Verite ou Action

This past Wednesday was Labor Day.  We took "our girls" to our favorite beach.  It was a really fun time to just hang out with them and goof around.  This was about the only day it could happen as our schedules are all so crazy.  

As you can see - they are clearly dressed for the beach.  I am super conservatively dressed by American standards but I look like a floozie compared to them! :)  But to be honest, this was the end of the day and they were preparing to go back into the land of covered knees.

Also interesting- we learned that some games are universal.  For example, steal the bacon.  Or in our case - steal the kite.  One girl, instead of tagging me, slapped me across the back.  I guess she was making sure that she got me!  Another game that girls like to play - you guessed it - truth or dare.  And yes, the questions are ALL the same.  Namely in the manner of boys.  The dares - well, not too many were brave enough to pick dare but one of the girls had to be touched by the seaweed which they found disgusting.

In other news - classes at the centers are going well.  I have one class at GY with a student, S, who always is saying something to make me laugh.  

One night, we were talking about how Africans lighten their skin with creams and white people tan themselves.  Then I changed the subject to a sunburn.  So I asked them, "If I sunburn my skin, what color will it be?"  Without missing a beat, S said "Green!"  I about fell over dying laughing.

Just this past week, in class we were doing the parable of the lost sheep (which doesn't translate well as all my students told me they would NOT go looking for one sheep because 99 was enough).  Anyhow - the beginning of that story, the words sinners and tax-collectors are mentioned.  I asked if they knew what a tax-collector was.  They all said yes.  So I asked, "Who do you pay taxes to?"  S, again so sure of himself, said, "Jesus."  While Jesus is indeed the answer to many questions, it doesn't quite work for that one.

So there's your random update for today.  Hope you enjoyed!

Three months since last post... and three more to go!

[Obligatory apology for not updating more often... check]  Other than my parents, not sure if anyone actually reads anyway! :)  Plus, most of these pictures are on the good ole book of faces!

So...  last post I made was in January.  It's now almost the end of April.  That's insane.  Three months til I'm back on American soil.  I don't have an exact day yet but we should know soon.  I'm not really sure how to feel about this.  I know that it's going to absolutely fly by and a part of me is super ready to get back and figure out my next steps.  But I also am completely dreading the emotional drain of goodbyes - especially since I stink at them.

Anyhow - here's just a fun picture recap of some things that have gone on!  

Birthday girl!!!  Amanda just turned 24 :)

Group picture of "our girls" at her bday celebration :)  <3

Best supervisors ever!  Could not have been more blessed to be mentored by the coolest, most hip bosses ever!  Who of you can say that you danced the Cha-cha slide and Cupid Shuffle with yours? :)

My forever partner-in-crime came to visit me!  Our first picture!

Giraffes are sooo beautiful!  Can't say that much about the rhino that tried to eat me alive, right Ashley!??

And this basically sums up our friendship!  

I hope that I'm as good of a friend to the people that He has placed in my life as they are to me!

Our girls on Easter Sunday!

I just got home a couple of days ago from visiting Istanbul, Turkey.  It may seem like I've been traveling all over creation and in some sense, I have.  I just saved literally all of my 30 vacation days until the end.  However, this takes the cake for best vacation ever.  I have come to find that vacation really is more about the people you are with than what you are doing.  Istanbul was not my top choice for a place to visit, but the fact that we had a huge group of people that I went to training in the states with made it worth it.  

Our group in front of the Blue Mosque on the first day!

On the ferry on the way home from a day of bike riding... or pushing..  wait, this is the day we don't speak of!  haha

So these guys were taking really silly pictures for so long and we were laughing so hard.  I wanted to go take pictures with them but no one would do it with me.  Then Der came up and said we should do it and that made it happen.  

"Not like this...  Like this!"  "Change places!"

So we are in the Basilica Cistern ...  and in the corner of this dark, damp underground ancient building, there stands a complete tourist trap.  Completely out of place.  Dress up like Sultans and Sultanas and take pictures.  And we fall for it.  And it was soo worth every Turkish Lira because these pictures are priceless to me.

I scored my lowest bowling score ever here...  but still a lot of fun!

If I had to choose a theme picture for the week, it would be this.  We did so much touristy stuff at the beginning of the week that by the end of the week, when we couldn't think of things to do, we would eat.  We were probably borderline gluttons.  But we come mostly from Sub-Saharan Africa.  So it's okay.  You like that convincing?

 Our last group picture taken -  Hannah was sick and Cam was with her :(

This trip was just so refreshing for me.  Of course, it was great to be able to eat amazing food.  Being in a first-world country was nice.  The company was outstanding.  But one of my favorite times was just sharing with each other the last afternoon before we all started heading out.  We sang and prayed together and it was so encouraging.  I was telling my friend Ashley when she was here that I have felt so exhausted and that we've hit a brick wall.  I'm rereading one of my favorite books and have just been reminded at what a slow-burning heart I have.  The last line of the last song we sang together says, "Capture my heart again."  

Three months.  Less than 100 days.  Let's do this!

"I have to get to the point of absolute and unquestionable relationship that takes everything exactly as it comes from Him.  God never guides us at some time in the future, but always here and now.  Realize that the Lord is here now, and the freedom you receive is immediate."  -Oswald Chambers

The best week in Africa??

I've had a lot of really good weeks here.  It's hard to say that this particular week was the BEST but it's very close.  We had an English camp for our University students mid-January.  The theme was "Running the Race" - and we talked about how life can be described as a race with it's ups and downs.  We used the TobyMac song "Eye On It" and talked about those lyrics.  A sub-theme was the Olympics.  We looked at different bloopers of things gone wrong in the Olympics and then talked about what do we do when life doesn't go the way we like?  And we finished off the week looking at the Hebrews 12 passage.  We also watched and discussed Chariots of Fire and Eric Liddell.

