Back to Soundwaves

Today was a busy day especially compared to the last two days, which I had off. I started working at Soundwaves again today and then I had YoungLife at night. I wasn't sure what it would be like to go back to Soundwaves after a year and a half, but it was good. A lot of people I know still work there. It seems there is always basically the same core group of responsible people and then there is the revolving door of irresponsible, my first job, just here for the discount, lazy surfer types.

Despite their initial reluctance to take me back, they have made me a manager again. This is good because it means I tell people to do the crappy parts of the job instead of having to do them myself. I am going to have to be careful not to spend all my money on stuff at the store. There is a lot I want and I get a 35% discount. I am limiting myself to one thing a week. There was once talk of me having a lifetime discount so I will be able to get the discount when I am a teacher. That'd be cool.

Apparently one of the other managers, Jenny, has a stalker. This guy took a liking to her when she served him coffee. Apparently he later got on one knee and proposed. We've discovered that he is a paranoid schizaphrenic. He writes Jenny notes but calls her by different names. The letters tell of how he will support them once they're married. We called the cops and we are supposed to call 911 if he comes in the store. Pretty weird. Hopefully I am not there when he makes an appearance. Or maybe I want to be there. I do like drama.

YoungLife today was not the usual. We had a scavenger hunt where we had to take pics in various locations posing with an inflatable shark. It was fun and the kids got really into it. My team won, naturally. I got pretty into and I was driving a bit eratically in order to win. It was like I was on the Amazing Race but instead of winning a million dollars, I got a brownie. It was good to try to remember more of the kids' names. It is hard to come in at the end of the year because all the kids and leaders already know each other. Going to camp will definitely help me to get to know them better.

One funny note from YoungLife today: One of our leaders is this big muscular black guy named Bronson. He is an awesome guy. He's great with the kids and I am so thankful that we have him on our team. Anyway, he has the funniest phone ring. His ring is the Michelle Branch song, Everywhere. It is just hilarious to hear this incredibly girly ring go off on this large black man's phone. I die laughing everytime I hear it. Today it went off during club and all the kids laughed at him and rightfully so.

Tomorrow I am taking yet another road trip. I am certainly making the most of my new car. I am going to visit my brother in San Antonio. He should be heading back to Colorado soon and then Iraq May 20, so I need to get as much Andrew time as possible. It's definitely worth the six hour round trip.

Wedding Number 7

I was in my seventh wedding this weekend. Abbey and Wil are two of my friends from Maui and they got married in Toronto. I got to hang out with some of my favorite YWAM friends, including my YWAM best pal, Amy. It was awesome!

Wil and Abbey were only engaged seven weeks before the wedding so there was definitely a bit of last minute scrambling to get everything done. Amy, Kristy and I ran around the mall with Abbey's mom and niece to find a mother of the bride dress the day before the wedding. It looked bleak at first but we found something she really liked and she looked great.

We made little bouquets and butonaires (who actually knows how to spell that?) for the bride and groom's parents about five minutes before we left for the ceremony. It all came together just fine.

The ceremony was nice but it made me aware of my shrinking attention span. I found myself poking the flower girl in the head with my bouquet to annoy her. Then she started dropping flowers on my shoes. At this point I realized I should probably stop egging the eight year-old on during this very important event. The flower girl was Abbey's niece and one of the coolest eight year-olds I have ever met. And I have met a lot of eight year-olds. She was simply hilarious.

From my vantage point neither Abbey nor Wil cried, but they both seemed pretty nervous. They were both swaying during the ceremony and it looked a bit like dancing. Wil's face turned red several times and Abbey was clearly giggling. It was cute. One of the groomsmen got in a minor car accident on the way to the ceremony. His wife had back surgery in the past so they had to take her to the hospital to get checked out. It was a shame because he missed the whole thing. Amy and Bethany walked together with the last groomsmen on the way out.

With all the last-minute scrambling, we were more than a little shocked to show up to the super-fancy reception. It was held in a hotel on the 38th floor and the view of Toronto was awesome. There were at least 5 courses and I couldn't identify any of the foods on the first plate I was served. Now that's fancy!

And now Wil and Abbey are living happily ever after. And not to be graphic but after 30 long years of waiting, Wil gets to have sex. As Christians, I feel we need to be more open about celebrating people's celibacy. It's not easy to save yourself for marriage in this day and age so Way to go will! It also makes for better jokes at the wedding and reception. I look forward to that part of my wedding as well.

Check out the pics from the wedding:

I miss Maui but I LOVE Texas!

This weekend I did a crazy amount of traveling. I drove for 17 hours in three days. It had been a long time since I took a road trip so it was quite enjoyable.

On Friday I woke up early and drove to Louisiana. I met up with one of my YWAM Maui friends, Rebekah. She lives in Thibadeux and gave me a little Rebekah reality tour of the area where she grew up. North Louisiana feels like a less-cool version of Texas. South Louisiana, on the other hand, definitely has its own feel and culture. They have lots of Bayous and good local food. I got to partake in some of Rebekah's mom's gumbo. Yummy.

We drove about an hour down the bayou to visit one of the girls from my Bangladesh team. It was strangely normal to hang out with her. It was good to see her, though she has had a very hard time being home after being in YWAM. We got to pray for her. Hopefully she can come visit me in Houston some day.

The next morning Rebekah and I drove to Houston. We picked up some sweet free Texas loot at the border. Rebekah's sister lives in Houston so I dropped her off and then drove on to Austin, where my brother and Shella were hanging out.

The drive to Austin was simply gorgeous. The rains ended and the sky was abnormally bright blue with big fluffy. I have driven from Houston to Austin countless times during my college career so I have a regular stopping point at a gas station/store called Hruskas. In recent years they have expanded to include all kinds of crafts, knicknacks and scrap booking supplies. They even have marble in the bathroom. How many of you have seen a gas station bathroom that fancy? I grabbed some snacks and continued on my way. While in the car, I was listening to some Lyle Lovett song called "I Guess You're Not From Texas," eating kolaches, drinking a Dublin Dr. Pepper and admiring the beautiful bluebonnets. For those of you not from Texas, allow me to translate. Kolaches are kind of like dinner rolls with sausage on the inseide or fruit. They are primarily a breakfast food. A Dublin Dr.Pepper is a special version that uses pure cane sugar. It is sweeter and better than regular DR. Pepper. Bluebonnets are the state flower and cover the Texas Hill Country in the Spring. They are really beautiful.

So, I still miss Maui but I am remembering how much I love my birthplace. I guess it's good to be glad to be where you're at.

Check out pics from my visit at my online photo album: http://picasaweb.google.com/cloudhair

Texas Time

I have now been in Texas almost two weeks. Weird. It feels odd but normal. Things seem to be falling into place decently. I have a car. I am going back to work at my old job, Soundwaves until my teaching job will start. They made it sound like they weren't sure if they had room for me but then they tried to get me to work right away. I haven't worked there yet but I am looking forward to going back, esp since I know it won't be for that long. I am excited to see all the old people again.

I already had an interview for a teaching job. I have a lot of connections to the school and I think the interview went well. I am not getting my hopes up too high since they may not have the right opening or they might get more qualified applicants. It seems like a great school to work at so I hope it works out. As long as I am flexible, I am sure I will find something.

I am still having withdrawls after living in community. I used to have to choose to be alone and now I choose to hang out with people. I prefer it the other way. There is a lot less effort involved. My family is way over in cell phone minutes so I can't answer my phone before 9pm. It's annoying but it would be a lot worse if I was still in Maui. THen I couldn't talk to people until 2am Houston time.

I am doing a lot of traveling this weekend. I enjoy road trips so it should be fun times. I miss being able to drive far and fast since neither were possible in Maui.

Jet Lag does exist

I tried to pretend that I was now immune to jet lag after all my time zone switching. This is not true. I tried to wake up at 8am on Sunday to try out a local church. I went to sleep with good intentions and woke up at 11:45am. Oops. There's always next Sunday.

This weekend I got to see lots of quality people. On Saturday night, I got to hang out with Jocelyn, Emily and Thama. We hung out at the Harnly house and it was like old times. Too bad Jocelyn sold the trampoline. The Harnly house actually feels more like home than my own house. My parents lived across the street from Jocelyn's family from when I was in third grade through my graduation from college. Their new house doesn't feel quite like home yet.

On Sunday, we had a bunch of people over to our house to welcome me and Andrew home. It was fun. I got to see lots of people I really enjoy all at once. It was almost overwhelming. The funniest part of the party was when I was trying to look out the window and see Lindsay Ray's new yellow Ford Focus. The chair I was perched on started rocking and I quickly repositioned myself in order not to fall. I didn't fall and thought all was good. Then my sister-in-law starts to exclaim. Apparently unbeknowst to me, I had split the back of my skirt. I basically flashed two of my friends' husbands. Now that's a party! I had Thama cover me from behind and I ran down to my room to change.

I have realized that being in YWAM changed the way I think about things. YWAM has a fairly strict dress code and I get a weird feeling when my friends here are violating the dress code. It took all I had not to tell one of my friends to change her too-short shorts. I knew it was best to say nothing. I can't implement a Liz dress code that people must follow around me. That would be weird. I am also not used to getting honked at. I was walking down the street today and got quite a few honks from Mexican men in pick-up trucks. Apparently they had seen my photos from ourr Mexican ohana dinner. I do make a lovely Latina. I also overestimated how much food we would need for the party. I forgot that non-YWAMers don't gorge themselves on free food. Despite the weekly supply of baked goods at YWAM, I did everything but stuff food in my pants when free food was presented. I am sure I will see other differences in my thinking as time goes on.

New car!!!!

I am back in Houston and I have spent pretty much my whole time here (other than sleeping and eating) looking for a car to buy. Today my brother and I traveled all over Houston in search for the elusive used Rav 4. Apparently they didn't make enough of these or people love them too much to sell. Each dealership only had one or two. There were a frighteningly large amount of gold ones. I don't like the color gold. I think it is for pimps and grandmas. It looks especially dumb on an SUV. After two days of serious searching, I am now the proud owner of a 2001 silver (not gold) Rav 4. I am so excited!! My parents were troopers and stayed with me at the dealership until after 10pm. Unfortunately my insurance won't start until midnight tomorrow so I will just have to gaze lovingly at it in the garage tomorrow.

