Berlin

Friday, August 22, 2012
Day 10—Berlin

I have to admit, the very last thing that I want to be doing right now is writing. I mean when you’re living all the action, writing about it is slightly less amusing. But we had an interesting experience to start off day 10, one that I will never forget. Taking multiple night trains all over Europe was something that we knew wouldn’t be a swanky or deluxe affair. And honestly, our plans for this entire trip are quite opposite of that. It was never intended to be a five star vacation. We’re backpacking, you know, sleeping in hostels, using a towel sized for a toddler, not washing our clothes (or hair…ew), I mean that’s all part of the adventure, and I really love it. It’s challenging, and it stretches me, reminds me that I have more than I need, that simplifying my life is not only possible, but preferable. I can have plenty and live with SO much less than what I actually have, and that is a good reminder for any American. I mean even our homeless have what they need to survive, and far more than many have in other parts of the world. Our poorest are the richest in some countries. And it’s hard, because I have always had nice things, and enough money, and food on the table, and fun trips, and my own bed, and on and on, it’s hard to not want more of those nice things.

But being here, living simply, reminds me that I have more than I need, and I don’t NEED the newest iphone, a new duvet comforter, and to watch Bachelor in paradise. What I NEED is to spend more time in the Word and in prayer. What I NEED is to hug my mama. What I NEED is to make Cole laugh. What I NEED is to go see Mackenzie’s new apartment. What I NEED is to treat my daddy to a breakfast at blueberry. I NEED to watch Brydon cheer at Cedarville, go visit my grandma and let her make me grilled cheese, call my papaw to ask about his latest game of golf. What I NEED in this crazy life full of excess and things that unessesarily waste my time, is to invest more into the lives around me, and by doing so invest more into the Kingdom of God. Cause honestly, I bet if I didn’t have an iphone, I would check Facebook, email, and Instagram less. If I didn’t have a comfy duvet on my bed, I would wake up early on Saturday to volunteer my time to someone who needs it more than my pillow. If I wasn’t obsessed with Netflix and TV, I could have conversations that matter with people I love. The simple life. Now don’t get it into your head that I will EVER stop watching football and eating chili on Sundays in the fall because that WILL NOT happen. In some cases, especially when it concerns Sunday afternoons when the Bengals are not on a bye, I’m too far gone!!

And now, I’m sure that you would all love to hear about my interesting experience. The one that I will never forget, that started off the day in Berlin, you know the one that put me up on that soap box to begin with? Yeah well, it happened like this. We have 2^nd class eurail pass tickets, and in order to keep it cheap, we can’t take night trains with reservations and sleeper cars, so we get to ride four different trains throughout the night. We also get to have a four hour layover at an outdoor train station at two o’clock in the morning in northern Germany, where we are freezing during the day time, and fighting hypothermia at night. To some of you, this may sound miserable, until I add that we had bags full of clothes and we bundled up. Oh, and by the way, we had a pretty big fleece blanket. Also, we had a giant bag full of snacks. And wifi. And a Microsoft surface tablet, fully charged, accessorized with head phones to watch Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Yeah, we suffer in luxury. And that’s what I’m saying. A night of me “suffering” is like a day in the life for someone living in the slave trade, or in a place of violence (the Gaza strip perhaps). It’s unreal how much I don’t need. Okay seriously, I’m off the soap box now.

The traveling through the night thing was actually long, and very exhausting. We made it to Berlin around noon, and were waiting to hear back from the people we were staying with, who is a friend (Morgan), of a friend (her friend Quinn), of an acquaintance (a guy he met in Norway named Killian), of a friend (his flat mate named Tarik, who was very nice and an excellent host by the way). If this sounds confusing to you, that’s because it is… I mean basically we stayed with super nice strangers. And I was thrilled because we weren’t in a hostel, with people making noise, where you are constantly on your guard, it was a home, where we slept in a comfortable bed in our own room.

However, we didn’t know any of this until around 8pm. We had to wait all day before we could get into the flat. So we got off the train at the enormous Hauphbahnhof central station, found a travel center where they had plenty of brochures and things, and tried to make a plan for our time in Berlin. Once we figured out the metro system (the s and the u), we made our way to the center of town where we found Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts, and several other American things, but chose instead to buy a currywurst (I mean it’s Germany), which was actually very delicious! Then we bought Starbucks (give us a little credit for the currywurst, geez) and headed to sit on a park bench and people watch, because we didn’t have the energy to carry our bags around the city. We bought a pretzel, and just sat and talked and laughed, and enjoyed relaxing on a nice day. Until, we saw a guy in FULL African garb buying a pretzel from the man where we had just gotten ours. Morgan, said that she thought he was from Ghana because he had the Ghanaian flag and colors proudly displayed… well, everywhere! We were talking about how we wanted to be his friend (like I’m not kidding, we really were), when he waved at us, smiled, and then ended up coming over to say hello. The three of us sat there on the bench and talked to each other for about 3 entire hours (also not kidding). He is literally one of the greatest people I have ever met.

