-08:00

A Look Back

2005-11-18T18:59:00.000-08:00

Warrnambool was definitely not part of the world tour itinerary but has since become an integral link in our adventure. Weird to think that our plans seldom follow a projected course and, more often than not, lead us to something greater than we could have imagined. Flexibility shines brightly as the reoccuring theme to this journey. Mastering this quality is not particulary easy but I would like to believe that we have made great strides to figuring it out and rolling with the inevitable punches.
Recently we discovered that in order to extend our visitor's visas we would need to undergo x-ray tests for TB. Needless to say, we immediately researched and opted for the cheapest alternative. Hence, this morning found us in the Warrnambool Flight Centre with questions as to the most reasonably priced tickets out of the country. New Zealand is our most likely "getaway" destination and we are thrilled to add yet another country to our list. Flexibilty strikes yet again!

Many shining moments come to mind when contemplating the past 10 weeks. Invaribaly the relationships made are amongst the greatest highlights. Warrnambool Baptist Church has been a haven for us in the time we have been here and the infamous -in my opinion- singles' group has slowly grown on me. (Mom, I can hear you laughing!) We have made some great friends through the group (kudos to Joel, James, Andrew, Scotty, Steph, Lauren, Camilla, Tony, and Sharon) and a few are planning to return the favor by visiting us.

The not-so-shining moments are great for a laugh and we have done our fair share of laughing. Hilko "two wheels" van Til got ticketed for speeding (a mere 7 kms over the speed limit, mind you) and thinks, periodically, about slowing down his driving habits.
I get the repeated "volume meter" talk as I tend to speak and laugh loudly. I often get the look from my well-meaning siblings that says, "Turn it down a few notches"
On my first day at work I was using the electrical hedge trimmers and cut clean through the line, resulting in a power shortage. Thankfully no one was hurt and Hilko was able to cut and rewire the extension chord while Erick reset the fuses.
While Erick was taking out a piece of the wall, a section came loose and fell the wrong way resulting in the demolition of our plastic lunch table.
Annette's not-so-shining moments are continuous so it's hard to differentiate where one ends and the other begins! (hahahaha----poor thing----for peace of mind Annette is sitting next to me laughing and nodding in agreement)

In fact, I think our all-time best moment was getting stranded in the Otways because our car ran out of gas. Thankfully, our friend, Lauren, was with us and Erick, Annette, and her were able to head into the nearest town to buy some gas. Hilko and I chilled in the car on the side of the road and had a great heart-to-heart. It was the most random scenario but it is undoubtedly one of the best talks I have ever had with him. I firmly believe that the best memories are made when you least expect them.

Continuation of the project

2005-11-11T22:30:00.000-08:00

Recent Happenings

2005-11-11T21:03:00.000-08:00

The Car

Sadly, our new car, The Red Rooster was pronounced "UN-road worthy" only 2 weeks after we purchased it. Apparently our "steal of a deal" turned out to be simply a steal. We have already gotten over the loss and have opted to hire a car instead.

The Next Step

We are entering our last week in Warrnambool and are planning on traveling around Australia for the next 4 weeks.
Our plan is to travel first to Sounthern Australia, taking the ferry across to Tasmania, and are planning to spend a week there. From there we will head back to the mainland, over to Adelaide, then through the central part up to Uluru and eventually Darwin. From there we will head down to Brisbane for Christmas and New Year's and eventually to Sydney. We have been told that if you break down in the central portion of Australia help could be literally miles away. Needless to say, a reliable car is not a luxury but a necessity. We will definitely proceed with caution. ::smile::

Typical Australian Food
We've had a fair share of Australia delicacies including:

Meat Pies
Sausage Rolls
Kanga Bangas
Kangaroo Burgers
Fish n' Chips
Whizz Fizz

Australian Lingo

"G'day" ------------ Hello
"How ya going?" ---- How are you doing?
"Ta"---------------- Thank you
"Cheers, Mate"------ Thanks
"Good On Ya"-------- Good Job
"Dodgy"------------- Sketchy
"Bloke"------------- Guy
"No Worries"-------- No Problem

Hopefully this gives a window into our everyday experiences in the Land of Oz. We have all agreed that we are definitely going to re-visit this country. How can you not love this place?

