1. No hot residents at my orientation.
2. No new friends at all from orientation.
3. The university has my name spelled wrong, making my login and email address cpipkEn.
4. The group ride that I was trying to go biking with for some reason was not there. And I had to ride all the way down there to find out.
5. My average speed riding to and from the group ride that didn't happen was less than 9 mph. Can you say 1 million traffic lights?
6. I almost got hit by a bus on my bike
It doesn't seem like as much all laid out here. I have to say out loud - CHOSE TO BELIEVE!!
Monday, August 6, 2007
Sunday, August 5, 2007
Last night of freedom
I wanted to finish my Cambodia blog before I wrote anything else, but oh well. Tomorrow is my first day of work! I have to be there at 7:45! I had these 3 lovely months of leisure and they are all gone!
Today marks my one week mark here in Ann Arbor. I think that I do actually like this place! It has everything I want/need, and the size is really idea! Big enough to have an H&M and a Trader Joes, but not too big to have an interstate or two down the middle. I know one thing at least is going to be more difficult here - finding good Christian influences. In the south, pretty much everyone is a Christian to some degree. Here, not the case. I went to a church today - the Vineyard Church, and the church was what I am looking for - progressive, contemporary music, good message, but I don't think the people are my people. I was a little disappointed. I've gotten attached to Buckhead. And I know I'm not going to find anything exactly the same here. But I trust that God sent me here and prepared the way for me. He must have setup some good Christian people for me to be around. And I already know He sent me for some good non-Christian people. I hope that God will use me in their lives! I wonder if He sent me to them. Pretty big if He did. Again, I have to chose to trust. He will work through me if that is His intention. I am open and willing. Please pray that I listen and have courage to speak/act!
Today marks my one week mark here in Ann Arbor. I think that I do actually like this place! It has everything I want/need, and the size is really idea! Big enough to have an H&M and a Trader Joes, but not too big to have an interstate or two down the middle. I know one thing at least is going to be more difficult here - finding good Christian influences. In the south, pretty much everyone is a Christian to some degree. Here, not the case. I went to a church today - the Vineyard Church, and the church was what I am looking for - progressive, contemporary music, good message, but I don't think the people are my people. I was a little disappointed. I've gotten attached to Buckhead. And I know I'm not going to find anything exactly the same here. But I trust that God sent me here and prepared the way for me. He must have setup some good Christian people for me to be around. And I already know He sent me for some good non-Christian people. I hope that God will use me in their lives! I wonder if He sent me to them. Pretty big if He did. Again, I have to chose to trust. He will work through me if that is His intention. I am open and willing. Please pray that I listen and have courage to speak/act!
Cambodia Day 8 - Sunday
We woke up before the sun! We met in the lobby at 4:30 AM to watch the sunrise. We hiked up this hill. No one could really tell me the name, but it's the hill where you can take the elephants to the top. But we were there before the elephants so we had to do it ourselves! We were the only ones there and it was AWESOME. We ran all over the temple, watched an indescribable sunrise, read Psalm 19 (my idea - ok - God's idea through me!) and had a little sunrise service. We said prayers of praise - the view of the sunrise was completely awe inspiring. Lord, please use the beauty of Your creation in Cambodia to draw Your people to You!
Then we climbed back down and drove to Ankor Thom and the Bayon temple. The Bayon is part of Ankor Thom - it is the one with the faces. It was really amazing - we climbed to the top and took pictures. The we had to find some H2O and some bathrooms, so we drove to the end of Ankor Thom. We explored some of the 12 small palaces built for the queens. Again - climbed (practicaly crawled!) to the top, took pictures, and came back down. The we explored the elephant fighting arena and another small but steep temple at Ankor Thom.
Then we got back in the bus and drove to TaProm. Here the temple and the trees are one. We they found this temple, they left most of the wildlife. Tomb Raider was shot here. The trees look like they are oozing over the walls! They have swallowed them up over the years. One bad thing here - walked through a door that was maybe a cm shorter than me and banged the hell out of my head. Hurt SEVERELY. I saw black and cried. But I survived. With 800 mg of ibuprofen's help. We went to a pretty gross lunch where I had what was described as a banana pancake.
Then we went to another really cool temple. Must look up the name for this one. Ok found it - Preah Kahn. It is less visited and better preserved than the others. It was huge! The walkway was lined with statues of men pulling a rope. The inside was shaped as a cross, with 4 long hallways. In the courtyard there was a 2 story building with columns. But no stairs. The architecture of this temple is different from the others.
On the way to all of the temples, there was a bunch of landmine survivors. They had these bank where they made awesome music! Pretty cool! I wanted to buy a CD, but they were $10, so I gave them $1 and took a short video instead.
Then we went to ANKOR WAT. Wow. The other temples were cool, but this one was built on a completely different scale. It was massive! The gate alone is massive. We climbed up a wall, pretty much, to get to the top. You have to crawl up on your belly. They wanted visitors to have to arrive prostrate. It worked - its the only way to make it up!
These temples got me thinking about the freedom God gives us. He gives great creativity. He gives the means to create such beautiful structures. But we get to chose to honor Him with it, or to use His gifts to worship a piece of stone! How He must cry to see it!
After Ankor Wat, we went back to the hotel and then to the Red Piano. More good American food! My stomach is not doing so good by this point! Cannot handle any more Khmer food.
