Home is where the HEART is

Summer 2010... complete.

I am departing Germany in t-minus 14 hours and 45 min... but who's counting =)

Arrive in Chicago at 2:30pm Saturday. Then its Chicago-Cedar Rapids arriving in CR at 6:30pm.

I have my wallet and my suitcases are packed. Ready to be HOME.

Looking forward to seeing you all very soon!

God Bless

Love,

Matthew

Holland

Amsterdam

My last trip of the summer was to Amsterdam, Holland/Netherlands. Amsterdam gets a bad rep because of its repetition of being a weed smoking/party crazy city. Not really the case. It actually has very beautiful scenery with canals all throughout the city. It is definitely a tourist city though and thrives off of visitors.

Heineken Factory Tour

Heineken Beer is originally from Amsterdam and they have there beer factory there and we went on a tour. It was a pretty interesting tour as it was really high tech. Meaning a lot of videos, cool lights, and interesting ways to present the history of Heineken. You also get 3 free beers for going on the tour... not a bad deal.

Sights in Amsterdam

We were there during the weekend of the Love Parade or the Gay Pride Festival. We really didn't see much of the festival as we were there on a Sunday but we did get to see a lot of the aftermath from the festival. There is an actual parade on Saturday and there is always music and dancing going on.

One of the popular sights to see in Amsterdam is the Anne Frank House. The line was really long when we got there and none of us really wanted to go in so all I can say is I saw the Anne Frank house.

First thing most people think of when they hear Amsterdam is weed/marijuana. It is sold here... pretty sure legally. Fear not, for I did NOT purchase or smoke any but for those who were wondering they sell them at 'CoffeeShops' (all one word is the way you know). I went inside.. saw what I wanted to see and left. It's the real deal and people are not making it up. Just something you have to see when you're there unfortunately.

My camera did die about half through the day and I was unable to capture about half the sights I got see while in Amsterdam. Overall, it was a fun last trip for the summer and I thought the city is pretty interesting.

5 DAYS

I am coming back to America in 5 days and I couldn't be more excited. Thanks for all the love and support this summer.

GOD BLESS

Belgium

Brugge & Brussels

I went to my 6th country of the summer... Belgium. I really didn't have any expectations for this trip because I haven't heard much about Belgium and I didn't know what to expect. I was really pleased and had a great time. Its a beautiful country and that reminds you of various parts of Europe.

Brugge

For the first part of the trip we spent some time in the northern part of Belgium in the city of Brugge. It was an old town with canals and lots of people. It had a Venice feel to it without the Italian atmosphere. A lot of markets selling random household items. It was a neat place to go.

Brussels

The capital city and the biggest city. Completely different than Brugge. The central train station is in the heart of the city and we walked around there for a bit. It really felt like I was in a big city back in the states. Our hostel was in a sweet location. It was in a street right by the main square where all the tourists gathered. We were a few minuetes away from the peeing statue which is a popular site to see in Brussels. It had its nice big buildings and cathedrals like all the other big cities in Europe do but in a way it had its own uniqueness. I guess you'll just have to go there yourself to know what I am talking about.

Swim Camp

My daily job is running a swim camp for 6-10 year olds. It's two 4 hour sessions 8-12 & 1-5 pm Tuesday-Friday. My favorite part is going outside and playing games.

I have only 2 weeks left and I would be lying to ya if I said I wasn't counting down the days. No matter how fast I want these last 2 weeks to fly by I know they won't and I learning to be patient and content. The experiences I have had here will be with me the rest of my life, mind as well make them enjoyable ones.

Canyoning Pictures

I received the pictures minutes after posting my last post. Anyways, here are some pictures from my awesome experience in Interlaken, Switzerland... Canyoning!