Oh well, I think I am going sailing with my brother, his wife and his friend, Robert Tyler so I won't need it anyway. Yay! Yay! I got a new car!!!!!!!

We were robbed

This morning I woke up to find that the window screen above our kitchen window was off. Also the bottles that reside on the window sill were moved and scattered about. One time I locked myself out and had to climb through the same window so I assumed that one of my roommates had done the same. Then I realized that both Holly and Jess's laptops were not in the living room like usual. After talking with them, we reaized that we had been robbed. Jess lost her laptop, though they left behind the power cord so it can't be used for long. Holly lost her laptop, iPod and about $15.

I feel so bad for them. None of my stuff was stolen. I'd always been wary of leaving my things in the living room since our house has large uncovered windows that give everyone who comes by a view of our living room.

Both Jess and Holly are having hard weeks so this especially sucks. Holly found out she has shingles, which is like gnarly painful chicken pox. Jess had to babysit some drunk co-workers last night and one puked in her car.

We called the cops and they came and dusted for fingerprints. I felt a little dumb for disturbing the crime scene. I have watched countless episodes of Law and Order so I certainly should have known better. I really hope Jess and Holly get their stuff back soon.

Test Drive

I am trying to see if posting pics on here works.

Leaving Sucks

I am getting really sad about leaving. Last week, I was focusing on some uncertain situations at home. Now, all I can think about is how sad I am to leave. All my other worries have faded away. I love these people here so much. I understand my life here and enjoy it. I am excited to go home but there is still a lot of uncertainty about how exactly my life will look there. I need to get a car, a job, a church and many other things. I know I am supposed to go home and that it will all work out but I hate not knowing all the details.

With that said, what is really getting to me is the leaving Maui and all these friends part. Tonight we had girls' staff growth group and they prayed for me and said nice things about me. It was nice but I was barely able to hold in the tears. Tomorrow there is a going away party for me at the base. There will be more sharing of nice things as well as snacks.

I should probably be packing more but my general denial of leaving makes that difficult. I seem to have accumulated an abnormally large collection of misc. stuff. I plan on giving lots of stuff away but it will still be a stretch to get it all home.

I am giving my website to some of my friends here so I will no longer have it. I will be posting pictures on a photo sharing website. Here is the link:

http://picasaweb.google.com/cloudhair

Family Reunion

I leave in 9 days! Wow! I am no longer in the double digits. I know that it is not yet real to me because I only know how long I have left when I look at my watch. I don't have much of a mental countdown going. I have decided instead of hiding, that I will just make lots of plans with people up until I leave. I am having a trashy tv night at my house as well as an office party. (Not for people who work in the office but for people who want to watch "The Office" with me. It should be good times. I also have a going away party for another friend and a birthday party.

On Wednesday night we are having a fun event. We usually have ohana dinners once a month. Ohana is Hawaiian for family and the dinners usually involve a theme and special food. Our last one was Mexican-themed. I dressed up and I have to admit, I looked awesome! Check out the pics on my website. We had lots of fun eating flan, hitting a pinata and dancing. The Macarena contest got a little wild and a little loud. Our neighbors already hate the fact that 50 young adults moved in next door. We can no longer have ohana dinners at our house because we are afraid they will call the cops.

We decided to get around this by having a family reunion-themed ohana. We are having it at a park nearby. The staff and students will be divided into "families" and we will compete in some family reunion-type games. I am excited. I think we are going to wear matching shirts. It doesn't get much better than that, huh? It will be a fun chance for us all to hang out before the students (and me) leave a week later. I am hoping for a potato sack race.

Sucks to Leaving

I am over this whole leaving thing. I have been feeling like I did when I graduated from college. For those of you who've been friends with me for awhile, you may remember how I wasn't too good at adjusting to that change either. It's not that I am not excited about my next step. I am just sad to leave this life. I am still having trouble socially. I still have to fight the urge to hide in my room, eat excessive amounts of sugar and watch episodes of The Office. I give in sometimes, but I have been hanging out with my friends a lot. I am now at the point where I need to start scheduling time to hang out with specific people or it's not going to happen. I was operating under the mistaken assumption that I could manage to spend time with all the important people by chance. I need to be purposeful with my limited time.

I am hoping to come back to Maui over next Thanksgiving break. I need to have an idea of when I will be back to make the leaving not as bad. I am also feeling torn between not wanting to leave and wanting to be home. I am a bit sad about not being home right now. My brother is home with the rest of my family and I feel like I am missing out. Luckily Andrew will be home for almost 2 more weeks when I get home before he goes back to Iraq. We didn't expect him to be home right now so it's a bonus no matter how much time I get.

In fun news, I went to a lingerie shower last night. I just love those things. It is a pretty funny concept when you think about it- girls giving their friend underwear and sexy lingerie. Sometimes it feels like the event is more for the perspective husband than the bride. Maybe next time I go to one, I should ask the husband what he would like. Except that could be a bit weird/awkward.

There is always a lot of blushing and giggling when the presents are revealed. I have never been to a non-Christian one of these but I can only imagine. Most of my friends have either never had sex or have at least never had sex with the guy they are marrying. This makes for some fun jokes. Last night the shower was for Sara Engler. I just love that girl. She got a lot of nice stuff. I usually try to go over the top with my gifts but the island has a very sparse selection. I only managed to find some edible pasties. Not up to my normal standard. I know when I get married, my friends will go over the top to pay me back for the scandalous gifts I gave them. I am a little scared!

This weekend I am going to try to get in some beach time as I am looking a bit pasty.

Dreaming of Beyonce

In the last two weeks I have had two dreams about Beyonce Knowles. I have no idea. I have never been one to have prophetic dreams but maybe she and I will meet. In the first dream, she was with the other members of Destiny's Child at a hotel after their concert in Houston. We were all hanging out and I got them to sing "Bug A Boo" to me.

The second dream was that I was in a liquor store with my friends, Laura Cole and Sarah Olthuis and Beyonce was there as well. She was having a hard time because she felt too much pressure to put out another hit. I tried to reassure her about all the other successes she'd had in the past. I also reminded her of her current hit song, "Irreplaceable." Beyonce was still feeling stressed and upset so she put her head in my lap and I stroked her hair to comfort her. So weird, huh?

On a non-Beyonce related note, I am going to be in my seventh wedding! My friend, Abbey is marrying fellow Maui Ywamer, Wil Brilinger. They are getting married on April 21 and only got engaged a week ago. This does not leave much time for planning. Abbey is one of the funniest brides-to-be that I have ever been around. She is so relaxed and chill about all the wedding decisions- maybe a little too relaxed. It has been fun to help her plan. The wedding will be in Canada and Abbey just realized that an outdoor wedding is out of the question in Canada in April. She is from Alabama and always pictured a beach wedding. That's not going to happen in Ontario either.

She found out that Wil wanted to have five groomsmen and wasn't sure who her five bridesmaids would be. I suggested myself and she thought that was a great idea. I pretty much invited myself to be in the wedding. Then she decided on Bethany and Amy because they are friends and because they are likely to be able to attend the wedding since they are from that part of Canada. She asked a friend from home to be her maid of honor. And then Kristy said she might come since she was already planning on being in Toronto then. Now she is a bridesmaid too even though she and Abbey barely know each other. The only real bridesmaid qualifications are a black dress and a plane ticket to Toronto. So funny! I think the whole thing will be a blast and I can't wait to go. I love weddings anyway and this one is shaping up to be a fun one. I am sure it will provide some good material for the book I have been trying to write.

Long time no post

The town I live in here is so random. It's hard for anyone to understand who has never been here. Last week I saw an old man closely resembling Santa Claus (long white beard, pot belly, etc) wearing nothing but a speedo and going into the post office. That is not normal.

There is also this bald lady who lives here that scares me. I see her reading the Bible but she is definitely not Christian. She hangs out at the local coffee shop, though I don't know how she has money. I don't know who would hire her to work. She sometimes follows YWAMers around hissing and whispering the word, "Satan." I have been wanting to talk to her but I am also scared. Today I was driving to the base and she was hitchhiking in that direction. I probably would have picked her up if I hadn't been alone but the thought of being alone in a car with her as she hissed at me, seemed too much to bear.

There is also a character here called Paia Dave. He is an old guy who used to wear a top hat. I unfortunately ran into him once at the nude beach. (I was just walking by, not sunning myself.) Thankfully, he was submerged in water up to his chest. Today the students had an outdoor worship time by the beach. Paia Dave stopped by (fully clothed) to listen to them jam. He has a reputation for being a bit too forward with the ladies. I had to bite my cheeks to keep from laughing outloud as I watched him watch the female student next to him. He couldn't take his eyes off her and she didn't look too interested.

I am definitely having issues with leaving this place. On one hand I am anxious to leave and see Andrew and it's not the same now that my YWAM best friend is gone. On the other hand, I still have a lot of amazing friends here, I get to live in Paradise, I get to serve God full-time and I get to see God move everyday. These mixed emotions cause me to act in two ways. I either want to spend as much time with people as possible or I want to hide in my room indefinitely and watch episodes of The Office. Now, this is a good show but it cannot take the place of socialization. For the most part I fight my hermit urges. In fact, my week is already packed with plans that involve other people. I just have to figure out how to balance hanging out with all these people while I still can with my need for privacy and reflection during this transitional time.

Longhorns beat Aggies and life gets better

Today was a melancholy day. Amy left for good yesterday and there is still a lot of uncertainty about my brother. People kept making sad faces at me and asking me how I was doing. It's a lot easier to just say that I am fine instead of trying to explain how weird and scattered I feel. It's not that I want to lie but if I voice that I am not doing so good, I usually cry. That is disconcerting to people. It doesn't help that I am super-busy at work right now. That should pass, though when the Fall team goes home this weekend.

