motherland

I have found that visiting another developed country (my first outside of North America) is a combination of the feelings of visiting a part of the U.S that one has only seen in scant photographs and an exciting historical architecture lesson come to life. Holland is very green with delightful puffs of sheep, numerous canals, and large blunt people. Generally on a scale of directness, height, and blondeness, in most countries I heavily weigh to one side, thus it was quite nice to be in the Netherlands and find myself on tipping the scale of the opposing side.

Amanda walked me around Amsterdam, Delft, and Gouda and introduced me to the delightful beer and cheeses that the country has to offer. She was a wonderful host for an indecisive guest; if I would have stayed too much longer, I would left much larger. I also witnessed Andrea's graduation from grad school in Den Haag and met her friends from literally all around the globe. I appreciated biking all over Den Haag! I loved seeing men in business suits, old ladies, and young hip middle aged women with a child biking everywhere and figured out that my biking skills could use some fine tuning.

Andrea <-- and Amanda -->

a trip

I created this map to clear up any ambiguity that you might have in regards to my next trip and provide a visual to those who may have forgotten a few things since their last high school or college geography class. I leave tomorrow for the Netherlands en route to Bahrain for Jena's wedding on the 23rd. A few weeks later I will fly to Cairo, Egypt and spend a fat month there and places near there. The last and longest leg of my journey will be from Dubai, UAE to Gulu, Uganda: seeing what I may and traveling as much as I can without the use of airplanes. The scattered red dots represent various non-specific parts of the countries that I hope to visit; if anyone has a specific site to recommend, I'm quite open for suggestions. I will hopefully return to NW Iowa in 6 months, but plan to keep this blog updated throughout my wanderings.

As I travel, your prayers are greatly appreciated as well as updates on how you are doing. It is simply not true that "everything is the same..." and when one is traveling, it is always great to hear news and encouragement from loved ones back home.

Home again.

Our friends were delightful and fascinating creatures to watch at the laguna; a great way to spend my last weekend in Nicaragua.

My last day in San Jorge was spent buying a combination of cheeses, beans, and various other exports; and tracking down a bag to pack it all in. Since the Rivas market is relatively small, I could only find one zippered rice bag like I wanted, and I proceeded to pack 45 lbs of goods into it, clasp my arms around it bear-hug style, and traipse around the bus system in San Jose. Please note the amazing rhyme stated on the front and realize that in Nica, Evangelicals generally do not even correspond with Catholics, much less tote obnoxious bags advertising the correlations. My contact in Costa Rica commented in a surprised tone that I was turning heads... quite obviously a different city than Managua, where my inconspicuous presence without my Mary bag calls for loud whistles and kisses.

This is my friend Lori and I saying farewell to each other and the general public, Sound of Music style.

Since I've been back in Iowa, I've been busy preparing for the next leg of my journey. My mom dug out this pattern she had stashed from the 70's, and I attempted to make a dress inspired by one Lisa sported during our time in Nicaragua together. I found the material at the thrift store in Orange City, the exact consistency I desired: to double as a fast drying towel. This is how it turned out...

Traveling is a large part of my life right now, but there is always a unique feeling of refreshment whenever I come back home. and it is good.

"Some people who wander are not lost."

JRR Tolkien

Passion Fruit

was used for the small jack-o-lanterns.

