On the journey...

New job!

2009-09-09T16:34:00.000-07:00

So, I finally did it (or I should say God did it)! I started a new job this week and, boy, am I tired! I haven't worked a full day in months, let alone get up before 8 am! It feels amazing to be up before the sun rises and to so work hard for 8 hours that I can come home and fully enjoy my rest because, after all, I deserve it!

I love having a new group of women to befriend, new patients to get to know, new processes to adapt to, a new office environment to work in. I can say all of this now but if you had talked to me on Thursday night, after I'd accepted the job, you would have thought my world had just ended and that I was about to enter the job from hell.

Thursday was my fourth interview at this Pain Management Clinic in Los Gatos. I had interviewed with the Operations Manager, the owner, and the doctor. Now was my first 8 hour work day, but I wasn't hired yet. I was going to be judged on how well I did a job that I had never been trained to do. I had nightmares for a week leading up to the big day and had to work extra hard to keep a smile on my face as I entered the doctor's office for my judgment day.

It was the fastest work day I've ever had! I came in at 8 am and from the second I sat down, the phone did not stop ringing and the patients did not stop coming! No exaggeration. I checked patients in, answered the phone, typed up messages for the doctor, and scheduled new appointments. It was hectic and stressful and I loved it...and hated it. I had been wanting this job for a month and now that I was there, I was having second thoughts. Was I capable of doing this? Could I learn all of these new terms and processes? Was I going to be a detriment or a help to this staff? I started doubting my abilities a bit and wondering if I was ready to start on the bottom of the totem pole again. By the end of the day, they asked me if I wanted the job and I said yes. I was still nervous about it but I was also so ready to leave the job I have now and to make some extra money so I could get by.

I went home and cried...for two hours. Everyone asked me why I was so upset. I just got a new job, why wasn't I happy? I couldn't understand it either. I think the past 2 months caught up with me and my emotional breakdown just needed to come. I cried about my piling bills, my sadness about leaving the job I've been in for over two years, my worries about having to learn a whole new job, sadness to not seeing my boyfriend everyday anymore, worries that this new job still wouldn't pay all of my bills, worries that I won't be able to get up everyday so early (I haven't worked before 8 am in years), and worries that I was just too bogged down with too many things to do. I was stressed, overwhelmed, worried, and nervous about this huge change in my life. Why? I wasn't letting God take care of it like I should have. I had let him lead me to this job and when He finally GAVE IT TO ME, I freaked out and second judged the decision because I had started holding on too tight and I couldn't tell if it was MY decision or GOD'S anymore. That's where I fouled up and that's where I changed my thinking during the weekend.

I started praying again and, guess what? I had a really good week at my new job. I am actually, get this, LOVING it! I absolutely adore the girls I work with (every one of them!) and I really like the patients I'm getting to know. It's fun to have new things to learn, and stressful. I have always wanted to work in the medical field and now I am much closer than I have ever been before. I'm already learning how to read and call in prescriptions, how to read treatment charts, and how to schedule appointments. I love how streamlined the processes are in this new office. Imagine- every girl there knows how to do everyone else's job and, therefore, can help out wherever needed at any time. Everyone dives in and answers phones and takes on tasks. There is no hierarchy, although everyone is qualified to do their own specific things. Obviously, each girl has her own job but they are all so willing to help each other and I am no exception. I can ask anyone anything anytime and they are all so patient. I'm catching on quickly but there is still so much to learn and it will take me months to do it. I just love how positive and happy this environment is, even amidst complete chaos. That isn't to say that we haven't had drama in the office or stressed out patients or problems. That's the amazing thing. This stuff can take things as they come with a smile on their face and the right attitude. I am so grateful for this new experience. It's going to be tough but already, it's become easier than I ever thought it would be. God has given me the right attitude and the memory I need to retain information. I hate making mistakes and dread those times but, as long as I acknowledge that they will occur and that I will just learn from them, I know it will be okay. Praise God for His gift to me. I am so excited about this new stage in my life.

That said, I am becoming a but melancholy about my last day at CHA. I am going to miss these people I work with. I know I'll keep in touch with most of them but it won't be the same to not see them everyday. I wont miss anything else, though, and for that, I'm grateful. I just hope that my work there during these past two and a half years will leave a positive impression on those I leave behind. I have an "exit interview" tomorrow, which I'm a little nervous about but I will be praying today and tomorrow that God gives me all the right words to say and that I say what needs to be said but in the most positively critical way possible. Only God can do that!

New possiblities

2009-08-17T15:19:00.000-07:00

I can't believe that it's been over a month since I last blogged. Let me tell you- so much has happened since then! When I returned home from Uganda last month, I had every intention of writing again, so I could finish updating everyone on the last week of our trip. Unfortunately, that did not happen because the week I came back, I was spiritually tested beyond what I thought I could bear and so low that I didn't feel like writing. I was distracted by my own misery and, in that, forgot all about Africa and everything I'd gone there for.

Looking back on this past month of my spiritual test, it's so easy to see that my world was not falling apart, as I thought it was, and that God truly had me in His hands the whole time. Through it, I was constantly reminded to lean on Him more than ever and it brought me to a new place of spiritual refreshment and excitement. However, I was also so distracted by what was going on, that I forgot all about Uganda, the kids, and everything I'd learned about myself and God through my experience (just what Satan wanted).

When I initially returned, I started having back problems and before I knew it I was laid up on my couch for almost a week in intense pain. The pain continued for weeks. Then, my boss told me he was cutting my hours in HALF. That was a huge blow, especially since I was somewhat tight financially anyway, since I'd just returned from a month of no income. Then, my boyfriend's mom, who is suffering from cancer, got incredibly worse very fast, and my grandma found out her cancer had returned. Then, my dad had his surgery and my mom was struggling with her own health issues. I was incredibly worried about all of my friends and family who were suffering around me and I was also worried about my own future. Then, I was told I was being dropped from my medical benefits.

I really felt scared to go anywhere or do anything because every time I picked up the phone or went in to work, there was more bad news. Ever have weeks, months, or years like that? Well, my bad bout lasted a month. I was low, depressed, no fun to be around, scared, worried, burdened, and empty. That's when God started waking me up.

My friend who we had hired at work right before I left for Africa, became my light in the darkness. Her passion for life and faith in Christ led our conversations and before I knew it, I was embarking on a new career path. She is a consultant for PartyLite, a home fragrance and home decor company, and she helped me get started doing the same thing. Knowing I have a new way to earn income, while I look for another job, is a huge relief to me and a blessing. Her joy is contagious and it has helped me become joyful again in the office, as well as in my new business. Through this business, I have had the opportunity to reignite old relationships and even to create new ones. I have only been 2 weeks in the PartyLite world, but I feel blessed tenfold by it already! Here's my website, in case you want to check it out: www.partylite.biz/sites/chelsealyn/

Then, God started moving me in my heart to get back to church, start reading my Bible again, and start praying specifically for my Bible Study group. I prayed that I would become a better example of Christ to these girls and that I would talk to Him more about what He wanted to do through me and through them. It became an explosion this summer, as I started getting in touch with them again and started meeting with some of them. It turns out, they all want the same things and have awesome ideas of ways to help this group of young women grow in Christ!

God has also taught me things through my financial crisis, just like a good dad. I have always struggled with my finances and it has always come between me and God. Now, I am forced to assess every penny I am spending and it has really woken me up. I am setting new goals for my spending for when I get a new job and I am excited about growing up in this area. I have also been blessed i a way because this has allowed me to feel, in the slightest way, how people living in poverty must feel. I don't have enough money to pay all of my bills, let alone buy gas, or food so everyday is a struggle. I am blessed with family and friends who support me and yet so many do not have any options and they are forced to go without food for days at a time.

God has also blessed me through this part time job experience with TIME. I have had time in my mornings to visit old friends I haven't seen in years, to plan for my small group meetings, to work on my PartyLite business, to help my mom clean her house, to plan my best friend's bridal shower and bachelorette party, and to do things I normally would be rushing around trying to accomplish in my evenings. Thank you, God, for giving me this time this summer. I really think I needed just that!

All in all, I feel more spiritually refreshed and mature having gone through this awful month. I feel God moving in my life and moving me towards something new and exciting. I am open to the possibilities that lie ahead for me and can't wait to find out what they are. I will keep you all updated.

The Nile

2009-06-16T23:55:00.000-07:00

One of my long time dreams came true Tuesday, when I actually got to take a boat ride on the Nile! I even put my hands in this historic, ancient river. It was beautiful and so peaceful there. Since it was a Tuesday, it was pretty quiet. What an adventure getting to and from there, though!

We got to the taxi park in Kampala at about 10:30 in the morning and found the bus going to Jinja (which is where the source of the Nile is). The bus was almost full by the time we got on it so I had to cram into the back seat with three other people while Raquel had to sit in one of the pull down seats in the middle of the aisle (the least comfortable place to be). At least I was by the window, which is good for the trip but bad for the taxi park. It was so hot that we were all sweating just sitting there so I had to leave the window open. Unfortunately, when you do this in a taxi park, hundreds of people come by trying to shove their goods on you to buy. You can buy anything from water to shoes to biscuits to table linens. If you're a mzungu, you're even more of a target, so I had the happy task of trying to get rid of these pushy guys as they came by my window. Some of them started getting more aggressive as time went on. One guy asked me if I wanted water. I said no. Then he shoved the water bottle through the window, into my face, asking I would buy it. I gently pushed it away and firmly said "no." You know what he did? He shoved me! Unbelievable! I was so done at that point. Thank goodness the bus was starting to move at that time. We had sat there for a half hour before leaving the taxi park.

So, then I had a small boy, maybe 1 year old, sitting on his mama's lap next to me. He gave me the evil eye pretty much the entire trip. He also felt it necessary to throw food at me. Fun. Three hours later, we arrived in Jinja. Thank God. Then we had the fun task of throwing off all the boda drivers who hounded us the second we got off the bus. We went into the gas station nearby and asked them where to go and how much a boda ride should be. Then we found a driver and asked him to take us to the source of the Nile. He asked for 2500. I told him 2000. He said 2500. I turned to the boda driver next to him and asked him if HE would take us or 2000. Before he could respond, our boda driver said, "Ok, let's go". haha, that meant he'd take us for 2000. Good negotiating skills, huh? :)

Once we got to the Nile, it was so peaceful, we felt like it was a welcome respite from the crazy taxi ride. Hardly anyone was there, being that it was a Tuesday afternoon. (Except for some school kids on field trips, who asked for pictures with us.) We ate lunch at a little restaurant overlooking the Nile. It was all outdoor seating, with a thatched roof for shelter. We had chicken and chips. Then we decided to take a boat ride on the Nile. It was only about a 20 minute ride but it was so amazing to be floating on the Nile! Our driver took us to Lake Victoria then back down the Nile. The source of the Nile is Lake Victoria and the river flows all the way to the Mediterranean Sea. It takes four months for it to get from Uganda to Egypt. Crazy!