It was a long day with testimony night in addition to our normal workday. This is when the teams who just got back from outreach tell about their awesome adventures. Hearing what the Lord is doing couldn't help but boost my spirits. Then when I got home, I discovered that the University of Texas Longhorns had beat the Texas A&M Aggies at basketball. Unfortunately I missed the actual game but I read the recap on the internet and saw the highlights. It was quite the game! I still have a hard time believing that the Aggies are ranked in the top ten but I have seen them and they are good. It's still weird. I won't be home this year for March madness but at least I live in a house with TIVO. No commercials for me! PS- Did I mention that the Longhorns beat the Aggies? Just checking!

Good bye my friend!

Life seems chaotic these days. My YWAM best friend, Amy left today to return to Toronto. It's weird to think I won't be seeing her everyday anymore. She is my default friend here. Thankfully I have several other really close friends here but Amy is the one I spent 90% of my free time with. We had lots of crazy adventures and I will miss her a lot. I have already decided I will go visit her in Toronto in July. Her family has a cottage on the lake. I don't know much about cottages being from Texas. But Canadians all seem to have access to these things. Apparently they are places to relax and be lazy and play on a lake. This sounds splendid. It is also important for my own sanity that I have a tentative date I will see her again. It makes leaving easier. Today I dropped her off at the airport but then her flight got canceled. So, a few hours later I picked her up and we went to Jamba Juice. I guess that means our first goodbye was a practice one.

Amy leaving makes it more real that I too, will be leaving. So strange. I can't deal with this fact yet. Also the Andrew situation is still a bit stressful. It looks like he should be heading back to the U.S. by the end of the week. News changes a lot so I am not sure if it will actually happen. He should be going to D.C. and then San Antonio. It sounds like he will be sent back to Iraq once he recovers. I really hope he will be in Texas at least until I get back home at the end of March. If he goes back to Iraq before I am scheduled to come back to Texas, I will probably have to fly back home early. I don't want to do that but I will if it's the only chance for me to see him. I know I'd regret it if I didn't. I like to be in control but this is a situation I have no control over. I need to stop worrying about things that may or may not happen.

During this stressful time, I have tried to find constructive ways to deal with my angst at the many uncertain situations. I keep trying to give my burdens to the Lord and spend more time with Him. In addition to this, I have been watching an abnormal amount of the tv show, The Office. I am not sure why. Andrew and I watched an excessive amount of tv growing up and I think this has resulted in the function of television as a relaxation/stress reducing tool. There is something so nice about forgetting some of the craziness as I watch people's fake lives. And the show is stinkin' hilarious. I am fully addicted. TV on DVD has revolutionized my life.

I have been impressed about how many people have expressed their prayers and support of Andrew. It means so much to me and my family. It is hard to be away from them right now and knowing that so many people are praying, gives me peace. Thanks a lot.

Andrew

This has been a rough weekend. The Fall DTS teams are back in town so there are tons of logistical things for me to do. The old students are living in Paia and the current students live at our base in Haiku. This means that the Fall students have to be driven to Haiku for worship and meals. We have to fully utilize our four vans. Last week one of our vans had a bit of an accident. Rebekah was driving when the hood flew up and broke the windshield. Apparently bungee cords are not a long-term solution to a loose hood problem. Rebekah thought quickly and pulled over without incident. I am glad I wasn't driving. I don't know if I would have handled it so well. Luckily, the van got fixed before the students arrived.

On Saturday morning, I found out Andrew, my younger brother, got injured in Iraq. He and several of his men were hit by shrapnel as an explosive device went off behind a wall. My brother was hit in his left thigh and leg and in his right foot. He already had surgery in Kuwait. He has been moved to Germany and is in the hospital there. One of his good friends is in Germany with his wife and they were able to go visit Andrew. This is such a blessing since I was so sad at the thought of him being all alone and hurt. He is likely being transferred back to the United States for his recovery, which could take a few months. He will probably go to a hospital in Washington D.C and we hope he could get transfered to one in San Antonio. It's hard to know what exactly is happening with the army.

At first I was kind of numb when I found out. Then the big sister in me kicked in. I have made it my job to take care of my brother since the day he was born. Even though he is a married 24 year-old Army Lieutenant, I still want to protect him. My friend, Holly, works at the nicest hotel on the island. She and some other friends stayed there this weekend and invited me and Amy to join them. I had fun going down the crazy water slides and riding on the water elevator. Who knew there was such a thing? The Grand Wailea has the coolest pool I had ever seen. After experiencing the pools, I sat down and talked with my friend, Maria. I was telling her about Andrew and I just started bawling. It seems like so many bad things are happening at one time. I feel a lot better today after getting an update from his wife, Shella on how he is doing.

I am realizing that I need to be better at giving my burdens up to the Lord. I need to learn how to pray for things but not let the weight of them overwhelm me. The Lord tells us He will carry our burdens and I need to take Him up on His offer.

Please keep praying for Andrew and our family.

Kona Part 2: Love was in the air

Our students aren't allowed to date. When they first arrive, we tell them to "put their periscopes up" and check out all the hotties in their class. Then we tell them to put their periscopes away and that they will stay hidden until graduation. Staff are allowed to date. As staff, we all joked that we'd all have our periscopes up when we went to Kona. It's hard not to check people out at these big events full of single, passionate Christians. I definitely noticed the good-looking men but nothing happened. I was sick at the beginning of the week and sounded very much like a young guy going through puberty. This is not really the right condition to meet the love of your life. I'm not really on the prowl anyway. It's just fun to joke about.

Love was in the air for some people. My friends, Bethany and Matt officially became a couple while we were in Maui. Matt is one of my closest guy friends and like a brother to me. It is a little weird but very fun to see him so excited about a girl. Bethany is my friend as well so it is all good. Some people long to make a serious commitment and plunge head into a serious relationship from Day one. Others take things very slow and ease into commitment talk. Bethany and Matt definitely fall into the first category and are already talking kids' names. As much as I am wary about people moving too fast, I think I long for a quick deep relationship rather than a long meandering one. I also think if you are over 25, you are more likely to know what you want anyway.

I had a very unromantic but fun Valentine's Day. I have never been one to get sad on Valentine's Day like some girls. I have only had a boyfriend on one Valentine's Day and we had a contest to see who could give the cheesiest gift. It wasn't the most romantic thing ever but fun times. I like free candy and Valentine's Day provides this. How can I not enjoy it? I spent my Valentine's with some friends. We had dessert at the Hard Rock Cafe. Good times! There are pics on my website.

Kona Part 1

My time in Kona was good but I am glad to be back in Maui. It was pretty crazy trying to organize a trip for 38 people. We got to the airport with plenty of time but the power was out. This meant an incredibly long line. It turned on again while we were waiting but that didn’t make the 100 people in line in front of us disappear. Because we made up such a large percentage of the plane, they made the plane wait for us. They tried to let us skip the security line but then the TSA people started throwing a fit. It was pretty funny.

On the way back, we had some travel troubles as well. The Kona base only had two vans to take us to the airport. We had too many people for two vans so we had to make two trips. I was with the second group and we didn’t get to the airport until 30 minutes before our flight was supposed to leave. I freaked out when I saw the very long security line. I was so nervous about making our flight but when I finally got through security, I saw that our plane hadn’t even started boarding yet. My prayers were answered. Unfortunately three of our guys had to stay and go on a later flight because their seats had already been given away. One of our students almost missed the flight because he wasn’t wearing shoes. Luckily someone had an extra pair in their carry-on. I didn’t know that you have to wear shoes to get on a plane. I have never desired to walk barefoot onto a plane but I guess now I know I won’t work.

I liked some of the lectures in Kona but some things they had us do were weird or juvenile. There was an altar-call type thing at every lecture. They would say something like- “Who wants to experience more of the Lord?” or “Who wants God’s heart for the nations?” Then they would tell everyone who wanted what they were saying to come up to the front. It seemed pretty pointless because everyone went up to the front. I stubbornly refused to give in to the peer pressure. The funniest thing they did was some activity where we hit beach balls and were supposed to say an attribute of God when we hit it. I really didn’t understand the correlation. I just laughed and tried to peg my friends. One time I hit the cross in the center of the room. What is that supposed to symbolize?

Overall I enjoyed praying for the nations of the world and finding out what God’s doing in other countries. Our group was very international and probably represented more than 50 countries. It made me wish I was from somewhere more remote like Myanmar or Azerbaijan. I did display my Texas pride with a lovely “Don’t Mess With Texas” t-shirt.

MySpace Indications

It has been too long since I blogged. I am getting lazy now that I am 26. I guess that is just a consequence of old age. I got to go to Oahu this weekend. It was fun times. Amy and I saw Mormons, prostitutes, Polynesian dancers, more Japanese people than I could count, old men in Speedos and big wave surfers. I got to go to a big mall and P.F. Chang's. Mmmm... Mongolian beef! I want to give a special shout-out to Amy's mom and my parents, who made the trip more fun with their monetary contributions. Also the rental car guy who upgraded our little economy car to a Ford Escape with leather seats and sun roof. And next week, I get to go to Kona for the week. Life is pretty sweet, I must say.

I would like to make an observation on my generation's culture. There is an episode of Seinfeld where Jerry can gauge the status of his dating relationship by seeing where his name is located on his girlfriend's speed dial. She moves his name up and down based on how they are doing. Most people I know rely on cell phones and with numbers already stored in our phones, we don't use speed dial buttons very often. The modern-day equivilent of the speed dial rating system is the MySpace top friends list. Some people don't think too much about their top friends list and may list their boyfriend or girlfriend somewhere in the middle of the list. Others take the ranking more seriously and are sure to put their main squeeze in the number one spot.

I have a guy friend that I am pretty close to. I have been his top friend for awhile as he had no romatic interests. Now, he is beginning to pursue a mutual friend of ours. I am super excited for them as he is like a brother to me and she is awesome. Today I noticed that I have been bumped from number 1 friend to number 2. I understand this change of ranking but it is pretty amusing, nevertheless. I am okay with being number 2. And I am rooting him and number 1 along!

