Driving on the wrong… I mean, sorry, the… left side of the road

OK so I guess that the biggest adjustment I have had to make here in South Africa is driving. The desire to change gears with my right hand and hitting the door instead, forgetting to take the e-break off because my left hand just isn’t used to doing it, ending up on the left side of a lane instead of staying on the right, focusing really hard when turning on/off a road making sure I’m on the “right” side of the road has been an interesting challenge to say the least. I guess the weirdest thing so far is sitting on the right side of the car. I’m used to driving with the rest of the car to my right and being able to judge distances accordingly. You have NO IDEA how often I’ve thought I might hit this or that car/wall because my brain just doesn’t work with the car to my left, resulting in me over-adjusting by staying well on the right side. Have you guys seen the movie “The Holiday” where Cameron Diaz is driving for the first time in England? She’s passing this huge truck and the only thing she can say is “Don’t hit me!” in this really annoying squeaky voice. Well, I always thought that she was being a bit silly but now, I TOTALLY understand her! You really feel like the car coming the opposite way is going to hit you! Or I might be driving on a two to three lane road and I feel like I’m dangerously close to the car on my left, when in fact, I’m exactly where I need to be. It really is an uncomfortable feeling let me tell you.

Another funny thing is, because they drive on the left side of the road, everything else is flipped. What do I mean? Well, for instance, at the mall the escalators are the opposite of what we’re used to. The descending side is on the right while the ascending side is on the left. It’s a little mundane thing that, in our day-to-day lives, we don’t even notice, and I’m sure that you’ve never even thought of it, but it’s one of those things where you get to the escalator and you just know something’s odd, you just can’t put your finger on it, until it hits you; they’re reversed!

Anyway, I’m rambling so I’m going to stop. It’s getting better, I promise. I am learning and getting used to the system here, it’s just going to take a wee bit of time :o)

Dubai

Now, how do I describe Dubai? It is a modern city where every other building is a 5 star hotel and a tribute to what man can do. Their motto is; second to none. The man who is responsible for most of the development there said that everybody remembers the first man who climbed Mount Everest but no one remembers the second (actually I don't know the name of the first man who climbed Everest, but hey that's just me). As such they need to be at the forefront of everything so as not to be forgotten. Hence they have the tallest hotel in the world, the only 7 star hotel in the world, they have the tallest building in the world with the fastest elevators: a dashing 18m a second! Since they couldn’t have the first robot operated metro in the world they have the longest one. They also have some of the largest shopping malls in the world. One of them is actually the size of, no less than, 50 football fields! You get the idea. They need to have the biggest, the fastest and the best of everything. Dubai is a great place for people who want a luxurious 5-7 star vacation. It is the place to go if you want to do things, not the place to go if you want to see things. Dubai has no character. It is one of the most impersonal places I have ever been to. Don’t get me wrong, the people there are some of the friendliest that I have ever met, which is a stark contrast to the city itself, who is as cold as it is modern. I went on a hop-on, hop-off bus tour of the city and their entire commentary was about the different hotels, how many stars they have, what kind of attraction they offer, how tall they are and who designed them. There is no real soul to the city; it is all about business and luxury. It’s sad really because it truly is a beautiful place and I really enjoyed the contrast displayed in the city. On one side you have the turquoise blue sea with the most amazing palm trees and greenery while on the other you have the sandy planes of the desert; life vs. death; lush vs. barren. I know it’s a little morbid but the contrast really is fascinating. Anyway, I had the opportunity to go dune bashing while I was there. This consists of getting into a 4WD jeep and driving up and sliding down desert dunes. Let me tell you, I thought the car was going to tip over a couple of times. It was a LOT of fun! :o) After all the bashing was done we ended up in a Bedouin campsite… which is more artificial than the hotels… for a BBQ – which consisted of… shaved meat! LOL I left Greece to go to the U.A.E. and have gyro! Oh the irony, LOL.

The best part of what I did in Dubai was the old town. I wish I had gone there from the very beginning. If you ever go, do that first! There you finally feel like you’re in the Middle East. I heard the call to prayer, which previously I hadn’t heard, I saw their local gold and spice market, which is the real deal and finally saw the soul of Dubai. The contrast is interesting; on one side of Dubai you could be anywhere in the world, with it’s hotels and shopping malls, whereas on the other side you can really tell that this is the U.A.E.

