Auschwitz and Birkenau

In school when we would learn about WW2 or read books or watch movies, I never thought I would actually be on the same grounds that not long ago all those horrible things took place. It was an experience that will forever weigh very heavy on my heart.

We were able to have our own guide for just us five so it was perfect to hear all the information and stories behind everything we were seeing, we had a great guide who told us a lot of stories of people that she has had on the tours that once lived on these camps and have found themselves in some of the pictures and told their stories. It is horrible, just horrible... hearing numbers of victims is heart piercing but to visually see it, is a whole other story. They had rooms that you could see that was full of shoes, hundreds of thousands of shoes of the prisoners of the camp, big shoes and oh too many tiny ones. They managed to save a lot of the artifacts before the SS could destroy it all.

The first was the Concentration camp of Auschwitz...the gate is the symbol of this camp "Arbeit Mach Frei" Work will set you free // Everything in these camps were meant to deceive.

Towards the beginning every person brought to the camp was registered and charged, the numbers soon became too much but some of these that say the reason for arrest are things like "Listening to the radio" its unbelievable.

After this point I didn't take many pictures in Auschwitz, we went through the cells and the execution and death zones, through one of the gas cambers. It's unreal. There was a room that was just full of the profile pictures of camp prisoners. It was really hard but I felt like it was a good thing to see, perhaps it gives a little something back to the victims...that they are not forgotten.

Birkenau was more of a death camp so there wasn't much left, they destroyed most of it. This building is the symbol of Birkenau camp.

Here were the two largest chambers, this is the largest cemetery in the world.

The memorial that was later build, this is written on all 20 something plaques. It is the same message written by survivors in each language of the people affected by these camps.

There would be around 4 people per level (including the ground), in 1942 Poland had one of the coldest winters it would get to around -42 degrees Celsius.

The toilets...

It was a horribly moving experience. It hurts your heart to internalize all the evil that happened, but we must learn from the past and not ignore it. My heart goes out to the millions of people affected buy this tragedy of man, I am so thankful to know of life after death! We can all live in eternal glory with our Father in Heaven .

I left my heart in Poland!

About 13 hours of a horrible bus ride in the dead of the night and we finally arrive in Warsaw, Poland. Now don't get me wrong I'm sure it was a wonderful place...but this was the coolest thing in the whole city!

Well there is Warsaw for you :) Luckily for us that was merely a pit stop on our way to Krakow, we got there right as the night life was beginning and it was BEAUTIFUL! We came out of the train station through the BIGGEST mall in the world!! Outside was a skating rink just in the middle of the center and a cool light show on this big building and music and it was...ah I love it!!

There was also a real castle!! Like it honestly looked like a sleeping beauty castle right in the middle of all this beauty! I didn't even take a picture...there are SO many pictures I didn't take because we were so tired and OH SO hungry!! Thank goodness we found this gem, Hard Rock Cafe were I quite honestly had the best meal of my LIFE!

In the morning we took off to venture the underground Salt Mines...

We had to go down 50 flights of stairs to begin our underground journey, so this mine is all salt! 

We didn't believe it was ALL really salt, so we took turns checking through out the 3 hour tour...haha

This is where all the mines worshiped, they would be in the miens working for months at a time and now (that they have elevators) people still come here deep underground every Sunday.

Keep in mind everything thing is carved from the salt, even the chandeliers!

This is the largest chandelier in all of Europe, actually i'm pretty she said in the world...so that's cool :) Salt chandeliers >>

The next and final day we had a tour of Auschwitz and Birkenau, I will write another post about that soon. 

This February, 14th

Oh how I miss my family this day, I wish I could be with them and hug them! Love is such crazy thing, it's what brings us together and sometimes apart...but most of all love is something to hold on to, to fight for, forever. The people that we love will always have a place in our hearts, too often we ignore them and become too busy to appreciate this wonderful gift. The people we love can also be taken for a moment, but in some ways they never really leave...they live on in us and through us and because of the love and eternal sacrifice of our beloved brother Jesus Christ we will never have to fully part from our loved ones, ever.
Love more fully and forgive more easily, don't waste any precious moments to love and be loved. This day is very hard...but I don't want to be sad, I want to smile because I am so lucky to have so many people who I love and who love me on both sides of the veil. I am so thankful for my family :) I love you forever!

Sending love from Lithuania :)

Boarding a bus to Poland...Dzień dobry

Weekend Bliss

I can't believe we are already starting our second week of February! Thursday morning Emilie and I got a head start on our lessons for next week (good thing they celebrate valentines day too, lots of fun ideas). We stumbled into this cute cafe that was also sort of a book store!

Friday morning we met up one of our new friends, Anatanas (Anthony in English)! He showed us around and then of course we all had tea (you know cause we are all so European) it was so fun! Em and I are officially the best at making foreign friends :) After school we went back to old town for a little Sushi, desert, karaoke, and dancing! Perfect weather, it was that good kind of rain all night long :) The night life here is so fun, everyone is so nice :) also I took my very first cab on our way home!

This morning all of us headed off to Kaunas, the second largest city in Lithuania :)

We finished our night with a little jam session with a few of our Lithuanian friends who are in a band :) I finally got my hands on a guitar and they were VERY excited to hear an American! Oh boy do I miss my guitar and my wonderful sister to harmonize with :)

The best news is that we finalized all of our vacations :) In two weeks we are going to Auschwitz stopping in Warsaw on to Krakow...I've been working on my polish :) March we are going to Tallinn,Estonia and Helsinki, Finland! April...get ready for it... Prague, Budapest, and Vienna :) ahh!!! Finally to top it all off after our last day of teaching Emilie and I are spending around 3 days each in London, Paris, Milan, Rome, Barcelona, and then staying with her sister in New York for a week or so before coming home to good old Utah :) Can you believe it?!? It's so unreal, I feel so completely blessed to be able to see more and more of this beautiful world we live in and all the unique people living in it :)

Tomorrow is my host moms birthday :) the little ones and myself have a few surprises up our sleeves, it should be great!