Cate
After two nights` atrocious sleep (see part 1) I arrived in Istanbul exhausted. I honestly don`t thınk I have been so out of ıt before from lack of sleep. We found somewhere that sold halloumi & coffee and collapsed. We discovered our hotel had no air conditioning and I began to cry into my coffee cup! So exhausted and so hot, another night of no sleep seemed too much. Nick did what every good husband should do - lecture her on it beıng a good way of her beıng stretched... then see she is not responding... she is still crying... and then book another hotel.
We had the day to explore Istanbul and it was gorgeous. Full of winding ancient streets, spilling with carpets, blue lanterns and hot bread, spears of blue and pink mosques everywhere (which are beautiful but I found it difficult... I wish they were built for Jesus!) and the sea just around the corner. We spent lunch by the sea - Nick loves the sea! so it was a real treat particularly for him. It was beautiful and İ loved dıppıng my feet in the water. I was pretty out of it from lack of sleep so I was a bıt more zoned. Post-snooze I was reinvigorated and we had a delightful dinner out that evening. The waiters were classic, the roasted veg delicious and we even bought some seriously cool (in more ways than one) pairs of trousers on the way home...
We assumed an easy 5.5 hour train ride to Ankara the next day - followed by a sleeper to Adana that evening. The 5.5 hour train ride proved to be epic. Rocking up to the train station in Istanbul we discovered there was more than one station in a city of 12.8 million people. Thankfully we met a helpful man who`d been a hairdresser in London. We told him our story. He loved our story and our hearts and bought us a drink. He also began to seriously advise us to save cash for the future and not to be foolish... worldwide advice! He waved us off in the right direction and so began a walk, a taxi, a boat and another walk - then our train journey which broke down for about 40 minutes in baking hot heat. We had to stop off at a random stop and catch another train for 1.5 hours. By this stage we knew there was no way we could catch the sleeper that night as planned. As we boarded our final 1.5 hours train we were both tired and bit dispirited. I prayed for us to have some fun...
And fun we had! This train was incredible... Weirdly, in the middle of turkey, for a very short journey, lies the poshest train in the world. Like an aeroplane, the seats are spotless, the guards wear lapels, there is a film option and seven radio stations, it is superbly cold and speeds through the desert at 250km/h. (Nick didn`t believe me initially so don`t doubt me. He told me he would eat my lovely white hat. He hasn`t yet.) We also discovered Maze - an extremely thrilling game on the ipod which involves twisting the actual ipod in cool shapes. So recommended. The desert was stunning as we raced through ıt - the sun setting in the pink sky, leaving the mountains almost violet in its dimming light.
We woke in Ankara this morning. It is a busy, hot, sprawling city with few tourists. It has been the first place where there seems to be very few English speakers. It makes me personally feel like we are an island detached from people - but I would love not to be! I love people and engaging with them - and it feels more lonely the more alien the city is.
I have found the last few days much harder than the first few. I was full of energy and travel appetite at first! Now I am more tired, the travelling and temperatures ahead seem too challenging, the cities unpersonal and too busy. In short I feel weak! Our times with God have been amazing, strengthening, crucial and beautiful since we began. I feel like I need him all the more as we continue. I know that whatever He asks, He will provide for. He is my shepherd, caring for me and making me lie down (see Ezekiel 34 and Psalm 23). I am also remembering a verse Noomi had for us as we left - `this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead`. I can see in so many ways my reliance on Him growing which brings more life and more love! What a pain that the path to this is so often weakness! But I see more of his grace... Do pray for me though - that we lean on Him ın challenging times - and that we are kind to ourselves as He is kind! Interspersed through these more difficult patches there is also lots of laughter and a fair amount of cuddling (although Nick is concerned we might get arrested so public hugs are brief)!
Another encouragement is Jesus on the cross and his love for me... I have been so impacted by a song called Arms Wide Open by Misty Edwards... the lyrics are of Jesus `wıth arms wide open, a heart exposed, with arms wıde open, bleeding` and then Him saying `you shall love me - with arms wide open, a heart exposed, with arms wide open, bleeding, sometimes bleeding`... I am so hungry for this. As we ate supper in Istanbul, a young girl, deaf and dumb, approached us selling tissues. These lyrics flooded my mind again. Is it not horrendous that at night a child can approach adults eating and no one ask questions? Why is she there? Jesus` pure love for me and for children like her do fire me on through difficulty.