After our boat ride, we were ready to go, knowing that our ride would be another 3 hours and we really needed to be back before dark. We got to the taxi park and were very pleased to have our pick of seats. We sat in the back, together, next to the window and the taxi filled up so fast that we were able to leave by 3:30pm. A few hours later, however, we stopped due to brake problems and had to wait for another taxi to come along and pick us up. We didn't get back to the city until 7 pm. Once we got to Kampala, the city was more of a zoo than usual. Traffic was bumper to bumper. It was dark by this time and we were ready to get home, especially after the happenings of the night before in front of our house (I'll tell you that story in a minute). We kept inching closer and closer to the taxi park but not very quickly. At about 7:15, the taxi stopped and the driver told everyone to get out. Raquel and I didn't know exactly where we were so we wanted to move fast and get a boda driver asap. We asked the first one we saw to take us home. We didn't even haggle over the price. We got on and received the ride of our lives. He raced through traffic so fast we felt like we were going to fall off. He sped between cars so we felt like we might lose a limb. He almost hit a taxi and almost hit a bus. We had to stop short a few times. By the time we got to Sanyu, we were shaking from all of the adrenaline and had to drag ourselves up the stairs to safety. The next day we found out exactly why the city was such a madhouse. Apparently, there had been a strike at the car parts shops, which are located next to the taxi park. There were fires and riots. They were burning tires so even driving through the city for the next few day, we came back with black soot all over our faces.

The next day, when we walked down that street, the asphalt was black from the fires. We were lucky that e were dropped off so far away from all of that craziness. These last few days have been really interesting. On Monday night, a woman was robbed on the street in frott of our house. It was about 8:30 at night and it was RIGHT in front of our house. We heard her screaming and ran out to see what had happened. She must have screamed for 15 or 20 minutes. She had been walking by herself down the dark street and someone had come out of the bushes and stole her purse from her. She was in shock so she kept screaming. It was unnerving, to say the least. We had 7 pm curfew anyway but now we saw why. This is a street that we take home every night, too. Then, this morning, we saw one of the volunteers who stays at Sanyu and she was all scraped up and a mess. She was hit by a boda driver the day before. This city is insane! Thank God we have been kept safe and are leaving soon. Keep hose prayers coming!

Well, I'd love to share more about our week's adventures but I have to go now to the slum program. I won't be able to access internet again until I get back home (unless I get to when we're in London). These next few days will be crazy anyway, with the stuff we'll be doing. Today is our last day at the slum program, last day with the babies. Tomorrow is our last day at Ssenge with the boys and Sunday we ship out to Queen Elizabeth Park. It's a 7 hour bus ride so we'll travel that day and stay at a hostel that night and Monday night. We have a 2-3 hour game drive on Monday through the park then we get on a bus again on Tuesday for Entebbe. We are staying with a pastor and his wife in their guest house that night since it is close to the airport. They will drive us to the airport the next day then we fly to London an have a 19 hour layover. Wear going to stay in a hostel in Piccadilly Circus that night but we probably won't sleep much. We want to see the city! I'm so grateful that I'm with my adventurous friend. Then we fly home on Thursday! I can't believe it. It feels like w are on our journey home already and yet there is still so much going on that we won't be resting by any means. Anyway, I wish I could blog more this week but I will definitely update everyone when I return. So, look for updates next week! Love you all.

God's blessings in Uganda

2009-06-15T23:29:00.000-07:00

It's amazing to see how dramatically God has changed my heart during the last few days. I can't begin to describe to you how AWESOME this last week has been and how HAPPY I am to be here. I'm finally at the point where I get excited about each day and feel like my heart is here and not a thousand miles away. I will miss these amazing kids and friends I have made while here. I can't believe how quickly these last few days are flying by. What a blessing. The slum program has been so much fun lately. The neighborhood kids have been coming arund so there are a lot of little ones to play with. That's what I love. It's a disappointment that not more of our street kids are coming yet but, with time, I believe they will.

I have become especially attached to one little girl at the slum program, Martha. She's probably about 4 and she lives in a house next door to the church. She latched on to me riht away on Friday anmd I sat with her and colored with her and carried here around all afternoon. She even fell asleep on my lap towards the end, which was the most amazing moment. It made me want to be a mom someday. At the end, when it came time to leave, I went to put Martha down, and he said, in english, "No". She grabbed on to me so tight, it was hard to get her down. Once I did, she wrapped her arms around my legs and wouldn't let me go. She held on to me so tightly, that I had a really hard time trying to get away. By then, the whole team had left and I was having such a tough time getting away. It was the most traumatic goodbye I've ever experienced. She cried and cried. Finally, George came back to get me and tell her in Lugandan that we had to go and would be back on Monday. I cried. It was incredibly emotional. On Monday, she found me right away and we still spent most of the afternoon together but \I me much more of an effort to spend time with lots of different kids at the same time. It helped ans she actually played with the other kids this time. She was more involved with others and when it came time to leave she was able to wave goodbye to me, rather than cry. She is in the pictures below. The one where I am holding her, I am standing next to Martin, one of the leaders of Voice of Hope, an organization that works with African Hearts to get kids off of the streets.

We have experienced so much in the last few days that I can't begin to describe it all to you. We had an awesome church experience on Sunday. We went out to Ssenge to go to church with the boys. It's in a rural area, so the building has four walls and a roof but no doors and open windows. We got there a little late and everyone got up and gave us their chairs. It was embarrassing but such a friendly, welcoming gesture in their culture. There were maybe a hundred people crammed into the small space. They had awesome worship. They sang acapella, except for a drum, and they DANCED the whole time. I had such a blast. It was fun to be with the boys there. They sang a song and I felt like a proud mother. I just look at where they are now and am amazed at what God has done. They are the sweetest, smartest boys I know. At that moment, I knew that this is why we came here. These boys didn't need money to be saved, they needed love, a safe place to live, healthy role models, and lots of hugs. When I look at the incredible role models they have in these men who call themselves their "uncles", I see how blessed these boys are. These guys don't just take care of their physical needs like food and beds. They sit down on the floor and color with them, they play soccer with them, they hug them, they talk to them, they show love to these boys that is rare. These boys adore their uncles and I can't think of better men for them to look up to. They show these boys who Jesus is in every sense. Although, Raquel and i play a small part in this, I can see so clearly how only 6 months of love has built the self esteem of these kids. Giving them worth and showing them that do have so much to offer is huge! Being here and showing them that is so important If I can reach one boy and Raquel another, and so on and so on, as volunteers come, that is something to praise God for!

New slum program

2009-06-11T23:51:00.000-07:00

Well, I found out a little more of Shafique's [pictured above] story on Wednesday. We all headed toward town to get lunch but we passed through the slums on our way. Of course, a few of the kids saw us so they walked with us for blocks, until we got to the restaurant. Shafique was one of them. Once we got to the restaurant, the boys stopped at the top of the stairs as we walked in. We had to turn around and convince them it was ok to come in with us and have lunch. Four boys came with us and you should have seen how big their eyes got when they looked at the menu to choose what they wanted. Each boy got a huge plate of food. We gave them our leftovers to take home, too. They were smiling so big that day, especially Shafique. It turns out that he has only been on the streets for a month. No wonder he still has some innocence about him. He ran away because his mom left him and his father beat him. It's the most common story you'll hear in this city (or in most of Africa, for that matter). He comes from a village about 6 hours drive north of here so I'm not sure why he ended up coming here but he did and now African Hearts is working on ways to get him off the streets. It was encouraging to hear Abby talk about their goals since we haven't been able to see the program in full effect yet.

Due to the disintegration of the previous slum program, they had to start over and I didn't know exactly what it would look like. She said that they had a program that involved literacy, food, medicine, and Bible stories. They were able to invite the government, as well as other NGOs to come observe their program and partner with them. This allowed them to get more kids off of the streets and into school than African Hearts alone could do. This is what they are starting to implement again. It is encouraging to know that Raquel and I are in the right place at the right time. We are actually going to be able to help them implement this program while we are here. So, we are making a difference. We had our first meeting in our new place on Wednesday. It's an outside shelter, next to a church. The church is providing it for us, as well as a locker to put medical supplies and things we'll need.

Today is our first official day of starting the program. Wednesday, we kept it simple and had the kids color and draw. They loved it!

One boy in particular was so adorable. I handed him paper and crayons and he kept saying something to me in Lugandan and wouldn't take it. I asked Collins to translate. He said that the boy, Robert, didn't know how to draw. Collins told me to teach him. Yeah, like I know how to draw. I drew a simple house. He took the paper from me and colored it in. Then he asked me to draw something else for him to color in. He was sooo proud of that drawing, let me tell you! Look at that adorable smile!About 5 new people came 2 days ago so we are all working with the street kids together. These people will be here until next week, same as Raquel and I. I love our new team. They are all so awesome! There's a retired grandma who came, who is so sweet. I love that she travels to other countries in her retirement to work with kids! Anyway, so today, each of us on the team is responsible for something different. Some people will do games, some art, some songs, and Raquel and I a Bible lesson. Fun! I'm excited for the first time to be going! I also feel really good this morning for the first time in a week. I slept most of yesterday so I missed a lot. I'm grateful to be back in the game. I am still eager to be home but I am counting the days we have left and trying to be excited about each event we have planned.

I just want to tell you all thank you so much or your comments and constant encouragement for me while I've been here. It's helped so much. Some days I have felt a thousand miles away from God and I have felt spiritually attacked on all sides. Your encouragement and prayers has made an impact. Yesterday, I sat on my bed and listened to worship songs on my ipod for the first time since I've been here and just worshiped my amazing God. It was a breakthrough for me and has given me the light spirit I have today. Thank you for your prayers in getting me to that point. Praise God for His constant goodness!

Slums

2009-06-10T00:25:00.000-07:00

I can't believe that I haven't even told you about the slums yet. That's where we go every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, from about 1 pm to 4:30 pm. We give food o the kids there and medicine, which is VERY basic. We clean wounds and take kids to the clinic if they have malaria or something else majorly wrong. Our first day in the slum was the hardest thing I've ever done. I knew it would be hard but I didn't expect to go through that degree of emotion. I cried for a day and a half. I don't even know how to begin to describe it all. The smaller kids are in Chisenyi (not sure of the spelling), which used to be the main area where African Hearts would serve. They have 2 tiny rooms (basically the size of small storage sheds) for the kids to sleep at night, with locks on them to keep them relatively safe. African Hearts used to work here with 2 other organizations. However, due to recent rifts between two of them, they have not been able to work here and have started serving in another slum, the Gulu wall, a few blocks away. This has been a real challenge for many reasons. One- the kids from Chisenyi do not like to come to the Gulu wall because the older boys are there and they fight with them a lot. There is also a language barrier betwene them because the older kids come from another area and speka a different language. Two- the older boys at the Gulu wall fought having anyone in their territory for awhile. Now they tend to sit back and let us feed the little kids but don't engage with us much. They still take the food, though. ;) These kids have not opned up o us much so we have not been able to really fgure out were a lot of them ave come form or how we could better serve them.
Yesterday, we saw a huge breakthrough with these kids. After serving food, they all gathered around and listened while Paul, one of the African Hearts leaders, spoke to them about our new plans. We just secured a room at a local church, where we will have the boys come (rather than go into the slums, they will come to us). We will better be able to play games with them, stock up on medical supplies and lock them up there, and have a larger safer area in which to work. Not to mention that the kids won't be allowed to smoke there so it will give us a break from that. After telling the kids this, they all started telling us things they'd like to have, such as a canvas to provide shelter for them at night (they sleep and live along a wall, in an open area), and jackets for the younger kids. It was amazing that they opened up to us and that they requested things for the younger ones, who they usually don't let in. Then they let us pray with them. It was a huge answer to prayer for this team, I know.

