Between Two Continents- Istanbul (Days 1 and 2)

I know it has been awhile since I've posted and I have yet to write about my time in France, but I thought I'd go ahead and write a post about my amazing trip to one of the greatest cities in the world, Istanbul.

A few weeks ago, I was talking to my friend Doga from IU.  I met Doga last year and she's currently subleasing my apartment in Bloomington. I've told her before about how much I want to go to Turkey and also how I want to do some traveling while in Europe and she suggested that I go stay with her family in Istanbul. So within a few hours I had asked my German host family if I could go away for a long weekend, looked up plane tickets and pretty much confirmed my trip.  Doga was so helpful.  She loves Istanbul and knows a lot about the city so she made me a touring schedule, convinced her brother Olcay to be my guide (or just told him he would be?), and had a place for me to stay. So within a couple days I bought my plane ticket and prepared to go to Turkey.

On the Ferry

On Friday morning after breakfast, Matthias and I took the girls to school then I headed to the airport.  I hopped on the train, then on a plane and was off.  I arrived in Istanbul around 4:00 on Friday and Birsen (Doga's mom) and Olcay were there waiting from me.  We recognized each other right away from Facebook pictures and I was so excited to see them.  I was so appreciative that they traveled about an hour and a half from the Anatolian (Asian) side of the city to pick me up at the European airport.  We got on a metro then on a couple of buses to get back to the house.  It was so amazing to cross over the Bosphorus.  As we were driving over the bridge, the sun was setting and it was beautiful. And then, for the first time, I was in Asia! When we got to the house in Göztepe I put down my things, freshened up, then we headed out to the big shopping street in the region, Bagdat Avenue to go to a restaurant with great lahmacun (like Turkish pizza). It was really good! It was nice to walk around a part of the city that wasn't full of tourists.  When we got back to the house I had my first simit (kind of like a soft pretzel) & çay (tea). That's a really popular  combination in Turkey, so I found out.

Sultanahmet Mosque

Saturday morning Birsen made us a big breakfast of eggs, simit, and other Turkish breads and rolls that I can't remember the name of, and of course hot çay.  After breakfast Olcay and I headed out for a day of touring.  First we got on a bus and headed to Kadiköy where we walked around a bit before boarding the ferry to Eminönü (a region on the European side).  I was so, so excited to be on the ferry for the first time in Istanbul.  It was beautiful! It was so, so amazing to be standing in between two continents! The Bosphorus water is blue and the city is beautiful.  After arriving in Eminönü we got on the metro and headed to the Sultanahmet area.  There we went into the Sultanahmet (Blue) mosque and also saw Hagia Sophia, and looked at the beautiful architecture in that area. All of the mosques were so beautiful and it was interesting to go inside Sultanahmet. While still in the Sultanahmet region, I was told that it was mandatory that I ate the Sultanahmet Kofte (meatballs), so we had those for lunch. They were so, so good!

The "greatest salesman" in the Bazaar and Olcay

After lunch it was time for Kapaliçarsi (Grand Bazaar)! I was so excited and overwhelmed upon entering the Bazaar. For a girl who loves to shop and really loves getting a good deal, it was almost too much.  I felt sorry for Olcay right away, because I didn't see any way of me getting out of there quickly.  When I have a chance to bargain, I get pretty serious.  I had not planned on purchasing anything right away but at one of the first booths I was at I saw a pretty purple candle holder I like and the salesman was nice so the three of us ended up chatting for awhile. He gave me a "student discount" and sold me the candle holder for "much less than usual". The sale was pretty quick, so I highly doubt I got the best deal, but I didn't really care.  The guy was fun to talk to and he gave Olcay and I tea so we stood and chatted for a bit.  After that we walked around and I contemplated my purchases, tried on shoes I knew I couldn't afford, and made some purchases.  Olcay helped me bargain by using Turkish and together we got some pretty good prices and I got a few gifts for my family.  Olcay talked to a guy about music while I was picking out earrings, more salesmen gave me "the best price ever" and after about 3 hours we were finally leaving the Bazaar.  I think we both ended up having a good time.  I loved it!