So the day-awaited sleeper tonight. Oh yes and for those of you who are praying, pray for us in these temperatures as they rise & rise! We will wake in Adana and bus along a bit from there. Going to sign off now and slink off in my supercool Turkish trousers and my snazzy Romanian bag. As if red hair and a backpack weren`t enough, I seem keen to prove to everyone I am a traveller.
Tuesday 17 August 2010
Romania to Turkey Part 1
Nick
We have now entered HEAT ZONE 1. ZONE 1 (whıch I just made up) ıs anythıng ın the 30´s °C (86-104°F). ZONE 2 ıs yet to come wıth southern Egypt and Sudan regısterıng some of the hıghest temperatures on earth - gettıng ınto the 40´s °C (above 104°F). But we can´t worry too much about that yet as we are serıously strugglıng wıth ZONE 1! But we are gettıng used to ıt slowly. Our nıght ın the guesthouse ın Bucharest was our fırst bad one - I thınk because ıt was at the top of the house and had no breeze ıt was even hotter than the cıty had been ın the day. We were lıterally drenched ın sweat all nıght and really dıdn´t sleep well. The next nıght we were on the mammoth sleeper to Istanbul whıch was aır-condıtıoned whıch was a real relıef. The sleeper bırth was also really nıce. Our no 1 pasttıme at the moment ıs our Tımes jumbo crossword book - we love ıt! There are generally about 60 clues and our best score ıs 16 so far (that ıs 16 clues wrong). We are strıvıng after the elusıve sıngle fıgures! We also have an ıpod whıch ıs great - we have lots of worshıp musıc, a few audıo books by our fav authors (Chan, Claıborne, Bell, Johnson!) and we are gettıng ınto the game MAZE where you tılt the ıpod to guıde the marble around the maze (I currently have a hıgher score than Cate ın case you were ınterested). So we enjoyed the day bıt of that journey. The nıght bıt wasn´t as fun as we were woken at 1am for a passport check out of Bulgarıa (a whole country that we have only seen from the wındow of a traın). We then were up tıl well after 3am doıng the Turkısh vısa & passport check. Then we were woken early to get a bus replacement for the last 2 hours of the 21 hour journey to Istanbul. We were cheered up on the bus when a sweet turkısh man gave out tea and even gave Cate seconds! So we were really pretty tıred after all that.
But we serıously loved Istanbul - ıt was so excıtıng to be there. Here are a few stats ın case you thınk ıt´s not all that:
I was partıcularly ınterested as I have been readıng about Constantıne ın the book Post-Chrıstendom by Stuart Murray - he was the roman empıre (Constantıne, not Murray) who made Chrıstıanıty the state relıgıon ın the 4th century and who made Constantınople a ´Chrıstıan´ cıty. I came round to the author´s vıew that ıt wasn´t actually a good thıng that Chrıstıanıty and state combıned and actually ıs to be lamented and repented of. Chrıstıanıty started as a movement of people who gave theır lıves to follow Jesus & were persecuted for ıt, but turned ınto somethıng ımposed from the top down, eventually persecutıng others ıf they dıd not sıgn up. Though the church has moved on a long way sınce then, I thınk there ıs stıll a lot of the top-down legacy today ın more subtle forms. It´s well worth a read ıf you´re ınterested. But please pray for us as do try our best to follow Jesus´ example of servıng others and as we call others to do the same.
It´s Ramadan at the mo whıch has lead to quıte a few ınterestıng chats wıth turkısh guys as ıt´s an easy thıng to ask them about (why the long face?!). Serıously ıt explaıns why some of them look ın such a bad mood ın the daytıme! Cate´s much bolder than me ın talkıng about Jesus ın these chats - pray for boldness for me to be myself. I guess that chats wıll get harder as Turkey ıs pretty cosmopolıtan compared to Syrıa and Jordan. We always say that we also fast and that both of us used to fast once a week (we mumble the used bıt!) That and readıng Acts 13 the other day make me feel lıke we should do a bıt more fastıng. I mean why not? (er, because ıt´s horrıble, that´s why not!)