Here is my pride and joy picture... zip line until middle of the water and then release into a back flip. Solid landing... fyi

Week 7

Canyoning in Interlaken, Switzerland

Last weekend I got the chance to go to Switzerland and go canyoning. Just Google canyoning and you will see what I got to do. It was super awesome! Probably the best experience thus far. It was an intense morning of going down a canon and jumping in ice cold water. There was a photographer there taking some pictures as we went through the mountain and Outdoor Interlaken (the company I did canyoning through) will mail me a cd with all the pictures on it and it has not arrived yet. I think you will have a better understanding of what I did until you see the pictures.

Switzerland is a beautiful country. If I had my choice of living anywhere in Europe... Switzerland would be my first choice. It doesn't feel very to touristy and it just has a home feel to it. There are a bunch of mountains and lakes all throughout the country... very beautiful. The cost of living there is very expensive and that would be the big down side. I highly recommend going to Switzerland for anyone that wants to travel Europe...yes even over Italy! Just my opinion.

The weekend we stayed pretty local and just went to Koln, Germany. It is a city that has a lot of rich German history and it was a great place to see. The cathedral (first picture) is huge and I enjoyed walking through it. It's as big or even bigger then the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. Koln is just a tourist town and some place you have to go see when you are in Germany. We were only there for a couple of hours. It has been pretty nice by staying local this weekend as I am getting a little sick of sitting in a train for hours on end during the weekends.

4 weeks left!

There are only 4 weeks left of my summer and I really hope to live for the moment here and appreciate what a blessing it is to be here. Camp is going well and I hope to make changes to make camp a little better for all involved. I really enjoy being a director and can really see myself grow as a leader. By the way my camp name is Mr. Incredible (from the Disney movie, The Incredibles) so it has been pretty fun to listen to kids call me Mr. Incredible all day long. =)

CARPE DIEM

Oh happiness

Living it up

This past weekend I was able to go to Venice, Italy and as you can see by the picture above I got to see Katie! The trip was a roller coaster ride as I hit a lot of bumps in the road to get there to see Katie but we made it happen.

Overview:

Katie and I have been planning to meet in Venice the entire summer so I was way excited for this weekend to finally arrive. Well once it did it seemed like everything went wrong and the chance of us seeing each other looked impossible. First off the people I was traveling with were not excited for the 14 hour train to Venice and then have to make the same 14 hour train ride back home all within about 36 hours... so a lot of time on the train.

Well I eventually talked my group into going so we set sail late Saturday night. We traveled all through the night (not taking night trains) so sleeping was difficult. We did not have reservations on any of the trains (which is a must) but the train conductors were actually nice and let us buy them on the train.. which is usually uncommon. So we felt pretty pleased with that. We arrived to Venice at 2:30pm on Sunday. Katie was due to arrive Monday morning. My days off from work are Sunday and Monday and her's are Monday and Tuesday. She got off work Sunday night and set off to come to Venice which is about 8 hours away from where she was at. She ran into many bumps as her group wasn't to excited for the long trip but eventually got going. They missed there initial train that had them set to arrive in Venice at 10 am on Monday. Well they didn't arrive until 2:30pm. That is just way the things go sometimes when traveling in Europe with trains. Anyways, I had to leave at 3:20pm so.. we had about 30 min to spend together.

'All that for 30 min!?' Haha yes but it was a great 30 min that I will remember for a lifetime.

Venice is a beautiful city and very unique. I really enjoy it as this was my second time visting the city.

Difference between a 'night train' and a 'regular train.'

Night trains are for traveling long distances in the night and they provide quiet sleeping beds that you have to pay extra for.

Regular trains are not geared towards sleeping as they run all through the night. Lights remain on the entire time and announcements are made over the loud speaker. Basically what I am trying to say is taking regular trains to a long distance is pretty rough on ya. I hope that made sense. I am started to understand the train system more and more and becoming quite the "traveler."

My spirit is doing a lot better and I am enjoying myself. Time is honestly flying by here and I can't believe I am half way through the summer.

Camp Adventure Aquatics Director:

I am the Aquatics Director this summer as I have stated before so I am in charge of 4 counselors. That has been my toughest challenge this summer by doing a good job of taking care of the kids as well as making them happy and doing a good job as their director. I am learning a lot about my leadership and I know this will pay off in the long run.

