"... and I know how much you love free food."
Crazy how fast people get to know you...
Tuesday 29 January 2008
Well it is true...
So, last week, (when I'd barely been here a week), I already had someone say to me
Thursday 24 January 2008
yay!
Drumroll….
It’s that time! Time for the update. THE update.
So it’s taken me a while, but I’ve finally been able to update. The only reason that I am able to is because I’m actually writing this in Word over the course ofan entire day two days a week, and I’m not sure when I’ll be able to post it. But if you’re reading this, then it’s safe to assume I’ve gotten an internet connection and have posted it. I’ve been all over the place since I landed, so I’ll start at the very beginning, which Julie Andrews would tell us is a very good place to start.
My flight to London was pretty long (more than 7 hours) and I didn’t get too much sleep during it. I managed to watch 3:10 to Yuma above the roar of the engines (everyone had their own touch-screen VOD TV!) and ate a bunch of food, even when I wasn’t hungry. My Dutchness can’t let me pass up free food… I landed in London at 9am, local time – the start of a new day! (Despite my body going ‘what in the world are you doing?? It’s 3 in the morning!!) I took the Underground (mind the gap!) to Green Park (not surprising, it’s pretty green). From there I hopped on a double-decker (bus, not hamburger, silly) and started my grand tour of merry ol’ London! It was a bit chilly at the top floor of the hamburger bus. Especially since it didn’t have a roof, but I’m a man and I can take a little chill. So as soon as I finished crying I started looking around. Was pretty sweet. I wasn’t on the bus very long before I was told that Madame Tussauds was coming up and that the tour company sells tickets cheaper! My Dutchness was freaking out by this point. I almost jumped right off the bus. (Turns out he meant the next next stop) So after I waited for the next bus, I went in and enjoyed the wax museum. I’ll probably post those pictures on Facebook when I get the chance. I won’t bore you all everything I saw in London, as I’m sure many people have already given up reading this having seen how long it is, and I haven’t even gotten to Africa yet! So I’ll loo-loo-skip-to-my-loo ahead to Africa now.
I landed in Abuja (the capital) at 5 in the morning and was greeted by the smiling faces of Chinyere and Kyle. After going through customs and immigration (turns out my visa is only valid for 30 days, but this is apparently normal and quite rare that they give one for any longer than that. It is also very easy to get it extended here and will only take one day. Quite the difference…) Kyle and Chinyere drove me to a nearby Baptist house run by a older couple who’s son I happened to sit beside on the plane. Small world! I got some much needed sleep there and at 11 or 12 we went to a couple’s compound in Abuja. Megan and Mike live there with their two incredibly cute kids. Chinyere and Megan ‘showed’ me the market in Abuja (they were really going fabric shopping and I basically tagged along). The markets here are very busy places. Tons of people and tons more stuff. (For some reason everyone there wanted to sell me a belt. I have no idea why. I have a belt…) We did random other stuff. Shopping for pirated movies (I got Rome season 2!), ice cream stop (more vanilla-y and creamy-y than home), went for lunch… Kyle asked if I wanted fish and chips, and if you happen to know some of my favorite foods, you would know that fish and chips is(are?) near the top of that list. It’s a tad different here though. Rather than deep-frying a frozen chunk of fish, you go to the lady behind the BBQ, tell her what you want and she grabs an entire fresh fish and BBQs it for you. You sit down and she then brings over the freshly crispy fish and you eat the meat off the bones. Delicious. Really.
The next day Kyle, his wife Anna, their two kids (I have to teach Zion hockey one day), Chinyere and I drive out to Jos. A 3 hour drive and I’m there! After leaving Abuja, I’m told I’ve finally left the West, as Abuja has so much influence of the West it’s not quite like the rest of Nigeria. I spend the next two nights at the Orkars, who will drive me to one of the compounds before I move into the other compound for good. So I’ve been steadily on the go since I landed and haven’t had a steady, strong signal or power supply to be able to email or update properly. Pretty much every day the power has gone out at least once. Usually right before I try to send an email or post this…
I’m going to be moving to the other compound this Saturday and hopefully will have steady internet. The place I’m working (Rurcon, the second ‘r’ is silent) has pretty slow internet, especially email. Rurcon is a pretty cool place. I’ve been learning a lot about what they do here. They’ve given me a lot of information to wade through. In a nutshell, they train church leaders and Christian leaders to treat all areas of life in a religious manner. So they can then go and teach the same to all those under them (which is a lot). Their goal is ‘an African community transformed as God intends’ – they take this from a Biblical standpoint of how Jesus called us to spread the word, but also to help the needy. Often we hold the preaching aspect above helping and do not feed the needy or help the injured… but preach to them, often forgetting that Jesus did both! We tell poor people “don’t worry, put your trust in God and He’ll provide” then go back to our fully-stocked fridges. Did God maybe give you that fully-stocked fridge to feed those hungry people?? God tells us to rely on Him, yes. But He also tells us to help those in need. Matthew 23:23 says: “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are careful to tithe even the tiniest income from your herb gardens, but you ignore the more important aspects of the law—justice, mercy, and faith. You should tithe, yes, but do not neglect the more important things”. We can’t keep doing the bare minimum. Jesus quotes a prophecy from Isaiah in Luke 4:18-19 "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." We’re supposed to strive to be like Jesus. So let’s go preach the good news to the poor! Proclaim freedom for the prisoners! Recover the sight for the blind! Release the oppressed! Proclaim God’s favor!!
