Dina Wanders: Daydreaming of a Place Called Home

Let's start off by saying that my summer this year was one of the best I have had. The memories have filled me with complete happiness and peace. Though, they have also filled me with longing for that place, home.

I know I wanted to blog anything and everything while I was there from May to August of this year but let's just say that I was living in the moment and taking everything in. So, I am here today to recap my trip and share my wonderful memories with a lot of pictures. (Yay!)

My trip started May 11th bright and early that morning. Three plane rides and a four hour car ride later I was finally home on May 12th. After my arrival on May 14th the worst floods and landslides hit the country. There was devastating damage happening all around. At this point I was very sick and could barely get up but I remember looking out of the window (our house is further up on the mountain) and seeing the river I could barely see before turn into something that looked like a lake. I witnessed from that very window my cousin get air lifter out of her house because there was no other way out. We did not have electricity for one week and I believe it took two weeks for our water to get turned back on. It was one of the worst experiences I have lived through but I can only imagine what it felt like for my friends and family who were directly affected by the water. However horrible the situation was I did not regret coming, which was something many people asked me. I felt a sense of togetherness and every greater appreciation for my country.

It continued raining most of time that I was there though we did get some sunny days. I spent my time being lazy and enjoying the company of family and friends.

Here is the view from my cousins back porch. Breathtaking.

Some random pictures I took around their house, which is only a short five minute walk from mine.

Some random pictures I took around my house because you have to document everything for family back in the states!

Believe it or not our backyard actual stretches all the way back except there is like snakes (yuck) and things that made me never want to explore that part by myself.

This is a wood burning stove, also known as my best friend because it is what kept me and my house warm on all of those rainy days, which are nothing like rainy days in Arizona.

The beast of a machine that got me around to wherever I wanted to go!

The beast of a machine that I got to learn how to drive because in this part of the world people still drive manual cars! There were some scary situations in this car so I would like to take my time now to formally apologize to anyone in the car with me or any of the cars around me. ;)

I am a firm believer that family is everything. It is happiness and endless fun times.

I went on a few trips and I want to start with my trip to Sarajevo. Sarajevo is the capital of Bosna i Hercegovina. I was only there for a few hours dropping my uncle off at the airport but I got to take in some of the best views of the city.

The Srebrenica - Potocari Memorial and Cemetery for the victims of the genocide was my next trip. This was a hard thing to do, a very hard thing to do..

Germany has been a place I have wanted to travel to for a long time. Finally, on this trip I got to do just that. The perks of having family all over the world!