November 14, 2006
Costa Rica Surf Trip
We have landed in beautiful Costa Rica! The plan is a surfing trip to mark my 30th birthday. So far my fist impressions of Costa Rica is a lush, beatiful country with very friendly people. Our first surfing lesson was today, and the surfing was great! We are planning to live it up in this little beach town of Tamarindo. Carpe Diem!
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September 25, 2006
Meal Groups Kickoff with Donald Miller
We are hosting our first Meal Group for our church the Upper Room this week. Meal Groups are small communities in our chruch with a focus on building community. Meal Groups will use Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller to facilitate discussion as we share meals together and tell our stories. The Upper Room hosted Donald Miller to speak and help kickoff this season. I thought that Donald Miller was a eloquent speaker and a very funny guy. He gave a nice series of talks about his story and his journey on his spiritual walk. We are looking forward to developing a new community with some members of our chruch. Please pray that God would bless this exciting new development!
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August 21, 2006
Bike Commuter
The good news is that Erica was hired to teach at Le Cordon Bleu Culinary Institue. She will be teaching the public speaking course for some chefs in training. It is a nice opportunity to work with students again. The bad news is that Le Cordon Bleu is about a 10 mile commute from our home in downtown Minneapolis. As part of our desire to simplify, we have been trying to make just one car work for our family. With both of our long commutes to our jobs, we have had to be a little creative with Erica’s commute to her new job. Erica has joined the ranks for the bike commuters (there are alot of them here in the twin cities). Her commute involves riding her bike to the light rail, taking the light rail to a state park, riding wooded bike trails through the park and over a bridge spanning the Mississippi river with a view of both Minneapolis and St. Paul and onto to the front door of her work. Total commute time is about an hour. The jury is still out on if she will enjoy her commute and even look forward to the ride through the woods to work. For now, we’re going to try to make it work; happy trails!
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May 23, 2006
Matt Costa and ALO at the Varsity Theater
We went to the Matt Costa and Animal Liberation Orchestra concert at the Varsity Theater in Dinkytown. It was a great show! ALO played a really fun set. They are really great group of talented musicians and a blast to see live. They were also down to earth, they mingled with the crowd and stayed late at the end to wish people well at the door on the way out.
Matt Costa played a great set with his band. He has such a laid back stage presence. All the musicians came back for combined ALO Matt Costa Band performance that had the crowd joining in a sing-a-long.
It was a great night! There is general admission so you can go right up to the stage at the Varsity theater. If you get a chance to see them coming through your part of the world, I highly recommend going. It will be a fun night.
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October 09, 2005
Turkey's Magical Landscapes
Turkey is a place of great natural beauty. Turkey has truly been blessed with a diverse landscape from a lovely Mediterranean coast to the craters of the moon of capadocia. We were lucky enough to enjoy some of the breathtaking scenery of Turkey.
Capadoccia: Is a place where the landscape is so unique, the original people thought it must have been created by fairies. It looks like the earth has been folded into white peaks like a long ribbon of candy.
There are dynamic “imagination” valleys where the shape and form of the earth is so varied. This varied landscape invites one to allow the imagination to wander like looking upon a cloud filled sky.
The earth has been shaped and formed into “fairy chimneys” that dot the landscape. There is even a natural “last castle.” A large mound has been carved into the dwelling of a city. This city sits proudly looking out over the plains like a majestic castle.
Pamukkale: is a such a breath taking sight, a religious roman city was constructed in its place. Heavily calcified water has created a magical landscape of natural pools, cascades and terraces.
The warm mineral water still flows down the side of the cliff adding to this magical landscape daily. We walked down from the top enjoying the aqua colored pools terrace by terrace.
At sunset, the orange glow of the sun setting over the mountains reflects in the pools and on the white landscape. The magic of this place is spectacular.
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October 07, 2005
Let's see if the coffee is still delicious...
