Whrlwind of an Update

Well, I know I promised some updates but this past month has been so crazy, and I was not expecting to not have internet access* where my mom lives so I'm afraid I've been keeping all of my avid readers in the dark for quite some time. I apologize.

I did take pictures in London but on a friend's camera, so at the moment I have no way to upload those photos. Sorry :(

But London was a great time of catching up with old friends and I'm so thankful for the opportunity to have gone (thanks to my Mommy for gifting me the trip). I didn't do a lot of touristy things aside from looking at the sights from the outside, so I guess I'll just have to go back sometime so I can actually see the INSIDE of Westminster Abbey and the Tower of London. But it was great. My friends Chris and Angie took me off the beaten path and showed me parts of London I never would have seen as just a tourist. It was great and definitely inspiring to my future coffee shop dream.

Then there was a big fiasco trying to get my paperwork sorted out to go visit my mom. That's a long story that I'll put in another post, perhaps tomorrow or the next day. The important thing is that after too many tears, a few train and metro rides, a cult lady who doesn't want to "lose me", a lot of people saying "it's impossible", a few people trying to help me, and one smart guy who finally figured it all out....

I got to go see my Mommy!!

It was a great trip and a real blessing to be able to see in person the place she's been living and get a glimpse of what her life has been like these past 2 years. We visited a city on the ancient Silk Road, went to a few museums, watched the Harry Potter movies, visited her friends, celebrated Christmas...it was wonderful. I also took pictures with her camera but until she emails them to me I can't show you any. :( I really need to get a new camera soon!! They're just so stinkin' expensive!

The trip back turned out to be quite exhausting and resulted in just a few more tears and an extra 24 hours.

After waking up at 2:30 am Saturday morning, we went to the airport and waited...and waited...and waited. Only to find out after 2 hours of waiting that my flight was delayed until later that afternoon due to weather.

That meant that I would miss my connecting flight and have to spend the night in Istanbul. So we went home, took a little nap, finished the last Harry Potter movie and then returned to the airport.

The airport itself was a bit frustrating since nothing was clearly marked, the passport control guy had a problem with my passport and had me waiting for 15 minutes while he "checked on some things", the plane was delayed even further...and then I finally made it to Istanbul where I was supposed to be given a hotel room. The only problem was the airline official didn't tell me I would have to buy a visa and gave me very unclear instructions as to how to find the person who would give me a hotel room. That was the part where I cried. I had been up since 2:30 that morning, it was now 9pm and I was exhausted, confused, frustrated...put all those things together and it's a recipe for tears.

Eventually I made it to the hotel where the fed me, gave me a room, and the next morning I returned to the airport and made it safely home with just enough time to jump in the shower and head to church for our 6:30pm service.

Since then I've been running errands, going to the dentist, visiting with friends, unpacking, cleaning, trying to catch up on sleep, looking for new blue jeans since mine fell apart, running to prepare for the New Year's Eve 10K, running in the 10K, sleeping some more...it's been a busy 4 days!!

Alas, that is all for now.



*Sort of. To get internet we have to pack up the laptop and walk up the hill to a cold, empty house, plug in the compy, sit there in the freezing cold while you check your email...so we only did it twice. Only that which was necessary to let important people know my flight schedule.