Raquel and I have become especially attached to one boy, Shafique. He grabbed onto me on the first day and would not stop telling me, "I want to go home with you." It broke my heart. When we had to say goodbye that first day, he cried. The next time we saw hime, I was standing next to Raquel and another white person (I don't remember who) and I saw him come over to us immediately and look closely at each of our faces til he saw mine. He lit up and I waved to him and he ran over and gave me the biggest hug. He just held onto me for awhile and I wanted to cry. He attached himsel to raquel that day, too, and now ever time we see him, he sticks with us. We want so badly to do something for him but are bot sure what. We want to get him off of the streets and in a home. He's such a sweet boy, with so much innocence still left that it breaks my heart to see him every day on the streets, where he is going to becomemore and more hardened by that life. We are praying for him each night and for God's leading us in what to do for him while we are here.

Everyday that we walk into the slums, the kids run to us right away and grab whichever hads are free.They walk with us over to the Gulu wall. The entire way, men standing on the streets call out to them and us and laugh most of the time. I don't understand exactly what they are saying but I have the impression that's it's not very flattering. They make fun of us and of them for associating together. It is a funny sight, when you think about it. One thing that I still am not used to is the attention that we get- negative attention. Men call out to us everywhere we go. Everyone makes comments, asking us to marry them, trying to get us to stop and talk to them. The craziest thing is the amount of times we hear people say, "Mzungu". All it means is "white person" but EVERYONE feels the need to say it as we walk by. It's like stating the obvious. Can you imagine people doing that in California? Pointing out every race as that person walks by? It's totally bizarre and completely tiresome after 3 weeks of that.I can't wait to go home and be invisible again.

It was cute because on Monday, at the Gulu wall, Collins, one of our leaders, told us to introduce ourselves officially to the kids. He said, in his soft spoken Ugandan voice, "Tell them your names so that they know it's not 'you' or 'mzungu'."

Ok, gotta go. Sorry for all the typos but no time to edit today!

New Photos

2009-06-08T00:58:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to let you all know that I have added more photos to some of my previous blogs. Uploading photos takes so long here that I can never finish putting them all up during one internet sitting. Anyway, look back on the old blogs for more pics.
I'll try to write again soon. I don't think I've told you anything about the slums yet. We're going back today so I'll try and write about it tomorrow. Til then, au revoir!

Ssenge

2009-06-07T08:18:00.000-07:00

I feel so miserable today that I feel kind of useless. The doxycycline is really starting to affect me and I have about 95% of the side effects it warns you may get. I'm really bummed out because I feel like I'm missing out on enjoying this experience. I am forcing myself to stay involved, though. Raquel has helped with that. Knowing another person is relying on me to go places and do things helps because otherwise i might be tempted to just stay in bed all the time. Honestly, I don't think I would really do that but the temptation is still there.

Today and yesterday we spent at the Ssenge home, with the boys there. We colored with them and gave them sidewalk chalk to play with.
Here's a funny tidbit: Obama is a hero here and everyone knows who he is. One of the team members gave out ties to all the boys at Ssenge. One of the boys put his on and said, "I look like Obama!" I thought that was pretty funny.

We also taught them Rummikub (or a more simple version of it). The kids love matching the numbers and putting them in order. My favorite boy is Abdul. He is so shy and holds back a lot. He doesn't know English and he has a hard time with numbers. But he loves Rummikub. I helped him the first few times. On the third game, he actually won and he was so PROUD you could see his face beaming. He made a little shout and gave me a big hug. He didn't say anything but you could see everything on his face. It was my favorite moment of this trip. He is such a sweet boy. I spent a lot of today with him, too. He colored with me and asked me to draw for him. haha. Yeah, so i traced something. Raquel is the artist, not me! These boys are amazing artists, too. Some of them are incredibly talented.

The boys love taking our cameras around with them and taking pictures and video. They LOVE being on camera, especially on video because they can watch it afterwards. They filled up my memory card so fast that I have to upload all my stuff to Raquel's thumb drive. When I get home I want to put all their video onto DVD and send it to them. Abby, the girl who lives with them, has a DVD player so they can watch it. They love to take tons of video of them singing and dancing and the watch it afterward. I remember loving that as a kid myself.

The pictures below are just a few of MANY they took. It's fun at the end of the day to look through and see what they did. This is the inside of their house by the way. The floors are concrete and they are in the middle of a large field.

Here's my sweet boy, Abdul, below (helping make our lunch- fish, matoke, and rice).

Here are some pictures of the field behind the house:Here's one of their "toilets". Yes, I have use it many a time.When the boys scrolled through my pictures the other day they laughed so hard when they saw this one. CLEARLY, I am not from around here. ;)

We had a really good couple of days with those kids. We only get to see them on weekends because they are in school during the day and too far away to go see at night. I am really happy with how much busier we've become lately. Our first few days were pretty slow. it was a good transition but I am eager to make use of our time here. I feel that it has been incredibly difficult to build many relationships here because we are rarely in the same place twice. I think that the kids in the slums will be the ones we get to know best because we'll see them three times a week. I am getting to know and love the babies, too, of course, but they're too young to ever remember me or for me to make much difference in their lives. I struggle with this concept in general. I am not sure how much good I am doing but maybe, as a part of the bigger picture, I am making an impact.

I do feel badly that I don't love it here. Abby asked me the other day, 'Don't you love Kampala?" I didn't know what to say. I don't even like it here. I keep focusing on the kids to get me through. That's what i came for. I just wish I loved the country but I don't. I miss my Zimbabwe girls more than you know.

Yesterday, we also visited an orphanage called, "Open Door". They have about 80 kids that they currently house and put through school. They work to put every kid back in their home with parents or relatives. Others, they adopt out. We only spent about an hour there but it was the sweetest hour. I adored those beautiful little girls.

Hot and Sticky

2009-06-04T07:59:00.000-07:00

It is so much hotter here than I thought it would be. It gets so humid and the sun just bakes us as we walk miles everyday to and from the city center. Today was a little overcast, at least, so we felt a little better. I think I will have amazing calves when I return to the states, from all this walking. I think I'm getting tanner from being outside so much, too. It's just so dirty here that whether or not you are blessed with a shower, you walk onto the street and you are immediately covered in Ugandan dust again. I swear I will never feel clean until we get to our hotel in London. I haven't even had a real shower yet except once, but it only lasted about 5 minutes. The other times I had to use cold bath water. Welcome to Africa.

Did I tell you that our guesthouse is right next to a mosque? They have prayers every morning and every night and we hear them loud and clear. That's how we wake up at 6 am most mornings. It actually sounds quite beautiful and I'm getting a little used to it. Anyway, here's our view of it, as well as the city, from our room.

Our guesthouse is pretty large and has running water but we run out quickly and with 13 of us living there, it runs out even faster. The other day Raquel and I did our laundry and we used up all the water for the rest of the day and night.

We felt pretty bad but what could we do? We'll have to try and use up even less clothes per week than we already do.

Our guesthouse really is very nice. We have the guest house manager, Jo-el, who makes dinner for us every night and who cleans the house and washes our sheets. He's very sweet and funny. We have some cool people who live in the house with us, too. One girl is from New Zealand, one from Australia, one from England, and a bunch from America (Colorado, Alabama). Three of them are going to adopt babies from the Babies home. It's interesting.

Here is the lounge area where we all have dinner.
Here is the outside patio.
Here's my bed! :)

Speaking of babies, I am in LOVE with these little ones.

I look forward to going home to see them every night. We've helped a few nights already. We go up and play with them for a while then help feed them and put them to bed. What an ordeal! I love it, though. I am getting baby fever, I fear. Anyone need a babysitter when I get home?

Today has been a good day. Raquel and I went to an orphanage, called "God Cares" or Buyumba. Raquel found them online and got in touch with the pastor who wanted us to come visit them when we arrived here. It was an amazing school. They have 700 children. It is incredibly organized and these kids are amazing- so smart and very well taken care of. This has to be one of the best orphanages in the country. Pastor Dongo picked us up from our house and brought us to the school, where the 2 of us led chapel time with the 6-7 year olds. I loved those kids. Raquel had this great idea to explain Ephesians 3: 16-17, which talks about being rooted in the word of God. She had one kid stand up and be the tree and when the wind (in other words, problems in life) picked him up and moved him around he could not stand still (I had the fun part of tossing him about which the kids thought was so funny). Then she had 3 kids come up and grab his legs tight. Each one was a root (reading the Bible, praying, and loving others and God). When the wind came this time, he did not move. The teacher who was there with us helped translate and had the kids repeat the story back to her then act it out then read the verse multiple times, until they really seemed to get it. We had so much fun.

After that, the teacher, Eva, led us to the taxi and we took it back into to town, where we exchanged money, went to lunch, and went shopping at the local craft fair. We got a bunch of souvenirs and gifts. We spent a few hours there then started the long trek back home. It probably took us an hour to walk. Now we're at the internet cafe and taking a break before the rest of our walk home. It was good to get out today. I was sick yesterday with a slight fever and stomach problems so I stayed home all day. I was bummed, too, because I missed out on apparently the greatest day Raquel has had since we got here. :( One of the girls in the group lent me her laptop though so I got to watch movies and feel a little bit at home. I feel all better today, so it's nothing to worry about. Something has been going around the guesthouse and the other team we have been working with (a 24 hour bug of some kind).

Well, I'll have to tell you about the slums in my next blog. I want to post pictures now. Feel free to ask me any questions you have, though. I'm sure there's a lot I'm leaving out! Love you all and miss you tons!

Another day...

