Adventures of a TwentySomething

Soccer, Sunsets, and Cobblestone Streets

Hey All!

Well, I don't have much time, but here is a quicky update on life here in Nurlu....

Went to a great soccer game last weekend - it was in a neighboring village and was against two rival teams (we were there to be loud and root for the local team that one of the sons plays on) and it was so fun - sweaty, smoking, maybe slightly intoxicated old French men screaming their brains out over a soccer match between 17 and 18 year-olds. Quite entertaining. It was actually a highlight of the week - a cool glimpse into the actual culture of this countryside.

I've been taking evening walks just down the road, one just to see the scenery and two, to get a breather from this busy house (18 of us living in the same couple of buildings - it's an old farm, so imagine of bit of a compound). Last night had a beautiful sunset and I went to take pictures. Ended up being barked at by some terribly loud dogs and went to take a picture of them and the lighting was spectacular - I will post some of this epicness once I'm back in the states.

The last three days (minus today) we have been doing outreach work by distributing flyers for the local churches here. This means getting a map and trekking over cobblestone streets for hours, individually placing flyers in each mail slot, which is usually on a person's door or wall of their house. I have a lot of thoughts on this method, but I've been learning a lot through hearing the stories of the pastors and people here - yesterday we visited the town that Calvin was born in, and did some distribution there. There is no church, other than the cathedral, in the town. Interesting. I've always looked at Europe through the lens of a camera and tourism, not usually in terms of demographics. Yesterday was eye-opening in that sense... I distributed flyers with a guy from Germany and we talked about world travels as we walked for hours around town, in and out of low-income apartment buildings, greeting people who are wearing clothing from all over the world and just observing. It was really intesting.

Overall, this adventure has not been what I was expecting. Not really something to write here, but I'd love to grab coffee or something and share about that once I'm back. Thanks to you all for your support, for reading my ramblings, and for encouraging me to do this trek.

"Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all." - Helen Keller

posted by KacieAnne @ 2:00 PM