His name is John, but his friends all call him Cali or Calif. He is from Ghana as I said, and his story is unbelievable. He would summarize his story with the quote, “It’s nice to be nice!” But really what happened is that a Doctor and a Lawyer (married couple) both visited his village in Ghana, he did not know them, but when they asked for him to show them the bananas, He was quick to help, taking them to all the best fruit stands and talking to them the whole way. Just being nice, as he would say, “because being nice costs you nothing.” When they tried to give him money, even though he said he was starving, he refused. He didn’t want to help because he wanted something, he just wanted to help. Well the couple asked to see his house so he took them. He is from a very poor family and they saw that. They got his information, starting with the house number, and they began writing letters to him, with money included. As he continued to grow, they continued to support him, always keeping in close contact. One day, they asked him what he wanted to do, and he said that the big thing to make money where he is from is to drive a taxi. So they bought him a taxi and he got his certification and was able now to take care of his family. But then, he felt as though this had couple had changed his life by investing in him. They had made impossible things, possible, and he needed to give back some of his wealth to his village children, he started a foundation for them, as a way to make sure that some of the poorest of the poor have a fighting chance. The couple found out about his new foundation, and they were so proud of his use of money and his generous heart. So, they offered to help him grow the foundation by bringing him to Berlin to meet people and get help with his website.

He’s here on a mission, but while he sat with me and Morgan in the park, we could not stop laughing. For us, he described his first time on a plane and how big his eyes were the whole time. He talked about experiencing spinning doors, and escalators, and how everything was amazing to him. In fact, in the park where we were sitting, there were these people that would paint themselves gold and silver, and sit in the park in poses to get money, which Calif thought was awesome. We told him about the ones that float in London, and he said that he saw some like that too, and he said, “this is something spiritual,” and he didn’t like it. Until the host couple that was staying with him told him that it wasn’t spiritual, but that it was just a trick. They googled it to show him the wires and things, so that he knew how it all worked. He was also talking about the old couples and how they hold hands and laugh together. Their affection for one another was something he was not used to, but that he really liked and wanted to have back home in Africa. He also got a phone call from his pastor and his mother while he was sitting with us, the pastor prayed over him on the phone, and he cried through the whole conversation with his mother. It was very sweet to watch. When he was ready to go, he gave us both a hug and we asked to take a picture with him. At which point, I reached my arm forward, because we did not have anyone to take the photo, and I took a selfie of the three of us. He flipped. That was the coolest thing he had seen yet. So we taught him how to take one of himself, and told him to think of us whenever he took one. He practiced a couple of times, and that was hilarious, because each time he just got more excited! It was great. We really were in the right place at the right time, because he was such an enormous blessing to me!! God is good, and I am so thankful that I was able to meet him, and learn from his joy, contentment, thankfulness, and love for the Lord.

I want everyone to have his information, in case you ever find yourself needing an African charity to donate to, this is a great one, and the whole point of his trip to Europe was to spread the word, so that’s what I want to do! Please check out his Facebook page and his website. His name is John Kweku Eduafo and his foundation is called Okyena-Ntsi Children Foundation. The website is not quite finished yet, but you will be able to find it at www.okyena-ntsi-children-foundation.org! He’s only 24, but he has a big heart and even bigger dreams, and he needs the help of other believers and friends to grow his foundation and impact his village.

The Brandenburg Gate

After our long, but very fun, talk with John in the park, we made our way around town looking for somewhere to get wifi so that we could see if we had a place to stay or if we needed to find a hostel. We ended up back at Starbucks, and luckily, we had gotten instructions from Killian about staying at his flat. We couldn’t go until 8pm, so we had to stall for a while longer. We hung out at Starbucks and I got to talk to my sweet mama for a while, which was much needed for my slightly homesick heart. You know you have an amazing life, when you are traveling the world with one of your best friends and you still miss home. I am so blessed. As we sat there, I had a gorgeous view of the Brandenburg Gate, which got prettier as the sun went down behind it and the lights that shine on it in the night came on. Once we had stalled long enough, we left to go to the flat. We were late, but we still got in. We met Tarik, Killian’s flat mate, and he welcomed us (two strangers) in with such kindness. He offered us his last beer, and even though I have never drank beer, and I knew I wouldn’t like it, he poured me a glass and it was his last one, so I felt like I couldn’t deny his hospitality. But I hated it. I guess it was one of those things that you have to try while you’re in Germany, but I don’t know how I can hate beer and be German-Irish. They would be ashamed.

We were starving at this point, so we walked to a little Italian place that had personal pizzas (that were more like medium pizzas) for only four euro!! One of the things that I really like about Europe is the fact that you never have to tip. I always felt like I was getting away with something, but it was also really nice to not have to worry about it. After we had our pizza, we went back to the flat, with full bellies, ready to crash! Our bed was lofted so we climbed up, and had ourselves a little slumber party. We decided that because we got little to no sleep, and we were literally dying, we weren’t going to set an alarm. We wanted to go on a free tour of Berlin, but they had tours at 2pm and 4pm, and we figured we would certainly be up in time for one of those. Then, practically the moment we shut our eyes, we fell asleep. Like, dead asleep. We skipped all the light cycles of REM and went straight to the part of the cycle where you are in a coma. It was awesome.