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Catching up...

So I can't believe that I was in europe a month ago. I have meant to keep my blog up, but I've been working so much lately. So the last thing i want when I come home from sitting in a cubicle all day long is to sit in front of the computer any more. So I'm working on pictures, and I'm going to post some today...but the rest will come soon. My goal is to get some pics up this weekend. Check here sunday night and i'll tell you where the pics are.

The tail end of the journey

So our last day in Switzerland we borrowed the Glaser's car and drove to the alps to go bobsledding! I never knew the joys of bobsledding before! We drove just over 2 hours to basically the other side of the country! Our lunch (as is apparently typical) was just bread, meat and cheese (a sort of sandwich). It was really good! Mark and I had to borrow boots (which were barely too small) and we rode a bus up to about 1800 m (5400 feet) and hiked in the snow to the top of a mountain about 8000ft dragging bobsleds the whole way. We got to the top at 4:00, but our plan had been to be there 2 hours earlier. We didn't care.

At the tip top of the mountain was a bench that you could see the whole alps from. It was amazingly beautiful! I didn't have my camera (too fragile for such an adventure) so mark took pictures, and we ate at a restraunt up there (the building had been there nearly 200 years) then started down the mountain at about 5:00. I never thought I would go bobsledding like calvin & hobbes, but this was 20x better! We bombed down the mountain! It was amazing! However, since this winter there hasn't been too much snow, we had to walk down over 2 hours to the car. We finally made it to the car at about 8:30 but it was really fun!

Driving on the Swiss roads at night are way more scary than driving on the swiss autobahn. The speed limits in the country are 50kph in the villages, 80kph not in the villages and 120kph on the autobahn unless otherwise noted. So their signs say like 90 then not 90. It's odd, but luckily i had it explained to me. I got the hang of it.

We left early Saturday morning; Peter drove us and samuel came. We said goodbye and hopped on our train to frankfurt. Everything went smoothly until we made it to chicago where my flight got cancelled along with half the flights from chicago last night. They were handing out cots, but they said there were 300 cots, blankets and pillows, but by the time we got to that part of the airport, the line was clearly longer than 300 people. We just went to mark's morning flight and slept by the gate using our backpacks as pillows (nicer than the waterbottle i used in Vanuatu).

About 5:30 am Mark woke up to hear that his gate changed to the other side of the airport. We walked there and got in a line that apparently had noone helping anyone, but it was by mark's flight so I was goign to try to get on the waiting list. I made it on the list...but i was #17 on the list. Somehow by God's grace, I was able to get on the flight! The night before I waited on my phone in a line for 1 hour 2 minutes and somehow my phone cut out and we had been comparing times in line (how many minutes we had been on hold) I was winning, but the girl behind me with about 10 minutes less than me somehow got through and after she was done, handed me the phone! However the soonest flight I could get a confirmation for was monday night. So to make it on the standby list was amazing! I am now at home unpacking all my souveniers and about to do laundry. It is nice to type on a keyboard where the keys don't change, and i look forward to showering in my shower.

Mark and I were talking on the way back from the airport and it turns out this was full of firsts for me. It was my first time ever:
1) going to europe
2) riding a train
3) riding a subway
4) staying in a hostel
5) traveling to a non-english speaking country
6) traveling without plans when i arrived
i'm sure there are others, but i have been traveling for close to 40 hours and i'm not with the "program".

Now my life will be full of catching up on my work, hopefully starting studying for the CPA exam and more outdoor stuff prepping my physical endurance for the next adventures to come. Thanks for your messages and prayers.

Joel

time is almost up!

todaz we walked to some ruins that were destroyed by monkeys (thats right monkeys) 500 years ago. we also walked to france. now were off to town to buy swiss chocolate. I plan on buying lots so i can share...so let me know if you want some...

iäm avoiding the inevitable truth that i must go home saturday...

Switzerland

So this has to be short because we^re going to the bar to watch a big soccer game. Todaz we drove around and saw some fun parts of the culture here. We hiked to the top of a hill with a watchtower about 3x the size of the one on seahome hill and it was glorious! There are castles everywhere, so to them it^s no big deal, but mark and i still get excited. we are sad that we leave saturdaz...maybe i can come back... The glasers are great hosts and have provided everything we have needed. I will write more later...we have a futbol game to go watch!! (Oh, and my battery is dying...i will be short my 100 pictures a day that I initially thought I would have).

playing like there is no tomorrow,
joel (and mark)

France

mark and i made it to france, and the keyboard is even more confusing! we are staying in kendras living room and having a great time! we got in saturday night around 6 on saturday and met some of her friends, and it has been fun! yesterday we went snowboarding in the french alps! there are 50 ski resorts surrounding gap! for 30 euro we got a day pass and rented a board and boots! today mark is going for a hike and i am wandering around town. tuesday we take the train for switzerland!