November Arrives

2005-11-01T01:46:00.000-08:00

We are almost at the halfway point of our trip. Right now we are at the point of our stay in Warrnambool where it seems like we have been living here forever. We know all the streets and the stores and restaurants; we see the same people on the ways to and from work every day. It is not uncommon for us to meet a friend on the street or to see them while we are about our day to day activities. Sometimes it is hard to imagine life before we landed here. But at the same time we are getting restless. We have another three weeks before we pull up stakes and move on again. Our time here has been important and well-spent, but now the days have the feeling of the time leading up to your birthday or Christmas or some other special occasion. Only a few more sleeps...

In other news, we bought a car. This is a very big occasion for me, one that warrants song and dance as I have never in my 25(that's alot) years owned a car of my own. My first car is not much to look at. The running joke when I was younger was that my first car would be a primer gray beater. This car is neither primer gray nor is it a beater. It's a little red '82 Corolla that we paid $450 for. We bought it because the advice we were given was that it would be cheaper to buy a car than to rent for our road trip. We heeded said advice and now we have the car. At the moment it doesn't start. This is distressing as I am the most mechanically challenged person of all time. Hilko and I cracked the hood the other day and tried to fix the problem. All we had was some tubing so we switch the old with the new and sat down in the driver's seating expecting the car to fire up like a bored-out GTO. Nothing. This may be a problem...Our new plan is to take the car to the mechanic and to let him know what our plan is and to ask him to lay enough healing on our frail car so as to get us around for a month. After that if it dies, it dies. Right now if it dies, we die(metaphorically, of course.)

For a while I was on a hair-growing mission. If you take a peek at the photos from eariler in the trip, you will notice the overflowing of hair coming from my head. I thought that if it let it grow there would be positive results. The opposite was true. I was thinking Ashton Kutcher but instead I got a Muppet crossed with Ronald McDonald. Needless to say, it came off and I am back to my previous hair situation. So all of you who have been telling me to get a haircut, you can stop now. I did.

Patience

I have never had a lot of patience. Never. Every now and again I have fits of patience, but they go as quickly as they come and usually they can be traced by to some type of ulterior motive. So never is a good word. I've been asking God to help me with my patience. I'm sure that we have all done this from time to time. One too many strained conversations will do that to you every time. But this is different. If I don't get some patience soon, I may go looney and run off into the Outback to spend the rest of my days with kangaroos and bushmen.
It isn't anybody's fault. It's not like anyone is out to get me or to push my buttons, it just sort of happens. When I asked God for patience, I think that there was an idea in my head that it would be a little like an injection: short, uninvasive, and only a nominal amount of pain. Reality is that my patience upgrade is a little more like an amputation. See, you can't have your way and patience. One has to go. The good news is that there has been some progress made. It's slow, painfully slow, but it is coming along. I suspect that patience is probably around the next corner, a few more awkward situations away, or maybe one or two more toes stepped on. Ironic that the key to getting patience is to wait for it.

It's a Boy!

2005-10-25T04:13:00.000-07:00

Christopher Cole Bruce graced us with his much anticipated presence on October 21st at 2:00 a.m.

Both bub and Mum are doing well and the big brothers are all eagerly taking their turn to hug and cuddle the baby.

Life with the boys

2005-10-15T23:20:00.000-07:00

Enjoying Australia!

2005-10-15T23:06:00.000-07:00

Our Host Family: The Bruce's

2005-10-15T22:53:00.000-07:00

The Project

2005-10-08T20:49:00.000-07:00

2005-10-07T04:19:00.000-07:00

Hello again.

These first few weeks in Warrambool have been relaxing and, as strange as it may sound, it is very nice to be living a simple life of getting up, going to work, and spending the nights at the house. Maybe I am domesticating. Maybe.