Due to sporadic internet and travels, my last weeks here have been quite undocumented. One story seems to well illustrate themes prominent throughout my current life. The abridged version is this: after planning to meet Nadji (a friend from Dordt studying abroad) here in San Jorge, I instead trekked the 5 hours north to Leon, hung out the weekend, and Sunday morning found myself eating fried cheese and French toast back in "my" apartment in Managua. The fellowship was delightful, and Lori was back! Lounging around in her apartment Monday morning, I casually decided I didn't need to leave Managua until the next day. The evening began with a knock on the door; it was the neighbor, and his wife was sick: free tickets for the Symphony!! Tonight!! Fortunately it didn't start at the time stated on the tickets, so we managed to find our seats with even a few minutes to spare, half put together and attempting to look formal. Lori called me critical after asking my thoughts, and thus I blame Dr. Duitman (Dordt music director) for my constant critiquing of anything less than perfect: the principal cellist thumped, the woodwinds' tone lacked, the first violins rushed... but Beethoven's 9th with a full choir in the National Theater was quite enjoyable, even with Duitman in my head. A reception of wine and fellowship followed, a continued celebration of the 20th anniversary of the Berlin wall falling, where I met and chatted with a couple of guys working at the Embassy. Comprehend this: after some moments pass, it comes out that he and his wife are leaving Nicaragua in December and are moving to Oman in January!! I responded in a shocked and astonished manner as we promptly exchanged email addresses; I promised to look him up--my first and only personal contact in Oman.

Friday I was in Granada with Lisa, and yesterday was spent at Laguna de Apollo: crystal blue water, sun, boggle, close friends... Twas a great way to spend my last weekend here (pictures to come). Tomorrow morning I will hop on a bus bound for San Jose, Costa Rica on Ticabus, less "chicken bus" more charter style, where I will stay with a former Dordt proff before flying back to Chicago on Wednesday and to Iowa on Saturday: where I will stay an entire 15 days.

simple joys

I was in the hospital gaining fluids and having my platelets monitored for 4 nights after feeling quite miserable for a few days before that. Dengue hemorrhagic fever: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/001373.htm just in case you want to know what I had. All in all I had great care, lots of visitors, and managed not to go completely crazy looking at the same walls for 4 days (longest I've ever been cooped up in my life). Now I feel great, I just am wiped out after doing very little, thus the last week has produced a lot of book reading and couch doting. Tomorrow I plan to head down to San Jorge to hang out with Mike and Joan (missionaries I lived with last year).

In the past week, any small outing from my apartment in Managua has been considered a great success and form of excitement: getting my blood tested, spending the night with Lisa and Nadji, going to the new grocery store... It has been a slow week.

Saturday though, I had quite an exciting day. The morning began on the volleyball courts downtown; my friends play on a gringa team called The Sunburns--I cheered them on with ferver and in vain against the tallest two Nicaraguan women I have seen. After which I accompanied Kate to a trip to PriceMart and back home, where I read nearly half of a roommate's book: Beautiful Boy, a memoir of a father dealing with his sons addiction to meth. The rain came in torrents in the afternoon and after driving to school, we discovered the soccer game was canceled. Spirits undeterred; however, we wrote a list and headed off to the grocery store to raid the dairy isle, later concocting a delectable calala (passion fruit) mousse, calala cheesecake, and fried cheese, along with the regular supper vittles.

It was after supper that we created the Jack-O-lanterns and played Bang. Appropriate for the day, I thought. Any guesses on what sort of fruits/vegetables we carved? Mine is the little guy on the right. What a great day.

Fall break

Finca Magdalina: a coffee, honey, and plantain farm. Lisa and I spent a lot of time in the upper balcony of this 106 year old structure; from here we spent 8 hours hiking up and down the muddy and slick Maderas volcano.

It was a peaceful haven to read, journal, and enjoy life.

From Omatepe we were off to San Juan del Sur and a few places in between, eventually finding Playa Giagante: a peaceful fishing village just being discovered by touristas like ourselves.

Lisa and I made Pitaya smoothies. This is the purest form of magenta that can be found in the natural world, I am convinced!! It is a fruit that comes from a cactus and has the consistency of a beet.

We hung out in a beach house for 2 days. We had the whole place to ourselves, thanks to a old surfer dude we met hitchhiking.

After fully relaxing ourselves, we made our way back to Managua. Our preferred mode of transport was definitely the back of a truck, a lot roomier than the buses.

After a delightful break, Lisa went back to class, and I spent some time enjoying the benefits of Dengue.

A few more of my pictures and commentary can be found at http://picasaweb.google.com/mrgnttm/OmatepeYGiagante#