Session 5

This is going to be the last week of first half!  And it's Session 5!  It's crazy how fast first half has gone by.

Here are my hopes for this week:

Cracker barrel parties with cabins
A Sleep over on Wednesday night
Getting to laugh and bounce with Julia and Grace at the Jumping Pillow
Having the chance to say thank you to wonderful first half counselors
To cry when it's necessary and laugh when it's even more necessary

Bustling Bur Dubai

Next neighborhood to cover: Bur Dubai

The lonely planet book states:

"Bustling Bur Dubai is home to the restored historical quarters of the Bastakiya and Shindagha, wonderful for late afternoon and evening strolls.  Bur Dubai Souq is just as lively as the Deira Shops, although its wooden arcades and waterfront location make it more pleasant.  Little India, in the surrounding streets, with its textile and sari stores, Bollywood tape shops and Indian eateries, can easily absorb a couple of interesting hours.  Past the concrete jungle of Golden Sands is Karama, home to a popular souq with cheap souvenir shops and counterfeit designer goods.  The neighborhood may be made up of dilapidated low-cost housing but it has a real community spirit that's hard to find elsewhere in Dubai."

Fact #16: I want to go to the Bastakiya Quarter!

A Little Experiment in Drawing

Things That I LOVE

All in the Neighborhood

Dubai is pretty expansive and diverse and one of my travel books broke it up into neighborhoods.  So while I get to know the neighborhoods, I thought you might like to as well.

Fact #15: Deira

excerpt from lonely planet's Dubai:

Deira is home to most of Dubai's souqs and dhow wharfage, always buzzing with activity and a fascinating place for a walk in the evenings.  Busy Baniyas Sq, also known as Al Nasr Sq, is Deira's centre.  Just off Baniyas Rd, the National Bank of Dubai is a beautiful sight at sunset.  The neonlit surrounding streets are excellent if you're shopping for carpets or electronics, especially Al-Sabkha Rd, which is also a great place for a quick snack with several good shwarma and hot-chicken shops.  Also wonderful for a stroll on a cool winter's night is Al-Mateena Rd., with its palm-filled central reservation and dozens of kebab restaurants.

Pennsyl-town

I had a wonderful week in Pennsylvania and met so many dear friends.  It was exactly what I needed and more than I could have ever expected.

I spent the week resting, learning, struggling and playing... And it was all awesome.  I even played a lot of volleyball on Friday night which is really out of character for me. :)  Here are some highlights.

A Very Fast Paced Weekend

After I got off of work on Saturday afternoon, I immediately went home and got ready to go to Louisiana.  The drive to Deville was 4 hours there and 4 hours back, but the car was full of excellent company and we got to go see Hannah get married!

Here are two pictures from the festivities.  It was a beautiful wedding and I had so much fun getting to laugh with the bride!

Without wavering

Today is my first full day off of the summer.  We weren't going to start taking days off until a few weeks in, but with how smoothly everything is going we decided to take days off this week.  And for me this is a huge blessing.

I haven't been able to update in a while, so I thought I'd check in.

Things at camp are going really well.  I love my new role as a camp manager.  I get to go into work everyday and focus on the counselors in my cabins.  And let me tell you, not having to set up night events everyday has been a huge blessing.  I used to have to be intentional with counselors and master our summer programming which was wonderful, but very hectic.  I love getting to focus on relationships every day that I go in.  I feel like Dad is already teaching me so much this summer.