For work, things with the house are going well. Stay tuned for pictures of the progress we have made. A lifetime ago I took classes to teach me how to do this, but I am still learning new things every day. And this is good. Hilko and I have hit a sort of pattern now with our job, one of those patterns where things happen in sync and no one really says anything. For example, Hilko drives both ways every day. We never really had a meeting and decided anything, it just sort of happened. There are also certain jobs that H and I prefer and so we do those and that works out well. Some nights we work late and we know that it is getting later than 5 or 6 as our patience with eachother gets thinner and thinner. That's when it's time to pack up and go home (Hilko's driving). Somewhere in the back of my mind I had always had this dream of me swinging a hammer and framing a house in the sun. I guess that now is my time to live that out. By the way, the hammer broke and I had to get a new one.

Living with the Bruce family has been one of the best parts of this experience. At first I wasn't sure what I would think of it, but I really like it. They have four boys and if there isn't a picture up of them yet, then shame on us and we will get one up. Anyway, the house is never really quiet but the noise that is in the house isn't the kind that popularizes birth control, it's the kind that is a sort of hum of activity and little people learning things and enjoying their lives. One of the perks is our arrangement is that I am a free-lance parent. If I feel like watching Aurthur with the boys or reading yet another Dr. Suess book (they have 70) then I can, but if I'm not in the mood, I can just go away. So I guess this is like a parenting/family life test drive. Actually on the issue of parenting, I've launched a bit of an experiement with the boys. I never really liked parents baby talking to their kids or even dumbing down conversations so that the little people would be able to follow. Maybe it's because I never knew why. I still don't. Nonetheless I've decided that I will talk to all the boys and actually all the children I meet as adults. That means no simplifying conversation or omitting large words or any of that. So far I like what is happening. Seems the little tykes respond in kind. You talk to them like intelligent people and they respond in intelligent ways as opposed to the gutteral noises and disjointed sign language that seems to be how most little kids use to communicate.
Andrew and Julie (Mom and Dad Bruce) are good for talks about everything from culture to current events to religion and anything really that you can imagine. At the moment I am borrowing this book and tape (yes, cassettes) series from Andrew that is about how to do speed math and speed reading and how to increase your ability to retain information. He also had me read a book about some of the military exploits of Australia back in the First World War. Needless to say, the Bruces are good company and quite kind in letting us bunk with them and their brood for these few months. In other news, Julie is expecting boy number 5 any day now.

When I am not working, I am typically reading. Yes, correct, it is boring and old-fashioned and not everyone is into it, but maybe one day it will be the rage again. I'll keep representing right on through. Readers unite! Anyway, there are a few books that I have on the go. One is David Copperfield, but I am only a few pages in so that doesn't really count. I did just finish a book called 'How to Start Conversations and Make Friends'Very interesting, and having finished it, I am eagerly anticipating making my very first friend. I've already mentioned the military history book and the intelligence expansion series, so that is most of the load. It's all very good and keeps me entertained. Reading this much has also got me thinking again about writing a book of my own. No promises, folks. Just an idea. Would you read it?

Two weeks ago I turned 25. I thought a lot about the whole thing, the aging thing that is. A lot of random thoughts came to mind. For example the guy who asked 'Are we moving through time or is time moving through us?'. I thought about the book I happened to pick up that quoted the author saying, 'Nothing exciting happens after 25.'(Ironic?) I asked God why do we have to age and grow older. Of course 25 is still young, but after 25 is 26 and so one. It's a one-way street. Sometimes this is a good thing, but sometimes I find myself depressed at the idea that I will only be getting older. In truth, I am actually running out of time. But if I take that apart, something that comes to mind is that I am not moving away from something as much as moving toward something else. I cannot reverse the march of time and neither can anyone else. Whatever things we have dreamed up to fight aging are really little more than rides at the midway: they are fun and we forget ourselves for a moment or a few moments but then they are over and we are back on the ground and reality is there waiting for us at the gate. This is a lot of philosophy and thoughts in words. I guess that they are the result of me passing this milestone. I'm 25. That's young if you're 60 and if you're 15 you're not thinking about it so you don't really have an opinion to share. Whether I cower or take it in stride I am still moving forward and getting older and that is how it is. Following all this thought and turning this concept around I've decided that this is a good thing: I will enjoy my youth(correction: I am enjoying my youth) and I will anticpate the things to come. They have a place in my story and for now I am Ok with that. Enough said.

