StuartLoe.com

2011-11-21T15:25:00.001-06:00

I am thankful for my growing awareness of God's nearness.

I am thankful for my beautiful wife and how good if a mon she is.

I am thankful for Max and Lydia and every single smile they've ever had.

2011-11-11T07:41:00.001-06:00

"The truth will set you free, but at first it will really hack you off." ~Michael Hyatt

children: more work than you want, more rewarding than you deserve

2011-10-22T22:08:00.001-05:00

One thing that has fascinated about having kids is the immediate bond I felt with both Max and Lydia. It's not like I needed to get to know them first, or they needed to get comfortable with me before it happened. I would even say I felt this bond before they were born. I remember thinking while they were only a few days old, "Wow, I am surprised by how much I love these two little snotty, poopy, crying, needy, slimy alien-like creatures. I don't even know them yet I already love them more than almost everybody else I know."

I have also been surprised by how excited I am when they grow older and bigger. Carrie is always saying how sad she is that her "babies" are not as small as they used to be. All I can think is that I can't wait until they can crawl, talk, walk and someday learn to intentionally scare mom. I have very minimal nostalgia for their previous phases.

Just my thoughts. Anybody else have a similar experience?

Great pics

2011-10-03T11:10:00.001-05:00

The fires in heaven...

2011-09-26T10:46:00.001-05:00

I am thoroughly convinced that God will let everyone into heaven who, in his considered opinion, can stand it. But "standing it" may prove to be a more difficult matter than those who take their view from popular movies or popular preaching may think. The fires in heaven may be hotter than those in the other place.

...I often wonder how happy and useful some of the fearful, bitter, lust-ridden, hate-filled Christians I have seen involved in church or family or neighborhood or political battles would be if they were forced to live forever in the unrestrained fullness of the reality of God...

- Dallas Willard, from The Divine Conspiracy

digested lung

2011-09-20T12:46:00.003-05:00

Have you ever taken a dump so big you felt like your body accidentally digested one of your lungs and then crapped it out?

I did...

...yesterday...

...it was awesome.

Tends to Fill Up My Soul

2011-09-10T16:04:00.000-05:00

for Max and Lydia

Jesus Saves... The Party...

2011-09-09T11:49:00.000-05:00

I don't know if I'm supposed to think this is sacrilegious because I'm a Christian, but I think it is hilarious.

MONKEYS, MONKEYS, MONKEYS!!!

2011-09-04T21:58:00.001-05:00

I drafted this post back in 2008 when I was in India, but didn't post it until today. For the record, the monkeys were awesome. And they were fearless. They would steal sodas and food and shiny things from tourists.

हे वहत'स उप?
This means "hey what's up?" in Hindi.
इ सव अ लौट ऑफ़ मोंकेयस टुडे!!!
This means "I saw a lot of monkeys today!!!"

Hyper-Minimalist Children's Posters

2011-09-02T11:09:00.000-05:00

So, my buddy Christian Jackson is a ridiculously talented creative. I use the word creative as a noun in his case. Dance, music, art, graphic design... you name it and he is creative at it. Here is one of my favorite hyper-minimalist children's posters that he created as part of series that has become very popular. If you haven't already come across them, then check them all out here on his website:
http://www.squareinchdesign.com/category/special-projects/

Also, you should buy one of these as a poster here:
http://www.imagekind.com/GalleryProfile.aspx?gid=506502a6-9ebb-453c-a5f0-90cd14c2abbc

PG-Rated Tactile Sensations I Love

2011-08-31T21:50:00.000-05:00

Tearing along perforated lines
Popping bubble wrap

Warm-air hand dryers (especially the ridiculously powerful ones)
Pop rocks
Smashing ice with a stick or rock

2011-08-31T21:44:00.001-05:00

Tends to fill up my soul

2011-08-09T21:27:00.000-05:00

A little hand reaching out to grasp whatever it can

Finds my face and a smile

Tends to fill up my soul

A little eye struggling against sleep to open wide
Finds both of mine

Tends to fill up my soul

A little voice grunting and singing in pathetic and beautiful tones
Finds my ears and my heart

