Waiting on the other end

My family is taking pictures of them waiting for me. :)




Just found out that it will probably be late Thursday night that we'll be together.

Stuck

I left the island on Wednesday, headed to Singapore to have a 2-week vacation with my parents and sister. For months I had been planning a reunion with a good friend in my supply town before she returned home. We were even booked on the same flight Thursday night--she had a layover in Singapore. We had a great 30 hours hanging out together before we hopped in a taxi for the airport, 2 hours ahead of our flight as recommended. After sorting through several luggage complications at check-in, we proceeded to taxes and immigration. A man behind a desk looked at my brand-new passport and asked me when I last entered the country. I racked my brain to remember.

"Where is your old passport?" he asked.

"I don't have it with me." I said, with a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach as he began to question me about various things. Eventually he waved me on to get a pass for paying an exit tax. I thought everything was ok, but wondered if I should run back to the guest house where my old passport was (thankfully I didn't leave it on the island!!!).

In immigration, I was ushered into a superior's office, and told that I definitely needed my old passport. By this time there was less than an hour left until departure. I called the guest house, and someone graciously retrieved my passport and brought it to me--just after they called our flight to proceed to the waiting room. I handed my old passport to the immigration man. After thumbing through it, he said, "Your multiple exit/re-entry permit expired in April. You cannot leave the country."

Suddenly I felt like I was in a dream (or nightmare?). It isn't real. This isn't really happening. It can't be. Am I going to cry? No, because this isn't really happening. If I do cry, will this guy let me get on the plane? There HAS to be a way out.

There were less than 30 minutes left. More brain-racking. Who could I call? Surely there was a way to fix this. Well, there wasn't. If I got on that plane, I would not be allowed back in the country. My passport needed to be sent to the capital and I needed to apply for a permit. It was 8:30 at night. The next day was Friday. Even with same-day shipping, nothing could be done until Monday--government offices are only open half-days on Friday, and are closed Saturday and Sunday.

So here I sit, stuck in my supply town, Monday morning finally approaching. I have reason to hope that I can obtain a permit in 1-2 days, then wait for my passports to be mailed back to me, and hopefully the airlines will have an open seat for me. School is out, so a lot of people are traveling now. Despite the kafuffle, there are some things to be thankful for, like:

1. As long as I fly within 2 weeks of my original plans, the airlines will not charge me extra for the flight changes.

2. I was refunded my airport tax.

3. My parents now live in Singapore, so they are not going anywhere for a while. Charis is planning on taking some classes there this summer, so I will still be able to see her, even with the readjustment of my plans.

4. I was able to see another friend who was headed out to the island to keep C company in my absence.

5. I am super tired from these last 2 months of island life. It wore me down more than usual. My body and spirit are welcoming pre-vacation isolation and rest. It will be even more enjoyable to see my family on full tanks of gas.

Please pray that the permit is obtained quickly, and that the airlines has a seat for me! Thanks.

De-husking

Earlier this week I learned how to get the husk off a coconut without injuring myself. Tough stuff! I had a couple tutors. Apparently a big storm had come in the night before, so the girls went and collected a bunch of coconuts that fell so they could sell them--about 80 cents per kilo.

Hard Work

We went out for lobster the other night and had some yummy "fan" lobster. Other times when I've had it, they whacked it in half, but this time I had to break it open wit my bare hands. I nearly bled! :) But it was worth it.

Random chillings....

So, our internet has been out of comission for a full week. Great to have it back! I tackled my 52 new emails, and now posting a few pictures from my week....


The neighbor's kitchen turned into a coconut factory last Sunday.


Me and my buddy JE enjoying some watermelon.

Cake!!! C brought cake back as a gift for the neighbors, so we had a bit of a crowd in our kitchen yesterday morning.

the Newleyweds

Grandma returned last week with her son and new daughter-in-law. Although the wedding and festivities occurred in the bride's hometown off the island, there were some celebrations held next door a few days after their arrival. Being considered family, and being next door, there was no escaping the activity. Our living room became an overflow "dining room" for about 20 men, and all the cooking occured behind our house. We had front-row seats since our kitchen is screened-in like a florida-room. :)

Starting from the top left photo and moving clockwise:
creative island-style shade from the intense sun while grating/shaving up gobs of coconuts for the ladies' cooking; me and the ladies preparing napkins for guests; the couple, dressed up again for the occasion of the bride meeting the groom's village; friends observing a blessing ceremony from the window; a procession of family members and friends speaking words of blessing and sprinkling the couple with water and yellow rice (uncooked); gift-wrapping station in our kitchen; outdoor cooking station created in the space between our house, the neighbor's house and the well (a temporary shelter was set up that became a hangout for the ladies); friends stirring a big veggie dish.

