Hello all,
Just wanted to let everyone know we have arrived safely in the very very warm Albanian climate!
We will be in Tirana for a little over two weeks.
We have been informed by our hosts that the Albanians need prayer against a sense of hopelessness (coming from their former communistic rule-they have only been open for 15 years now) and for a sense of individual worth/destiny (stemming from the group culture which is not wrong but at times individuals can feel unworthy outside their group context).
Bas and I enjoy the very warm, open, loving people. The hospitality has been great and we already feel very much accepted and a part of the group.
Bas played soccer with the guys last night and scored two goals! Despite language barriers, football unites the world.
The school is made up of 7 students: 4 Albanians, 2 Latvians, and 1 guy from Kosovo (quick fact: the youngest state in the world!).
We were able to have several good conversations, and feel connections already (all can speak a minimal level of English and some even are quite proficient). I have noticed that the guys in particular have very gentle spirits. They are quite young guys and it's refreshing to see that in contrast to the usual striving to be cool and tough at such an age.
Please pray for us as you think of it. This will be Bas' first time teaching for an entire week in a school. I may share bits in the classes, but primarily I will be in the class praying as Bas is teaching. I will also just be available after class and during meal times to talk with students and staff.
Love to you all,
Michelle and Bas
Saturday, July 05, 2008
Monday, June 16, 2008
Hup Oranje, Hup!
I am in orange country right now. The European football (that's soccer for all you American folks) tournament has begun and, therefore, the Royal (from the Dutch royal family) color orange must certainly be displayed on every available surface! They do a good job of it, too.
I, as many of you know, have always liked soccer so I welcome the hype and fun of it all.
I experienced my first true Oranje game on Friday night. Bas and I went to the local cafe to get a feel for our neighborhood. We picked a good place because the little place was packed with horn blowers, face paint wearers (who readily shared their paint with everyone present), orange feather boa clad ladies, and of course orange shirt bearers (I being one of them). I really like the place because it is family owned and all the neighbors are all chummy and friendly. It has a cozy feel to it. We were able to meet some of our neighbors so that added to the great time we had.
We plan to go back with some friends of ours from Den Haag (The Hague) for the next game tomorrow night...now I just need to start learning those silly songs they sing during the game so I can really blend in!!
Side note: As you can see, I have resurrected my blog. I plan to revamp it in the coming weeks with a new layout and pictures added and so forth. Nice, eh? We were fortunate enough to be able to get a new laptop while we were in America and we have wireless in our house, so I should be able to be more consistent than this last year!
xoxo
Michelle
I, as many of you know, have always liked soccer so I welcome the hype and fun of it all.
I experienced my first true Oranje game on Friday night. Bas and I went to the local cafe to get a feel for our neighborhood. We picked a good place because the little place was packed with horn blowers, face paint wearers (who readily shared their paint with everyone present), orange feather boa clad ladies, and of course orange shirt bearers (I being one of them). I really like the place because it is family owned and all the neighbors are all chummy and friendly. It has a cozy feel to it. We were able to meet some of our neighbors so that added to the great time we had.
We plan to go back with some friends of ours from Den Haag (The Hague) for the next game tomorrow night...now I just need to start learning those silly songs they sing during the game so I can really blend in!!
Side note: As you can see, I have resurrected my blog. I plan to revamp it in the coming weeks with a new layout and pictures added and so forth. Nice, eh? We were fortunate enough to be able to get a new laptop while we were in America and we have wireless in our house, so I should be able to be more consistent than this last year!
xoxo
Michelle
First time for Bas in America
Here I am snuggling back into life in my beloved city Amsterdam. We have had an exciting, thrilling, relaxing, interesting, and enjoyable two months away from "normal" life at the base now. I know not all of you are aware of what transpired over those two months so I will attempt to give you a short but entertaining rendition:
After our absolutely perfect wedding day on 9 April, we had a few nights in our new little home in Amsterdam. A friend of ours loaned his car for us to use and we drove to our honeymoon destination=southern Switzerland. After driving 10 hours through amazing scenery (I recommend anyone to drive through Switzerland), we arrived at our quaint little villa the Casa Flora. We spent three weeks in the Casa Flora which is situated in the Alps and overlooks a lake and valley. I will just say that those three weeks were everything that a honeymoon should be!
