Photo Friday - 7th August

Soaking up some last hours in Pogradec - by eating breakfast on the beach!

There were many joys in being in Albania but one of the biggest was seeing these two ladies, both of them JV interns, absolutely rocking life and ministry in Albania!

After staying in an airport hotel, and two flights (to Athens and then Prague) I just had a four hour train ride as the sun set over Czech to get home.

Throwing rocks into the river with the Yorman boys. We're standing in Czech but the other side is Poland!

The intern girls who have been staying with me over the summer left, and with that I regained my office/spare room. So there was a lot of reorganising.

Late night runs.

An empty inbox and an out of office on! I'm excited to hide away from emails for the next two weeks - I'm excited for some rest after a wonderfully busy summer season.

I'll be camping all next week and I really can't help but feel that the guy in this picture is a little confused - camping tables shouldn't be used for computers!

Photo Friday - 31st July

The view I woke up to each morning.

Church in Albania.

I feel like this can be perfectly described as a "doughnut waterfall" and eating doughnuts two minutes after they've been in the oil? Pretty amazing!

Cory (right) and Erion (left) sharing about people who met Jesus.

Many afternoons were spent with students at the beach - including jumping/being pushed/sliding into the lake!

Walking to small group through streets like this while hearing the mosque's call to prayer ring out.

The last day of English class - I was so proud of all that our beginner students learnt!

And small group - it was an absolute joy and privilege to walk through this week with these girls!

Photo Friday - 24th July

A very kind friend sent these over from the UK - I found the packaging hilarious and the chocolate yummy!

The light at sunset is so beautiful!

Old buildings in town.

I cleaned out my purse and found a Chicago transport ticket and a dollar bill! I'm fairly sure both of these are four years old.

What packing for a trip looks like for me..

Late evening runs - because the only time it is cool enough to run!

The start of my crazy travel days to Albania - I left my house at 9am on Thursday and arrived at 7pm on Friday.

And this is where I arrived! Pogradec sits on the biggest lake in the Balkans, and is surrounded by beautiful mountains. 

Photo Friday - 17th July

It's been really fun to see all the creative ways people are using the camp theme/design/graphics this year - including as nail art!

A dear friend from my organisation visited on Sunday night and stayed so there was plenty of late night talking and catching up with her. 

The weather has been so hot here this week! So there have been lots of walks and runs.

My routine is to run down to and over the "pink bridge" and then over into Poland, spend some time on the swings and then run home. 

And I'm still exploring new trails near where I live. I love that I live in the centre of town but close to places like this.

Another sunny day meant drying clothes on my friends' line!

The town hall on another evening walk. 

Photo Friday - 10th July

Another Saturday morning at the farmers' market in Poland.

Hanging out by a pool with friends on a very hot Sunday afternoon.

Loved getting to catch up with Petra and Erin on Monday! It was a fun way to spend the national holiday.

My shelf in the office.

I found a spider late late one night so this is what happened to it.

And I wasn't able to sleep with just a jar on it so there was a bucket too. Don't worry, I released it the next day. 

Friday nights spent around a fire, roasting sausages and catching up with friends, as the Hughes (a missionary family who lived here for years) were back visiting.

Photo Friday - 3rd July

One of the things I've been working on recently is trialling a e-learning platform we're hoping to use a lot! Four of us were recorded teaching on various topics relating to the internship and we're hoping that we learn how to use this tool well to help train and support our interns, short term teams and many others! 

Now that the weather is nice I'm loving going on walks most days in my town.

Kelly is a missionary in Poland and because they needed to grab more badges we got to hang out as we travelled to the office to pick them up! It was so fun and I am so thankful for the time we got to spend together. 

Tuesday marked two years of living in this country! And I celebrated, in part, by going to visit a Edge Sport and Fusion camp in Poland. 

What you will encounter as you travel in Hungary: many horse drawn carts! 

Playing a game as part of the evening programme in Hungary. 

It was an absolute joy to spend a couple of days here in Hungary, visiting their first official week long camp! 

Photo Friday - 26th June

Every year our town have a festival to celebrate its founding by three brothers, so it's called the Three Brothers' Festival! It's a lot of fun with activities on both sides. It was really fun to explore both towns, and here's a photo of the Czech side.

Sometimes I do crazy things... like buy a cheap chest of drawers from Ikea and spray paint it blue... in my kitchen. I adore how it turned out! 

It's always fun to go to the gun store in town... to get a passport photo taken for my Czech driving licence... always an adventure! 

Sick day the first. 

Sick day the second.

My little car was all alone at the office when I arrived on Thursday morning. 

My little town is having lots of renovations and the train station's signage is becoming bilingual! So here is the Czech and Polish names of my town.