Anyway, I had a great time in Dubai and really enjoyed seeing it. You have to go there at least once in your life.

Article

Oh by the way I thought you guys might be interested to know that there was an article written about us by the Associated Press during our time in China. Some of our team met journalists and were interviewed by them.

This is the article for those who are interested in reading it please click here.

Ready to go home

Well our vacation is drawing to an end; we are leaving within the next 3 hours to go back to Bangkok. It is sad but at the same time exciting. This time has been greatly needed for all of us and it has served our tired bodies well. Now I am ready to go back and tackle what the Lord has for me back home, back in reality. So many times when I’ve looked out at the see with the white sand and amazing view and it’s just seemed like we’ve been on a movie set getting ready to film and desert island scene. This just doesn’t seem real. The Lord’s creation just never ceases to amaze me.

We’ve also done a bit of sightseeing while we’ve been here. We went to Maya Bay (where the movie The Beach was filmed) that was pretty cool, and an actual movie set LOL. We also went to a bay called Monkey Bay where we saw wild monkeys and fed them watermelon – now that was probably my highlight. They were so absolutely cute and cuddly the only problem with them was that if we got too close they could potentially bite and give us rabies – well I don’t think so! One of them though, took my hand a couple of times and wanted to jump onto my lap. We also swam at a point called Shark Point where apparently sharks show up although, sadly, we didn’t see any. We saw a plethora of fish though and as the crewmembers of the boat fed them rice in our vicinity we were able to gaze at them and their multitude of colors. Like I’ve said it’s been a wonderful time, but now it is time to go back home and get back into life.

Good bye Phi Phi island, thanks for everything! I'll definitely see you again.

Phi Phi island

Hey guys!

I’m in Phi Phi island and it’s absolutely fantastic! The scenery here is amazing, the weather is good and the company is great; making for a great vacation. I don’t even know if I can describe what we see here every day. The sea is a turquoise blue with sand as white as it is soft. There are islands all around us, reminding me a bit of the Cyclades, with such thick foliages that it makes one think of patches of jungle. The food here is so amazing that you just don’t want to stop eating – I’ve experienced that a couple of times, you just don’t want to leave that last piece of meat on your plate for fear that you will regret it later on in life. On every street corner there are places to get the most amazing Thai massages you could think of while looking out at the sunset. Have I described paradise yet? Because if I haven’t this is what it truly feels like – paradise on earth. As we are swimming we just keep thanking the Lord for this most amazing treat. It feels like the Lord is looking down on us smiling and saying “Enjoy my children” It just feels so good to have nothing to do and not to feel guilty about lying around doing absolutely nothing but sleeping, eating, reading and swimming. We’re on our second day and I can’t wait for the next 5!

Phuket

Well guys, here I am in Phuket on holiday. These past few days, weeks actually, have been absolutely amazing. I've been to the middle of the Himalayas, where I stayed in a small, and I mean small, village called Haba; I've stayed in a place at an altitude of 3700m - higher than the highest mountain in Greece (Mount Olympus); I've been to Beijing; I've spent countless hours traveling (hours to be disclosed at a later time when I've figured that out); and through all of that the Lord has blessed me and my team incredibly. Throughout the next few days, as I'm slowly processing things, I plan on writing a little bit every day telling you guys about my amazing adventure in Asia, one that is not over as I am still in Thailand. For right now I just wanted to let you know that, yes I am still alive, yes I am well, and yes I'm back in civilization - not that Beijing isn't civilized but you know what I mean. Like I said at the beginning, I'm in Phuket on my way to Phi Phi island, yes it is pronounced Pi Pi, for an incredible vacation on the beach. It truly feels like a reward from the Lord and I can't wait to just sleep and see amazing sights in a gorgeous place.

