Long Time Gone
July 2, 2008
Ok life since then…
then meaning: since I last posted.
Life has been going fast. July 4 is my one year left mark. Crap!!! oh my goodness where does time go??? I am old now. A quarter of a century to be exact and I am still asking myself, “What do I want to be when I grow up?” Now I only have a year left here and must decide on what to do next. I also have to finish things up here and make sure the project is sustainable when I leave. This is ludicrous. Honestly!!!
Anyway, sorry for that short rant.
MCC people came. I had an itinerary and everything made up for them when they arrived. It was magic. And the plan went smoothly. We went to Y Gro CSU, Y Gro Madampe, had other meetings, swam in a pool, played Frisbee, released a baby turtle from a hatchery and had many awesome times sitting on the beach doing one of the hardest things for Americans to do…NOTHING. Sitting and doing nothing. In Sinhala it is “nikang innawa”, which translates to “simply there/being.” I hope my parents can partake in this vacation activity when they are here. (Yes!!! my parents are coming to visit me!!!! Never been out of the country- except for Canada- farmers from Ohio are coming to Sri Lanka…more on this later.) I feel my planning curse has finally been lifted. I have had a curse all my life, that when I plan things, nothing goes as planned, so I have spent most of my life not planning. It works for me. It however does not work when you have people coming to visit you. Anyway, it was a really great visit.
They left on a Wednesday. I had trainings in Madampe on Thursday and Friday. Friday afternoon I drove back to Colombo and went to Bible study. Dorothy made my favorite magic fudge covered brownies. (the are magic b/c they are like a “lazy woman’s cake” you mix all the ingredients in the pan you cook it in, BUT when this brownie is done there is magically fudge on the top!!! The ingredients you mixed together separate and a portion becomes brownie and another becomes fudge…see!!! magic.) Anyway, we were eating dinner before the study and my stomach felt very full very fast. So I stopped eating and went to stretch my stomach. This however didn’t help. I began to feel worse and worse and my stomach began to feel more full even though I was no longer eating. Anyway, I went home early b/c I was really feeling lousy. Pat drove me home b/c I was really in pain and couldn’t drive my car. Anyway, I got home and spent the rest of the night violently ill. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!! In the morning I woke up and was so dehydrated my skin felt dryer than it did when I went home this Christmas. Chenoa my roomie went to the store and bought me some crackers, biscuits, juice and soda. Ben and Pat came up and sang Happy-Birthday and gave me a leftover plate of magic brownie from Bible study and some electrolytes. After this, I realized just how awesome my friends are and decided that this would be the best birthday EVER. I was determined to go to my birthday party which Navin and I had been planning for over a month. So, I forced my self to sleep most of the day. When not sleeping I was drinking either ginger beer (like root beer but ginger), electrolytes or electrolytes in juice and eating crackers. At 4 I went to Navin’s to help him set up. I saved 2 of the 3 diet Pepsi’s I got imported from Bangladesh for this evening. (I was really only going to drink one on my birthday, but since I was sick, I thought I deserved both.) So there I was turning a quarter of a century, dressed as a rock star, knocking back 2 bottles of diet Pepsi, some regular Coke and 3-4 cream crackers…AND BEING THE LIFE OF THE PARTY. I am magic. The best way I kept myself from feeling sick again was to dance/air band to the rocking music that was playing. By 2AM most people had left but there were 9 of us that went to this big beach party in Mt. Lavinia. There was this big platform with lights on it that the DJ was on, which was about 10ft high. My friend Brindan knew a guy and Che and I got to dance on top of this stage. It was so so so cool, like a scene from a movie. Once again, subsisting on only diet Pepsi and cream crackers, I am the life of this party too. I arrive home at 430AM with a slight fever, but feeling well. I wake up the next morning at 945 and go to church. I praise God so much for the gifts I have received ( not just the birthday gifts!) that I nearly fall over. Life is perfect in those moments when we are singing. I know that storms will come and I will fall into darkness many more times before I see the eternal light. However I am at that moment reassured that whenever I am in the darkness Jesus is right there with me begging me simply to open my eyes and receive light again.
On a similar thread, my roomie likes to do a time of reflection for her birthday. She likes this idea and makes us all do in. I however love this idea to, so I don’t mind. Here is my reflection.
Most Defining Event(s): Spiritually I have grown so much. I think being here where there aren’t many Christians has been good. It has allowed me to study other religions more closely and discuss them more with people who are actually a part of them. Also there has been a lot of finding myself, which has also been leading to God. (Which I am very happy about.) If I had to give this year a title it would be Yr24: Growth of Self (in the LIGHT).