But anyway, I’m supposed to be updating y’all.
What else, what else…
I’ve got a cell phone here… if you ever wanna chat via cell or text message, just drop me a line! My number is 001+234+0808-158-3288. Or comment me with your cell phone number and I’ll message you sometime. I remember like 3 different people’s numbers, so if you don’t tell me, I won’t know. I have all that info stored in my cell back home. But that’s not here. And there’s a 6 hour time difference here too, so no messaging me past 6pm in Ontario.
I hope to be able to keep a more regular contact as soon as I’m settled in. I hope everything is doing well wherever you’re reading this from. Things here are excellent!
It’s that time! Time for the update. THE update.
So it’s taken me a while, but I’ve finally been able to update. The only reason that I am able to is because I’m actually writing this in Word over the course of
My flight to London was pretty long (more than 7 hours) and I didn’t get too much sleep during it. I managed to watch 3:10 to Yuma above the roar of the engines (everyone had their own touch-screen VOD TV!) and ate a bunch of food, even when I wasn’t hungry. My Dutchness can’t let me pass up free food… I landed in London at 9am, local time – the start of a new day! (Despite my body going ‘what in the world are you doing?? It’s 3 in the morning!!) I took the Underground (mind the gap!) to Green Park (not surprising, it’s pretty green). From there I hopped on a double-decker (bus, not hamburger, silly) and started my grand tour of merry ol’ London! It was a bit chilly at the top floor of the hamburger bus. Especially since it didn’t have a roof, but I’m a man and I can take a little chill. So as soon as I finished crying I started looking around. Was pretty sweet. I wasn’t on the bus very long before I was told that Madame Tussauds was coming up and that the tour company sells tickets cheaper! My Dutchness was freaking out by this point. I almost jumped right off the bus. (Turns out he meant the next next stop) So after I waited for the next bus, I went in and enjoyed the wax museum. I’ll probably post those pictures on Facebook when I get the chance. I won’t bore you all everything I saw in London, as I’m sure many people have already given up reading this having seen how long it is, and I haven’t even gotten to Africa yet! So I’ll loo-loo-skip-to-my-loo ahead to Africa now.
I landed in Abuja (the capital) at 5 in the morning and was greeted by the smiling faces of Chinyere and Kyle. After going through customs and immigration (turns out my visa is only valid for 30 days, but this is apparently normal and quite rare that they give one for any longer than that. It is also very easy to get it extended here and will only take one day. Quite the difference…) Kyle and Chinyere drove me to a nearby Baptist house run by a older couple who’s son I happened to sit beside on the plane. Small world! I got some much needed sleep there and at 11 or 12 we went to a couple’s compound in Abuja. Megan and Mike live there with their two incredibly cute kids. Chinyere and Megan ‘showed’ me the market in Abuja (they were really going fabric shopping and I basically tagged along). The markets here are very busy places. Tons of people and tons more stuff. (For some reason everyone there wanted to sell me a belt. I have no idea why. I have a belt…) We did random other stuff. Shopping for pirated movies (I got Rome season 2!), ice cream stop (more vanilla-y and creamy-y than home), went for lunch… Kyle asked if I wanted fish and chips, and if you happen to know some of my favorite foods, you would know that fish and chips is(are?) near the top of that list. It’s a tad different here though. Rather than deep-frying a frozen chunk of fish, you go to the lady behind the BBQ, tell her what you want and she grabs an entire fresh fish and BBQs it for you. You sit down and she then brings over the freshly crispy fish and you eat the meat off the bones. Delicious. Really.
