debralyn's Xanga

Winter

Thu, 24 Jan 2008 10:48:15 GMT

Thirty-six degrees. 36. Did you know it's possible to sleep in a 36-degree F. bedroom and be hot?

Well, welcome to my world of new discoveries. This winter has brought all sorts of hither-to-fore unimagined knowledge to my attention, including the fact that if you put seven blankets on your bed and wear five shirts, three pairs of pants, and two pairs of heavy socks, you can actually get too warm in a 36-degree bedroom. And did you know the average temperature of a refrigerator? Neither did I, until I looked it up on the internet in reaction to the curious discovery that my kitchen is colder than the inside of my refrigerator...making me wonder if the refrigerator-makers have any back-up plan wherein the cooling mechanisms begin heating the food to an average refrigerator temperature of 38 degrees!

Now, on the bedroom thing...don't think it's all fun and games, please. On the nights when it reaches 33 and 34 degrees, I do get cold (those few degrees make such a difference). And I also tend to wonder what's going to happen if it passes below 32 and the water bottle on my bedside shelf freezes! I mean, I already don't have running water in the house (the pipes have been frozen since my return two weeks ago), and if the buckets of well water I keep on hand for manually flushing the toilet and for heating on the stove to wash my hands and face freeze, well then...well then, I just don't know what I'll do. But I guess I'll make some discoveries and learn some new skills then, now won't I?

I hope I don't sound too whiney, because I genuinely don't mind these circumstances too much. It's all part of the fun of living a "real world" K'town winter, which I've been protected from the past two years by living on the school campus. The house there is possibly the only non-government home in all of K'town with radiator heating. Out in the real world of kerosene and firewood it's not only insanely expensive to heat your bedroom through the night, but impossibly difficult (who wants to get up five times a night to feed and stoke a fire?) and/or life-threateningly dangerous (a worker who chose to take the risk nearly died six weeks ago from carbon monoxide poisoning).

So life goes on, though the details look different. You learn that you really don't need a shower as often as you thought you did, and as for clean clothes...well, in the winter they really don't have to be washed all that often, now do they? I've gotta go home now from the school (where I have internet) to bake brownies for Youth Group tonight at my house. The people here make it all worth it -- the community we have that goes from house to house "breaking bread...and eating their food with gladness and simplicity of heart" (Acts 2:46)!

Running

Fri, 23 Nov 2007 06:10:02 GMT

Ouch! Yesterday was the annual Thanksgiving Run at the US Embassy...I'm so glad they give little extra opportunities like that, to keep our minds healthy and our bodies in pain! I did the 10K this year, and I'm feeling it today. Exercise opportunities have been MUCH MORE sparse this year than last due to the heightened security level, so through this experience I did gain some valuable advice to pass on: Make sure you've been exercising consistently BEFORE you run in a race -- otherwise you're gonna feel like I do right now, which isn't fun!

I appreciate Thanksgiving more over here than I ever have before. Though I so wish I could be with family on this day, I guess I also see the beauty of this holiday more when I am surrounded by people who don't have such a custom. As twenty-one of us gathered in a friend's home for the celebration, it struck me anew that the reason -- the whole, entire reason -- for such a special day was TO GIVE THANKS TO GOD. Wow. Who does that -- just sets aside an entire day to stop work and to give thanks for all He has provided? Apparently, people with a faith like that of the early settlers, and an eye open to His blessings like theirs were. I want to be like that -- to see the blessings in life, rather than the hardships; to focus on the bounty, not the sacrifices. There are plenty of blessings; we just need to open our eyes!

(And one of those blessings for me right now is, I'll be "home" for a visit in only four weeks! Yea!)

Lousy Blogger Checking in...with Really Good News!

Fri, 02 Nov 2007 16:43:07 GMT

Well. So you try your hardest to live life well, and what kind of nods do you get? Comments like, "You're a lousy blogger" from your very own dear sister. Trouble is, I'm much worse than a lousy blogger...I'm a lousy emailer/MySpace'er/internet-user in general! So I will now try to make amends, by means of a longer-than-life blog that approximately no one will have the patience to read all of...