Most Memorable Event: This one it easy and I have told the story often. It is definitely the time I was in Bangladesh for Ramadan. Breaking the fast in the evening with a table composed of Muslims (of course), high cast Hindus (one of which serves on the board of a Catholic mission) and Christians from South and North America. It was amazing being able to share that religious experience with such a group.
What’s Up Next? I have one more year on my contract with Y Gro. I don’t know really what I am doing after that. I have some options. (These are in random order) One is to stay in Sri Lanka a while longer and get one of those NGO jobs that pays an American salary. It would be cheap to live here and if I got an American salary I could pay off student loans faster. I would however require that they send me home every year. Apparently it isn’t to hard to get a job with those specifications. Two is to go back to school and get a masters in rural development or peace and conflict studies. Third is to go home and work cows/vet clinic. I had this fun idea to make a sort of U-pick, u-can homegrown niche type farm. one where we would grow a lot of fruits and veggies and then we would have canning and preserving days were people could pay to take classes on canning and preserving their own food and then also have a little store where people could buy the home canned/preserved foods. How cool is that?? Well anyway. We shall see. I am full of ideas but am unfortunately a finisher and not a starter, so many plans never start.
On Sunday 29th we opened our 4th villages milk collection center. An MP (member of parliament…i.e. a big shot) came and we schmoozed with him. It went well.
Yesterday (July 5th) my sister got married in America. I attended the wedding via skype. It was cool. The camera was at the back of the sanctuary and I could see everything. I was being projected on the back wall. When I read the scripture they projected me onto the front wall of the church so everyone could see me. It was so futuristic. It was awesome!!!! There was also a 4 foot tall cardboard cut out of me. I am a bit afraid to see the pictures my family took with it. My goodness!!! They are crazy. Some friends were over with me to watch the wedding. They were all very amused. My family is crazy.
Well I think that is all for now…
OH HEY my parents are coming to visit.!!!! isn’t that cool??? Ok, gotta go take some soup to a sick friend.
Peace
Me
Ok life since then…
then meaning: since I last posted.
Life has been going fast. July 4 is my one year left mark. Crap!!! oh my goodness where does time go??? I am old now. A quarter of a century to be exact and I am still asking myself, “What do I want to be when I grow up?” Now I only have a year left here and must decide on what to do next. I also have to finish things up here and make sure the project is sustainable when I leave. This is ludicrous. Honestly!!!
Anyway, sorry for that short rant.
MCC people came. I had an itinerary and everything made up for them when they arrived. It was magic. And the plan went smoothly. We went to Y Gro CSU, Y Gro Madampe, had other meetings, swam in a pool, played Frisbee, released a baby turtle from a hatchery and had many awesome times sitting on the beach doing one of the hardest things for Americans to do…NOTHING. Sitting and doing nothing. In Sinhala it is “nikang innawa”, which translates to “simply there/being.” I hope my parents can partake in this vacation activity when they are here. (Yes!!! my parents are coming to visit me!!!! Never been out of the country- except for Canada- farmers from Ohio are coming to Sri Lanka…more on this later.) I feel my planning curse has finally been lifted. I have had a curse all my life, that when I plan things, nothing goes as planned, so I have spent most of my life not planning. It works for me. It however does not work when you have people coming to visit you. Anyway, it was a really great visit.