Tends to fill up my soul
Tends to fill up my soul
Tends to fill up my soul

I hate waste

2011-08-05T10:56:00.000-05:00

I have known for a long time that I hate waste. It's part of why I am such a vulture when it comes to eating with other people. Partly, I love food. Partly, because I hate waste. I would rather eat it even if I don't particularly care for it and even if I am already uncomfortably full, RATHER than see it go to waste. So, it always amazes me when I see people that don't mind waste. So, I want to apologize to people that I have made feel guilty because I am OCD about not wasting. Particularly, Carrie.

quote

2011-05-09T10:56:00.000-05:00

I just stumbled across this fantastic quote:

"When you are complaining, you become a living, breathing crap magnet."

Lydia Jean Loe and Max Stuart Loe - What up?

2011-02-18T10:14:00.002-06:00

February 17, 2011 at 9:48 pm Lydia Jean Loe was born at 4 pounds, 13 ounces and 17 inches long. 18 minutes later, her brother Max Stuart Loe followed at 5 pounds even and 16.5 inches long. They are beautiful and healthy.

They were born at 34 weeks (6 weeks early), but they are both healthy and breathing on their own. They will need to spend some time in the Neo-natal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) where they are monitored for breathing, weight gain, and feeding. Carrie is doing really well. It was a relatively quick and natural delivery (no c-section) with no complications.

We literally could not be happier. Here's some online pictures to enjoy https://picasaweb.google.com/beefstu/LydiaAndMax?feat=directlink

34 weeks = 6 months ???

2011-02-15T09:42:00.000-06:00

What does 34 weeks have in common with 6 months?

This morning, a resident walked into my office with a big smile on her face. She said, "Stuart, do you know what today is? Today marks 6 months of me being clean. Thank you Jesus." Then I said, "That's really awesome. Good for you. Congrats! Do you know what today is for me? Today my babies are 34 weeks old. We've been praying so hard that our babies would make it to 34 weeks without delivering early and today marks 34 weeks." And she replied, "That's beautiful - 6 months and 34 weeks."

That is frickin' beautiful!

Week 24

2010-11-30T11:37:00.000-06:00

Each baby is about 1.5 lbs now and almost a foot long ($5 footlong?). They will pack on about 6 oz. a week. This mostly consists of fat deposits, but also of growing organs, bones, and tissue. Along with loud noises, the baby can also hear Carrie's breathing, Carrie's heart beat, and my voice when I yell at Carrie's belly. The inner ears are fully developed now. The babies can tell if they are right side up or up side down. They can also tell when Carrie is moving.

They can also smell fear.

Week 23

2010-11-23T09:32:00.000-06:00

This week the babies will....

Practice breathing by sucking in and blowing out amniotic fluid with their lungs.
Fat production is in over drive. Over the next 3 to 4 weeks the babies will double in weight.
Finger nails are now fully formed
Their skin will become less see through as fat continues to collect over the next few weeks.
Each baby is about 11 inches long and weighs 18 to 19 ounces.

With this being such a weight gaining and growing phase, we are hoping for each baby to be around the 2.5 pound mark at our next ultrasound in 2 1/2 weeks.

What starts with "T" and ends with "Holy Crap, We're Having Twins"

2010-11-02T20:49:00.001-05:00

If any of you didn't know, Carrie is pregnant. Today, we had our first ultrasound and found out that we are not having a boy OR a girl. We're having a boy AND a girl. Fraternal TWINS!

No one (literally none of you) are more shocked than I was at this news. We are super-excited and terrified, simultaneously.

Hot Potato (baby boy) and Sweet Potato (baby girl) are due March 28th.

Stuart (and Carrie)

P.S. Hot Potato and Sweet Potato are not their actual names (not yet, at least). We are still accepting name suggestions.

Hiccups

2010-10-01T10:33:00.001-05:00

Here is a list of what Hot Potato can do/is going through this week:

It's neck is developed and the head is no longer resting on its chest or shoulders
It is growing eyebrows, eyelashes, and hair on its head this week
Its eye are closed but it can sense light
It can suck, swallow, and get the hiccups
It is now a whopping 4 inches long

It still looks like an alien, but I love this particular alien.

