Important Speaking Engagement

I got booked for a pretty important speaking engagement this past Monday. It was at Doris Todd, a local Christian school here. They were having a spiritual emphasis week and wanted people from our base to come share about missions. It was my job to introduce the topic and give an overview of missions in general and what we do at YWAM Maui. I had about 45 minutes to fill and three videos to show the group of about 75 students in grades Kindergarten through 5th grade.

My friend, Jill and I came prepared with candy. I know kids and they love candy. If we started to bomb, I knew our whole talk could be redeemed by simply throwing candy at them. The kids all began to file in and stare at us. Then an elderly lady on a piano led them in songs and pledges. They did the United States pledge and the Hawaiian pledge, which seemed perfectly normal to me since we pledged to the American flag and the Texas flag every morning when I was a teacher. Although the Texas pledge is in English, unlike the Hawaiian pledge, which is in Hawaiian. Maybe we Texans should come up with our own language. After the country and state pledges, we pledged to the Christian flag (didn't know such a thing existed) and to the Bible. Each pledge had a song to accompany it. It was quite a production.

After the pledges, it was our turn to talk. We had problems getting my laptop to work with the projector, so two of the male teachers transferred files from my computer to theirs to make it work. This meant I had to kill time. Luckily I have a lot of experience talking to children these ages. I asked if they knew what missionaries were and one of the kids had the right answer and was rewarded with candy. I then asked the kids to name famous missionaries and several of them had good answers. One of the kids said Jesus, which is somewhat accurate so I had to give him candy. Our base director's son was in there and he named his dad and Loren Cunningham as famous missionaries. It was really cute.

Then I asked the kids to tell me any foreign countries they'd been to. I don't think the Kindergarten students really understood what country meant since they answered things like, California, New York City, Washington and my personal favorite, Disneyworld! Finally we got one of the videos to work and we got them to pay attention by telling them that we'd have questions after that they could answer for candy. The video was a bit above their heads but they were able to answer our questions. Then I showed a powerpoint on China and let them ask questions. I was supposed to show a video on Borneo but it wouldn't play so we extended the question and answer period a bit. Their questions were pretty interesting. They seemed especially intrigued by the pictures in the slide show that showed my friends eating a scorpion.

Overall it was fun and made me miss being a teacher. I just love school and kids. Maybe they'll have me back for another speaking engagement.

Sweet Dreams

Here is me in my little kid bed the night before my big kid test!

The GRE

So, I finally took the dreaded GRE. I studied for about a month beforehand. Much of the Math was concepts I hadn’t thought about in years and many of the words were so obscure I feared they were made up. After figuring out my strengths and weaknesses, I resolved to study Kaplan’s recommended vocabulary and specific math concepts that I had forgotten. Unfortunately a month wasn’t enough time to learn everything but I am not sure I could have handled studying much more.

I had to fly to Honolulu from Maui since the test is not offered on Maui. Fortunately my friend, Maria Daughtry and her family work on the YWAM base there. Maria and her mom, Olga Durand picked me up in Maria’s station wagon. When I looked in the backseat, I was surprised to find two sleeping little boys, Maria’s son, Kieva and his friend Shawn. Not wanting to wake them, I crawled over Kieva and positioned myself right between the two of them. It was hard not to laugh as I settled in. The funniest part was when Shawn woke up and gave me the strangest look. He had awakened from his nap to find a random lady sitting next to him.

We got back to the YWAM base and Maria and Olga took me to see where I would be taking my test. The good thing about this test being in Honolulu, besides being able to hang out with my friend, Maria, is that University of Hawaii, the testing site, is literally a ten minute walk from the YWAM base. We found the room where the test would be held, which made me feel better. I didn’t want to be running around lost on the day of the test. Then we walked back to the base to hang out. I wanted to get to bed at a reasonable hour but ended up going to sleep close to midnight. My bed for the night was on loan from Maria’s son, Kieva and had some pretty amazing Transformers bedding. I found it pretty amusing that I spent the night before my grad school test warm and cozy in a 4 year-old’s Transformers sheets.

I ended up getting a good nine hours of sleep. When I woke up, I made myself some scrambled eggs since that’s what my mom always made me when I was a kid. She didn’t make it every morning, just the mornings when my brother or I had a standardized test. Other days we fended for ourselves with cereal and toaster strudel. I think I equate eggs with test readiness so I really needed to eat them in order to feel confident that I could do my best.

I walked over to the campus a bit early. My test was scheduled for 12:30 and I was supposed to get there 30 minutes early. I explored the University of Hawaii campus a bit while I waited. It felt a lot different than the University of Texas, where I got my degree. The buildings were not nearly as nice, though there were many interesting and exotic trees. It looked like the entire place had been renovated in the sixties or seventies and then left alone. It could definitely use some updating. The students looked so young to me, which I couldn’t understand until I came to the painful realization that I am 10-11 years older than most of them. Despite all this, it felt really good to be on a college campus. I have always loved school from preschool to elementary school to middle school to high school to college. I have a feeling that if I do end up going to grad school, I will really like that too.

Since I had some time on my hands, I got some lunch from Subway and sat down to watch The Price is Right on a big screen in one of the common areas. When it was time for my test, I went up to the room I’d scouted out the day before. There were two women waiting and no one who seemed to be in charge. One of the women, a large eccentric looking, older lady from Hilo, asked what test I was there for. It turns out she was also there to take the GRE. She started grilling me about how much I had studied. I told her I had studied for about a month. She said she didn’t study at all so it would be a true test of her abilities. Didn’t seem too smart to me. If I am going to spend $160 on a test, you can bet I will try my best to not have to take it more than once.