2009-05-31T23:50:00.000-07:00

I'm sorry about my fragmented blog last time. I had only 20 minutes to write it and no time to edit afterwards. I'll have to keep this one short, too, but I wanted to give you a little background on where I am since my last blog was more about what I've been doing. The people here are amazing- friendly, beautiful, and welcoming. The women here have got to be the most gorgeous in the world. Their skin is flawless and they are all done up so beautifully- hair and make up immaculate, dressed in their best. It is a city so I guess it's not surprising that people dress better here than in the rural areas. :)
The food has been really good- beans, rice, pineapple, beef, peas, chapati (extra thick tortillas- Raquel and I are hooked on these already), and bread.
I also wanted to give you a little background on African Hearts, the organization we are working with. It was started by four Ugandan guys in their 20's, who wanted to get kids off of the streets and to safety and a better way of life. These are the most amazing guys I have ever had the privilege to meet. They are strong, full of life and joy, and full of a desire to make a difference in their country and to these kids. The organization is comprised completely of people in their 20's. I was incredibly impressed by that. They are an inspiration to me.
Well, yesterday we got a day of rest, which was much needed. We went to church in the morning. The first service was at 8 am for kids from the streets. Watching the sing praise to God in their native language really moved me. Then when the pastor taught the lesson, most of the kids just laid their heads on the table and slept. Jess told me that this was a good sign that they felt safe here enough to do that and no one was going to interfere with that. If they wanted to sleep, they could. I love that.
We went to the regular church service after that. It was so American. I admit that I was a little disappointed but was also grateful that I understood what the pastor said and could sing along with the songs. :)

Well, that's it for now. We go to the slums today so I'll have lots to tell you tomorrow. Love you all and hoe to hear from you soon. I miss everyone!

First Impressions

2009-05-30T08:03:00.000-07:00

Here I am in a new country, in what feels like a world away from anything familiar. At the same time, so much is similar to my experience in Zimbabwe 6 years ago that I feel at home too. I have to admit that the first day was the most difficult. I have a lot of culture shock to get over but today was much better. When we first landed, we walked off the plane and felt at home. I could smell Africa exactly as I remembered it. After going through customs (which took an hour and a half, even though there were only a few people there- our transition to Africa time) we got a taxi. Our driver, Sard, was eager to tell us about things to see in Uganda and pointed out various sites to us as we drove the 45 minutes to Sanyu Babies Home, where we would be staying. Only a little ways from the airport and our driver was pulled over for speeding. It was quite entertaining actually because the police at that stop knew his name and seemed to know him well. They peeked in and asked how we had like our 5 km journey.

We saw the beautiful Lake Victoria to our right, and Sard pulled over to let us take pictures at one of the beaches on our way. Then we rode the long main road to our house. I loved being able to see so much of the country on our way. It is so green you wouldn't believe it. It feels like i am in some tropical place. Once we got to the city, it was less green and more like any other city- crowded and dirty. We got to our home and had plenty of time to settle in. Basically, we're in a guesthouse, next to the Babies home, with about 13 other guests. They all volunteer at the home so we don't see them much.

A few hours later, our fearless leader, Jess picked us up and we headed oer to the other guesthouse, where a team of about 20 were staying. They are from Colorado, a few from Oregon and Canada. Most are teenagers, which surprised me. what a mission trip to go on as a teen!
Anyway, they'll be here for 10 days so we'll see them for a short time. We got to spend the day with them as we were all oriented to the city. Jess planned a lot for us to do so we would stay awake and get over our jet lag faster. It worked!
We walked about an hour to the center of the city of Kampala, which was a little traumatic. I have never been more on guard or my life as i have been walking the streets on Kampala.
There are taxis (which are like vans that fit about 13 people that don't stop for anything. You have to just walk out into the road and walk right next to cars, which seem to have a mind of their own. There are no lanes, no signal lights, no rules! No wonder every one tells me the number one way people die in Uganda is by car accidents! The team became very close to each other yesterday, as we had to grab onto each other for dear life just to cross the streets. Seriously, groups have a better chance of getting cars to stop so we all stuck together. The one guy from Canada, James, became a protector for Raquel and i and stayed i the back and heped us et where we needed to o. He said, "I need to watch out for my girls". (He's looking into adopting another baby from Uganda- he has three from various countries in Africa so far).
Anyway, after lunch and exchanging money and sitting at a coffee shop, we all went to Sanyu Babies home and helped the kids eat and get ready or bed. Another crazy experience! 50 babies, 30 volunteers, mayhem.

We fed them, changed their diapers and put them to bed. A few hours later, we were all exhausted but much better for it. Those babies were adorable. They range in age from 0-3 years.

They don't always have more than 2 volunteers so the fact that we had about 3 and still had a crazy ordeal, I don't know how those women do it everyday. Honestly.
Needless to say, Raquel and I slept like babies and woke up refreshed after 10 hours of sleep. Time to start a new day.

Today we visited a street kids program at a church in the city. After lessons, we hung out with the kids or over an hour. They loved taking pictures on our cameras and teaching us card games.

Jess, our leader/coordinator, is in the picture above, with Paul, another African Hearts leader.
We spent most of our morning there. I loved those kids. They reminded me of my experience at Just children foundation in Zimbabwe. That was always m favorite part so I fell in love with these kids instantly. After that we took a long taxi ride to one of the orphan home in Senge. This home was started by African Hearts and houses 13 boys who have been taken off the streets. Now they lie at the house and go to school and are in a marching band. Awesome The were fun. We took a taxi most of the way then took Bodas down the road to the house. These are motorbikes. Everyone in town takes them. You usually see women straddling them sideways with skirts on. It was a pretty fun ride. Thank goodness I've had plenty of experience on a motorcycle to prepare me because it could have been scary otherwise.
We hung out with the kids at the house for hours, playing cards. It was pouring down rain once we got there. Thunder storm and everything so we just stayed inside. we got a car ride back this time, rather than Bodas in the rain.

Well, that's the short version of everything so far. I'm at the internet cafe now and only have a few minutes left. Wow, 20 minutes at a cafe flies by. I wanted to at least give everyone an update so that's it for now.

There's plenty more i could tell you but that's what we've been up to. I am glad to say that even though I had a tough first day things are looking up. I miss people at home like crazy but God brought me this far. He will not abandon me.

Almost there, but why am I going?

2009-05-26T12:14:00.000-07:00

I can't believe that I am finally embarking on my much anticipated adventure! I leave on a jet plane tomorrow night at 6:50 pm. I suddenly don't feel ready. I am excited and nervous at the same time. I am excited about traveling somewhere new, about meeting new people, about going on this trip with my best friend, about visiting Africa again, about holding babies everyday for a month, about growing as a person, about growing closer to Jesus, about having the opportunity to witness miracles, about challenging myself to get out of my comfort zone, about learning new things, about sacrificing the things I love (comfort, time with family and friends, the things of home), and about doing what God has told me to do.

I am nervous about getting sick, about forgettng something important, about being away from my family, friends, and boyfriend for a month, about things changing at home while I am away (what will I come back to?), about feeling miserable without my comforts of home (running water, chiropractor, chocolate), about what I might have to eat, and about not having enough money to get by when I return.

When it comes down to it, though, knowing all of this and knowing that there is much more I can't possibly anticipate, I still choose to go to this exotic and possibly dangerous place. Some people have asked my why I'm going. They don't seem to understand why I would choose this life for a month when I could go to somewhere like Italy or Spain or England. I choose this because I desire to be challenged and I desire to grow as a person and a follower of Christ.

I know I am not of this world when I say that I am eager to give up everything I know and love to do something challenging and scary, possibly something that will make me very miserable in the process. Who knows what I will encounter? And yet, I do it because God has told me to pick up His cross and follow Him. Being comfortable is easy and I love it but the more comfortable I get, the more lazy I get and the more I miss out on in my limited time on this earth. I have felt called to Africa for some time now and when I chose to answer God's call, He made everything happen that I needed in order to get there. That is an answer to prayer and I can't deny that He wants me there. I feel blessed that he speaks to me this way and that he rewards me in huge ways when I listen.

I am eager to become a stronger, more compassionate person through this experience. Every time I do something like this, I learn so much about myself and I grow as a person. I don't know if you want to call them goals, but I do have a few personal things that I am eager to see happen while I am in Uganda:
1. I want to become closer to Raquel, my spiritual sister and one of my closest friends.
2. I want to grow closer to Jesus.
3. I want to be used to help the children and people we will meet.
4. I want my relationships back home to be bettered by who I am when I return and by the time we all have away from each other (this is always the true test of friendship).
5. I can't wait to see miracles first hand and God's amazing work in action! I want the stories I see to be a witness and encouragement to those at home, reading my blog every weeek.

The coolest thing about this list is that it mirrors Raquel's exactly. Yet another sign of how amazing God is and what He did to bring us together for our shared adventure. I can only become richer through what I will experience this next month. This is why I go.

UGANDA!

2009-05-07T10:30:00.000-07:00

As most of you know, my best friend, Raquel, and I have been talking about our desire to go to Africa for a long time now. We started planning a trip to Uganda about 8 months ago and were all set to go with a secular global volunteer organization. Well, about 3 months ago, we both felt God telling us to change our plans. WHAT? But we like having an exact schedule of what we'll be doing and where we'll be! Well, God had a different "plan". We listened.

We told the organization we weren't going. We requested our refund. We waited. A month went by and we still didn't know what we were doing. We waited. We prayed every week for guidance. Where could we find a place that could use us in Uganda? We kept meeting people who knew people there. So, we emailed them. We were making connections but nothing was resonating with us yet. God was telling us to wait. We searched diligently online for organizations who were there or organizations who were going. We still had no idea what we were going to be doing. All we knew was that God was saying "Go." Money kept rolling in. We kept praying. We kept waiting.

We held a last minute garage sale and God gave us $800! We said,"Okay, God. You are still telling us to go.". We were going on faith now. We requested the dates off of work. Still no flights purchased, still no organization to go with, still no place to live once we got there. We waited. Another few weeks passed. Then one day, with 6 weeks to go until our departure date, Raquel emailed me, saying that a Christian organization (African Hearts) had contacted her regarding volunteering on the exact dates we had already planned to go. How did they find us? GOD. It turns out that they are doing exactly what we have been longing to do more than anything else- spending time with kids on the streets and in orphanages. It was God's answer to our prayers, so clearly!

All of a sudden, things were falling into place. We booked our flights, got our vaccinations, and started packing! This organization fits us better than anything we had imagined. We will be spending all our time with kids. No schedule of subjects to teach, no skill set needed (just our style :). We can just BE. We can be with kids, loving them, learning from them, investing in them.

We will be spending three days a week in the city's slums, giving medicine to the kids who live there and spending time with them. In the afternoons, we will spend time with the boys from the orphan homes that African Hearts takes care of. We will teach them Bible classes, music, games, and art. During the evenings, we will live at a Babies' orphan home (also sponsored by African Hearts). On Sundays, we get to take our boys to church. On our free days, we have the flexibility to go wherever we were needed or simply spend time with the various people we are sure to meet.

On some Thursdays, it turns out we may be "preaching" or giving our testimonies to the kids at another orphan home that we had contacted earlier. Even though we will not be working with them as we had anticipated, they still want us to come. We're also going to go visit a little girl who Raquel sponsors through World Vision. Uganda is exactly where we are meant to be. God told us so. Isn't it amazing to be so completely in His hands? I couldn't be more in awe.

Loaves and Fishes

2008-11-18T13:17:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to see God's miracles firsthand. I am constantly in awe of Him and the things He chooses to do to show his love and grace, which none of us truly deserves.