Thank you for all your prayers.
Blessings

Thailand

My journey to Asia started uneventfully by me loosing my passport. I got home after my last yet long night from the office to not knowing where my passport was. Umm, considering the fact that I was leaving within 24 hours the panic was minimal. I searched my house in every crook and cranny, wherever I thought it could be, praying fervently but not finding it. Out of sheer fatigue, since it was 4 in the morning, I resolved to go to bed, having a sneaking suspicion that the darn thing might be at the office. The next morning at 9, as I woke up 2 hours later than I had planned, I called the office and sure enough, Jenny our secretary, found it in one of my folders. Praise the Lord! Now all I needed to do within the next 3 ½ hours was pack for a month, shower, exchange Euros into Baht and RMB, buy small gifts for the Chinese, buy some personal necessities AND get my passport from the office (a journey that usually takes an hour each way) – no sweat! Let’s just say that it was a lot of running around but by God’s grace, and lack of traffic on the roads, I managed!
The rest of the trip was really relaxing. Sarah, Debbie, Noel and I, got to the airport in good time, we had a good and healthy lunch at McDonalds and were on our way. The airplane was really nice. It was a 9 hour flight that went by really fast as we each had our own personal screen. I watched like 3 movies and had a grand time :o) We arrived in Bangkok and boarded our next airplane within the hour. I love Bangkok International Airport. It’s huge, and I mean HUGE, we walked a good 20 min to our connecting flight. The second ride was shorter but equally as sweet as I slept through the entire thing! I fell asleep before takeoff and slept all the way through till about 15 min before landing. Then all of a sudden we were in Chiang Mai. It’s so weird, you board a big, white contraption, you sit still for 9 hours, watch a few movies and all of a sudden you’re in a new country with new sights & sounds and definitely new smells. I love Thailand with its lush vegetation and exotic foods.
I’ve just come back from a wonderful day that has just felt like a reward for all the work this summer. I have just spent a day riding elephants and a bamboo raft down a river. I absolutely loved it. As we were riding the elephants I was just gazing at the jungle, listening to its sounds mingled with the clinging of the equipment on the elephants and people’s laughter in the background. What made it even more interesting was that it rained the entire time, resulting in us fighting gravity, trying to stay on the elephant and not land under it, as our seats were so slippery! LOL It must have been a funny sight seeing so many white people on elephants, pulling strange faces trying to keep from falling. It was amazing, though, sitting on the back of such a big animal walking in between the trees surrounded by God’s serene creation. What an experience.
The second thing we did today was bamboo rafting down a river. That was probably my highlight. We spent 45 min on a raft constituting of, probably around 10 big thick bamboo shoots, floating down a river. It was awesome. As we slid down the river my thoughts went to ‘The Jungle book’ when Mogli was floating down the river on Baloo’s stomach right before the monkeys came and took him, lol! We were 4 people on my raft, the driver, a couple from South Africans and myself. We stood the entire way, ducking for branches dangling over the water, trying to stay balanced on the raft as our driver tried to make us fall overboard, while having a water fight with him. Like I said we had a blast! We ended the night by going to Chiang Mai’s night market where we had another amazing meal constituting of curry rice with cashew and pineapple, pork with greens and rice and then sticky rice and mango for a desert. My stomach is very satisfied and happy right now.

Oh, I’ve got to share one major praise before I end this. I was leaving on Thursday mid-afternoon for Asia, on Wednesday morning I still had no idea how I was going to finance my time there. I had bought my tickets, with some money on my credit card but had still to pay my participation fee and have some kind of spending money. Well, I’m not going to go into all the details but by the end of the day I had paid my fee, given money I had promised to other people and had loads more money to spend and use during my time in Thailand and China! Praise the Lord Jehovah Jirah, our Provider, He did it again. Why do we ever worry about finances? The Lord promises that as we seek Him first, as we put Him in the driver’s seat, He will provide for all that we need. It is a promise I have clung to during my last 4 years in Greece yet it never ceases to amaze and stress me out at the same time. One night, as I was sitting out on the barge at Proto Astro worrying about how I was going to pay for all of this, the Lord rebuked me and basically told me that I didn’t trust Him. That was painful to realize. I’ve been living by faith for the past 4 years, I’ve seen Him provide for me time and time again yet I still worry about this. Why are we so fickle? Am I just like the Israelites who, after witnessing and living through all of the miracles the Lord did, turned right back to their old ways again? I’ve seen Him provide for me, I’ve never gone hungry, I have everything I need and then some how I still worry about what I’m going to eat, what I’m going to ware and where I’m going to sleep. Why can’t we just let go of our fleshly nature of doubt and desire of relying on oneself instead of the Lord?
I just want to leave you with this quote that’s helped me more than any other quote I’ve ever heard:

If you’re worrying you’re not trusting and if you’re trusting, you’re not worrying

I don’t know when I’ll be able to write again but until next time,
Blessings