The Odyssey Ends

Yesterday at about 11:30 pm EST my time on the mountain ended as we boarded our bus to return to Alabama. It had been an emotional evening with the banner signing and the fire of friendship ceremony. There were lots of hugs and lots of tears. The task now-- not just for me, but for everyone who was there-- is to take the lessons we learned and the new discoveries we made about ourselves and find ways to apply them t our lives away from Blue Ridge. I am reminded of Thoreau, when he said in "Walden" "I went to the woods to live simply sinply." I understand it now. Things are different there. You learn what you truly need, what things are really important and exactly how much is merely consumerism that we can do without. In my case, I went to the woods to rediscover myself and I hope that I have done just that.

Climb Every Mountain

Yesterday, at approximately 5:15 pm EST, exhausted and exhilarated, I completed a six mile, three hour hike/ climb up High Top and High Windy Mountains in Black Mountain,NC. This is a feat I would not have been able to accomplish one year and fifty pounds ago.

Approximately 75 of us started this climb. Two had to come down early due to injuries sustained during the climb. Parts of this climb involved literally pulling ourselves along using whatever roots and branches we could reach. Sometimes the path was steep and muddy. At three separate stages we had to climb areas of sheer rock face-- grasping to find foot and handholds where ever we could. On our climb was a teenager afraid of heights. One of the most remarkable things I saw was how the people-- and a couple of guys in particular-- helped her along the rough every tear and panic attack she had. She made it. This brave young lady, who I called my niece, Cecelia Price, accomplished a task she never envisioned.

At the beginning of the hike I had earphones in, but as we progressed, I realized that I needed to be able to hear the others. All along the way we gave words of encouragement, advice and support. And we made it. Some of us slower than others, but we made it. Some people say the spectacular. views from the top are your reward. I disagree.

Your reward is your sense of accomplishment after you have finished. I may have many spiritual and mental mountains left to climb in my life. I may never climb another physical mountain. But just this once-- I did.  Shout out to Dorian my fellow explorer and Sonny Cho from Prattville for getting Cecelia up that mountain. Shout out to D'Vonne for the words of encouragement and all the "selfies"! And especially to Miss Crystal who,like me, lost a lot of weight in the past year and saw this as a challenge she had to conquer.  We did it Crystal!  I know your trainer was proud.

Leaving It All Behind

Today was a very long and exhausting day. Somewhat emotional. The kids spent as lot of time in their families this morning. Meanwhile the Explorer's and Y's Guys prepared for "The Wreckoning"-- a team relay race / free for all in which you are guaranteed to get dirty, messy and sticky. Later in the afternoon  we had to help execute our well laid out plans. After dinner we returned back to our Explorer home base to talk about quality and service and how they impact the people we encounter in our Ys and the young people we serve. The night ended with a devotion in which Bob talked about weathering the storms of life. While he was doing this lightning was flashing over the mountain-- symbolism that I don't believe was lost on anybody. Then a fire was lit in which the delegates all burned a slip of paper on which they had written their biggest regret, henceforth and forever leaving that baggage in the past.

Black Mountain, North Carolina

Today was our first full day at the 2014 Christian Values Conference. We arrived after an eight hour bus ride yesterday. I immediately set off to explore my surroundings for this upcoming week. These mountains are part of the Appalachian chain and there are numerous hiking trails around here.

The delegates were divided into their "family" groups and had a "getting to know you" session. I am part of the adult volunteers called the Explorers. We do breakout sessions and we "test run" activities that will be done before the larger group. It's a lot of fun. I feel like I'm at camp myself! Last night there was a mixer for the delegates. The theme was Around The World. There were some truly outrageous costumes.

This morning I went for a hike in the woods. If I were to stay here for a longer time my legs and glutes would look fabulous. These hills are WORK! Being an early riser also gave me time to practice yoga outside on the balcony with only the trees as my company and a babbling brook in the background as my only musical accompaniment.