The next day Kyle, his wife Anna, their two kids (I have to teach Zion hockey one day), Chinyere and I drive out to Jos. A 3 hour drive and I’m there! After leaving Abuja, I’m told I’ve finally left the West, as Abuja has so much influence of the West it’s not quite like the rest of Nigeria. I spend the next two nights at the Orkars, who will drive me to one of the compounds before I move into the other compound for good. So I’ve been steadily on the go since I landed and haven’t had a steady, strong signal or power supply to be able to email or update properly. Pretty much every day the power has gone out at least once. Usually right before I try to send an email or post this…
I’m going to be moving to the other compound this Saturday and hopefully will have steady internet. The place I’m working (Rurcon, the second ‘r’ is silent) has pretty slow internet, especially email. Rurcon is a pretty cool place. I’ve been learning a lot about what they do here. They’ve given me a lot of information to wade through. In a nutshell, they train church leaders and Christian leaders to treat all areas of life in a religious manner. So they can then go and teach the same to all those under them (which is a lot). Their goal is ‘an African community transformed as God intends’ – they take this from a Biblical standpoint of how Jesus called us to spread the word, but also to help the needy. Often we hold the preaching aspect above helping and do not feed the needy or help the injured… but preach to them, often forgetting that Jesus did both! We tell poor people “don’t worry, put your trust in God and He’ll provide” then go back to our fully-stocked fridges. Did God maybe give you that fully-stocked fridge to feed those hungry people?? God tells us to rely on Him, yes. But He also tells us to help those in need. Matthew 23:23 says: “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are careful to tithe even the tiniest income from your herb gardens, but you ignore the more important aspects of the law—justice, mercy, and faith. You should tithe, yes, but do not neglect the more important things”. We can’t keep doing the bare minimum. Jesus quotes a prophecy from Isaiah in Luke 4:18-19 "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." We’re supposed to strive to be like Jesus. So let’s go preach the good news to the poor! Proclaim freedom for the prisoners! Recover the sight for the blind! Release the oppressed! Proclaim God’s favor!!
But anyway, I’m supposed to be updating y’all.
What else, what else…
I’ve got a cell phone here… if you ever wanna chat via cell or text message, just drop me a line! My number is 001+234+0808-158-3288. Or comment me with your cell phone number and I’ll message you sometime. I remember like 3 different people’s numbers, so if you don’t tell me, I won’t know. I have all that info stored in my cell back home. But that’s not here. And there’s a 6 hour time difference here too, so no messaging me past 6pm in Ontario.
I hope to be able to keep a more regular contact as soon as I’m settled in. I hope everything is doing well wherever you’re reading this from. Things here are excellent!
Sunday 20 January 2008
So I had a huge, long update for everyone...
...but I didn't want to bore you. Just kidding! I love boring you.
I do have a huge, long update, but I can't connect to the internet with my laptop, so I'm using Chinyere's. And since I can't get to my file with the huge, long update, I've got to give you a tiny, short one until I can. Here goes:
I'm okay.
Too short? FINE.
I'm being moved all over the place until other places are ready, so I'm not able to send out emails or blog regularly. Be patient! sheesh.
I've had quite the adventure, and I've only been here a few days. From blowing a tire about a block from the compound and having to change it before it gets dark (quite the feat as tires have a safety nut on them and require a special part. One wish couldn't be found... until John had gone back to the compound. Then I found and got the tire changed by the time he came back with another car.)
Driving in itself is an adventure. It's pretty much a free-for-all. Got to do some driving myself (John has lent me one of his cars for me to use if I need it) and it can be quite nerve-wracking.
I'll fill you all in on more details soon, until then, take care!
From Africa with love.
PS, Stef: You will find my previous posts chock-full of useful information! (you just need to sift through all the useless information...)
PPS, Justine: I didn't even have time to go in St. Paul's. I know, I know, huge shame. But that whole getting lost part took a big chunk of time out of my schedule... and I didn't know how long it would take to get to the other side of London to catch my flight. (I basically saw it to say I've seen it).
I do have a huge, long update, but I can't connect to the internet with my laptop, so I'm using Chinyere's. And since I can't get to my file with the huge, long update, I've got to give you a tiny, short one until I can. Here goes:
I'm okay.
Too short? FINE.
I'm being moved all over the place until other places are ready, so I'm not able to send out emails or blog regularly. Be patient! sheesh.
I've had quite the adventure, and I've only been here a few days. From blowing a tire about a block from the compound and having to change it before it gets dark (quite the feat as tires have a safety nut on them and require a special part. One wish couldn't be found... until John had gone back to the compound. Then I found and got the tire changed by the time he came back with another car.)
