Back to the Basics?

How We Make Working Work For Us

I love it!!! Saw that link on my friend's blog. I can't tell you how it made me smile! I was immediately transported back to the days of my youth in West Papua, seeing mothers working in the gardens with their babies on their backs in their string bags (tried to find examples online; see below--no babies in these pics). Irony from so many angles, as we in the west are generally considered to be the "advanced" ones in technology and thought, and here is an example of the west finally catching up to the "primitive" ways of those who live in what is often considered stone age living. I mean no disrespect to any party, I just found myself totally humored by the article, trying to figure out how these cycles of discovery and new invention work. I don't know if I'm making any sense whatsoever....

To Market, To Market...

Tonight I went to a big open-air market with tons of locally-made crafts and food galore. SO FUN! Got my picture taken with the lady who hand-made the purse I bought.











Mmmm... sticky rice cooked in a bamboo shoot. Peel it back like a banana and yum, yum, yum!

Below: a woman spooning out and cooking pork "meat balls" for noodle soup; "omelettes" cooked in banana leaves over the grill!














My chicken shish kabob with fresh pineapple, bell pepper, and onion (not pictured: the pineapple... first to go).

YUM! :)

A Little Cramped

We love trains! We wanted to ride the train in Thailand, but seats were sold out, so we got snagged into riding a tour bus. We climbed up to the top, excited about the space and comfy seats, got all settled with snacks, blankets and pillows, only to be informed that we were supposed to be "downstairs." Gathering all our stuff, we headed down into a dark, hot dungeon of squashed seating. Was this the priveleged seating or for the unpriveleged? I wanted to know. Searching for the lady who had moved us, I found the upstairs practically empty and the lady nowhere to be found. The bus began to move, so I decided I was going to go sit where I wanted! Back up we moved. After resettling, about 15 minutes into the promised 10-hr trekk, the bus stopped, a bunch of people climbed on, and our seats were demanded. Walk of shame #2.

Back to the dungeon. We had been promised a free meal, though.... Never got it. Couldn't get comfortable. Finally I decided to try to sleep on the floor and let C have both seats. A little better, but what a long ride! Around 4:30 am we stopped, and a bunch of people got off. Free seats upstairs! We jumped at the opportunity. Lugged everything back upstairs, resettled, smiling to ourselves and exclaiming, "Third time's the charm!" :) The bus took off a little before 5 am, and in less than 10 minutes stopped again. "Last stop!" What??????? We thought we were still at least an hour away from our city. Seriously??? Yup. Walk of shame #3 back down those stairs, and this time off the bus. Turned out to be a 9-hour ride instead of 10. We piled into a tuk-tuk who dropped us off at our guest house, 5:15 am, dark, rainy, all doors locked, no one around. Our beginnings in Thailand.... :)

The other night after spending some time in a mall, there was no transportation to be found. It had rained earlier that day, and apparently no one felt like working. So, 4 of us piled on the one piece of transportation to be had by our friends who live in the area, laughing hysterically. Only wish we had a video of it or a better picture--especially of the gasps of shock as we passed people on the street. :) 4-5 people on a motorcycle is a common sight in Asia, but 4-5 Asians... NOT big-bodied westerners!!! Note: length of motorcycle is considerably shorter than it appears in this picture. Front and back persons are only very partially on the seat!

I Love My Workshop (1)

Art can warm even a chilled and sunless soul to an exalted spiritual experience. Through art we occasionally receive--indistinctly, briefly--revelations the likes of which cannot be achieved by rational thought. It is like the small mirror of legend; you look into it but instead of seeing yourself you glimpse for a moment the inaccessible, a realm forever beyond reach, And your soul begins to ache...

- Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

Back to B-town

I went back for a visit today to see friends where I did my language study. It was great to reconnect with dorm friends, teachers, and neighbors.

Happy, Sad, Angry, Glad

Last night I went to Chili's!!! Oh, what a happy night. And they even let me take home my leftover blottomless chips 'n' salsa! Sadly, I spent a good 20-30 minutes deliberating which dessert I wanted--the Molten Chocolate Cake or the Chocolate Chip Paradise Pie, and when I finally consulted a waitress, was informed that they were out of both. :(
In the end, I was glad the decision was made for me, because I couldn't have possibly fit it in my stomach anyway.

By the way, did anyone ever read that book as a kid?
Happy, Sad, Angry, Glad: How People Feel Inside
by Gail Peterson, 1978.... To teach kids about emotions.

Ecclesiastes 5:19-20

"...when God gives any man wealth and possessions, and enables him to enjoy them, to accept his lot and be happy in his work--this is a gift of God. He seldom reflects on the days of his life, because God keeps him occupied with gladness of heart."

I want to be occupied with gladness of heart! By the standards of my home country, my wealth and possessions are insignificant. Compared to the rich people of the world, I am a pauper! But weighed by the majority of the world, my wealth and possessions are abundant. My work encompasses my skills, abilities, and passions.

So why is my gladness of heart so often missing? I get so bogged down with trying to scrimp, save, and protect my wealth and possessions. I stress myself out trying to be responsible and achieve "perfection" with my work. But here Solomon exalts enjoying our wealth and possessions, and being happy with our work. May I do so with gladness of heart!

Birthday Pride

For my teammate's birthday I made my first pizza crust, which was a lot of fun. Everyone topped their own pizzas, and my other teammates had bell peppers, which was super exciting. Thin crust whole wheat veggie pizza. Yum! The electricity died on us, so we ended up partying by candlelight, picnic-style in the house. B made cake and they decorated C's tent at camp. I love birthdays! They are so fun to celebrate.

Candle light

My porch became grand central station for candle lighting a few days before the biggest annual religious celebration here. For 2 nights all the little kids were carrying around candles in coconut shells and putting candles in front of their homes. The little girls next door claimed my porch a week in advance. :) Looked a bit like Christmas.

Ugh... Stay Healthy.

Last week I came down with a cold which turned into a fever/flu. The first day I improved, I didn't take care to rest up, and in fact went so far as to get LESS rest than I would ever dream of when in a healthy body! Talk about a breakdown. Have you ever gotten yourself worked into such a frenzy that you couldn't see out of it and worked yourself into total paralysis? Not fun. Words cannot describe the state of mind (unless maybe you read my 11 pages of journaling from 5-7 am on September 27). What a mess. New levels of doom and condemnation for me. I can't imagine what it is like for people who struggle with this on a regular basis. Trying to take it easy. Doing much better now, thanks to the support of my teammates. But I think it is time for a break....