Fortune Telling

After Kapaliçarsi we started making our way to Taksim (one of the liveliest areas of the city). Along the way we walked along the Bosphorus, watched the ferry boats and people fishing, and got yummy lokma (like a donut).  The lokma was great, but really messy.  We arrived in Taksim in the evening.  It was Saturday night and the area was full of tourists and locals.  That seemed to be the main shopping district and there were a lot of clubs and cafes and restaurants.  We took an adorable trolley down the main, crowded pedestrian street and met some of Olcay's friends.  We down a side street to what seemed to be a pretty hidden restaurant, but when we got there it was full of locals.  It was a really cool place. We sat out in the garden and drank Turkish coffee and then told fortunes using the designs formed by the last of the coffee left in our cup.  I'm just going to say the fortunes weren't true, because if they were, all of us have some pretty bad things coming up in the near future ;) After coffee, they decided to go to Burger King.  I felt funny going to get "American" fast food while in a city with tons of great food, but it was still nice to have french fries and pepsi, I suppose. After eating, we went to a trendy cafe where I had some yummy Sahlep (seemed to be hot milk with cinnamon).  After that Olcay and I went back to Taksim square to get a bus home where we had simit and çay with Birsen before going to bed.  It was such a wonderful day.

Istiklal- Main street in Taksim

So, that's an overview of my first two days in beautiful Istanbul. Within the next day or two, I'll share about the rest of my time Turkey. :) 

Joys Of Being An Au Pair

I have one of the greatest jobs ever.
<3 I love spending afternoons playing with children.
<3 I love that I currently have candy, candy wrappers, tissues (both new and unused), a Thomas and the Big, Big Bridge, and tons of tram and old bus tickets filling my purse.
<3 I love going to an international school and hearing people from all different countries speaking various languages.
<3 I love feeling like I'm on my own but also having a loving, caring adoptive family.
<3 I love taking day trips to France and weekend trips to places like Italia and Turkey
<3 I love going to adorable cafes with good friends after putting the kids to bed
<3 I love reading stories at night
<3 I love driving on narrow little roads and speeding down the autobahn
<3 I love spending Friday nights in the city
<3 I love chatting, drinking coffee, and eating chocolates with my host parents late at night
<3 I love going out for a day and not hearing any English
<3 I love learning about a new culture


I have been blessed with such a great opportunity.  I thank God for how he worked through this and is teaching me so much. I am thankful for the people he has brought into my life. I have been blessed with a great little community of Christian friends and have gotten to meet people from so many places. I've had opportunities to travel.  I've gotten to spend time with friends from home and to meet new people.  I sometimes miss my family and friends at home, but I'll find it hard to leave in April.

I love being able to finally be a big sister and also like a mom.  I have learned so much about raising a family. I know I have so much more to learn but after living with two different families as an au pair and doing a lot of babysitting, I've gotten to learn a lot about what I want for my future.  I'm so blessed with this opportunity to meet new people, learn a lot, and experience a new way of life.

God is so great.

Bonn und Köln

This is a bit late, but about a week ago I went to visit Ching (about 2 hours away) for the weekend and we did a bit of sightseeing we had a great time.

About 2 weeks ago, Ching contacted me and asked if I wanted to spend the next weekend with her and travel to another city with her.  I have a great host family here so they told me I'm welcome to leave Friday-Sunday (and even longer if I wanted).  So Ching and I started making plans. We considered Ludwigsburg, Cologne (Köln), Bonn, Heidelberg, and Frankfurt.


On Friday morning I boarded a train going from Bickenbach (my local train station) to Frankfurt to catch a train to Koblenz to meet Ching.  I got to the train station early so took an earlier train.  I made it to the main station (Hauptbahnhof) in Frankfurt and had time to eat lunch and explore the station a bit before boarding my next train.  I really love all of the hauntbahnhofs I've seen so far here in Germany. They're a great combination of old and new architecture and they're fascinating.  I also love the train system here, it's timely, safe, and somewhat affordable (especially if you travel in groups.) After an hour or so in Frankfurt, I boarded my train to Koblenz.  I enjoyed the beautiful train ride along the Rhine River.  There are castles built all along the river and there are also vineyards and beautiful villages and houses. It was a nice ride.