Center photo: a close-up of greeting the bride and groom. Note the painted fingernails of both bride and groom. They use some sort of thick paste (henna-like?) that leaves the nails dyed when removed. It stays on until the fingernails grow out again.

More on Waiting

Another Streams in the Desert.
Meant to post this sooner (click to enlarge).

New baby

A friend just had her baby, so we went to visit.

Transformation

New battery = new computer.

At least that is what it feels like. The last few weeks were pretty stressful, as my laptop battery zeroed out. Electricity was rarely on, and when it did come on, it wasn't steady. It would go off and on. I would be booting up my computer, all excited to have electricity, then the electric would die for a few minutes. But the instant it died, so did my laptop. Then I coudn't be bothered to reboot. I can't count how many "unexpected shutdowns" it endured.

And then, I ordered a new battery, and someone brought it to me this week. Now when the electric dies, I have over 7 hours of battery life! My stress level dropped, and I feel like I have a brand new computer. :) And I say to myself: what a wonderful world.

W.C.

Tried a new toilet this morning. I was recently informed that they built a WC behind the mosque next door to us. I trotted/ trekked through the jungle behind Mindy (my 7-yr-old buddy who lives next door on the other side) to try it out.


She hopped in the first "stall" with a torn curtain, so I went round to the next one. Turns out a torn curtain is better than no curtain, which was the fate of stall #2. I stood there, considering for a moment whether or not to go. I decided to risk it. After all, there was a fair amount of jungle foliage near the "doorway," and I was wearing a sarong.



After a few moments Mindy called out, "Kak" [term for older sister], "you finished yet?"

"No, go on ahead of me."

She appeared in the doorway. "Are you done?" she asked again.

"No, go away! I can't poop with you standing there!"

As she stood there observing my squat, I tried not to die a thousand deaths and made sure my sarong had my behind covered. Sarahjoy, let go of your privacy. Let it go, let it go, let it go. Don't let her know you're mortified. Die, mortification, die. Perspective, SJ. Keep it in the balance. This is no big deal to her.

"Do you have water?"


"Yes, now go away so I can poop!!!
I'll be along in a minute. You go on home ahead of me," I tried to reason with a firm voice.

She stepped inside to look in the bak [water storage] and assess my water situation for herself and then stepped back.


After looking at me for another moment, she said, "Kak, I'm gonna go on home first, ok?"

"OK!" Great idea. Who thought of it? :)

I took care of my "reporting" in grateful solitude and trekked the 10 yards/meters or so back home, deciding, I think I prefer less adventure for my morning constitutional. I'd rather walk 3 doors down the other direction and tell eveyone I pass where I'm going and what I'm going to do and then have a secure door to hide my behind behind.

*** By way of a disclaimer, I have used the word "poop" freely here to give you a taste of conversational life here (not saying life tastes like poop--maybe poor word choice?). People talk about it as casually as we might talk about brushing our teeth in the U.S.

The Road Again

So, it's great to have a paved road, but now when I need to send the aqua jug to town for refilling, I have to sit by the road and wait for the trucks to go by, because they go way too fast to yell at them and make them stop!

Mmmm...

Sorry if you wish I would post something other than clips from Streams in the Desert. I just can't help myself.

Do you know how to... pray prevailingly? Let sight give as discouraging reports as it may, but pay no attention to these. The Living God is still in the heavens and even to delay is part of his goodness.

- Arthur T. Pierson

It is nearly 3:30 a.m. The electric has been horrible lately. Apparently the island has 5 generators, and 4 are broken. To top things off, my computer battery is now non-existent. As soon as the electricity dies, my computer dies with it. What happens to a computer after many repeated, unexpected shutdowns? Anyway, I got up to go to the bathroom at 2:30 am, and since the electric was on, I plugged in the laptop to try and order a new computer battery, to be hand-carried here next week. Fortunately I succeeded. I think I am about to shut down my computer myself for the first time in a week (rather than having it die with the electric).

Good night, all.

Waiting

I once thought that, too.... Wait a minute... Really? Am I not supposed to think that? Isn't that what I'm supposed to do?... Hello. What a wake-up call. Waiting is so hard for me. Call me Madame Precipitancy.










Since February 1, there is not an ounce of physical productivity I could hand to anyone to show for my time over the last 3 months. We collected local stories for the cultural handbook at the end of January. We did print certificates and pictures of our story-collecting weekend and deliver them to the men, along with CDs of the stories (those CDs were the bane of my existence for 2 months—I could NOT figure out how to make a CD that would work on their players here), but other than that, nothing.