We had different discussion groups that were mixed levels to talk about these things.  They were the colors of the Olympic flags.  It got to be a pretty heated race :)  And we always take a trip to Goree Island which is known for its importance in the slave trade.  In order to make it a fun learning experience, our Canadian colleague, Geoff, last camp started a scavenger hunt type race in order to explore the island.  We decided we would continue that every time but change it up slightly.  The winning team would be displayed proudly at the center.  And whose team was the winning one???  THE GREEN TEAM! 

A volunteer team from J. Piper's area came to assist us and serve alongside us this week.  There were three people in their 80s.  When we found this out, we were all a little concerned.  But those three people, I want to be like them one day.  They were WITH it.  This was the BEST volunteer team I have ever worked with.  They were sooo loving toward the students and we all bonded immediately.  Their time had definitely been bathed in pryer.  I have never seen an African cry.  But there were definitely tears shed at the end of this week which is a HUGE testament to these volunteers that they loved.  

Here is the camp video for the week:




Each morning the ERC did Olympic parody skits. I tried to make them one long video but it took too long to upload so I had to make them four separate videos. They are meant to be silly and with the theme that the "last shall be first."  It was so much fun planning these and the students loved them!  You must listen carefully to the commentary made by our token Brit - Andrew - as he has some very funny sarcastic lines.




In the next one, since Andrew is the only non-American, we as a team have fun going back and forth with him.  So he decides to be funny and introduce me saying, "American by birth but has adopted a British nationality... "  We really do work with the BEST people here - both our coworkers and the students are phenomenal.



The next video is the weightlifting skit:



And last, the 3000 meter hurdle.



Also, MY DAD CAME TO VISIT!  He came halfway through the camp so he got to experience the camp and then a few days around town.  I think he loved the people but had mixed feelings about the place... haha!  Some days I feel the same exact way.

Dad's first of MANY taxi rides... which was definitely his favorite thing.

Dad with a student on the ferry to Goree Island:

And one of us at a new cafe that just opened up downtown.  Notice he's wearing an African shirt - this was a gift to him from the ladies that meet at our house on Sunday evenings:

So you can clearly see why I think this was one of the best weeks here!  It's weeks like these that just make you so incredibly thankful for what we are doing here!

More on vacation....

Just wanted to post a quick blog about my time in Thailand.  Thank you to all of you who were thinking of me while I was in the hospital.  That was definitely not how I planned on spending Christmas this year or the first part of my vacation.  Of course, it was frustrating.  I had literally been counting down daily to this vacation for over six months.  But looking back, there are definitely a few silver linings about the whole thing.  The doctors said that I carried my "friends" the bacteria with me from Africa - so I'm thankful that I was in the hospital in Thailand and not Africa.  I'm glad that Mel was able to be there the whole time.  I'm glad that I did not need my appendix removed.  And I did get to goof off in Thailand for four days - the last two I had no medication restrictions on food and drink.  So here's a bit of a glance into my time in Thailand - the good and the bad :)

PS.  Just in case you are wondering, "I give you a new line" means "I will give you a new IV."  I'm glad that I did not understand that Tinglish when the nurse spoke it.  And if I am never asked, "How many time you pee? poo?" again in the rest of my life, I think I will be okay.

Home for four days.

The only picture I allowed to be taken of me during this time.  This was a peaceful time in between hurling.  Christmas Day :)  Complete with the Asian peace sign.

Oh Chiang Mai - how lovely you look from the window.

And finally... outta there!!!  Two of my wonderful nurses!  The one on the left gave me the new IV - which hurt infinitely less than the first so in the end, I was actually grateful for another needle.

Now the fun begins!  And - after a stop of McD's - we fed a baby tiger.

Visited a temple.

Mel and I at the temple.

This is probably not a good idea less than 24 hours of being released from a hospital - oh well :)

It's soo beautiful there!!!

I'm so glad Mel loves animals just as much as I do.  Our goal:  touch and feed as many animals as possible.

Night bazaar : a shopping woman's delight!

And then zip-lining happened.  

Giraffes are, hands down, the coolest animals on the planet.  And I've made the decision that America needs to get with it - here I could feed him a huge bucket of greens for about $1.  How stinking cool!???  They care more about the experience and less about money making!

And feeding the elephant!  Seriously, if I could live at this place, I would.

They gave us a FREE ride.  Mel and I couldn't believe it.  

So all of the "fun" pictures above - they all happened in two days time.  We crammed so much stuff into two days that it was insane.  I'm glad we did but it was also exhausting!  Then I flew to Bangkok to hang out with the other Mel for a couple days!  The first day I got there, I slept the whole day.  I was scared if I didn't, I would get sick again.  After that, for the last two days of my trip, we had fun :)

This is why I love Asia.

Bangkok is full of malls and yummy things :)  First Frappuccino at Starbucks after I was off antibiotics!!!  

Self-explanatory!  What an experience to be in the crowd of thousands waiting on the New Year!  

Happy New Year!!!!!!  

Big THANK YOU to the two Mel's for hosting me!  And for everyone else praying for my recovery and the rest of my time there!  As you can see - I did get some fun stuff in!  Now, I'm happy to be back in Africa (did I really just say that!?) and we're getting ready to gear up for a team, an English camp and MY DAD comes in NINETEEN days!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!