full circle

Rotterdam, Netherlands

The past couple days I have been staying with a woman I met the first week of my trip. She is from Holland and was with a group from her church on Iona, the small Island in Scotland where my adventures began some eight weeks ago. It is wonderful to see her again (as familiar faces always are), but on top of that it seems fitting that I end my trip with the same group I began it with.

I went to church today and saw almost all ten of the group members, and they were all thrilled to see me, so much so that I was announced as a special guest. Just to demonstrate how giving these people are one woman drove half an hour (which is more of a gift than a kind gesture, due to the ridiculously high gas prices) to come to the church service at a church she doesn't even attend just to say "hi" to me. Then I also later found out another woman's husband is very ill these days, and she left him alone this morning, also to come see me again! I was humbled to say the least.

I share this not because I want to draw unnecessary attention to myself, but because after being alone for a good part of a month, meeting new people it was so great to have people smile when they saw me. Apart from three-fun filled days with my close friend Meghan (who I also met up with in Holland), the extent of my conversations lately have consisted of (in this order); my name, what country I come from, what part of the country, where I have just come from, how long I have been travelling for, where I will go to next.

I have been the recipient of some outrageous hospitality throughout my travels. It has put a smile on my face, and many a roof over my head. Someday soon I will pay it forward, someday soon...

(haha, and a funny story, I bought Amelie yesterday, (one of my favourite foreign films) which takes place in Paris, and is thus in French. I was thrilled because I got a great deal… the only problem is the subtitles to this film are in Dutch. So unless there are friends of mine who speak Dutch well enough to read the subtitles, it may be a movie that gets watched only when I am in the mood to relive my Paris experiences, or wanting to practice my French…On the bright side, it will look great on my shelf as it’s a collectors edition…argh!)

Tomorrow I head back to Paris (how fitting) with a quick stop in Belgium for some waffles for lunch and to stock up on Chocolate for my family. I will explore Paris one last time before flying home on Weds... and that is the latest.