Hotels, Hostels, Home?

Hi!

I'm writing frommmmmm KRAKOW, POLAND! We drove 8 hours in a bus, a very small bus, and I was wedged in a seat with Aaron, who's 6'5"--I've learned that we cannot be bus buddies, we just don't fit! But it was a fairly smooth day, we stopped in a town for a typical czech lunch and had another multi-course meal! Over the past week we've had at least four of them! It's a great way to eat but oof it's a lot of food!

Man-sized chocolate cake during a group dinner, it was delicious!

Prague was beautiful! Some highlights:

Gabe took us on a tour where we reenacted the assassination attempt on Reihard Heinrich (one of the Nazi's closest to Hitler, I may have spelled his name wrong but I'm too lazy the czech...) and how the assassins got away. Basically, they have to got to Plan B and blow up the back tire of his car as he drives to work which sprays shrapnel everywhere, and then when Joseph Assassin realizes the top Nazi and his Nazi driver are still alive he books it up the hill on the side of the highway. So Gabe, who took us to this little stretch of highway, took off running and all 43 of us stampeded after him. We ran down another street to a building that used to have a butcher shop. Joseph, who was now being chased by Nazi Chauffeur ducked inside the shop, unfortunately the butcher was a Nazi sympathizer and when Joseph clipped Chauffeur on the leg with his pistol the butcher took up the gun and fired as Joseph ran down the street. Luckily, the butcher's a lousy shot and Joseph makes it away! Heidrich, on the other hand, while he survived the explosion died of blood poisoning from the shrapnel three days later. (Hitler retaliates by killing an entire town :( )

Group dinners (I love them!) at a Lebanese restaurant and Cafe Louvre, where we had our own section of the restaurant and specially reserved pool tables!

Czeck money! 17 to a dollar, you try that math.

Theresienstadt Ghetto and camp: We spent a day in Theresienstadt and I could write an entire blog about the day, hopefully I will! But this experience at this camp was way more meaningful for me than last Sachenhausen. It was easier to see the cruelties done to these prisoners, and it looked like it could have been emptied that day, every door, every window is exactly the same. They put 70 people in tiny room and shut the door, no lights, no food, nothing, and people would die of suffocation. Our tour guide said she led a group of about 70 and they couldn't even all fit in, that tells you 1: how emaciated the prisoners were and 2: how crammed it was. Afterward I had a long talk with Alex about it, and every cell she goes in she prays for the prisoners kept in those cells. I think I'm going to start. Walking around in there it was so easy to picture us all as being prisoners in the camp and what that would be, all those beloved faces in such a horrible place! I was glad to leave, but that was also hard. We could leave the dead, somber place after an hour, but thousands of people had to stay there for months, even years. 

3,000 people lived in this area, the stage is for executions. 

Today: before we left this morning, a group of five of us walked up the hill at 6 AM to watched the sunrise! It was wonderful to be on the quiet streets where the locals embraced the city before the tourist flood (Gabe calls it "sludge, full of white trainers and catalogue-ordered beige cargo pants"), walking their dogs and talking together quietly. The city is blanketed in fog ("Proggue"...ah hah hah so punny) in the morning, and we were disappointed that we couldn't see the sunrise until--there, look! The sun rose out of the thickest layers of fog and appeared, an orange orb suspended low over the ghostly, mist-shrouded spires. 

Prague at night, the river, the castle, the sky!

Our hotel was beautiful, we stayed in suites with a bedroom, living room and kitchenette! Our windows overlooked the Charles bridge, and when one of my roommates sat on the windowsill journaling a bunch of Asian tourists started waving and taking pictures of her. :) 

Now we're in the Tutti Frutti Hostel in Old Town Krakow. I can't believe we're here! It's quite the change of pace from Prague, and going from incredible suits to hostel blankets and beds is a hard shift for me. I feel spoiled saying I don't like hostels, but I honestly I don't think I do. I'm a homebody, I like to have a homey place to come back to at the end of the day but it's hard to do that here! Luckily our group took over the entire hostel soooo that's fun. We've already had a dance party in the breakfast room, don't worry! Sitting on my bunk bed, I can hear Shanan playing his guitar in the other room (or downstairs?) people laughing on the busy street below, and bedtime calling my name...

I'm doing well, I haven't been getting good time with God so I feel very... stuck in that sense. I also am having a hard time getting to my e-mail which is just full of e-mails, so I'm sorry if I'm not responding to anything right away! I'm making some really great friendships that make all these transitions possible and they're becoming a really wonderful family. Pray that we see each other's gifts and encourage each other in them, pray against bedbugs (I have some bites from somewhere...elghh!) pray against being so overwhelmed by homework that we don't appreciate where we are, pray that we learn more than we ever thought possible on this trip! Thank you so much! Send me anything I can be praying for for you guys too!

In Prague on our free afternoon, after running from the Nazis.

Tomorrow we have a walking tour of the city and free time from one untilllll GROUP DINNER!! Ahh! We've had so many group dinners this last week it's fantastic! I love that we don't have to figure out where to get food, it's always good food, and we're all together. 

Psalm 46

I love you!