Things with the family: they are good. We continue to get on well and there are plenty of shining and not shining moments as we go. Something that has come to light for me is that our best conversations have been spur of the moment. Something spurs a "Remember when?" comment and off we go swapping stories and filling in the blanks of the years that we have been absent. The funniest things are the moments of surprise when we realize something about eachother that we didn't know. There are plenty of those. Back when we were in the planning stages and I was thinking about how things would go, there was this idea in my head that we would just suddenly have caught up all the time that we had been apart and that would be it. Bang! All the questions answered. What I have found is that it goes one step at a time, one conversation at a time, and that there is a steady movement forward. There is a part of me that would like to streamline things and make them faster, but that is not how it works. So onward we go, one step at a time.

Cheers until next time,

E

Warrnambool week

2005-10-07T03:46:00.000-07:00

Not too much new with us, the house is coming along nicely, this week we put up the rafters, we just have to do a bit more and then on to the next step. Grace-Emma and Annette came out this week to give us guys a hand, it was good to have them there, cause there was alot of lifting to do and their muscles were a big help. Last night we had our meeting about the next leg of our trip, everyone voiced their opinion on what they wanted to do, or see, and then it was all narrowed down to what our budget allowed. I(hilko) have been surfing a bit here, enjoying the freezing waves. It took me a bit to get used to the wetsuit, and the numbing water. Last week I got a couple good runs in, after not catching anything the two times before, so I was very pleased. I believe we are achieving the objective of our trip, and we are definitely enjoying eachother, even the "disagreements", ha. We are driving a 69 volkswagon beatle that Bree has leant us, while she is in the States, truly loving it! It is so sweet to pull up to the beach in the ultimate surf mobile. Well, we're out, off to a cafe. much love to all

The Grampians

2005-09-30T00:30:00.000-07:00

A Night in Lilydale

2005-09-26T21:32:00.000-07:00

What Occupies Our Time

2005-09-26T17:58:00.000-07:00

Our week, like yours, is basically divided into 3 main categories: Work, Weekends, and Whatever.....

Work

Erick and Hilko are honing their construction skills in building the addition to a house belonging to our host family, Andrew and Julie Bruce. Previous to our arrival Andrew injured his back and, consequently, this project came to an abrupt stop. Since our arrival two and a half weeks ago, the guys have made impressive progress securing and cementing all 48 stakes, builing the flooring frame work, laying the floor boards, and are currently constructing the walls.

Annette and I on the other hand, are training for motherhood. We are assisting Julie in the home education of their 4 boys: Joshua (9), Samuel (7), Toby (6), and Rueben (2). Baby # 5 is on the way and is due to arrive in about 3 weeks. In addition to home-schooling we also help with cleaning, cooking, and the general maintenance of the home. We both agree that it has grown our appreciation for mothers and also our freedom! ::smile::
Seriously, if all children were as well-disciplined and easy to please as the Bruce's, the future would be bright.

We are simply amazed at the absolute perfection of God's timing in sending us here for these 10 weeks. Many thanks to the Ellis family (Brian, in particular) for assisting in orchestrating such a winning combination. Seeing God's guidance in such a tangible way has fueled our faith and we are enjoying the benefits of following His plan. We could not have asked for a better scenario~*

Weekends

Our weekends are comprised of encountering authentic Australiana flavor in various forms. Last weekend we enjoyed live music provided by a local Victorian band called The Sons of Korah. This weekend found us in the midst of the majestic Grampians, a series of mountains, unusual rock formations and cascading fountains. Erick was elated to spend his 25th birthday camping in the midst of it all.

Whatever

There are times when you simply need to get out and do your "own thing".