We were led back into a room one by one. They had us show our I.D. and took our picture. We also had to copy a paragraph that said we wouldn’t tell anyone about the test or they would cut off one of our fingers. Okay, I made that last part up but the paragraph was pretty serious. The directions said to copy the paragraph in our own handwriting but not print. I hadn’t used cursive in years and copying the short paragraph took painfully long since I was out of practice. I also had to sign in and out. Then a nice lady took me into a computer lab with security cameras lining the ceiling. She gave me some ear plugs and wished me good luck.

The test was computerized, which was a bit strange. I think I would have done slightly better if it had been pen and paper. I equate pen and paper with serious. With all the games I play and quizzes I have taken on the computer, it was hard not to just answer quickly without thinking too long. I had to write essays, answer verbal questions and answer math questions. I got my score right away, which was a huge perk for taking it on a computer. I got a 1260 out of 1600. I definitely didn’t ace it but from what I have read, it’s more than enough to get me into grad school. I am glad I no longer have to study for it. Unfortunately there is still work ahead of me as I now have to apply to grad school. Ugh. I sure hope I end up going after all this.

Gas costs $4 a gallon!

I am trying to give my passengers a subtle hint.

Study Break

I am currently cramming for the GRE. For those of you not familiar with this test, it is required to enter most graduate school programs. I am a pretty good standardized test taker so I had originally considered just taking it without studying. I am so glad I didn't. This test is pretty difficult as it covers math I haven't even thought about in years as well as vocabulary words that are so obscure that I am afraid they are made up. The test also has a writing portion that scares me less than the other two since I am fairly up to date on standard writing conventions. So, I am currently studying geometry and algebra as well as making tons of vocabulary flash cards with the hope that even a few of the words and their definitions will stick before I take the test this Friday. Please pray for me.

This week I got to hang out at the pool of one of the nicest hotels on the island. My friend, Holly works there and invited me to come enjoy the pool's splendor. Guests must wear a wristband at the pool to prove that they are indeed worthy of its perks and Holly was able to get me and my friend, Abbey wristbands so we could use the pool legitimately. I decided to bring Abbey along because she's one of my best friends here and could definitely use the time away from her two children under the age of two.

When we arrived at the pool, I am pretty sure I spotted Hank Azaria, the popular character actor and voice of Apu and half the characters on The Simpsons. He had a baby in a sling across his chest and was talking on a cell phone. As he turned away from us, some guy appeared from the bushes and snapped his picture. So, I am pretty sure it was him. Both Abbey and I were looking pretty pasty from our general lack of sun exposure. We spent the first hour or so lounging by the pool and pretending to be wealthy.

After that I wanted to make the most of the pool's amenities. We went down the water slides and rode on the water elevator, a strange contraption that I don't think I could adequately describe. Apparently the "ride" cost the hotel more than a million dollars. It's an interesting concept but I don't think it was worth that much money. We also hung out in a hot tub and swam around a bit. We stayed away from the rope swing since my friend, Sarah Olthuis had lost her top on it once.

Overall it was really fun to relax and feel like a tourist for a bit. We ended up staying a little too long and I had to race back to teach the DTS team how to teach English. Although our time there was too short, it was definitely a blessing just to get away for a little while.

What I Am Up To

I thought it might be a good idea to let people know what I am doing out here in Hawaii now that I've been here for about a month.

English Lessons
My main objective is to make an English teaching curriculum for our DTS teams to take to Asia. I've already come up with about 30 lessons that use meaty Bible verses and groups of rhyming words found within those verses. I am going to create another set of lessons that don't use Bible verses to be used in places where we can't be so obvious. I have also started compiling a guide I like to call, "Ahhhh... I'm teaching English!!???" This is for those times in any foreign country when you are suddenly told you need to teach English to people of unknown ability. Another thing I am working on is compiling a long list of language learning games that can be played in English classes and English corners. I am currently sifting through the copious amounts of material on the internet to find activities that fit with our students and teaching opportunities.

Growth Group
One of my goals while in Maui is to disciple the younger girl staff here. As one of the older people here, I think it's important to try to help the younger girls. I just took over the weekly small group and our first meeting went pretty well. Everyone seems to want the same thing and the girls seem really fun. The fact that I provided ice cream probably didn't hurt either.

Training
I have been able to help one of our outreach teams get ready to teach English. I spoke to them about the country they are going to and last week I did a mock English lesson with them. For this next week they have a homework assignment to come up with their own English lesson and I am going to randomly choose a few of them to teach in front of the group. It was fun to share with them and they seemed interested in what I had to say.

Randomness
I have also been using my editing skills around the base to help with various things. I have proofread support letters and college essays. And now, after seeing some of our promotional materials full of run-on sentences and bad grammar, I have appointed myself as an editor. I just don't want our base to look bad and I am a stickler for that kind of stuff. I've also been helping my friends, Abbey and Wil out. They have two children under two years old so they really have their hands full.

Overall I feel useful here and glad that I can help out. I am unsure of exactly what I will be doing in April since a lot of stuff is still up in the air. I am trying to just be open to wherever God sees fit to use me.

"TsuNotmi

Hey Beloved Blog Readers,
I still exist. It’s about time for one of these. I might as well tell you about our “tsunami” scare this weekend.