Five years ago, my church started a little thing they called "Beautiful Day". It was an opportunity for us in the church to show love to our neighbors one day a year and serve them in various ways. As my church says, "[What] if we stopped being a church of “come and see” but instead we were told ‘go and be’ like Christ in our city?". So, it all began with serving food to locals who didn't have the resources for a Thanksgiving dinner. Now, a few years later, we are doing 22 projects, for a whole week, as well as projects throughout the entire year. It has spread across the nation and the world and other churches are doing the same thing, all in the name of Christ, who has called us to serve others. It is so exciting!

This year, I had the opportunity to lead up one of these projects, in order to serve the 110 local EMTs who serve our city. It started yesterday with a delivery of breakfast items to the administrative staff there. Then, in the afternoon myself, as well as 3 others, prepared a BBQ for the 6 mechanics who work on the rigs everyday. It turned out that 3 of the mechanics were sick that day, so I was feeling a little bummed. No sooner did we find that out and the EMTs started coming over to the table, having smelled the burgers cooking. They started coming and didn't seem to stop. I started getting worried. After all, we had only brought enough food for 6 people! The EMTs kept coming and asking why we were there and where we were from. We said that we wanted to thank them for their service. One young EMT, in his mid-twenties, came outside and stood in front of the table, staring at the food. He smiled and said, "I'm just in awe right now. I am amazed that you guys would do all of this!". So, 40 minutes later, we still had food left. How did we feed almost 20 people when we had only brought enough food for 6? It was all GOD. What an amazing day! It just goes to show that God will make it happen, regardless of what we feel capable of.

So, Thursday morning we get to deliver 110 coolers to the EMTs, each one filled with homemade cookies, cliff bars, caffeine, and gift cards. I can't wait to see their faces!

AFRICA

2008-08-01T11:21:00.000-07:00

How could I have let my passion for Africa lie dormant for so long? It's been five years today since I returned from Zimbabwe from 2 months of adventure. I have always had a special place in my heart for Africa and this has not been forgotten but the specific people I spent so much time bonding with in 2003 somehow escaped my memory or perhaps I unknowingly pushed them away, knowing that the thoughts of them would hurt too much. The dam finally broke last night and I was amazed at how much I had forgotten.

I went to see a movie with my friend, Joe, last night, called The Long Way Down. It's about Ewan MacGregor and his best friend, Charley Boorman, who both drive their motorcycles from Scotland to Cape Town, Africa (15, 000 miles in two months). Observing them traipse through Africa's countries and hearing the heart-wrenching stories of the people they meet (often the victims of genocide) made me long to be there myself. I wanted to hug those kids and talk with them for hours. I was aching to return to Africa, and I was yearning to revisit my photos when I went home that night.

As soon as I rushed through the door to my apartment, I grabbed my Zimbabwe album from the shelf and laid down on the couch. I couldn't believe it had been a year, possibly more, since I had even opened it. I found that the photos of my Westgate girls (the girls I lived with at the newly opened home for orphans) were familiar once again. I could recall each personality vividly. Other photos I pored over seemed new to me, as if some person in another life had taken them.

It was bittersweet to see the pictures of people I'd met that summer. Seeing the girls wasn't so hard because I get updates about them often, from Glen Miller (leader of Hands of Hope, the organization I traveled with), who still visits them once a year. But, as I turned the pages in my album to my favorite place in Zimbabwe, my heart leapt in my throat. Photos taken during my two weeks spent at "Just Children Foundation", with its hundreds of ragged, smiling children, greeted my eyes. This place that provided shelter for hundreds of children, in order to keep them off of the streets, had been a haven for me. I looked forward to each morning as if it was Christmas. I spent hours there, sitting with those kids, talking, drawing, playing, singing, teaching. We developed friendships that ached our hearts to sever. And yet, how could I have forgotten about these kids after five years?

I feel guilty that they haven't been in my prayers everyday, that I'll never know what happened to them, that I didn't do enough for them in the little time we had together. All I did was sit and talk to them and then I left after a few weeks to go back home to this rich garden of opportunity and wealth we call America. Reading the letters some of those children had written to me made the ache hurt even more. They said that they would miss me so much and love me always and that I was their only true friend. I miss them so much, I can't stand it!

God, why do I have this desire to go if I can't? Is it You or me who is preventing this passage? I want to be there like I need to breathe and yet I feel trapped and caged here in my present circumstances. Don't get me wrong- I feel that everyday is incredibly valuable here in San Jose. I feel that I have purpose in everything that I've been given and I'm grateful. I love my job, I love the friends I've made, I love my Bible Study girls and I feel blessed to be ministering to them each week. It's not that I don't love it here, it's that my heart is torn between 2 loves and one is continents away and it feels unattainable.

I vow this day to remember you Prince, Tinotenda, Stephen, Trymore. I will pray for you constantly and will make your stories known. I think it's finally time to write my book...

"Now that I have seen, I am responsible. Faith without deeds is dead. Now that I have held you, in my own arms, I cannot let go til you are... I will tell the world, I will tell them where I've been. I will keep my word..."- lyrics from Albertine, by Brooke Fraser

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood...

2008-07-20T19:07:00.000-07:00

I love when God blesses me through outwardly bad circumstances. Today is a perfect example of this. My car died on Friday night, which is not actually that unusual for me these days, and I had to completely change my Sunday plans. I missed out on a friend's bridal shower and missed out on church but I ended up having the greatest day anyway.
Mallory was at U.C. Davis all day, at a conference for work so I had the whole house to myself, which is pretty rare. I woke up at 8:30, not because I had to but because I wanted to. Then I took a chair out to our balcony and sat there and read almost all of Acts. I spent probably 10 minutes just sitting there, looking at the trees, feeling the breeze, listening to the birds chirping. I feel like I am incredibly blessed to live here. It feels like waking up at camp everyday. It looks like camp, with all of the trees within the complex, and the smell of dirt and grass and leaves just envelops you when I walk outside. It's a beautiful thing and I got to fully enjoy it this morning, for as long as I wanted.
After that, I made myself waffles with strawberries and walnuts and watched an old black and white movie (The Body Snatcher, with Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff).
After that, I got my car towed and got to spend that whole time waiting outside, enjoying pure freedom in time.
After I took care of that, I organized my bathroom, cleaned the house, baked a cake, unpacked from my housesit, paid my bills and balanced my checkbook, and updated my blog.
What an awesome day! It's only 7:15 now and I still have a few hours to do whatever I want. Isn't life gorgeous?

KEVIN FRANDSEN!

2008-07-20T18:37:00.000-07:00

So, I've "met" my favorite Giants player, Kevin Frandsen, three times now but the third was absolutely a charm. The first time I met him, my heart practically jumped in my throat and I could hardly spit out "will you sign my ball?". I was getting my dad's baseball autographed for him. The entire time, Kevin was gabbing it up with someone else!
The second time I met him was at Photo Day, when he was hobbling around, looking like his Achilles was really hurting him (he's been out the whole season because of an Achilles rupture).
The third time is a beautiful memory. Mal and I got there early (as usual) and watched the ladies play softball (all the Giants wives/significant others played against those of the A's). After awhile, Mal and I decided to go sit down and we noticed Kevin walking out the practice throwing in the bullpen. No one was even around! This was my chance. I walked over to him and asked if he would sign my hat. Of course, he said sure. No one else was even around so I knew I had to say something.

Here is our conversation:
Me: Kevin, will you sign my hat?
Kevin: Sure.
Me: How are you feeling these days? Getting better?
Kevin: Yeah, I'm doing better.
Me: Do you think you'll be back this season?
Kevin: Yeah, I really hope so.

Thrilling conversation, right? I loved every sweet second of it. My goal all season was to talk to him, for even a moment, and that's exactly what I got, plus a really cool autograph on my Giants hat. The only autograph that matters, in my opinion. ;)

I'm disappointed that it looks like he'll be out all season but at least he's still around. hey, if he's just chilling out, I probably have better chances of meeting him and talking to him again, right?

BEST DAY EVER!

Raquel's Birthday

2008-06-25T19:48:00.001-07:00

Raquel and I have been best friends for 13 years but we've never been together on her birthday. That has mainly been due to the fact that she moved to Illinois during the beginning of our friendship.

Well, I was extremely blessed when she moved out here in February for a year. I knew that this was the year when we would finally spend her birthday together. So, my scheming began. I originally intended to kidnap her and make the entire thing a surprise but I just couldn't keep the secret so I told her to plan on spending the day with me but I wouldn't tell her where we were going. So, I loaded up my Ipod, cleaned out my car, and sent her this little email:
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Hey Campers!

We are so happy you're going to be joining us on Sunday, May 18. Below is a list of items you will need. See you there!

Don't Forget:
Jacket or warm coat
Comfortable (but cute!) clothes
Stuffed monkey
Camera
Sunglasses
Bottled Water
SENSIBLE SHOES
Umbrella
Bathing suit
Cardboard box
A block of your favorite cheese
Walking stick
Compass
Instructions on how to fashion a tent out of garbage bags and duct tape
Garbage bags
Duct tape
Bible
Journal/Pen
Anti-caking agent
Parental consent form (see below)

Please do NOT bring:
Electronic devices
Weapons of any kind
Live animals (taxidermied animals are acceptable)
Boy band paraphernalia
(If any of these items are found in your baggage, they will be confiscated immediately.)

_____________________Tear Here_____________________________
PARENTAL CONSENT FORM

I, _________________________________, hereby give my permission for Raquel Angelique Lomelin to join Chelsea Lyn Dilbeck on a day of random escapades (full of excitement and wonder). I do not hold Chelsea responsible for any alteration (physical/mental/emotional) to said victim- I mean Birthday Girl. If any alteration exists after Raquel's return to civilization, I vow not to sue Chelsea for damages.

Sign Below:
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It was a team effort, the list compiled by my mom, Mallory, and myself. We had a blast putting it together and I knew she would be completely thrown off as to where we were going.
Sunday finally came and she arrived at my house in the morning. I had borrowed my mom's GPS so I inputted each of the four locations we would be travelling to that day.

I gave her four postcards, each one to be opened right before reaching the corresponding destination. Oh, the suspense I put her through all day! I only hoped that our activities would live up to the anticipation.

Each stop during the day was chosen for a specific reason. Our first stop was the marina in San Francisco, because Raquel had often mentioned that she missed the ocean most of all, since moving out to Illinois. Once we got there, we walked against the extremely strong wind and found the little spot, at the edge of the water, that I had been looking for. It was called the Wave Organ, and it was a dock made completely from the gravestones of a cemetery that was torn down awhile ago. It was actually really pretty. The reason for the name "Wave Organ" is the multiple pipes that come out from the cement and go down into the water below. If you put your ear up to the pipes, you can hear the ocean rushing beneath the stone.

We ate a picnic lunch there, even though it was really windy and really cold. It was still nice, though.
The next stop was MOAD: The Museum of the African Diaspora. It took us forever to get there because was couldn't find cheap parking. After driving around for twenty minutes, we finally settled on parking five blocks away, on a street marked "free parking". We prayed over my car (that it would still be there when we returned) and we went on our way.