day ???

so we ran around today and saw a bunch of things and somehow didn't get lost once!!! tomorrow morning we leave for France...as soon as we are starting to get used to it here. I can't believe it. We had a really good time today, and i am now on my second memory card and i need to charge my battery. We look forward to see France and Kendra, but we have had such a good time with melanie and rose we hardly can leave. It seems quite normal here now and these last few days have seemed to be like weeks. It's awesome (and i'm getting used to the keyboards). There's another snorer in our room...we wake up in 5 hours. I am SO far behind in my journal and everything...it's nuts...but fun nuts. I hope we can adjust to France quickly. There's another snore'er in our room tonight...i think i'm tired enough for it not to matter. I hope i can update in france, but no promises.

Days 5 and 6

So if anyone asks, Rome is WAY different than Germany. Mark and I have both adjusted differently and slowly. If we had made it back to the hostel sooner, I would be able to write more. Basically, none of the streets are straight, and streets merge and change rapidly. So it is hardly possible to follow a map (which is mark's natural tendency) and since the streets aren't straight, aiming in a general direction doesn't really work either...and what we have found is that the worst idea is trying to do both methods at the same time.

Over the last 2 days we have been to the Vatican, seen the sistine chapel, seen a numbet of monuments (most of them were unintentional), walked, walked and walked some more. Our brief itenerary has been something like:

Woke up,
walked towards the vatican
got lost
ate gelato
walked toward the vatican
got lost
walked towards the vatican
got lost
found the vatican
waited in line
looked for the sistine chapel
waited in a line
it closed
ate gelato
decided to walk to the spanish steps (25-30 minutes in theory walk)
got lost
found the spanish steps, met up with melanie and found a hole in the wall restraunt and it was the most amazing restaraunt EVER!!! I would eat there every day if i could.
parted ways with melanie
walked to the part (without getting lost)
got lost
got on a bus that said would bring us where we wanted to go
1 1/2 hours later arrived close to where we wanted to go.
got lost
found where we were
got lost
found the plaza
walked around and gathered food at small shops for dinner
met some of melanie's friends (a porta rican, norwegian, an italian, and 2 americans)
Cooked dinner and hung out
ate gelato
walked to the bus (it brought us where we wanted to go...such a surprise!!)
Went to bed

Today:
I slept well because our snoring friend checked oout.
Woke up and walked to the subway
barely squeezed onto the subway(no joke)
stood in a line about 1-2 miles long
made it into the vatican]
walked around for a couple hours seeing just a few things (really crowded)
got busted for trying to take a picture of the sistine chapel
left the vatican at 1:30.
tried to make it to the pantheon
got lost
found piazza navona (2 blocks away from the pantheon)
got lost
found the piazza navona
got lost
found the piazza navona
got lost
found the pantheon
walked around with melanie and her friend rose
found a restaraunt and ate lasagnae!!! (amazing!!!)
walked around
ate gelato
Rose showed us around and gave us a city tour. She is a jewish italian and knew a TON of stuff. Mark and I were impressed with her random knowledge.
Played frisbee in front of the colloseum
Ate pizza in the jewish ghetto
walked around
parted ways
got lost
found the piazza venezia
got lost
found the colloseum
my camera battery died
almost got mugged by the italian police
got lost
walked aimlessly talking about what we would have done differently
got more lost in the process
found termini (train station)
made it to our hostel
updating my blog while mark is getting into bed

Tomorrow
8am colloseum (inside)
10am leave for the catacombs with melanie
2pm meet up with rose
???

All i can say is that things are different here. I haven't really even had time to update my blog. Needelss to say if you come to rome, DO AS THE ROMANS!!! Otherwise you will get stresseed out! The romans are laid back, but sound intense.

I have enjoyed myself, but if you come here, you need to do 1 of 2 things. 1
1) Read and memorize the map before you come.
2) RELAX, walk aimlessly(you will anyways) and JUST ENJOY IT!

Sometimes we find ourselves walking intensely past giant monuments that are amazing just to get to another place. The best thing is just to enjoy where you are. Okay, i'm tired. I hope to explain more later. We shall see, for tomorrow is another adventure...

(OH, and although gelato is good, it's expensive...the best gelato i've ever had is still the gelato I had in Tonga)

sleep...