Peachy

2010-09-14T11:08:00.000-05:00

So, this week Hot Potato is the size of a peach, or you might say a potato. Its vocal cords will finish developing, and it can also suck its thumb. Its intestines are fully developed and the skeletal system is well underway.

Unbelievable...

...Seriously.

Heartbeat

2010-09-07T10:55:00.000-05:00

So, they tell me that I get to hear my baby's heartbeat today. That is blowing my mind. I am strangely nervous. But more so, I'm excited. What a beautiful, little, alien-parasite miracle!!! I don't know how, but I already love my child.

not my actual baby
just some stranger baby from the internet
maybe it's you

Guess what?

2010-08-12T12:08:00.000-05:00

Carrie's pregnant.

Due date: March 28th, 2011

Embryo/Fetus name: Hot Potato

Please post comments with your birth name suggestions.

Tomorrow - A Day to Remember

2010-03-24T08:23:00.001-05:00

I turn 27 tomorrow. I would like a new electric shaver and a uni-lazy. A uni-lazy is basically a onesie for adults with a hood. I really want one. I've outgrown my last one. I don't mean this as a joke meaning I haven't had one since I was a child. I mean I had a red fleece onesie in college, but after going through the wash it shrunk.

These amazing, practical and fashionable adult onesies can be found at www.foreverlazy.com.

INVICTUS

2010-01-25T13:58:00.000-06:00

INVICTUS

Out of the night that covers me,

Black as the Pit from pole to pole,

I thank whatever gods may be

For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance

I have not winced nor cried aloud.

Under the bludgeonings of chance

My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears

Looms but the Horror of the shade,

And yet the menace of the years

Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,

How charged with punishments the scroll.

I am the master of my fate:

I am the captain of my soul.

William Ernest Henley

Larry Ellison, CEO of Oracle Corporation

2009-12-20T13:57:00.001-06:00

"Whatever I want, I get," Ellison once said. "That's the beauty of being worth $26 billion. I thoroughly recommend it.”

William Blake

2009-12-20T13:51:00.000-06:00

Life’s dim window of the soul

distorts the heavens from pole to pole,

and leads you to believe a lie,

when you see with, not through, the eye.

a gay man, dying of AIDS, learns to pray

2009-11-24T09:41:00.000-06:00

An excerpt from "And the Band Played On" by Randy Shilts:

Alone, Bill sat on a stone bench, staring at the statue of the Virgin Mary in the grotto. The words "Jesus" and "God" crossed his thoughts, and he automatically began to push them out of his mind, as he had for many years. As Bill watched the other pilgrims and contemplated the statue, he realized that he should not dismiss the thought of Jesus, as if he were some nuisance. The essence of the Christ figure was loving and compassionate, no matter how the message of Jesus may have been corrupted by Christianity.
He realized that the bitterness he had held against the church had alienated him from this elemental source of strength. He had been separated from the fount of love and forgiveness that Jesus had to offer, and it was not right. God knew that. It all was very clear to Bill now, and for the first time in many years, he prayed.

258 AD

2009-08-06T15:15:00.000-05:00

"This seems a cheerful world, Donatus, when I view it from this fair garden, under the shadow of these vines. But if I climbed some great mountain and looked out over the wide lands, you know very well what I would see - brigands (bandits) on the high roads, pirates on the seas; in the amphitheaters men murdered to please applauding crowds; under all roofs misery and selfishness. It is really a bad world, Donatus, an incredibly bad world. Yet in the midst of it I have found a quiet and holy people. They have discovered a joy which is a thousand times better than any pleasures of this sinful life. They are despised and persecuted, but they care not. They have overcome the world. These people, Donatus, are the Christians - and I am one of them."

- St. Cyprian, c. 258, a letter

Thank God for HIV

2009-07-30T09:09:00.000-05:00

So, I was talking with a guy this morning who is HIV positive. He told me about a guy he met who was also HIV positive. The guy in the story was speaking at an HIV support group. This guy got up and said, "I thank God for HIV." The guy I was talking with heard him say this and was immediately confused. What is there to be thankful for if you have HIV? It is a terrible disease that destroys your body and slowly sucks the life out of you until only a shell remains, and then you die. And why would you thank God for it. Shouldn't you be angry at God, if anything. Well, then this guy who was speaking at the support group said, "if I hadn't been diagnosed with HIV, I would still be an addict out on the street. I wouldn't care about my health, and I wouldn't be here today. I thank God for HIV."