The museum was incredible. It was small but beautifully done. There were a few rooms showing how Africans have brought their culture to America and how they have created history here in this country. We watched a few short films, one about how Africans celebrate and another about Nelson Mandela. Raquel and I were even more inspired than we already had been to go to Africa. My heart is for Zimbabwe and Raquel's for Malawi. We talked about Africa the rest of the day. That tends to be the topic of our conversations together anyway, but that museum really brought it to the forefront of our minds and hearts. I loved being absorbed in the culture for a few hours while there. I am craving Africa...

After our visit in the museum, we made the walk back to our car. On our way there, a homeless guy pushing a shopping cart hollered at me, "I'm rich, I'm just faking it. You're beautiful. Don't tell anybody!". Ah, the joys of being in San Francisco...

We got to the next block and another homeless guy looked at us and asked, "You're not going down there, are you?" We answered that we had to go that way and kept walking. He told us, "I wouldn't go that way." Sure enough, we ran into the hippie convention. We had seen a few on our walk to the museum earlier but they had tripled in number since. We had to shove our way through the lovefest and the weed (oh, and all of the guys standing on the corner with one index finger in the air). One lady walking through dryly commented, "Cute...smells like hippies." There was nothing creepy about it, just awkward and very, um, crowded.

One block away from our car, we were walking faster, eager to be in our car and driving away, when we passed a (wo)man who looked at me and said, "Hey, beautiful." I really think it was a woman but Raquel wasn't sure. Anyway, it was the capper for an eventful walk through San Fran.

Safe in our car, we happily drove to to our third destination, Golden Gate Park. The week before this eventful day, I found out, in a roundabout way, that Raquel had a secret love of buffalo. Well, on a whim, I went online and typed in "San Francisco + Buffalo". Funny thing was, something actually turned up! Apparently, there are buffalo in Golden Gate Park.

When we arrived in Golden Gate Park, we saw tons of people in the craziest costumes. It took awhile to figure out what was going on but we finally learned that it was Bay To Breakers that day. Honestly, it was the most entertaining day I have ever spent in San Fran.

Once we parked and started walking, I realized, with a twinge of worry, that this park was BIG! I didn't have a clue as to where the buffalo actually were and the GPS wasn't going to tell me. I just went in the general direction that I had recalled form the map I had found online the day before and hoped for the best. While walking, Raquel was seriously wondering what I could possibly be taking he to. He postcard had said, "I always knew you were a country girl at heart but only recently learned how true this is." She was convinced that I was dragging her to some Billy Ray Cyrus statue or something.

At the point where I was about ready to give up and admit that I was lost, I saw them, tiny brown specks in the distance.

She was the happiest Raquel I had ever seen! She hugged me so many times and kept taking pictures of the big nappy animals. It was pretty cool, though, considering I've never seen one in real life. We stayed there for a good while, watching them, well, pretty much stand there. She loved it, though.

Our last stop of the day was our chance to be kids again. This was my favorite part of the entire day. We went to a little (and I mean little!) park at the edge of town, tucked in a tiny residential neighborhood. There were 2 cement slides there. This was where the cardboard boxes came into play. Until this moment, Raquel really didn't know that I was serious about bringing them. One look at the slides and the boxes in my hands, and she looked a little freaked. I don't think either of us was so sure that we would be able to go through with it. Well, we'd come this far.

By the time we walked up to the top of the slides, it appeared a whole lot higher than it had from below. Sitting on our cardboard, at the top, was not a little bit scary. We just willed ourselves to go and (after counting a couple times) went for it. I swear I got, like, 3 feet of air that time (Napoleon Dynamite fans, you dig?). I actually did come a little off of my seat at the bump in the middle. That was the scariest. I got the biggest adrenaline rush I've had in a long time. Once we started to go down, we couldn't stop because there was no friction. Scary but totally cool!

What a rad way to end Raquel's birthday. We had so much fun and she really seemed to enjoy every place we went. I had a blast planning the whole thing and spending the day together so I call it a success!

Giants Photo Day!

2008-06-21T18:21:00.000-07:00

In case you didn't know, Mallory is the biggest Giants fan I think that exists in San Jose, next to my dad. I, on the other hand, have never been able to get through a single baseball game on television. That said, I never thought I would be here talking someday about having met all of the Giants players and going to multiple games in one summer. Mallory has converted me. I may not be the biggest fan of baseball but I love those Giants boys (almost as much as Mal) and can actually sit through an entire game (at the park) without complaining (too much). Hey, this is improvement folks! I love that Mallory and I have created this bond between us. It started last year when I took her to a game at AT&T park (my first time there) for her birthday. I got hooked. I loved the park and I loved learning the ins and outs of baseball (as only Mal can tell). She explained things in simple ways that I could understand and I could actually start following a game (somewhat). She also liked the players and knew all about them, which was the fun part. We figured out what time to get there to get autographs and where the best places were to stand to get their attention. We figured out the best seats in the house, where to buy the best park food, and which concessions vendors we liked and which we wanted to be really far away from.

We went to Spring Training with the family this year and Mallory and I started going to as many games as we could afford. We feel like old pros at this now. Our favorite part is meeting the players so when we looked at the 2008 schedule and saw "Photo Day", we knew WE COULD NOT MISS THIS! So, we made our plans and vowed to be there, rain or shine.

So, the day finally arrived and we got to the city at 10 am. We knew the gates would open at 4 pm so we had plenty of time. We ate breakfast at a cute little restaurant across the street form the park and enjoyed a nice walk from the parking lot to the park. We spent some time in the Dugout store and finally decided that maybe it was time to get in line. So, we found the line and staked out our spot. We had come prepared with all of the necessary accoutrements. We had snacks, water, a blanket, trivia books, cameras, sunscreen, and paper and pens (to play M.A.S.H.,m of course). We wiled away the hours talking, sleeping, and waiting. Luckily, we had a great view of McCovey Cove so we had plenty to watch. There was always people watching, too.

Finally, the time had come and they let us through the gates. The anticipation we had at that moment is indescribable. I was so nervous, mainly because I love Kevin Frandsen and wanted so badly to meet him (but what was I going to say?).
They let us out onto the field, which was thrilling beyond belief. Mallory and I were just as excited about standing on that hallowed ground as we were about meeting the players.

We found a great spot, directly in the front of the rope. Then the players started coming. Every player from the team walked around the entire circumference of the field, so every person there got to see every player. The first few who came around were rookies who Mallory and I didn't really know so we didn't ask for their pictures. It was weird, though, because it was all happening so fast. We knew we needed to get our game faces on so the next guy who came around, Billy Sadler, cutie that he was, was the first one we took a photo with.

Then came my other favorite, good ole Jack Taschner. He is the friendliest and smiliest guy I've ever met! Mal and I joke that he totally remembered me from last time I met him and took a picture with him at Spring Training because when I said hi, he responded with an open-armed "Hey!" like he totally knew me. It was the greatest moment of my day.
A couple other guys started coming more quickly now. We had to grab them as we could so Mal took a picture with Ray Durham, Bengie Molina, and Matt Cain. Matty and Beng are her favorite favorites. (She can't choose just one).
How cute is he?

Then we saw Dan Ortmeier, another all-around great guy. You can really see Jesus in Jack and Dan. I was impressed with them when we first saw them at Fellowship Night last year, but they live it everyday. It's awesome because these are the most genuine, friendly, happiest looking guys on the team. Anyway, Dan was having so much fun that he went around the field twice!
The moment when I got to meet Frandsen for the second time, I froze up and just said hi and asked for a picture. What a whimp! No wonder he doesn't say much to me when I meet him. Well, I made up for it a few months later when I met him and had a conversation. Yay me!
Tim Lincecum was next. Timmmmyyyyy! I don't know what it is about this kid that appeals to me but I think he's an amzing player and he's so popular and so young, he's living a really interesting life, in my opinion. He was quiet when we met him but we didn't say much to him, either. I just think it's cute how awkward he seemed, walking around, waiting for someone to ask for his pictyre. Not that people weren't but he was definitely more standoffish in a shy way than some of the other extroverts (Dan for instance).
Before this day, Mallory and I planned out who we had to meet and which one of us (or both) would be in the picture. We got everybody, plus more, that we wanted to meet. We had the BEST DAY EVER!

We hardly paid attention to the game that day because we were talking about our afternoon and looking at our pictures over and over and over again. We even stopped at our parents house at 11 that night, on our way home, to share our photos with them. My dad was as excited as we were. What an awesome day! Gotta love those baseball players.

The long road home

2008-06-21T17:14:00.000-07:00

Nicole and I decided to spend our last day at Coney Island because we had done everything else that we wanted to do and we noticed that Coney Island wasn't too far from where we were staying. Even though we knew that it would be closed and really cold there, we decided to take the trip. We got onto the subway at around 9 am and slept most of the way there. It was about an hour away, so we had plenty of time to relax. About halfway there, the subway route changed from an underground track to one outside , high above the traffic. It was very much like the route we took in Paris, when we got further out of the city.
It was raining pretty hard by the time we got to Coney Island so we tromped through the giant puddles and fought the wind with our umbrellas. I can't remember the last time I was in wind and rain like that. We were soaked from the knees down by the time we walked out to the beach.

We walked around a little, taking a few pictures, which took talent considering we were holding umbrellas in one hand and trying not to get our cameras wet. It was cool to see Coney Island, because I've heard so much about it but it looked a lot like the Boardwalk we have in Santa Cruz so I felt happy that I haven't missed much. Still, I would love to go back there someday in the summer and see it brought to life. I imagine it's pretty cool.

After walking around for maybe fifteen to twenty minutes, we decided we'd had enough. I was freezing. I don't think I got warm for another twenty-four hours. It was a nice way to spend our last morning, though, because we were able to take it easy.

We got back to the hotel with about 30 minutes to spare so we sat down and looked through our pictures from the week, to commemorate a great trip. Little did we know how much waiting we had left to do. When we got to the airport at 4 pm, we found out that the weather was so bad that no planes were allowed to fly out of the La Guardia airport for another 3 hours. Although that seemed a tad longer to wait than we wanted, it didn't seem so bad...until we realized that this delay would cause us to miss our connecting flight. Turned out that the only flight we could make from the Denver airport would have to be at 8 am the next morning!

I have had delayed flights but I've never had to wait longer than a few hours. 12 hours was a loooong time! We ended up sleeping in the baggage claim area of the Denver Airport that night. What an adventure! At least I got to miss work the next day. Nicole wasn't so happy about this unexpected turn of events, however. We stayed away from each other as much as possible that night. This was for sheer preservation of our friendship. I admit it was the most tiring night I have ever spent. There is nothing like trying to sleep in a chair when you're exhausted from five days of very little sleep to begin with. The only way to lay down completely was on the floor, since all the airport had were chairs, no benches. We could only sleep for about 30 minutes at a time. We moved around every inch of that airport, which was kind of cool since no one was there, being after hours and all.

My favorite part, though, was sitting next to the giant windows facing the tarmac and watching the sunrise over the mountains. I never get to see the sunrise so that was a real treat for me.