On Saturday morning, I was supposed to go surfing with some friends and some of the DTS students. In the middle of the night I woke up to use the restroom and checked the time on my phone. I noticed that I had several messages starting at 3am. One of my friends had texted me that a tsunami was supposed to hit Hawaii around 11am. Since it was still early I decided to just try to go back to sleep. Around 8am, I started hearing people in our kitchen since my room shares a wall with it. I checked my phone again and I had several missed calls and texts from people warning me of the tsunami.

I stumbled into the kitchen, half asleep and asked what was going on. We started checking the internet and saw that a tsunami was supposed to hit. I called my friend, Kristy to make sure she’d heard and tell her that it looked like we wouldn’t be surfing. She was already in the know after being awakened to a tsunami siren at 6am. She lives in Paia, which is right on the coast. The police started evacuating all the people on the coast. Kristy and all our students and staff in Paia came up to our base in Haiku. Our house quickly began to look like a refugee camp. It reminded me of my experience during Hurricane Ike.

Our base is pretty high up and not very close to the ocean so we knew we were safe. We didn’t know what to do so we started playing horseshoes in the yard. Apparently I am awful at horseshoes but it was still a good way to pass some time as we awaited impending doom.

Someone got the idea that we should find a place to watch the tsunami. Someone suggested we go to Pauwela Point, a cliff nearby. Kristy called her parents to see if it was a good idea only to find that they were already there. Most parents are more cautious than their kids but definitely not Kristy’s parents. A bunch of us piled in the back of a pickup truck and headed to Pauwela Point. There were tons of other people there, sitting in lawn chairs and drinking beer. It was like an impromptu tailgate party.

We sat out there for several hours calling home periodically to find out the tsunami’s progress. The whales were definitely acting strange but other than that nothing seemed out of place. Finally after we’d stayed long after the predicted impact time, we decided to go back home. It was pretty anticlimactic, which was good and bad. I am glad nothing really bad happened but it would have been cool to see a huge wave. The only bad thing that happened was that a lot of people got really sunburned waiting outside trying to see the tsunami. I like to call it a “tsunami burn.” I had put sunscreen on my face but I did get an odd oval-shaped burn on my leg from sitting cross-legged so long. I’m thinking of calling FEMA to demand some aloe vera gel.

Blessings of the Automotive Kind

I am typing this on my Blackberry, which is not ideal but my computer is having some issues so this is the best way for me to make a blog post right now.

I wanted to share a bit about my car blessing. I recently received a bonus from the school district I worked for last year. It was based on my students' performance on last year's standardized tests. Apparently they did pretty well, because after the government stole 1/3 of it, I still had a decent chunk of money. This was a huge blessing because I really wanted to get a car when I returned to Maui.

Wasting no time, I bought a car on Friday. It is a bluish green 2000 Toyota Corolla. I actually used to have a white 2000 Corolla so I am pretty familiar with this model. I brought Jason, a friend who's good with cars to inspect it, hoping to avoid the drama I had with my Ford Explorer.

The woman who sold it to me was a Christian and familiar with YWAM. She was happy to sell it to me. So far, I have already driven it a lot. It's a bit of a novelty so I don't mind doing favors for people even if I have to go out of my way a bit.

I am so thankful for this blessing! I hope I can be a good steward of this gift during my time here.

Torn in Three Directions

Lately I have realized that I feel torn in three different directions. I understand that there are a lot worse problems than having three places you feel like you belong in simultaneously but nevertheless, this is my dilemma. Being back in Houston reminds me of the life I created for myself last time I was here. When I lived and taught elementary school here, I was self-sufficient and made a life for myself. This was different from the other times I lived in Houston post-college. Those were transitional times where I lived with my parents and didn't have a career-type job. I think living as an adult here for those two years has made it harder to be away. I really love my friends here and a lot of what Houston has to offer. It truly feels like home.

I also really miss my Young Life kids. I have been able to see a lot of them in the past week or so and it makes me remember how much I enjoyed volunteering with them. They keep asking why I left them, which makes me feel good and bad at the same time. There is only one girl Young Life leader at the high school right now and I definitely see where I could come back and be a leader to fill a need. But deep down inside, I know that God has other plans for me right now.

Going to Asia also made me see another place I could be used in ministry. A big part of what we do there is English teaching and with my education background, I know I could bring a lot to the team. The people there right now are working hard but they could definitely use the help. I really like how relational the ministry is and I feel pretty comfortable being there. So yet again I can see where I would fill a need but know that this is not where God is calling me right now.

And so, despite the need in these other ministries and my ability to fill those needs, I feel called back to YWAM Maui at least through September. I am excited about this as I love the people in Maui, the work we do and oh yeah, it's kind of pretty. I know there is a place for me there and that I have gifts to contribute. It's just hard to know that there are other places and other ministry opportunities that I am passionate about and I just can't be in three places at once. Thankfully I trust that the Lord knows where I should be serving.

Newsletter Nuisance

I recently decided it was about time to put out a newsletter. This little idea turned out to be a lot more work than I had anticipated.

I actually like designing and writing so that part of the process wasn't too bad. I still haven't figured out what is the best software for newsletters. I found a Microsoft Word template I could tolerate and went with that. I had fun adding pictures and personalizing it and I decided on one page, in color front and back. I assumed it wouldn't be too expensive to get it printed since people print things in color all the time. I was wrong.

