Friday - February 13 The San Pedro Sula sun beat down on us in the tiny airport parking lot. Along with the gorgeous green mountains, it was the heat that made me smile to myself and say, "April, you're not in Michigan anymore!" Within an hour or so of landing I was in the bus station, buying a ticket to Copan on the Casasola, and counting down the minutes until I'd arrive in the town that I called home for a year and a half. I'd already been traveling since 6 am, flying from Detroit to Houston and then to San [View Full Entry]

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Hello Friends! I'm packing my bags and heading back down south! After being back in Michigan since August, I'm just too homesick for Honduras to wait any longer! This Friday, February 13th, I'm flying from Detroit to San Pedro to spend 3 and 1/2 weeks in the beautiful country of Honduras! I'm SO EXCITED to re-visit my beloved Honduran friends and family! My plan is to spend about a week in Copan, where I lived and taught for a year and a half, and then I'll head to La Joya in central Honduras to help out with a mission team that [View Full Entry]

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SUNDAY!!! Today we drove about 30 - 40 minutes to the beautiful city of Bamberg and spent a fabulous day there! Beth has joked that I know more people in Germany than she does! When I arrived 2 1/2 weeks ago I said, "OK, if it's possible we've got to visit these people, and these people, and these people..." hee hee hee. Although we haven't been able to connect with everyone (sometimes even 3 weeks isn't long enough), we were able to meet up with Klaus, the brother of a former pen-pal of mine! I first met Klaus and his family [View Full Entry]

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THURSDAY, FRIDAY and SATURDAY!!! Fourteen years ago my older brother spent his Senior year of high school as an exchange student in Römhild, Germany. He lived with a fabulous family, the Mendels. He has been back several times to visit them, including ten years ago when I came with him, and their daughter Juana has been to the states twice to visit us. So as I was planning my trip to visit Beth (OK, I really didn't plan anything. I just said, "Beth, I'm coming!" and bought the ticket), my brother said I needed to look up his host family. [View Full Entry]

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Another vet at the clinic met me a couple weeks ago and said, "SO, you'll come ride me one day, right?" Even after finding out I wasn't a vet, nor a graduate of the sacred MSU, she still wanted me to come with her. So today I got to be a "vet student", without even having to go through all the prerequisites! Ellen is German, but was an exchange student to Crystal Lake, Indian for a year in high school. Since then she's been back to visit the states several times, most recently for dog shows and vet-related trips with MSU. [View Full Entry]

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MONDAY Whew. OK, just to let you know I didn't cover EVERYTHING from the tour. I did choose to skip some stops, some photos, some info, just so I wouldn't bore you all to death. (That's really just my excuse. To be honest I can't remember enough about all the other stuff to make it worth a post. Should have been taking notes or something, right?) But Monday finally came, and with that our train departure at 2:40 pm. We had some breakfast with two girls that live in Munich (one is originally from France and the other from Poland). [View Full Entry]

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WWII is over ... it's the Cold War now. Red Berlin. Eastern Europe/Western Europe. East Germany/West Germany. East Berlin/West Berlin. And for an East Berliner, life is pretty miserable. You do what you're told to do. You work where you're told to work and when you're told to work. You have quotas you have to meet. And then your quotas are raised by 15%, but you get paid the same pitiful wage. Fair? Right? Are you gonna just let it happen? Well, on June 16, 1953, a group of about 70 construction workers decided to strike after being told they'd get [View Full Entry]

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SUNDAY It was 19 years ago today that the Berlin Wall came down. How incredible to be here on such a day! And the story is even more incredible! In fact, the entire history of Berlin is fascinating! I've discovered that to really, truly appreciate a city you need to find someone that thinks that city is the greatest city in the whole world. Spend a few hours with them and you'll begin to agree. That's what Beth and I decided to do today. The hostel gave us maps and information about a free, daily, 3 1/2 hour walking tour [View Full Entry]

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This is perhaps the quintessential symbol of Berlin. And was actually one of several gates to enter the original city. (By the way, the word BERLIN is Slavic and means "swamp city." It was literally built on a swamp and often stinks like one as well!) The chariot rider was built in the late 1700s, commissioned by Fredrick William II of Prussia. It was built as a symbol of peace and the lady had an olive branch in her hands. Until... Napoleon came conquering and stole the lady, taking her back to Paris where she stayed for a while. Eventually she [View Full Entry]

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Just a couple blocks from the gate is the Reichstag, the parliament building of Germany. It has a see-through glass dome right above the chamber. You are able to walk up in and around it in a spiral, and look down on those making the laws, governing the land, etc. It's symbolic because the workings of the government should be transparent for citizens to see. Also, as the politicians are working and deciding things they only have to look up and see the people of the land looking down on them, reminding them of who they're working for. Of course, as [View Full Entry]

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