The Grand

I went to the Grand Hotel last Sunday with Matt, Rebecca and the boys along with Murray, Esther and Isaac. It is the biggest Hotel in Nuwara Eliya and is very fancy. I've added a link to it, just click on the title of this blog.

We spent the afternoon looking at the shops and then having tea and some food. On the front lawn they have tables and chairs so that you can enjoy your afternoon tea outside, which we did. It was a lot of fun and just as we were deciding to go home it began to drizzle. Good timing.
I'll have to go there again soon to take some pictures so that you can see what it looks like now that I've figured out how to use the digital camera.

Bugs, bugs, bugs...

dun ta da... bugs, bugs, bugs dun ta da (sing this to the tune of the Beatles song All You Need Is Love)All you need is bugs ... NOT!!

Since being here I have not felt like my bathroom is my own. I've been sharing it with flies, mosquitos, moths, numerous spiders and silverfish, a couple inchworms, some other wormy catepillar-like creature and a cochroach. I've learned a few things that I didn't know before. For example if you have a spider and a silverfish trapped in your tub did you know that the spider will last longer. A spider will outlast 3:1!! Inchworms are fun to watch. It made me think of Oscar the Grouch's friend slimy!

I don't normally care whether or not there are a few bugs but when it gets to the point that every morning I do a patrol of the bathroom to see how many invaders I've had it stresses one's nerves.

The problem is pretty much taken care of now. I still need to spray underneath my tub but that will happen soon. Yeah!

Rebecca's Kittens

Rebecca has recently been given two kittens which has made her very happy. The one facing you in the picture is Sprocket. The other is Spud.

This is Spud.

Sermon on the mount...

So Sunday went well. My friend Rebecca led worship for the first time and I preached at church for the first time. It went well. I gave the sermon that I gave in Homiletics class because I only had one days notice. I wasn't even nervous. Usually I am shaking and my throat is totally dry but I was fine. Many people told me afterwards that they really enjoyed my sermon so I guess that is good. I am looking forward to more opportunities to preach which Pastor Ramesh is willing to let me.

PS - for those of you who don't know... Nuwara Eliya is at the top of the mountains here...

Preaching already!

Ya so I've been here for three weeks and I'm preaching tomorrow!!! Pastor Ramesh has been having a really hard time recently. It was his mother that died shortly after I arrived here. Now his father has been admitted into the hospital. He has a weak heart and some other complications. Ramesh asked Matt to take care of the English service for him. Rebecca is leading worship and I am going to preach. Matt would have but their oldest son, Moses is ill with a stomach flu and one of them has to stay home to take care of him so that left me to preach. Thank God for homiletics! I have a sermon that I can preach tomorrow.

Please pray for Pastor Ramesh and his family. They are going through so much grief right now. Please pray for his father.

Getting Involved

Today I joined a women's prayer group at the church. I am always amazed at how God is everywhere. I understand that God will never leave me or forsake me and the Bible says that where ever I go He will be there also, but until you actually GO somewhere it's just head knowledge.

The Christians in this country have such a heart and passion to see God move here. To see this country turn away from it's idolatry and turn to the one true God. God is really growing a love and compassion for the people of Sri Lanka in my heart.

I think so often when we (North Americans) come to third world countries we feel sorry for them because they don't live at the same standard as we do, their technologies are not as advanced, and they seem to do things backward. We could never be more wrong. They do not need our pity. So what if their standard of living is not the same as ours, what real difference does that make except that they are not as wrapped up in materialistic things as we are.

We may assume that they don't have the technologies and the advancements that we do but most people here have telephones, tv, game systems, stereo systems, computers, dvd players, VCR's, and cell phones. They are not as different from us as we would like to think. These standards of living is how we judge and rate other nations, there is so much more to life. There are things that they possess here that I wish we had in Canada.

One of those things is a sense of community. In Canada we are so individualistic. We value this yet it builds walls between us, it distances us from one another.

People ask me what the church is like in Canada. They ask if we face the same problems as them. In some instances we do but for the most part all I see is that we lack a compassion for the needy, the widows and the orphans, the homeless and those enslaved by drugs and alcohol. It is so easy for us to become wrapped up in our own lives and to put on blinders to the needs of our communities.

