May 21, 2008

Day 5

Things that fascinate us on this trip:

• having to pay for the "water closet"
• seeing people in fields picking things. By hand.
• everyone driving small compact cars
• most people being bilingual
• the amount of mopeds and bicycles in Geneva
• bicycles--and cars--driving on sidewalks
• pedestrians do NOT have the right of way
• the gracious and helpful people
• no screens on windows...why???
• the Alps
• no air conditioning
• the price of food...and gas
• Swiss chocolat
• seeing George Clooney in a windowfront in a watch advertisement
• tunnels so long that even Rachel can't hold her breath all the way through them
• the trees
• not having clothes dryers

Some things are awe-some, some things are "you've got to be kidding me!" It amazes me how indulgent our culture is. How much we expect--how much we take for granted. Things I've never thought about actually being a luxury--not a necessity. I expected to find some of these things in third world countries, but not here. But we really are so pampered as a whole--we don't even think about it.

May 20, 2008

Day 4


The most amazing day ever! I don't have time to detail it all here, but hopefully tomorrow. Where do I begin? Well, first, a bunch of guys were going around knocking on our doors trying to find American girls to party with--at one am last night! They accidentally got Mr. Ed and he gave them the what's up, then went down to the desk and reported them. Things should be quieter tonight:-)





We spent the day touring Geneva. We saw Calvin's Cathedral, chapel, chair, his Bible--I held a real Geneva Bible from 1589! We bought Swiss chocolate, sang downtown and invited people to come to our concert, had a Swiss lunch and hung out with Selma (one of the ladies from our host church). Then we climbed the towers of Calvin's Cathedral! Incredible! Then we got dressed and headed to the concert...amazing! NEVER had an experience like it! By quarter 'til, the massive cathedral, seating 1,000 people, was packed, and when we began, people had filled every seat (even ours), and were standing and sitting on the floor--for a two hour concert! The people were amazing--singing in the place was out of this world!!!!





At the end of the concert, our CDs were flying off the tables and people were handing us 100 francs and saying "keep the change"! Media photographers were there snapping thousands of pictures for who knows what. They fed us "first and second supper" in the side chapel-which was magnificent! It was fun to speak un petite peu French. I almost cried a couple of times when the words were so meaningful--singing The Elijah's "And let their hearts again be turned to thee" in what used to be a Reformed cathedral, now an Episcopalian meeting hall in a godless city. That was my prayer not only that evening, but for the rest of the tour.

The Reformation Wall

May 19, 2008

Day 3

I feel refreshed after a good night of sleep at the Etap hotel in Switzerland. At first I was worried I wouldn't sleep--my mind was racing! But after about 20 minutes I knocked out. I'm getting more adjusted, I think. It's so weird, though. It feels weird because it isn't weird! It's so similar--but yet not. I don't even know how to explain it. But the countryside is magnificent! There are trees everywhere and they look different than American trees. The little towns are splashed a long hillsides with their brown and red tile roofs. Ikeas are everywhere. Oh, I forgot to mention our buss--it's a massive double decker bus with a trailer behind it.

Downstairs there's a toilet (that we don't use), a coffee bar, and booths to sit at! (we just stalled going up a hill around a corner...) We're driving through a town. I'm getting a stiff neck from staring out the window. We're on our way to Geneva. I'm not sure what we'll see, but something no doubt. Then we're staying at a youth hostel.

...

I can't sleep. It's early morning, and I'm so tired, but unable to sleep. Tonight was amazing! We are in Geneva and for dinner we took a tram to a church where we had dinner. They had it decorated with all sorts of Swiss things--flags, cowbells, etc. and a woman was playing an accordion as we came in. We ate Roclette, an amazing Swiss cheese, which we melted and put over a hot potato, and our accordion player yodeled for us! It was wonderful! The people were so friendly. Tomorrow we will see the sights and sing in Calvin's Cathedral!

May 18, 2008

Day 2-sort of

We are sitting in the Frankfurt airport waiting for the rest of our group to arrive in, like 6 hours. It's so weird to hear all these different languages around me. I've been awake for almost 24 hours now, save a couple no-offs on our flights. I think that's definitely a record for me, especially considering I've never pulled an "all-nighter" before. We connected in the Heathrow, London airport. I love British people! They're so polite! But I decided I don't like double decker planes after all. After wanting to ride on one for years, I finally did, and their takeoff is much more...bumpy. I did not enjoy that at all. I think at least three of our group actually threw up. I tried to take in as much of London as I could from the airport and from the sky. *sigh* I wish we were going to London on this trip! Everything is SO expensive!

