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August 12, 2008 I returned home today after being gone for almost two weeks. It's so nice to have internet access again, especially while the Olympics are going on. I have had a great trip, though, and am so glad I had the opportunity to return to this part of the country that suffered from a major natural disaster about three months ago. My time away was spent doing a lot of manual labor, building relationships with the local people, and building relationships with the other volunteers I was working with. I cherished the chance to do all three. When I left my home city at the end of July I saw
such a beautiful sunset from the airport that I wanted to share it
with you. I didn't even touch up the color in Photoshop! I flew into a huge city that is very near the focal
point of the natural disaster. I really enjoy my chances to travel
to that city because it's full of western food and shopping that I
don't have access to in my city. So I hit up Starbucks several times
while I was there. But I spent almost all of my time out in the countryside
helping people who live in rural areas rebuild their homes. I was
glad to have a chance to do some hands-on help, because it's something
I didn't get to do last time I came here to help a few months ago.
We had a few days with sprinkles in the afternoons, but most of the
days were HOT from start to finish. My main job at the various places
I worked was to chip the mortar off of bricks and concrete blocks
so the people can use the old bricks to rebuild houses for themselves.
There is a big sense of urgency right now because winter in this area
is severe and right now they are all living in tents and under tarps.
By the end of the time there I felt quite skilled with a chisel in
my hand, and was comfortable using it ambidextrously! The landscape where we were working was beautiful.
We were often surrounded by mountains and many of the villages we
worked at were set right next to a river. It was a lot of fun to cross
the swinging rope bridges each day. More fun for some than others... The volunteers that I worked with were a great group.
We had people of all ages working together and I'm so glad I had a
chance to get to know them. Most of the time we would finish our days
and eat dinner around 8pm, and then crash into bed shortly after that.
But there were a few nights where we finished up in time to hang out
at play cards or games at the hotel in the evening. I always treasure
that kind of fun group time. One afternoon a small group of us went out to find
some basketball courts, in hopes of making new friends with some of
the locals. After lots of searching we somehow ended up at the police
station, playing on their court with some local kids and some of the
policemen. I'm not much of a baller, but it was so much fun playing
with the kids, and we got a kick out of the irony of playing at the
police station. The local people were so generous even though they
have hardly anything left after the disaster. When we were working
with them they would always invite us to share a meal together and
sit down to rest during the hottest part of the day. Even though they
are living in tents they have done a great job of making a way to
live there and do the best with what they have. I had some delicious
food made by my new local friends. This part of the country is famous
for their spicy food, so of course I told them to "bring it on!"
While we worked together and while we shared meals, I was able to
have lots of good conversations with the
people I met. It was good for me to practice my language skills, and
I also had friends with me that were more fluent, so they helped me
out when I needed it. We also had really good food at our little hotel each
night. I never took a picture of it, though, although I did take a
shot of our quick lunch of PB&J. Yum! We did spend some time visit with people living in
the temporary housing the government has set up. (below left) But
most of our time was spent in more rural areas where the farmers haven't
left their broken homes because they need to keep working with their
crops. No matter where we went, we met great people who were very
kind and happy to sit and talk with us. Some were very discouraged
and we lifted them up. Some were looking for answers and our group
was able to help them with that too. We saw many people begin a new
relationship during the week, which was
thrilling. Sometimes we encountered unexpected flooding blocking
our path. When we were in the "bread trucks" we would often
drive right through the river in the van. I was only a little afraid.
When we were on foot we didn't mess with crossing the muddy rivers.
We just went around. One day we decided to take a break and go hiking up
a road near the village we were working at. Locals were constantly
passing us, often with huge loads strapped to their backs. One time
three people walked by and each of them had a 21" TV strapped
onto their back. They were hauling stuff down the mountain from ruined
villages, I guess, and I was impressed by how well they managed the
steep paths. After passing many breaks and buckles in the road, as
well as signs saying not to travel up the road any further, we came
to a really cool spot on the side of the mountain where a huge landslide
had happened. I was inspired by the locals so I decided to do a bit
of rock climbing on some of the boulders which had fallen down the
mountain. I didn't realize until I got next to them how huge they
were. After a week of exhausting relief work we returned
to the big city nearby. We got back just in time to gorge on tons
of western foods and watch the opening ceremonies for the Olympics.
That was a lot of fun, and a very exciting event for the local people
here. We stayed at the restaurant from almost two hours before the
ceremony began until the very end of it when they FINALLY lit the
torch. My favorite part was watching the locals who worked at the
restaurant as they watched the ceremony on TV with the customers.
It was really special to see that, because you could see how much
it meant to them. So now I'm home. I had a great time making new friends with my fellow volunteers and the local people we met. I'm glad to be back home and spend time with all my friends who live in my city. I only have two and a half weeks until school starts back up, so I hope to make the most of it! Now that I'll be around a computer regularly I hope to keep the updates coming weekly. Take care and GO TEAM USA ! ********************************************* August 24, 2008 So last Thursday night we had our slumber party. Because
she lives here in a country without any regular contact with other
girls her age, I tried to give her the full 10-year-old slumber party
experience. First we dressed up in goofy outfits and took silly pictures
of ourselves. She was totally embarrassed by the whole process but I'm pretty sure that she was secretly thrilled. Because she hasn't had much girl time in the past, she's pretty hesitant to be silly or act weird. We had a lot of laughs and I enjoyed trying to find new experiences for her. We went out to dinner at a restaurant she choose,
and I taught her how to play Nerts. Then we went to the arcade. We
played lots of games and did badly at most of them. But the first
thing we did was ride the bumper cars. I used to thing that was fun
when I was a kid, but this time it just felt like a series of small
car accidents. I really didn't like it at all! While going to the arcade Sarah and I ran up the downward
escalator stairs. She told me she had never gone the wrong way on
an escalator and I just couldn't let that stand. She was totally mortified
as we did it, but I was proud of her for going along with my crazy
ways. She proceeded to lecture me on how only "bad parents"
would let their kids go the wrong way on escalators. I just laughed.