People have asked if there is a lot of idolatry in Canada? I have to say yes but not in the same way as here. We worship idols and don't even know it. Since being here I have realized that there are things in my life that I put before God. I even know that I am neglecting to put God first but it doesn't seem to affect the way that I spend my time. How can I call myself a disciple of Christ when I am not eagerly pursuing Him. I have become content with mediocrity. This realization is bitter in my mouth.

My mind is taken to James. In the first chapter it talks about the lowly brother being exalted and the rich being humbled. This is how I feel. I have had this pity and attitude of superiority hidden in my heart. Today at the prayer meeting God began to show me that I have these things in me. Here I am a rich foreigner and God is showing me that I am no better because I have more things or because I do things differently. I am humbled by their commitment to Christ, their desire to praise God and their passion for spreading the gospel.

Take heart my friends. I am not discouraged in this. God is refining me and it may be painful now but I know that in the end I will be more like the One that I desire to follow, Jesus.

Praise be to the Father of all Nations. He alone be glorified in all the earth.

Learning to take advice

So I didn't go into town in my sari the other day. When I told Rebecca about it she said that it was not a good idea. Apparently it attracts even more attention than normal and is not always good attention. So I decided to take her advice and we changed before we went to town. Just to clarify the expression "went to town". We live in town it's just that there is a main business center in town and surrounding it is the residential areas. Saying that I went to town would be like me saying back home that I was going down town. Everything is a learning experience here. Perhaps I will be really brave some day and try it anyway...I gotta be me eh!

Being the Whity

I have gained a new understanding of what it feels like to be the one who stands out. I would have to say that I understood it a little...mohawk and all but it is sometimes unsettling here.

I was talking with my Mom about this issue and she commented that it was probably because of my hair color and my height. I have pointed out that it was probably more to the fact that I am white.

Everywhere I go people look at me and watch me. If Rebecca and I go out with the kids it is even worse because everyone is looking at the blonde, blue eyed kids. Usually it is not a problem but it does sometimes attract unwanted attention. After 6pm I definitely do not go out alone.

In places that I frequent it is not really an issue anymore because they know me, they know that I am living there and not just a tourist. I frequently will see white people at the grocery store, Cargills. Sometimes they are really surprised to see another white person. I always say hi.

I am getting more and more used to it. I am wearing a sari today so when I go to town later I'll see if I attract more attention or less...it will be my experiment. I'll let you know how it goes.

There's a geezer in my bathroom...

...so there is a geezer in every bathroom... You can even find geezers in kitchens!!
...the funny thing is that you have to turn it on to get it to work!

Let's keep it clean people!

Ok so geezers are not old men. They are small hot water tanks that are installed wherever you would require hot water, like in the bathroom and kitchen. You have to turn them on for them to heat the water, otherwise you are stuck with cold water only.

Being flexible...

I think that I am becoming Gumby!!

I have been stretched in so many ways since being here. I really understand why Mr. Cressman drills it into our heads that living cross-culturally requires flexibility.

When I arrived in Nuwara Eliya we were without water. We went for over a week without it. We had to bring pails up from downstairs so that we could have drinking water, wash clothes and dishes. It was hard but not impossible. The hard part was only having two toilets that were working for 4 people plus the 2 nannies during the day........ remember that there is no water which means no flushing!!! So between the toilets and piles of dirty clothes and dishes things got a little stinky.

We've gotten the water problem fixed now though so that is all good. Being able to wash every day is nice.

Another thing that has been a flexibility issue for me is at school. I was scheduled to teach beginner english. I was under the impression that I would just have to teach the lessons that were already prepared. That was true for my other classes but not this one. I went and talked to the people in charge of the program and they hadn't realize that I had never taught english before. We worked that out but I still have to make up my own lessons, at least now I have some structure and guidance. If I need help it is there but it is still very stretching for me.

I have to keep reminding myself that I need to be open minded and realize that I am not going to understand everything that is going. The worst thing is to assume that I understand.

Even moving in with Matt and Rebecca requires me to be flexible. They have two small kids. I am not used to living with children anymore so it is hard for me sometimes. Things are just done differently here. They have lived here for a few years already so they are used to the differences.

