Freedom: Myth or Reality

Living overseas, especially in an Islamic Kingdom, has changed the way I look at our world.  We have lived here now for 2 and half, almost 3 years, and when I think back to America, I can't believe how much freedom we have.  I see daily on facebook and twitter, people posting articles and statuses about how as a nation we are loosing rights left and right.  It may be true, and I am 100% for our rights and freedoms, it is what makes us the United States of America.  We were founded by those fleeing the oppression of their native countries, seeking freedom.  But I have to ask the question, what are you doing with your freedom?

In the U.S., we have the freedom of speech.  We can say whatever we want about whoever we want.  We have the right to peacefully protest, to have marches, to start petitions.  We as normal people, through our State Reps, can actually change things if we are determined enough.  We can elect who we want to be in office.  Granted it may not always feel like we have a voice or a chance, but we do.  In the country we now live in, people are allowed to protest, if they contact the appropriate officials in advance and get permission.  Police will meet them at their designated location and make sure nothing gets out of hand.  If you say something bad about the King or the Prophet, you go to jail.  The people can get the opportunity to vote on their parliament, but the King can (and has) fired them all and set up a new parliament.  But the same people run again for election to Parliament, they pay off people for votes, and get elected into the same positions for their lifetime.  Regardless, the King does what he wants, and has the authority to do so, the average citizen has no ability whatsoever to instigate change.  Thankfully in our Kingdom, we really do have a good, kind King who listens to the people and what they want.  We are blessed to have a King who is looking out for the welfare of his people, and although it may not always be felt, a freedom is lacking.

In the U.S., we have the freedom of Religion.  We can believe anything we want, we can change around from religion to religion if we so desire, we can make up our own religion.  We can do it, and no one can stop us.  Here, we have freedom of religion as well.  You are free to be of whatever faith you were born.  Zoe is free to be a Christian because on her birth certificate it says she's a Christian and that's all she's free to be, well, except Muslim.

Now, here, we may live under a Monarchy and not have the voice or the freedoms from government that we have in the U.S., but the aspect of this country which really impedes upon a persons freedoms is the culture.  I have been talking a lot about this with my language tutors recently.  The difference between religion and culture.  While the religion between Christians and Muslims in my country is quite different, their culture is the same.  I have the freedom legally to walk outside dressed however I like, but if I go out in a mini skirt and a tube top, the culture is quickly going to catch up with me.  I will get harassed, probably grabbed and most likely propositioned.  Therefore, long sleeves, long pants/skirts and loose clothing it is.  I have the freedom legally to go out of the house by myself at any time of the day I want, but if I go out by myself after dark, the culture will quickly catch up with me.  I have the freedom to walk on the street with a man who is not my husband, but the culture will quickly catch up with me.  A girl has the freedom to have sex outside of marriage, but a male family member (brother or father) might abuse or kill her and he might go to prison for 6 months.  That's right folks, this is cultural not religious.

So, as I read tweets and status updates about people's unhappiness with political changes in the U.S., I challenge you to be thankful for the freedoms that you do have.  Put feet to your words and do something about those things you are unhappy about, because that is your right, your freedom, and you have the ability to make change.  Live life, take advantage of the freedoms you have.

On another note:  Happy Easter!  We are free to celebrate Easter, but if we do, we must celebrate on the day the King tells us to.  

Wheat Family Visit

Sorry it has been so long since my last post.  Things have been so busy here, so I'll be posting several posts over the next few days to catch everything up.  The first of the posts will be the Wheat Family Visit.

Andrew's parents were able to come visit us for a couple of weeks.  We got to enjoy Thanksgiving with them, as well as travel around this area of the world.  Here are a few photos from our journeys:

Andrew's Family Arriving

Our Thanksgiving Feast! (Completely GF)

Overlooking the Sea of Galilee

Boat ride on the Sea of Galilee

Having to say "Good-Bye" to Andrew's family.  We are so glad that ya'll got to come out!  Had a great time and can't wait to see ya'll again!

Next up: The Move

City by the River

Okay, I am just going to go ahead and warn you, this is going to be a long blog with a lot of pictures!  So, I've been delaying writing a blog about our recent travels because I wanted to make a video and just post it, but quite frankly, I have felt overwhelmed by the task of making a video so I thought to just write a post.  Unfortunately, when I went to my photos to narrow them down and figure out which ones to blog, I was overwhelmed by the sheer amount of photos I had to sort through.  The result, I am going to write two blogs and both will have a tremendous amount of photos and information :)  I have decided to start from the back and work my way forwards, so we're starting with the last leg of our trip, our possible future city (because lets be honest, that's what you want to hear about the most anyway right?).

We stayed for three nights in this city.  We were all by ourselves so we didn't have anyone to show us around or explain the currency or how things work in this city/country, so we really did just get an initial first impression of things, so when we go back for another visit, we'll have a better grasp on things and be able to explore the city better.

We were on foot, so most of the things we got to see where right around our hotel, but to be perfectly honest, we didn't do a whole lot of walking either because the moment you step foot outside your hotel men storm you wanting to know if you want to take a taxi or a carriage ride or a boat ride or buy something from their store.  And they do not just let you go when you tell them no, they walk next to you for five minutes or more telling you why you should take the ride and don't you want to know how much it cost and if you ride with them you won't have anyone hassling you (hello, we're not going to get in your carriage now that you've been hassling us for 10 minutes!).  It was definitely a testing and trying experience especially since these people are from our pg.