I get really sad about leaving here if I think about it too much. It is just such an amazing place. I am not even really talking about the beautiful Maui part but the amazing friends and co-workers I have here. We get to have prayer and worship together several times a week. We have laughed and cried with each other. I don't know if I could ever be as close to a group of people again in my life. I am trying to make the most of my time here but it seems to be slipping away. I am excited about going back to Houston and reconnecting with all my great Texas friends, but I will certainly mourn the end of my time as a missionary in Maui. I know God has a lot in store for me in Houston and I have a feeling He has better stuff in store for me than I can even imagine now.

Swimming in Smoothie and Wild Winds

This weekend, Amy and I visited her friend's sister, who was staying at one of the nice hotels on the other side of the island. We love the chance to play tourists so we jumped at the chance to lounge by their pool. The husband bought me and Amy smoothies. They were fancy and good. When the waitress delivered them, she gave a semi-stern warning about not bringing the drinks in the pool. We complied and left our drinks on the side of the pool as we sipped them. I had only taken a few sips when extreme clumsiness struck. I was animatedly talking about something and as gestured with my hand, I knocked my smoothie over, spilling most of it into the pool. So, in a matter of seconds, we were surrounded by a milky smoothie cloud. We went to work trying to move the cloud around and get rid of the evidence. Luckily the waitress/smoothie nazi was not there when it all went down. The smoothie cloud dissapated fairly quickly causing one to wonder what else had been dumped in the pool that we could no longer see. After the crisis was over, I tried to make the two tablespoons of smoothie I had left last as long as possible. Good times!

The weather has been super weird the last few days. The wind is crazy and there are tree limbs and coconuts all over the roads. It feels like being in the middle of a hurricane. The wind catches doors and slams them. It blows away anything not weighted down. It is so weird. The waves are huge too. I don't understand what's up but I guess it's exciting. There is also a big fire burning on the volcano. The wind has made it hard to get a handle on. Supposedly, it is still burning now but contained. It seems crazy to me that they can't put it out right away. That's Maui for you, I guess.

An Abundance of Blessings

There's some fun stuff happening in my life these days. In January, I got an email advertising $20 each way inter-island flights. I have never been to Oahu for more than an overnight lay-over. I simply couldn't pass this chance to go to Oahu for such a small price. To fly there after I return to the mainland would be hundreds of dollars. I convinced my YWAM best friend, Amy to come along on my adventure. We managed to find a super-cheap rental car as well. We tried a few connections to find a free place to stay. We didn't have any luck and it looked like we'd be sleeping in our economy-sized rental car. It wouldn' t have been too bad despite the potential for back spasms from contorted sleeping and the possiblity of being hassled by random hobos.

We sent an email to Amy's mom about our lack of accomodations and she generously offered to pay for most of the cost of a really fancy hotel in Waikiki. So cool! This is going to be such a fun trip and very low-budget. Amy leaves at the end of February so it will be really awesome to get to spend a fun-filled weekend together.

We are trying to plan what we'll do there. I wanted to go to the Polynesian cultural center but even the ticket prices for locals are a bit steep. My dad told me that it's really interesting. The part that intrigues me the most is that it is apparently run by the Mormon church. At the end, they try to get you to go on a tour of BYU's Hawaii campus. I think that sounds fantastic! I have an abnormal fascination/love for the Mormons. We'll just have to see if anyone else makes a donation to our trip. We'll be gone the first weekend of February.

Also I get to go to the Big Island in the month of February as well. There is a big YWAM Hawaii conference called "The Gathering." A bunch of people from the various Hawaii YWAM bases will get together at our really big base in Kona. I was having trouble deciding if I wanted to go because it means being away from Maui for a week and I wasn't sure if I could afford the airfare now that the $20 special is over. I prayed and felt like I was supposed to go. After I already decided, I found out that the base would pay for my airfare since I was working directly with the DTS and all the DTS students and leaders would be going. So cool! Now I am really excited! It will be awesome to gather with so many other YWAMers, especially since I will be leaving YWAM at the end of March. So, in case you can't tell, I am pretty stoked about February!

I love prayer!

I have been worrying more than usual about a few things in my life. I posted two of the big ones as prayer requests so other people could pray about them. I have some other stuff in my life that I feel anxious about but the big two are my brother in Iraq and my student who is not doing well. I am usually not a big worrier but this stuff is tough. After letting people know of my prayer requests, I have felt so much peace about these situations. Of course, if I let myself really dwell on them for a long time, then I can make myself worry. But I no longer feel like throwing up when I think about it. So, the moral of the story is that prayer really works. I need to be better about letting people know of all my needs because having others lift you up in prayer really takes the burden off your shoulders.

So, thanks to everyone who has been praying for me. Keep up the good work!

I am so old!

Yesterday was my birthday. I am now the big 2-6, which sounds super old to me. 25 is cool because you are a quarter of a century old. 26 just means that you have officially begun the slippery slide to 30. Eek! Luckily there were people at my birthday party from ages 21-36 so I was in the middle of the age bracket. I have now joined Matt Laskey and Rachel Cordy in the 26 club. Last year on base, four people turned 25 in little over a week. This year only Rachel and I were on base but it is still a good club.

I had to work during the day but the hospitality people made me wear a birthday poncho/cape thing. It was pretty frightening but everyone knew it was my birthday. This saves us all from the awkwardness of people forgetting and then remembering later and feeling bad. I got a cake with the phrase- "Hot Stuff" on it. Not too shabby. I also got some desk supplies. My friend, Amy gave me a mousepad with our picture in it and a name plate type-thing with interchangeable phrases. It currently says: "Looking for Love." It can also say, "I love drama", "Obsessive Compulsive" and for some unknown reason- "It's just baby fat." I think I will stick with "Looking for Love."

I got phone calls from most of my favorite people, although there were a couple noteable people who were prevented from calling on account of being in Nepal or Iraq or for other reasons. I thought my parents had forgot me but they came through in the end. It was sad not to talk to Andrew but the war doesn't stop because it is your sister's birthday. Last year, Marti Harnly won the contest to see who could send me a card or gift so it came on my actual birthday. This year I guess Newsweek magazine technically won. Oh well, this means that my birthday will just keep going as I get belated cards and packages. Feel free to send them now. You know I love packages.

At night I went to eat Mexican food with friends and then came back to my house for a little party. Amy and Holly got some Strawberry Shortcake-themed party supplies. We had some blower-things, strawberry sunglasses and even little strawberry-shaped gift bags with candy and little girl make-up. Josh Cordy looked especially nice in the blue eyeshadow. We had lots of chocolate chip cookies and played my favorite game, Loaded Questions. It was really fun and we laughed so much. Our answers verged on inappropriate, which is my favorite way to play the game.

Eric, one of my students from this summer was in town for the day on his way to Oahu. I pretended it was because it was my birthday. It was cool that he could come to my birthday festivities. The guest list was: Ashley, Josh, Eric, Matt, Holly, Amy, Bethany, Rachel, Kieva, Maria and Esther. It was a really good birthday and way better than the one when my Grandma died and I had to go to the viewing on my birthday. Way better!

Hippies, Tsunamis, Naked People and Celebrities... Must be Maui!

I have a lot of things on my mind but rather than write about those things, I will give you some insight into life on Maui. Here are a few things I experienced this weekend.

On Friday night there was a tsunami warning. Apparently there was an earthquake in Japan and there was a chance it would cause a tsunami to hit Hawaii. There was a lot of gossip and suspense about our possible impending doom. At about 8pm, the news station said that if a tsunami was coming, we'd hear the tsunami sirens at 9pm and that would give us 3 hours to head up the volcano before the big wave hit. I was watching updates on my tv but the people on our base don't have tv access so they were really out the loop. I got a call to "inform" me that an earthquake happened in Alaska and there would be a tsunami warning at midnight, if it was coming. It was like playing a game of telephone. Thankfully it was a false alarm. The transmission on my borrowed car isn't very reliable so I was glad to not have to test it as I fleed from a giant wave.

I am still trying to train for a triathlon. I am doing pretty good with biking and running but I haven't done enough swimming. I tried to rectify this situation by swimming in the ocean on Saturday morning. In case you were wondering, it is not a good idea to swim in the ocean after a tsunami warning. The sea was angry for sure. I put on my goggles and swam out a few yards. Then I just got repeatedly pummeled by the rocky seas for about 10 minutes til I feared drowning and swam to shore. I am sure I looked really funny. I was exhausted. I had gone for a run earlier that morning. I now understand why the swimming is the first part of the triathlon. They don't want people to get exhausted and drown.

On my way to and from Baldwin Beach, I passed by an unofficial nude beach. It is a common hippie hang-out. Often there are no nudes there but this time, unfortunately, there were. There was a family with two small kids and one very naked dad. Talk about awkward family time! I am so glad my dad is not so "open." Then I saw this guy we call "Paia Dave." Paia Dave is a an old homeless guy with a scruffy wit beard, who inexplicably wears a top hat all the time. Well, he was certainly not wearing the top hat when I saw him at the beach. Thankfully, he was in waist-deep water when I made the mistake of glancing towards the ocean.

I heard through the grapevine that Owen, Luke Wilson and their unfamous brother, Andrew will be coming to Paia at the end of the month. I love a good celebrity sighting! I can't wait to try my "keeping it cool celebrity sighting" tactic. My goal would be to see one of them on the streets and just say, "Hey Luke." Then they know I know but I am not making a big scene. We'll see. I lost my nerve when I saw Kelly Osborne. I won't make that mistake again.

Deep Thinking with a side of Puking

I have been doing a lot of deep thinking lately. This is a good thing, though sometimes not so fun. For those of you who read this for the humor, I will begin with a short story before I get to the deep thinking, less humorous stuff.

I have moved into my new place. It is pretty sweet and I like it though I haven't spent a whole lot of time there yet. My roommate, Holly, has a cat named Sushi. Sushi's tail got run over by a car and Holly's sympathetic co-workers gave her some raw ahi (which I believe qualifies as sushi) to boost her spirits. So, Holly has been serving Sushi the cat, sushi the food. This seems borderline cannabilistic. Anyway, last night after Holly fed Sushi his sushi, he got a peculiar look on his face. Yes, cats do make facial expressions. And it was too late to stop anything when I realized that the facial expression meant, "Hey new roomie, I am about to barf on your sandals. So, Sushi puked sushi onto my sandals. Sick! Sushi definitely did not make a good first impression.