Things are coasting along quite well here in my third year in K'town...it seems that every year here I come to love the place more, in some ways. Touching down in August I teared up a little at the thought that this is probably my last year here. But the reason...ahem, the REASON (he deserves all-caps) it's probably my last year is nothing to tear up at... :)

As of this summer, the most wonderful man in the world has entered my life. And yes, I do indeed mean, THE MOST WONDERFUL. So I can't tell you all about him yet; that would just spoil the fun of drawing it out, but I will let you in on the how-we-met story -- it's sure a fun one, and if the Father is into writing exciting how-we-met stories, then that's sure a good sign for our relationship!

So I arrived "home" in Memphis, TN in June, where my best-friend-from-Memphis, Dave, who works in China but was also "home" on leave, was hanging out for awhile. In the months that had passed since he'd beat me back to Memphis he'd met some new friends, and he wanted to introduce me to one of them. As he began describing Jim to me, I thought, "That's funny. That sure sounds like a story I've heard before..." So I investigated: "Mom, you remember that really neat guy you met at that m-event that you emailed me about -- the one who'd been doing Kingdom Work in China -- was his name Jim?" Yes indeed, came the answer! Hmm...so Dave wanted to introduce me to the same guy my mom had been impressed with...

But the plot thickens. Later that day on the phone again with Dave, I said, "Dave, you know that new friend of yours you want to introduce me to? Well, this is really weird, but my mom thinks she's met him." "It gets weirder..." replied Dave: "He thinks you've met his dad." Indeed I had -- and his dad had mentioned me to him -- a three-way set-up, this was turning into!

And I'll leave it off there, with just a quick mention about the ensuing four months: They've been wonderful! We're keeping Skype in business, and seeing where this will lead.

Everything else feels inconsequential by comparison, but there are good things happening here on the ground, as well! The youth work is going well, and I'm getting settled, bit by bit, into this "new" house (actually the oldest, nastiest, dirtiest, grungiest house that I've ever lived in! ). Gone are the days of 17/7 electricity (the school campus where I used to live runs its generators everyday, 6 AM to 11 PM) and a freezer with ice (I still have a freezer, it's just that with so little electricity, the ice very rarely actually freezes!). But I love the privacy -- I have the whole bottom floor to myself, and a lady from Singapore lives on the top. We share with each other when we cook, but other than that, we each have our own space. And I have my own space to invite the teenagers over to! That's wonderful, I say, just wonderful...we girls have Holy-Book Study together every Sunday afternoon, and I have the Youth Leadership Team over for lunch once a month, and I have sleepovers with the High School girls, and we do special training sessions here, and, and, and...

Needless to say, it's fun. I never thought I'd wanna live alone. But I'm loving it. Having your "own place" to host events of Kingdom value and invite others into is a huge blessing...

Some of the Youth Group "kiddos" playing cards at my house during a break in a training session.

The musicians...here in K'town, the music never ceases! :)

Sunday, March 11, 2007

Sun, 11 Mar 2007 14:13:10 GMT

Under 17...under 17...UNDER 17!!! And what, you may wonder, causes me to exclaim so nonsensically? It's because I climbed "the mountain" in under seventeen minutes! I'm so overjoyed. This is a nearby mountain that we frequently climb (about every other day, to be exact), and when I started climbing a half-year ago it took me twenty-four minutes. Now I've shaved seven of those minutes off...and yes, about killed myself in the process (I really thought I might pass out on the way up, and I'm kind of surprised I didn't throw up), but it was worth it!

With the Koochi kids who live on the mountain...when they see us heading up, they run to put on fancy clothes and make-up so they can look their best when they come and meet us on the way down.

The view from the "other" mountain...this is the "weekend" mountain because it takes forty-five minutes to climb (up only) and therefore takes too long to do before dark after school on a weekday. Sure is beautiful though!

Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Tue, 27 Feb 2007 13:26:26 GMT

AAAHH...I've been remiss! I'm horrified to find that I haven't updated this thing since December...what in the world is that? Definitely a lapse of my duties and responsibilities as a human .

What prods me into actually writing tonight is the overwhelming exciting-ness of the day...I have, as of this morning, received a new job for this coming school year! I'll stay here in K'town teaching English for the rest of this school year, travel a bit (possibly Iran, Pakistan, Nepal...and, oh yes, the US ) this summer, and then return in August to teach Oral Communications (speeach) part-time AND accept my new responsibilities as...well, that's the problem; I'm not at liberty to reveal my new job yet! But it's a good one. Trust me. And I'll tell you as soon as the Board makes the decision public locally.