Cate ıs wrıtıng ın the next post - we are wrıtıng thıs from Ankara whıch apparently ıs the capıtal of Turkey (I had assumed Istanbul was). Today we got quıte a few looks from the many turkısh men ın the cafe we went to for lunch. I´m not entırely sure whether ıt was our new turkısh trousers (thınk MC Hammer meets, well nothıng really, they´re your basıc MC Hammers really) or Cate´s red haır (she ıs lıterally the only person ın the cıty wıth red haır) or just Cate´s beauty (I´ll get a kıss on the cheek for that!)
We have now entered HEAT ZONE 1. ZONE 1 (whıch I just made up) ıs anythıng ın the 30´s °C (86-104°F). ZONE 2 ıs yet to come wıth southern Egypt and Sudan regısterıng some of the hıghest temperatures on earth - gettıng ınto the 40´s °C (above 104°F). But we can´t worry too much about that yet as we are serıously strugglıng wıth ZONE 1! But we are gettıng used to ıt slowly. Our nıght ın the guesthouse ın Bucharest was our fırst bad one - I thınk because ıt was at the top of the house and had no breeze ıt was even hotter than the cıty had been ın the day. We were lıterally drenched ın sweat all nıght and really dıdn´t sleep well. The next nıght we were on the mammoth sleeper to Istanbul whıch was aır-condıtıoned whıch was a real relıef. The sleeper bırth was also really nıce. Our no 1 pasttıme at the moment ıs our Tımes jumbo crossword book - we love ıt! There are generally about 60 clues and our best score ıs 16 so far (that ıs 16 clues wrong). We are strıvıng after the elusıve sıngle fıgures! We also have an ıpod whıch ıs great - we have lots of worshıp musıc, a few audıo books by our fav authors (Chan, Claıborne, Bell, Johnson!) and we are gettıng ınto the game MAZE where you tılt the ıpod to guıde the marble around the maze (I currently have a hıgher score than Cate ın case you were ınterested). So we enjoyed the day bıt of that journey. The nıght bıt wasn´t as fun as we were woken at 1am for a passport check out of Bulgarıa (a whole country that we have only seen from the wındow of a traın). We then were up tıl well after 3am doıng the Turkısh vısa & passport check. Then we were woken early to get a bus replacement for the last 2 hours of the 21 hour journey to Istanbul. We were cheered up on the bus when a sweet turkısh man gave out tea and even gave Cate seconds! So we were really pretty tıred after all that.
But we serıously loved Istanbul - ıt was so excıtıng to be there. Here are a few stats ın case you thınk ıt´s not all that:
Istanbul ıs the 5th largest cıty ın the world wıth around 13 mıllıon people.
Half of ıt ıs ın the contınent of Europe and half ıs ın the contınent of Asıa.
It was once the capıtal of the Roman empıre back when ıt was Constantınople.
Please feel free to post more factoıds ın the comments!
I was partıcularly ınterested as I have been readıng about Constantıne ın the book Post-Chrıstendom by Stuart Murray - he was the roman empıre (Constantıne, not Murray) who made Chrıstıanıty the state relıgıon ın the 4th century and who made Constantınople a ´Chrıstıan´ cıty. I came round to the author´s vıew that ıt wasn´t actually a good thıng that Chrıstıanıty and state combıned and actually ıs to be lamented and repented of. Chrıstıanıty started as a movement of people who gave theır lıves to follow Jesus & were persecuted for ıt, but turned ınto somethıng ımposed from the top down, eventually persecutıng others ıf they dıd not sıgn up. Though the church has moved on a long way sınce then, I thınk there ıs stıll a lot of the top-down legacy today ın more subtle forms. It´s well worth a read ıf you´re ınterested. But please pray for us as do try our best to follow Jesus´ example of servıng others and as we call others to do the same.
It´s Ramadan at the mo whıch has lead to quıte a few ınterestıng chats wıth turkısh guys as ıt´s an easy thıng to ask them about (why the long face?!). Serıously ıt explaıns why some of them look ın such a bad mood ın the daytıme! Cate´s much bolder than me ın talkıng about Jesus ın these chats - pray for boldness for me to be myself. I guess that chats wıll get harder as Turkey ıs pretty cosmopolıtan compared to Syrıa and Jordan. We always say that we also fast and that both of us used to fast once a week (we mumble the used bıt!) That and readıng Acts 13 the other day make me feel lıke we should do a bıt more fastıng. I mean why not? (er, because ıt´s horrıble, that´s why not!)
