Mission Statement

As some of you may know, I have just started massage school at the local technical college in town. I am really excited about this and want to share some of my experiences with you all. As a class assignment, I wrote a mission statement and found it to be really interesting process. If you've never written a mission statement, try it out! This is mine:

"I believe wholeheartedly in the power of massage for the enhancement of health, healing and relaxation. I am dedicated to obtaining knowledge of massage techniques with the goal of creating a sustainable career that supports the general wellness of those I serve. As I continue to care for my own wellbeing, I make healthy choices and demonstrate my compassion by encouraging others on their own wellness journey. I strive to develop and maintain professional healing relationships, while remaining positive and optimistic. I am excited about being part of a rejuvenating healing community of people with similar missions."

Blue Lagoon

This is our last stop in Iceland. The famous Blue Lagoon, a geothermal hot pool in the middle of a lava field heated with the runoff of a powerplant. It was the coldest, windiest day of our trip, so we were one only 10 crazy people lounging in the pool.

With the water full of salt and minerals, floating is easy in any position. The feeling of weightlessness was awesome.

The waters and mud here are famous for their healing properties to the skin. The mud is found in wooden boxes at the edge of the pool, but also more interestingly at the bottom of the warmest part of the pool. It was the softest, squishiest stuff I've ever felt between my toes. It was repulsive and interesting at the same time.

The lifeguard. Poor guy, all bundled in Gortex. He was cold standing in the steam of the pool. Overall, this was a great lasting impression of this amazing island. We totally enjoyed our stay there and look forward to our next trip...perhaps in the summer months with the midnight sun.

Church Tower

This is the view of Reykjavik taken from the top of the Hallgrim's Church. It was unbelievably windy up there, and also very cold. The morning is just starting to break at 10:30am. From the top, you can see how colorful the city is, surrounded by mountains and ocean.

Icelandic Northern Lights

Photographing the lights was trickier than we thought. The funny part was that there wasn't actually anything showing up on the digital screen of the camera. But when we loaded them into the computer, there they were, just like magic! The conditions weren't optimal, as it was a bit hazy so the lights of the city were distracting...but we did see a couple nice glimmers of green!

Salon

This Icelandic cafe was really beautiful. The art was inspiring charcoal drawings of women's bodies, all curled up with rolls of skin...every table decorated with a candlestick. Markus had a lamb dish with egg noodles, I had a chicken salad with wasabi and Doritos. I'm pretty sure they were Doritos. It was spicy, salty and delicious.

Laugadalur Swimming Pool

Geothermal water makes outdoor swimming cheap and possible year round in Iceland. The local pool here has 2 Olymic size swimming pools (one outdoor shown here).

The steam rising made it difficult to see each other in the pool. Underwater with goggles, the water was so clear. The contrast was interesting and made it easy to sneak up on Markus underwater.

These giant foam toys were just freefloating in the warm kids pool. We had it all to ourselves for a while.

Iceland Roadtrip

We rented a car and drove the "Golden Circle" route into central Iceland. This is the tectonic plate of Europe and N. America, the are slowly moving apart, called Thingvellir.

Icelandic horse. They are a very old breed, if they ever leave the island, they can't come back. This is to protect the other horses from disease.

Gullfoss, translated mean's God's falls. We made it just in time to catch this sight before the sunset at 4pm.

The thing about geysirs is, they erupt and then you're wet! I was curious about the hole in the ground, got too close, and then it exploded. But I was faster and escaped the downpour. With hot sulphury steam and water the earth is literally boiling up here...like a giant whale spout. So far, Iceland is great.

Wuppertal Schwebebahn

We visited Wuppertal just to ride the local train. It's unique because the track is overhead with the train hanging from it. Most of it follows the river Wupper. The city is in a small valley, spread out from east to west, and the space over the river was the only place for a train. It's really cool.

Castle

Today we drove to a castle near Wuppertal. It was built in about 1180. Of course it was beautiful, but I've never seen an ugly castle. It must have been crazy to live in that time. There were many examples of the classic knight in shining armor. It seemed that they did a lot of fighting.

Check out the knight.

This is a chair lift that you can ride down into the town.

Gasometer

These are both examples of "old" industry made "new." They are both gasometers, giant old gas cans. The bottom Gasometer is now a museum of sorts. It's 340 ft tall. Inside, the current show is pictures of the earth taken from satellites. Gazing up at the ceiling is dreamy. It's dark with a pattern of lights on the ceiling, it's hard to tell if you're looking up or down...We went up the glass elevator to the observation deck on the top. It was windy.

At midnight, everyone spills out into the streets to light fireworks. It was chaotic, loud and festive. Later, there was so much fog/smoke that the taxi's and buses didn't run.

Sparkler fun

When the kids ran out of fireworks, they made a fire with the spent fireworks on the street. Little pyros.

Tetrahedron

This is the structure from a distance. Since coal was found in the area, there are many mining tips of earth (giant piles of earth). The Germans have found clever ways to use this land, usally as some sort of hike with a sculpture on top.

Ususally you can climb the stairs up to the top, but today it was locked. Likely from the night before to prevent some drunk asshole from climbing up and falling down...The ground was littered with fireworks from the previous night.

This is a small sample of the garbage, plus hundreds of champange bottles. It must have been a good party.

Venlo

So, if you can't Schlittenshue, (ice skate) you can use a walker on the ice. That's a walker for little people. Is it because I work with old people that I think it's funny? maybe.

This is the inside of a church in Venlo. I love the Catholic religion for the way they depict Mary is always so beautiful, always young and always in blue. I lit a candle there for a family friend who just passed her way into heaven.

This is some of the excellent mason brick work in the Netherlands. Check out the arches over the windows. Quite fancy.