First I went to Kinkos where they were going to charge me $1 per page. Printing 100 newsletters would cost $100! That's outrageous, especially for someone who lives on support. I knew Office Max had a print service and I assumed it would be cheaper than Kinkos. I was wrong again. It was the same price. I decided it would be a better use of my money to buy a printer and print them myself. It would cost roughly the same amount and at least I would get a printer out of the deal. I talked with a salesperson who told me the pros and cons of all the models. I picked one out and with extra ink and paper, it came out to a little over $100.

I took it all home and got started printing. Unfortunately I did not think about ink usage when I designed my newsletter. The primary color on the newsletter is a yellowish cream. This meant that my yellow ink cartridge was out long before my newsletter had finished printing. Whoever wrote on the ink cartridge package that it would print 350 sheets was clearly a bold-faced liar. It was more like 30 sheets. I ended up going back to Office Max for more ink about halfway through the job.

I finally got the newsletters printed...well 67 of them. I couldn't even send them to everyone I had originally intended but the idea of spending more time and more money printing out 33 more did not sound appealing. After I printed them all, I showed them to my parents. My dad seemed genuinely impressed with them and I was feeling pretty good. That is, until my Mom burst my bubble by pointing out a misspelling. Now, I can be a spelling snob and am definitely a grammar snob. My mom, on the other hand, is a self-professed lousy speller and the fact that she was the one who pointed it out, really irked me. And she was right. Spellcheck had failed me! I couldn't bear to have my spelling error sent out for people to mock like Elaine's nip in her Christmas card photo on Seinfeld. I had to fix it and I sure as heck wasn't going to reprint those bad boys. So, I printed out 67 correctly spelled words in the same font and size as the misspelled one. Then I proceeded to use a glue stick to glue the replacement words atop the misspelled words. It doesn't look as polished as before but I prefer that to a misspelling.

I took me a couple hours to address and stuff envelopes but now the newsletters are in the mail. If you are one of the fortunate people to receive one of these, know that a lot of hard work and hard-earned cash went into their production. Don't use them to line the litter box or make paper airplanes with them. I hope you enjoy them and maybe for my next newsletter I will learn how to be more cost-effective and also not use as much yellow in the background.

This one's for you, Trina Warrenton

The title of this entry comes from the fact that every time Trina did something slightly embarrassing in China, she would say, "Now, don't put this in your blog." Well Trina, you've now officially made it into my blog.

Trina and Elizabeth's Massages

On my last day in China, Trina and I decided to get massages. We saw a place that looked pretty nice and only charged about $10 U.S. Trina and Merry went the day before to make appointments. Well, they thought they had made appointments but really couldn't be sure since the people working there spoke no English.

So, we showed up at the time of our appointment to find that the workers are all having lunch. So much for an appointment! They ushered us to some seats and had us take off our shoes and socks and put on some red plastic sandals. Then they served us some tea. All the while they are speaking to us in Chinese, while we just nodded and smiled.

Then they escorted us to a room with two beds. They were actually massage tables covered with gaudy gold bedding but the overall look of the room was not too bad. They gestured for us to put our purses away in some locking drawers that covered one entire wall of the room. Then they showed us a shower and a wooden box the size of a confessional booth. I had no idea what they wanted from me. I was just there for a massage. Trina has had more massages than me and said that they wanted us to shower and then go into the box, which was apparently a sauna. They gave me a shower cap and I went into the shower while Trina was taken to another room for her shower/sauna. I rinsed off in the shower, still not sure of what was expected of me. The gesturing of the workers made me assume that I was supposed to come out in only my towel and put my clothes in one of the locking bins on the wall. I refused to take off my underwear and then wrapped myself in the towel.

I am then ushered towards the sauna. It is really small and confined in there. They made me sit in the sweltering heat for at least 30 minutes, though it felt like longer. The workers kept gesturing for me to take off my towel, but that felt super awkward so it stayed tightly wrapped around me. They continued to refill my tea and gave me magazines to read. Unfortunately the magazines were all in Chinese, which I cannot read a single character of. I looked at the pictures and longed for a magazine I could understand. I am sure that would have made the time spent in the hot box seem shorter.

Finally, when I was close to screaming for them to let me out, I was released. When I came out I was given some underwear that seemed to be made out of the same material as those hats surgeons wear at the hospital. Awkward! At this same time, Trina was already laid out on the gold-covered massage table. Her masseuse was trying to tug her towel and underwear down as Trina fought her for decencies sake. Luckily I was too confused about the thin, paper underwear I'd been given, to see anything that was going on with Trina.

I went into the bathroom and took another mandatory rinse off. One good thing about my schphitz was that it had helped to clear my sinuses. I emerged from the bathroom in my towel and laid down on the massage table. I quickly realized what Trina was talking about as my new paper underwear was pulled half down by my masseuse. What kind of massage was this going to be? I tried to talk to Trina but these ladies had strong hands and it took all I had not to scream when she was kneading my back like a loaf of bread. She also massaged the exposed half of my butt, which was especially awkward since I am ticklish there. After the whole thing was over, I definitely felt as if I'd been put through a ringer.

Trina and I got dressed and sat down to another cup of tea. We paid our bill and left feeling like our muscles had turned to putty. It may have been a bit weird but $10 for an hour and a half massage really can't be beat.