2009-07-04T15:40:00.001-05:00

So... I recently got an iPod touch after months of coveting both it
and the iPhone. I can't afford the iPhone data plan, so this is what
I have and I am quite pleased. Carrie probably misses her husband but
she'll have him back when the novelty wears off. Until then, here's
to patient wives:)

Sent from my iPod

Pluck the Mask from the Face of the Pharisee

2009-07-02T09:35:00.000-05:00

Quote from the preface of Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte:

"Conventionality is not morality. Self-righteousness is not religion. To attack the first is not to assail the last. To pluck the mask from the face of the Pharisee, is not to lift an impious hand to the Crown of Thorns."

In the HOUSE-ing market

2009-05-20T11:26:00.000-05:00

Carrie and I have been looking at houses lately. We thought we found a really good deal. A house that we could fix up and turn into a income-generating duplex with a relatively small investment.

BUTT, someone esle bought it.

Big League Chew

2009-04-27T18:33:00.001-05:00

So last Friday some friends and my wife and I grilled out and we got some big league chew. For those unaware, Big League Chew is a bubble gum from my childhood that was intended to imitate chewing tobacco. It comes in small strands and you pick it up out of a pouch, just like the real deal. However, instead of carcinogenic tobacco, you have deliciously flavored bubble gum that completely loses its flavor within 10 chews. It was awesome. Ahhh... childhood. The pay wasn't great, but I had a lot more playdates back then.

Anyone?

2009-01-12T15:50:00.000-06:00

I don't believe that anyone still reads this blog. If you do, you should let me know. In the mean time, "poop, fart, weiner!"

Stuart: "Grandma, you have a doctor's appointment today." Margaret: "What is he going to tell me... that I'm old!?"

2008-04-21T22:35:00.001-05:00

Life has been interesting with my 94 year-old grandma living with us. We are in the process of moving her into an assisted living facility. She is very witty and loving and pleasant to be with, but she is also very confused. I woke her up the other day and she thought I was her deceased husband. It is difficult to see her slowly fade, but she tells us very plainly that she is not afraid to die. She says she's lived a long life and done the best with what she's had. Pray for us as we make this transition. Pray that we lose our fear of death like my grandma has.

1 day, 19 hours, 33 minutes, 12 seconds... and counting

2008-03-05T13:41:00.001-06:00

Back to Wisconsin soon. I have loved my time in Cyprus, Jordan and India, BUTT I'm really excited to come back home. Plus, I get to see Carrie. I can't believe I'm getting married!!! But that's exciting too. A little scary, but mostly just exciting. See y'all soon!

FYI...

2008-02-15T12:21:00.001-06:00

Just thought that all of you in WI should know that it's a pleasant 72 degrees fahrenheit here in Pune, India and by the beginning of next week it's supposed to be over 100. I've heard that it's been cold there. Is this true?

WHAT UP? from the opposite side of planet Earth!

2008-01-29T03:02:00.000-06:00

Well, the classroom (lecture) phase of our school has ended and we are now in the outreach (in-the-field) phase.

RECENTLY... We were just in Jordan for 12 days helping out a few churches and visiting several orphanages. It was really interesting to be in the Holy land, where the dominant religion is now Islam. The people in Jordan are very friendly and easy to befriend. We ate SOOO much food while we were there. It was delicious! I just want to affirm that arabs are not all terrorists, despite popular belief in America. I was treated with great hospitality and respect by both Muslim and Christian middle-easterners.

CURRENTLY... Now, we are in India for a little over a month. We had 36 hours of travel. Going to the Airport in Jordan, 6 hour flight, taking a 6 hour taxi to Pune. Waiting 6 hours for our bus to Goa. 10 hour bus ride to Goa WITH A CRAZY BUS DRIVER WHO PASSED EVERYBODY AT NIGHT ON MOUNTAIN ROADS. Although at the same time, I was impressed with his driving skills. I was NOT impressed with the Bollywood movies that played the ENTIRE 10 hours. The driving is CRAZY here. It's a whole different world here from the middle east, where I'd been for the last 3 months. AND CERTAINLY a different world from the US.

