Holland-ness

Hello everyone! Jessica and I are in Hoogeveen in the Netherlands right now staying with Linda, Iwan, Iwan's parents, and his brother Edwin (who picked up an Australian accent a couple years ago). This place is beautiful! They live out in the country, and there are cows everywhere. Trees line the roads on both sides, and the roofs on the houses are very steep. Everyone rides their bikes everywhere. I never thought that a toilet could have such an interesting flusher, and I stop and consider the lightswitches before entering or leaving a room--not because I like to ponder them, but because some are confusing. There are two separate rooms for the toilet and shower. I figured out how to use the shower, but when I turned the water cold to rinse out my conditioner, the water pressure went up and the shower head shot to the side and soaked my towel. The food here is very good, but apparently they love rye bread, black licorice, and other things that taste like those... which I abhor. I am willing to try everything, and I tried really hard to keep a straight face when I ate their super intense black licorice, but they burst out laughing at me. Must be an acquired taste. I'm not too anxious to acquire it though.



There was a change of plans, so Therese and I ended up taking the Metra to Union Station (on which a European couple displayed the epitome of eros love) and then a five-hour Amtrak to Ann Arbor. We stayed at the Weavers' house for a night and then flew out the next afternoon. I'm so happy that Therese came with me, not only because my friend, but because she helped me lug my awkwardly large suitcases onto trains. Both of my suitcases ended up weighing 49lbs each--and the limit was 50lbs. (Thank you, Dr. Weaver!) People had told both Jessica and me that we should watch the movie "Taken" before we come here. Neither of us had gotten the chance until we dared to see it on the plane... so we have decided to be very careful and to not share a cab with an attractive guy named Peter who invites us to a party. No way. Peter--back off. We checked our two suitcases and brought our backpacks and guitars on the plane. Someone asked Jessica if we were musicians, and she didn't understand what he said right away, so she said yes. Oops. I'd like to say that the reason I didn't sleep at all on the plane is because I was very excited, which is true, but I also love airplane food and didn't want to miss it if I fell asleep. Plus, by the time we finished "Taken" it was probably 5am (11pm in Michigan), and I just couldn't miss the sun rising over England. Jetlag owned us for the next two days. We then lugged 234098lbs of luggage around the airport in Amsterdam until we found lockers in the basement where we checked everything except our backpacks. We took the train from the airport to Hoogeveen (which we had no idea how to pronounce). Jessica kept pointing to her ticket to the guy across the aisle to ask if we were there yet. It feels good to feel independent and know that we can take care of ourselves.

Linda, Iwan, and Edwin have been so much fun, and they've been such great tour guides and chefs. On Thursday Edwin took us to a small town in Germany about a half hour from here. I don't remember the name of it, and if I did I probably couldn't pronounce it. We wandered around through the stores and noticed that the American brands are a billion times more expensive. We then went to a town in Holland called Emmen, where we also looked around (I would say that we went shopping, but we didn't buy anything) and ate lunch. In the afternoon, we all went on their boat down this... my words are escaping me... man-made body of water smaller than a river that opened up into a man-made lake that connected to a canal to Little Venice. In Little Venice, the streets are, of course, water. Eventually we got food and ate it in the boat, and a family of swans came and chased after us for probably a half hour. They kept craning their long necks into the boat trying to take our food. It must have looked pretty funny because some people at a restaurant we passed took pictures of the wannabe pirates and us. I kept trying to convince Linda, who was very nervous, that we should just feed them and they would definitely go away when they got what they wanted. :) One of the swans actually bit Iwan's arm really hard, and it didn't go through the skin but it broke some of his capillaries. They said that swans are very strong and that their wings could break someone's arm. Linda, Iwan, and Edwin are so much fun. Edwin is really funny, and we're actually teasing Jessica right now.

I love hearing little kids speak Dutch, and I am so astounded by them, thinking, "Wow! Those kids are so smart. They speak Dutch!" and then I remind myself that Dutch is their first language, just as English is mine.

Apparently Dutch has that hacking/coughing sound too, and everyone here has reaffirmed that I need to work on that before even attempting to learn Arabic.

Sunday we're planning on meeting up with Krista, another SM who is coming from Southern, and then going to go around Amsterdam. We're planning on visiting the Anne Frank Huis and hopefully some other places before we catch our plane to Cairo. It hasn't really sunk in that I'm not coming home soon. It will probably hit me in a month or two when Egypt becomes moderately normal. I'm looking forward to spending this year alone with God--there's a lot I have to learn. When better than when I am 6100 miles away from home and away from everything and everyone I know but Jessica?

Feel free to read Jessica's blog as well: jessiejean.blogspot.com

Sorry this blog is so sporadic. Thanks for the prayers. I love you guys!