A Day in the Life

Here’s an example of one of my days here in Asia. I met with my friend, Marcia who I met when I was here a year and a half ago. I met her in an English corner and we became fast friends. She was unemployed at the time so my friend, Sarah and I spent about five days in a row with her. She is a lot of fun and I think we would be friends in regular life. She is not a part of the C club and is in fact a part of another C club- the one Fidel is also a part of. Even though she knows why I am here, she likes to hang out with me and practice her English.

She’d been out of town so Sunday was my first chance to hang out with her. She met me at the metro station and introduced me to her co-worker, Andy. They took me to a restaurant for dumplings. The food was pretty good but Marcia kept trying to get me to eat more. Andy’s English was pretty good so it was easy to talk to him. After our meal, Marcia took me to this trendy little bookstore. It had a lot of fun things but much of it was American-comparable prices. I did find these little round buttons that look like eyes to put on my purse. It now looks like my purse is alive. Take that, pick-pocketers!

Then Marcia took me to her apartment. It was a pretty cute place and Marcia’s bed had a mosquito net canopy. I don’t know how necessary that is in the winter. When I arrived in the apartment she gave me some tiny slippers to wear. I hope she didn’t notice my heels hanging off the back. She served me the most random snack ever; tea, an apple, walnuts and a Dixie cup of the kind of wine that comes in a box. I was glad for the apple since they are really good here and it’s one of the few words I know in the language.

Then Marcia showed me pictures on her computer of her recent trip up north. It looked unbearably cold there but there was a palace made of ice, which was pretty cool. Then, she began showing me pictures of myself on her computer. Apparently she had gone on to my facebook and copied some of my pictures onto her computer. There were pictures of my Bangladesh team, me and my family, me in weddings, etc. I’m not going to lie; it was super weird! How often do you go to the house of someone you knew for a week over a year ago and find a shrine to yourself on their computer? I know I am pretty awesome but this was over the top. I really didn’t know what to say. Then she showed me pictures of my friend, Sarah who’d accompanied me on my last trip. She had also raided her facebook. She also had pictures she stole from other friends from English corner. This made it a little less weird…a little.

After we hung out, I went across town to a study. It was great because there were 14 locals there. The message was really good and only a few of them are in the club so I am thankful everyone heard the message. It was so much fun that many people stayed past 10pm. It didn’t hurt that Will and Amanda’s baby was there. Even though the local people refer to him a Bucket, instead of Beckett, they absolutely adore him. Everyone wants to hold him and look at him.

So this was my day. It was really fun and really random- just the way I like it.

Asia Update #1

I made it safely to my destination. It's crazy how many people I know are here at this time. It makes it a lot easier to be in a foreign country. I've only been here two full days so I haven't done a ton yet. On Sunday night, there was a B. Study held at our friends' place here. There were 13 locals, some who were in the club and some who were not. It was really neat to see something we'd just dreamed about when we came here a year and a half ago, actually happening. Yesterday was the scheduled day off for the week. So, even though I'd only been here one day, I already had the day off. We went to IKEA to get some furnishings for the new apartment our boys are moving into. Then we went to Starbucks. Such Americans! They have free wifi there so it is a hot spot for foreigners.

After Starbucks, my friend, Jasmine took me and Ben and Bryan to a park. It took several subway transfers to get there and then a crazy motorcycle ride. Sorry mom! The park was huge and you could rent bikes for less than $1 U.S. Jasmine and I rode commuter bikes while the boys rode these weird mountain bikes that looked like a cheap version of high tech. Poor Ben didn't realize his chain was completely rusted until it was too late to turn back. The park had a long series of paved paths perfect for bike riding. It was a lot of fun. There were some fairly steep hills where I wished I was on my road bike instead of a bike with no gears. We raced around the park yelling hello to all the people. I am sure they thought we were just a bunch of crazy Americans. Overall it was a lot of fun.

At night we were supposed to have a study at our house but only two people showed up. Apparently Monday nights are bad because it's the first day of the work week and many people work until 7pm. We had fun socializing with the two people who did come. We tried to explain the concept of Mexican food to them but it was quite difficult. Tonight we have an English class at a factory. I will be teaching this and I am excited. I've never been in a factory before.

The rest of my trip will be a combination of B studies and English teaching as well as hanging out with the people we meet. I am hoping to meet up with Marcia, a friend I met last time, when she returns from a trip. I will also be helping the family that lives here full-time with homeschooling. One of their children is in second grade and I am pretty familiar with that age from teaching third. I am also going to hang out some with my friend, Amanda who recently had a baby. She says she's missed hanging out with girlfriends. Anyway, it's going well so far and I can tell the time will pass by quickly. Continue to think about me. Thanks.

texting from hong kong

i am in hong kong right now typing this on my kindle. it's pretty cool except i cant figure out how to capitalize. i dont want to leave a long text message style post so i will just give a mini update the day in hong kong was fun and jet lag doesnt seem too bad.we are about to take the train to our final destination. yay

Running...or not

So, I've decided to start running. I feel that this decision has been a long time coming. I've tried to run on and off for years but I want to make a real attempt at making this a lifestyle. Feel free to nag me in the next few months about whether I am going through with this or not.

I've been thinking about this for a while. Apparently my brother has been running half marathons in Iraq. If they run it at the same time as a U.S. marathon, like the famed Boston marathon, they can send in their times and get a free t-shirt. I figure if my brother can run in Iraq, I should be able to get off my lazy butt and run here in the U.S. I actually like working out and doing athletic activities but my gym access is limited and there aren't too many adult sports leagues for me to join with my traveling. I like riding my bike but the Maui winds are killer. Running seems like a good option. You can pretty much do it anywhere and all you need are some shoes. I went to the local sporting goods store to find some but I kept getting swayed by appearance and couldn't figure out which ones to get. I decided to go to this specialty running store where their employees are fit experts and really seem to know what they are talking about.