I am blessed and so thankful of being able to spend my summer here and see all the sights.

Love you all.

5 weeks in

Hi All

I know I have not been doing a good job of updating this often and for that I apologize. I have no excuse but being lazy about it. Anyways, I have been here now for 5 weeks and it sure has gone fast. I enjoy what I am doing here and really do have a good work schedule and really no complaints.

I have traveled to Munich, Germany and Prague, Czech Republic since my last post. I feel very blessed and fortunate to be able to go to these amazing places!

How am I?

Tired, miss my girlfriend Katie, and in a spiritual battle to be honest with you. It's tough being away from my 'normal' life. God has challenged me this summer and so far its taking its toll on me. I do believe I will overcome all my anxiety and be just fine. TRUST AND ENDURE.

I wish I had the time to make this a long post but I do not... know I love you all and send my blessings.

If you would like more from me please don't hesitate to e-mail me and I will do my best to get back to you.

I'm okay and I am having fun. =)

Catch up

Just living it up

As you can see by the above photos... I've been busy doing stuff. This past weekend my group which consist of me and the 4 other girl aquatics counselors I work with everyday went to Paris. We had a great time and saw everything you could possibly see there. It was my second time there and it definitely paid off as I was the chief navigator of getting us around town. A responsibility I enjoy very much. We had three days to spend in Paris (Sat-Mon) so we had a lot of time to go to all the hotspot Paris has to offer. My favorite spot is the Louvre. It is the largest museum in the world and I am just a big fan. All of my life I have been fascinated with old art and the history to it all. There is something about seeing the Mona Lisa and other art in the Louvre that makes it pretty special.

This is me with the Mona Lisa in the background. Its a crazy room full with people constantly taking pictures.

The beautiful outside pyramid that will always make you say wow I really am in Paris.

Work

This past Tuesday "Camp" finally started. My days will be pretty similar for the rest of the summer. From 8-12 and 1-5 I do swim camp with 6-10 year olds. Swim camp is basically having fun with kids in the pool (aka playing games with them, helping them with their swimming, and just being their friend). We are in the pool about half the time then we eat snack outside and play games outside in the lawn. I really feel like this is my cup of tea and really feel lucky this is what I get to be doing all summer. That doesn't mean some days are going to hard because we you are dealing with youth you will always run into problems but I do believe I will have a great summer working with the kids. Myself and 2 other counselors are in charge of about 15 kids each time.

As you I have talked about earlier I am the Aquatics Director here at Ramstein AFB so that means I have to oversee the counselors and make sure they are doing a good job as well as taking all the instructions from the air force base pool managers. I have a lot of responsibility and I can feel myself growing as a leader.

Contact Me

I really do think of all my family all the time while I am here and hope you are all doing well. Please pass this along to people who do not get this e-mail. Let them know Matt is doing okay in Germany and is just starting to get into the swing of the things and will be able to start traveling to some cool places. I hope to hear from you guys and will do my best to update this blog as much as possible to guys can know what I am up to.

God Bless!

The Beginnings

Settling in

Well I have been in Germany for about 10 days now and I am settling in nicely. I live in an apartment building on base where I have a room to myself which is pretty sweet. In my apartment are the only 2 other guys at Ramstein for Camp Adventure. There are a total of 33 people here at Ramstein for Camp Adventure which means 30 are girls and 3 are guys. I work with 4 other girls with aquatics and all the other people work at different sites around Ramstein (the biggest military base ever) doing Day Camp. It's really nice to be at a big site for Camp Adventure because my past experiences have been very small so it will be great to meet new people.