Overall, what a crazy way to end a whirlwind trip. I wouldn't have traded one minute of the sleepless nights, hours of waiting in the subway stations, being hounded by black market purse vendors, or laughing so hard I cried. Every minute was spent with my entertaining, fun, adventurous friend. Nothing beats that!

Lady Liberty

2008-05-19T21:07:00.000-07:00

This was our last full day, Sunday. This was the day I had most been anticipating because we were going to see the famous lady of liberty. This turned out to be my favorite day of the entire trip. There was something emotionally gripping about standing on a boat and approaching Lady Liberty on a foggy morning. For me, it conjured up images of immigrants crammed onto massive boats, apprehensively awaiting that moment when the Statue of Liberty would appear and beckon them to the "Land of Prosperity". A famous poem that used to be posted on a placard in front of the statue goes like this: "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses, yearning to breathe free."
There has been so much symbolism throughout the years surrounding Lady Liberty, so it was a truly awesome experience to see her in full form, up close. I admit, she seemed significantly smaller than I had always imagined but still beautiful.

The island where she sits is quite small. After taking the boat over, we waited in line to go into the statue. All this means now is that you can go inside the pedestal, where the statue stands, and go through the exhibit they have placed there. As of September 11, 2001, no tourist has been allowed inside the statue itself. Looking up inside the statue (pictured below), you can see how narrow the passageway is and how surprising it is that thousands of tourists once climbed the single, spiral staircase, with only one exit and one entrance. It makes perfect sense why they no longer allow people to go up inside it anymore, considering the dangers in an emergency. Of course, it was still really disappointing to think that we could never see it from that view.

After waiting in line for an hour and a half, to get through security, we made it inside the pedestal. All of that for this lousy view? We didn't even go through this tough of security in the airport to get to New York? We had to go through a major security checkpoint to get onto the boat, then to get into the Statue of Liberty pedestal. Crazy! That's how we knew it was a national monument.

The exhibit inside the pedestal was really interesting. They had a few actual sized replicas of various parts of the statue. That's when it seemed pretty big. We saw the foot, the crown, and the face. The original torch was also inside. It was cool to read about the creation of the statue and all of the controversy and planning that went into building her. They said that it had to be built in Paris, in pieces, so it could be shipped over to the U.S. and the Parisians came to really love her. They missed her when she had to go. All of the color drawings and advertisements showed her in her original copper-colored glory. Very cool.

After walking through the exhibit and walking out onto the pedestal, we called it a morning and traveled onto Ellis Island (right next to Liberty island). That was amazing, too. They have completely restored most of the buildings there and they look beautiful. Ellis Island is where they would register the immigrants who came through, looking for jobs, family, opportunities, and escape in the United States. Walking through the Great Room, where millions of immigrants were "processed" for years was an emotional experience (partly because of what they had gone through and partly because Nicole and I were in the zombie-zone, going on 1/3 of the sleep we had been needing all weekend). They had done a wonderful job of presenting the immigration experience with photos, objects, and stories from people who had come through it to live in America.

It was a massive place and very exhausting. It was kind of humbling to think about all of the people who had come here, waiting for days, standing in line, hungry from not eating all day and poor from spending every last cent on the boat ride to America.

It was a beautiful place and after going through the inside of the building, we decided to walk out into the Memorial Garden, where the name of every immigrant who had come through Ellis Island was engraved on a wall. It was really neat. I even found a few Butterworths! Who knows, maybe they're part of the family.

So, all day we had been fighting sleep like crazy. We kept saying stupid stuff that didn't make any sense and we had a really hard time communicating with each other. You know that feeling you get when you're so tired you can't think straight? Well, it had been gradually growing all day. When we were heading out the door of the building, Nicole got attached to the door and took what felt like five minutes to figure out how to get out. Meanwhile, she caused some guy moving way too fast bumped into her form behind. This may not sound that funny to you but I was so tired I couldn't stop laughing. She was annoyed which made me laugh even harder. I couldn't even help because, honestly, it was funny.

We finally got out of that mess and walked over to the memorial. We walked around for awhile then a woman asked us for some help in finding a name. So, eager to help, I started walking towards her. Thinking I could easily step over the rope surrounding the wall, I swung one leg over. The second one wasn't so easy and I got attached and fell flat on my face. Now that really WAS funny. I was literally rolling on the ground with laughter. I laughed so hard I cried. Nicole said it was Karma. I agree.

After a long morning at the Statue of Liberty, we decided to go back to Times Square for one last hurrah. We fell asleep on the subway, which was a welcome relief. Once we got off, we were ready for some fun. We stopped at the wax museum for a few quick pictures with Morgan Freeman and some other celebrities- wait, I mean, I really met Morgan Freeman. Right...

After that, we went to the restaurant with the best cheesecake ever! It's true, they told me so. :) It really was amazing and so rich. If it's good enough for P. Diddy, it's good enough for me. Then we proceeded to go from theater to theater, asking for cheap, last minute broadway tickets. Our feet hurt so bad, I felt like they were screaming loud enough for everyone to hear. After stopping in about 5 theaters, we went to the one playing "Spamalot". I told Nicole, "I really don't think you're gonna like this." Her response? "Girl, I don't care what we see, as long as I get to sit down for two hours. My feet hurt!" So, there you have it. Her pain is what allowed me to see the musical I'd been dying to see. So, we got $30 tickets for "Spamalot", starring Clay Aiken (not a big selling point for me but he turned out to be good, nonetheless). So, we had about an hour until the show started so we stood around, talking for a bit when a woman came over and asked us if Clay had come out yet. We said no, did the actors come out after the show? Of course, she responded, to my sheer delight. That changed everything! We walked around the corner, eager to find out which shows had just ended. We didn't have to go far. We ended up at the theater next door to ours, which had just showed "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof", starring Terrence Howard, James Earl Jones, Anika Noni Rose (from "Dreamgirls"), and none other than my favorite person ever, Phylicia Rashad (that's right, Mrs. Cosby!). So, we stood with the other fans who were waiting for someone to come out when Anika did.

She was so sweet and took pictures with people, happily giving autographs. A guy came out who we didn't recognize but he must have been in the show because everyone was cheering for him. Then, I saw a car pull up and guess who got out? Phylicia! I was so excited, I didn't know what to do. She got out of the cat and said hello to a few people, took some pictures, then got back in the car to go home. How sweet of her to just come out for a minute to say hello to her fans! I love this woman! I wish I could have met her but it was so cool to be that close in vicinity to her. Now, that was a brush with greatness, in my opinion. (She's pictured below in the peach colored jacket)).

Anika Noni Rose is pictured below with Nicole.

Once we finally got to see the show, it was so much fun! I thought it was hilarious and stayed true enough to the movie, "Monty Python and the Holy Grail", the holy grail of comedies, in my opinion. I laughed my head off. Nicole was a good sport, bless her, but I know it was not her type of humor. She was surprised it was mine. We all have our guilty pleasures.

After the show, we waited outside for some of the actors to come out. A few did, but not Clay. You should have seen the number of (older) women who were waiting for him out there. Some had waited on multiple days, hoping for a glimpse.
Below is one of the guys, Brad Oscar, who came out after the show.

Knowing this was our last night in New York, we wanted to go out to eat somewhere cool so we picked Hard Rock Cafe, in Times Square. I had never been to a Hard Rock Cafe before so I was in for a surprise. It was the coolest restaurant I had EVER been to! The atmosphere, the guitars on the wall-amazing! I couldn't believe I was staring at Jim Morrison's music notes and the Beatles' famous gray suits. The coolest thing was getting to touch the original door from the Abbey Road recording studio, where countless artists have recorded their music throughout the years. This was so much more than a restaurant. It was an ode to the amazing artists of past generations. I loved it. (Can you tell?)

After a great meal there, we called it a night and went back to the hotel for a good night's sleep. One day left...

World Trade Center

2008-05-19T20:26:00.000-07:00

Saturday morning we slept in late and took our time making it to the World Trade Center site. We missed out on the tours because they were sold out but we took our own walking tour, which was still pretty moving. Across froom the WTC site is the new tribute center and the fire station, which was there when Sept. 11 happened. They've rebuilt the station so it looks very nice now and they have a tribute wall along the side, with the names of every fireman who died on 9/11. Inside the station, they have a tribute to the firemen who were lost from this fire station.

It was crazy to think that it has been 7 years since 9/11. The site is all under construction so there's not much to see but it's still pretty uncanny to see such a huge gap in the middle of a city block, where two tall buildings used to be. We could also see the opening to a subway station that used to be underneath the World Trade Center, which was a little trippy.

Inside the fire station was the tribute that honored the 6 firemen from the station who had lost their lives on 9/11. There were a few artifacts there, too, like a door from a fire engine and the original street sign for Liberty Street, which the WTC was on.

After visiting to WTC site, we rolled on over to Wall Street, which was around the corner. Since it was Saturday, it was incredibly quiet but it was cool, nonetheless.

On Wall Street was a statue of George Washington, since this was the building where he was inaugurated.

Battery Park was around the corner from Wall Street so we walked over there. It was a really pretty park, with a great view of the statue of liberty across the way.

This sculpture was in Battery Park, with a flame burning in front of it and a plaque that said that it used to sit in the center of the World Trade Center. It was interesting to see how damaged it was from the blast that hit the center on that fateful day. The flame burning in front of it was an eternal flame, put there in 2002, in order that everyone who sees it remember that day.

After a short day of touristing, we decided to go back to the hotel and call it a day. We got back at about 8 pm and went to bed early. It was so worth it. We needed a break from all of that running around we'd been doing. We were only halfway through. Two days to go!

The most filmed city in the country...

2008-05-19T19:05:00.000-07:00

Three hours after falling asleep, Nicole and I forced ourselves out of bed and walked to the subway at 3:30 am. We wanted to make sure we made it to the "Today Show" taping in time so we had to get there early.

We waited in line for probably an hour and a half. It was so fun for me to see a real TV show taping because it was my first. Mostly, you do a lot of waiting. It was cool, though. We never got on camera but it was fun anyway.

We even got to meet Al Roker. He came out just to meet all the fans and shake hands with us. So cool! We got to see Matt Lauer from a distance, too.

They were doing a promotional thing while we were there, called "Where in the World Is Matt Lauer?" so we got free shirts and leis. SWAG is the greatest!

After the taping, we went across the street to Rockefeller Center, where we had our NBC tour. We got to see the sets for "Conan O'Brien" and "Saturday Night Live". They were sooooo much smaller than I've ever imagined. It was such a dream to see the SNL set in real life. I love that show! Anyway, I do love the idea of television and film so it waa awesome to see behind the scenes.

After our tour, we walked around and shopped a little, visited Saks Fifth Avenue (just to say we'd been in there) and then ate lunch. By the time we did all of that, we were so tired so we went back to the hotel for a short nap. Weell, two hours later, we woke up to a hornet in our room. Watching Nicole try to kill that thing was the single most entertaining visual I've experienced in a long time. She was so scared of that thing but she wanted to get rid of it so she grabbed a pillow and ran to the window, where it was perched and slammed the pillow aganst the curtain. She screamed and punched the pillow, simultaneously yelling, "I! don't! want! no! bug! up! in! here!". I guess you had to be there, and you have to know Nicole. She still doesn't see the humor like I do. Good times...