On the positive side though, once we got out of the carriage/taxi area, the local people didn't hassle us at all!  No one stared at me or hooted and hollered (quite the change of pace from our current city) and everyone was extremely friendly (granted a lot of times they just wanted a tip, but they were friendly none the less).  In our city now, I get lots of "wow," "oh my god," and comments like that, but in this city, Andrew got "you are a lucky man," and I got "my Queen."  I'll take a lucky man and my queen any day over the stuff I get here :)

Okay, without further ado, the pictures:

Andrew and I at 4:30 in the morning getting ready for our Hot Air Balloon ride!

Fire them up!

I'm not sure how much you can see in these two pictures (above), but these men are from our pg

Sunrise

Because there is a river in the middle of the city, there is a distinct line of irrigation

The bridge to cross the river is I think 15 to 20 minutes up river, so you have to take a boat or ferry to get across.  I think the more populous side is the other side, what do you think?

There's a city, but there are all these small groupings of houses in all directions up and down the river.

From the top of our hotel

On the river, these are the little boats people take across.

Well, that's all.  Hopefully you enjoyed and stuck around for all of it :)  Next time we go back we're going to get a rental car and that will help us explore even more!

Glamping

I'll write an extended post later on all of our travels, but here is just a sneak peak of our accommodations on Safari.  For my great friend Sandra who loves glamping.

Praha Personal

Since Prague has such a bloody history, there are many Ghost tours available for tourists.  Andrew and I are not big ghost people or anything, but we along with a few friends we made, thought it might be fun/funny to go.  It was quite funny, not really at all scary, and we actually had a few people in our tour group from the area of the world we are currently living, so that was exciting.  So here is Andrew with a ghost or grim reaper who was our tour guide.

While in Prague, we got to go seen Pirates of the Caribbean.  They had an IMAX theater and we were hoping to go there since we have never been to an IMAX before, but it was only showing in Czech so we had to go see the normal version, but it was fun none the less.

Andrew and I with a knight at a traditional Czech restaurant.

While we were in Prague, Andrew and I celebrated our 3 year anniversary!  To celebrate, we went out to a steak restaurant called "The Crazy Cow."  It was decorated with Mexican and Texan posters which made us feel at home.  The steak was delicious, but the dessert was what I wrote home about.  It's called "Hot Love."  A huge spiraling dish with vanilla ice cream, warm raspberries topped whipped cream, raspberry drizzle and a couple of mint leaves.  It was the most delicious thing I have ever eaten in my whole life and I think we're going to try to figure out how we can make that here :)

The old town square is definitely the place to be if you are in Prague.  Almost every night they had some kind of production, be it a concert or international festival.  In the square you can find just about any type of person, where anything or anyone is accepted.

Here are Andrew and I on the train to go visit the bone church.  As soon as we found our seats on the train, I immediately felt we were on Harry Potter's train to Hogworts.  I was so excited the entire time.  We ended at the bone church which was not quite Hogworts, but I guess it worked

We had a great trip to Prague.  We almost didn't want to come back to real life.  But we are back with renewed energy and vigor.  We are glad to be back in our own bed and not having to eat out every meal.  We miss that everyone there had a dog and the independence I had to go out on my own and the use of public transportation rather than taxis.  We look forward to more visits to Prague, but are thankful for the friends and relationships we have developed here and look forward to how He is going to use us in this place.

Praha

We kept ourselves very busy while we were in Prague.  Andrew spent most of his time in classes, but I was able to get out a lot and see most of the city.  All of the sites were incredible, rich with history that we just do not get to see much of in the States.  I am not going to lie, at many times throughout our trip, I was overwhelmed with all the green vegetation, cool air and even a few bouts of rain.  It was a huge difference from where we currently live, and it can easily overwhelm the senses.  Here are a few pictures to give you a brief overview of our trip:

These two pictures were taken from a Jewish cemetery in the center of Old City Prague, in what was the Jewish ghetto before World War II.  Years before the Nazi regime, they forced all the Jewish people to live in a ghetto with limited space.  Because of this, they were forced to burry their dead on top of each other, up to 10 or 12 graves on top of one another.  The Cemetery surface is at my estimation about 8 feet above the streets that surround it.

This famous clock tower is found in the heart of the old city square.  Tradition holds that the powers that be blinded the engineer of this clock so he could not recreate it for anyone else.  Then, being so depressed over the situation, he committed suicide at the place of this clock tower.

Prague's history is one of religious strife and blood.  This church seen here at the City Square, throughout history has changed between Catholic and Protestant and with each change, blood was shed by throwing people out of it's windows to their death below.

This Cathedral is found just inside of Prague Castle's gates.

A city landscape of Prague with the Vltava River running through the center.

The Dancing House

The famous Charles Bridge

About an hour outside of Prague is located the Bone Church.  This church is decorated with every bone from the human body, it is estimated there are about 40,000 to 70,000 bodies located within these walls.  Some traditions hold that a monk in medieval times went mad during the Black Plague and began this design of the church with the bodies of those who died during the Plague.

Here some local musicians preform on the Charles Bridge