What a wonderful country!

The sunset on Tuesday, 22 Oct was absolutely beautiful.  Did you see it?  The only problem for me was that I was viewing the sun as it was setting behind Morro Rock as we took off, not from Venice or Manhattan Beach as we were landing in LA.  Yep, my flight was delayed about an hour.  It was good that I had a little extra time - it was nary too much.  I bid a friend I had found on my flight good-bye, then took off at a fast walk for my next gate... and, the strap on my shoulder bag broke!  Managed to get it jimmied to my "wheelie" and trekked the 100 miles from United to the Bradley International Terminal at LAX.   You know, UAL flights from SLO couldn't be any further away and still be in the same airport!

An Albanian widow

Then, I found the arrival level for Bradley, but couldn't figure out the departures... I forgot it was two stories!  For awhile, while under construction, I think they were both together.  At any rate, managed to find security, take off my shoes, belt and so on, found the gate number and was running up to the gate as the plane was loading.  So!  Good to have a little wiggle room in a flight schedule - especially from SLO.

The flight from LA to Munich was uneventful - sat next to a Romanian in the very last row of economy.  It was good - with my special meal, I didn't have to tolerate the wafting fragrance of the upcoming meals for too long before they served me my vegan plate of stewed squash and tomatoes for both breakfast and dinner - I must admit, they changed the starch from rice to potatoes.  And there was fruit, too.  All in all, it was good, actually, I shouldn't complain - just a little surprised at the repeat for breakfast.

Check out the cappuccino art

The stewardesses kept looking at me funny with my shoulder bag dragging it's strap - and I finally told them it had broken in LAX as I was changing flights.  One of them commented - "You should replace it here, this is Germany and things aren't too expensive!"  Well, I don't know where she shops, but I took her advise and looked at the shops in the airport - from those named after someone like Guiton to those with advertised deals, and the least expensive bag was about $100... more than I was willing to spend.  Bought some water - 3,35 Eur - about $4.50 for a pint of plain water.  So much for Germany not being expensive!

Then on to Vienna - found free internet there and sent an e-mail home, and finally arrived in Tirana at midnight on Wednesday night.  It was wonderful to see Alban waiting for me as the ground crew wrestled with getting the bags on the conveyor belt for us to pick up!  Both my Action Packers made it unscathed!  Praise God for that!  And as I pushed my disabled cart (you know I'd get the one with un-aligned wheels) out the door under "nothing to declare," I watched from the corner of my eye as two customs officers were eying me and pointing.  Maybe they already know me with my Action Packers - they didn't ask if I had anything to declare... which I didn't.

My husband on an AERO trip

So, here I am.  I've seen Dori and greeted old friends here at the Stephan Center (I saw Kyle as he was waiting for one of the Roma missionaries to join him and caught up with both of them; my taxi driver was there as well, and I caught sight of Blair who managed to scurry away before I could open the door).  The people who work here are also friends, so spent some time catching up with them - one of the waiters is now in college, his mother works upstairs and her sister is OK after breast cancer treatment in Greece - so there was lots of catching up to do.  Today (Thursday), though, as been low profile as I have tried to let my body rid itself of a
pesky cold virus that made itself known on the SLO to LA flight.

So, please do pray that God would be glorified and Christ seen as I am here - and if you have an extra moment, would you also pray that this virus would make a speedy exit?  Thanks!