Coffee has a lot of symbolism to different cultures. I love the symbolism in Turkey that merges coffee with relationships. In Turkey, marriages are arranged. Arranged marriages uphold the old tradition where parental opinions have great weight in the union between their children. Enter a meeting ceremony centered around coffee. A Turkish boy will go to the house of girl that he wished to marry and sit and have coffee with the future mother in law. The girl will remain in the kitchen to prepare the delicious coffee. Coffee can act as a face saving mechanism. Perhaps, the mother does not think the girl is a good match, perhaps she is not pretty enough, smart enough or just not a good match. After the meeting, the mother will simply say, “the coffee was not delicious.” Clever in that no one loses face. Due to the nature of the ceremony, the boy can also be tricked into marrying a girl that is less than desirable. Perhaps while the mothers are meeting, the girl may employ her friend to make the delicious coffee instead of herself, thereby avoiding demonstrating that she has poor culinary skills. The coffee may taste delicious now, but will it continue to be delicious in the future? The girl can also use this meeting to communicate as well. Perhaps, if the girl is being forced into marriage to this boy, she uses coffee to communicate this. She might spill the delicious coffee on the boy while serving it. She might mix in salt into the delicious coffee instead of sugar. Watch the signs of the coffee delivery carefully. As with all things, it is likely the mother who has the last say. Even after the marriage has taken place, the mother can still express her displeasure with this union. She might suggest to the son in reference to a daughter in law that does not meet her expectations, “Let’s just see if the coffee is still delicious…” and so the ceremony and the symbolism continues…
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October 05, 2005
Sacred Places in Turkey
My previous impression of Turkey was a secular predominantly Muslim country. Once I started to look into Turkey as a travel destination, I discovered that Turkey is rich in sacred Christians sites that I never thought about. A few of the sacred sites we were blessed to visit in Turkey include:
Aya Sofia: an incredible church from Byzentine Holy Roman Empire Times. Amazing Frescoes.
Ancient cave churches where Christians fled to avoid being martyred by the Romans. The original frescoes are still intact!
Ancient underground city also used by early Christians to avoid warfare and persecution. Amazingly complex and clever places and VERY secure.
Early seminary used by the apostles for teaching also in these cave structures.
The Virign Mary’s House! Where she fled with John who looked after her until her death. This was just outside Ephesus.
The most complete ruins of a Roman city; Efes (the very one of Ephesians)
The nearby city of Colossea (the very same as the church of Colosians)
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October 02, 2005
Desert Rythm in the Middle East
One of the things I love about traveling is when it challenges my views of things. I never would have imagined taking a vacation to an Islamic country in the Middle East. Enter Dubai, a stop on the round the world trip, and I left with a changed world view, and memoires of a country that I found fascinating and exotic. Dubai is a modern, tolerant booming middle eastern city in the United Arab Emirates. Definatley the city that oil built, this city has grown by leaps and bounds from its roots of nomadic bedouin people. I found Dubai to be amazing city different from any place that I have travelled. This is a surprisingly a cosmopolitan albeitt middle eastern and asian cultures. Iranians, lebanese, Indian, Pakistani and Arabs mix harmoniously with others seeking their fortunes in this port city.
Dubai is hot. The heat hits you like a furnace once you leave the refuge of air conditioned spots. The sun beats down on the tan colored old parts of the city and the glittering glass skysccrapers alike. Dubai has some of the most amazing architectual buildings in the world. Everything is top flight out here.
Highlights of our time here include:
We got lost in one of the old sections of town and were surrounded by mostques witht the evening call to prayer at sunset. It was a mysterious reminder of our new place in this different culture.
Sunsets are spectacular on the waterfront with the clear desert sky
We took a sunset cruise up the river. The contast between ancient mosques and sandstone colored building with modern skyscrapers was just magnificent.
Souqs (markets) with winding alleys to get lost in.
Desert safari! great fun with dune bashing and camp with belly dancing and henna.
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