#ywamer

 So the question is, where should we begin...

      Well, like the title says, it’s been exactly 1 year since we published our last blog and I can tell you this... a lot has happened since then! We will of course add more photos down below since i’m a photographer and I know a lot of us are visual people so you like to actually see the things we’re talking about and not just read about them. To make things simple i’m going to list out the details in the past 12 months so you know how things have happened in our life. Of course, we’re just going to stick to the highlights and not mention everything. That could take forever. (SIDE NOTE: most of the places we mention in this blog is connected to a link... if a “place” has a line under it, then click on it to learn more). Also, most photos were taken by me (Dustin Altman) except the top one and the photo of me. Just in case you were wondering, my business name is Altman Media Group. So if you need anything let me know!

     - LET’S GET STARTED -

  From November to December 2016

      After finishing our commitment in India last year (November 2016) we took off for Cyprus, Melina’s home. We lived with her mom and spent time in the Greek culture and I actually started learning some of the Greek language. I sounded like a pro, not really but hey, it takes time like anything else. Right? AND yes it was “All Greek to Me” as the old saying goes. Meaning, I didn’t understand anything that was going on. I can say that the food was amazing (Melina’s mom... Ms. Haido is a great cook and baker). In Cyprus, we had lamb, gyros, halloumi... nooow... there’s Jesus and then there’s halloumi... it’s definitely a joke... kind of... but yes halloumi is amazing and my favorite! What is it you ask? It’s goat cheese that they grill! Ok ok ok.. I said that I wasn’t going to mention everything but I have to share this short story. In the winter the weather in Cyprus is very interesting. For example, one day we went to the beach to revisit the place where I ask Melina to marry me 2 years prior in 2014 (while in college I flew over to Cyprus and proposed on a cliff by the beach at sunset.. it was amazing) ANYWAYS..... back to the story! So, one day we went to the beach and the weather was perfect, about 70 degrees (F) which is around 21 Celsius for all you guys not in America. Long story short, the next day we went to the mountain known as Mt. Olympus (Cyprus) and I couldn’t believe what I saw. There was snow everywhere!!! It was beautiful. The drive is only 1.5 hrs from the beach to the mountains and the weather was completely different. 

THE BEACH: Ayia Napa, Cyprus (this is close to where I proposed)

The Mountain: Mount Olympus, Cyprus  (we went sledding in the snow) 

   At some point I had to go Istanbul, Turkey for a day or so....  (while I was in Istanbul, there were some bombings)  I wasn’t near them.

      Cyprus to Greece

        After leaving Cyprus in late December 2016 we flew to Thessaloniki, Greece where Melina’s sister lived at the time. It was an interesting place. Let’s just say when we were there, things were really inexpensive. I remember getting freshly squeezed orange juice with our breakfast for 1 Euro which was like $1.20 USD which is amazing. You can’t buy fake orange juice in the states for that price. Another thing I noticed about this specific city was the amount of graffiti that was on buildings all around us. Besides that, we got the opportunity to go visit my sister-in-laws boyfriends family up in the mountains and along the way we seen a very beautiful place by the beach! The photo below was one of the first places where Paul (from the bible) preached a messages on his missionary trip to Greece.  

The Town: Kavala, Greece

Taking off in Greece and now going to.... (drum roll)

      We enjoyed our time in Greece... but up next was our FAVORITE CITY ON EARTH!!! Let me make this fun... do you think our favorite city is  ( A ) Cape Town, South Africa  ( B ) New York City, New York  ( C ) Budapest, Hungary  or  ( D ) New Delhi, India    Sooooo... some of you are probably wrong, some of you probably haven’t even heard of some of these places in the world and some of you guessed it right! It’s Budapest, Hungary! We love it there so much! So a little bit about the place.. Melina lived there for 7 years. She studied there and staff with a missionary team there. WHY do we love Budapest? Well, almost all of the buildings look like 500 years old, there’s Castles, and historic bridges, the Danube River divides the city, there’s also mountains, and plenty of amazing food! (Hungarian food.. yummmmm) One of the coolest parts of this trip to Budapest was the fact that my mom, two brothers, and cousin came all the way from America to meet us here. We counted this as our family vacation since me and Melina don’t live near family anymore. Ok, let me try to speed things up a little by putting up a few more photos of our time in Budapest.