We drive past slums all over the place. People living in tents and make-shift shanties in fields or in forests or on the side of hills. Hygiene is terrible and the water they use for daily stuff is not good. My heart breaks as I see the way they live. It also breaks as I learn about the caste system of Hindu society, where people of the lowest caste are called "untouchables" because touching them is said to defile members of higher castes. Also, they are said to be in the lower caste because of sins in past lives, so it is supposedly their own fault. This division of Hindu society into castes runs SO deep that even when churches are planted they have not been able to mix castes. They have only found success in planting single-caste churches. I guess thousands of years of tradition will take a little time to overcome, even inside the church. In the slums you find people picking through garbage, pooping/peeing everywhere. Not all places are like this... there are tourist places and also cities that look just like American cities (except ALL the people are Indian and everything is cheaper and the cars/motorcycles are crazy). SOOO interesting! Also, there are only like 7 fat people in the whole country of 1.2 billion people. Everyone is so skinny and they eat rice and curry ALL THE TIME. I write this having had curry and rice for the past 4 meals.

A COUPLE CYPRUS TIDBITS... I had the opportunity to pray with a cameroonian man named victor who was orphaned as a child, and later kicked out of his country for political reasons (he didn't elaborate). He poured out his heart and longing for his country. His only hope truly is the Lord and he doesn't know when/if he will be able to return to his country, but in spite of that, he trusts in God. Amazing faith.

During our weekly outreach/evangelism we talked with several Bangladeshi Muslims on the streets of Cyprus. I learned that their name for Jesus sounds like "Jeezu". They believe in Jesus, but only what is written about him in the Koran. It is also very difficult to hold conversations, because their english is only okay. It's also interesting to note that almost all of the Bangladeshi's we've met are in university for hotel management. We have had several conversations with a group of them. Some of them have even come to our open meetings. They are very proud of their country and love their country, but they are also aware of its problems. In Cyprus, I have met so many refugees and asylum-seekers and immigrants and people on the street that would love to come to America. It is their dream to go to "the land of the free."

List of things I loved about Cyprus:
traditional Greek and Cypriot food made well (you will find a lot of lousy traditional food as well)
the amount of international people (i.e. people not from Cyprus) you meet in the street and at church
the weather
the history
the beaches
the easy-going nature of the Cypriot people
ASKING MY GIRLFRIEND TO MARRY ME THERE!!! And having her say "YES!"

List of things I missed from home while in Cyprus:
YOU GUYS!
free refills
large meals
cheap food
central heating
efficiency
reliable electricity
reliable internet
reliable plumbing (in many places around the world, including Cyprus, Jordan and India, people put used toilet paper in garbage bins next to the toilets, rather than in the toilets. weird, eh?)

SHE SAID YES!!!! In your face single life!

2007-12-24T14:47:00.000-06:00

Carrie arrived in Cyprus Saturday afternoon at 4:30. We toured around Larnaka in the evening, visiting the downtown area, an ancient medieval fort, and enjoyed a traditional Cyprus dinner before finally ending the night back at the school. It was wonderful to be reunited.
I told Carrie that I had an exciting date planned the next day so she had to get to bed, catch up on sleep, and be ready for an early morning. We headed out Sunday morning in a rental car to the city of Agia Napa, a beautiful coastal city on the south western side of Cyprus. After a day of beautiful beaches, vibrant blue water, huge caves, and tall cliffs, we ended up in the perfect secluded area on the edge of a cliff just as the sun was setting. We had just gotten to the spot when Carrie asked if I had locked the car doors. I found this to be the perfect excuse to leave her where she was and head back to the car to get a bouquet of flowers, my guitar I hid from her in the trunk, and a ring . After returning with everything, I got out my guitar and played for Carrie the song that I wrote just for her (I know, I'm SO romantic!). My crazed nerves along with Carrie's happy tears, made it almost impossible to sing and play, but somehow I finished the song. So then I kissed Carrie, put the guitar away and told her there was one more thing I wanted to do. I made her stand up and I got down on one knee. After some touching words I will spare you from (Yes, I can be serious and mushy), a few tears from both of us, I asked her if she would be my wife. She said YES! WOO HOO!