Hilko, our videographer, naturally spends his spare time surfing. For those of you who know Hilko well, this comes as no surprise. Since we are a 3 minute drive from the beach, he grabs his gear (surfboard and wetsuit provided by Julie's cousin) and heads out to his second home: The ocean. He has not caught a wave yet and describes the Australian waves as "fat". (A.J---can you explain this to me? ::smile::) He also enjoys editing footage of our trip. He plans to have a video prepared by the end to show you all our adventures abroad.

Erick, our logistics manager, spends his "chill" time reading and writing. His current book is Lord of the Flies. It has been interesting to see our personalities emerge with the stress and strain of logistical resolutions. Erick has aced his role as manager and I think his ethics are -slowly- beginning to change the way we all view money. Cheers to him for being strong-willed and tight-fisted....

Annette, our intern, has graciously allowed us to chip and break away the rough edges of her "baby" mentality. This trip has forced her to leave the role as youngest sibling and embrace the idea of equal responsibilty. Since she is now seen as an adult, and expected to act like one, it has made her more aware of the vital role she plays in the success of the trip. She enjoys working in the garden and spending time doing extra curricular activites with the boys Her maturity with the boys impresses me and I know that one day she will make a great mom!

I, the social director, spend my free time journaling. Being away from life, as I know it, has given me time to process my way of thinking and its many inconsistencies. There is something freeing about embracing life away from the norm. I think it's easy to view life from a jaded perspective when you are in the midst of comfort. Once the barriers of normalcy are shaken, your true character emerges and that is a rare encounter. I am taking strides to accept this new challenge and glean vital lessons from it.

Someone wise once said, "If you can learn to get along with your siblings, you can learn to get along with anyone." This trip has proven that to me. Your family knows the real you. The you with no make-up or pretense. The you who is not always gracious and kind. Your family rallies around you in your successes and cries with you in your failure. They tell you, in no uncertain terms, what is lacking and areas that need desperate improvement. They tell you the truth because you need it. And through it all, at the end of the day, they are the ones that love the real you.

2005-09-18T02:10:00.000-07:00

~This is Grace-Emma and Annette in front of our little red car....thanks to Lauren Ellis for graciously letting us use it.

~On Little Rock with our Aussie friends, the Ellis'

~The Foursome

~Erick overlooking the city of Hamilton

~The great adventure of driving the car on the opposite side of the road!!

Hello from Australia!!!

2005-09-15T06:12:00.000-07:00

G'day mate!! How's it going? Well, I am presently living in Australia with my three siblings at an Aussie family,named the Bruces, home. Hilko and Erick ( my brothers) are working on their new house and Grace-Emma and I are helping with the family at home. The mom is 9 months pregnant, so she is unable to do a lot of things.So we are tutoring the boys, cooking, doing some gardening...it's really great. So I guess you could call our time here like a "lay low" time.To bank some time and money. I've definitely learned one thing, travel is a great thing, but it can get tiring. Going to a different place every 3 or 5 days. I spanned 6 countries in 2 weeks...craziness. The countries were the Netherlands, Germany, London, Scotland, Dubai and Australia.

Erick was the only one who was able to get his working holiday visa and so he is getting paid, but really we are all working? ...It's kind of hard to understand. Take care!

Ta Ta,

Netty

The Silent One Steps Forward

2005-09-15T02:43:00.000-07:00

First of all, I must apologize for not writing thus far. If I had a good excuse I guess that now would be a good time to put it to use, but there are none available to me. I will say that now that we have settled for a few weeks we will be able to be more regular with our updates and you should be hearing more from us.

I suppose that I should give a quick rundown of my thoughts and musings since the beginning of the trip since it has already been four weeks...

It's really quite epic when you think about it:

Four siblings,scattered by time and their own adventures hither and yon, set out on a journey to reunite and reconnect after a lengthy relational hiatus. Their plan is to undertake a grand adventure seeing the world as they go, facing dangers and uncertainties, meeting friends and foes along the way and hopefully departing with a deeper understanding of eachother and the world they live in.