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. Heb 10 23

My brother Paul

As training has gone on, I know that I've been unable to post very much.  Hopefully that will get better as the weeks progress.  For now there's no Fact, but there is a post!

~~~~~~~~~

In the second letter to the Corinthians Paul writes about his sufferings as an follower.  He writes of his imprisonments, lashings, shipwrecks and imminent danger.  And near the end of his paragraph of lashings and discouragements, he says... And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the communities.

I guess that I never read this part without it being hidden by the severity of his other sufferings, but this morning it jumped from off the page to me.  As summer nears and I meet more counselors and people I will journey with this summer, it's so easy to feel that daily pressure.  I admittedly can become very anxious for these college students.  But I think hearing my brother Paul talk about his anxiety regarding his fellowships gives me great comfort.  I can't carry that anxiety, I have to give it up.

That's all for now

Barasti

Fact #13: A barasti is a traditional house made of palms.  Maybe I can make my own when I get to Dubai...  I'm crafty.

Palm-frond, or barasti, houses are usually built on a wooden frame made out of mangrove poles, split-palm trunk or any other available wood. The palm fronds are used in two forms, either as straight poles (approximately 1 m long) stripped of their leaves used for creating screens or with the leaves still on for roof thatch. The shape of palm-frond houses varies from square or rectangular flat-roofed buildings to triangular tent-like structures.

Burj Dubai

Being tall has always been a competition everywhere I go.  Not between me and other people (have you seen my height?), but between every single thing in the rest of the world.  

Now, this is a huge generalization so I decided to make a list.

There's the Empire State Building vs. the Sears Tower... (those two buildings are always fighting with each other, even though they can't grow any taller)

Big Tex vs. Small Tex (the guy who tries to look like Big Tex on stilts)... Big Tex can't see well enough to see Small Tex down at his ankles, but those two guys are still always competing

Planes vs. the ground... I feel like the ground has a disadvantage in this fight

David vs. Goliath... That's where we all learned that being really tall doesn't even matter

All around the world people want to be TALL and make TALL buildings.

Fact #12: Burj Dubai is the world's tallest building, along with the world's tallest man-made structure.  Burj Dubai blows Big Tex and Goliath out of the water.

Not those kind of dates!

If you lived in Dubai before the 19th century which occupation would you choose?
P.s. Sarah Covin is reading over my shoulder as I write this and it's making me nervous....

"Traditional economic activity focused on fishing, pearling, herding sheep and goats, and cultivating dates and other small-scale agriculture."

I would cultivate dates because I believe it's important to cultivate social relationships.

Fact #9: Not those kind of dates.

Now I Know We Must Lift the Sail

I have studied many times
The marble which was chiseled for me-
A boat with a furled sail at rest in a harbor,
In truth it pictures not my destination
But my life.
For love was offered me, and I shrank from its disillusionment;
Sorrow knocked at my door, but I was afraid
Ambition called to me, but I dreaded the chances.
Yet all the while I hungered for meaning in my life
And now I know that we must lift the sail
And catch the winds of destiny
Wherever they drive the boat.
To put meaning in one's life may end in madness,
But life without meaning is the torture
Of restlessness and vague desire-
It is a boat longing for the sea and yet afraid.

- Edgar Lee Masters

A Body of Water Up North

From Wednesday to Friday, I had a very hard group. It was the hardest group I've taught. They were wild, full of bad behavior and dramatic about everything.

But in all of the chaos, they taught me something invaluable. It wasn't life-changing in the way some of us might desire. I didn't leave Friday evening feeling like a new person. Instead it was life-changing because I realized there is a real battle to fight for in the hearts of all people. And these kids were blessed this week because they got to step outside of the drama created in their lives and experience something they had never experienced before....

Seeing a armadillo after their night activity on Wednesday night.

Roasting a marshmallow over a campfire.

Getting eaten alive by bugs after the sun went down.

Catching a fish.

Playing a name game and getting to act silly in front of each other without caring how cool they looked.

It was these things that separated them from what was hard in their lives. For minutes at a time they relaxed, loosened up and were vulnerable. And it might have changed back quicker than the teachers and I wanted it to everytime, but even if a small section of their heart was healed- it was worth every minute. As I remember them now, I hope they find healing.

Finally, camels

Fact #5: Camels are fast!

Emiratis have many traditional pastimes. Some of them include falconry, dhow sailing and CAMEL RACING! Who knew camels were fast? Maybe they seem fast because they don’t have to stop for as many water breaks as other animals…

sfuzzi

I had a wonderful weekend visiting my best friend Stephanie! We went to dinner in Dallas on Saturday night at a wonderful place called sfuzzi. These are the pictures from that adventure.

Delicioso

Fact #4: Emirati food sounds delicious!

“Meals usually start with meze, Arabic appetizers such as hummus, tabbouleh, baba ghanouj, falafel, and kibbeh (ground meat with spices) served with pita bread and salad. Lamb, beef, and chicken are the favored meats, often accompanied by rice, spices, nuts (especially pistachios), dates, and yogurts. [The majority] are forbidden from eating meat that has not been slaughtered in accordance with Islamic rituals (called halal), and they do not eat pork.” - of course from Frommer’s Dubai

In short, I’ve fallen in love.

The Story

Here is an entry from my journal that I thought I'd share this morning:

Okay, so I just finished "A Million Miles in a Thousand Years" by Donald Miller and it was a beautiful book full of stories. It has been so encouraging to read this week. As I think about the stories that I truly fall in love with, they always have hope and they are stories that are full of purpose. This makes me think about my own story and the stories that I entangle myself with every day.

I feel like most people get to a point in their lives when they become all about risk management. I know I am all about it. Because we've been hurt before or gone through something, we want to control things in our lives so we never have to feel that pain again. But I truly admire people who aren't concerned with risk management. Who aren't afraid to get hurt. Who aren't afraid to love with their whole being.

Actions between people are always closely monitored by others. And they are the things that I'm most critical of in my own life and in the lives of others. It's almost as if actions are words spoken out. Words we have written in our thoughts and hearts that when carried out penetrate darkness. They either add to the darkness or they penetrate it and break it down. Pops, I desire to see others the way you see them, not with a critical heart, but a heart full of love. I want to be someone who's ready to see words lived out in their lives. Too often I limit others because I'm so used to limiting myself, but I've realized I'm showing others that it's better to adopt a discipline of risk management than trust.

I don't want anyone to tell my friends they can't do something. And I don't want to be the neigh-sayer in their lives. I would rather speak life. I'm full of love for dad. So grateful that he lets us feel even when we try our hardest to stay away from pain. Our stories begin when we let them begin. But as Miller says, we're just a single tree in a great big forest.

Maybe the ramblings of thoughts mean something to others and I hope they do.

The Reason for Nostalgia

I just looked on the calendar and realized that there are only 5 more weeks of teaching! That blows my mind. When I sat down on Wednesday to post something, I really wanted the post to translate my emotions about the end of this season well, but it's hard. There are so many people that I love and respect who I won't get to see anymore in a few weeks and the transition between now and then is one of the fastest I've ever experienced. I feel like I'm grasping the bottom of my seat to get ready for a wild ride.

But really my hope for the end of the season is to be able to walk gracefully.
To smile more than frown.
To cherish the people around me and the memories we've made together.
To prepare for a summer full of sugar and laughing.
And spend as much time with dad as is possible!

So here it goes! We'll see what happens!

Nostalgia

Nostalgia

a wistful or excessively sentimental yearning for return to or of some past period or irrecoverable condition

That is the way I'm beginning to feel about the end of our Outdoor Education season. If there's one thing I love, it's teaching OE in the Spring...

It's also the way I feel about wildflowers and lighthouses, especially from Michigan.

And Katie, Emily and I looked up the definition of tattle, from tattletale. Tattle means idle talk or chatter. Do you want to find a time to tattle with me?