Yesterday was our last day of staff development. Tom, our amazing base director, was talking about sometimes sins we constantly struggle with are rooted in deeper issues. We try to keep treating the symptoms but they never fully go away because the root of the sinful behavior is still there. His example was how in college he used to tell lots of white lies when someone asked him something he did not know. He kept trying to stop but could not. He finally realized it was a pride issue that most people would never have guessed. He is probably the most humble man I know. Once he started praying about and dealing with the pride issue, he was able to overcome the temptations to make up stuff instead of admitting when he didn't know something.

After Tom shared, he gave us time to pray and contemplate how this applies to our own lives. It was really good for me. I realized that a deep root of bitterness is causing me to respond negatively to some important people in my life. I have to let go of old grievances whether they are valid or not. I will continue to work through this but this principle is so important when trying to figure out why we struggle so much with certain sins. I encourage all of you to try to find the root of those pesky perpetual sins in your life. In general, I have been having really good times with the Lord since I have been back. Such a blessing!

Today I found out more worrisome news. I got an email about a soldier dying and it looks like he was in my brother's company. That's hard to think about. And I got another update about the girl I mentored who is doing poorly. I wish I could write what I found out but that's not fair to her. Needless to say, the latest news is pretty bad and life changing. I wish I could just steal her and lock her into a room until she is strong enough to resist these temptations that are so harmful to her. I love her so much and it is hard to hear of her stumbling. I know that God is in control but it is still hard to hear about what she's doing since some of her actions have very serious consequences. Please pray for her.

On a lighter note, the students for the Winter school have begun arriving today. The chaos is begining and it is a lot of fun. I am looking forward to getting to know these new students, especially since this is the last school I will be here for.

Back in Maui

I have been back in Maui for two days now. It was so good to see all of my friends again. Most people had left to go home for Christmas before I left. This meant the base was pretty empty. Most people got back before me so I came home to all my friends. It was really nice to see them. It feels like I haven't even left. I think this is because I was only gone for two and a half weeks and before that I was gone for three months.

I want to make the most of my time here and I know it will fly by. Today I started as the DTS administrator and I think it will be a good fit for me. I will get to work closely with Matt, who was my co-leader to Bangladesh. He feels like a big brother to me. My friend, Rachel turned 26 today and joined Matt in the 26 club. I am way younger since I don't join the club until the 17th. My time as a 25 year old is definitely dwindling. I am getting old. Oh well, at least Matt and Rachel joined the club first. We tried to go to a Mexican restaurant with cheap tacos but we had to wait for two hours. I actually just hung out with them outside for an hour and then went to the gym. We all had our share of socially awkward moments.

Ashley smashed her forehead into a sign as we all looked on. I flicked a bug off of Ashley and into some woman who screamed and jumped up. But the worst was when Kristy smacked the butt of a woman she thought was our friend but certainly was not. The girl was not mad but Kristy's face was bright red. I try to believe that we are not your average dorky missionaries but these type of moments don't help my plight much.

We are having staff meetings this week to get ready for the students who arrive on Thursday. It has been really good and the staff seems to be doing much better after the break. I think we all needed some time away. I know I did. We discussed 1 Peter today which may be my favorite book of the Bible. There is just so much in it that applies to my life. It got me excited to spend more time with the Lord, which is always good.

Hard Stuff

It's hard to love and care about people sometimes. My heart hurts right now because I have found out that a girl I mentored, discipled and poured my heart into, is making some harmful decisions. It hurts me because I love her. It makes me not want to love anyone so I can't get hurt but I know that is neither healthy nor realistic. I feel like this post is already leaning towards philisophical but I suppose that's the mood I should go with and not fight it.

I just hurt so much when my friends are suffering. I read in a book called Red Moon Rising about a guy who was part of a big 24 hour a day prayer movement. His sister had anorexia and he didn't want to pray for her. He couldn't figure it out since he was part of this prayer ministry. But he realized that he didn't want to have to really feel her pain. When we really care about people and pray for them, we do feel their pain and it is difficult. I have prayed for the girl I mentioned above so much and I am sure that is part of why this is so painful. I know that she makes her own choices and even these bad decisions now don't negate all the progress she made but it still hurts. I am not going to give up on loving and caring about people but this is definitely the part of it I hate. Please pray for my friend.

Asbestos 'Arama

Yesterday I got to go to lovely Orange, Texas (yes it is part of Orange County.) This Orange County is a very different OC. I had been back on Maui about one month when Hurricane Katrina hit. I felt torn, wanting to go back and help this area of the country I loved and knowing how far away I was from it. Yesterday, I got the chance to help with some hurricane relief in Orange. I had no idea that so many people's houses were still in shambles after over a year. I think Orange was really impacted by the second hurricane, Rita.

I helped with students from the Wesley Foundation, which I was involved in when I was in college. Rusty, my college pastor, asked me to come speak to the students. So, Katie H and I drove out to Orange. Actually we accidentally ended up in Lousiana. We weren't paying attention to the signs and passed Orange. Luckily we only went about ten miles or so before we figured it out. It was the "Welcome to Louisiana" sign that clued us in that we'd gone too far.

We got to help clean up the pieces of a battered roof. Some of the house had been made with asbestos. We had to collect all the asbestos and set it aside for disposal. No one knew much about asbestos other than that it can cause some crazy health problems. Some people were so paranoid that it seemed they thought they would get cancer after even looking at the asbestos. There were masks for people to wear but not enough to go around. I am not too scared. After Bangladesh, very little scares me. I have had dengue fever, after all.

Hot and Cold in Houston

I know I am back in Houston because it is December and in the last week I have worn everything from shorts and a t-shirt to a sweater and wool coat. Almost everyday I use both the heater and the air conditioner in the Saturn. I like the cold weather sometimes but it will be nice to get back to Maui. I saw today that MTV has a new show that comes out on my birthday. It is some sort of Maui reality show. What a perfect birthday gift to me! A reality show about a place I love. Hopefully it will be a Temptation Island 3, but I doubt it.

College football is so much fun! The good bowl games are about to begin and I am excited. My dad has a big tv with cable and HD tv so the set-up is pretty sweet. I have also recently become a Tennessee Titans fan. I have always loved Vince Young and I figure he is a good enough reason to love a whole team. A lot of Houstonians like the Texans but I am not into them. I think their name is stupid and so are they for passing on my man, Vince.

I have decided to train for a triathlon. It is a shortened version- 3 miles running, 15 miles biking, and 1/3 mile swimming. It seems hard but not too hard and I will have 3 months to train. I like to have an athletic goal to work towards. I can practice swimming in the ocean in Maui. Pretty sweet.

I have been able to see a lot of quality people although most visits have been painfully short. I got to see: Sarah Musselman and baby Madeline, Erin and Zach Morrow and baby Joe, Sarah Morgan and Devin O'Bryan, Katie H, Emily and Van HArdin, David and Suzie Ray, Mike and Susie Ray, Jane Kim and James Chastant, Sarah McGregor and more. I still have a lot more people to see. Tomorrow I am going to Orange, TX to help my college pastor, Rusty and his students do hurricane relief. Rusty wants me to speak to his students and get them pumped about missions. It should be cool.

Missing Andrew

I miss my brother. It is very weird not to have him here at X-Mas. I have been visiting some very quality friends but I usually have my brother to hang out with whenever I am not hanging out with other people. I am happy that next year he will be back. It is just not the same without him at all.

He called his wife so we heard a bit of how he's doing. He apparently got 24 packages when he came back. Way more than anyone else. I don't think I have gotten 24 packages in the last year. I guess Iraq seems a bit more package-worthy than Maui. I can't complain. Afterall, they don't have Wal-Mart in Iraq.

Please continue to pray for my brother.

Back in the Lone Star State

I have been on the mainland for almost two days now. Today was cold and there was even hail. I definitely know I am not in Maui anymore. It is nice to rediscover my winter clothes and watch cable television. I am trying to figure out how to schedule my time in such a way that I get to see all my favorite people and get some restful alone time. I thought three weeks would be a long time at home but my schedule is filling up rather quickly. I am excited about all the people who are around at Christmas time. I am going on a bit of a baby-seeing tour. I have already seen Madeline Musselman and I get to see Joe Morrow this weekend. In Maui, I have been spending a lot of time with my friend, Maria and her baby, Kieva so I am more comfortable around the little guys than I used to be. It is really fun to see how God combines my friends' features to make a new person that looks like both of them.

I am officially going to have a different job when I go back to Maui. I am glad. I am sure the other YWAMers will be happy as well since I am really not very gifted in culinary exploits. I have always planned to really get into cooking after I get married. That will be a lot different than working in the kitchen and trying to feed 100 people for $.60. I went to the grocery store and it was amazing! There were so many fun things to choose from and it is all so much less expensive than Maui.

Overall it is really nice to be home, though I do miss some of my Maui friends. If only I were rich and famous and could afford to pay my favorite people to travel around with me as my entourage....Wouldn't that be nice?

Reindeer games

Tomorrow I leave for home. The flight is not too bad since I only have to fly to Honolulu and then straight to Houston. It is an overnight flight so I am praying that I can sleep on the plane. I am also praying for empty seats next to me. We'll see. I am a bit nervous about going home and how I am going to juggle my time. I have been wary of making firm plans but I think that might cause problems. As of now, I have written down all the various windows of hangout opportunities with various friends but I haven't gotten firm dates. I think I want the hanging out to happen naturally, which seems virtually impossible given the time constraints. We'll see. I am sure it will all work out.

Christmas will be strange without my brother around. I have been away from my family at Christmas twice but I have never been with my family minus my brother. I will definitely miss him. My favorite game at Christmas is something we call reindeer games. This game involves repositioning those white, metal, lighted reindeer lawn ornaments into sexual positions. It is not gross just hilarious! There is also the element of suspense as you try not to get caught. My brother, Andrew, has some sort of God-given gift for it. He can look at a lawn and know exactly how to position the deer for maximum laughs. He once made a train with four. It was incredible. So, I don't know if I will play this year. It's just not the same without Andrew. I wonder if they have these fake reindeer in Iraq. I sure hope so.