As i lay in my room with 11 other people asleep, i am very tired and cranky because there is one guy who is snoring louder than i thought was humanly possible. i slept less than 2 hours and of course being a hostel, customer service isnt the best. i am tired and frustrated that mark and i are paying $50us per night...i think mark is sleeping through this though...not sure how. I had my ipod on as loud as it gets and i can hear him faintly over my ipod. i seriously think he is snoring about 70 decibles. i am now going t otry talking to the guy at the counter again...pray that i get sleep tonight.

day 4

this morning we woke up at 8am and went to a kloister (nunnery_) and it was beautiful! Our walk was a little longer than i expected. worth every step! after that we packed up and said our goodbyes and began our travels out of germany. 3 trains, 2 busses later we arrived the airport. what they say about italy is true. it is definately different from germany! it took us 9 hours to get from tubingen to rome.

upon arrival, my friend melanie met us at our hostel and showed us around Rom. we left at 930pm and made it back at 2am. it took us about an hour to make it to our hostel from the other side of town. i ate 4 scoops of gelato already! it is way more expensive than it was in tonga, thatàs for sure. (the keyboard is different again, but not as bad as germany).

it is way late and were sharing a room with 12 people. this hostel thing is definately different! im beat. tomorrow is the vatican and a bunch more walking around. i think i have walked over 10 miles today. weàre exhaused! too much to talk about and i will be done with my first 4gb of memory prolly in the next day or two...too much to see!

more tomorrow or the next day.

Day 3

So I see now that only 1 paragraph was posted. That saddens me. All the settings were in German and I had a tough time. I spent 20 minutes typing up my blog to find that only that little got posted. Sad!

Well yesterday we went all over Munich and saw the city from every angle. Mark and I stayed in a hostel (Our first hostel experience). Our roomates were a guy and a girl who are traveling the world and they're 6 weeks into a 18 month trip around the world. It was a relief from my fears of sharing a small room with strangers.

Mark and I are getting used to using the train. We rode the train from Munich to Fussen to see the neushwastein castle and then from Fussen to Tubingen. It was really smooth and it's not so bad. The castle was beautful and we got some good pictures despite the bad weather. We ended up taking pictures of posters. I thinkI got a good one.

Germany is a beautiful place. I can tell that this time of year it isn't in it's full splendor, but just looking out the train durring our ride it is amazing seeing in these tiny villages huge churches. I have been trying to read Cost of Discipleship, but even while we're on the trains i think about the book and the amazing scenery.

I have to admit, it will be hard to leave tomorrow, but the thought of being in Rome will be motivation enough. Going back to a cubicle will feel unnatural. Unless God changes my heart, I think my calling is not an accountant.

God has made things smooth. We waited for less than a minute for 2 of our trains and we have made it by learning just a few German words, and our host that we're staying with (Chris and Jenn Atwood) have been amazingly helpful. I am loving this trip!

Day 2

Today was another good experience. I onlz have 9 minutes of time in the lab here, so mz tzping will be a little different due to the kezboard. (the "y" is a "z" and visa versa, and manz other things, so bear with mz worst tzped blog zet) Todaz we woke up earlz and took the train from Tübuingen to münichen and our bus didnät come so we had to run at least 2 miles t oget to the train. we got there just as the conductor blew the wistle and she allowed us to get on just in time...so much for taking time to shower.



All in all, we#re having fun...however this kezboard is driving me nuts! mz time is up! Iäve alreadz taken 250 pics...good thing

Day 1

It is 6:25am. Our flight is in 2 hours. Matt woke Mark and I up just now. Oops! Luckily we were up until 3am packing. After a speedy morning routine we're out ofthe house in 10 minutes. We got there in a perfect amount of time. Our 5 hour layover in Chicago was mostly spent walking around the airport and practicing our languages. We arrived in Frankfurt at 11am German time and took the 1pm train to stutgart. The train was late (they told us why in German, so we still don't know why) so we missed our connection to Tubingen, so we just walked around the train station then finally made it to tubingen at 4:00. Chris met us there, and showed us around town and is going to help us decide what we want to do. Our plan is currently to go to the Neushwastein castle tomorrow, then to munich, then back to tubingen and fly out to Rome. We're tired. Oh, and we love our cameras!

Off to Europe...

So friday morning before the sun rises, my friend Mark Christophersen and I will be flying to Frankfurt, Germany for a 15 day adventure. We will be in Germany, Italy, France, and Switzerland. Our plans are mainly to see some friends, take a LOT of pictures, and capture God's beauty. We will be reading Cost of Discipleship during our train/plane times. I can't describe how excited I am. I'll post pictures and tell stories when I get back on the 24th...or shortly thereafter.

Birthday...