My consultant was named Frankie. He asked me how much running I do. I said, "It's more like how much running do I want to start doing." I told him I wouldn't be doing more than 10 miles. This is a safe bet since I have never run farther than a 5K in my life. Frankie, the running shoe expert, had me put my foot on this special floor that showed the shape of my foot. Then he had me walk down a little corridor in the middle of the store and then run down it while he watched me. A little weird, but I did it. He said my feet curve in when I run so I need a shoe with support on the inside. He had me put on different shoes and run so he could see how they fit. Again, I felt a bit awkward especially when people would inadvertantly cross into the path of my mini-run.

I ended up finding some shoes that felt like I wasn't wearing shoes. This is a good thing. I always wish someone else could feel what my feet are feeling in shoes and tell me if they fit. I don't necessarily trust myself. Apparently these shoes with extra support will stabilize my feet so running will feel better. They aren't too bad looking and while expensive, they weren't the most expensive ones in the place. There's something about having them tell you which ones are right for you that makes it feel worth the extra money. I also liked how Frankie unlaced each trial pair, put them on my feet and laced them back up. They don't do that for you at the local Academy or Sports Authority and their employees would probably think you are a freak if you asked them to.

I asked the cashier as I was checking out if they could call me a couple times a week to see if I was actually running. She said they didn't provide that service right now but that it was a good idea. I am hoping the cost of the shoes and the fact that they're supposed to be the best ones for me will help motivate/guilt me into sticking with running.

The day after I bought the magic running shoes, I figured I'd better go for a run. I tend to try to go too far, too fast, too soon. This run was no different. I walked to a nearby greenbelt to run the 5K loop there. I ran a few blocks and felt like my lungs were going to explode. I hadn't factored in the cooler temperatures here and my recent lack of physical activity. I figured I was being too ambitious and decided to run a block, walk a block. I'd like to say I was doing intervals but it was really just me being lazy. I think I walked more than ran though I definitely didn't exert myself to the max. I could have run more. The outside of my knee started hurting about halfway through my intervals. I think I might not have the best running form and may be putting undue pressure on that part of my knee. Despite this knee pain, I do want to keep running. I will try again tomorrow to see if stretching before helps.

One of my friends told me she ran for years and hated it but recently started to really like it. This is coming from someone who even ran a marathon. I am hoping she's right. I want to stick with it and give it a chance even if I hate it. I will keep you posted on my progress.

This Christmas

Today was Christmas. It was a pretty good Christmas overall, though it would have been improved by having my brother in the United States and not in Iraq. We did get to talk to him on the web-cam, which was an awesome blessing. I got to joke around with him a bit. I miss our witty banter. I can't wait to see him when he comes home for two weeks in January!

I had Christmas morning with my just me and my parents. It was definitely not as much fun as when Andrew was there. I did get good presents, no duds. My best gift was a Kindle from my parents. For those of you not as techie or nerdy as me, a Kindle is an electronic book. It is designed to be as close to a book as possible. I've already downloaded some books and started reading. It's perfect for overseas because it can hold up to 1000 books. I am excited to take it on my next trip.

My grandparents came over later, along with my aunt and uncle and cousin. We cooked all morning. I got to practice the potato peeling skills I acquired by working in the kitchen the last 3 months. We had three types of potatoes since my family loves them so much. We ate until we couldn't eat anymore. After the dishes were done, we opened presents. I only got two presents from my relatives, which were both pretty decent. There have been a lot of awkward ones in the past so this was a relief. The rest of my gifts were money, which is always welcome.

After presents, my cousin, Roy and I went to the movies. The first theater we tried was absolute chaos; full parking lot, people everywhere and all the good movies were sold out. We went to a little art house theater instead and saw the new Sherlock Holmes movie. It wasn't the best movie I've ever seen but worth watching.

So all in all, a good day.

Happy to be Home

I love Maui but I am happy to be back in Houston. Maui is an awesome place that hundreds of thousands of tourists visit each year. Houston doesn't receive the same acclaim. I mean, who would come to Houston on vacation? And yet, I love this place and I have missed it very much in these last three months. Because of this, I have decided to create a "Top Ten Things I Love About Houston" list in no particular order.

1. Bike Riding- In Houston, many people ride bikes. From kids with training wheels to grandmas on cruisers to spandex-clad athletes with clip-in pedals; there are tons of bikers on the streets at any given time. There is a big bike ride every year that goes for 150 miles from Houston to Austin. Many people participate in it, including me and train for it throughout the year. Because of this, there are organized training rides almost every weekend within about 30 miles of Houston. I love organized rides because I can ride a lot farther and a lot longer with other people around me. They also feed you all along the way and I love to eat for fuel. In Maui,I have only found 3 organized rides for the whole year and one is "Cycle to the Sun" where you ride uphill about 25 miles to the top of Haleakala, Maui's dormant volcano. No thank you. In Maui, there are some people who bike but you have to be pretty hardcore to go very far. This is because of the crazy wind that draws the world-class windsurfers. At certain times of day and in certain directions, it's almost impossible to keep your pedals moving against the wind. The first time I tried to pedal against the wind, I gave up and got a hitch home in the back of a pick-up truck.