I was so happy to meet Ching in Koblenz! We haven't seen each other much at all since high school. And I never spent time alone with her, so it was cool that the first weekend we spent together was in this beautiful country.  She took me back to her adorable university town (Vallendar) and I napped in her room while she was in class. That night we ate dinner at an adorable (and yummy!) Italian restaurant then explored the town, the university campus, and the island nearby. Although it was cold, it was nice to walk around the town. Later Friday night we made our plans to go to Bonn and Köln the next day.

We woke up the next morning and took an hour train ride from Koblenz to Bonn.  The train ride was once again beautiful.  When we arrived in Bonn, we walked through the beautiful city to Beethoven's birth home. It was so cool! It was amazing to see the room where Beethoven was born, see his handwritten score, look at his worn-out piano keys, etc.  I'm not even a huge into music history, but it was so amazing to be there, I got chills.  After exploring the home for awhile Ching and I got lunch then took the U-Bahn (subway) to the modern history museum.  Ching taught me a lot at the museum.  It was great to learn more about German history, considering I don't know much.

After the museum we headed back to the train station to board a train to Köln.  We had an interesting ride there.  It was the day of a football game so we ended up in a train with a bunch of drunk football fans.  It was nice of them to offer us seats on the full train and beer (that we didn't take, of course).  It was interesting to sit with them. When we boarded the train they started chanting a Japanese football player's name thinking Ching was Japanese. It was funny because the whole time they were trying to speak to her in English and to me in German. I was quite flattered that they thought I was German, but I couldn't understand a word they were saying.  Once we cleared things up, they spoke to us in English.  It was still quite entertaining because they were so drunk.

Once we walked out of the hauptbahnhof in Köln, we saw the huge cathedral. It was so beautiful! We got to walk through and see all of the beautiful alter, sculptures, windows, and just the architecture.  The ceilings were so tall and the whole building was gorgeous.  I loved it!!

After exploring in and around the cathedral we looked around around the city some and saw the Rathaus then walked over to the bridge.  The bridge that stretched over the Rhine was utilized by cars, trains and pedestrians.  Along the pedestrian path, the bridge was covered with thousands of padlocks.  Couples in love write or engrave their names on a padlock, lock it to the bridge, then throw the key in the Rhine.  It was fun to look at the locks.

After watching the beautiful sunset from the bridge we decided to warm up by doing a bit of shopping. We shopped around and Ching ended up with an adorable blazer and I got a new pair of heels from H&M.  After shopping we decided to go get dinner. After walking into a few over-crowded and/or over-priced restaurants, we found a great, tiny Italian place.  We ate great food and didn't talk the whole time because we were trying to figure out what the girls next to us were talking about. They were speaking half Italian and half German.  I picked up a few Italian words, and Ching picked out some German.  I loved being there because I could speak to the waitress in Italian and didn't have to ask for English. That felt so, so good.  After dinner we headed back to the hauptbahnof and headed back to Koblenz.


The next morning we slept in and I headed back to Seeheim in the afternoon.

I had such a great weekend with Ching.  We spent so much time talking about the past, present, and future.  We shared stories with each other about high school and previous years in college.  We talked about our love for Germany and for European men.  We talked about our futures in Europe and things we loved and hated about America.  It was such a great, great weekend. It was so exciting and so relaxing at the same time.

Week 2 in Deutschland

The last week or so has been really great.  I've gotten to spend time with my "family", meet new friends, and spend time with old friends while expiring new places.  I've been thanking God often for the ways he has been blessing me here.

Last Tuesday I had a great day with Janet. After we took the girls to school, ran a few errands.  Janet had me drive everywhere we went so that I could get familiar with the roads and the rules as well as the car.  We went to the Rathaus (city house) in the town they previously lived in and then when to a second-hand shop where she bought me a couple great scarves. (I really love scarves!) The town was adorable. We then drove a couple of minutes over to the Rhine River where we ate pretzels at an adorable old restaurant. After lunch I drove up a tiny little road to an old castle. It was fun because we were the only two people at the castle. We explored the dark towers and looked out to the hills and the Rhine.  Later, she took me to lunch at the Lufthansa Center near here. It was so weird to be there because it was in the middle of the hills with no buildings nearby.  We went and it was like a bubble. It was a brand new hotel and conference center full of people in business suits and they were all speaking English. It was unreal.