Sounds like a movie or at least a reality TV show. But this is our adventure and here we are in the midst of it. To this point it has been everything from exciting and thrilling to overwhelming and claustophobic. And this has only been four weeks.

This is how I see the way that the interpersonal dynamic works itself out. Each one of us has sort of been our own person for the last six years or so. Sure we would meet up on holidays and special events like graduations and such, but beyond that we all did our own thing. We had our independence and we liked it well. Now we find ourselves in this situation where we have to make decisions as a foursome and we depend on eachother for emotional support, where if someone is late we wait for them and if someone is having a bad day, we all have to bear the weight. On the flipside we have four people who specialize in certain fields and that comes to the table too. Grace-Emma is our soical person. She chats people up and makes phone calls and generally handles all of our PR. Hilko is the videographer and techie and also our resident philosopher. Annette is in charge of photography and is the 'intern' in the group(which really is just a nice way of saying she gets handed the jobs that we don't want to do.)I do finances and random logistical tasks. We like this arrangement and when it is working it is a beautiful thing.

I suppose I should say a bit about the countries we've seen so far.

Holland:

I have a very romantic view of Holland. This was my tenth time in the country and I still look at it very starry-eyed. Who wouldn't want to live in a place like Holland? It's clean, well-run, and full of beautiful stylish people. Everyone speaks English (even the bum on the street, I found out) and they are friendly and well-mannered. I suppose that there are plenty of things that are not to like about Holland; I just don't want to acknowledge them. Our time in Holland was short but very enjoyable with lots of glimpses into the culture and a lot of great memories made. Near the top of my list was happening upon a live performance by Mental Theo during our first night in the country. Who's Mental Theo? Only the greatest DJ in the world. Props to Fokko and Geke for letting us stay with them.

Germany:

We only spent a few hours here. How ironic is it that we ended up in a Texas-style roadhouse where the waitresses had to strain to understand our English? Very ironic.

England:

What I heard about England was true. London is notoriously expensive, the crowds are insane in August, everyone does carry a little Nokia phone and there really is a pub on every corner. We only spent a weekend, but we had plenty of good times and my advice to anyone headed for England is see the city for a day and spend the rest of your time in a small town. That's the real England. Props to the Swanns for being such good hosts. We owe you one. Stop by on your next trip to Fernie.

Scotland:

The truth about our time in Glasgow is that all we really saw was the inside of the hostel we stayed at and the streets that we passed on the way to the STA Travel nearby. What we saw was nice and I like Glasgow much more than London, even though London is glitzier and has way more money. People are really really nice and their accents are so cool that you want to think up random questions with long answers just so that you can hear them talk. We didn't hook up with any haggis but we will on the way out. Props to our man George at STA for all the work he did for us in order to make sure that we made it to Australia. George had faith because he worked on something that I don't know if he fully believed would even happen. Cheers

Dubai:

Another one of those few hour stops. It was 2:30 in the morning and it was 33 degrees. There were so many people. It was so much to take in. By a stroke of luck, the airline put us up in a posh hotel during our stopover. I was too tired to really apprectiate it all but one distinct memory is that my first night in the Middle East was a throwback to my first night in Africa. A lot of the same smells and sensations. Africa vets, so far my impression of the ME is that it is Africa with a lot of money. Something funny is that I am in the hotel and want to take in some culture so I flip on the telly and they were playing American Idol and the Sopranos.

Australia:

Everyone needs to come here. You will be hearing lots more from me about this country so for now suffice it to say that this is a beautiful country and I am looking forward to being here for the next few months. News so far is that we are living in a town called Warrnambool(good luck pronouncing that) on the South Coast. To give you an idea of bearings we are about 5 hours west of Melbourne right on the ocean. It takes us about 2 hours to drive to the Grampians(how do you like them apples, Colin?) We will be here for the next few months. Hilko and I are working contruction and the girls are helping at the house of the people we are staying with. It is a comfortable arrangement and leaves us with lots of freedom to explore this part of the country. Like I said you will be hearing more from us more often from here on out so I won't bore you with trite. Stay tuned.