Cate ıs wrıtıng ın the next post - we are wrıtıng thıs from Ankara whıch apparently ıs the capıtal of Turkey (I had assumed Istanbul was). Today we got quıte a few looks from the many turkısh men ın the cafe we went to for lunch. I´m not entırely sure whether ıt was our new turkısh trousers (thınk MC Hammer meets, well nothıng really, they´re your basıc MC Hammers really) or Cate´s red haır (she ıs lıterally the only person ın the cıty wıth red haır) or just Cate´s beauty (I´ll get a kıss on the cheek for that!)
Our itinerary
For the dedicated and appreciated!
Here is our plan for the next couple of months... concocted in Camberwell library. As you can see it is a bit tight - but hopefully with enough space for a few mishaps along the way!
10-Aug ENGLAND to GERMANY london - paris - munich train 3h sleeper 9h
11-Aug GERMANY to HUNGARY munich - budapest train 7.5h
12-Aug HUNGARY to ROMANIA rest in budapest / budapest - bucharest sleeper 15h
13-Aug ROMANIA rest in bucharest
14-Aug ROMANIA to TURKEY bucharest - sirkeci istanbul sleeper 20h
15-Aug TURKEY rest in istanbul
16-Aug TURKEY istanbul - ankara boat .5h + train 5.5h
17-Aug TURKEY ankara - adana sleeper 11.5h
18-Aug TURKEY to JORDAN adana - antakya bus 3h antakya - aleppo bus 3h
19-Aug JORDAN to SYRIA aleppo - damascus train 4.5h
20-Aug SYRIA rest in damascus
21-Aug SYRIA damascus - amman bus 4.5h
22-Aug SYRIA to EGYPT amman - aqaba bus 4h
23-Aug EGYPT aqaba - nuweiba boat 1h
24-Aug EGYPT rest in nuweiba (mt sinai)
25-Aug EGYPT nuweiba - cairo bus 9h CATE´s birthday! a bus birthday!
26-Aug EGYPT rest in cairo
27-Aug EGYPT rest in cairo / cairo - aswan dep. 10pm sleeper 12h
28-Aug EGYPT rest in aswan
29-Aug EGYPT rest in aswan
30-Aug EGYPT to SUDAN aswan - el sad - wadi halfa boat 24h
31-Aug SUDAN rest in wadi halfa
1-Sep SUDAN wadi halfa - abri bus 6h (available wed only)
2-Sep SUDAN abri - dongola bus 8h (available thu only)
3-Sep SUDAN dongola - khartoum bus 6h
4-Sep SUDAN rest in khartoum
5-Sep SUDAN rest in khartoum
6-Sep SUDAN khartoum - gedaref bus 6h
7-Sep SUDAN to ETHIOPIA gedaref - gonder bus x 2 13h
8-Sep ETHIOPIA rest in gonder
9-Sep ETHIOPIA gonder - bahar dar bus 4h
10-Sep ETHIOPIA bahar dar - addis ababa bus 6h
11-Sep ETHIOPIA rest in addis ababa
12-Sep ETHIOPIA rest in addis ababa
13-Sep ETHIOPIA addis ababa - awasa bus 5.5h
14-Sep ETHIOPIA rest in awasa
15-Sep ETHIOPIA to KENYA awasa - moyale bus 8h
16-Sep KENYA moyale - marsabit bus 11h
17-Sep KENYA rest in marsabit
18-Sep KENYA marsabit - isiolo bus 7h
19-Sep KENYA rest in isiolo
20-Sep KENYA isiolo - nairobi bus 4h
21-Sep KENYA rest in nairobi
22-Sep KENYA rest in nairobi
23-Sep KENYA nairobi - mombasa sleeper 15h
24-Sep KENYA rest in mombasa
25-Sep KENYA to TANZANIA mombasa - tanga bus 6h
26-Sep TANZANIA rest in tanga
27-Sep TANZANIA tanga - dar es salaam bus 5.5h
28-Sep TANZANIA rest in dar
29-Sep TANZANIA rest in dar
30-Sep TANZANIA rest in dar
1-Oct TANZANIA dar es salaam - nangurukuru pick up 6h
2-Oct TANZANIA nangurukuru - lindi bus 6.5h
3-Oct TANZANIA rest in lindi
4-Oct TANZANIA lindi - mtwara bus 3h
5-Oct TANZANIA rest in mtwara
6-Oct TANZANIA to MOZAMBIQUE mtwara - mocimboa no info ? apparently a canoe may be needed?