I spent a lot of the rest of the week setting up my room (finally), playing with the girls and taking them to and from school, and going to the nearby University town, Darmstadt. On Thursday I met Jenny, the au pair from England.  We window shopped then had some good Italian food for lunch.  Later in the evening Jenny and I met Axel to go to the Campus für Christus (Cru) meeting at Darmstadt. There were 30-40 students at the meeting.  After getting over my fear of not knowing the language and approaching others, I met some pretty cool people. Some people were scared to speak English, although everyone I talked to spoke it well.  The meeting went well. It was cool to listen to worship songs in German. Jenny translated the main part of the messages.  I was happy to hear that the man spoke about the Prodigal Son because I've heard sermons on that multiple times. I was able to ponder the story and pray on my own and still felt like I was following along. It was so great to be part of a Christian community of college students. That's what I had been praying for.

After the meeting we went out with some new friends.  Axel ordered me my first "real" beer at a biergarten. I got the smallest one I could and it was alright, but I couldn't drink much more than that.  It was fun to socialize and meet new people.  We stayed there for about an hour or so then headed back home. We were running late so Jenny, Axel and I just ran and jumped on the tram. After Jenny and Axel had already gotten off, I realized I was on the wrong tram. It was the right number, but it wasn't the one that went all the way back to Seeheim.  When I first found out I kind of freaked. It was 12:30am and I didn't want to be stranded at a tram stop on a winter night. I wasn't thinking clearly and called Axel to ask him to check the tram schedule. A nice guy on the tram heard me and told me I would have to get off at the last stop then wait 30 minutes for my tram.  Axel was nice enough and called me back so that I would be a little less freaked out while waiting for my tram at Frankenstein. Oh yeah, the last stop happened to be "Frankenstein Place".  Although I was freaked out at first, I said a prayer and felt a great sense of calmness.  I know this wasn't even that bad of a situation, but I love how God can calm my nerves when I just put trust in him. As I was waiting at the dark tram stop, snow started to fall. It was so pretty.  At around 1:30am I arrived at home safely.

The next morning I left to visit Ching in Koblenz then we went on a day trip to Bonn and Cologne. I'll write more about that great adventure in another post, because it is now past my bedtime.

Called to Go?

I feel really blessed with the opportunities that I've had to spend time overseas.  At this point, I've gotten to spend a week or more in about 5 different countries. I know to many people that doesn't sound like much, but I hope to see that number to continue to grow. I'm so thankful for my time in Italy and even my week stay in Guatemala and already thankful for my time here in Germany.  I love experiencing new cultures.



It wasn't too long ago that my mom was picking me up from sleepovers at midnight (that was even when I was still in middle school...) Things started changing a bit when I decided to go to Guatemala on a mission trip.  Guatemala was a place I had always want to go and I saw the trip advertised at church one day and within about a week I was signed up.  God was totally working there and I didn't even fully realize it at the time.  I found it odd that I was just excited and confident with my decision and didn't even feel nervous.  I was going to another country with a group of people I didn't even know.  With my history, it was pretty odd that I did that. I mean, at one point I didn't think I'd be able to go to school 2 hours away from home. I am so glad God sent me on that trip.  I really loved my time in Guatemala.  I learned so much from the people I was with and especially from the children there.  I really saw the love of God there and God really put a love and a desire in my heart.

About a year after that trip to Guatemala, I started searching for opportunities to spend time overseas.  When I got to IU I started looking for overseas study programs right away but nothing was working out well with my major (which seems odd considering I'm studying tourism.) So over Christmas break of my sophomore year I made a profile on an au pair website.  I really didn't think much would come from it when I made the profile.  Within about two weeks, I had a offer from a great family in Italy to spend the summer with them as their first au pair. Before I knew it, I was buying a plane ticket and making travel plans.  That was kind of unreal for everyone in my family.  I, a homesick little girl, was going to go to Italy without anyone I knew for 12 weeks.

 I was confused before deciding to go to Italy, though. For months I had planned on going on Summer Project with Cru and doing campus ministry overseas for 6-8 weeks.  I really had a desire to go. I easily saw ways that God could use me.  I did have a hard time giving that decision to Him.  I tried to trick myself, but I think knew Summer Project wasn't what God was calling me to do the whole time.