In the meantime, here are a few pictures of my sister's adorable six kids. Visiting them over Christmas was so much fun and it just made me want to have kids so much more...but that's not where I am now in life. So I'll just enjoy her plethora of them for the moment (they're adopting two more from Liberia in August!)

The three "little" girls - nine, one and a half, and seven

Sharing Daddy's McFlurry...there's just nothin' like it

Tuesday, December 19, 2006

Tue, 19 Dec 2006 13:57:32 GMT

My head felt naked as I descended the plane's steps thıs afternoon ınto the cool, crısp aır of Istanbul, Turkey...but I was thankful to have shed the chaddur for the next two weeks! I'm on my way to Washıngton,DC/Vırgınıa to vısıt my sıster and her famıly -- and to get a break from the K'town lıfestyle. Pıcs of her sıx kıds wıll follow...especıally of the youngest, a newly-adopted lıttle gırl from Lıberıa!

A chaddar-less Thanksgiving

Thu, 23 Nov 2006 15:59:45 GMT

Thanksgiving in K'town...my second ever! =). As the day draws to a close and my warm bed calls to me, I just have to jump on the internet quickly to tell you what I'm thankful for: The chance to RUN today! I never thought it'd happen, but today I ran a 5K in K'town, with a naked head -- no chaddar! Now, granted, it was on the US Embassy compound...but hey; don't ruin my fun; it was exciting!

This morning was the "K'town Gobble" (that's supposed to rhyme, if you say it right, you know ;) for NGO workers at the USAID/Embassy compound, and it was so much fun! I have a cold, but that didn't stop me...for a woman, running in this city is a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and no sniffle was going to keep me out. It was freezing when we began, but of course that problem was soon solved by the blood coursing through my veins...veins that are not, mind you, used to running, especially at 6,000 feet! Thankfully we do hike a lot (on the landmine-cleared mountains), so I get some semblance of cardiovascular exercise and actually finished in better time than I expected. Dad is so faithful...He gives all kinds of exciting little opportunities and unexpected treats here and there! Praise Him!

Bamiyan

Sat, 04 Nov 2006 17:00:09 GMT

Wow...I've just returned from a breathtaking three full days in a car! Definitely hard on the hiney (literally three full days out of the four we were gone on vacation were spent in the car - from before sunup, around 5 or 6 AM, till after sundown, around 6 or 6:30). And what exciting roads - gravel, the best kind for fast driving - on our first day, in 13 hours, we covered a grand total of...250 miles! But it was worth it.

A Hazara man showing off for my camera...through the all-too-familiar car window! The road stretches on.

Over Eid (a three-day holiday of gift-giving and family-time that celebrates the end of Ramadan), three friends and I decided to use our holiday time to visit Bamiyan, the site of the Taliban's famed Buddha-explosions. The statues they destroyed in 2001 dated back to the 7th century and were originally part of a Buddhist monastery. The monastery, consisting of caves in the cliff face, had been defunct and viewed simply as a cultural relic for centuries, since the religious orientation of the area had changed.

One of the three Buddha holes; 35 meters tall. Hiking up inside the caves and holes of the "Mother" Buddha.

Fixing our...drumroll, please...fourth flat of the trip!

Those fall colors I miss so badly...Bamian has deciduous trees! . Local cuties, dressed up for Eid.

Saturday, September 30, 2006

Sat, 30 Sep 2006 14:49:29 GMT

This is a few days old, on account of some internet problems. But it still may provide interesting reading for those of you Westerners who haven't yet made it to the East... (And by all means, do make sure you pop in for a visit someday!)

Ah, the interestingness (yes, I am an English teacher, so I do have a permit to invent new words ) of living in this place! You know something's wrong when Weekly Fellowship is cancelled on account of the danger of leaving your compounds on "Anger Day." Yes, that's right...I did say "Anger Day." And what, precisely, you may ask, is Anger Day? Well, it's a day in which people are encouraged to publicly express anger, of course. I mean, you've heard of Thanksgiving Day, Labor Day, Days of Prayer, and so many other "special" Days...why not a Day of Anger?

So I kid around, but in all seriousness Friday was declared to be an official Day of Anger, so we stayed in all day in order to avoid being bombed, kidnapped, or otherwise harmed by the protesting mobs. The occasion? The quote, about 700 years old, that was recently read by a well-known world leader. Never mind that it happened over a week ago. It takes a bit of extra time for us to catch up with the rest of the world here =). So when everybody else in the world has already finished bombing and rioting over one incident and are waiting in front of their TVs for the next occasion to get violent, we're just getting started over here...