Carrie will be with me until the 27th, and we have lots of fun things planned to do and see on the island, as well as celebrating our engagement, and just enjoying time together.

Happy Jesus' Birthday,
Stuart AND CARRIE

An Iraqi Refugee in Cyprus

2007-11-13T09:01:00.001-06:00

A few weeks ago, during our weekly outreach into the community, I met an Iraqi refugee named Joad. He was very friendly and very talkative. When I told him I was an American, I said, but it's OK, we can still be friends. He agreed, saying that it's all political and that the governments and the media of both of our countries practically try to make us hate each other. So, we had a really good chat for over an hour in the street. He told me and my other friend that it was really good just to be able to talk with someone about all the hard things that are going on in his life and have someone to listen to. Foreigners to Cyprus from the middle east are usually not treated well and not given equal status to natives. This man was very intelligent, friendly and his english was quite good. He told us he believes in God, because of the amazing intelligence and beauty and design he sees in nature. However, he said he was not a muslim nor a christian, because he says that religion has caused SO much hurt and pain and destruction in the world. He mentioned all the civil wars between Sunni and Shi'ite Muslims as well as Christianity and the Crusades. He poured out his heart about the deaths of family and friends and the terrible destruction that has ravaged his homeland. He was lucky/smart enough to get out of Iraq before the war.
Pray that we meet him again and have a chance to hear more of his story and introduce him to Jesus, not a religion.

The Way of the Burning Heart...

2007-10-21T08:23:00.001-05:00

Now is the shining fabric of our day
Torn open, flung apart, rent wide by love.
Never again the tight, enclosing sky,
The blue bowl or the star-illumined tent.
We are laid open to infinity,
For Easter love has burst His tomb and ours.
Now nothing shelters us from God's desire --
Not flesh, not sky, not stars, not even sin.
Now glory waits so He can enter in.
Now does the dance begin.

- Elizabeth Rooney, from "The Opening"

My travel ADVENTURE to Cyprus... WOW!

2007-10-15T14:09:00.000-05:00

I took off from Oshkosh on Thursday morning Sep. 27 about 8am. I didn't end up at my destination until Sunday Sep. 29 at around noon. Carrie & I drove to Milwaukee and my flight to Charlotte went well. I sat next to a very friendly and talkative christian man who was delighted to hear what I was going to do.
In the Charlotte airport I had a conversation with a lady who had not only heard of YWAM but is a great supporter. She gave me a book she was reading, cuz she wanted to bless me with it. A pastor from Tennessee noticed my InterVarsity t-shirt and an encouraging conversation ensued. My flight to London went well.
In London I had to disembark and get all my luggage to go through customs. The English customs lady was not very happy when I explained that I was going for a school and it would be 5 months. She said 90 days was the limit for visitors. I knew that the YWAM people in Cyprus told me that they would take care of my papers when I got there, but this was not good enough for this lady. Cyprus is changing to be more closely aligned with Europe (ie using the euro$ sometime soon) and so the customs paperwork and my visa to our outreach destination in January will change and it will be taken care of as a group in January. To everyone traveling or doing missions or any business in London (or really anywhere overseas), I give you this advice - “Just say “I am a tourist staying for a couple of weeks thank-you. that is all.” I had 8 hours in London to kill before my next flight so I took a train to Brighton (pictures in my web album; check the link to the left on this page).
I must admit that I used to think that I speak English. This is not true. I speak American, an understandable and coherent language. The inhabitants of England speak this strange-sounding collection of weird phrases in an unintelligible accent called "English." Getting around the airport was confusing enough, but trying to figure out the train system was amazingly difficult. I ended up finding an American from Florida who explained to me (in American) how the train system worked and how to get to and from Brighton. However, the city of Brighton was beautiful and quaint and the whole area was very “British”. Also, I never knew how intimidating (yet also exhilarating) it is to travel alone internationally.
The flight to Pathos, Cyprus went well but I landed at 11 pm and it was Dark & Hot & No one spoke English!! The airport was small with only one runway. The cab drivers all just wanted me to get in but I just want directions to the bus station. It was hard to explain to them that even though it was 11 pm, I was not going to be staying in a hotel. Well, I managed to snag a map of Paphos from the Irish tourism booth. It turned out that the bus station that I wanted to reach to get a bus at 7:30 am the next morning was not as close to the airport as I had originally thought. It was probably 15 - 20km away. Mind you, it was only 11:30 pm when I found this out and I still had 8 hours to travel this distance, but I had one very large backpack, one medium backpack, and one large guitar case to take with me. So, I head off down this beach trail to try and find the bus station.
Let me say that this was the most beautiful part of my whole adventure. It was also the scariest. I literally had no idea where I was apart from this map I'd gotten 15 minutes ago from some bubbly, Irish tourism lady and the beach, which I assumed was the Mediterranean Sea. I also didn't know if what I was doing was illegal. And I didn't know if the beach was safe. And I didn't know if I were to get picked up by the cops or some zealous locals if they would even speak English. But, I can't complain, because the moon was full and the beach was empty. But, I was bearing my backpacks and guitar case which were, collectively, VERY awkward. The trail had the rocky beach on one side and barbed wire which lined the airport on the other. Planes would land and scare the crap out of me with their landing lights. I seriously thought one was the coast guard and it was going to find me and radio me in and then suddenly humvees roll up on the beach with spotlights. I had read about the country’s low crime rate which gave him comfort, but still this it's 2 am on an island in the middle of the Mediterranean, noone speaks English and I read most of this on the internet!!!!!!! So then 10km later, 3am in the morning, walking by moonlight with extremely sore shoulders (in Stuart’s words) “I had difficulties with liquids - in & out”. I hadn't had anything to drink since the plane and I hadn't had a bathroom since the plane. So I looked for what the Cypriot people call a kiosk which to us is a convenience store. I did not want to get caught taking a leak. Then I found a store I could buy bottled water at, but I couldn't find a public restroom, so I peed behind a tree right next to a bus stop. There is a big difference between reading about adventure and finding yourself in the middle of the nite in a foreign country & carrying all you have into a crowded convenience store to buy water and the clerk just wants 50 cents and you hand her a $50 bill and she doesn’t get it. I had a difficult time getting thru the aisles in this tiny store with my packs and particularly the guitar which looks a little odd with the original duct tape around it for the airplane ride.
Once I got to the bus station, I had my first Cypriot coffee - black & very sweet. Soon it is 6am and there are a few women lining up at the bus stop. I finally got one of the bus drivers to say in broken English “Wait here - the Nicosia bus will come” - not very comforting. AT about 7:25 am a few WHITE people show up wearing butt bags and looking British and they all get on the next bus to Limassol together right at 7:30 am just as the internet predicted. The bus ride was pretty, but finally I could let down my guard to sleep - the bus contained me, the British tourists with fanny packs, a few elderly people, and one family in the back - pretty safe. The bus was really kind of a large van really. The streets are narrow and all the cars & trucks are small. We arrived in Limassol, then on to Nicosia.
Again, how do I get from the bus stop to the school. I knew that I would be staying in a church building. I had the address, but again I needed a map. I stopped in another kiosk to ask and the Chinese clerk who spoke very little English and she sold me a map, but there were 2 streets under the name of the street I needed to get to. Again the trip was double what I thought, but it was daylight and people speak English in Cyprus by day!

The next day we went to the demarcation line and went across. Nicosia is similar to Berlin, Germany -- there is a wall dividing the city (as well as the country) into two parts: The northern partand the Turkish Cypriot army is pretty laid back but the Turkish army (under orders from mainland Turkey) is rather militant and very serious. The Turkish Cypriots have lost much of the mainland Turkish people's islamic zeal." Very fascinating, because the Greek Cypriots have lost much of mainland Greece's Greek Orthodox Church zeal. The island is, for the most part, spiritually dead.

POTB

2007-10-14T10:20:00.000-05:00

you know...

I have a blog now.

2007-10-10T09:31:00.000-05:00

I have a blog now. Sweet, eh?!