Then we went back to the hotel for more debriefing. This time we talked about the highlights. Heartwarming to say the least! I have them all written down in my Northpoint journal. It was so good to immediately look back and see what we had accomplished!
Then we climbed back down and drove to Ankor Thom and the Bayon temple. The Bayon is part of Ankor Thom - it is the one with the faces. It was really amazing - we climbed to the top and took pictures. The we had to find some H2O and some bathrooms, so we drove to the end of Ankor Thom. We explored some of the 12 small palaces built for the queens. Again - climbed (practicaly crawled!) to the top, took pictures, and came back down. The we explored the elephant fighting arena and another small but steep temple at Ankor Thom.
Then we got back in the bus and drove to TaProm. Here the temple and the trees are one. We they found this temple, they left most of the wildlife. Tomb Raider was shot here. The trees look like they are oozing over the walls! They have swallowed them up over the years. One bad thing here - walked through a door that was maybe a cm shorter than me and banged the hell out of my head. Hurt SEVERELY. I saw black and cried. But I survived. With 800 mg of ibuprofen's help. We went to a pretty gross lunch where I had what was described as a banana pancake.
Then we went to another really cool temple. Must look up the name for this one. Ok found it - Preah Kahn. It is less visited and better preserved than the others. It was huge! The walkway was lined with statues of men pulling a rope. The inside was shaped as a cross, with 4 long hallways. In the courtyard there was a 2 story building with columns. But no stairs. The architecture of this temple is different from the others.
On the way to all of the temples, there was a bunch of landmine survivors. They had these bank where they made awesome music! Pretty cool! I wanted to buy a CD, but they were $10, so I gave them $1 and took a short video instead.
Then we went to ANKOR WAT. Wow. The other temples were cool, but this one was built on a completely different scale. It was massive! The gate alone is massive. We climbed up a wall, pretty much, to get to the top. You have to crawl up on your belly. They wanted visitors to have to arrive prostrate. It worked - its the only way to make it up!
These temples got me thinking about the freedom God gives us. He gives great creativity. He gives the means to create such beautiful structures. But we get to chose to honor Him with it, or to use His gifts to worship a piece of stone! How He must cry to see it!
After Ankor Wat, we went back to the hotel and then to the Red Piano. More good American food! My stomach is not doing so good by this point! Cannot handle any more Khmer food.
Then we went back to the hotel for more debriefing. This time we talked about the highlights. Heartwarming to say the least! I have them all written down in my Northpoint journal. It was so good to immediately look back and see what we had accomplished!
Friday, August 3, 2007
Cambodia Day 7
Woke up today with a crazy eye! A evil mosquito had bitten me TWICE on the EYELID while I was sleeping! I could barely open my right eye! After resigning myself to a day of sunglasses (even inside) we headed to the floating village of Siem Reap. Literally the houses, churches (even one Catholic church!), schools, pharmacy, grocery, basketball court, all are essentially boats! Some are boat shaped, some are just like houses with floaties. We rode a boat down through the middle of it. It was beautiful. And not that hot. The rest of the crew got off the boat for awhile, but me, Kacie, and Josette stayed on and looked for things in the clouds. Awesome.
Then we went to lunch and did some "debriefing" where we talked about things about the trip that could be improved for next year. I mentioned adding a daily group Bible study, and the occasional "it has to be perfect" attitude that cropped up.
Then we went to Ankor Wat! We went to watch the sunset, but it rained. It was a cool light, though, to see the ruins in, so it was still a cool experience. We couldn't see the sunset at all, though, because of the clouds. Ankor Wat is a massive temple that was originally built as to the Hindu god but is now used as a Buddhist temple. The scale of hit is incredible massive. You really have to see it to be able to understand.
We went to dinner at the Blue Pumpkin. me and Kacie split a burger and ravioli. Delicious for a tongue tired of Khmer food, and more reliable for the stomach!
Again, Kacie, DeAnna and I went out after everyone else went to sleep. Kacie and I went to get Thai stretch massages! We went to this slightly sketchy place over the top of a restaurant, but the people there were very nice and there was a sign that said No Sex, so we weren't too worried! The massage was awesome. You wear clothes for it because they stretch your legs and wrap themselves around you, etc. There's no oil or anything. an interesting different kind of massage!
Then we went to lunch and did some "debriefing" where we talked about things about the trip that could be improved for next year. I mentioned adding a daily group Bible study, and the occasional "it has to be perfect" attitude that cropped up.
Then we went to Ankor Wat! We went to watch the sunset, but it rained. It was a cool light, though, to see the ruins in, so it was still a cool experience. We couldn't see the sunset at all, though, because of the clouds. Ankor Wat is a massive temple that was originally built as to the Hindu god but is now used as a Buddhist temple. The scale of hit is incredible massive. You really have to see it to be able to understand.
We went to dinner at the Blue Pumpkin. me and Kacie split a burger and ravioli. Delicious for a tongue tired of Khmer food, and more reliable for the stomach!
Again, Kacie, DeAnna and I went out after everyone else went to sleep. Kacie and I went to get Thai stretch massages! We went to this slightly sketchy place over the top of a restaurant, but the people there were very nice and there was a sign that said No Sex, so we weren't too worried! The massage was awesome. You wear clothes for it because they stretch your legs and wrap themselves around you, etc. There's no oil or anything. an interesting different kind of massage!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
