Traveling through life...: Summer 2009!

Hello all,

I thought it was (high) time I added some pictures from the summer... well, and high time that I appeared here at all. (I know most of you gave up checking my blog about a year ago... and for good cause!) Well, there are a lot of stories that could be told of that last year, but I'll skip most of them and just give you some of my favourite pics.

So, first we have to start with May 2, graduation day. Since I am a senior (traditionally the last year in the American university system), many of my friends and classmates left Corban on this day. I myself am on the "5 year plan" and do not graduate til this coming spring, but still it was an extremely emotional and meaningful day! The end of a school year is always difficult yet beautiful... but particularly so when you are "celebrating" with friends you have grown used to seeing every day and suddenly realise you will never share a class or a study night with again. Still, all good things must (and, at any rate, do) come to an end... such is the way on God's earth.

These three are my "brothers" and some of my closest buddies this entire past school year (and most of the two before it). The three of them were quite close (and were also roommates), and I was quite honoured to be included in their group as "The Sister." It was a hard day for all of us when Chris (wearing the cool hat) graduated. Well, not hard for Chris, necessarily... :)

These are two of my closest girl friends from school. Karen (on the left) and I started our first class together our first year -- 8 a.m. -- and shared a lot of great memories after that (slumber parties, music events, and lots of macaroni come to mind!). Megan (right) was a music buddy from the beginning, too, and eventually grew to become one of my most encouraging and caring friends. It's still so hard to imagine Corban this fall without them!

A change of scene. A week after I got out of school, my twin got out of HIS school. His first weekend back in Oregon, we got together with some mutual friends and headed to the beautiful Oregon coast.

A very drastic change of scene. Welcome to Bulgaria! On June 6, I arrived in this beautiful and beloved country... my second time in the country, although my first time in many of the areas I visited. I went knowing I would probably love it... I left knowing I would later need to make it my home. (But that's another-- and a long-- story.)

Below is the monastery at Rila, up in the mountains south of Bulgaria's capital city, Sofia. Our hosts took us to Rila on our first full day in Bulgaria, as a chance to (1) get out of the city and enjoy the relaxing and refreshing country, (2) get to know each other, and (3) get over jetlag. All three goals were well met.

This is me above "my city," Sofia-- an image taken from the roof of our hotel. Why can't other hotels have rooves (sp?) on which you can walk around and take pictures? Jolly decent, if you ask me.

In Sofia itself, listening to the street musicians (these two, and many others, are blind). Bulgaria has a lot of needy people including disabled or crippled beggars on many street corners.

A rather well-known sight of Bulgaria, Sofia's Nevski Cathedral rises solemnly yet beautifully in the heart of the city. You can see the golden roof from the moutains around the city.

When I was a child I believed that sunlight bursting through clouds, like in the image below, was a sign that "Jesus is coming down." While I don't technically believe that now... I do believe that God is hard at work in this city. In this image (and in reality) the Light is shining down upon Bulgaria's National Parliament.

Emily Slater doesn't travel far without making new guyfriends... most of whom turn out to be "brothers." This one is my dear younger brother Viktor, a student from Sofia who joined me and my group on most of our travels. Group dynamics forced the two of us to spend a lot of time together, but I don't think either of us ever minded. Sometimes you just need an extra sibling around.

And here is our whole group... people I had never even talked to until I arrived, and people whom I now, in some cases, consider dear and lasting friends. From left to right: Lance (host), Michelle (hostess), Stacie (teammate), Chuck (teammate and Stacie's fiance'), me, Viktor. We are standing in front of the Danube. The trees beyond the river are Romania.

Fellowship is rarely sweeter than the kind we enjoy in other countries with people of different languages but similar hearts. This image is from a dinner we enjoyed with Pastor Pavel and his wife, friends of our hosts and heart-friends of all of us.

And this was what I got up early on my last full day to see-- the beautiful Baba Vida fortress (left over from the olden days of Turkish rule) at the side of the Danube. The river is so beautiful in the early morning sun. And life is so beautiful when you're where you know you need to be.

A new change of scene. On June 13 I (sadly) left Bulgaria and (happily) joined my adored grandparents and friends in England for a quite delightful 10 days.

Below is a fairly non-significant yet still (to me) moderately pleasing image from my "other" hometown (I am starting to have a few), Swindon-- just across the street from our church there.

This is a lovely little house in Lacock village, a town left over from far earlier times, whose leaning houses and historic inns are used as settings in movies like "Pride and Prejudice," "Cranford," and even "Harry Potter."

And very close nearby is the village of Castle Combe... holding even more history, greenery, and absolute charm.

Well, of course, no trip to England would be complete without a cricket match! In fact (and it is a very sad fact), every one of my previous trips to England have been devoid of this most pleasing event. But this time my sweet, obliging grandfather and his friends helped me fill the void.

(Gloucester won, if anyone cares. And yes they DID get two more wickets in the last hour or so, when everyone but Roy and I thought it too optimistic to even imagine.)

My (perhaps proud?) grandfather and I. :)

The beautiful thing (among others) about having visited my grandparents so many times is that I now have real friends in their area as well as family! Here I am with a gaggle of giggling girls in pink. (I wish "pink" began with a "g"... it would have made the aliteration so much better.)

Well, sad to say, eventually I had to come home. On June 24th I returned to the States and to "normal" summer life... whatever that means. Thankfully I returned to a summer job (the people I'd been working for in the spring took me back! yay!) and to opportunities to do a lot of in-state traveling.

So, for the rest of my summer, I mostly just worked, attended weddings, and visited Keith, Breena, and my darling niece Kienna. Here are some favourite pictures of her: