It is 10:53 in Fort Worth, Texas
It has been a long time since I posted, So I'll split my time up into four sections for y'all.
1) 2nd session at Camp Ozark
2) 3rd session at Camp Ozark
3) Brief intermission in Texas
4) mission trip to Guatemala
So, 2nd session at camp was the BOMB. I was a counselor for 15 year old guys (one of whom some of us met randomly at A-Fran's house right as we were leaving to go skiing, he was being tudored by Mrs. Francis). It was just like making 10 new friends, it was really easy. We basically just played hacky sack all the time and had raves in the cabin. AWESOME.
3rd session at camp... was a bomb. Not so awesome. I had some tough kids that were just mean to each other. It's two weeks of my life I would like to forget, as bad as that sounds. Highlight of the session- seeing John Alford and recieving a Drogba jersey that he bought for me while he was in Spain.
Now to the interesting part. The brief intermission in Texas. I was home from the July 13th to July 19th. I basically just hung out with Rob and Kelly. It was really just us (and Katie but she lives real far). The highlight of the break was when Kelly and Katie and Michelle came out to Rob's house to shoot with us. They got to shoot an SKS Russian Assault Rifle, an AR-15 assault rifle, a 9mm Glock, a .308 Sniper Rifle, a .223 Rifle, and a 12-guage shotgun. It was fun to finally show them what we do all the time. Shooting at Rob's house is to us as watching youtube is to Master Wayne. We just do it when we get bored. We also got to show the girls Rob's beast of a truck that is dangerously close to being done, and will display the RAW power inside in the next few weeks here. Anyway, It was just great being back in Texas. Arkansas got kind of old, like real old, like fast. But on July 19th I left the Great State again to head to Guatemala.
I went with my church from Fort Worth as a leader on the high school mission trip to Guatemala. It is really the only thing I have to compete with all of y'alls "studying abroad" and what not. It really was an amazing experience. We landed in Guatemala City, then traveled to Antigua, then Panajachel, then Santiago Atitlan. It was in Santiago Atitlan where we did our mission work. We worked for four days building houses for widows, and working on a christian camp that is being built by our sister church down there. It was really cool to be able to finally use that Spanish that I have been learning for oh so long. I talked soccer and construction with one of the elders of the church we were working with, it was great. Highlight of the trip was a USA vs. Guatemala soccer game during which yours truly buried a goal from about 15 meters (A-Fran, you would have been proud). The people there were great and the Holy Spirit was very active and God definitely is making his mark on the town of Santiago Atitlan. In all its glory though, Guatemala sure as hell wasn't Texas, and when asked what my favorite part of the trip was, I would say that seeing the Texas Coastline as we passed over it on the airplane trip home.
That is basically my summer in a nutshell. I didn't really see the cool places that a ton of y'all did... I didn't hike the mountains of Spain, or drink a beer in Germany, or have wine in Milan, or tour Manchester United's stadium. But I think I'll just agree with Alex and say that frankly I don't ever miss anything much except you guys and Texas. I can't wait to see everyone again. The historic district of College Station is about to get rocked... until then
Screw them, we're from Texas
Saturday, July 26, 2008
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
The Hills are Alive with... Rain
Dear Dear Friends (bah - dit - tuh - dum - duh ["hotel song" anyone?]),
I arrived in Vienna today on from Salzburg, and, yes, the hills are still there. In fact, I had a series of "Sound of Music" songs stuck in my head for the two days I was there.
So I woke up after my first night to a rainy day. It rained until noon, and then there was a break. Naturally, my optimism led me to believe it would be a good day for a three hour hike up the Unterberg past the ice caves to a plain on top where I could behold the hills in all their beauty. Well the bus ride to the bottom of the mountain went fine, and the first hour hiking was actually pretty enjoyable, but optimism cannot tame mother nature. Luckily, as the downpour began, I noticed that all the trees had wet trunks except for one strong evergreen tree down the way. I figured that the dry tree would be my best bet, I totally felt like Bear Grylls because I stayed dry, and made it down the mountain alive. I could have also felt like Survivorman if I wanted to, but I would have had to stay in the rain and build a shelter and then try and fish but not catch anything.
On my way back to town I stopped to see Schloss Hellbrunn, where part of the legendary "Sound of Music" was filmed. I got lost in a little town at first, and then decided I didn't mind being lost because the town of Anif was so pristine in the mountain mist - so I wandered - and after an hour or two happened upon the castle.
Anyways, not alot happened in Salzburg, but I wanted to let you all know that you should visit it, especially if it is sunny - i'll certainly come back some day.
Twenty, going on Twenty-One,
Thomas
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
An Open Letter
It's 11:45 P.M., Tallahassee time.
Dear Europe,
Let me be frank.
I don't miss you.
Sure, you make a mean croissant, and really, I was fond of your liter-and-a-half-big-mamba-jahamba-bottled-water, but...I don't miss you. It's true that, during my time living abroad, I enjoyed a few glasses of wine and two espressos each and every day. It's also true that I spent four weeks in Barcelona hitting up Buenas Migas and uncorking uncorkables atop monumentos nacionales. It's, furthermore, true that my only class-related responsibilities were taking photos of old people and charming alleyways, but... I don't really miss you.
You've got a point when you mention my going to Venice, and scoring a genuinely Italian bed and breakfast with Max & Cody. Your argument continues to be strong when you remind me of the gnocchi we ate there and of the breakfasts we lingered over each morning, but...I don't miss you.
I am nearly convinced of the tiniest twinge of longing when you recount my week in Paris, France, where the wildly entertaining Andrew Threlkeld and I had the most fabulous quiche of Julia Child's afterlife, and, yes, I do remember the uncannily-named "Old Man Tea" we enjoyed. It's true that I bought four kinds of coffee there, and it's also true that a French McActualperson recommended a White Bordeaux for a picnic we bought at an open air market, and it's even truer that I got to eat at Chez Gladine twice, Katherine...
But, gosh, I just don't miss you.
Amor/Amore/Aimer
-A.
Well, When I lived in London..
11.38am. Somewhere between London and Manchester, UK.
Knowing that you all feast upon my every word, I must first apologize for my lack of posting. I hope that you can understand that I have been very busy living experiences as opposed to writing about them all the time. I'm sure we will all have plenty of time to recount our favorite "Well, when I lived in [London | Barcelona | Florence | Flint]..." stories. That's not ever going to get old. (I wish there was some sort of sarcastic font I could use.) Anyway, when I lived in London, it was amazing.
Right now I am traveling from London to Manchester by way of a Virgin Rail train. Usually, I have lecture everday for three hours (from 2-5) and class in the mornings for and hour (11-12). As you might guess, this leaves very little time for tomfoolery during the day, and indeed excludes the option of a long weekend thanks to Friday class until 5. We did recieve a warning on the day of our orientation that this was not, by any means, a holiday. Great! But I decided that since I haven't yet missed a class, I deserved at least one, especially to tour Old Trafford: The Theatre of Dreams.
I really have learned a lot in my class (Judgement and Decision Making for Managers) but have learned as much or more in the pubs. The pubs are a huge part of their culture and I wish it was the same back home. Here are some things that i have been taught by my friends from around the world.
Americans love marshmallows.
We love PB&J.
We dress poorly.
We don't know how to dance properly.
We are loud.
Many Europeans pay more attention to our politics than theirs.
George Bush is a Methodist (They really pay attention.)
We are narrow minded.
Obama is everyone's favorite.
Everyone in France knows about Paris, Texas.
Most people love Texas.
Texans often say, "Hey y'all why don't you come to my ranch and eat beef jerky."
Also, "Later Alligator."
Those are just a few of the many things the Europeans have told me about the US and Texas. It's fun to hear what they think about us, although its not usually very good, but perhaps very true. The pubs generally lend themselves to great conversations, I don't know what it is about them but that's how it seems to work. For example, I was at the pub the other night with Dixie Houser, Abbey Konz (who were both traveling through), and some of my friends from the LSE. Two of the people there were Alexander from Spain, literally one of the coolest people that I know, and his equally cool girlfriend Anna, from Canada. They met in Paris while they were studying two years ago and now both live in Spain, no big deal. We were talking about her thesis on religion and propaganda in politics when the conversation turned to each of our religious beliefs. Both of them, being terribly smart, were asking very deep questions and were genuinely interested because they had never really heard it before. The level of questions was that of Predestination vs Freewill and the Perseverance of the Saints. They kept saying things like "You don't have to talk about it, if we are offending you by asking please let us know." Very cool. They just kept asking and asking and we got to tell them all about Christianity and the whole Gospel story over a beer (don't tell Grandma.) The funniest part was when they asked if we believed in abstinence and we said yes, Alex put his hands up and said "Wait wait wait, you.. (pointing at me) you believe in this?" I had to laugh while saying "I do indeed." It was a really fun conversation and they seemed genuinely interested. Amazing how God works.
Although class takes a lot of my time, I've managed to still have fun. I've seen all the touristy things, I've played soccer in Hyde Park, I've gone shopping, I've gone to Hillsong Church London, and I've hung out a lot with my friends. Sunday, while taking a stroll through Hyde Park I happened upon Speaker's Corner, an area of the park where people stand up on small ladders, or hang from lampposts (pictured) to rant and rave. (They stand off the ground so they can talk about the Queen. If they speak poorly of the Queen while on British soil, they can be arrested.) It's a really cool place.
I walked up on the first speaker (the one pictured) screaming in a Middle Eastern language, turns out he was screaming about politics in the Middle East. I walked about to the back to take some cool pics when one of the men pointed at me and shouted something in his language. At that point, all of them turned and looked at me. So there I was, most obviously an American, with my camera, and around 100 Middle Eastern men looking at me. Having no idea what was just said I did the only sensible thing: slowly raised my hand and gave a sheepish wave. Something else was said and everyone laughed. I left shortly after that.
The next thing I saw was a man in a wheelchair doing the ol' fire and brimstone speech. He had engaged two or three Muslims and was telling them how they were sinners. I stopped to listen for a bit and more and more people gathered until there were about 20, mostly men, mostly Muslim. At one point a Muslim man name Arif said "Well even you're Bible says that Jesus was a sinner," to which I had to speak up and say, "Excuse me?" From that point on it was me and him for about 2 hours, with up to thirty Muslims looking on. It was so much fun! He was very polite and we talked sensibly for a very, very long time about Jesus and what they believe. I will tell you what, they know the Bible in a way the few Christians do. He was quoting, referencing, and giving me history of the language of the verses. I was amazed. It's a shame we don't do the same, but that's a whole other post. Somewhere in the conversation he half jokingly said, "I hope you aren't an American, because I'm an Iraqi." I said, "I am, and I'm from Texas!" He laughed and patted me on the shoulder, someone in the crowd formed their hands into dual handguns* and made shooting noises. God bless Texas. Needless to say, he didn't convert and neither did I, but hopefully I left him with some things to think about, as he did for me.
I later got into another discussion, this time about 10 clearly Muslim men surrounding just me as it was getting dark. All in all a pretty good day and something I'll never forget.
For those readers who are still with me, I hope you have enjoyed my recounting of a few of my adventures. Soon I will be posting pictures of my trip to Manchester and the tour of the stadium. I'll also keep you updated about Monty Python's Spamalot, which I am going to see on Thursday. I can't wait to get back to school, I hope you all plan on coming back early so we can party like its Freshman year. I'm so grateful for such a solid group of people surrounding me, I have indeed missed that.
To all you lurkers: come out of the woodworks, I miss hearing from you.
Until the next time I see you,
aaron
*get it?
Knowing that you all feast upon my every word, I must first apologize for my lack of posting. I hope that you can understand that I have been very busy living experiences as opposed to writing about them all the time. I'm sure we will all have plenty of time to recount our favorite "Well, when I lived in [London | Barcelona | Florence | Flint]..." stories. That's not ever going to get old. (I wish there was some sort of sarcastic font I could use.) Anyway, when I lived in London, it was amazing.
Right now I am traveling from London to Manchester by way of a Virgin Rail train. Usually, I have lecture everday for three hours (from 2-5) and class in the mornings for and hour (11-12). As you might guess, this leaves very little time for tomfoolery during the day, and indeed excludes the option of a long weekend thanks to Friday class until 5. We did recieve a warning on the day of our orientation that this was not, by any means, a holiday. Great! But I decided that since I haven't yet missed a class, I deserved at least one, especially to tour Old Trafford: The Theatre of Dreams.
I really have learned a lot in my class (Judgement and Decision Making for Managers) but have learned as much or more in the pubs. The pubs are a huge part of their culture and I wish it was the same back home. Here are some things that i have been taught by my friends from around the world.
Americans love marshmallows.
We love PB&J.
We dress poorly.
We don't know how to dance properly.
We are loud.
Many Europeans pay more attention to our politics than theirs.
George Bush is a Methodist (They really pay attention.)
We are narrow minded.
Obama is everyone's favorite.
Everyone in France knows about Paris, Texas.
Most people love Texas.
Texans often say, "Hey y'all why don't you come to my ranch and eat beef jerky."
Also, "Later Alligator."
Those are just a few of the many things the Europeans have told me about the US and Texas. It's fun to hear what they think about us, although its not usually very good, but perhaps very true. The pubs generally lend themselves to great conversations, I don't know what it is about them but that's how it seems to work. For example, I was at the pub the other night with Dixie Houser, Abbey Konz (who were both traveling through), and some of my friends from the LSE. Two of the people there were Alexander from Spain, literally one of the coolest people that I know, and his equally cool girlfriend Anna, from Canada. They met in Paris while they were studying two years ago and now both live in Spain, no big deal. We were talking about her thesis on religion and propaganda in politics when the conversation turned to each of our religious beliefs. Both of them, being terribly smart, were asking very deep questions and were genuinely interested because they had never really heard it before. The level of questions was that of Predestination vs Freewill and the Perseverance of the Saints. They kept saying things like "You don't have to talk about it, if we are offending you by asking please let us know." Very cool. They just kept asking and asking and we got to tell them all about Christianity and the whole Gospel story over a beer (don't tell Grandma.) The funniest part was when they asked if we believed in abstinence and we said yes, Alex put his hands up and said "Wait wait wait, you.. (pointing at me) you believe in this?" I had to laugh while saying "I do indeed." It was a really fun conversation and they seemed genuinely interested. Amazing how God works.
Although class takes a lot of my time, I've managed to still have fun. I've seen all the touristy things, I've played soccer in Hyde Park, I've gone shopping, I've gone to Hillsong Church London, and I've hung out a lot with my friends. Sunday, while taking a stroll through Hyde Park I happened upon Speaker's Corner, an area of the park where people stand up on small ladders, or hang from lampposts (pictured) to rant and rave. (They stand off the ground so they can talk about the Queen. If they speak poorly of the Queen while on British soil, they can be arrested.) It's a really cool place.
I walked up on the first speaker (the one pictured) screaming in a Middle Eastern language, turns out he was screaming about politics in the Middle East. I walked about to the back to take some cool pics when one of the men pointed at me and shouted something in his language. At that point, all of them turned and looked at me. So there I was, most obviously an American, with my camera, and around 100 Middle Eastern men looking at me. Having no idea what was just said I did the only sensible thing: slowly raised my hand and gave a sheepish wave. Something else was said and everyone laughed. I left shortly after that.The next thing I saw was a man in a wheelchair doing the ol' fire and brimstone speech. He had engaged two or three Muslims and was telling them how they were sinners. I stopped to listen for a bit and more and more people gathered until there were about 20, mostly men, mostly Muslim. At one point a Muslim man name Arif said "Well even you're Bible says that Jesus was a sinner," to which I had to speak up and say, "Excuse me?" From that point on it was me and him for about 2 hours, with up to thirty Muslims looking on. It was so much fun! He was very polite and we talked sensibly for a very, very long time about Jesus and what they believe. I will tell you what, they know the Bible in a way the few Christians do. He was quoting, referencing, and giving me history of the language of the verses. I was amazed. It's a shame we don't do the same, but that's a whole other post. Somewhere in the conversation he half jokingly said, "I hope you aren't an American, because I'm an Iraqi." I said, "I am, and I'm from Texas!" He laughed and patted me on the shoulder, someone in the crowd formed their hands into dual handguns* and made shooting noises. God bless Texas. Needless to say, he didn't convert and neither did I, but hopefully I left him with some things to think about, as he did for me.
I later got into another discussion, this time about 10 clearly Muslim men surrounding just me as it was getting dark. All in all a pretty good day and something I'll never forget.
For those readers who are still with me, I hope you have enjoyed my recounting of a few of my adventures. Soon I will be posting pictures of my trip to Manchester and the tour of the stadium. I'll also keep you updated about Monty Python's Spamalot, which I am going to see on Thursday. I can't wait to get back to school, I hope you all plan on coming back early so we can party like its Freshman year. I'm so grateful for such a solid group of people surrounding me, I have indeed missed that.
To all you lurkers: come out of the woodworks, I miss hearing from you.
Until the next time I see you,
aaron
*get it?
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Waiting to Exhale
Gentlemen and Ladies,
Well, it has been quite a long time since my last post and for that I apologize. My lack of recording my thoughts onto bloggerfreak.com reflects in no way their existence. It's funny how time flies isn't it though. I remember the morning I left for Afreeka with Maxwell. Now we've been back for 18 days. Time flies. No longer friends, colleagues, mates are we where we were. No, no we are where we are.
Friends, we have been everywhere. We still are everywhere. This is a summer of stories. Mamma Mia! This is the season we will never forget. We have danced. And drank. And ridden trains. And laid on beaches. Had our language critiqued by the Dark Knight. And been driven up the Wall-E by each other's stories. And oh!, how I have Wanted to see each one of you so badly. I would Journey to the Center of the Earth just to Meet Dave somewhere...anywhere. Now friends when I discuss our friend group to outsiders- which often occurs- it seems to refer to "us" by anything less than The Golden Army is heresy. See I think so highly of each you, it is hard to explain to anyone the depth of this feeling. It seems I might have to jump around like a Space Chimp just to get my point across. But my real point is Golden Army, that though we are continents apart, we truly are together. I have tried and tried to explain this concept and I can only make it crystal through these words by Mr. Stevens from a song titled "John Wayne Gacy, Jr."
"And in my best behavior I am really just like [them]
Look beneath the floorboards
For the secrets I have hid "
Though these lyrics refer to serial killer turned pedophile (shout out A-Tone), let us not harvest from this area of our crop lest our bounty still be underdeveloped. We shall mature past to this point. Even at our best, underneath it all, though worlds apart, We are the Aggies the Aggies are We.
So I charge you to remember this. Wherever you are. Wherever you are going. Represent our family. Because underneath the floorboards, we are really just the same...
gn
Well, it has been quite a long time since my last post and for that I apologize. My lack of recording my thoughts onto bloggerfreak.com reflects in no way their existence. It's funny how time flies isn't it though. I remember the morning I left for Afreeka with Maxwell. Now we've been back for 18 days. Time flies. No longer friends, colleagues, mates are we where we were. No, no we are where we are.
Friends, we have been everywhere. We still are everywhere. This is a summer of stories. Mamma Mia! This is the season we will never forget. We have danced. And drank. And ridden trains. And laid on beaches. Had our language critiqued by the Dark Knight. And been driven up the Wall-E by each other's stories. And oh!, how I have Wanted to see each one of you so badly. I would Journey to the Center of the Earth just to Meet Dave somewhere...anywhere. Now friends when I discuss our friend group to outsiders- which often occurs- it seems to refer to "us" by anything less than The Golden Army is heresy. See I think so highly of each you, it is hard to explain to anyone the depth of this feeling. It seems I might have to jump around like a Space Chimp just to get my point across. But my real point is Golden Army, that though we are continents apart, we truly are together. I have tried and tried to explain this concept and I can only make it crystal through these words by Mr. Stevens from a song titled "John Wayne Gacy, Jr."
"And in my best behavior I am really just like [them]
Look beneath the floorboards
For the secrets I have hid "
Though these lyrics refer to serial killer turned pedophile (shout out A-Tone), let us not harvest from this area of our crop lest our bounty still be underdeveloped. We shall mature past to this point. Even at our best, underneath it all, though worlds apart, We are the Aggies the Aggies are We.
So I charge you to remember this. Wherever you are. Wherever you are going. Represent our family. Because underneath the floorboards, we are really just the same...
gn
Friday, July 18, 2008
that what happens if you don't sign out from my laptop
Lieber Thomas,
du hast dich leider nicht ausgeloggt aus meinem Notebook! ;-) So today, when I came back from the Kossmanns and from shopping with Travis and Max, I checked my computer and you were still signed in on blogger.com! You should better be vorsichtig! Ich hoffe, du hast eine gute Reise und noch ganz viel Spaß! Und nochmal vielen Dank für deine Hilfe! Es hat sehr viel Spaß gemacht mit dir zusammen in der Kirche zu arbeiten und auch abzuhängen! Gott segne dich!
hihi
Regina
du hast dich leider nicht ausgeloggt aus meinem Notebook! ;-) So today, when I came back from the Kossmanns and from shopping with Travis and Max, I checked my computer and you were still signed in on blogger.com! You should better be vorsichtig! Ich hoffe, du hast eine gute Reise und noch ganz viel Spaß! Und nochmal vielen Dank für deine Hilfe! Es hat sehr viel Spaß gemacht mit dir zusammen in der Kirche zu arbeiten und auch abzuhängen! Gott segne dich!
hihi
Regina
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Christmas Cheer
Beloved Friends,
It is a cold and rainy day in Germany, a cold and rainy day which reminds me of a late October day in Aggieland, a late October day where I would think to myself, "Today feels like Christmas. I should probably listen to Christmas music."
Thus, today while we continue painting the church building of Christus Gemeinde Siegburg, Regina and I will be listening to Christmas music. Undoubtedly this will lead to me pulling out the Christmas music back home earlier than usual, but you will just have to bear with me and enjoy the holidays!
Tomorrow I leave for Rostock to meet up with Victor, a man I have been in touch with who is helping plant a church up there. Then I will head to Salzburg and Vienna to see my sister a few days after that.
So, much love from Germany, and Christmas cheer to you all.
"God Bless us, everyone",
Thomas "tiny tim" Deetjen
It is a cold and rainy day in Germany, a cold and rainy day which reminds me of a late October day in Aggieland, a late October day where I would think to myself, "Today feels like Christmas. I should probably listen to Christmas music."
Thus, today while we continue painting the church building of Christus Gemeinde Siegburg, Regina and I will be listening to Christmas music. Undoubtedly this will lead to me pulling out the Christmas music back home earlier than usual, but you will just have to bear with me and enjoy the holidays!
Tomorrow I leave for Rostock to meet up with Victor, a man I have been in touch with who is helping plant a church up there. Then I will head to Salzburg and Vienna to see my sister a few days after that.
So, much love from Germany, and Christmas cheer to you all.
"God Bless us, everyone",
Thomas "tiny tim" Deetjen
Saturday, July 12, 2008
pausing in the whirl wind to reflect and give thanks
Friends! I have not forgotten about any of you. I actually think of each of you often. Thinking is something I have learn how to do this summer. There is a difference between idle thinking and purposeful thinking. You know like instead of just humming to the song that is playing, I'm actually focusing on what the words are saying or instead of just thinking about my friends, thats you by the way, praying for you all and giving God praise for each of you.
Anyways, I have typically been reading the blog quickly on the weekends, laugh a lot to myself cause no one ever understands when I try to explain things, and then have to turn the computer off and go back into the isolated world of camp! Camp is done for me this summer and I have learned some of the biggest things ever that I haven't fully processed. First of all, when I arrived at camp for orientation, I wondered what I was doing there. I was at a completely different camp this year without the comfort of familiar faces and friends to lean on. It was just me and God. Also, I learned what God's love is and how he loves. I haven't fully grasped it but it is something that has stuck with me. Just think about this: Why is love a commandment? and What do you mean when you say 'I love you'? Those hit me hard, spent a week wrestling with these questions and focusing my energy and thoughts on God. It was neat. So neat that I started wondering to myself why I don't do that more often.
My last week at camp I learned the Bigness of God. Don't know if that is truly a word but it is what God truly is. As my last week approached, I became very sad about leaving and threw a pity-party for myself. Sorry, I would have invited you guys but I didn't think if would be very much fun for you. Anyways, I was convicted on thinking about myself and instead I decided to give everything to the Lord for my last week. He had been doing great things during camp for the campers and in my own life. I was now expecting more change then ever in just one week that I had. So, I find out for the last week I have the one age group I have never had and that I would consider the hardest for me to have patience with and that is the elementary group. As I read about these "brand-new" to camp 3rd graders, I see that none of them have accepted Christ. I took a deep breath and again, prayed for BIG things. God did more than what I could have ever expected. Guys, all of the campers in my cabin accepted Christ that week. It truly wasn't 'just the thing to do' either. It was for real. As I asked one of the campers why she wanted to accept Christ as her Lord as savior, she said she wanted to know Him more! An 8 year old said that! God wasn't done quite yet as I had been praying for a specific family whose father is currently in Iraq. This family has a daughter who will be at A&M in the fall. Her mom had shared a few things with me and my heart broke for her and this family. On friday, after all the parents had prayed for her, this sweet new sister in Christ accepted Jesus as well and was baptized along with the girls in my cabin. I was crying for joy and for glory to our Father.
This story is more indepth and I would love to share it with any of yall when I see you but I just wanted to share with you what I have learned this summer and to ask each of yall for encouragement and accountability that I never lose sight of how great our God is. We don't have to be a camp to see great things happen or to refect on Him always, I want to be able to do this with my friends.
I wasn't sure where this post was going to be lead when I first started typing but I do want you to all know I am thinking of each of you and have enjoyed hearing about your travels. I'm off to Alaska in the morning and don't worry, I will have pictures to add onto the others that yall of shared to show the glory of God's creation. Thank you friends, brothers and sisters.
"Therefore if there is any encouragment in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the spirit, if any affection and compassion, make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose." Philippians 2:1-2
Anyways, I have typically been reading the blog quickly on the weekends, laugh a lot to myself cause no one ever understands when I try to explain things, and then have to turn the computer off and go back into the isolated world of camp! Camp is done for me this summer and I have learned some of the biggest things ever that I haven't fully processed. First of all, when I arrived at camp for orientation, I wondered what I was doing there. I was at a completely different camp this year without the comfort of familiar faces and friends to lean on. It was just me and God. Also, I learned what God's love is and how he loves. I haven't fully grasped it but it is something that has stuck with me. Just think about this: Why is love a commandment? and What do you mean when you say 'I love you'? Those hit me hard, spent a week wrestling with these questions and focusing my energy and thoughts on God. It was neat. So neat that I started wondering to myself why I don't do that more often.
My last week at camp I learned the Bigness of God. Don't know if that is truly a word but it is what God truly is. As my last week approached, I became very sad about leaving and threw a pity-party for myself. Sorry, I would have invited you guys but I didn't think if would be very much fun for you. Anyways, I was convicted on thinking about myself and instead I decided to give everything to the Lord for my last week. He had been doing great things during camp for the campers and in my own life. I was now expecting more change then ever in just one week that I had. So, I find out for the last week I have the one age group I have never had and that I would consider the hardest for me to have patience with and that is the elementary group. As I read about these "brand-new" to camp 3rd graders, I see that none of them have accepted Christ. I took a deep breath and again, prayed for BIG things. God did more than what I could have ever expected. Guys, all of the campers in my cabin accepted Christ that week. It truly wasn't 'just the thing to do' either. It was for real. As I asked one of the campers why she wanted to accept Christ as her Lord as savior, she said she wanted to know Him more! An 8 year old said that! God wasn't done quite yet as I had been praying for a specific family whose father is currently in Iraq. This family has a daughter who will be at A&M in the fall. Her mom had shared a few things with me and my heart broke for her and this family. On friday, after all the parents had prayed for her, this sweet new sister in Christ accepted Jesus as well and was baptized along with the girls in my cabin. I was crying for joy and for glory to our Father.
This story is more indepth and I would love to share it with any of yall when I see you but I just wanted to share with you what I have learned this summer and to ask each of yall for encouragement and accountability that I never lose sight of how great our God is. We don't have to be a camp to see great things happen or to refect on Him always, I want to be able to do this with my friends.
I wasn't sure where this post was going to be lead when I first started typing but I do want you to all know I am thinking of each of you and have enjoyed hearing about your travels. I'm off to Alaska in the morning and don't worry, I will have pictures to add onto the others that yall of shared to show the glory of God's creation. Thank you friends, brothers and sisters.
"Therefore if there is any encouragment in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the spirit, if any affection and compassion, make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose." Philippians 2:1-2
Friday, July 11, 2008
Swiss Solitude
10:18 pm
Siegburg, Germany
Liebe Freunde und Freundinnen,
The travel stage of my journey has been flying by, literally flying. Think about it. Yesterday I talked to Katie for the first time in three weeks - omg. And the rest of you who don't have skype, or who just haven't been on, i'm just sitting around waiting to talk to you.
My visit to London was fantastic, it is truly one of the modern marvels of the world, and yes, Alex, Aaron and I did have high tea at Harrods and spent a few hours getting lost in the store.
So the cheapest flight out of London was to some place called Basel Switzerland, so I was like, "sure, I'll go to Basel, its a 35 Euro flight." Beautiful country, Switzerland. I went hiking for 7 or 8 hours the only full day I was there, had a roll and apple for breakfast, bread cheese and an apple for lunch, bread and an apple for dinner, and more bread and an apple later - living the dream hittin up the supermarkt (supermarket in English) with my Swiss Francs. Anyway I have been a loner for much of my trip, often times enjoying it, but hiking alone in the Swiss hills was truly my best day of solitude. The heavens certainly declare the glory of the Father. It is always interesting to me to be in awe of Cathedrals and all the epic Architecture I have seen over here only to be completely baffled by the singular most beautiful view I have ever had of God's green earth. A special time. Anyways I realized on my hike down the mountain, after I had been talking to myself for awhile, that it was time for me to get to Siegburg and spend time with people. It is good to be staying with my friend Travis and his host family, the Kossmann's, while I help their church do some remodeling. Thank you, God, for providing plans for me as always. I cannot wait to get home to my real friends though.
I appreciate you all,
Thomas
Friday, July 4, 2008
Final Night In Costa Rica
I am sitting in the Costa Rica Backpackers hostel laughing out loud right now. For the last hour i have been reading blog posts and shooting boogers out of my nose onto the keyboard as I try to muffle the laughter. honestly people are staring at me.
I am so glad to read that you´ll are experiencing other cultures and finding adventure. I am really looking forward to hearing stories and sharing laughs. As for me, traveling alone and using only public buses for transportation is always an adventure. So is checking email in the 2nd story of Paul´s Pizza Parlor in Turrialba, Costa Rica. To say that I had an awkward hour and a half would be an understatement. I did learn a few spanish words from him though after he explained them to me. For example, ¨transvestite¨ you don´t learn that one in Spanish 202.
I am coming home tomorrow and will be starting my domination of high-schoolers on july 12th. I would love to see anyone and everyone possible. Please let me know if you are in the states via facebook or cell phone.
Just some advice...God is the same in the US as He is in every country. For those of you traveling this should come as a great comfort. Even when you miss your buses, experience lonliness, and feel threatened by sketchy guys with machetes God is there and those feelings and experiences happen for a reason that we don´t always understand. Be bold and courageous.
I am proud to be able to call you´ll my friends and my brothers and sisters. Love.
Pura Vida,
T-Rob
I am so glad to read that you´ll are experiencing other cultures and finding adventure. I am really looking forward to hearing stories and sharing laughs. As for me, traveling alone and using only public buses for transportation is always an adventure. So is checking email in the 2nd story of Paul´s Pizza Parlor in Turrialba, Costa Rica. To say that I had an awkward hour and a half would be an understatement. I did learn a few spanish words from him though after he explained them to me. For example, ¨transvestite¨ you don´t learn that one in Spanish 202.
I am coming home tomorrow and will be starting my domination of high-schoolers on july 12th. I would love to see anyone and everyone possible. Please let me know if you are in the states via facebook or cell phone.
Just some advice...God is the same in the US as He is in every country. For those of you traveling this should come as a great comfort. Even when you miss your buses, experience lonliness, and feel threatened by sketchy guys with machetes God is there and those feelings and experiences happen for a reason that we don´t always understand. Be bold and courageous.
I am proud to be able to call you´ll my friends and my brothers and sisters. Love.
Pura Vida,
T-Rob
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Slow Down
9.37am. Train station, Paris, France.
Paris is wonderful. I have very much enjoyed this city, perhaps second only to London which is fortunate as that is where I will spend the next three weeks. I speak a little French (enough to tell the girl at the ticket counter that she was very pretty, although I might have said "you is very pretty." Either way, while giggling, she said something back in French that I didn't even get close to understanding. I think it was "Will you marry me?" but alas, I had to catch a train.) I ate two or three chocolate tarts a day, but they are like really small pies so its ok, its like having six 100 calorie packs and saying "Oh but they are only a hundred calories." Same situation. I got to see Andrew and Alex this time! We had a great dinner (I again had the steak with an omelette on top), crepes, drinks, and great conversation. I know everyone has said that we have the best friends so I wont say it, but we do have the best friends. Big party when we get back!
Italy was no France, but still pretty cool. Florence was by far my favorite, perhaps because we had anna to show us around and take us to all the cool places. We went out with Anna, her roommate Coco and her friend Khaki (I know) to a very nice Florentine restaurant, in Florence. Being a red-blooded, Friends of W, God Bless America American, I looked for the steaks. I was delighted and surprised to find a blueberry steak. Despite its vague name, its merely a quality steak covered in a very thick, deeply blue blueberry sauce. Tal: I'm cooking this for house dinner when we return. Just as good no doubt. After dinner we headed to the Ponte Vecchio for some quality live music including thickly accented versions of DMB and Sting. The scene that unfolded on the bridge was one of things where you just knew you were witnessing greatness.
Around 200 or so people were just hanging out, listening to music, and being very romantic on the bridge. Along comes an upbeat song and up stand the dancers. The first was terribly, even disgustingly, Euro. Big ol aviators (at night mind you), slicked back grease-hair, fancy embroidered shirt that almost looked like a thrift store pearl snap, and of course tight blue jeans. Now the blue jeans weren't just jeans, on the right leg, in large white English was written "SLOW DOWN." Thats Euroclassy if I've ever seen it. Character two: slightly larger, perhaps moderately larger, wonderfully American woman in an uncomfortably see through-ish bright green shirt. You know where this is going. So Eurostar is pulling out all the stops, swaying those skinny hips and pretending that slicking his hair back is indeed another dance move. Its not. Please keep in mind there are maybe 5 people dancing, an old couple, the aforementioned, and then a snaggletoothesque randar: doing her own thing and totally content to be dancing. So Green Shirt is making her way towards Slow Down in an awkward, half dancing, half walking, wholly unrythmic way. She gets over there and they begin to dance together with the crowd feeling every move, some with ooo's and aahhh's, and some moves can only evoke laughter. Thencomes what we've all been waiting for: the kiss. Think of a wonderfully romantic moonlight kiss on the bridge in Italy between two young lovers: this was NOT that. At all. They are dancing and Green Shirt leans in close and goes right for the lips. She doesn't quite have the smooth landing we all dream of, unfortunately. She manages to hit Slow Down's lips at which point he turns his head and ramps up the dance moves, aka slicks his hair. The crowd loves it! Gasps and applause ring out, either for Green Shirt's brazenness on Slow Down's cool pants. Either way it was awesome, and time for me to dance. Nothing as exciting as their saga, but Khaki asked if anyone would dance up there with her, and I didn't see any reason to not live the dream. Khaki and I jumped in with GS and SD and totally spiced things up, to the crowds approval. Youre only young once right? Pictures to come, I promise. Anna, if feel I have erred either by comission or omission at any point, please let me know.
But as for now, thats as far as our story goes. Until the next time,
aaron
Paris is wonderful. I have very much enjoyed this city, perhaps second only to London which is fortunate as that is where I will spend the next three weeks. I speak a little French (enough to tell the girl at the ticket counter that she was very pretty, although I might have said "you is very pretty." Either way, while giggling, she said something back in French that I didn't even get close to understanding. I think it was "Will you marry me?" but alas, I had to catch a train.) I ate two or three chocolate tarts a day, but they are like really small pies so its ok, its like having six 100 calorie packs and saying "Oh but they are only a hundred calories." Same situation. I got to see Andrew and Alex this time! We had a great dinner (I again had the steak with an omelette on top), crepes, drinks, and great conversation. I know everyone has said that we have the best friends so I wont say it, but we do have the best friends. Big party when we get back!
Italy was no France, but still pretty cool. Florence was by far my favorite, perhaps because we had anna to show us around and take us to all the cool places. We went out with Anna, her roommate Coco and her friend Khaki (I know) to a very nice Florentine restaurant, in Florence. Being a red-blooded, Friends of W, God Bless America American, I looked for the steaks. I was delighted and surprised to find a blueberry steak. Despite its vague name, its merely a quality steak covered in a very thick, deeply blue blueberry sauce. Tal: I'm cooking this for house dinner when we return. Just as good no doubt. After dinner we headed to the Ponte Vecchio for some quality live music including thickly accented versions of DMB and Sting. The scene that unfolded on the bridge was one of things where you just knew you were witnessing greatness.
Around 200 or so people were just hanging out, listening to music, and being very romantic on the bridge. Along comes an upbeat song and up stand the dancers. The first was terribly, even disgustingly, Euro. Big ol aviators (at night mind you), slicked back grease-hair, fancy embroidered shirt that almost looked like a thrift store pearl snap, and of course tight blue jeans. Now the blue jeans weren't just jeans, on the right leg, in large white English was written "SLOW DOWN." Thats Euroclassy if I've ever seen it. Character two: slightly larger, perhaps moderately larger, wonderfully American woman in an uncomfortably see through-ish bright green shirt. You know where this is going. So Eurostar is pulling out all the stops, swaying those skinny hips and pretending that slicking his hair back is indeed another dance move. Its not. Please keep in mind there are maybe 5 people dancing, an old couple, the aforementioned, and then a snaggletoothesque randar: doing her own thing and totally content to be dancing. So Green Shirt is making her way towards Slow Down in an awkward, half dancing, half walking, wholly unrythmic way. She gets over there and they begin to dance together with the crowd feeling every move, some with ooo's and aahhh's, and some moves can only evoke laughter. Thencomes what we've all been waiting for: the kiss. Think of a wonderfully romantic moonlight kiss on the bridge in Italy between two young lovers: this was NOT that. At all. They are dancing and Green Shirt leans in close and goes right for the lips. She doesn't quite have the smooth landing we all dream of, unfortunately. She manages to hit Slow Down's lips at which point he turns his head and ramps up the dance moves, aka slicks his hair. The crowd loves it! Gasps and applause ring out, either for Green Shirt's brazenness on Slow Down's cool pants. Either way it was awesome, and time for me to dance. Nothing as exciting as their saga, but Khaki asked if anyone would dance up there with her, and I didn't see any reason to not live the dream. Khaki and I jumped in with GS and SD and totally spiced things up, to the crowds approval. Youre only young once right? Pictures to come, I promise. Anna, if feel I have erred either by comission or omission at any point, please let me know.
But as for now, thats as far as our story goes. Until the next time,
aaron
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Lisbon(ding)
It's 11:23 A.M.
Fifteen thousand feet over St. Tropez, en route to Venice.
While we're up here, let's talk about flying in Europe. Positive experiences, everyone? Sure, the planes are small, and, not five minutes ago, I paid 3 USD for a Dixie cup and a tea bag, but they get us where we need to be. Unless, of course, you're Max Su.
As he reported in his post on Valencia, Max is a cursed traveler, and I mean it: the kid has a Kennedy Family level of bad mojo. So as Paige, Katherine and I were checking in at el mostrador for our flight to Lisbon, Portugal, we weren't at all surprised to see that Max's boarding pass, in fact, read: "Suarez."
And, no, not mi amiga, Betty.
But all's well that ends well, and, a few hundred Euro and several hours later, we were all in Lisbon enjoying the sweltering, face-meltingly hot weather.
(You'll notice, gentle reader, that my commentary on the Lisbon weekend may carry an unusually high degree of sarcasm, but that elevation, from acerbic to darn near vituperative, is a defensible one. You see, in light of the rolling-in-the-puppies-sacharrinity Paige, Katherine, and Max all share, it is my place, nay, my duty to restore balance to the universe. Yes, just like in Star Wars.)
Back to Lisbon. After four flights of stairs, we were greeted at our hostel by Mona, our host and newest friend from Somalia. In a shocking twist, Paige and Mona became B.F.F.A.E.S., a development after which the former offered to bring the latter a beer from our night on the town. Mona may have won Paige's heart by having some genuine life-troubles, but she didn't get on my good side until the following morning, when she arived with some sort of fabulous breakfast roll concoction/jamboree/carbohydrate medley. Even a heart of stone may melt over a good bread, gentle reader.
We had a wonderful, if largely uphill visit to Lisbon. While we toured a castle, wherein Paige attempted to do to a peacock what she had done to poor Mona (obviously with less success), Ms. Smiley managed to flash at least three strangers, one of whom attempted a Kodak moment. I shall attribute the, wait for it...exposure...to the inimitable Katherine Wilson, who nearly lured Paige over the castle wall in search of the most-cutest-everest profile pic. Bending at the waist thirty feet above ground level isn't the wisest of postures, and, while Katherine may have been the responsible party, everyone below reaped the yellow, polka-dotted consequences.
After touring the city, castle and all, we decided to embark on a day trip to The Beach and a picturesque little town called Sintra. The Beach featured, as you might expect, men, women, and children in questionable states of dress and nearly uniform degrees of unattractiveness. The sand was hot, and the water frigid, but good reading and good company cover a multitude of annoyances and old guys in borderline-pornographic banana hammocks.
Suddenly, after what seemed only four long hours, six long hours had indeed passed. We realized that we needed to pack it up and begin the journey to Sintra if we would be able to explore the mythic village before nightfall. In order to meet our ETA, we were required to delay lunch. Mistake numero uno.
Two hours later, we were wandering the streets of Sintra, and idyllic town to be sure, but one in which nearly every storefront lay shuttered and dank. The certain person who had planned this portion of the trip (let's call her Pamela Snaggletooth) had neglected to realized that by five p.m., the entire town could, in fact, be closed for business, which was quite a disappointment to us, having neglected our almuerzo. Luckily, we stumbled into a quaint cafè and had a fabulously delicious meal. It's true that we paid very dearly for the privilege (so dearly that Pamela herself felt it necessary to exit the restaurant with pockets full of free mints), but, at the time, the meal was well worth the cost.
After "lunch" ended at six thirty, we began our tour of Sintra. No longer starving, we stepped out of the cafè and breathed a sigh of relief . Lovely flowers over there. Ahh, see! A castle on the hill! May I have another mint, Pamela? It's a bit chilly, hmm?
The girls lasted about ten minutes before the demanded that we return to Lisbon. We had, after all, forgotten to dress properly. We spent three hours traveling to a restaurant where we paid far too much for a lunch in the middle of the afternoon, and we left Sintra without ever having begun.
Now I know this may seem like an excessive amount of lampooning, especially where poor Pamela is concerned, but the trip really was a bit of a wreck. Not very well-planned, you see, but, without a doubt, gentle readers, four of the most enjoyable days of my life.
We have the best friends - better than other people who claim to have "the best friends." They are wrong, and we, dear amigos, couldn't be more right.
So this rather lengthy post goes out to all the folks I haven't seen in a few weeks. I really do miss you, and I hope you know that I'd go to Sintra and back just to see your snaggletoothed little face.
Mushy Mushy,
-A.
P.S.
This was, as I mentioned, written on an airplane. I was delayed in posting until we arrived in Venice, where I have now paid six Euros to make this post. Pictures to come, and, you're welcome.
Fifteen thousand feet over St. Tropez, en route to Venice.
While we're up here, let's talk about flying in Europe. Positive experiences, everyone? Sure, the planes are small, and, not five minutes ago, I paid 3 USD for a Dixie cup and a tea bag, but they get us where we need to be. Unless, of course, you're Max Su.
As he reported in his post on Valencia, Max is a cursed traveler, and I mean it: the kid has a Kennedy Family level of bad mojo. So as Paige, Katherine and I were checking in at el mostrador for our flight to Lisbon, Portugal, we weren't at all surprised to see that Max's boarding pass, in fact, read: "Suarez."
And, no, not mi amiga, Betty.
But all's well that ends well, and, a few hundred Euro and several hours later, we were all in Lisbon enjoying the sweltering, face-meltingly hot weather.
(You'll notice, gentle reader, that my commentary on the Lisbon weekend may carry an unusually high degree of sarcasm, but that elevation, from acerbic to darn near vituperative, is a defensible one. You see, in light of the rolling-in-the-puppies-sacharrinity Paige, Katherine, and Max all share, it is my place, nay, my duty to restore balance to the universe. Yes, just like in Star Wars.)
Back to Lisbon. After four flights of stairs, we were greeted at our hostel by Mona, our host and newest friend from Somalia. In a shocking twist, Paige and Mona became B.F.F.A.E.S., a development after which the former offered to bring the latter a beer from our night on the town. Mona may have won Paige's heart by having some genuine life-troubles, but she didn't get on my good side until the following morning, when she arived with some sort of fabulous breakfast roll concoction/jamboree/carbohydrate medley. Even a heart of stone may melt over a good bread, gentle reader.
We had a wonderful, if largely uphill visit to Lisbon. While we toured a castle, wherein Paige attempted to do to a peacock what she had done to poor Mona (obviously with less success), Ms. Smiley managed to flash at least three strangers, one of whom attempted a Kodak moment. I shall attribute the, wait for it...exposure...to the inimitable Katherine Wilson, who nearly lured Paige over the castle wall in search of the most-cutest-everest profile pic. Bending at the waist thirty feet above ground level isn't the wisest of postures, and, while Katherine may have been the responsible party, everyone below reaped the yellow, polka-dotted consequences.
After touring the city, castle and all, we decided to embark on a day trip to The Beach and a picturesque little town called Sintra. The Beach featured, as you might expect, men, women, and children in questionable states of dress and nearly uniform degrees of unattractiveness. The sand was hot, and the water frigid, but good reading and good company cover a multitude of annoyances and old guys in borderline-pornographic banana hammocks.
Suddenly, after what seemed only four long hours, six long hours had indeed passed. We realized that we needed to pack it up and begin the journey to Sintra if we would be able to explore the mythic village before nightfall. In order to meet our ETA, we were required to delay lunch. Mistake numero uno.
Two hours later, we were wandering the streets of Sintra, and idyllic town to be sure, but one in which nearly every storefront lay shuttered and dank. The certain person who had planned this portion of the trip (let's call her Pamela Snaggletooth) had neglected to realized that by five p.m., the entire town could, in fact, be closed for business, which was quite a disappointment to us, having neglected our almuerzo. Luckily, we stumbled into a quaint cafè and had a fabulously delicious meal. It's true that we paid very dearly for the privilege (so dearly that Pamela herself felt it necessary to exit the restaurant with pockets full of free mints), but, at the time, the meal was well worth the cost.
After "lunch" ended at six thirty, we began our tour of Sintra. No longer starving, we stepped out of the cafè and breathed a sigh of relief . Lovely flowers over there. Ahh, see! A castle on the hill! May I have another mint, Pamela? It's a bit chilly, hmm?
The girls lasted about ten minutes before the demanded that we return to Lisbon. We had, after all, forgotten to dress properly. We spent three hours traveling to a restaurant where we paid far too much for a lunch in the middle of the afternoon, and we left Sintra without ever having begun.
Now I know this may seem like an excessive amount of lampooning, especially where poor Pamela is concerned, but the trip really was a bit of a wreck. Not very well-planned, you see, but, without a doubt, gentle readers, four of the most enjoyable days of my life.
We have the best friends - better than other people who claim to have "the best friends." They are wrong, and we, dear amigos, couldn't be more right.
So this rather lengthy post goes out to all the folks I haven't seen in a few weeks. I really do miss you, and I hope you know that I'd go to Sintra and back just to see your snaggletoothed little face.
Mushy Mushy,
-A.
P.S.
This was, as I mentioned, written on an airplane. I was delayed in posting until we arrived in Venice, where I have now paid six Euros to make this post. Pictures to come, and, you're welcome.
Thursday, June 26, 2008
A Moor Once Said...
2:13 AM Barcelona, Spain
Tonight is second to last night in Barca as we leave for Venice, Italy tomorrow. Its so weird to think that as my adventures abroad are ending, for so many its just beginning. So for Katherine, Sol, Paige, and iFran (and anyone Im forgetting) i give you this word of advice:
“All the pathos and irony of leaving one’s youth behind is thus implicit in every joyous moment of travel: one knows that the first joy can never be recovered, and the wise traveler learns not to repeat successes but tries new places all the time.” - Paul Fussell
Compliments of travelquotes.com
Its actually not important what the quote means. Quotes are just fancy ways of saying things we already know anyways. As a matter of fact i just googled "travel quotes" and that one looked long (thus good) but not too long (thus not too boring, because, well, it still is boring). Anyways, what i want to say is that Im excited for you guys. You have no idea how much! So heres a more applicable quote,
"I so excited for you guys!"
-Max
Traveling allows you to think of things, wonderful and fascinating things that you may not have ever thought of before or without such circumstances. For example, yesterday on the metro i was looking at Cody's arm hair and i thought,
What if my mutant super power was the ability to control hair. Like Magneto (the villain in X-Men) who has the ability to control metal, but instead, hair. In one part of the first X-Men movie, Magneto bends Wolverine's skeleton (Wolverine has a skeleton made entirely of metal - he is pretty much indestructible. He's the one with the claws(see figure 1). Also, he can regenerate and heal himself). This of course causes him excruciating pain and renders him incapable of movement. So, what if i could i pull all of one's arm hair out with my mind. Or pull one's hair just enough to hurt them so they would be rendered incapable of movement like Magneto did to Wolverine. Imagine all of your hair on your body getting pulled out all at once. But then again once i made the X-Men team i don't know if anyone would take me too seriously. "oh, there's max with his mediocre mutant powers," they would say, "Cyclopes, cover for him will ya?" and then Cyclopes would have to make sure i didn't get hurt and probably be responsible for causing real damage to the enemy.
But if i did have the power to control hair i could help a lot people. like alex.
I did actually find a good quote on travelquotes,
“He who does not travel does not know the value of men.” - Moorish proverb
But see, you already knew that too. Seek after those people whether its to meet new people and make new friends, or just to meet new people and realize again and again how great of friends you already have.
Sol, Paige, Katherine, Anna, Zach: Barca was incredible with you guys. There's nothing like 10 people in The Pug all at once. Everyone else, be jealous - i would be. Beckham, Im counting the days. Matt and Kelly, i will see you so soon. Courtney, remember to clear your schedule for July 3rd, Im making a stop in "God's Country." I love you all very much. Blogger is sucking it up - i'll upload figure 1 later.
Fondly,
Max Su '10
"Díme"
3.58pm, Florence, Italy.
Right now I am sitting at a little bar slash restaurant in Florence, Italy. The pizza here is very good! But first, how I got here.
We left andrew with a hug as we walked to the train station to catch our Eurail sleeper to Venice. We left in plenty of time so as to not be late for a crucial part of our trip: the train. Our train was to leave at 8.38 as confirmed by the website. We made reservations that morning and the woman said ok and booked us up. So we got there at about 7.45 and the station was totally deserted. Good sign, no? So we went and asked where the 8.38 train was and were told that no such train exists, and in fact, our train left two hours ago along with our non-refundable 75EUR/each reservations. Swell.
After a momentary freakout and some tears from angela, I turned on what French I knew and my negotiating abilities and went to work. After about 2 hours and some help from a wonderful French man, we had tickets for the next day and 50eur each returned because we got the normal cars, like we wanted originally. Wonderful! And we got another night with andrew.
The next day, we did catch our train and met a really cool guy from buenes aires getting a PhD at the university of Missouri. Dario. He had a really nice camera and lens so we got to talking and ended up touring Venice all day with him the next day. Pretty cool! He left for Florence, but we are meeting him for dinner tonight.
Last night was our first time to stay with someone we didn't know at all, via couchsurfing.com. Her name is slyvia and she lives in Venice. We met her around 7 after we left dario. She was really nice, and her from Paris, sylvie, was incredibly cool. (she had a fashion mullet! Love it)
We went to an interpretive dance show that was THE weirdest thing I have ever seen, and I'm not just saying that. Picture this: white stage, white fog, white table: stage middle, woman in white night gown with tall fur boots on. She runs into the table, backs up, goes again. Repeat for 1.5 hours, add a pant suit, a chandelier on wheels, and train noises in the backgroud and you got it. Soo weird. So after that they took us to a bar and sylvie taught me to roll cigarettes, to save money. All in all, pretty fun.
In Florence now, hope to meet up with anna sometime! Its good to read all of your posts. Thomas, I dunno about laundry. Court, we'll be back soon! Miss you all.
Aaron
Right now I am sitting at a little bar slash restaurant in Florence, Italy. The pizza here is very good! But first, how I got here.
We left andrew with a hug as we walked to the train station to catch our Eurail sleeper to Venice. We left in plenty of time so as to not be late for a crucial part of our trip: the train. Our train was to leave at 8.38 as confirmed by the website. We made reservations that morning and the woman said ok and booked us up. So we got there at about 7.45 and the station was totally deserted. Good sign, no? So we went and asked where the 8.38 train was and were told that no such train exists, and in fact, our train left two hours ago along with our non-refundable 75EUR/each reservations. Swell.
After a momentary freakout and some tears from angela, I turned on what French I knew and my negotiating abilities and went to work. After about 2 hours and some help from a wonderful French man, we had tickets for the next day and 50eur each returned because we got the normal cars, like we wanted originally. Wonderful! And we got another night with andrew.
The next day, we did catch our train and met a really cool guy from buenes aires getting a PhD at the university of Missouri. Dario. He had a really nice camera and lens so we got to talking and ended up touring Venice all day with him the next day. Pretty cool! He left for Florence, but we are meeting him for dinner tonight.
Last night was our first time to stay with someone we didn't know at all, via couchsurfing.com. Her name is slyvia and she lives in Venice. We met her around 7 after we left dario. She was really nice, and her from Paris, sylvie, was incredibly cool. (she had a fashion mullet! Love it)
We went to an interpretive dance show that was THE weirdest thing I have ever seen, and I'm not just saying that. Picture this: white stage, white fog, white table: stage middle, woman in white night gown with tall fur boots on. She runs into the table, backs up, goes again. Repeat for 1.5 hours, add a pant suit, a chandelier on wheels, and train noises in the backgroud and you got it. Soo weird. So after that they took us to a bar and sylvie taught me to roll cigarettes, to save money. All in all, pretty fun.
In Florence now, hope to meet up with anna sometime! Its good to read all of your posts. Thomas, I dunno about laundry. Court, we'll be back soon! Miss you all.
Aaron
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Auf Wiedersehen, Bonn
5:37 pm Bonn
Today is a poignant day as I pack up all my stuff. I was sorting through my belongings and stumbled upon a picture of all you guys and started to cry... oh no wait, got ya! Sorry, I decided to replace my normal introspective and thoughtful post with one of a lighter spirit.
True, I am leaving Bonn in a couple days, and tomorrow I will be taking most of my stuff to my friend Travis' host family's house (where I will be staying from July 11-18 helping remodel their local church) but there are no tears, I am really quite ready to move on to bigger and better things. But for a proper farewell it seems fit to answer all your dying questions about Germany:
No, everyone doesn't have blonde hair and blue eyes, in fact you are more likely to run into a Turkish person than a model Aryan. But I am fairly sure that only three black people live here. One of them wears a long bright orange tribal robe with a rice farmer hat, I think he is just here on UN business. The other two sit in the marketplace and carve weird African sculptures to sell people.
Yes, it is perfectly okay to never lock the door to the bathroom. Germans love saying that since they have to cram 90 million people in their Texas sized country that there is not enough room for privacy. Walking around in underwear around the house or outside is also acceptable.
No, there is not just bratwurst and sauerkraut here. Germans favorite food is probably pizza, go figure. All Germans love ice cream as well. In the morning the housewives will walk around together with their monstrous trike strollers and eat ice cream, during lunch all the business men stroll around the gardens eating ice cream, and at night all the old people sit down at the ice cream cafes and spend their large socialist welfare income on 5 euro ice cream masterpieces.
Yes, Germans drive fast on the autobahn. Mr. Kausmann (my future host father) drives the family minivan at 100 mph on the way home from church, and is passed by many a sports car, quite exciting! In fact Germans like driving fast in general. Their stoplights go from red to YELLOW then to green. This gives all drivers a chance to rev their engine before the green light to facilitate speed, and all the pedestrians in the cross walk a chance to have a heart attack before getting run over.
This may make you wonder if pedestrians are scared of cars. Why yes, they are. Nobody in their right mind J-walks. Twenty people will stand and wait for the green walking stick figure to light up before they cross the street, even if there is no car in sight. I usually just cross anyways and get patted on the back when I get to the other side for being so brave.
Yes, all Germans do drive a BMW or Mercedes or Volkswagen. German's are very proud of their cars and their ability to park on the oversized sidewalks. Some Germans like to be cute and drive smart cars, but you can tell they feel guilty about it.
Yes, Germans are avid people watchers. Many of them do it as a second job to pay for their pizza and German cars. Train and streetcar car law prohibits keeping your eyes to yourself. When somewhat inevitably stares at you, you can suddenly look at them they will turn away but look back once you turn your head again. Some of them will get smart and actually watch you via the reflection of the window. I don't really get it, but since I don't want to fit in I fight back fiercely by staring holes in people over the top of my book, which is written in ENGLISH.
Yes, German children are very spoiled. The two youngest kids in my house cry at least five times each day. I like to find where they are while they are crying and just look at them. They will stop for a second, but will quickly re-contort their faces into anguish once they realize I have distracted them from their acting.
So that's Germany for you, or at least the federal state of North-Rhine Westphalia. There are castles absolutely everywhere, and everywhere is absolutely beautiful.
Since public grass typically grows very high (it's part of the natural feel) there are a lot of bugs I've noticed. Mainly I notice this when running since I typically swallow 1 bug and have no less than 10 bugs stuck in the sweat on my chest when I get home. I have been collecting them all and plan to make a flea circus.
Sometimes the kids like to stand in their doorway across the hallway from mine and look at me and close the door once I see them (they start their staring tendencies early!) So we will play this sort of peekaboo game for a few minutes. One day I decided I would sneak up on their door in between them opening it. When they opened it I yelled, and the 8 year old girl screamed so freakin loud! She hasn't liked me since that day, when she has candy to share with her brothers and sister she won't give me any, and when me and her brothers play soccer she usually chases me with broom which I take from her and put on the roof of the house > then she likes me a lot more.
So anyways, that is the extent of my story telling as of now. I need to start packing and getting all in order so I can watch the Germans beat Turkey tonight in the semi-Finals. I'll be traveling Germany on a bus trip with the school from June 27 - July 3, then flying to London to see A-fran, doing a little traveling alone and starting my church work on July 11. All the while carrying only my backpack (i'm banking on you having laundry capabilities, A-fran).
Love you all, it may be a week or two before I can catch up on your adventures, but don't worry about me, I'll be quite busy exploring.
Auf Wiedersehen (until we meet again),
Thomas
Today is a poignant day as I pack up all my stuff. I was sorting through my belongings and stumbled upon a picture of all you guys and started to cry... oh no wait, got ya! Sorry, I decided to replace my normal introspective and thoughtful post with one of a lighter spirit.
True, I am leaving Bonn in a couple days, and tomorrow I will be taking most of my stuff to my friend Travis' host family's house (where I will be staying from July 11-18 helping remodel their local church) but there are no tears, I am really quite ready to move on to bigger and better things. But for a proper farewell it seems fit to answer all your dying questions about Germany:
No, everyone doesn't have blonde hair and blue eyes, in fact you are more likely to run into a Turkish person than a model Aryan. But I am fairly sure that only three black people live here. One of them wears a long bright orange tribal robe with a rice farmer hat, I think he is just here on UN business. The other two sit in the marketplace and carve weird African sculptures to sell people.
Yes, it is perfectly okay to never lock the door to the bathroom. Germans love saying that since they have to cram 90 million people in their Texas sized country that there is not enough room for privacy. Walking around in underwear around the house or outside is also acceptable.
No, there is not just bratwurst and sauerkraut here. Germans favorite food is probably pizza, go figure. All Germans love ice cream as well. In the morning the housewives will walk around together with their monstrous trike strollers and eat ice cream, during lunch all the business men stroll around the gardens eating ice cream, and at night all the old people sit down at the ice cream cafes and spend their large socialist welfare income on 5 euro ice cream masterpieces.
Yes, Germans drive fast on the autobahn. Mr. Kausmann (my future host father) drives the family minivan at 100 mph on the way home from church, and is passed by many a sports car, quite exciting! In fact Germans like driving fast in general. Their stoplights go from red to YELLOW then to green. This gives all drivers a chance to rev their engine before the green light to facilitate speed, and all the pedestrians in the cross walk a chance to have a heart attack before getting run over.
This may make you wonder if pedestrians are scared of cars. Why yes, they are. Nobody in their right mind J-walks. Twenty people will stand and wait for the green walking stick figure to light up before they cross the street, even if there is no car in sight. I usually just cross anyways and get patted on the back when I get to the other side for being so brave.
Yes, all Germans do drive a BMW or Mercedes or Volkswagen. German's are very proud of their cars and their ability to park on the oversized sidewalks. Some Germans like to be cute and drive smart cars, but you can tell they feel guilty about it.
Yes, Germans are avid people watchers. Many of them do it as a second job to pay for their pizza and German cars. Train and streetcar car law prohibits keeping your eyes to yourself. When somewhat inevitably stares at you, you can suddenly look at them they will turn away but look back once you turn your head again. Some of them will get smart and actually watch you via the reflection of the window. I don't really get it, but since I don't want to fit in I fight back fiercely by staring holes in people over the top of my book, which is written in ENGLISH.
Yes, German children are very spoiled. The two youngest kids in my house cry at least five times each day. I like to find where they are while they are crying and just look at them. They will stop for a second, but will quickly re-contort their faces into anguish once they realize I have distracted them from their acting.
So that's Germany for you, or at least the federal state of North-Rhine Westphalia. There are castles absolutely everywhere, and everywhere is absolutely beautiful.
Since public grass typically grows very high (it's part of the natural feel) there are a lot of bugs I've noticed. Mainly I notice this when running since I typically swallow 1 bug and have no less than 10 bugs stuck in the sweat on my chest when I get home. I have been collecting them all and plan to make a flea circus.
Sometimes the kids like to stand in their doorway across the hallway from mine and look at me and close the door once I see them (they start their staring tendencies early!) So we will play this sort of peekaboo game for a few minutes. One day I decided I would sneak up on their door in between them opening it. When they opened it I yelled, and the 8 year old girl screamed so freakin loud! She hasn't liked me since that day, when she has candy to share with her brothers and sister she won't give me any, and when me and her brothers play soccer she usually chases me with broom which I take from her and put on the roof of the house > then she likes me a lot more.
So anyways, that is the extent of my story telling as of now. I need to start packing and getting all in order so I can watch the Germans beat Turkey tonight in the semi-Finals. I'll be traveling Germany on a bus trip with the school from June 27 - July 3, then flying to London to see A-fran, doing a little traveling alone and starting my church work on July 11. All the while carrying only my backpack (i'm banking on you having laundry capabilities, A-fran).
Love you all, it may be a week or two before I can catch up on your adventures, but don't worry about me, I'll be quite busy exploring.
Auf Wiedersehen (until we meet again),
Thomas
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Montz described it as an "adult cartoon"
7:35 pm College Station, TX
I'm very happy to inform you all that I am currently reading the first addition to the 407 coffee table that will be located in our living room next to the toile couch (right, anna?). The title? You may ask. "Welcome to Tranquility" by Gail Simone. For those of you that have not taken ENGL 374, Gail Simone writes comic books. That's right. I'm reading a 142 page comic book. Let me take a few lines to describe the cover of this $19.99 book. Of the 12 semi-human looking characters on the front, 5 are in spandex, 3 are in white hooded suits...weird, and 4 are in lab coats. Another intersting observation: two of the girls are wearing bunny ears with their pink somewhat low cut (oh wait, no, incredibly low cut) spandex outfits. Final note: one of the characters is a skeleton. Ebay it. Buy it. Read it in one long sitting. Love it forever. Get ready roomies, you guys can share in august.
I'm wrapping up my final week of summer session I. "Women Writers" has been riveting. Dr. Montz really knows how to rock a class of eleven. My last day of work at the Children's Museum of Brazos Valley, CMBV if you will, is tomorrow. Don't worry kids, I'll be back in August. Big news, five representatives from the Fightin' Texas Aggie football team made an appearance two weeks ago. Yes, I met THE 12th Man. We're dating. I've tweaked my resume over the past month in college station. Professional Dino Camp bone excavator, 'Reading Rocks' 11:00 storyteller, 'Monday Madness' AND 'Wacky Wednesday' arts and crafts director. Anyways, I've been busy. My future employees will pay me the big bucks.
Miss all of you so much. Don't get me wrong, I really am glad you guys are having incredible summers, but I'm about ready to wrap this one up. Bring it home team. Let's close this chapter.
I'm praying for you all. I know it's been said, but this past month spent without most of you has been quite an awakening. We have an incredible home base. The guys and girls that we have surrounded ourselves with for two years now has been a blessing. A rare blessing.
Guys, thanks for being our rock. Girls, back me up, they've held this team together. Thanks for the houses, the encouragment, and the example you all have set. Yes, I knew this before you all left, but seeing what most girls have come to expect as normal in a guy has reminded me of how little we have thanked all of you.
Girls, thanks for being genuine. I hear some pretty interesting stories from my coworkers at the museum. It's hard to explain why it's important to have girl friends that hold you accountable on issues other than clothes and makeup. I really can't wait to catch up with all of you. dinner. dessert. as long as there's food. and hot gossip. kidding.
Sorry for the cheese, but I've had alot of time to think. Be safe. Take a million more pictures. Come back with stories. Get ready for a few more hangout spots come August. And I'm sure all the girls will agree, we welcome brownies, cookies, low fat yogurt parfaits, and any other creative house warming gift you guys choose to bring to our new front doors.
I'm very happy to inform you all that I am currently reading the first addition to the 407 coffee table that will be located in our living room next to the toile couch (right, anna?). The title? You may ask. "Welcome to Tranquility" by Gail Simone. For those of you that have not taken ENGL 374, Gail Simone writes comic books. That's right. I'm reading a 142 page comic book. Let me take a few lines to describe the cover of this $19.99 book. Of the 12 semi-human looking characters on the front, 5 are in spandex, 3 are in white hooded suits...weird, and 4 are in lab coats. Another intersting observation: two of the girls are wearing bunny ears with their pink somewhat low cut (oh wait, no, incredibly low cut) spandex outfits. Final note: one of the characters is a skeleton. Ebay it. Buy it. Read it in one long sitting. Love it forever. Get ready roomies, you guys can share in august.
I'm wrapping up my final week of summer session I. "Women Writers" has been riveting. Dr. Montz really knows how to rock a class of eleven. My last day of work at the Children's Museum of Brazos Valley, CMBV if you will, is tomorrow. Don't worry kids, I'll be back in August. Big news, five representatives from the Fightin' Texas Aggie football team made an appearance two weeks ago. Yes, I met THE 12th Man. We're dating. I've tweaked my resume over the past month in college station. Professional Dino Camp bone excavator, 'Reading Rocks' 11:00 storyteller, 'Monday Madness' AND 'Wacky Wednesday' arts and crafts director. Anyways, I've been busy. My future employees will pay me the big bucks.
Miss all of you so much. Don't get me wrong, I really am glad you guys are having incredible summers, but I'm about ready to wrap this one up. Bring it home team. Let's close this chapter.
I'm praying for you all. I know it's been said, but this past month spent without most of you has been quite an awakening. We have an incredible home base. The guys and girls that we have surrounded ourselves with for two years now has been a blessing. A rare blessing.
Guys, thanks for being our rock. Girls, back me up, they've held this team together. Thanks for the houses, the encouragment, and the example you all have set. Yes, I knew this before you all left, but seeing what most girls have come to expect as normal in a guy has reminded me of how little we have thanked all of you.
Girls, thanks for being genuine. I hear some pretty interesting stories from my coworkers at the museum. It's hard to explain why it's important to have girl friends that hold you accountable on issues other than clothes and makeup. I really can't wait to catch up with all of you. dinner. dessert. as long as there's food. and hot gossip. kidding.
Sorry for the cheese, but I've had alot of time to think. Be safe. Take a million more pictures. Come back with stories. Get ready for a few more hangout spots come August. And I'm sure all the girls will agree, we welcome brownies, cookies, low fat yogurt parfaits, and any other creative house warming gift you guys choose to bring to our new front doors.
Sunday, June 22, 2008
From London to Paris
12.55am Paris, Francis
Bloggers and Blogettes: It's been wonderful thus far! We arrived in London early (645am) on the 20th after having not slept at all on the plane AND staying up all night the night before so that we could sleep on the plane. Great idea. So we started off finding the bookstore to get the travel book that I think I may have left on the plane, still not sure where it went. They have Border's in London, who knew. After that we headed over to Cafe Nero to get a jump start to last the rest of the day. From there we began touring as tourists do. We went to the British Museum, saw the Rosetta Stone, St. Paul's the London Bridge and such. We actually took a nap on the grass at St. Paul's because we were so exhausted. Carrying around packs will really take it out of you. Oh yeah, and not sleeping for 36 hours. We met up with the guy we were staying with (Richard) at the London bridge. Richard is about 65-70 years old and the jolliest old man you ever did see. We both loved him. He bought us dinner (and wine) and then we headed back to his house. And when I say house I mean water tower from 1890 that was renovated circa 1979 to be offices and an apartment at the very top. SO cool. It has marks on the bricks where it was shot up in WWII. If thats not legit I don't know what is. We slept in the very top of the tower where there were no windows at all, we went to bed at 9.30pm and got up at 10.30am. Mmm jetlag. Out for traditional fish and chips and then back to London for Big Ben, Westminster, and Buckingham Palace.
We got to Paris around 11.30 that night and managed to find our way from the international train station to the Eiffel Tower, the gleaming beacon of tourist hope. Along the way we saw a real life drug deal! A man climbed up and grabbed pills out of the ceiling and sold them to another man waiting nearby, we were in a bad part of town for a bit. Luckily we had our giant backpacks, American accents, and we were staring at the ticket machine for 10 minutes deciphering between pounds and euros. We ran the place for all they knew! Andrew came to get us at around 2am from the tower and we had the best time ever. We got dinked through paris! And what that means, for those of you who don't know, is that we sit on the back of their bikes as they ride through the city. I fell once, Angela got dumped twice. Quite the experience, especially after they have had a bit o wine. Livin the dream.
Today we did all things tourist: Notre Dame, Pantheon, Luxembourg Gardens, whatever-their-giant-cemetary-is-called, and so forth. Out for dinner, drinks, and crepes with Andrew, and here we are. It has been so good to see Andrew and makes me really excited to get back home and share the laughter all together. I hope everyone is doing well and can't wait to hear from you all. I'll post pictures later. (*Edit: posted one! Nothing like hanging out with your roommate at the Eiffel Tower. Miss you TalTal.) All the best!
Aaron
Bloggers and Blogettes: It's been wonderful thus far! We arrived in London early (645am) on the 20th after having not slept at all on the plane AND staying up all night the night before so that we could sleep on the plane. Great idea. So we started off finding the bookstore to get the travel book that I think I may have left on the plane, still not sure where it went. They have Border's in London, who knew. After that we headed over to Cafe Nero to get a jump start to last the rest of the day. From there we began touring as tourists do. We went to the British Museum, saw the Rosetta Stone, St. Paul's the London Bridge and such. We actually took a nap on the grass at St. Paul's because we were so exhausted. Carrying around packs will really take it out of you. Oh yeah, and not sleeping for 36 hours. We met up with the guy we were staying with (Richard) at the London bridge. Richard is about 65-70 years old and the jolliest old man you ever did see. We both loved him. He bought us dinner (and wine) and then we headed back to his house. And when I say house I mean water tower from 1890 that was renovated circa 1979 to be offices and an apartment at the very top. SO cool. It has marks on the bricks where it was shot up in WWII. If thats not legit I don't know what is. We slept in the very top of the tower where there were no windows at all, we went to bed at 9.30pm and got up at 10.30am. Mmm jetlag. Out for traditional fish and chips and then back to London for Big Ben, Westminster, and Buckingham Palace.
We got to Paris around 11.30 that night and managed to find our way from the international train station to the Eiffel Tower, the gleaming beacon of tourist hope. Along the way we saw a real life drug deal! A man climbed up and grabbed pills out of the ceiling and sold them to another man waiting nearby, we were in a bad part of town for a bit. Luckily we had our giant backpacks, American accents, and we were staring at the ticket machine for 10 minutes deciphering between pounds and euros. We ran the place for all they knew! Andrew came to get us at around 2am from the tower and we had the best time ever. We got dinked through paris! And what that means, for those of you who don't know, is that we sit on the back of their bikes as they ride through the city. I fell once, Angela got dumped twice. Quite the experience, especially after they have had a bit o wine. Livin the dream.
Today we did all things tourist: Notre Dame, Pantheon, Luxembourg Gardens, whatever-their-giant-cemetary-is-called, and so forth. Out for dinner, drinks, and crepes with Andrew, and here we are. It has been so good to see Andrew and makes me really excited to get back home and share the laughter all together. I hope everyone is doing well and can't wait to hear from you all. I'll post pictures later. (*Edit: posted one! Nothing like hanging out with your roommate at the Eiffel Tower. Miss you TalTal.) All the best!
Aaron
Friday, June 20, 2008
Late to the game...
Howdy Agriculturists,
Seeing as this is my first time, Im not entirely sure how this is to work. But in keeping with the appropriate theme of the website, it is 3:47 and I am in God's Country (Prestige).
Its good to hear from everybody, I have certainly enjoyed getting caught up with the entries in the past week since my discovery of this website (sorry Aaron)...Sounds like everybody has had quite the summer thus far. Keep a good account of all these stories, I cant wait to hear about the material that is too inappropriate, or long winded to publish. Yall stay safe and continue to tell your stories.
Life in the oil patch has been booming. I am pleased to report that the state of the union is strong. contrary to popular American belief, our economy is not in recession, oil companies are not the cause of the world's greatest problems, and the democrats marginalizing oil profits and pointing fingers are not the answer. Regardless of speculations and controversy, work has been good. I have very much enjoyed being back with the company. I have been learning, challenged, networking, and earning. Lots of travel included, seems like I make a business trip every week to somewhere in Texas. Ive also had the privilege of spending plenty of time in Cstat. Things are very different: Campus is empty, Koldus is quite, and the Prestige isn't partying.
That all I really have for now. My bland stories cant really stand next to yall's adventures, but I just wanted to let everyone know that I was alive and kickin. Take care of yourselves, look forward to Gig'Em week in the fall. No matter where yall go this summer, Remember where you came from...God Bless America
theres a spirit can ne'er be told
Eric A Beckham
Seeing as this is my first time, Im not entirely sure how this is to work. But in keeping with the appropriate theme of the website, it is 3:47 and I am in God's Country (Prestige).
Its good to hear from everybody, I have certainly enjoyed getting caught up with the entries in the past week since my discovery of this website (sorry Aaron)...Sounds like everybody has had quite the summer thus far. Keep a good account of all these stories, I cant wait to hear about the material that is too inappropriate, or long winded to publish. Yall stay safe and continue to tell your stories.
Life in the oil patch has been booming. I am pleased to report that the state of the union is strong. contrary to popular American belief, our economy is not in recession, oil companies are not the cause of the world's greatest problems, and the democrats marginalizing oil profits and pointing fingers are not the answer. Regardless of speculations and controversy, work has been good. I have very much enjoyed being back with the company. I have been learning, challenged, networking, and earning. Lots of travel included, seems like I make a business trip every week to somewhere in Texas. Ive also had the privilege of spending plenty of time in Cstat. Things are very different: Campus is empty, Koldus is quite, and the Prestige isn't partying.
That all I really have for now. My bland stories cant really stand next to yall's adventures, but I just wanted to let everyone know that I was alive and kickin. Take care of yourselves, look forward to Gig'Em week in the fall. No matter where yall go this summer, Remember where you came from...God Bless America
theres a spirit can ne'er be told
Eric A Beckham
Overcoming the World
Bonn 7:26 pm
Dearest friends,
Today I had a certain out-of-body experience during class. While sitting silently and listening to the typical banter in the classroom I became suddenly aware of the haughty remarks, the insincere laughs, the fake smiles and the underlying selfishness of the people I have been forced to spend my last month with. It is something I have always noticed, but it has not been until today that I felt disgusted and almost angry with the company I have had to endure. Foreign to my typical calmness, I experienced the desire to yell at each of them condemning their selfishness and questioning their maturity. "How can you people be so disillusioned that the cravings of sinful man can satisfy you?" I thought. So I left and went on a walk and was reminded of a few things (from 1 John).
First that those around us are led by others whose viewpoints are stuck in the world. They do not have the counsel of the One who is in us, who is greater than the one who is in the world. They act exactly how depraved man should due to the sin which entangles us all.
Also the fact that because we are born of God and are his children, we have overcome this grasp of the world. This puts us in a position to love, not to distance ourselves from those who are lost in the darkness of being apart from God.
Being in the company of only two genuine believers here, with whom my relationship is still in infancy, has led me to rely thoroughly on our God for peace and guidance. It has been a sweet time being here alone with only God as my comfort, but I grow ever eager to see you again.
Here is the garden inside the courtyard of the cathedral of Bonn I have had the privilege of discovering. It has been a great place to meet God in the seclusion and protection of the high cathedral walls.
Having a fantastic time here! Germany is beautiful everywhere, I wish you all could see it with me,
Thomas
Dearest friends,
Today I had a certain out-of-body experience during class. While sitting silently and listening to the typical banter in the classroom I became suddenly aware of the haughty remarks, the insincere laughs, the fake smiles and the underlying selfishness of the people I have been forced to spend my last month with. It is something I have always noticed, but it has not been until today that I felt disgusted and almost angry with the company I have had to endure. Foreign to my typical calmness, I experienced the desire to yell at each of them condemning their selfishness and questioning their maturity. "How can you people be so disillusioned that the cravings of sinful man can satisfy you?" I thought. So I left and went on a walk and was reminded of a few things (from 1 John).
First that those around us are led by others whose viewpoints are stuck in the world. They do not have the counsel of the One who is in us, who is greater than the one who is in the world. They act exactly how depraved man should due to the sin which entangles us all.
Also the fact that because we are born of God and are his children, we have overcome this grasp of the world. This puts us in a position to love, not to distance ourselves from those who are lost in the darkness of being apart from God.
Being in the company of only two genuine believers here, with whom my relationship is still in infancy, has led me to rely thoroughly on our God for peace and guidance. It has been a sweet time being here alone with only God as my comfort, but I grow ever eager to see you again.
Here is the garden inside the courtyard of the cathedral of Bonn I have had the privilege of discovering. It has been a great place to meet God in the seclusion and protection of the high cathedral walls.Having a fantastic time here! Germany is beautiful everywhere, I wish you all could see it with me,
Thomas
The Recognition of Beauty
In response to the flood of e-mail and questions I received since my last entry, I have decided to expound on the usage of "*" in my last article.
It is clear when one reexamines my last work, that these "*" were cleverly placed where I used English grammatical style in a new way I have learned while abroad. So as one examines my last post, look for these little guys. You- or mainly just Alex hopefully- will observe the use of puns, alliterations, and even high level vocabulary words.
Now please see this not as a highlight of my own knowledge, but rather if you choose to give credit anywhere allow it to go Mr. Toney, my grandmaster.
Adeu,
gran negocio
My first rodeo
Well, well, well...
It's 4:31 p.m. where I am.
I've been trying to expand my spanish speaking skills my entire trip and have learned that everyone speaks english. So in an effort to please Alex, my entire time in Spain hasn't been used for my own enjoyment but rather equipping myself with an effective english vocabulary and/or unique phrases so I could come home at least being better at one language.....I know, i know I learned a little bit of Swahili while in Afreeka but I feel that the language was no longer legit when one its subscribers*- Kiba (pigeon)- reeled off this sentence over lunch, "Ya brother, I love newspapers.....of news." Now, why Kiba said this, I am unsure. It should be no issue* of linguistic barrier that newspapers are indeed made for news. After all, the name is quite foretelling. That is like declaring you like apple trees but only of apples. Apple trees of any other fruit i dont love as much. But because Kiba said this I am attempting to mind dump all things African and become focus my efforts on a language Alex will enjoy and benefit from- English.
I have become quite patriotic over my few days "in the brush." Now I am unsure the origin of this redass for America attitude I've adopted but I've narrowed it down to a few things:
1. The euro is worth more than our dollar when God knows our country would dominate the EU in anything albeit* soccer. (God bless Kobi Jones)
2. You can only get free refills in Hard Rock Cafe.
3. I got 7 blisters, 2 in grown finger nails, and 1 impaling by a coke lid in Africa. I would've gone to the hospital but all the doctors were giving tours of Mt. Kilimanjaro.
4. There is a teen club directly across the street from where we live that we cant partake in due to ethical boundaries. In America, I have Beckham where those things wouldn't stop me.
It feels so good to contact you all through "the blog." One might ask theirselves, "Why hasn't Cody blogged yet." Previously, I would've answered with something to do with the 56K internet connection throughout all of Africa. It would've been a lie. The reason is that the Deathstar couldn't make the trip to Africa and therefore to Espana. So as it rests in College Station in its port, I am becoming acquainted with the world of Mac compliments of Zach's little baby. I have been severely limited in my usage thus far. I don't understand many of the "features" on this machine. So this friends is my reason for lack of blogging. I am becoming "acquanited" with technology, but it is a process friends! Please respond to this blog with the answers to the following questions:
1. When I put the cursor to the far left corner, where the hell does everything go!
2. Why can't I double click anything?
3. What is Leopard?
4. Why do the icons bounce up and down when I press them? It's as if they're excited to be locked in this Macintosh all the while definitely desiring to be inside the wonderful world of windows.*
Anyways, I appreciate "The Mac" and as a part of my cultural experience and acceptance of "difference", I will spray paint a large apple symbol on the hood of my car when I get home with Aaron's help.
The crew ditched me and when to Portugal last night. So I decided to stay home and watch the Portugal v. Germany game because I missed them so bad. For dinner I ate frosted flakes while listening to the Foo Fighters. Dane Cook also made an appearance. After that, I made Zach a few appointments with me on his "i-Cal" with me to play, train romo, and teach me to fly. This application is apparently some Mac creation where you actually have a calendar on the screen and its interactive. Took me three hours to play this little prank. After that, I tried to create an account on couchsurfing.com but I couldn't figure out how to save and upload my picture, so I gave up.
Today, I think I might go outside.
I miss all of you and I can't wait to reunite in College Station.
The Tallahassee Heroes- I love you all. I can't wait for our next jam session. I think I'll put the keyboard in the garage under the kayaks, next to our new drum set, or somewhere between all the bikes.
Much love,
gran negocio
Thursday, June 19, 2008
The Time Has Come
2.22 AM - Coppell
Well gang, this is it. My time has finally come! I leave tomorrow at 11.50 for London. The past few weeks have been pretty uneventful, but quite a bit of fun. I took a miniature road trip last week to get out of the house. I went to Georgetown first to see a friend that lives there, and that was quite a bit of fun. From there I traveled on to College Station to see Master Wayne and Courtney. It was awesome to be back there, I just walked around The Tallahassee all by myself and got really excited to be back there with you guys, all in good time.
I had the privilege of seeing Mr. Beckham while I was in town, although when I arrived he was asleep and when he woke up I was asleep. Gotta love naps. Then I had my proudest moment ever: Eric Beckham wooing the Fightin' Texas Aggie Class of 2012. It was amazing! He got to give the speech at the New Student Conference, and he totally dominated. He got like 8 phone numbers. He was articulate, funny, serious, inspiring, awe-inspiring, and good looking. Wish you guys could have seen it. Court and Master Wayne will vouch for me.
As for Master Wayne and I, we did the usual: watched the Office. it was a time of unparalleled bonding. We also went to see The Happening, which was good not great. Since everyone else was gone, there were 6 empty beds in the Prestige and so naturally we both fell asleep on the couch. I moved to Max's bed at 9 the next morning. Thanks Max.
Then I went to see Matty at camp! It was pretty cool, he totally dominates that place. Everyone loves him there and he is the man, but what would you expect. It was a good time. Laundry, eating, and thats about it. Perfect.
Well I should be off. I have to pack and get ready to catch a flight. I will keep you guys updated as much as I can. Miss you all.
Well gang, this is it. My time has finally come! I leave tomorrow at 11.50 for London. The past few weeks have been pretty uneventful, but quite a bit of fun. I took a miniature road trip last week to get out of the house. I went to Georgetown first to see a friend that lives there, and that was quite a bit of fun. From there I traveled on to College Station to see Master Wayne and Courtney. It was awesome to be back there, I just walked around The Tallahassee all by myself and got really excited to be back there with you guys, all in good time.
I had the privilege of seeing Mr. Beckham while I was in town, although when I arrived he was asleep and when he woke up I was asleep. Gotta love naps. Then I had my proudest moment ever: Eric Beckham wooing the Fightin' Texas Aggie Class of 2012. It was amazing! He got to give the speech at the New Student Conference, and he totally dominated. He got like 8 phone numbers. He was articulate, funny, serious, inspiring, awe-inspiring, and good looking. Wish you guys could have seen it. Court and Master Wayne will vouch for me.
As for Master Wayne and I, we did the usual: watched the Office. it was a time of unparalleled bonding. We also went to see The Happening, which was good not great. Since everyone else was gone, there were 6 empty beds in the Prestige and so naturally we both fell asleep on the couch. I moved to Max's bed at 9 the next morning. Thanks Max.
Then I went to see Matty at camp! It was pretty cool, he totally dominates that place. Everyone loves him there and he is the man, but what would you expect. It was a good time. Laundry, eating, and thats about it. Perfect.
Well I should be off. I have to pack and get ready to catch a flight. I will keep you guys updated as much as I can. Miss you all.
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
hello hello my friend good blog very good price for you my special friend
22:55
Riad Massine II
Marrakech, Morocco
Salaam! (sp?)
This keyboqrd is crqwy qnd is not like ours in the Q,ericqs: If I qtte,pt to type qs I nor,qlly zould it zould be reqd qs so:
So instead I'll write this blog at 12.3 words per minute. Oh, the trouble I take to entertain my loving audience:::
First, a quick run through of the sights, sounds, smells, and smugs of Marrakech- donkeys, orange juice, monkeys that touch me, hookahs, hash, mint, mint tea, trash, mushy things that Sol steps on,orangejuice, Sol getting scared, Sol getting scared again, Sol getting uncomfortable because the monkey is trying to touch her, french, arabic, spanish, italian, german, czech, dutch, mosques, muslim prayers, cats, cats, cats, cats, men that blow kisses atme Sol, heat, sunshine, rooftop terraces, orange juice, kabobs, eating sheep brain, and orange juice.
Pictures soon, check out my flickr.
Sol's message:
23:20 pm
First of all, my apologies for not blogging until this date.
Now, I am pleased to inform you guys that Zach and I are having a splendid time here on African soil. I have to defend myself and inform you guys that I have only been scared because there are dirt bike drivers that are mental and are not considerate of pedestrians in the narrow labrinth-like streets of the souks. Oh and I also was scared because we were followed by a dodgy character to our Riad late last night, but fortunately we finally arrived safely.
Well today we went to a huge beautiful mosque, a Quran school, some old architectural ruins, some gardens, and were hassled by many vendors at the souks (of course Zach didnt get annoyed by them...) Well the pictures will explain how beautiful Morocco is.
Oh I guess thats why they say a picture is worth a thousand words.
Au revoir,
Zach and Sol
,
Riad Massine II
Marrakech, Morocco
Salaam! (sp?)
This keyboqrd is crqwy qnd is not like ours in the Q,ericqs: If I qtte,pt to type qs I nor,qlly zould it zould be reqd qs so:
So instead I'll write this blog at 12.3 words per minute. Oh, the trouble I take to entertain my loving audience:::
First, a quick run through of the sights, sounds, smells, and smugs of Marrakech- donkeys, orange juice, monkeys that touch me, hookahs, hash, mint, mint tea, trash, mushy things that Sol steps on,orangejuice, Sol getting scared, Sol getting scared again, Sol getting uncomfortable because the monkey is trying to touch her, french, arabic, spanish, italian, german, czech, dutch, mosques, muslim prayers, cats, cats, cats, cats, men that blow kisses at
Pictures soon, check out my flickr.
Sol's message:
23:20 pm
First of all, my apologies for not blogging until this date.
Now, I am pleased to inform you guys that Zach and I are having a splendid time here on African soil. I have to defend myself and inform you guys that I have only been scared because there are dirt bike drivers that are mental and are not considerate of pedestrians in the narrow labrinth-like streets of the souks. Oh and I also was scared because we were followed by a dodgy character to our Riad late last night, but fortunately we finally arrived safely.
Well today we went to a huge beautiful mosque, a Quran school, some old architectural ruins, some gardens, and were hassled by many vendors at the souks (of course Zach didnt get annoyed by them...) Well the pictures will explain how beautiful Morocco is.
Oh I guess thats why they say a picture is worth a thousand words.
Au revoir,
Zach and Sol
,
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Monday, June 16, 2008
Why you should/shouldn´t travel with me.
So I know it has been a long time since I´ve posted but believe it or not its because i´ve been busy (yeah, what the heck right? Its summer) … (I have adopted 40 people from the CEA program to mentor, disciple, and teach leadership skills to occupy my time) and not just lost somewhere in Spain – as that would be expected by now.
“I am learning discipline, expanding my memory, and punctuality”
- That is actually a self quote at dear ol Beckham’s birthday party.
However, it is almost impossible for me to wake up in the morning to go to class (especially after hitting the discotecha hard with zach until early morning… and that black vodka drink haha jk …. … …….. ), I constantly forget where I am in the city (but good thing Alex and lonely planet are BFFs), and well, I am becoming more punctual I think, although the remnants of antipunctuality (Africa) has deterred me a bit.
With all that said, Spain has been a wonderful place to refine my skills so that hopefully afterward, when I return to the states, Beckham will finally accept me. For example, this weekend…
Flying by the seat of my pants (and Chelsea’s) I decide to go to Valencia which is another beach city on the coast of eastern Spain. Beautiful. I leave the two points which complete my equilateral triangle (Cody and Alex) at home and embark with John Alford and some other CEA friends (the ones that will be co-chairs next year) to the “City of Bats” … by myself. Yeah, so I wasn´t able to buy the ticket in advance so I had to wing it and go to the station the morning of and try to find a ticket (John and the others had purchased theirs weeks ago and were well on their way by now). But I do get a ticket! I think… upon reaching the station, my Spanish senses tingle and I approach a random ticket counter. In fluent español, I say “I want to go to Valencia por favor” (yup, just like that) and get handed a ticket. Cool, thanks God. On the ticket the only things displayed are the date, how much I paid, and that I’m going from Barcelona to Valencia. I turn around to see an array of platforms of which I have no idea which one to go to and of course I’m oblivious to the departure time. Oh. Well, after many charades I find myself on platform 9 waiting for a 9:30 train. At around 9:45 the monitors flash with an attention disclaimer. After staring at it for about 15 minutes, I decipher that there has been an accident and that my train will be delayed. So after waiting in uncertainty, sweating with nervousness, I make friends with a group of musician that speak English and who are also going to Valencia!
Thank you God number two.
They then tell me to hop onto a train with them which was on a different platform, which I do, of course. Don´t worry guys, I asked them if they were sure first. After boarding the train my senses tingle again and I am positive I’m on the wrong train. As I get up to get off the train, the doors close and the train starts to move. So, I’m panicking again – more sweat stains. In my dire situation, I pray that it works out somehow and right before I begin to black out, my phone rings and its John.
“hey, did you just get on my train?”
John’s train apparently was delayed as well and as they passed through Barcelona Sants (my train station) a large group of people boarded, including a group of musicians and a totally oblivious kid with a neon hat.
Thank you God number three.
Anyways, I would totally recommend Valencia. Its history is incredible which is matched with its great cuisine and attractions. The hostels there are nice too and people are friendly. I ended up running into my musician friends again whom I thanked over and over again.
Thank you God again and again.
The train ride back was not nearly as exciting except for the occasion where I offered the scary man sitting next to me candy so he wouldn’t rob me. He didn’t rob me. I was missing Alex and Cody by now and was ready to get home.
With all this adventure, it is good that I have The Pug where positivity and negativity (not talking about me and Alex) clash into a chaotic, yet harmonistic aurora borealis where I can lay my weary head.
It was good seeing you Thomas and I’m more than excited to Paige and Katherine soon!
Safe and sound,
Max
“I am learning discipline, expanding my memory, and punctuality”
- That is actually a self quote at dear ol Beckham’s birthday party.
However, it is almost impossible for me to wake up in the morning to go to class (especially after hitting the discotecha hard with zach until early morning… and that black vodka drink haha jk …. … …….. ), I constantly forget where I am in the city (but good thing Alex and lonely planet are BFFs), and well, I am becoming more punctual I think, although the remnants of antipunctuality (Africa) has deterred me a bit.
With all that said, Spain has been a wonderful place to refine my skills so that hopefully afterward, when I return to the states, Beckham will finally accept me. For example, this weekend…
Flying by the seat of my pants (and Chelsea’s) I decide to go to Valencia which is another beach city on the coast of eastern Spain. Beautiful. I leave the two points which complete my equilateral triangle (Cody and Alex) at home and embark with John Alford and some other CEA friends (the ones that will be co-chairs next year) to the “City of Bats” … by myself. Yeah, so I wasn´t able to buy the ticket in advance so I had to wing it and go to the station the morning of and try to find a ticket (John and the others had purchased theirs weeks ago and were well on their way by now). But I do get a ticket! I think… upon reaching the station, my Spanish senses tingle and I approach a random ticket counter. In fluent español, I say “I want to go to Valencia por favor” (yup, just like that) and get handed a ticket. Cool, thanks God. On the ticket the only things displayed are the date, how much I paid, and that I’m going from Barcelona to Valencia. I turn around to see an array of platforms of which I have no idea which one to go to and of course I’m oblivious to the departure time. Oh. Well, after many charades I find myself on platform 9 waiting for a 9:30 train. At around 9:45 the monitors flash with an attention disclaimer. After staring at it for about 15 minutes, I decipher that there has been an accident and that my train will be delayed. So after waiting in uncertainty, sweating with nervousness, I make friends with a group of musician that speak English and who are also going to Valencia!
Thank you God number two.
They then tell me to hop onto a train with them which was on a different platform, which I do, of course. Don´t worry guys, I asked them if they were sure first. After boarding the train my senses tingle again and I am positive I’m on the wrong train. As I get up to get off the train, the doors close and the train starts to move. So, I’m panicking again – more sweat stains. In my dire situation, I pray that it works out somehow and right before I begin to black out, my phone rings and its John.
“hey, did you just get on my train?”
John’s train apparently was delayed as well and as they passed through Barcelona Sants (my train station) a large group of people boarded, including a group of musicians and a totally oblivious kid with a neon hat.
Thank you God number three.
Anyways, I would totally recommend Valencia. Its history is incredible which is matched with its great cuisine and attractions. The hostels there are nice too and people are friendly. I ended up running into my musician friends again whom I thanked over and over again.
Thank you God again and again.
The train ride back was not nearly as exciting except for the occasion where I offered the scary man sitting next to me candy so he wouldn’t rob me. He didn’t rob me. I was missing Alex and Cody by now and was ready to get home.
With all this adventure, it is good that I have The Pug where positivity and negativity (not talking about me and Alex) clash into a chaotic, yet harmonistic aurora borealis where I can lay my weary head.
It was good seeing you Thomas and I’m more than excited to Paige and Katherine soon!
Safe and sound,
Max
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Welcome to the Timbers!
8:39 in Tyler, TX.
I hope everyone is doing well! Today is my day half of my day off and TP and Bren came in town to hang out with me so we are a hotel. Last night there was a domestic violence call below us and at 2:30. Well, at least that is what private investigator Brenda Pierson could tell from looking out the window.
My life at Pine Cove is amazing. When I first was driving in I could have run my car off the road wanting to know why I came back to the dreaded place. But, the Lord being as good as He always is taught me otherwise. We had a camper this week from Cairo, Egypt and he was the bomb. He came up to me on Friday night and said, "Hey Usda, did you know I got baptised in April?" Of course I had no idea so he followed it up by saying," Well, I just wanted you to know that and that I love you." Really? a 9th grade boy just said that to a guy he hadn't known for a week. That is just one of the cool stories from this past week. Aaron came and visited this weekend and it was awesome to see him before he leaves for London on Thursday.
On the other side of things, I had a dad question my intelligence because of my camp name, then he found out that I went to Texas A&M and said, "That explains everything." It was awesome, we should all be offended as a part of the Aggie family.
But seriously, I am praying for all of you guys as you are either starting or rounding up your adventures. I found this passage the other day during a quiet time and it has become my prayer for The Tallahassee, but I think it could be applied to our friends as well. Romans 15:1-7...if you have a Bible, check it out. But, if not here you go:
15:1 We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves. 2 Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. 3 For Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, “The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me.” 4 For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. 5 May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, 6 that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. 7 Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.
I know, it's legit.
I love you guys and can't wait to see all of you in August. Please be safe.
Matty
P.S. Katherine thank you so much for the brownies, for everyone else.... you fail.
I hope everyone is doing well! Today is my day half of my day off and TP and Bren came in town to hang out with me so we are a hotel. Last night there was a domestic violence call below us and at 2:30. Well, at least that is what private investigator Brenda Pierson could tell from looking out the window.
My life at Pine Cove is amazing. When I first was driving in I could have run my car off the road wanting to know why I came back to the dreaded place. But, the Lord being as good as He always is taught me otherwise. We had a camper this week from Cairo, Egypt and he was the bomb. He came up to me on Friday night and said, "Hey Usda, did you know I got baptised in April?" Of course I had no idea so he followed it up by saying," Well, I just wanted you to know that and that I love you." Really? a 9th grade boy just said that to a guy he hadn't known for a week. That is just one of the cool stories from this past week. Aaron came and visited this weekend and it was awesome to see him before he leaves for London on Thursday.
On the other side of things, I had a dad question my intelligence because of my camp name, then he found out that I went to Texas A&M and said, "That explains everything." It was awesome, we should all be offended as a part of the Aggie family.
But seriously, I am praying for all of you guys as you are either starting or rounding up your adventures. I found this passage the other day during a quiet time and it has become my prayer for The Tallahassee, but I think it could be applied to our friends as well. Romans 15:1-7...if you have a Bible, check it out. But, if not here you go:
15:1 We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves. 2 Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. 3 For Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, “The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me.” 4 For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. 5 May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, 6 that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. 7 Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.
I know, it's legit.
I love you guys and can't wait to see all of you in August. Please be safe.
Matty
P.S. Katherine thank you so much for the brownies, for everyone else.... you fail.
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Va bene.
Team! I'm late in the game... it's been a while since I've blogged. I'm sad to say that up until.. oh, about 30 seconds ago...I've been lurking.
It's 9:30 pm in Firenze, Italia- the 3th most visited city in Italy. I wake up every morning to tourists franticly navigating through the crowds. Mostly Asians. I'm always on the look out for Max, but I haven't found him yet.
Florence is wonderful, and I'm proud to say that I no longer consider myself a tourista. I wear skinny jeans, dark clothing, and I carry Italian leather. I can communicate with the locals (kind of), and my daily intake of cappuccino = sweet eugenes x 10.
It's been a long three weeks! So much has happened... let's see. I'll hit the highlights. 1. My favorite city to visit so far has been Venice. It's SO cool. It's just a bunch of tiny little islands linked together by bridges. Crazy. How does that work? You'd think they'd eventually start to drift apart..at least a little.. but they don't. The picture above is from the top of Venice. 2. Horseback riding through Tuscany was wonderful. I used to think that the most beautiful place in the world was the Texas Hill Country, but I'm afraid the bar has been raised. 3. Listening to music on the Ponte Vecchio every night (the Ponte Vecchio is the famous old bridge in Italy with all the shops) 4. Consuming my weight in gelato 5. Flirting with a worker at St. Peter's basilica so we were able to climb the top of the dome for free (GREAT view of Rome!) 6. Waking up with a new mosquito bite on my face- every day.
Right now, I'm watching Harry Potter 4, blogging (ovbi), and booking my flight to Barce. I miss all of ya'll terribly! Over these past few weeks.. I've cried, thought, and prayed.. a lot- and here are my thoughts... I didn't realize how lucky I was to have you guys as friends, until we were separated. I took for granted the encouragement, love, and sincerity that I received from all of you on a daily basis. Being here and meeting new people has made me realize how unique our friendships are- and I miss our community. It was really hard adjusting at first, but I eventually came to realize that God has His own agenda for my stay here in Italy- and I truly believe that for all of our summers. So, with that being said- amongst the classes, traveling, sunbathing, and sleeping- don't forget about the greater purpose that we, as believers, are called to.
More updates to come- Peace out.
T-minus 2 days
3:12 pm Dallas, Texas
I just finished vacationing with my family in a beautiful, timeless utopia, known as Manchester-by-the-Sea in Massachusetts, staying in a quaint cottage that overlooks "Singing Beach." Quaint meaning two bedrooms, one bathroom, and 5 steps needed to get to any part of the house, which now the entire Smiley family has squeezed ourselves into- somehow I ended up on the couch. Needless to say, good quality family time has commenced upon arrival.
This vacation is always the joy of my family's summer. For one, we get to see our beloved Aunt and Uncle, but also it is a great time to catch up on pleasure reading. Clay decided to be quite the Crusader this summer, taking on books by Christian heavyweights like C.S. Lewis and John Piper. However, about 70 pages into John Piper's "Desiring God," he found a small business card, titled "Metroplex Atheists." It goes on to say, "If you are looking for us, we are looking for you," followed by a number and address in Dallas. (Warning: This book was bought at a Borders in Dallas- the atheists have infiltrated our ranks and are planting business cards in the Spiritual section worldwide!). We debated calling the number and setting up their leader with a one-on-one with the Jude, but after some thought, we decided against it. Instead, Clay has abandoned "Desiring God," and is now using the hedonist/SKETCH card as a bookmark in his John Grisham. hmmm....
Well, with that, I am signing off. This most likely will be my last post from stateside.
Paige
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Sketch
For everyones viewing pleasure (particularly those who like to use the word "sketch" [particularly Piage]), here is a picture of an actual car I saw while in Barcelona.
Monday, June 9, 2008
Ethpanya
7:37 PM, Bonn
First, if you are planning to save big money by using one of those bargain airlines that they have over here, don't forget to account for the extra fees of trains and buses to get to their obscure airports. It took a train, a bus, a plane, and another bus to get me to Barcelona, but it was definitely worth it.
Best things about Barcelona:
1. Remembering just minutes after arrival that Spanish people are white
2. Seeing friends for the first time in three weeks.
3. Exploring the city for 6 hours and almost getting lost while the aforementioned friends learned things like "photography" and "sports"
4. Lots of Forn
5. Saving 15 Euro total for bringing my own water everywhere
6. Watching dogs pee in the street because Barcelona doesn't have any grass
7. Following Alex the Navigator through obscure alleys to surprisingly fine dining
8. Dancing in club "Opium" with 500 other locals, including that bald 40 year old guy that was with us for half an hour
9. Getting naked on a nude beach to change from my boxers to my swimsuit and getting gawked at because apparently "nude" beaches are really just "topless" beaches
9.2. Staying up til 3 every night with Cody to catch the NBA finals, even though they only came on once
9.3. Noticing that every thousandth man I see has long black hair, a white button down shirt, and is posed casually in a doorway and I can't help but wonder if he is a sword fighter
9.5. Spending the last night in a Muslim bar eating pitas, hummus, weird tea, and excellent hookah, then running into some Germans in the street and talking to them
10. Walking through Barcelona at 4:30 am to catch my bus to the airport and being impressed that I saw only 6 people on my half hour trek
Even though it's pretty dirty and over-populated, Barcelona is a fantastic city. I'm pretty sure I've only tapped it's potential. But bottom line, it was good to see friends.
See you all soon,
Thomas, aka Tomas, aka Tomath (Spanish people have lisps)
First, if you are planning to save big money by using one of those bargain airlines that they have over here, don't forget to account for the extra fees of trains and buses to get to their obscure airports. It took a train, a bus, a plane, and another bus to get me to Barcelona, but it was definitely worth it.
Best things about Barcelona:
1. Remembering just minutes after arrival that Spanish people are white
2. Seeing friends for the first time in three weeks.
3. Exploring the city for 6 hours and almost getting lost while the aforementioned friends learned things like "photography" and "sports"
4. Lots of Forn
5. Saving 15 Euro total for bringing my own water everywhere
6. Watching dogs pee in the street because Barcelona doesn't have any grass
7. Following Alex the Navigator through obscure alleys to surprisingly fine dining
8. Dancing in club "Opium" with 500 other locals, including that bald 40 year old guy that was with us for half an hour
9. Getting naked on a nude beach to change from my boxers to my swimsuit and getting gawked at because apparently "nude" beaches are really just "topless" beaches
9.2. Staying up til 3 every night with Cody to catch the NBA finals, even though they only came on once
9.3. Noticing that every thousandth man I see has long black hair, a white button down shirt, and is posed casually in a doorway and I can't help but wonder if he is a sword fighter
9.5. Spending the last night in a Muslim bar eating pitas, hummus, weird tea, and excellent hookah, then running into some Germans in the street and talking to them
10. Walking through Barcelona at 4:30 am to catch my bus to the airport and being impressed that I saw only 6 people on my half hour trek
Even though it's pretty dirty and over-populated, Barcelona is a fantastic city. I'm pretty sure I've only tapped it's potential. But bottom line, it was good to see friends.
See you all soon,
Thomas, aka Tomas, aka Tomath (Spanish people have lisps)
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