Upward Over the Mountain: to step outside a box and into the unpredictable streets of istanbul

so i'm back once again in the niverville action.

and it's awesome to say that this isn't a downer of a statement. my eastern european excursion was incredible and i would've loved to keep on treking (especially in turkey), and yet i was looking forward to being home, too. home hasn't dissappointed me either. i guess it's cool to see that though life is never perfect, there is hope to be content in ALL SITUATIONS.

like my trip, for instance. the enjoyable moments i had were all over the spectrum, and not reliant on my level of comfortability, or the amount of money that was being spent. not being able to eat was exciting (possibly due to lack of relevant currency, or food availability) just cuz it was so out of the norm. or eating cheap czech cornflakes, or eating fancy hungarian cuizine. i enjoyed a luxurious turkish bath, but equally enjoyed the experience of being stranded in some tiny greek-turkish border town while some non-english-speaking official with a gun had our passports and left for an hour to God-knows-where.

there is so much to enjoy in life if we're are willing to step outside our boxes of expectant comfortability. backpacking around the world has become so liberating for me once i was able to accept the possibility (or probability) of sleeping on the streets and the cheapest forms of transportation (like hitchhiking). i find the fear of not having a bed for the night plagues people's travels to an astonishing degree. or the fear of getting to a place and not knowing where to go.

a fond memory of my recent trip was arriving in istanbul at 3:30 am in a small bus-load of romanians and bulgarians (who couldn't speak english). despite the determined efforts of my travel companion, we were unable to secure a plan in advance for what to do upon arrival. so we were dropped off not knowing where we were in that large city...and without a map. i would've liked to tell you all that we slept on the streets of istanbul (i was leaning towards that), but we actually somehow found a bed on a rooftop for next to nothing. i'm not saying that i think everyone should sleep on streets in sketchy eastern european cities; but i am saying that i think we all need to step outside of boxes a little more, broaden our comfortabilies, so that was can experience more in our relationships, travels, past times, and faith.

so now back in niverville, and it's great. not perfect, but great. i love my friends and family (hopefully get to see more of them soon), and now i'm able to get back into playing music again. so...i hope you can all find contentment in whatever comes your way in life, though there will be pain to embrace and tears to shed, there's also laughter and love to be shared.

it's good to be home.