After weeks of doing basically nothing but work and sit at home, I took friday off from work. It was SOOO nice to sleep in. Although I didn't really have a birthday "party", I celebrated my birthday more this year than any other. I think I had 3 cakes, a pie, 4 different sets of cookies, plus some sort of desert that I couldn't identify while at the Spaghetti factory. I went out to eat probably more this week than any other week of my life. On top of that, I spent a lot of money buying a digital camera. However, I am excited for it to arrive! i bought a Canon Rebel XTI so I'm excited to take some good Pictures!

On February 9th, I leave for a 2 week adventure in Europe! i'm going to Germany, Italy, France, and Switzerland. I'm spending about 3 days in each city, and my buddy Mark Christoperson is coming with me! Our plans are not certain yet, but I'm really excited!!! If you want a postcard, send me your address via email before i leave, and i'll do what I can to remember to mail you a postcard from somewhere. I have never been to europe nor have I ridden a trian, so it will be an adventure full of new experiences! I will either post more details before I leave, or right when I get back. I can't wait to go!!

All in all, it was a great weekend, and I'm going to be really busy these next 3 weeks before I leave. So much to do at work and so many things to look up before I leave...so I'm going to be quite busy. I'll keep you posted on my journies.

Year in Review...

This year has been one to remember. I spent 3 months in Hawaii, then 1 month in Fiji, 1 in Tonga, 1 in Vanuatu, 1 in Fiji, 1 at home, 1 in alaska, then moved to Seattle. Now I work and live in Seattle.

I have learned a lot this year from my travels. There were times that were hard and times that were amazing. I loved seeing some of the most beautiful parts of the world. It was painful through all the sicknesses.

It has been nice living with my brother and some friends in Seattle and finally owning a real vehicle. I bought a 2007 ford ranger and I hope for it to be paid off in 2 years. It will be nice to be able to drive around and own my own vehicle.

So far I haven't really liked my job, but it is where God wants me, so I have accepted it. It is good to make some money and get some work experience.

It was overall a good year. I wish I had something more profound to say, but I don't. I hope that I will have some more good adventures this year. Thank you for your prayers and support through it all.

From sunrise to sunset...

Sorry it's been so long since I've posted. I have been working from sunrise to sunset at my "new" job. I have worked as a staff accountant for Holland America for about 2 months and I have been earning my wage...they've been working me a LOT...and it's supposedly the "off" season. I was promosed 35-40 hours a week in the off season, but it's been more like 45-55 hours a week. I have a 4 day weekend for Christmas though. That's nice.

Sunday I bought a 2007 truck. My camera is broken, so I'll post a picture when I get a chance. I have only driven it once since sunday because it wasn't insured. I'm realizing that I'm getting back into the "American" lifestyle and some if it is good, but some of it is bad. So I'm going to start keeping my blog up to date a little more and try to be a little more active so I have something more interesting to write about besides doing accounting.

Long story short, I'm grateful that I have been blessed with so much and I want to tell you all Merry Christmas and that I love you all very much!

Joel Oliver

How crazy can life get?

Sorry i haven't left any update. I went from sitting around looking for jobs to a fully crazy week. Last monday I had an interview for Holland America. I waited around until Thursday for their reply. I was offered a position as a Staff accountant in the Alaska Motorcoach division. This is the same company that I drove busses with in Alaska. So everything worked out well and I started work yesterday. I was really nervous at first because it's a big responsibillity, but I think I'll get the hang of it soon. It appears that it will be a lot of work, but not too hard.

When I found out that I start wednesday, I went online and looked for a ticket to kona, and found one for $375!!! So I went to kona and saw my friends and it was so cool. The 3 days I was there I feel like I re-experienced my entire 7 month DTS. Everything from adventures, to hanging out to climbing the water tower to surviving a huge earthquake...I believe that God wanted me there to remind me where I've been and what I've come through. He wanted to remind me before I entered the working world. So this last week was the fullest week I've been through since I've been home, and it was good for me because I believe I'm ready to be back in 'the world' since God has shown me how to not be "of" it. As always, I thank you all for being a part of my life and my adventures.

Joel

Job Hunting...

So I am currently in Bellingham for the weekend, but I'm looking for a job. Apparently my resume "sucks" and I need to make "some changes" so that's the first thing I'm going to do when I get home. I don't have a job yet, but the Accounting department at Holland America is looking promising. Please pray that I find a good job and one that works good for me as well as that I would be good for.

Day off...

Well I'm in Juneau, Alaska again and I have been here for 2 weeks. Today is my first day off, and I had a big group of people who were going to go hiking with me, but everyone ditched and did other things...so I'm at home updating my blog. It is probably good to rest today. I have worked on average 10 hours a day for the last 13 days, so sleeping in and not doing anything is probably the best thing for me to do. I'm just sad that I barely have a week left in Alaska and I haven't done anything but work...but that's really why I came up...sad but true.