Oops

The reason that I wrote the last post was to thank people and maybe mention a few other things. I mentioned a few other things... and didn't thank people. I wanted to tell everyone that I am sincerely grateful to whoever donated toward my trip. In all honesty, I couldn't go if it had not be for your generosity. Thank you so much! Thank you for your prayers as well. May God bless you and your families.

Pre-Egypt Thoughts

Hello! I figure that I should give some background information about my trip. I am going to be teaching ESL among other things at Nile Union Academy until the middle of June. I'm not that brave--one of my best friends from high school (Jessica) is coming along. I guess she's not "coming along" to keep my company, but she's teaching ESL as well. On Monday, the 24th, my super duper friend Therese is driving me to Detroit, and we will spend the night at Jessica's house. Jessica and I are leaving on Tuesday and flying to Amsterdam, where we will spend a few days with Linda and Iwan. They are a young couple who lived in my grandparents' basement apartment while Iwan was in the seminary at Andrews. They just moved back at the beginning of the month. I'm so excited because they said they live five hours from Paris, an even shorter distance from Luxembourg, and an even shorter distance from Belgium and Germany. I'll be able to say things such as, "Well when I was in Paris..." or "Yes, but in Luxembourg..." which will automatically make me the coolest person in the room. I just reread this paragraph and think that it is painfully awkward, but oh well. :)

I am trying my hardest not to overpack, and I think that my only motivation for doing so would be because I am scared that my sisters will take everything I own. Seriously. Whenever I come back from school/camp/wherever, I check their rooms and come out with armfuls of my stuff--clothes, jackets, purses, and even hair products. I am considering writing a list of everything in my closet that I care about so that I can check and see if everything is still there when I come home. Maybe taking a picture would be better. I know I sound crazy. Oh sisters... maybe Brazilian foreign exchange students are more trustworthy... or at least they don't feel that they are entitled to wear my clothes and shove them in a crumpled wad in the corner of their closet.

The only warning that I have gotten about Egypt (from people who have lived in the Middle East) is to not fall in love with an Egyptian man and to just watch out for the men in general. "Nearly two-thirds of Egyptian men admit to having sexually harassed women in the most populous Arab country, and a majority say women themselves are to blame for their maltreatment, a survey showed Thursday." http://www.reuters.com/article/email/idUSL1732581120080717 Creepy. I think that I'll be fine because I've been listening to Pimsleur's Egyptian Arabic lessons on my iPod, and I know how to say, "No, Sir!" I will just yell that many times. It also taught me how to say things like "I do not speak Arabic," "How are you?" and "You are (not) American/Egyptian." Why would I want to tell someone that he is not American or Egyptian? haha.

I don't feel prepared yet, but if I waited until I felt prepared to do everything, I would probably do nothing at all. I have so many things that I feel I need to study. I've been reading Acts of the Apostles and 1888 Re-Examined, and I am all pumped about the Holy Spirit and really feel a burden to move into action. I'm also studying the book of Daniel again and attempting to memorize more. "Hundreds, yea, thousands, who have heard the message of salvation, are still idlers in the marketplace, when they might be engaged in some line of active service. To these Christ is saying, 'Why stand ye here all the day idle?' and He adds, 'God ye also into the vineyard.' Why is it that many more do not respond to the call? Is it because they think themselves excused in that they do not stand in the pulpit? Let them understand that there is a large work to be done outside the pulpit, by thousands of consecrated lay members" (Acts 110-111)

Predictions for Egypt:

• Lots of sweat.
• Tan face, tan hands (possibly forearms), and feet (with tan lines)
• I will probably match my clothes a total of four times, and I'm already okay with that.
• I will have frizzy hair and bushy eyebrows and learn to embrace them.
• I will be surprised by people's generosity.
• I will not learn as much Arabic as I want to, but probably more than I expect to.
• People will read my blog quite often at first and then hardly at all toward the end of my trip. (I'm not being pessimistic--just realistic.)
• I will not read all 2340928 books I am bringing.
• I'm going to stick to exercising six days a week... or maybe three.
• I will eat many mangos while they are in season.
• I am not even aware of the little things that I will later appreciate about home... like soft toilet paper and random things like that.
• I will learn more about myself, people in general, and the character of God. I think that that is what I am looking forward to more than anything. Any time that I have ever had an issue with God, I have later realized that I had not seen the whole picture and God has been right all along. But He's big enough to handle our anger toward Him.

I'm listening to "Oh My God" by Jars of Clay. The bridge is incredible. And no, it never plays the actual chord of the key it is in--intentionally.

I considered apologizing for making this so long, but I can't say that I won't do it again. God bless you and I love you--even if you are some random person who found my blog through a Google search.

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P.O. Box 12
Heliopolis, Cairo
Egypt