2. Clean Houses- Houses in Houston tend to be cleaner than in Maui. They also all have air conditioning (partially because you would die in the summers without it.) In Maui, the air conditioning comes in the form of open windows. For much of the year, the wind mentioned above provides more than enough relief from the heat. There are certain times when the wind doesn't cut it though and you feel like you are actually being baked inside your home. Because of the abundance of open windows and wind, there is a fine red dirt that settles all over everything in a house. The houses in Maui also tend to be a bit more run down (not all of them but most of the ones I frequent). In Houston you are not likely to see someone passively living with termites and a hole in the floor. In Maui, this isn't too uncommon.

3. Shopping- Since Houston has over 2 million people, there is also an abundance of stores for all those people to shop at. We have all the chain stores as well as some fun local shops. You can find almost anything you could possibly want. This is not the case in Maui. For starters there is no Target. I know that sounds like a bad dream, but it's true. The only Target substitutes are Wal-Mart and the Big K. Neither of which even comes close to Target. In Houston, I personally know the locations of at least 8 different Targets. In Maui there is no Bed, Bath and Beyond, Victoria's Secret, Bath and Body Works, Marshalls, Best Buy, etc. Most stuff has to be ordered off the internet and there is often an extra charge to ship to Hawaii.

4. Friends- I have plenty of friends in Maui but they tend to come and go. In the couple months before I came back to Maui this time, a bunch of my favorite people left. Bad timing! Then, several people left right after I got there. I tried not to take it personal. I only have one friend in Maui who owns a house. Everyone else is prone to coming and going so it's hard to count on any of them being there when I am. In Houston, several of my friends own homes and have good jobs here. They plan on staying here indefinitely. This is really nice and makes my group of friends in Houston feel a bit more solid.

5. Texas Pride- I have missed this a lot. Hawaiians have a lot of pride, which I respect. Being an outsider, though means that some of that pride is negatively directed at me. They have bumper stickers that say "We grew here. You flew here." And the thing is that they are right. There also stickers that say 100% Hawaiian. Now I can never become a true Hawaiian but I am a true Texan. Maybe I could make some "I arrived here. You drive here." bumper stickers. I really don't have to though since Texans already have a lot of pride. There are even bumper stickers that say, "I wasn't born in Texas, but I got here as fast as I could." There are Texas flags flying everywhere and many businesses incorporate Texas into their company name or logo. And of course, everyone knows that Texas is bigger than France.

6. Mexican People and Black People- I don't know if this is racist since I like these groups. Oh well, I do miss them. In Hawaii, there are very few Mexican or black people. There are plenty of Asians, though. I've always enjoyed black people since I was a little kid. We had a housekeeper/babysitter who watched me and my brother on Saturdays when we were kids. Her name was Betty and she was so loving. I adored her and I think it instilled in me a lifelong love for black people. I also enjoy Mexican people. The school I worked at was predominately Hispanic and I got used to hearing Spanish all the time. I also think Mexican is my favorite genre of food. In Texas there is a Mexican food restaurant on almost every corner. This is not the case in Maui.

7. Driving- In Maui there are no freeways and the highest speed limit you will find is 55mph. I also don't always have a car in Maui. In Texas, you really can't survive without a car and there are plenty of wide freeways with 70mph speed limits to satisfy one's need for speed. I also really like road trips. There are plenty you can take from Texas. I used to go to Louisiana almost every weekend. In Maui, it's a lot like being in a small town you can't leave since it is surrounded by ocean. Sometimes I get that island fever and just want to get off the island.

8. Family- Most of my family lives in Texas so I get to see them a lot more when I am here. When I am not in Texas, I miss shopping with my mom, biking with my dad, playing with my nephew, laughing with my brother and hanging out with my sister-in-law. There's definitely something special about being near those people who love you no matter what.

9. TV and Cable- In Maui, I don't usually get to have a TV. I'm not addicted to TV but I definitely enjoy it. Cable is especially fun since I can watch 5 college football games on one Saturday. It's nice just to veg in front of the TV for a while or get together with friends to make fun of reality TV. It's easy to get out of the loop with no news or movie previews to watch.

10. Nightlife- In Maui, pretty much all the fun to be had happens during daylight hours. There are incredible beaches to lay out on, clear blue water to snorkel in and tropical trails to hike on. But at night, everything pretty much shuts down. Very few places are open after nine, let alone after midnight. The typical night is spent hanging out and watching movies at someone's house. In Houston there is plenty to do at night. I like to go bowling, play trivia at a local bar, go to a concert, go to a sporting event, etc. There are a lot of choices.

It may have sounded like I was dogging Maui in this post. I truly love Maui and the work I do there. However, Houston is my home and I will always love it (lack of natural beauty and all.)

Hawaiian Holidays

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...or not. In Hawaii, there is no drastic weather change. It's pretty much warm year round. But as common during the holiday season, the waves have gotten bigger. The talk all over the island is of "Jaws" the giant wave that only breaks a few times a year. It's one of the biggest waves in the world and it breaks right by our YWAM base.

There are some signs of Christmas even here in the tropics. The other day I stumbled onto a Christmas hula. I mean, how often do you see that? It was in front of a coffee shop and it seemed like a dance recital but all the dances were island-style. They had lots of different costumes, most of which exposed their midriffs. The kids ranged in age from about 4 to 18. It was mostly girls but there was a ridiculously cute little boy who did a boy hula. I almost kidnapped him; he was THAT cute! He did a dance with two 12-15 year old obese boys which made him look even cuter and smaller. He had some good moves and could gyrate his body better than I could ever hope to. All the songs were Hawaiian Christmas songs with ukulele accompaniment. We were only going to stay a few minutes but were soon entranced.