So in May, I packed my bags and headed to Macerata. I got to live with and really be a port of a wonderful family, eat great food, see so many different towns, and have a lot of great alone time.  It was also odd that I enjoyed so much alone time.  I have (had?) a bit of separation anxiety.  I've always loved being close to my close friends and family (especially my mother) but I really took advantage of my free time in Italy and did a lot of thinking, journaling, and praying during that time.  My love of being overseas grew and grew.  I did have some days where I missed home a lot. It was hard not knowing the language and although I had a great relationship with my host parents and grandparents and aunts and uncles, I didn't have the best relationship with the kids.  Me being there was hard on me as well as Gabriele and Elena at times.  Overall, I had a wonderful experience and although I was ready to be home, it was so hard to leave at the end.  I fell in love with the Italian towns, language, food, and people.

A couple of months ago, on a Saturday morning I woke up and decided I really wanted to go overseas again. The next thing I knew everything worked out perfectly for me to spend this "semester" in Germany as an au pair.  I didn't understand why God would be calling me here and I still don't know what the reasoning is, but I do know this feels right.  It's hard to describe my feelings since I've been here. I may be speaking too soon considering this is just my first week here, but everything just feels right I guess. I've had my times when I've felt nervous (mostly because of language barriers and figuring out public transportation, etc.) but for the most part this just feels right.  It's a different feeling than I've ever had when I've traveled.  Well, I've felt this before but not quite to this extent.  I love this community I'm a part of and the people I've gotten to meet and the things I've already gotten to see. I'm also excited for my future plans while I'm here.  It's odd that I haven't felt homesick yet.  I know this culture is similar to American culture and I'm living in a home where English is spoken fluently, but it's still a change for me and I'm still thousands of miles away from home.  This is really confirming to me that I'm able to live overseas, especially if it is something God is calling me to do.

I see opportunities that I have for mission work both in the US and overseas after I graduate.  I know all of these opportunities are great and if I go where God is truly calling me I"ll be satisfied, but I really hope that He ultimately calls me to go overseas.  I have this huge desire in my heart to serve in this way.  I love ministry and I love being overseas and being with people from other cultures and backgrounds.  I am so grateful for the opportunities I've already had and interested to see where God will lead me next. My biggest prayer is that I will just really open myself up and listen to God.  He knows my heart and I know if I listen to Him great things will happen.  So, if you're interested in praying for me, please just pray that I will open my mind and my heart to God. I'll be praying the same for all of you as well. 

International Weekend

I've had such a great first weekend here in Deutschland. :) I met so many people here this weekend and saw a lot of new things.

On Friday, I slept in, made lunch, then went to school to pick the girls up.  I drove Leonie and her friend Nia to the house along with the neighbor boy Francesco (who is half Italian and have Scottish, so I'm having him help me with my Italian.) While the three kids had a play date, I made brownies for the bake sale the next day and then sat and had coffee with Janet.  Soon after that, Mareike arrived with her friend Clara and the 4 girls played all night.  They had a sleepover and it was fun to play with them and watch them play.

On Saturday morning we went to the school Open House. The girls go to an international school so it was a lot of fun.  They didn't have enough volunteers at the Spanish Cafe run by the Spanish classes, so I volunteered. It was fun to sell baked goods and coffee with some of the moms. I got to work with one Italian woman who is good friends with my "family." I was excited to get to speak some Italian with her and we both tried to speak Spanish at the café.  It was so interesting because everyone at the school speaks English. I met people from so many countries and heard many different languages.  I rarely heard anyone speak German. It is great to be a part of this international community, it makes me feel much more comfortable here.

After the open house, we took the girls to play dates and birthday parties, then Janet Mattias and Iwent out to get "Turkish" Doner for lunch. I liked that quite a bit.  After lunch we came back to the house and our Italian friend Benedetta came again.  Her, Janet and I got to sit and drink wine and talk while Matthias went to pick up the kids. She gave me advice and told me the best way to get back to Italy to visit my Italian family.  Later, her daughter came over for a play date with Leonie and Mareike.

