Our Travels Abroad

Thinking about this as a whole year seems overwhelming to both of us and can make us panic, so a wise friend said think of it as many little trips. With this idea, we have just completed part 1. We drove just over 2000 miles through parts of Germany, France and Holland. We went through cities which have existed for well over 1000 years and some which have been destroyed and rebuilt several times. We saw remnants of wars and memorials to those who fought for their rights and the rights of others. All in a matter of 11 days. And honestly some of it is a blur like the lines we passed on the roads. But what stands out in our minds are the people we met. We stayed in Airbnb’s (which I fully recommend) which allowed us to meet some locals. Regular people: a counselor, a farmer, a single mom, a retired couple, a family in a new home…all just living life in their own ways.

There are also the characters we met along the way. The shop keeper who recommended a restaurant to us and then came back to check on us a few hours later just to see if we really did heed his excellent advise. The close to 100 year old woman in the French countryside who wanted to help us find our way but spoke no English, was hard of hearing and didn’t know Guillamo (our next host…we had lost our GPS signal) I wish I videotaped this interaction. There was the Dutch couple we met at lunch and sat with for over an hour talking or the British couple we sat next to at dinner and Jim ended up trying her dessert at the end and the Irish Greek gentleman who has stood beside his cancer stricken wife for a year and multiple operations and had just learned she was 100% cancer free. The news was so fresh he was suspended between joy and disbelief, but all the time praising God for this miracle and the opportunity to live life each to their fullest.

These are the parts that will stay with us. We share stories of home and all of you.

So now we sit patiently at the airport and wait for our flight to take us to part two…the Camino. We are nervous and excited to begin. We anticipate many more souls along the way. One step and day at a time. Peace to all of you on your journeys.

I am going to go back a week and share my journal entries from the second night.

I’m not sure if it is the jet lag or the caffeine I had at 3:30 but I am up at 4:00am, wide awake, so I thought I would write the first post.

It started the day before we left. Jim was running last errands and my car broke down-overheated. I borrowed my neighbors truck- thanks Rori- and was driving to go rescue him and all I kept thinking was we have too much to do for this to happen today. The tow truck was going to be four hours. I wanted to find a different tow truck, no matter what it cost…that’s when I realized how often I want to exercise my place of privilege when I am inconvenienced or uncomfortable. Privilege…what does it mean and how can I use it for good in this world not for my advantage?

Patience is the other word that comes to me. Waiting for the tow truck, waiting in Atlanta 90 min…no 21/2 hours…no 6 hours for our flight, waiting is something we do a lot of in life. I think patience is more about how you wait.

I think we will learn a lot about these two words this year.

Walking the Camino to me is symbolic of learning lessons as we journey. But we don’t have to be on a trail in Spain to do that. We can be on I-90 or in the Atlanta airport.

Happy Journeying.

It’s hard to believe we leave Seattle in less than one month! Let me explain how this all began…

I teach English Language Learners in Seattle and I have always wondered what schools and education look like in other parts of the world. Well I was dreaming out loud one day and Jim said let’s go see! I’m not sure if he meant it 100% but I took it and ran with the idea. I gave notice for my leave of absence in March, we found someone to rent our house and Madeline agreed to watch Max…so here we go.

We will be going to all the continents except Australia and Antarctica between August 2018 and August 2019. We will be in 9 countries before Christmas and another 9 or 10 after that. I am hoping to visit and volunteer in many schools along the way.

Jim works with coffee farmers mostly in East Africa but also in Asia and South America and so we will visit and meet many people connected to coffee growing and exporting along the way as well. He has been doing most of the planning and logistics so far and will continue to be the travel agent for our adventures.

I forgot to mention we will start this year adventure by walking the Camino de Santiago de Compostela, the way of St. James. This should take us about 45 days as we walk the northern coast of Spain. Again this has been a growing dream of mine to walk this pilgrimage and my brave and adventurous husband decided it sounded like fun. I think it will be a perfect beginning and help set the tone of discovery of the unknown for the year to come.

So if you pray please keep us in prayer and we will keep you all updated on our adventures!

Peace,

Jim and Michelle

Why do you go away? So that you can come back. So that you can see the place you came from with new eyes and extra colors. And the people there see you differently, too. Coming back to where you started is not the same as never leaving. – Terry Pratchett