After the arcade we went next door to the coffee shop I often go to.
It's the place where you get unlimited refills on anything on their
menu for about $2.50. We played Monopoly and I tried to take it easy
on them........ When we left to go home I made her walk on the escalator
stairs backwards again so I could take a picture. Another goal I had for her slumber party was to stay
up later than she ever had before. Her previous record was a few minutes
after midnight. By the time we got home it was around 10:30. We started
up a movie around 11-something and when it was over we documented
her new record for staying up late. I had a great time and was really happy to give Sarah a chance to have some quality girl time. Although I think it wouldn't have been too bad growing up with only my little brother to play with, I still think that the silly things pre-teen girls do together are really fun, and are great memories to have. I think life would have been so very different for me if I had skipped the whole junior high phase of adolescent teasing and had wild adventures with my brother instead. In one way I would have loved to have my little bro be my best friend through all my teen years, and he would have been if we had grown up in a setting like the one here. It's interesting to watch the kids who grow up overseas and see how their experiences shape them so differently than the average childhood we had in America. ********************************************* August 25, 2008 My roomie and I met her and a couple of her friends
on Saturday morning to begin our trek. First we drove over an hour
to a really small town. There we stopped to eat some "big head
noodles" for breakfast, while watching the Olympics on their
TV. We headed out to the mountains, but the car we were
in couldn't get past the huge ruts in the road, so after getting stuck
in a ditch, we returned to the small town to find another way to go.
I suggested that we borrow motorcycles from people they knew in this
small town. After convincing them that I DO know how to drive one,
they thought this was a good idea and started calling people who might
have a motorcycle we could borrow for the day. We rounded up three
bikes and were waiting around at the police station where one of their
friends works. Right before we left the police chief decided that
the roads were far too dangerous for us to travel on by motorcycle,
and he insisted on taking us into the mountains in the police jeep.
I was kinda disappointed, but we crammed into the jeep and off we
went! We drove for over an hour, mostly through corn fields
and then up the steep mountain side. The rode was horrible, and I
think we all would have been more comfortable on motorcycles than
anything with four wheels. It was some big-time off-roading and left
us kinda sore. The view when we got to the end of the road was really
beautiful. Below is me giving the "thumbs up" with the police
chief who was so kind to drive us all the way out there. The chief headed back to town and we hiked down the
other side of the hill to the creek below us. Lisa asked if we wanted
to stay there and play in the water or if we wanted to go visit the
village where her grandfather grew up. She said it was about three
minutes walk up the hill, and because it was so remote, we would be
the first foreigners to ever go to this place. Of course I wanted
to go! It was about 95 degrees all day and it was so great to be hiking
along a beautiful mountain stream. We took a few breaks to stand in
the water and splash it around to cool off. The hike ended up being
well over an hour. We kept seeing a house on distant mountainsides
and asked Lisa if THAT was the village. I wondered if she was lost.
She said she hadn't been to the village for around 8 years. Eventually
we rounded a corner and she shouted out "there it is!".
It was the perfect village in a beautiful setting with a population
of about 50-60 people. The village had a style that I hadn't seen before.
They had lots of large stones placed all over the place for stairs
and paths between the houses. It was definitely a different century's
lifestyle. Oh, well, except for the huge satellites next to the houses.
Of course everyone was inside during the heat of the day watching
the Olympics. We went to Lisa's great uncle's home. Her great aunt
was the cutest little old woman. Seriously adorable! She is pictured
directly below, standing next to a normal-sized door. Note her height
next to the door handle. The people in the house were all hard at work pulling
the kernels off of dried corncobs. I've seen people doing this in
other villages, so I was able to jump right in and help out. We went down to the creek so we could play in the
water for a while and cool off. It was a perfect mountain stream and
it felt so good just to splash around and sit on the rocks with our
feet in the water. Man, that is always so peaceful and beautiful. After playing in the stream we went back to Lisa's
great uncle's house and had a late lunch of something similar to a
cup-o-noodles. Very popular food here. Of course, since we are in
the village, Lisa built a fire in the kitchen to boil some water for
our lunch. When we left the village, many of them were sitting
in the shade watching us leave. I took their picture and they all
cracked up laughing, saying "I can't believe the foreigner took
our picture! That's so funny!" And I laughed
at how much they were laughing at me. I asked Lisa if the people in
this village all belonged to any particular minority group, and she
said they are all one minority; one that I just so happen to be
very interested in. It made me think how great my new friendship
with Lisa is, and how it all seems orchestrated by Dad.
From the way Renee and I met Lisa while talking
to Dad, to her desire to bring me to this remote village full
of a particular minority people group. Dad is so cool in the way He
works! We hiked over an hour back out of the deep mountains.
When we came out onto the road we discovered that the police chief
had instructed a local man to drive us back to the small town, free
of charge. So he took us in his "bread truck" down the mountain,
through the cornfields on the horrible roads, and back into the town.
Again, the trip took well over an hour. I asked if we should give
him money and Lisa told me that he had driven us out of kindness and
didn't need any money. I felt kinda bad for him because I knew he
was driving us more out of obedience to the police order than the
kindness of his heart. But that's the way things work in this country.
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