I get to come back to Texas soon! I am excited but I feel like I have so much to get done before I leave. I only work in the kitchen about four hours a day but I have been trying to make the most of my time in Maui by spending time at the beaches. My YWAM best friend, Amy is in town with the guys she has been traveling the world with. They are from Canada so it is even more important for them to look tan when they go home. I too want to look bronzed to dazzle my friends. Bangladesh made me pretty white so I have some work to do.

Tanning aside, things are going pretty well. Amy is back and I have a car to use. There are not very many people on base so working in the kitchen is not as much work. There are a lot less dishes to do. I finally feel pretty at home being back in Maui. It is comforting to know that I will being living in a fun house in Paia when I get back and not a crowded sunroom in Haiku. I am going to try to be at the base a lot, though so I don't lose that community feel.

Escaping from Haiku

I am sitting on my bed, which is covered in a random assortment of my belongings. I have yet to feel like I am settled in my current living space. The fact is that I have too much stuff for the amount of space I have been allotted. This means I am frequently cleaning and organizing my life and that very often I end up sleeping in a bed with mail, clean laundry, pictures, my computer and anything else I might not have a place for. I know this is all teaching me some sort of valuable life lesson but I am not quite sure what it is.

I relayed my unfortunate scooter misfortune in an earlier post. I felt that the Lord was asking me to wait on getting a vehicle. I tend to be impatient/impulsive but I decided to wait. A girl on base is going home for a few months. She didn't want to sell her car but wanted someone to rent it for a few months. This is perfect for me since I didn't want to have to actually buy something after the Explorer fiasco. So, waiting on the Lord paid off. The girl leaves on Thursday so I will have wheels then. This freedom will be so nice. I am lucky to have several friends with cars as well as several friends that live off base. This means I have not felt too trapped up here in Haiku. But now I can escape this place without having to rely on an accomplice.

I spent this past weekend in Paia. It was lots of fun. My friend, Abbey's boyfriend, Wil, shares a house with my friend, Maria and her husband and baby. Wil was gone for the weekend so Abbey and I slept in his room. Abbey leaves for Nepal in two days so it was good to spend so much time with her. All the students leave at 5am on Wednesday and I am driving them to the airport. Those of you who really know me, know that I am no good early in the morning. I hope they aren't expecting me to talk. Things should become much less crazy when they leave.

Still discombobulated-is that how you spell it?

I have yet to fully feel at home on base here. It is still weird. I can't seem to figure out the weekly schedule and never know what is going on. The DTS leaves in a week, so things should be less crazy then when I will only live with 30 girls instead of 50.

I started working in the kitchen and I am no Emeril yet. I thought I would get to learn how to cool properly but so far it seems everyone just does what they think is best. I asked how to chop something and was told to just go for it. I know how to chop, but I wanted to learn some cool chef way. Maybe I will have to check the internet. I know how to follow instructions in the kitchen but I am hoping to come away from this experience knowing how to freestyle a bit. No matter what, it seems like I will come away with dishpan hands. The kitchen schedule is pretty laid back and there is lots of opportunity to talk with the other people who work in the kitchen. It's also nice to not have so much responsibility all the time. And it doesn't take much brain power to do the dishes.

I have not been a good communicator lately and I hate that. I have had a hard time returning people's phone calls, which is something I normally pride myself at being good at. The main problem is that my cell phone only works on my bed so I can't bring it anywhere else to talk or even just answer the phone. This won't be the case when I am back in Paia, so I just need to be patient for the next month.

Right now I need to go make the millionth effort to clean my room. It seems I am fighting a never-ending battle.

A Sad day for Longhorn fans

So, today I got to watch my first Longhorn football game of the year and it was a sad, sad event. We lost our second game in a row and this was to A&M. How humiliating! Before I came back to the country, we had only lost to Ohio State, who have one of the best teams in the country. Apparently I am bad luck. Oh well, I think I am going to buy the DVD of the Longhorns' championship win last year. I can watch it when I need to relive the glory days.

I am currently on the big island of Hawaii, where I am spending my Thanksgiving break. My cousin and his family moved here a few months ago and generously paid for me to come out here. Unfortunately I am still trying to process the last crazy six months of my life so I haven't been the most enjoyable house guest. Yesterday I pretty much watched tv all day. It was pretty nice. I get my own room here, which is an awesome change from my room on base with eight roommates. That place doesn't feel like home yet, which is hard.

It seems pretty likely that I will move in with a friend in Paia after I come back from my Christmas break. In order to do that, I will need transportation to and from the base. I am considering a scooter for a couple reasons: the comical factor, high gas mileage and no obligation to take others along. I want to be nice but now that our base is isolated, people with cars get exploited. Riding behind me on the scooter is by nature, only for the closest companions. I am talking with a guy about buying one on Sunday when I get back. I will keep you posted. I know you will all be desperate to see pics of me on a scooter. I am sure it will be sweet!

Chaos like you couldn't believe

My life is hectic to say the least right now. I am torn between hanging out with my students, my staff friends, and being by myself. And on top of that, two of my favorite people- Sarah and John McGregor are in town. I have not had much time to see them but they seem to be enjoying all Maui has to offer. This week has been filled with meetings, trying to spend as much time as possible with my students and lots of different events. The time is flying by quickly but I have not had enough time to talk to all the people from home that I want to. It will get easier once the students leave. Most of them will be gone by tonight and a few leave tomorrow night. Tomorrow we have a debriefing meeting all day.

Being so busy is annoying but my big problem right now is that my living situation stinks. Our new base is good for students who live here for 3 months but for staff who live here year-round, it is very difficult. Living in a single-family sized home with 40 people means very little privacy. We are also very isolated instead of located in a town. I am sure I will be less frustrated when I find somewhere to put all my stuff.

I am fairly sure that I will move off base to the town we used to live in. An ex-Ywamer needs a roommate and will only charge me a little bit more than I have to pay now. It is an awesome set-up but I will need to get some transportation. I am considering a scooter after my Ford fiasco. We'll see.

Onto better topics, last night was graduation. It was so good! I totally bawled. After all the crazy incidents and hard work, they actually made it. So amazing! I cried the most for Kelli. She is my girl from Louisiana with the crazy testimony. This graduation was the first time she had ever graduated anything in her life. It was so special. After grad, me and Matt and the Nepal leaders-Ashley and Josh hung out on the beach together basking in our lack of responsibility. I am going to miss my students a lot but I won't miss being responsible for them.

Back in the States!

I made it! I am back in the United States. My time in Bangladesh was good, but hard. I learned so much but I am feeling pretty tired and burned out. Our base moved to another town while we were away and Ashley (the leader of the Nepal team) and I are having a pretty hard time adjusting. This change along with the stress of being responsible for others for so long and jet lag has made us pretty weepy today. I have yet to cry but I have come close and the tears probably will fall soon.

The new base is pretty cool but far away from everything. I am contemplating getting a scooter. We'll see. I am a bit wary after my Ford fiasco.

I want to leave you with a funny/scary story-
My Ywam best friend, Amy was with my team for the last two weeks of outreach. It was nice to have her around and she and her team flew to Thailand with us. Amy and I got to hang out the night before we left in Thailand and it was good times with a binging session at Pizza Hut. She gave me a bag of stuff to take back to Maui for her. It was mainly clothes and gifts for her family. I didn't even see what she packed.

So, I was going through the security checkpoint at the Japan airport and I got stopped. This was nothing new especially since I was more than frisked by a female security guard in Dhaka. The security guard in Japan, opened my bag and took out some spoons that he thought were setting off the detector. He sent it back through and it still went off. He dug further into the bag and pulled out something wrapped in newspaper. It looked like a knife and when he pulled off the paper, I saw that it was some dagger-type device from Nepal. My face turned bright red and I started freaking out internally. Then five security guards appeared and all spoke in Japanese. They measured the knife as I feared the worst. I had no idea if you can be punished for such things as this in Japan. In Tapei, there is a big sign that says Drug Traffickers will be punished by death. So, these Japanese security guards continue to gather info on me. They got my passport, boarding pass and pertinent info. The whole process was an excruciating 30 minutes of uncertainty. It ended with them checking the knife so I could pick it up in Honolulu. So crazy. I was willing to leave the knife. It is funny now but it would not have been if I had missed my plane.

It's not over yet

Tomorrow we are going back to Gazipur but this time it is to meet with the students of the Windows DTS. This is a DTS being held here in Bangladesh. About half the students are Bangladeshi and half from places like Fiji and Papua New Guinea. We spent some time with them before they left for outreach. My friend, Lindsay led the team that went to Sri Lanka but unfortunately she has had to stay in Sri Lanka to help her student who lost his passport. I am bummed that I will not get to see her.

Anyway, we will be staying at some sort of compound and have prayer and fellowship with these Windows DTS students. It should be good. Some of my students are whining about having to go. I think they would be happiest if they were allowed to sit and watch movies at our house until it was time to leave. I pray that they will realize how little time we have left and how they can watch movies at home.

Unfortunately Kera is still in the hospital. We are hoping she will get out tomorrow but we have no guarantees. Luckily the nice New Zealand couple we are staying with is going to stay with her and nurse her back to health so that the whole team can go to Gazipur. Please pray for her to get better. She was looking forward to Maui so much and I would hate for her to still be sick when she is back there for a week.

I still can't believe how soon I will be on the mainland. I have much to look forward to. Sarah and John McG come and visit soon after I get back. Then, I get to go spend Thanksgiving with my cousin and his family on the Big Island. Then I will be in Texas for three weeks at Christmas. I am so excited about all of this but I am trying hard to be "all here" as I spend my last few days in Bangladesh.