We had a great idea on our drive back home to try to visit as many countries as possible. So we started in Switzerland then drove through Lichtenstein (great place to get your false teeth from...they're the world's largest exporters of dentures! Who knew?), Austria, Germany, Luxembourg, and Belgium before arriving back in The Netherlands. The drive home took us much longer than going, so we came up with the brilliant idea of saving money and just sleeping in the car. Uhh, not a brilliant idea. We were cold all night and could not get comfortable. I was so cold that I was curled up on the front seat in the fetal position with gloves, sweaters, scarves, shoes, blankets, and anything else I could think of bundled around me and even covering my head yet I shivered the whole night long.
I don't regret our trip back one bit, but I think next time we may want to seriously consider shelling out the 70 euros...even if only for a short nights rest.
Back in Amsterdam, we had a relaxing 6 days of sunbathing, fishing in the canal in front of our house, hanging out with the neighbors, and barbequeing with friends before we flew off to America.
This was Bas' first trip to America and I was really anticipating to see how he would experience it all. I think the hugeness of it struck him like a wrecking ball since his first place to visit was Costco! He was amazed by all the free food samples and gleefully zipped about to each sample station. It was quite amusing for me during the whole trip to observe him being "baptized" into our food culture. He did enjoy many things and some of his favorites were: frosted mini wheats, Uno's pizza, Dr. Pepper, cheese crackers, chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream, macaroni and cheese, and many varieties of chips. He also loved the cheap coffee prices.
We had a really great time in America and want to thank all of you who were able to come to our Blessing ceremony in Kansas City. We truly felt blessed and even a little overwhelmed by the generosity of you all.
And thanks to all of you that we were able to see and spend time with during our stay. You helped make our trip wonderful.
We love you all!
Michelle and Bas Rijksen
After our absolutely perfect wedding day on 9 April, we had a few nights in our new little home in Amsterdam. A friend of ours loaned his car for us to use and we drove to our honeymoon destination=southern Switzerland. After driving 10 hours through amazing scenery (I recommend anyone to drive through Switzerland), we arrived at our quaint little villa the Casa Flora. We spent three weeks in the Casa Flora which is situated in the Alps and overlooks a lake and valley. I will just say that those three weeks were everything that a honeymoon should be!
We had a great idea on our drive back home to try to visit as many countries as possible. So we started in Switzerland then drove through Lichtenstein (great place to get your false teeth from...they're the world's largest exporters of dentures! Who knew?), Austria, Germany, Luxembourg, and Belgium before arriving back in The Netherlands. The drive home took us much longer than going, so we came up with the brilliant idea of saving money and just sleeping in the car. Uhh, not a brilliant idea. We were cold all night and could not get comfortable. I was so cold that I was curled up on the front seat in the fetal position with gloves, sweaters, scarves, shoes, blankets, and anything else I could think of bundled around me and even covering my head yet I shivered the whole night long.
I don't regret our trip back one bit, but I think next time we may want to seriously consider shelling out the 70 euros...even if only for a short nights rest.
Back in Amsterdam, we had a relaxing 6 days of sunbathing, fishing in the canal in front of our house, hanging out with the neighbors, and barbequeing with friends before we flew off to America.
This was Bas' first trip to America and I was really anticipating to see how he would experience it all. I think the hugeness of it struck him like a wrecking ball since his first place to visit was Costco! He was amazed by all the free food samples and gleefully zipped about to each sample station. It was quite amusing for me during the whole trip to observe him being "baptized" into our food culture. He did enjoy many things and some of his favorites were: frosted mini wheats, Uno's pizza, Dr. Pepper, cheese crackers, chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream, macaroni and cheese, and many varieties of chips. He also loved the cheap coffee prices.
We had a really great time in America and want to thank all of you who were able to come to our Blessing ceremony in Kansas City. We truly felt blessed and even a little overwhelmed by the generosity of you all.
And thanks to all of you that we were able to see and spend time with during our stay. You helped make our trip wonderful.
We love you all!
Michelle and Bas Rijksen
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