"Quick" Updates; Spain, Switzerland, & Italy

Hi dear friends and family!

I am in Rome tonight... heading to Athens tomorrow morning to meet my MOM for a mother/daughter Greek week!! 
She's coming to spend Thanksgiving with me, and i think we're going to check out the cool stuff around Athens (like the pillars and buildings from a LONG time ago, and maybe visit some places like Corinth and Thessalonika, and maybe the Island of Patmos.

Into the Home Stretch...

Its hard to believe, but I only have a month and a little left to this amazing trip.

I remember thinking when 1 month for a vacation would have seemed L--ONG to me.

But now that i´ve been traveling for 9 1/2 months (i just had to stop and count on my fingers... Feb, March, April...), it is merely the final chapter in a long book.

How do you write a final chapter?

Pics: Barcelona, Spain

Pictures of Meeting Eric Johnson and his wife Gina, in Barcelona!

Going out to eat with them, visiting cathedrals; learning to use the Metro system for the first time on my whole trip - Thank you, Eric, for teaching me!!  Great conversations with them about traveling (they are avid world travelers as well) and about God.  Gina's family invited us over for dinner, and it was so nice to spend time with a local family.  Gina's mom is an amazing artist.

Pics: Madrid, Spain

In Spain, I stayed with Molly, a friend of a friend, who graciously invited me in to her home.  She didn't know me at all, but is a missionary from Indiana, a little younger than me, teaching English in a Spain elementary school and working with a Missionary Alliance church in Madrid. A friend connected us.

When we visited her school, it was the day before Halloween, which I found out is an American holiday, and the Spanish teachers were teaching all about it to their students.  I thought, "Great.  What a wonderful holiday to spread."  But in one class, they did have an apple-dunking game that was really fun.  I taught the kids how to press the apple against the bottom of the bucket to hold it there while they bit into it. Maybe it was cheating. But it was funny to see my group come up with dripping faces and the apple every time!

Pics: Leaving Kenya; London/Spain Stopovers to Egypt

Final Days in Kenya...

Heading to London for 2 days,

Spain for a few hours, on my way to Egypt!

The last day in Nairobi was quite eventful. My mom (and dad) sent a care package for my upcoming birthday!!! Well, they sent it back in Aug to Nairobi, but i still hadn't gotten it, and it was 3 days before i was leaving... [Also, England miracle accomodation story below:]