After that experience, we got ready to go back out on the town. We decided to spend the afternoon in Central Park. We ended up spending three hours exploring it and we only saw 90% of it! It's huge and beautiful.

Across the street from Central Park was the FAO Schwartz we had visited earlier so Nicole found Man-in-Uniform #2. He was a character (pun intended).

Here's Nicole in Central Park. Everywhere we went in the park, I recognized a location from a movie scene. The fountain from "Hitch", "Enchanted", "13 Going on 30", the tavern on the green from "Ghostbusters", the boathouse from "When Harry Met Sally" and "27 Dresses", the bridge from "Enchanted" and the skkating rink from "Serendipity" were all there. Now, every movie I see that takes place in New York is so much greater to me because I can say I've been there and seen it up close!

Here we are in front of Wollman Rink from "Serendipity".

Carriage rides were given throughout the park. So cute.

Here we are at the Tavern on the Green. It was this huge grassy area where people picnicked and read books. I loved it there. It was so pretty with the tall city buildings in the background.

We took a boat onto the lake for an hoour, which was quite entertaining, let me tell you! Apparently, Nicole and I DON'T make a great team. While she was rowing with one oar, I was rowing with the other in the completely opposite direction. It took us a half hour to figure out how to row simultaneously. By then, it was time to row back to the boathouse. It was really fun, though!

By the time we got to the reservoir, we were pretty beat so we decided it was time to give up our goal of walking the entirety of Central Park. We got pretty far, though, so we were proud. Luckily, we were really close to a subway station so we got on, in order to go back to Times Square (our new favorite New York place to be).

When we got on the subway, we realized that Yankee Stadium was only a few stops away so we went in the opposite direction of Times Square so we could see the stadium. Getting off in the Bronx was quite a new experience for me. I felt completely out a of place! It was dark, too, so that made me even more uncomfortable there. Luckily, the stadium was right next to the subway station so didn't have to go far to see it. No one was there because it was night and there weren't any games going on. We walked around the whole thing and tried to take pictures but it was too dark to get any good ones. That was fine because I was ready to go. We left shortly after and headed back to Times Square.

We ate pizza at this little hole in the wall place (if there can be such a thing in Times Square). It was the most fabulous pizza I've ever had. I don't even know what was on mine but it was different than what I'm used to. The cheese is different and the tomatoo sauce so much better. Mmmm.... After that we headed a few blocks away to the Empire State Building. Across from that was the famous Macy's (the World's Largest Store, according to the sign on the outside of the building).

I guess I live vicariously through movies because, again, I kept thinking of the movies that were filmed here- "Sleepless in Seattle" in the Empire State Building and "Miracle on 34th Street" at Macy's. It was cool to see where they have the Thanksgiving parade every year, too, since that's a tradition for Mom and I to watch together.

We got to the top of the Empire State Building at midnight and just as we stepped out on the 86th floor observation deck, it started raining! I admit we had beautiful warm weather up until that point so we coulnd't complain. We just hoped that it wouldn't last, considering that we hadn't brought heavy jackets or umbrellas.

By the time we finished at the Empire State Building, we were ready for bed so we headed back to the subway station. We ended up taking 2 hoours to get back to our hotel, just like the night before, so that was an adventure. It was worth it to stay late in the city, though.

Neon Paradise

2008-05-15T21:52:00.000-07:00

After our tour, Nicole and I made it to Grand Central Station. It was actually as grand as its name describes. The ceiling was ornate, reminding me a little of the buildings I've seen in Washington, D.C. It was also bustling, just like I had always imagined it to be. We actually felt like we were at risk of becoming turnstiles, spinning in place in the center of the station, as people rushed past us to get to their destinations.

From Grand Central, we walked a couple blocks to Sushi Samba, where we met up with a friend of Nicole's, also named Nicole. She moved to New York recently so she was happy to join us for dinner. This was a colorful place, literally, and had excellent food. I had never had sushi before so I went with something safe, the California roll. It was amazing, though. Shrimp & tomato. Mmmm.... I want some right now...

After sushi, we parted ways with Nicole and the two of us went on to Times Square. All day we had both been waiting to see the city we had dreamed about all these years and when we reached Times Square, we found it. We were both incredulous as we encountered the neon block. It really does beckon you. It was a dream come true to see Broadway in all its glory. We just walked for blocks, looking in stores, taking pictures and buying souvenirs (okay, that was just me).

As always, Nicole had her radar on for good looking men. She found her first one in a cop stationed in the middle of Times Square so she asked me to take her picture. He was very happy to oblige and took pictures with a lot of tourists we saw walk by. These guys must be used to it.

For those of you who know Stan Freberg, you know exactly what line was running through my head when I saw this sign for Broadway (yethhir!).

On Nicole's list of "Things I Must Do While in New York" was eat a hot dog from one of the many stands. Sadly, she was disappointed. It turned out she wasn't a fan of any of the food in NY. Sadly, it takes a lot to disappoint me so I gobbled up a little of everything and loved it all (thank goodness for all the wallking we did to burn it off!).

Here are some of the lights of Broadway. I loved how all of the theaters were lit up and how there were 10-20 on every street. I could smell celebrities in the air. More on that later...

On the main thoroughfare in Times Square, we found a giant Toys R Us. Yep, another toy store. We went in and found the lifesize Barbie dreamhouse of our dreams. It was a pink vision (or nightmare, depending on who you are reading this right now).

They had a section for everything: Legos, Barbie, Candyland, Jurassic Park, Speed Racer, Star Wars, Wii, etc. They even had a ferris wheel inside the store. It was so cute because each of the cars was a different theme (Toy Story, Care Bears, Scooby Doo). We weren't paying $3.00 to ride though, so we enjoyed from a happy, not-so-poor distance.

After Toys R Us, we finally headed back to our hotel. Luckily, there were tons of stations everywhere we went, so it was easy to get back. Or, so we thought. The thing they didn't tell us was that after 10 pm, all of the lines changed and our line was no longer in service. Sooooo, we ended up taking so many lines to get home that we were in the subway for 2 hours! Most of that was just waiting...underground...with the smells....and the rats...and the guy with gangrene. Good times, good times...

We got back to the hotel at midnight and went straight to bed because we knew we were getting up at 3:30 the next morning to make it to the "Today Show". As I laid my head on that pillow for the first time, I had serious doubts if we would make it. Just as I started to doubt this, I noticed that, indeed, it would be a long night, since our hotel had a club, bumping music one story below us.

Our First Day in NY

2008-05-12T20:59:00.000-07:00

After checking in, we took showers and got ready as fast as possible so we could make it to Fifth Avenue in time for our "Sex & the City" tour. Let me preface this by saying that I have never once seen an episode of "Sex and the City" but it's Nicole's favorite show so she really wanted to go. regardless, it was really fun because we got to take a bus around the city and see all of the hotspots.

It ended up being about 80+ degrees on Thursday so we were pretty hot (in more ways than one, haha!). It was a gorgeous day, though.

We had to meet in front of Plaza Hotel for the tour and it was a beautiful. Tulips were in bloom all over the city.

Here we are in front of the Plaza Hotel fountain. Everytime we'd take out our camera to take a picture of ourselves, a nice New Yorker would ask if we wanted them to take one of us. This was honestly the friendliest city I've ever been to. You know all the stories you hear about rude New Yorkers? It's not like that at all. Service was awesome, people were always willing to direct us anywhere before we even asked, and people just said hi to us when we passed by. I loved it!

We ended up getting to our meeting spot early so we went into FAO Schwartz, which was across the street. That was the coolest toy store I've ever been to! It also had the giant piano from "Big". Everywhere we went there was a famous spot from a movie. On our tour, they said that New York is the most filmed city in America. I believe it.

FAO Schwartz had a section for everything. They had a Star Wars section and a Harrry Potter one. I had to take pictures with Ron Weasley for Mallory.

I loved the buildings in this city. I kept thinking about all of the TV shows and movies I've grown up watching and how I was finally seeing what I'd always imagined the city to look like.

On our tour, we stopped at Magnolia Bakery for cupcakes. They were the best cupcakes I've had.

Next to the bakery was a cute little park, called Abingdon Square. I loved that there were parks all over the city. It made it such a pretty city and you didn't feel like you were in the city a lot of the time, especially once we got to Central Park later on.

Our last stop on the tour was a bar called O'Nieals. Nicole and I enjoyed the outside while everybody else spent $9 on cosmos. Yep, call me cheap.

Flying to New York

2008-05-12T20:40:00.000-07:00

Here we are, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. We departed San Jose at 10:00 pm Wednesday night and arrived in New York City the next morning at 10:00 am. We slept a little on the plane but not enough. Oh, well, we were in New York, baby! We went out on the town as soon as we got there and never looked back!

In a New York state of mind...

2008-05-12T13:05:00.000-07:00

After 9 long years of planning to go to New York City, my best friend, Nicole, and I finally got there! What a whirlwind weekend...

Days: Five

Total Hours of Sleep: 30

Money Spent: Approximately $900

Hours Spent in the Subway station each night, trying to get back to the hotel: 2

Rats Seen in Subway: 3

Plane Connections: 4

New Outfits Purchased for the Trip: 5

Photos Taken: 190

Fights Witnessed Between Pedestrians and Cab Drivers: 1

Broadway Shows Taken In: 1

Celebrities Seen: 8

Celebrities Met: 2

Burgers Consumed: 5

Times We Said "My feet are killing me": More than I can count

I long to travel...

2008-05-12T12:37:00.000-07:00

My heart is always abroad, but especially today, as I hear of the disastrous earthquake that hit China. I know our planet has gone through its share of disasters, but it seems that lately there have been so many at the same time. Didn't the cyclone just hit Myanmar? Now China has experienced a huge loss. I want so badly to be there, or anywhere where I can help.

Thinking about this makes me realize how much I love to travel and seem to have a "gift" for it. At church, we've been discussing spiritual gifts and I feel that mine is serving. That's why I want to be somewhere helping clean up after a disaster, rather than giving my money to it. Even if it's local, it means something. The Red Cross and CityTeam have many opportunities to serve in this country, state, and city. I want to do this. I should do this. I will do this!

I feel God calling me to use these gifts more than I do, possibly even in my job. For now, I feel like a short term trip is what I need to do and I am excited about God's call to me. On one website I found, for an organization that does international missions, they talked about how we come up with excuses so often about why we "can't" go on a trip, usually revolving around the question of whether we can afford this financially. They said that this is where we need to utilize our faith. We need to move forward and rely on God to provide this money. I don't put my faith into practice enough. I am not a doubter. I believe God can and will do anything that furthers His kingdom, so why do I hold back from allowing Him to do this in my life? I am not only depriving myself of this opportunity but of others who could receive something from the services God provides through my hands. What am I losing by NOT trusting Him? Everything. What am I losing by trusting Him? NOTHING.

Where is God going to take me this year? I can't wait to find out.