Two Days in Kentucky

Six and a half hours after returning from Germany I was on the road again-- this time for a brief visit to Kentucky.  Our plan was to go on a tour of the Henry Clay estate on Sunday and then meet up with friends at the hotel.  Due to my late arrival from Germany, however, we got a late start to Kentucky and missed out on the Henry Clay estate.  On Monday we took a chocolate tour at Old Kentucky Candy.

Fair warning: you gain 5 pounds just by breathing in the fumes in the candy factory.  And of course they give you free samples, which add another 5 pounds. I suggest sampling the bourbon truffles, made with 100% Jim Bean Whiskey.  I liked the chocolate tour, because it means I have now seen every step in the process of making chocolate, from the time it leaves the cacao tree as a bean until it's packaged for shelving. So now, even more than horses, whiskey and blue grass, Kentucky means good chocolate candy. And sometimes you combine two of them and get a chocolate horse!

Final thoughts on Germany

I returned home early yesterday morning, even though I was due to be home Saturday night.  The weather in Atlanta did not permit that however.  With exactly three hours sleep, I had to get up again yesterday morning to go to Kentucky, but that will be more on that in tomorrow's entry.  There are many things I experienced and learned on this trip that I thought I'd share.

* This is an amazingly vibrant country with a rich history worth exploring. Two weeks is not enough to see everything I wanted to see, but it's just long enough to start to miss home.

* Germany is a fsacinating mix of old traditional culture and modern forward thinking.

* Like every other country Germany is struggling to deal with unpleasant aspects of its past, but it seems to be doing a better job of it than the U. S.

* I now understand why nearly everyone I know that has lived in Germany for a time says that they would like to go back and live there again
* This is not a type of trip that is suitable for everyone.  If you are the type who wants to stay comfortable and in a hotel room or spend your time googling information, rather than being out in the city discovering new things, this is not the experience for you.  Stay in America where you're comfortable.
* If you don't mind being out of your comfort zone, if you like trying new things, and exploring new places, this is definitely the type of trip for you. 
* Obey the red man or get run over.
* Stay off the red lane or get run over.
* Things Rosetta Stone will teach you: how to say " the girl is wearing a blue dress", "the people are walking".
* Things Rosetta Stone will not teach you: how to ask a question in German and understand the reply that comes in turbo speed German.
* Goethe Institut employs the BEST guides.  Thank you Edina, Karin, Nicolas, Martin and Rodrigo! I don't know if we would have survived without you.

Friday, July 19

Kreuzberg museum

Today we toured the area of Berlin known as Kreuzberg and visited a museum there.  2.5 million people of Turkish origin live in Germany. Most of them are here as a result of the guest worker program. The guest worker program began after the erection of the Berlin Wall when the government in West Berlin realize they had twice as many job openings as a available workers. Many of the guest workers came from southern and Eastern Europe. They were highly skilled but worked for low wages, thus they frequently settled in the low rent areas near the Wall.  The influx of so many people of different ethnic origins (The term we hear used frequently is "people of migration backgrounds") led to racial tensions in Berlin.  The Kreuzberg project was started by three girls who saw first hand the ethnic tensions that were plaguing Germany around the turn of the century. The goal of the project is to fight prejudice against people of migration backgrounds.  The Kreuzberg area was once encompassed on three sides by the Berlin Wall, and many people left because they didn't want to live near the wall.  But it was inhabited by artists and others and is now a trendy area with cafes and shopping. About 160,000 individuals live in Kreuzberg, 35% of them with migration backgrounds, most of those Turkish.  Recently there has been a lot of Roma migration into the area from other parts of the EU.  Because of prejudices against them, people with migration backgsrounds have not always been accorded full citizenship status.   It is only since 2000 that children born in Germany are automatically given German citizenship.  Germany does not recognize dual citizenship.  We had lunch at a Turkish restaurant in the area.  I actually liked this Turkish meal better than the first one we had a few nights ago.  After lunch, I took a train with a combined group of TOP 5 and TOP 4 Fellows to Potsdam.  Once there we took a bicycle tour of the town, including a self- guided audio tour of Schloss Cecelienhof, where the Potsdam Conference was held near the end of World War 2.  We ended in a Biergarten (doesn't everything here?) before biking back to the train station to return to Berlin for our last night in Germany.