The day after Anger Day was the First of Ramazan/Ramadan. The mullahs (mosque-leaders) again played power-and-politics games in the very subjective process of declaring the start of the new lunar month (which supposedly is when the new moon becomes visible, but in actuality also has to do with opposing the mullahs of nearby disliked countries). So after they finally decided, at 10 p.m., that the next day was a holiday, we had to call our 200 students (long after most go to bed in this often-electricity-less city) to let them know not to come to school the following day. Of course I guess that's better than last year when we called around at 6 a.m. to tell them not to come to school because it was Muhammed's birthday! Most holidays come spur-of-the-moment here where we have to rely on the moon to tell us when to celebrate and when to work. Just having 365 of those day-things every single year and ALWAYS, for example, thirty of them in September is SURE SIMPLE! I never knew before just how much I had to be thankful for regarding our stinkin' CALENDAR, of all things... (So hey, don't complain this year when you get five of the things for Christmas! Just be thankful that Labor Day will actually BE on the day it's listed on, and you don't have to stay up, glued to the radio, to find out if the mullah sees the moon!)

So those are my ramblings. I'm sure I'll come around and get a better perspective soon, but every once in a while letting the cynicism out seems to be a good thing =). I leave you with a fav pic, with a few choice words blocked out...

Can you believe that's actually a LAW???!!!

Bombs...And Good Stuff, Too

Sat, 09 Sep 2006 15:46:11 GMT

So, imagine this...you're at Fellowship, just as worship is ending, and someone takes a phone call in the middle of the service. It's an older guy with not-the-best of hearing, and his consequent yelling into the phone makes it impossible to focus anymore. Pretty rude, you say? So did I, until thirty seconds later, as we were sitting down for the sermon, he said to the worship leader, "Excuse me, Michael, but I just received a phone call informing that there's just been an IED [Improvised Explosive Device] in Massoud Circle and two soldiers were killed..."

You'd think one day you'd get used to it, but I never do. Tears sprang to my eyes as we paused and expressed our petitions regarding this situation to our Father. WHEN will it STOP? WHEN will we GET IT? When will He END IT ALL? In a land that's been ravaged by war after war, invasion after invasion, you'd think people would want peace badly enough to stop killing. But while countless local deaths also occur in these suicide bombings and vehicle blow-ups, the perpetrators actually are accomplishing their goal: killing US, the outsiders, the invaders, the INFIDELS. Oh, and achieving martyrdom, of course...martyrdom, in fact, being the only SURE way into Paradise; otherwise it's just waiting with baited breath for the scales to weigh your good deeds against bad. But dying in jihad ensures a place in Paradise, with seventy perpetual virgins to enjoy forever. Because of this belief, these bombers took themselves and at least two Americans into eternity today. The only problem is, it isn't TRUE. And ironically, there's a good chance the soldiers knew the Truth and are worshiping the Lamb now. But I know for sure that these guys aren't. Oh, we must get the Word out. Go to Wal-Mart. Go to work. Go to the park, and be above reproach in your words and actions, and ENGAGE THE WORLD AROUND YOU.

But while tragedies continue, the Father is still active in this land, calling hearts and minds to question and to want to know Him. I absolutely LOVE working part-time at the new coffeeshop in town. The other day while working I was introduced to a new girl in town, an immigrant from a very closed, nearby country. After we talked for a little while, she said, "Who is this Lydia? I want to know Lydia. Najila tells me I should meet Lydia." I pointed and explained that that was Lydia, right over there, and I could introduce her in a minute. What was Lydia doing?, she wanted to know. Praying, I explained... "Why?," she wanted to know. Well, I explained, it looks like she is praying for her friend...maybe she is sick, or something else is wrong. As soon as they finished praying I introduced them, and the immigrant proceeded to GRILL my friend as to what she had been doing, why she was doing it, and such. The conversation lasted about thirty minutes, and covered prayer, sin, and Redemption. I was stunned. It was absolutely exhilerating...never here have I experienced such a spiritually hungry person or such an open and direct conversation.

So He's still at work. In spite of the destruction. IN SPITE OF THE DESTRUCTION...