A Recap...

Chania, Crete

¡Hola Amigos! Well, once again life has kept me on the edge of my seat and allowed me to globe-trot a little. By now, I'm sure it's no secret that I have officially moved on to Spain, with a few stops in between. However, I'm saving all of those goods for another time...

First, the recap:

     Monday, October 13th was my last day in Greece, and surprisingly enough, when that day came I was more than ready to leave. (What I didn't know then, is how much I would miss so many little things about it later). I had prayed a lot about my leaving beforehand, and that particular day I was weirdly calm and anxious to move on. I absolutely loved Greece, don't get me wrong, but I knew then that I needed to experience something different. Once again, God took care of every detail, from having people to help me get my bags down from my 3rd floor room, (all stairs + overpacked heavy bags = nightmare for Jessy...Thank you Yanni, Doug, and Maria's son), to providing a ride to the bus station AND a close parking space which we didn't think possible, to the 3hr bus ride to Heraklion, finding a taxi to take me to the airport, the flight to Amsterdam/arriving at 2am and finally the taxi ride to my friends' house. It was a long day, but I was at such peace. I don't think I've ever felt so relaxed and calm about traveling. I loved sitting on the bus as it was getting dark out, watching the mountains and the coastline as we drove by, (it's a BEAUTIFUL bus ride!) listening to my ipod, and feeling strangely giddy. I was excited for the time I had been allowed there, and yet was looking so forward to the next adventure. For whatever reason, I constantly had an urge to get up on the bus and dance, (I refrained) and then I remember being so amused watching this Greek boy sitting diagonally from me. He was late teens/early 20's, and this cat was too cool for school with his fitted white shirt, his shellacked hair, the way he was leaning on his girlfriend as she "seductively" rubbed his chest, his unlit cigarette hanging out of his mouth,  how he kept looking over to make sure I was watching, (and when I wasn't watching, he must have forgotten every time he would look at me that there's a very obvious reflection in the window), and his extremely-fitted, mustard-yellow pants; seriously, it took everything I had to keep it together. That being said, while he most likely thought I kept undressing him with a lustful eye, every time I looked at him I kept singing Jimmy Fallon's "tight pants...I got my tight pants on" under my breath. (The reaction every man hopes for, I'm sure...)

We walked around a lot that last weekend, taking a bunch of random pictures. This was a different side of Chania I hadn't been to before.

     Side note: I don't know if it was just the day or what, and I certainly don't think this reflects on all Greeks, but despite the fact that it was MORE than obvious on numerous occasions that I was having a LOT of trouble carting my three suitcases and backpack by myself, with the exception of my friends when they were available, not one single person offered to help me. Man or woman. Not when my luggage fell over, or when I had to take them one by one and walk them over to the bus while leaving the others way behind me and praying no one stole them, not when I kindly asked an older woman sitting there if she could watch my bags for two seconds and she said no, not when I had to fight my way through the line of people to load them and no one moved, (so I ran them over), and definitely not when the bus driver came over AS I was trying to lift the bags onto the bus, asked me where I was going, and then proceeded to tell me I had to move all of my stuff to the far, opposite side of the bus because I had the wrong drop-off point, and then walked away. Yeah, I'd say I was ready to leave at that point. (But was still uncharacteristically calm). I even exaggerated with the bags at one point and acted like I couldn't move with all of that weight, then asked the bus drivers at the 2nd station, who were standing there in a circle talking, if they knew where the taxis were and then motioned to my bags with my eyes, and they simply pointed in the direction and kept on talking. My cab driver was the only one who was kind and helpful, and he was paid to be. (I still appreciated it, and I know he was being genuine). After that, it wasn't until I was at the Heraklion airport that I met a worker from Belgium at the check-in gate, who was the sweetest thing. He helped me with my bags, he made fun of the weight, he asked in his Belgium accent, "oh my, did zyou pack a grick (greek) boi in here witz you?" (I know, I know...I swear it's a running joke here in europe. It seems everyone knows me by the ridiculous amount of luggage I have). He was hysterical. If I could, I would have stuffed him in my pocket and brought him with me, and made him my little belgium friend. He even walked around with me, and went out of his way to try and help me get a lower baggage fee. Though I was grateful for the attempt, it didn't work, and 100 euros later I found myself on my way to Amsterdam. I spent a few hours on a late flight and arrived after 1am in Schiphol, and had a sweet taxi driver that took me to my friend's flat. Exhausted, I made it to my guestroom where they had an amazing candle burning, a little welcome basket for me, and the comfiest looking bed, and I  fell asleep into sweet, sweet bliss.
     I'll save the details of my week in Amsterdam, Barcelona, and how I ended up in Spain for next time. It's been an amazing ride, I'll say that. And stressful. I'll say that too. Amazing, and stressful, but mostly amazing. :)

Don't judge me. It took me hours to pack everything up again...a task I procrastinated with as long as possible. :)

Until next time... 

This is like a project you would try to accomplish via Pinterest with a lot of time and money. Here, it's just an old, mostly abandoned building, like no big deal.. #obsessed

Pavlos introduced us to this place. One of my favorite restaurants - Tamam. I had to go here for my last dinner, and their pumpkin soup was amazing!!

We found this pomegranate tree when walking one night. It's right in the middle of a park, and Dave climbed up there and picked some for all of us. I had never eaten a fresh pomegranate until Greece! 

P.S.
This was the verse I had "officially" marked in my Bible as my verse for Greece, because it proved to be beyond true so many times...

Surely, this is our God:

we trusted in him, and he saved us.

This is the LORD, we trusted in him;

let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation...

You will keep in perfect peace

 him whose mind is steadfast, 

because he trusts in you.

[Isaiah 25:9, 26:3]