In Oz at last...

2005-09-04T02:10:00.000-07:00

Greetings from Geelong, Victoria, Australia!

Since departing from Toronto, two and a half weeks ago we have spanned 3 continents, and have visited 6 countries so far: The Netherlands, Germany, England, Scotland, Dubai, and Australia.

-England-
Our second day in England, we visited all the touristy spots like The London Eye, Buckingham Palace, St. Margaret's Cathedral, Big Ben, and The Tower Bridge. We were especially excited to see the flag flying high over Buckingham Palace signaling that the Queen was in residence there. Although we did not have tea and crumpets with Her Majesty, it was a thrill to finally see the Palace and all the guards. We even fought our way through the crowd to touch the gate! Our friend, Hayley, was a fantastic tour guide showing us the places of interest in her beloved home. A new experience for us were the fish 'n chips. I think we all agreed that it was excellent!
On Sunday we attended the Notting Hill Carnival, A celebration of the ethnic groups who were despised for so long and are now free to celebrate life! Our afternoon was filled with latin music, lively dances, and vibrant colors. It was a terrific taste of home!

-Scotland-
This is the place where our travels took an interesting turn. While in Glasgow, we realized that our ticket names were not the same as our passport names. Since we did not have a problem with this in Toronto we thought nothing of it. The travel agent in Glasgow assured us that we would be rejected if we tried to enter Australia on our "mis-matched" tickets. So, needless to say, we racked our brains for alternatives. Our first option was to change the tickets so that the names would correspond with the names on our new passports. Although costly, it was a very real option. After talking with the airline we would be flying with, they told us that we would be able to enter if we had our old passports along with the new ones. What to do.....what to do....
We contacted our Mom in Michigan and asked her to fedex our passports to the office in Glasgow. They promised to have the package there before 8:00 pm the next day. This was fine, except that our plane was scehduled to leave for Dubai 6 hours earlier. After obtaining the tracking number, we contacted the head fedex office in Paisley and asked them to hold the package for us. The next morning, Erick walked to the office, picked up the passports, and we were on our way to Dubai.

More updates on Australia to come....

Holland

2005-08-26T08:31:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures of our time in the Netherlands. I miss you all so much and hope that you are doing well. I will post more as the time goes on and I have exciting stories.

Later,

Nets

~This is the four of us on a Pimp my Room couch on the Great Street in Holland.~

~This is us in front of the Martini Tower in the center of Groningen,The Netherlands.~

~This is my Opa (Grandpa) and me~

~Here the last picture we have together before we went on our big trip~

The Adventure Starts!

2005-08-26T08:03:00.000-07:00

August 17th we launched the experience of a lifetime. With hiker backpacks (which Annette described as feeling pregnant on your back because it's incredibly top heavy and nearly impossible to bend over without falling head over heels), a tight budget, and a dream to see the world, we left the motherland in search of adventure. The Netherlands was a visit to the past, catching up with relatives who introduced us to authentic European flavor. It was inspiring to be among people who are conscious of style, beauty, elegance, and charm. I personally felt like a shrimp next to relatives where 6" is the norm. My recent complex, however, did not hinder me from absolutely loving my time there.

Annette and I had the privilege of staying with our cousin, Geke Stulp. She was a fantastic hostess and very accomodating. While sipping hot, dutch tea we reminisced about our dreams, lives, and hopes for the future.

On August 25th we boarded the train for Hoek van Holland. It was a pleasantly smooth day of travel, minus the mix-up we had in Liverpool Street Station when Annette and I boarded the train, headed for Witham, England without Erick and Hilko. Erick thought we had boarded the wrong train and were en route to Timbuktu! ::smile:: Thankfully the crisis was not as severe as anticipated. They boarded the next train to Witham that left a mere 4 minutes later. Within an hour we were already laughing about it! We are heading into London tomorrow for some touristic sight-seeing and will make sure to visit the Buckingham palace (or was that Burmingham, Erick? hahaha) Oh, the fun time yet to come....Much love to you all!
Grace-Emma