Today was a fun day.  We got to sleep in and then eat a late breakfast as a family. After breakfast, we went hiked about 5 kilometers up the hills to the Frankenstien Castle.  The hike was fun.  We followed the trails for the most part.  There were cool markings on trees.  It was cold out, but the fresh air along with the workout felt really good.  At one point, we figured out we took a wrong turn so we had to climb up a really steep, muddy hill and at about that point it started raining.  We all got pretty dirty and it took a little longer than expected, but we had a great time.

When we got to the castle, we met some family friends for lunch.  The family who has a 2-year-old son Jonas and a 7-year old daughter Carolina just got a new au pair, from England so they thought it would be good for us all to meet.  Jenny just arrived in Seeheim yesterday.  I was excited to meet someone else my own age but curious to see if we had any of the same interests and see how we would get along.  After a minute or two of talking, I decided that we would get along well.  We definitely have some of the same passions and I know God is answering my prayers.

Jenny is here to look for a job in Frankfurt as well as be an au pair for a few months.  She is with a church in England and plans to help plant a brand new church in Frankfurt. (How cool is that!?!) I was so excited when she told me this. She just got back from an 18-month-stay in Ghana where she helped plant another church.  This was such exciting news for me.  I'm excited to get to know her better and hopefully spend more time with her. She already plans to go to a Campus Crusade meeting with me in Darmstadt this week if we both can fit it in our schedule.  I prayed a lot before coming here that God would provide me with good connection to other Christians during my time here, and I already see him providing that. I'm excited to see how the next few months will go. :) 

Exploring Deutschland

The last few days here have been good. 

I’m still trying to adjust to life here. Jetlag has been one of the hardest things at this point.  Not knowing the language has also caused me a few problems.  I get so nervous when I go alone to a store or try to use public transportation. It seems as if almost everyone under the age of 50 here speaks English well (some people even speak it better than I do). But I still feel uncomfortable.  In Italy, I hated how people could tell I was American and would right away speak English to me.  I’m a bit flattered that everyone here automatically speaks German to me, but that has also been difficult.  It was embarrassing when I had to pay for my meal and gave the wrong amount of money because I couldn’t understand what the cashier said to me.  I also can’t read maps, so touring around has been a bit difficult. I’m starting to understand just how hard it can be to move to a new country. 

But overall, things have gone really well. My family is great. On Tuesday, I went to Mannheim, a city about 45 minutes from here, with Janet. While she was working, I explored the city for a few hours.  I got coffee at a cute café, took pictures, walked around in cute residential neighborhoods, talked to the lady in the tourist center, shopped around, and ate lunch.  It was a good day. I didn’t make it to the castle there, so I’ll have to go back another day. On Tuesday night, I went to circus class with Mareike.  Janet and I played with the kids and it was fun.

On Wednesday, I took the girls to school for the first time by myself.  It went pretty well.  I was nervous to drive Janet’s car, but I got to the school just fine. After dropping the girls off, I went to the grocery store. It wasn’t where I thought it was, so I had to pull out the navigation system.  It was helpful, but it was in German so I’ll have to figure out how to change that. I bought some things for lunch, but couldn’t read all of the packages. I got tortellini and was so happy to find prosciutto! I plan to eat like I did in Italy. J I spent the afternoon sleeping (fail!) and the evening playing with the girls.

After taking the girls to school today, I went on an adventure to Darmstadt. I went to meet Axel, a German student I met while he was on a mission trip to IU last fall.  I was so nervous to ride the tram.  I didn’t exactly know how to buy a ticket, didn’t know which tram to ride, and couldn’t read any of the directions.  Luckily, there was a nice lady at the tram station who helped me buy my ticket and gave me some advice. I was proud of myself for getting on the right tram and even getting off at the correct stop.

I met Axel at the station and he showed me around the great town of Darmstadt.  We saw some city buildings and went into the university library.  We also walked through a really pretty garden and played on the zip-line at the park. It was a lot of fun! Later in the afternoon, we met Axel’s friend Erika for coffee. She was sweet and I enjoyed getting to know her. Later, I got lunch on my own. I had my first schnitzel.

I got back to Seeheim just fine and made gummy bears with the girls when they got home from school.  We spent the rest of the evening playing. Tomorrow, I may actually unpack my bags and stay around the house.  I’ve enjoyed exploring and can’t wait to see more this weekend and next week.