The Town: Szentendre, Hungary (1hr with the Train from Budapest)

CITY: Budapest, Hungary ( in the winter )

My family in the street of Budapest (yes it was very cold)

      All 3 of these guys had their birthdays in Budapest!!! By the way, they were ice skating in this photo in front of a castle... SO MUCH FUN!  January 2017

      Now..... you know why we love it! It’s absolutely beautiful! (SIDE NOTE: we actually flew from Thessaloniki, Greece to Budapest, Hungary for $16 USD. I know you think it’s impossible but we did it. HOW? Europe seems to have much more affordable flights than places like America. I don’t exactly know why that is but for some reason that’s how it is. Now, they’re not all that cheap but sometimes you can find a STEAL / DEAL. Whatever you want to call it.

Budapest to Paris

     After leaving Budapest, we flew straight to Paris. We got the opportunity to take a bus to downtown Paris to see the Eiffel Tower. It does look a little smaller than you would expect in person but come on... It’s the Eiffel Tower. Who cares?! It was just amazing that we could actually see it in person! After the Eiffel Tower, came the not so fun part. We didn’t know where we where going to stay for the night so I looked up some stuff on airbnb. At some point we found out that something wasn’t working with my bank card so yep... we had to sleep in the Charles De Gaulle Airport in Paris. Let me just say that we were a bit uncomfortable, followed by, I wasn’t the happiest person in the world and it wasn’t the best night of sleep we have ever had.

Paris to Montreal

    So after Paris we flew over to Montreal, Canada where we meet up with a missionary friend and stayed with her for a few nights. She took us around Montreal (they speak french there and it looks a little like France) and as aways I love Montreal in the winter because they have sooo many good places to ice skate ( I love iceskating ). We figured from there we would move back to Boise, ID near the area that me and Melina had completed our missionary school (our school was through YWAM, the second largest christian missionary organization in the world).

Montreal to Myrtle Beach

       We found out that there wasn’t enough money to make the trip and to start renting a house in Boise so we decided to fly down to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina where I am from to work and save up some money. My grandma let us stay in one of her condos and for about 3 months from the end of January - April 10th, we worked and saved our money. 

Myrtle Beach to Boise

     During that time in Myrtle Beach we bought our flights to Boise and on April 11th we departed for what we now call home... BOISE, ID! We are very blessed to call this city ours home. It is so beautiful here! There’s tons of outdoors stuff to do. For example, there’s hiking, fishing, hunting, skiing, swimming, camping and the list goes on and on. We’ve been here for about 8 months now and for 6 of those 8 months, I found my way into the car business. Yep, I was a car salesman.... Trying to shine for Jesus isn’t always easy in this business :)

Of course, this is me! I worked for the Top dealership in this region. ( it was a miracle how I got the job )

     Being in that business gave us a good start here in Idaho. Melina has became a swimming coach for the Boise National Team in downtown Boise. She also teaches Chinese students english online, while maintaining clients for her massage business. 

     It’s almost December so we’re excited about going back to South Carolina to visit family for Christmas and then we’ll be coming back home to good ole Idaho!

HERE’S A FEW MORE PHOTOS OF IDAHO and US IN IDAHO:

CITY: Boise, ID

Me and Melina out doing some business work.

TOWN: Cascade, ID (cascade is the town where we completed our missions school) AND YEA... it’s really that beautiful! We camped here for a night or two.

This river is behind our school building.

Soooo this photo looks pretty vintage but I actually took it a few days ago when we were at the 2017 YWAM Graduation party up in Cascade.