Short Update

I don't have much time to write but I wanted to give a brief update. Everyone on the team is well except for Kera, who had to spend the night in the hospital. She has good ole' Dengue fever. Everyone's symptoms have been different in severity. Kera has had a lot of vomitting, which has made her feel terrible. Rachel has been with her at the hospital, which is a role reversal after Kera helped Rachel in the hospital. Please pray that Kera will get better and be able to enjoy her last days in Bangladesh.

We finished our ministry with Prodip, the pastor we've been helping. WE were treated to a great dinner by a family from the church. It was good but they kinda shoved the food in our faces. I don't like noodles so Kelli ate my third and fourth helpings and I ate her share of these flaky white sugar block things. My stomach did not appreciate it much. They also gave us bracelets that were far too small for our fat American hands. They had to cram them on and I fear mine may never come off.

We don't know exactly what we'll do for the rest of the week. We are supposed to meet up with the DTS going on here and maybe go to the amusement park. We'll see. I will be back in Maui in a week! YAY!

I am alive

I can't believe how long it has been since I wrote in my blog. I am slipping technologically. So sad. I cannot believe I only have a little over a week until I get back to the United States. Technically we leave the Bang (Bangladesh) on November 10th and stay in the Bang (Bangkok, Thailand) overnight and then arrive in Maui on November 11th. I am hoping this will be in time for me to watch some college football. However, I might be too busy relishing in my reunion with all my long-lost belongings, wardrobe and friends. I can't wait to wear regular clothes and to go to the beach and get rid of my Bangladesh paleness.

The last couple weeks have been intense as both Matt and I were struck down with Dengue Fever. Most of our students got it as well and it is no fun at all. The main symptoms include: a rash, itchiness, high fevers, headache, nausea, vomiting, diareah (no one really knows how to spell that), muscle pain, fatigue, sleeplessness and probably some I cannot remember. Now I am well but still feeling weak. We only have two more official ministry days left so I am just going to push through my fatigue.

You may heard about all the political unrest here. I watched it on the news and it seemed far worse than what we actually experienced. We basically restricted ourselves to a safe part of the city and rode it out. Now, things are more stable and the rioting seems to have stopped. I know some people were worried but we were never in danger.

I want to publically apologize for being a slack friend while in Bangladesh. Several quality people had birthdays that I did not even acknowledge remembering. Know that I prayed for all of you on your big days. Here are those I remembered: In August- John McG and David Ray, September- Lindsay Ray and Thama McG, October- Erin Morrow, Emily Ray and Sarah McG. So, know that you are loved and remembered.

b-days

Hard times

Things are not too easy here right now. Rachel, one of my students, is in the hospital and so is my co-leader, Matt. They have both had high fevers, muscle pains and delerium. It has been intense. The doctors think they have Dengue fever.

Unfortunately they are in different hospitals so I have been going back and forth a lot. I currently feel sick as well but I don't think it is Dengue fever. I think my haried schedule and lack of sleep has caused my sinus infection to come back. This just complicates matters. Please pray that we will get better and that Rachel and Matt can come home from the hospital.

I don't like being the only leader. Seeing Matt in the hospital brought tears to my eyes. He is a big tough man and it is so hard to see him weak. My healthy students have been a big help.

Glorious guests and glorious rests

We have guests from Maui with us right now. They are Maria, who is my boss-type person and her best friend, Holly. It has been so good for me to have them here. I am definitely emotionally exhausted. Having older but not too old, Christian women that I know here to talk to and process with has given me a feeling of relief.

Kelli has another infection and had to stay overnight in the hospital. It would have been so much harder without Maria and Holly here. I am sick with a sinus infection. Fortunately I feel a lot better than I sound. I sound like a frog going through puberty. I also have one of those coughs that startle people. I had been feeling slightly sick for almost a month and I think it was becuase my head was filling up with all the stuff I am blowing out and coughing up. That's enough bodily function talk, but I think once I am over this I will be better than I was before. The best part of the voice malfunction is that I won't be able to teach English. I like doing it but the other day I had to teach three classes with no lesson plans and one was after one minute's notice. I need an English teaching break.

Maria and Holly are treating me to a night at the Sheraton Hotel. It is very fancy and does not feel like Bangladesh. It is so nice to get away from my responsibilities for a little while. My brother left for Iraq but I haven't had much time to think about it. That is probably a good and a bad thing. Please pray for his wife. I fear I will get rambly if I continue so I am out.

Continue to pray for Kelli whose bilological mom died and Rachel whose cousin died last week.

Who needs personal space?

I just want to give you guys a glimpse into my Bangladesh life. Lately we do ministry in a town outside Dhaka. This means a bus ride that can last from half an hour to 3 hours depending on a variety of factors.

The daily bus rides are sometimes a welcome chance for me to relax and just think without having to be very responsible. Other days they are quite hellish and sometimes like today, you simply have to laugh.

In the mornings, the bus is late or crowded and often both. Today was no exception. My team crammed into every last inch of space on the bus. This is quite awkward with narrow aisles and cultural taboos about male/female contact. There two employees on the bus are the driver and a guy I like to call "the banger." The banger literally hangs halfway outside the bus and taps on the side of the bus to alert the driver when he is about to hit another bus, a random beggar or meandering water buffalo. (Those are all true sights here, even the water buffalo.) Today our banger failed and our bus sideswiped another bus. This resulted in our banger punching the driver of the other bus in the face. The crazy thing is that these buses are so battered that I would be shocked if anyone could see any new scrapes or scratches.

Back to the overcrowding- The bus today was hot, as usual and standing cheek to cheek (not talking about our faces) with a random petite Bangladeshi guy doesn't help the awkward factor. No one usually gets off until about ten minutes into the ride. Then all the fun begins! The aisle is about 3 feet wide so getting out of a departing passenger's way usually involves being in another passenger's lap for a few minutes. It is not as cool as it sounds. Then if you are lucky, within the first half hour, a seat will open up. Then, you get to be the one with someone on your lap. Today it was an unusually large Bangladeshi lady for me. I was reading a book but had to stop when her girth enveloped my entire lap. That was a fun five minutes as my students laughed at my predicament. At the same time the little Bangladeshi guy next to me kept doing the falling asleep head bob almost on my shoulder. This also provided a good show for the students seated behind me.

Instead of being annoyed and frustrated today, I chose to laugh. This made it so much better. Laughing is the correct response anyway when you have a large foreign lady all up in your personal space. These are the things I will miss when I am back in America.

Sports glory

We are back in Dhaka after our week in Cox's Bazar. It was a good week for us all though we may have watched too many movies. I am a bit of a tv junkie but my students' addiction to movies on cable was astounding! I caught Katrina watching some cheesy movie called "Shark Attack" as well as "Scooby Doo2." The worst was when the boys were watching "To Kelly From Justin With Love." Fortunately, the power went out due to what I believe was divine intervention and the boys did not get to finish their cheesy American Idol film.

We started playing soccer or football as they say, with the local people in the afternoons. It was a great chance to get to know them and it was fun to see them around town and say hi. I am not particularly skilled at soccer but I like sports and I am very competitive. We played barefoot on the beach. It kills the feet but it is a lot of fun. Our team of whities played pretty well. One of the guys on the brown team had a shirt that said "Horny Devil" so that is obviously what I called him. I wonder if he knew what it meant. The best part of the experience was when I scored a goal. It felt amazing! It was so freeing! It was very much like how I felt when I was working with kids in an after-school program. I played kickball with the fourth graders and scored a homerun. It felt amazing as well!

Bangladesh feels more normal than it used to. I am definitely more comfortable here than I have been up to this point. I still miss home and people back home but I have a new sense of contentment with my circumstances. It feels good.

Best day ever for rickshaw pullers

Yesterday was a great day. I felt lighter than I have for the past month. I was able to fully concentrate on what I was doing and not on all the stuff back home or my difficulties with students.

We did a prayer walk by rickshaw. We wanted everyone to go their own ways and tour Cox's Bazar but the rickshaw pullers seemed to think we needed to stay together. Katrina and I had a young spry puller but we were stuck going one mile an hour behind Matt and Francis's old geezer. When our little guy tried to pass, he got yelled at.

The drivers took us to a Budhist temple. There are several here for refugees from Myanmar. We thought we were just getting a tour but then they tried to make us give them donations every five minutes. In one room, there were all these idols and photos of monks. The room was creepy and not well-lit. Then this super-onery looking monk came out of the shadows looking like he hated us. Spooky!

Then on our way back to the hotel, Katrina convinced our guy to break away from the pack. I was nervous since he got yelled at the last time. He took us down a nice tree-lined street and then met back up with the others. Matt and Francis's driver got really pissed at ours and came after him and pretended to punch him. It was intense. Then someone got the idea for us to pull the rickshaws. Katrina pulled mine while I road with the little driver man. Kera, Jorgen, and Drea raced back to the hotel. Jorgen won but Katrina made a valiant effort. We hope to get ten rickshaws one day so we can all race. This is a good place to do it because there is more open space and less people.

In the afternoon, we went out to the beach and played soccer with the locals. It was so much fun. We always want to do stuff with the kids on the streets but there isn't enough room in the big cities. This was ideal. Afterwards, Matt, Eric, Francis and I went into the ocean. Some people were afraid to go in but the water looks just like the water in Galveston to me so I was unafraid. The waves were fairly big but not scary like in Maui. I had to wear my complete outfit including my orna, which is like a scarf. Pretty hilarious! I had never swam in so many clothes before.

It was great to be in the ocean because that is always a place I feel close to the Big Guy. There is just something about the seemingly nerver-ending expanse of water that makes me think of eternity. It is always cathartic for me. I need to take advantage of this close proximity to the ocean as much as I can.

Luxurious Living

We are now in Cox's Bazar. This place is the pride of Bangladesh as it boasts the world's longest sea beach. It is far from beautiful by Hawaii standards but the chocolate milk colored water reminds me a lot of the Gulf of Mexico. Some people think it looks gross but for me it is like home.

Right now Matt and I are in the business center of a fancy hotel. We came here to see what it is like and check out the ammenities. It is far nicer than the hotel we are staying at. We got a full tour by the management here and I can't wait to come back and use the gym and pool!