After the workshop, our plan was to transcribe the stories with people in our village. However, they said the stories had too much of the national language mixed in and that it was weird to hear men telling the stories—“Grandmas are the ones who tell stories” they said. So, plan modified. We would ask the older ladies in our village if they could help us by retelling the stories using the cultural experts’ recordings as a resource. With each request, we were denied—“I am not a good story teller;” or “I am not good enough in the local language;” or “Your neighbor needs to do it.”

We call our next-door-neighbor “Grandma Charley.” She is a middle-aged-woman, twelve years a widow, who adopted us as her own daughters from the day she met us, and we love her dearly. She has 6 grandchildren with another on the way. After listening to some of the recordings, Grandma Charley said, “These are good stories. I didn’t know all the details before. I’ll help you with them, but I’m busy right now.” It has been 3 months. After asking and poking and trying other people, we are always directed back to this woman, and here we sit, obstructed by her busy schedule. Today she left the island for her son’s wedding....

I feel like I’ve been on a very steep learning curve. Most days I feel I am tumbling backwards. Character work is so much harder than physical labor. A couple months ago, a friend sent me a questionnaire that included the question, What do you fear most?. I have given it a lot of thought since then, and have come to the conclusion that one of the things I most fear (if not the most) is man's disapproval. God’s disapproval probably seems like it ought to concern me more, but—depending on the day—I have a fair amount of security in that arena, knowing His Word says I am accepted because of the work of His Son. While I say that, I must admit I am concurrently dealing with the question, Do I really believe that God is pleased with me? I can’t really distinguish lines between who I am trying to please/who I am trying to please more—God, or man? All I know is that these questions are ever before me as of late. I pray I am making progress in understanding and believing God more--even if He is the only one who can see it.

Kittens!

Butch, the camp kitty, had some kittens early last week. This is her second litter. Sadly, all 3 from her first litter died. A very sad time indeed at camp as she wandered around crying, looking for her babies. :( These, however, all seem to be healthy and strong!

Streams in the Desert, L. B. Cowman

Another clip, this one from April 5. I'm afraid I traditionally prefer to be on the treadmill, thinking I can calculate what will happen. I want to learn to "live in the gap," as my teammate says--that chasm between my abilities and God's, where I cannot--do not--stand on what I can do...

Food is Art

I love taking pictures of food! Okay, you know I just love food, too. Well last night I started collecting my food pictures from different folders, and I was amazed at the variety I have gotten to see--and experience (not all of it) over the last six months or so. Check it out:

Prayer

Okay, so there may just be lots of quotes in my blog for a while. Or maybe it will be a bit more permanent? Anyway, heard this prayer (written by St. Francis of Assisi I believe) at the end of a sermon by Jeremy Jobson. I particularly liked the first 2 stanzas. May it be true for you and me:

May God bless you with a restless discomfort about easy answers, half-truths and superficial relationships, so that you may seek truth boldly and love deep within your heart.

May God bless you with holy anger at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people, so that you may tirelessly work for justice, freedom, and peace among all people.

Hiking

After meetings one day, a group of us went hiking nearby. I nearly died at the pace that was set! As you can see from the photos, I stayed in the rear the whole time--except for each time we got lost and had to retrace our steps to try again (which happened, oh, maybe 3 or 4 times?).

Gorgeous views. Lots of wading through weeds and flower bushes. I finally told the gang to leave me. I was not along for the exercise; I was along for the view. :) I miss mountains!!!

Meetings

Been traveling and in meetings this week/last week....

Good Stuff

From Streams in the Desert, by L. B. Cowman

Bourne Marathon

So yesterday for the first time I watched The Bourne Identity, then The Bourne Supremacy, and then The Bourne Ultimatum, all in one afternoon/evening. Enjoyed them all.

It's been a while since I've watched an action movie. Oddly,
it was just us girls watching; no guys. Go figure. Hopefully they'll put out another movie soon--I want the David Webb bit! I guess Eric Van Lustbader took Jason Bourne and ran like crazy with him in The Bourne Legacy,... Betrayal,... Sanction, and now The Bourne Deception, due to be released this year. Has anyone been reading the whole series? Can they possibly stay good all the way? How far will this go? How does an author obtain permission to use another author's character and story line?

After a little research, I have discovered (what maybe you already know) that Robert Ludlum--author of The Bourne Identity; Supremacy; and Ultimatum--died in 2001 and 3 years later Van Lustbader picked up the Jason Bourne character, 14 years after The Ultimatum was written. Apparently that particular film was very loosly based on the book. There was a crazy bunch of background on David Webb not included in the movies. I wonder which author laid it out? Can't figure out which book all that background is in. Curious if it will come forth in a later movie? If they don’t make another Bourne movie, I may be forced to read the books. Ack! More books by my bed....