I am sure that my stretching is no where near finished...I've only been here for a couple of weeks. (even though it seems like a long time)

I've already been to a funeral

On February 4th we found out that the Pastor's mother had died. She lived right across the road from us. When someone dies here it is very different than in Canada. Within hours people were coming to the house to pay their respects. They set up chairs and sun shelters in the yard. By late afternoon they had also set up lighting for outside. I found this all very fascinating, I didn't understand why they would do this. Rebecca told me that the people would come for days to pay their respects. Here you do not just come if you know the person that has died. You come if you know anyone in the immediate family to support them.

Another thing is that they bring the body home for viewing. It was a little strange to go over and see the body lying in a casket in the livingroom. I did go over one day with Rebecca. We prayed with the Pastor's father. He was very happy that we had come to pray with him. Rebecca told me that she found out when they had returned to Sri Lanka in December that Pastor Ramesh's mother had become a Christian. She had been a hindu. Praise God.

How a funeral is conducted is different for every religion here. One thing that they do so that people know that someone has died is to put flags up above the road. The ones that they put up for Pastor Ramesh's mother were black with white crosses on them. They are different for the faith of the dead person.

I went to the funeral service but I didn't really understand what was going on because everything was in Sinhalese and Tamil. An interesting thing that happened at the end of the service was that everyone gathered around the body. I didn't understand why so I asked someone and they said it was their last chance to say goodbye to her. Everyone filed out of the church after they said goodbye and then went to the cemetary for the burial.

It's So Weird

It is noon hour here in NuwaraEliya and you guys are sleeping and have just entered Saturday...I'm half done Saturday...

It has taken me some time to get this through my head. When I go home on Septemeber 3 my day will be 36 hours long!!! I get home on Sept 3 in the evening yet I leave on Sept 3 early in the morning, 1:35am I believe. It's just weird.

It'll be the longest day of my life! Sorry, there just isn't enough cheesiness here for me.

I am still alive...

Yes I am still alive and well. They have been doing some work on the phone lines and we have been without a phone for quite a few days...we use dial-up at the school.

I am going to go to the communication center and use their highspeed internet this weekend. I promise to blog lots about life here I promise!

I am constantly reminded about the need to be flexible. Those of you in FOM...take that lesson to heart.

Life in General

So I thought that I would just let you know how life is in general...things that I find interesting and the weather and stuff...or schtuff as Dr. K would say.

The weather here in Nuwaraeliya is not as warm as you might think. We are 7000 ft above sea level so it is not blistering hot. It is warm though. I did get a sunburn the other day. The sun is definitely more intense here because we are so far up. It has only rained a few times since being here.

Oh one excellent thing about being here is that there isn't the wind that there is Saskatchewan!! Mostly light, warm breezes.

The people are really friendly. They laugh at my frog umbrella! Frog in Sinhalese is gimbha.

Matt and Rebecca have nannies to look after their children while they are at the school. It took me a while to get used to having them in the house while I was there. They call me sister which I am gathering to be a general greeting here.

When we want to agree to something or acknowledge a "yes" we nod our heads up and down, here they do a kind of head-bob like the bobble head dolls that people put in their cars! It is really hard to break the habit of nodding my head up and down. I guess I'll give myself a break seeing as I've only been here for a week.

Well I'll write more as I can. Take care all. Miss you guys.

Oh What I Wouldn't Do For A Tim's...

Well that pretty much says it all...I'm dying for a Tim's. I think that I am finally going through withdrawal. Tea has been good but I could really use a coffee.

I bought some instant stuff but it's just not the same. Oh Tim's *sob* *sob* Hopefully the withdrawal will not last long. And thank God they have them in every Canadian Airport!!!

My First Day at School

Today was my first official day as a teacher at Beacon Hill Academy and it was activity day!!! It was tons of fun. We did teamwork activity stations in the morning and then had relay races. The students are now out around town doing a scavenger hunt. I think that I am really going to enjoy working here. We are going to be having refreshments when they return from the scavenger hunt and we'll be handing out prizes for the top team. They each get a piece of cake!

It was good to finally get to meet the students. I do not feel so intimidated to go into the class room to teach as I did before. *relieved face emoticon* that's for Vicki