Our trip here was originally planned as a morale booster/chill time for the team but now it will be also used to scout out possibilities for a new base here. Tonight we are starting 24 hours of prayer as we want this time to also be a time to reignite a passion for prayer as a team.

The drive here was interesting. We rode in this fancy bus called a ShoHawg. It was very nice with lots of leg room and a massage function in the chairs. I was not very impressed by the massaging as it was more like vibrating. I think I have just been spoiled by the massage chairs at Sharper Image. They had a movie on the bus but I don't speak Bengali so I didn't get too much out of it. We also got some snacks.

Our hotel here is funny. We got a really good deal. It is like $2 American per night. They gave us roses when we arrived and gave us fruit at night. The rooms have cable and the students have been glued to the movie channel. The rooms have hot water and air conditioning so there is really not much more we could ask for. This is the first time we have had either of these things.

The students were very sad to leave Chittagong but I was ready to move on. I like seeing as much of the country as possible. It was sad to leave the fun people we'd met there but I have had to say good-bye to so many cool people in the last two years that I have become somewhat calloused to it.

One random thing- Our last night in Chittagong, we were at our favorite hang-out, a fast food restaurant called Sugar Bun. As we were leaving, we saw two transvestites at one of the large windows at the front of the restaurant. One looked mad and the other looked very high on something and was wildly dancing. It was surreal to say the least since they were dressed as we were in our salwar kameez. These are the long dress like shirts, baggy pants and scarves. I have seen many trannies in my life, especially living in Montrose, but these were the strangest. I can't properly explain it but so weird!

Sucks to Hartals

Before I write this I want to say that I have edited some of my previous posts for safety purposes. We are not in any big danger but I don't want to compromise the work being done here. I will try to be more vague about certain things even though that is not at all my style.

Today we were going to go talk to the Big Guy on a local lake but the government called a hartal. This is a politically motivated city-wide strike. On these days it is not safe to travel in a motorized vehicle. People will throw rocks at your windows and slash your tires. It lasts from 6am-5pm and most of the city is closed. With elections looming in the near future, we will not be taking any chances and are forcing our students to comply with the restrictions. It definitely sounds much scarier than it is. Please don't worry.

I want to list a few of the things I have seen as I have walked down the street here: a fully naked man (thankfully only from behind), cows walking in the streets, men carrying stacks of bricks on their heads, rickshaw drivers in their long skirts, people in wheelchairs rolling down the middle of the street and so much more.

Guests of Honor at a Puberty Party

Right now I am sweating profusely at an internet cafe because the power is out and apparently the generators only supply power to the computers and not the air conditioner. Oh well, power outages and sweating have become a normal part of my life these days. Whenever I feel annoyed by how much I sweat, I just look at my student, Jorgen. The poor guy becomes a human faucet pretty much everytime he steps foot outside or inside for that matter.

Last night, the girls on my team had quite the adventure. Part of our job here is to meet students at the colleges and universities and invite them to an English program where they can converse and practice with native English speakers. Whenever we go to these colleges, we are mobbed by curious, usually well-meaning students. At one college, Kera and I were given a tour by a girl named Sumona. Her English wasn't that good but she tried her best to show us around. Truthfully we only spent about 15 minutes with her.

She started calling us and texting us to come to her house for a "family program." I decided it would be good for all the girls to go. It was pretty interesting. Just getting there was nerve-racking since it was in a part of the city we had never been. I prayed a lot and we all made it there with no problem. Sumona's oldest brother spoke the best English so he met us at the street and took us to their house. The power was out so they used cell phones to light the way.

The oldest brother was able to speak English pretty well but some things weren't that clear. From what we could gather, this was some sort of Muslim puberty party for the youngest son. Instead, we were the ones treated like guests of honor. They fed us some traditional fruits-some that were terribly bitter and yogurt, which I have come to love here. It does well at taking away some of the less desirable tastes.

The family took pics of us, asked us questions, brought all their extended family and neighbors to see us, played music for us, fanned us by hand and did henna tattoos on some of our hands. It was intense. They were so nice and hospitable. They served us an incredible amount of food for dinner and we ate until we almost exploded. As we were eating, the table was surrounded by the family and their friends who were just watching us eat. I try to control my negative facial expressions as I ate a fish that looked just like it did when it was in the ocean-head and all. I hate fish and it was only by the grace of God that I got it down with a smile. The fish had tiny bones, which I swallowed as well. It was intense.

Afterwards, they presented us with a book written in Bengali that was by the composer of the India and Bangladesh National anthems. They were very proud. It was a great night though funny and awkward.

Chillin' in Chittagong

We have been in Chittagong about a week and a half. Things were slow at first but they are starting to pick up more. We have been helping at an English-learning center that lets us get to know local people. The usual teacher was out of town so I taught the classes. It wasn't hard at all because they give you pretty detailed lesson plans.

The last day was hard because we woke up early and passed out flyers for the classes at Chittagong University. It was pretty hot and getting there involved an hour long hot as hell train ride. I was squished between Katrina and a random Bangladeshi girl on a seat clearly built for two. I was not looking forward to teaching but it actually turned out very well.

The students at the english center are all male and it is pretty funny to watch them "partner" with our girls in conversation. They are completely harmless but come up with some pretty funny pick-up lines. One guy told Kera that he liked how her smile made her outfit look better. Another said he didn't need to meet any celebrities because he had met Kera. One told Drea she looked like an American movie star. ANd we have had several offers to be "shown around" Bangladesh. And autograph requests.

Today we felt the team needed some bonding time. We went to an amusement park and the zoo. It was pretty funny/interesting. For less than one US dollar we entered the park and for less than one US dollar we got passes to ride all the rides. There were bumper cars, a ferris wheel, mini-rollercoaster and dry slides that were not very dry at all. They were just water slides with less water than usual. The park workers did not want to let Matt go down it because he is a big guy. He is definitely the only guy I have seen here over 300 pounds and the Bangladeshis don't know what to do with him. He and Eric argued with the workers for twenty minutes to be allowed to go on a thirty second slide. Then they got kind of stuck and traveled about 1 mile an hour while making a loud farting noise. It was hilarious!

The zoo was a treat as well. As white people, we were also a sightseeing attraction ourselves. My favorite exhibit was the terrior dog. Admist the tigers, lions, monkeys, emus, alligators and pythons was a small white dog that looked like your average house pet. How exciting! The zoo was quite ghetto and the animals looked sad and malnourished. It was quite the experience.

Speaking with the locals

I bought a book on how to speak Bengali and it has some very amusing phrases that I cannot forsee myself ever using. Some of them are:

-There are many proofs that the earth is round.
-Small boys like to eat raw mangoes
-The barber began to shave the donkey.
-Where did I put my spectacles?
-They say that stale bread is tasty.
-They beat him with sticks.
-Mix manure and earth and put it on the garden.
-Unless he gets a knife, he can't work.

I don't see how the author of the book thought these phrases would be useful. I want to learn a really random one to tell the beggars and confuse them a bit. Maybe I will say, "The barber began to shave the donkey." That one sounds nice.

We will be here during Ramadan and the political elections. It should be exciting times. I don't really know what to expect. The strikes we have seen so far have not been violent and I hope that continues to be the case.

Chittagongin' It

We survived our long train ride to Chittagong from Dhaka. After much prayer, I successfully avoided using the squatty potty on the train. Squatting without a seat to go to the bathroom is bad enough without having the movements of a train, throw off your aim. No thanks.

The train station was a far more intense experience than I could possibly have imagined. We get stared at everywhere we go here because we are white and very few white people come here. This bothers the girls on my team far more than me. I think I have become good at being oblivious to my surroundings. If I concentrated on all the leering looks from men, I would probably go nuts. And when we go into the poorer yet high trafficked areas, our white skin turns into dollar signs. This is very difficult for me as I haven't figured out what I should do. Giving them money reinforces the white = money concept and sometimes giving one person food starts a riot with the twenty other beggars. I am praying about how I should be responding.

With that being said, the train station was the epitome of celebrity status for us. We had to take six mini-taxis to get all the people and stuff to the train station. We left really early to ensure getting to the train on time. We got there with about an hour and a half to spare. The place was swarming with people only interested in one thing- these fascinating people with pale skin- us!
We piled our luggage on the ground and stationed ourselves around it to thwart any would-be thieves. A crowd of at least one hundred people gathered around us very tightly. A few times security guards would push them back but after about two minutes, we were all back in our involuntary Bangladeshi group hug.

Some of the students tried to entertain them with guitar playing and basic English lessons but it was clear that this was not what the people came for. And they seemed more mob-like. The best strategy seemed to be to guard the stuff and pray that the train would come soon. It was crazy and I definitely felt like the situation was out of my control. This is an especially bad feeling when you are the one responsible for eight other people. For the first time I really felt like hitting anyone in sight. Thankfully I refrained. We got on the train and all was fine.

Chittagong seems nicer than Dhaka. There are more trees and the buildings seem a bit nicer. Matt and I were nervous about our inability to firm up some things with our contacts but things are turning out fine. We got hooked up with some rooms at this AOG church and the pastor has been super helpful. Things are falling into place.

Teaching English in the slums

I never seem to have enough internet time to get everything done. Here's what I have time to write:

We are spending a few more days in Dhaka before leaving for Chittagong on Sunday. We got to work with a ministry in the slum area here. The slums we went to in Thailand were like the AMerican suburbs compared to this place. Some people worked in the clinic there, others the day care and I taught six English classes.

I was always jealous of people who could lead worship and felt my own gifts were not as beneficial. Teaching comes so easy to me and I forget that it doesn't for many people. I need to not take that gift so lightly.

The power goes out here everyday. The worst time is a few hours before I go to sleep because it is too dark and hot to do anything but just be bored. It is usually out for around an hour. THe people across the street have a generator, which causes me to covet.

Yesterday I used my first squatty potty. in Thailand, many places gave you a choice of toilets. I don't know who would want to squat when they can sit. I had managed to hold it until I got to a western toilet all times before that. It was not as bad as I thought. I think this was a nice one. It was good to get my first one out of the way since there are surely more to come.