I also went to a Christmas party at the Mormon church. We've been meeting with some Mormons to learn about their beliefs. It gets a bit taxing at times since they act like robots when talking about matters of faith. I enjoy our small talk with them much more. The Christmas party was more of a social event so they seemed more relaxed and less robotic. The food was good and the people were very nice. They had a white elephant gift party and the missionaries let my friend, Max and I take their turns picking gifts. I got a book by Glenn Beck, who I'd been talking about only minutes earlier. Pretty cool! They even had Santa come and about 20 kids quickly lined up for a turn in the old guy's lap. Unfortunately our ride had to leave before I got a chance to sit on his lap. Darn!

So, there is a bit of holiday spirit here but I am anxious to get back to the mainland where it really feels like Christmas. I am excited to see my family and friends.

Thanksgiving: Korean and Regular

This was a good Thanksgiving holiday. I ate an abnormal amount of food, watched an abnormal amount of football and slept an abnormal amount of hours. It was awesome! On Wednesday we had our last lecture for the week, which was on church history. Then, that night our base had its Thanksgiving. This is so the families on the base can have theirs on the actual day. This was my third Thanksgiving on the base and it was really nice. There were about 60 people, many who were from other countries. I love sharing Thanksgiving with people who've never experienced it before. I made sure to sit by Deborah from China to see what she thought of it all.

The staff had set up a beautiful spread outside under tents. There were Christmas lights, table cloths and tons of delicious food. Unfortunately there was also tons of wind and rain, which meant we all got wet. There was a turkey carving contest between the older men of the base. One of the guys, Fritz began his carving with a huge Samurai knife. It was pretty funny. They were also all wearing chef hats, which made me laugh. After the turkey carving, the rain was getting too many people wet so we took half the tables inside so that the other tables could reap the full benefit of the tent.

Despite the change of venue, we managed to enjoy our meal. Even though the head cook was Canadian, she managed to pull off an excellent American Thanksgiving. The sweet potato casserole was the best I've ever eaten. I heard it was made by some Swiss people who'd never even heard of it before. The food was very good and there was plenty of it. I tried to convince Deborah that we ate the gourd table decorations as a tradition but she was on to my schemes.

After the meal, one of the staff girls gave a marvelous rendition of the pilgrim story. I don't think I could properly describe its hilarity in this blog. Then we sang the National anthem. After that, the Swedish guys got up and sang their national anthem. They were followed by the Swiss guys who sang and then passed out Swiss chocolate. Then everyone tried to goad the Ingrids from Norway to sing their national anthem. One Ingrid claimed they didn't have one. In the end, they did come up and represent with their song. I tried to get the dozen or so Canadians to get up and sing, "Oh, Canada," but they were all unpatriotic wusses. All in all I had good company, good food and several national anthems. A good Thanksgiving for sure.

The next day, I went to another Thanksgiving celebration at a local Korean church where some of my fellow students help with the Sunday school class. It was a sort of thank you for the volunteers but they encouraged them to bring friends. I like Koreans and I like free food so clearly I was down. We socialized for a bit and then ate...a lot. There was a mix of Korean and American food. I was afraid they would stuff the turkey with kimchi (fermented cabbage) but thankfully the two items were served separately. I passed on the kimchi. The food was good and the hosts were very gracious.

After lunch, we went into a large empty room. A woman performed a traditional Korean dance with full make-up and costume. It was really neat. Then a couple of our boys sang a song in English and Korean. It was pretty funny to watch them stumble over the Korean words. The people of the church were super appreciative and almost moved to tears by the fact that they sang Korean. Then they had a lady do some sort of traditional drum routine. That lady had some serious talent and some serious rhythm. It was really impressive. Then one of our girls, Michelle did a dance and another girl, Chelsea sang. It was also really nice.

I made it home in time to watch my Texas Longhorns beat a surprisingly good A&M team. Now if only Alabama or Florida had lost! That would have made it the best Thanksgiving!

Testimony Night

Tuesday night was Testimony Night. This is when our returning DTS students share with the base about their outreaches. I always love testimony nights because they give us all a chance to hear what God is doing in other parts of the world. When you are on staff at the base and not going overseas, it is easy to lose sight of why we do all that we do. All the people who work on the base help to facilitate the sending of teams to other countries and are extremely necessary. Testimony nights help us to remember that.

For this DTS, we sent teams to Borneo and Bangladesh. A couple students from each team told a little about what they did in their respective countries. The Bangladesh team had a hard time. I understand this since I have been there and know it can be a very difficult place. Many of the team members got sick and several developed severe food allergies to things that had never given them problems before. Thankfully no one got Dengue this time. In Bangladesh it used to take 10 years+ for someone to become a Christian, but now they are seeing people come to the Lord in less than five. This is a big deal because in order to become a Christian in Bangladesh, one often has to sacrifice their relationship with their friends and family and sometimes can lead to their death. Often they become an outcast. It's hard to fathom here in the United States where change of religion doesn't often result in those sorts of consequences.

The Borneo team seemed to have a little more fun. They got to be a part of a healing of a woman who had had a stroke. The members of both teams clearly grew a lot and were so inspiring to those of us listening to what they had to say. I was really blessed.