My job

This first week and a half my job has been coming to the pool each day from 9:30-6:30pm. During the day all of us counselors either lifeguard or help teach swimming lessons. So far it has not been very entertaining because its not really Camp but more like a regular job at an indoor pool. The facility I work at is fantastic and has all the equipment I would ever need for teaching swimming lessons. Next week starting on June 22 we start whats called 'Swim Camp' which we will run for the rest of the summer. Swim Camp will be a camp for kids 6-7 and 8-10 year olds. From 8am-12pm the 6-7 yr olds will come to the pool where we will run a camp. Basically, we will play games in the water, eat snack, and play games out in the yard. I am so excited for this because it has a day camp feel to it but its really aquatics (sorry if thats to much Camp A lingo for ya). Then we will have a 1 hour lunch break from 12-1 and then come back and have swim camp from 1-5pm for the 8-10 yr olds. My summer will consist of running this camp (playing games in and out of the water), teaching swimming lessons, and lifeguarding.

Outings

Saturday we finally were able to get off base and experience some of Germany. We went to a local place called 'Big Emmas.' The burger there was bigger then my head. I'm not kidding. Everything there was HUGE. To say the least I left full. We eat there and watched the USA soccer game against England. Sorry there are no pictures I am working on that and they will be posted later.

This weekend my aquatics group will be heading to Paris, France (you may have heard of it). I am excited to go there for the 2nd time and see Paris during the summertime. I will have pictures and better postings when the summer gets rolling.

I do miss home a lot and most of all I missed my loved ones. Each day I am getting stronger in my faith and my life here. As much as I love traveling aboard I still will always miss home and being with people I care a lot about.

Blessings to All.

Made It

Hey Everyone,

Just wanted you all to know that I made it safe and sound to Germany. I am currently in my apartment getting ready for bed.. its late here! I have had a looooong day and need some rest for tomorrow. I will update you all as more things come about.

Love to All.

God Bless.

Here I Go

Showtime

I am currently in the Cedar Rapids airport waiting for my flight to Chicago and I am very anxious to get this day going. I'm pretty confident with traveling especially when dealing with Cedar Rapids and Chicago... one year ago that was not the case. For this trip I sort of know what to aspect especially since I was just in Germany in January. Once I am over there it will be a whole different ball game but I'm ready for it.

Where am I going?

I am flying from Cedar Rapids to Chicago and then Chicago to Frankfurt, Germany. I will arrive in Germany at about 10 am local time on Monday June 7th. The flight time from Chicago to Germany is about 9 hours. I really hope I snooze on the flight over to Germany because I know it will help so much but I am not counting on it. I have never slept on a international flight because I get so anxious/excited. Once I arrive in Frankfurt I will be picked up and taken to Ramstein Air Force Base which is where I will stay for the summer. I have no idea the distance from Frankfurt to Ramstein but based on a map it doesn't look to be too long.

My Job in Germany

I will be the Aquatics Director at Ramstein Air Force Base for Camp Adventure. What that means is I will be in charge of four aquatics counselors. So all five of us will teach swimming lessons each day while in Germany. What I have heard is our schedule will be teaching 30 min swimming lessons all day long with a lunch break. I really dont know my day to day schedule until I start working. My job as the Director will be overseeing the four counselors with regards to work and non work stuff. I am in charge of assigning them jobs and what to teach for swimming lessons and for after work stuff they have to check in with me about curfew and those kind of things. This summer holds a lot more responsibility which is what I am most nervous about this summer. It will look completely different then the experiences in the past with Camp Adventure. I am also excited for the challenge. I hope to be a great director and help my counselors love what they are doing and have a positive attitude toward each day of work. I believe I bring an enthusiasm about life that can become contagious. The four counselors are four girls from Iowa and California all of which are experiencing their first summer with Camp.

Blog

I hope to update you all as much as possible much like I did last summer when I was in South Korea. I will definitely be doing a lot more traveling this summer as I hope to see all there is to see in Europe! I will have pictures and such to make this thing a pretty interesting read. =)
I will put up another post when I receive internet access in Germany and let you all know I made it.

Well it wont be long until I get on the plane and I start my travels! Know I will be safe and will have a great time.
Love to ALL.

As my best friend told me as I left our apartment, "be the light.."

Psalm 37:4