Switzerland, Starbuck's and Silence

This morning a colleague and I took off for a conference in Switzerland! I love Skopje, but I'm SO GLAD to get outta "Dodge" for a while.

I handed my vehicle off to another colleague who then dropped us off at the airport... of course it was as I was pulling out my passport for check-in that I'd realized I'd forgotten to give him the car documents! So I franticaly called him and luckily it wasn't too big of a hassle for him to turn around and come back... thank goodness, because he needs those documents to get some work done on the car while I'm gone! :)

Aside from that our travels went really smoothly. The skies were clear for quite a while and as you can see from above, the view was breath-taking! We also met a really nice couple of Macedonians who were sitting in our same row. Then once we landed I got separated from my colleague in the shuttle bus and so ended up having more time to chat with the couple who were quite delighted and surprised that I spoke Macedonian. Actually, it was quite amuzing to watch the faces of the Macedonians around me as they too were intrigued by this American who could speak their langugage! Fun stuff.... there's just something about being able to communicate with people in their own language... I find that I'm more aware of how comforting and encouraging that is especially now that I'm in a land where I know NADA... or neight (or however you spell that... in my defense, I took Spanish in high school instead of German...).

Anyways, it won't come as any surprise to those who know me well that after we purchased our train tickets our first stop was at Starbuck's! Three years ago this particular Starbuck's was just a teaser behind a barrier as it was just being built... so I was SO happy that it was open! "Hello, my name is Carolyn and I'm a coffee addict." Frankly I've been craving good coffee for several weeks... so you can imagine that I savored each sip!

Down on the train platform two other ladies arrived that we knew and who were going to the same conference! Due to unforseen circumstances (delayed flights, missed train) we all ended up on the same train. That was really nice! Especially as we had the next hour to catch up with one another. Thanks to Swiss timing, our ride was there waiting for us as our train arrived and then ferried us up the mountian to where I now sit typing this blog and looking out at the wonder that is a snowy Switzerland.

And I LOVE how quiet it is!! I'm a country girl at heart and so the noise of the city has always been something I've had to work to get used to. Something deep inside me relaxes when I'm in beautiful and peaceful places like this... been like that since I was a kid and we'd go camping every summer.... ::::exhaling:::: I'm so looking forward to this week. Yes, it will be some intense and deep training... but it's also a retreat... and I'm really looking forward to spending long and uninterrupted time with my King as I learn and He teaches me. =)

Thank you for praying for me during this time... I will update things as I can along the way.