Europe Stories Forthcoming!

Hello all!

Stephen and I have returned safely from Europe and have many stores to share! Our Internet is down, so it will take a little longer than I'd like to actually get these stories and pictures up, but be assured, they are forthcoming--and some videos, too!

Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers!

Memories of Grandpa

Two years ago today, my grandpa went home to be with the Lord. I was reading Sister's reminiscent blog in memory of him and began thinking of all the great memories I had. Since many of them are different from hers, I thought I would post some of them.

Some of my favorite memories of our Grandparents Richardson include:
-Going over to their apartment in CR and playing with their "Herbie" car and toy dishes
-Birthday lunches with them at McDonald's or Taco Bell:-)
-Grandpa's witty jokes and spunky humor
-I think I asked him every time I saw him to do "There was an Old Lady who Swallowed a Fly"
-I remember when they stayed with us while Mom and Dad were in Papua New Guinea. We were about to go somewhere and Grandpa was sitting on Mom and Dad's bed putting on his shoes. He looked down at his shoe for awhile and finally said "I can't reach down to tie my shoe," at which point I gladly volunteered to do it for him:-)
-that was also the time they stayed with us and he had to spank me 'cause I'd been bad. It was so mortifying! And he spanked hard...
-I remember sitting at their table having lunch and asking Grandpa what the French word for this or that random item was:-)
-I never did know which eye to look at when I talked to him (one eye being lazy and all)!
-I loved that, as much as he began struggling with his Parkinson's, whenever he prayed or sang hymns, he had no trouble speaking or thinking clearly

So many good memories of a wonderful man!

Jerry Jenkins Responds

After a month of waiting to hear back from Jerry Jenkins about Friedrich's Bill, I gave up. I went ahead and sent the letter without his signature on it, rather disappointed that my attempts had failed, but more so that he hadn't even gotten back to me as he said he would.

But all of that changed yesterday.

Stephen went to get the mail and called me from his cell phone. "I have got big news," he said, excitedly.

"What??" I asked, hoping maybe someone gave us a million dollars.

"I just got the mail, and you have a large package of something--"

"That would be my Meleluca from Sister" I said, pleased it had come in. I was wondering if my new Sense and Sensibility had come in, too.

"--and you have a letter from The Jenkins Companies."

My heart practically stopped. The Jenkins Companies? The one I had been waiting for?! "Run home as fast as you can!" I said and quickly hung up to ponder what it could be.

By the time Stephen arrived home, I had convinced myself it was a letter explaining that he couldn't sign the Bill for some reason or another. But I secretly hoped it was the letter, signed by him!

Upon tearing it open, I found that it was indeed the letter.

But it was unsigned.

In confusion, I saw a note written in the right hand corner. This is how it read:

"Ashley- How did it go? What was the response? JJ"

Now I was even more confused. Why hadn't he signed the letter? If he hadn't--why was he asking how it went? What did this mean?! Perhaps he signed a copy and mailed it straight to Jeff?

I immediately picked up the phone and dialed our RS, Jeff. He answered on the third ring.

"Jeff, this is Ashley Nicole. Do you happen to have a letter from me?"

"Yes, it's actually on my desk right in front of me," he responded cheerily.

Pause. "Does it happen to have Jerry Jenkins signature on it?"

"Nooooo....do you have one with Jerry Jenkins signature on it?!" Jeff asked, his voice raising with interest.

I explained to him my predicament and that I had a note from Mr. Jenkins following up on the situation. Jeff sounded quite interested.

"Well, if you wanted to follow up with him on that and get back to me...I mean, if he meant to sign the letter, or wanted to...well, that might turn a lot of heads. His signature would carry a lot of weight, you know?"

Yes, I knew. I told him I'd get back to him.

I mulled it over for the rest of the day and called lots of important people to ask advice. I think my dad gave me the soundest advice. He should know, since he's pretty important himself. I will respond to Mr. Jenkins and ask Jeff to continue running my request through the process. Hopefully Mr. Jenkins made a phone call or wrote a letter to some higher-up to support my request and it will come out at that time.

I'll keep you posted.