They left on a Wednesday. I had trainings in Madampe on Thursday and Friday. Friday afternoon I drove back to Colombo and went to Bible study. Dorothy made my favorite magic fudge covered brownies. (the are magic b/c they are like a “lazy woman’s cake” you mix all the ingredients in the pan you cook it in, BUT when this brownie is done there is magically fudge on the top!!! The ingredients you mixed together separate and a portion becomes brownie and another becomes fudge…see!!! magic.) Anyway, we were eating dinner before the study and my stomach felt very full very fast. So I stopped eating and went to stretch my stomach. This however didn’t help. I began to feel worse and worse and my stomach began to feel more full even though I was no longer eating. Anyway, I went home early b/c I was really feeling lousy. Pat drove me home b/c I was really in pain and couldn’t drive my car. Anyway, I got home and spent the rest of the night violently ill. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!! In the morning I woke up and was so dehydrated my skin felt dryer than it did when I went home this Christmas. Chenoa my roomie went to the store and bought me some crackers, biscuits, juice and soda. Ben and Pat came up and sang Happy-Birthday and gave me a leftover plate of magic brownie from Bible study and some electrolytes. After this, I realized just how awesome my friends are and decided that this would be the best birthday EVER. I was determined to go to my birthday party which Navin and I had been planning for over a month. So, I forced my self to sleep most of the day. When not sleeping I was drinking either ginger beer (like root beer but ginger), electrolytes or electrolytes in juice and eating crackers. At 4 I went to Navin’s to help him set up. I saved 2 of the 3 diet Pepsi’s I got imported from Bangladesh for this evening. (I was really only going to drink one on my birthday, but since I was sick, I thought I deserved both.) So there I was turning a quarter of a century, dressed as a rock star, knocking back 2 bottles of diet Pepsi, some regular Coke and 3-4 cream crackers…AND BEING THE LIFE OF THE PARTY. I am magic. The best way I kept myself from feeling sick again was to dance/air band to the rocking music that was playing. By 2AM most people had left but there were 9 of us that went to this big beach party in Mt. Lavinia. There was this big platform with lights on it that the DJ was on, which was about 10ft high. My friend Brindan knew a guy and Che and I got to dance on top of this stage. It was so so so cool, like a scene from a movie. Once again, subsisting on only diet Pepsi and cream crackers, I am the life of this party too. I arrive home at 430AM with a slight fever, but feeling well. I wake up the next morning at 945 and go to church. I praise God so much for the gifts I have received ( not just the birthday gifts!) that I nearly fall over. Life is perfect in those moments when we are singing. I know that storms will come and I will fall into darkness many more times before I see the eternal light. However I am at that moment reassured that whenever I am in the darkness Jesus is right there with me begging me simply to open my eyes and receive light again.
On a similar thread, my roomie likes to do a time of reflection for her birthday. She likes this idea and makes us all do in. I however love this idea to, so I don’t mind. Here is my reflection.
Most Defining Event(s): Spiritually I have grown so much. I think being here where there aren’t many Christians has been good. It has allowed me to study other religions more closely and discuss them more with people who are actually a part of them. Also there has been a lot of finding myself, which has also been leading to God. (Which I am very happy about.) If I had to give this year a title it would be Yr24: Growth of Self (in the LIGHT).
Most Memorable Event: This one it easy and I have told the story often. It is definitely the time I was in Bangladesh for Ramadan. Breaking the fast in the evening with a table composed of Muslims (of course), high cast Hindus (one of which serves on the board of a Catholic mission) and Christians from South and North America. It was amazing being able to share that religious experience with such a group.
What’s Up Next? I have one more year on my contract with Y Gro. I don’t know really what I am doing after that. I have some options. (These are in random order) One is to stay in Sri Lanka a while longer and get one of those NGO jobs that pays an American salary. It would be cheap to live here and if I got an American salary I could pay off student loans faster. I would however require that they send me home every year. Apparently it isn’t to hard to get a job with those specifications. Two is to go back to school and get a masters in rural development or peace and conflict studies. Third is to go home and work cows/vet clinic. I had this fun idea to make a sort of U-pick, u-can homegrown niche type farm. one where we would grow a lot of fruits and veggies and then we would have canning and preserving days were people could pay to take classes on canning and preserving their own food and then also have a little store where people could buy the home canned/preserved foods. How cool is that?? Well anyway. We shall see. I am full of ideas but am unfortunately a finisher and not a starter, so many plans never start.
On Sunday 29th we opened our 4th villages milk collection center. An MP (member of parliament…i.e. a big shot) came and we schmoozed with him. It went well.
Yesterday (July 5th) my sister got married in America. I attended the wedding via skype. It was cool. The camera was at the back of the sanctuary and I could see everything. I was being projected on the back wall. When I read the scripture they projected me onto the front wall of the church so everyone could see me. It was so futuristic. It was awesome!!!! There was also a 4 foot tall cardboard cut out of me. I am a bit afraid to see the pictures my family took with it. My goodness!!! They are crazy. Some friends were over with me to watch the wedding. They were all very amused. My family is crazy.
Well I think that is all for now…
OH HEY my parents are coming to visit.!!!! isn’t that cool??? Ok, gotta go take some soup to a sick friend.
Peace
Me
posted by Jodi Crossgrove at
11:41 PM
1 Comments:
dods, you need to update this more often and put more pictures up. :-)
By
sis ned, at 7:40 AM
Post a Comment
<< Home