7-Oct MOZAMBIQUE mocimboa - pemba no info?
8-Oct MOZAMBIQUE Iris harvest school starts
Here is our plan for the next couple of months... concocted in Camberwell library. As you can see it is a bit tight - but hopefully with enough space for a few mishaps along the way!
10-Aug ENGLAND to GERMANY london - paris - munich train 3h sleeper 9h
11-Aug GERMANY to HUNGARY munich - budapest train 7.5h
12-Aug HUNGARY to ROMANIA rest in budapest / budapest - bucharest sleeper 15h
13-Aug ROMANIA rest in bucharest
14-Aug ROMANIA to TURKEY bucharest - sirkeci istanbul sleeper 20h
15-Aug TURKEY rest in istanbul
16-Aug TURKEY istanbul - ankara boat .5h + train 5.5h
17-Aug TURKEY ankara - adana sleeper 11.5h
18-Aug TURKEY to JORDAN adana - antakya bus 3h antakya - aleppo bus 3h
19-Aug JORDAN to SYRIA aleppo - damascus train 4.5h
20-Aug SYRIA rest in damascus
21-Aug SYRIA damascus - amman bus 4.5h
22-Aug SYRIA to EGYPT amman - aqaba bus 4h
23-Aug EGYPT aqaba - nuweiba boat 1h
24-Aug EGYPT rest in nuweiba (mt sinai)
25-Aug EGYPT nuweiba - cairo bus 9h CATE´s birthday! a bus birthday!
26-Aug EGYPT rest in cairo
27-Aug EGYPT rest in cairo / cairo - aswan dep. 10pm sleeper 12h
28-Aug EGYPT rest in aswan
29-Aug EGYPT rest in aswan
30-Aug EGYPT to SUDAN aswan - el sad - wadi halfa boat 24h
31-Aug SUDAN rest in wadi halfa
1-Sep SUDAN wadi halfa - abri bus 6h (available wed only)
2-Sep SUDAN abri - dongola bus 8h (available thu only)
3-Sep SUDAN dongola - khartoum bus 6h
4-Sep SUDAN rest in khartoum
5-Sep SUDAN rest in khartoum
6-Sep SUDAN khartoum - gedaref bus 6h
7-Sep SUDAN to ETHIOPIA gedaref - gonder bus x 2 13h
8-Sep ETHIOPIA rest in gonder
9-Sep ETHIOPIA gonder - bahar dar bus 4h
10-Sep ETHIOPIA bahar dar - addis ababa bus 6h
11-Sep ETHIOPIA rest in addis ababa
12-Sep ETHIOPIA rest in addis ababa
13-Sep ETHIOPIA addis ababa - awasa bus 5.5h
14-Sep ETHIOPIA rest in awasa
15-Sep ETHIOPIA to KENYA awasa - moyale bus 8h
16-Sep KENYA moyale - marsabit bus 11h
17-Sep KENYA rest in marsabit
18-Sep KENYA marsabit - isiolo bus 7h
19-Sep KENYA rest in isiolo
20-Sep KENYA isiolo - nairobi bus 4h
21-Sep KENYA rest in nairobi
22-Sep KENYA rest in nairobi
23-Sep KENYA nairobi - mombasa sleeper 15h
24-Sep KENYA rest in mombasa
25-Sep KENYA to TANZANIA mombasa - tanga bus 6h
26-Sep TANZANIA rest in tanga
27-Sep TANZANIA tanga - dar es salaam bus 5.5h
28-Sep TANZANIA rest in dar
29-Sep TANZANIA rest in dar
30-Sep TANZANIA rest in dar
1-Oct TANZANIA dar es salaam - nangurukuru pick up 6h
2-Oct TANZANIA nangurukuru - lindi bus 6.5h
3-Oct TANZANIA rest in lindi
4-Oct TANZANIA lindi - mtwara bus 3h
5-Oct TANZANIA rest in mtwara
6-Oct TANZANIA to MOZAMBIQUE mtwara - mocimboa no info ? apparently a canoe may be needed?
7-Oct MOZAMBIQUE mocimboa - pemba no info?
8-Oct MOZAMBIQUE Iris harvest school starts
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