Driving in itself is an adventure. It's pretty much a free-for-all. Got to do some driving myself (John has lent me one of his cars for me to use if I need it) and it can be quite nerve-wracking.
I'll fill you all in on more details soon, until then, take care!
From Africa with love.
PS, Stef: You will find my previous posts chock-full of useful information! (you just need to sift through all the useless information...)
PPS, Justine: I didn't even have time to go in St. Paul's. I know, I know, huge shame. But that whole getting lost part took a big chunk of time out of my schedule... and I didn't know how long it would take to get to the other side of London to catch my flight. (I basically saw it to say I've seen it).
Thursday 17 January 2008
Quick update
Hello all! I would like to report that I am in Nigeria safe and sound! I'll post again later about all my travels in London and my journey through Nigeria. Hard to sum the whole thing off the top of my head! I'm still in the capital, Abuja, and will be heading out to Jos later - not today (it's almost 9pm here now, 6 hours ahead of you folks). But I know you're all curious as to what I've been up to, so I will give you a real quick summary of London.
As follows:
- Flying
- Sleeping
- More flying
- Eating while flying
- Movie while flying (no Into the Wild thought Jamie, although I did meet a couple on the plane who had heard a lot about the guy while they were in Alaska)
- Trying to sleep while flying
- More flying
- Eating while flying (again)
- Landing
- Subway
- Bus tour
- Madame Tussauds
- Amusing myself by asking people to take pictures of me with wax figures and seeing their looks off terror when I hand them a big 'complicated' camera
- More bus tour
- Meet a fellow Canadian
- Boating down the Themes
- St Paul's
- Fleet Street (and there's a barber on it!)
- Lost
- Lost
- Find directions
- Get more lost
- See bus
- Chase bus
- Lose bus
- Find cab
- Take cab
- Take subway
- Kill three extra hours at Heathrow
- MORE flying
- Flying...
this concludes my summary of London, tune in next time for my summary of my first day(s) of Nigeria!! I'm excited for it!
Wednesday 16 January 2008
Sunday 13 January 2008
Pre-Africa update
Hello to all my loyal followers and die-hard fans! I'm going to be busy the next few days, and I'm not too sure if I'll be able to update this again before I go. I leave in a couple days and still have way too much stuff to do. Even though I've been packing for the past 2 months, I'm still not done...
My flight leaves Tuesday night from Toronto and I land in London after a nice 7+ hour flight. Then I spend the next 11 or so hours in London waiting for my flight to Nigeria. Another 6+ hours of flying, a 3 hour drive and then I'm there! Assuming everything goes according to plan and I don't get lost in London. Which I wouldn't surprise me. I get lost a lot.
Bring on the jet lag!!
My flight leaves Tuesday night from Toronto and I land in London after a nice 7+ hour flight. Then I spend the next 11 or so hours in London waiting for my flight to Nigeria. Another 6+ hours of flying, a 3 hour drive and then I'm there! Assuming everything goes according to plan and I don't get lost in London. Which I wouldn't surprise me. I get lost a lot.
Bring on the jet lag!!
Friday 11 January 2008
This many!!
I'm only this many fingers away from leaving! Craziness.
I leave you with a picture of my nephew giving me a look of "Yeah, I did something bad. Whadda ya gonna do about it?"
This was mainly a test at uploading pictures from my new camera. I think it worked quite well...
I leave you with a picture of my nephew giving me a look of "Yeah, I did something bad. Whadda ya gonna do about it?"
This was mainly a test at uploading pictures from my new camera. I think it worked quite well...
Sunday 6 January 2008
Less than two hands left!
So I'm leaving for Africa next week. Next week. Next week. That's pretty weird. So unreal. I'm still waiting for my visa to come in the mail, so hopefully that comes before I'm supposed to leave on the 15th. If not, I'll be leaving as soon as I can after my visa comes. Hoping it's sooner rather than later!
As I finish up my last-minute preparations, I'd like to thank everyone for the support they've given me. I really appreciate everything everyone has done. First for all the donations I've gotten to make this possible. Second, and something I really, really appreciate, is the encouragement and support I've gotten. Talking to me about it or letting me blather on about it to you, I appreciate it so much. You have no idea. Really.
My time in Canada is winding down, nine days as of today. I started packing a little while ago already, just to make sure I don't rush it and bring everything I need. Hopefully I don't forget anything vital like my malaria pills... kinda gonna need those.
I do hope to keep this blog updated as much as I can, but I don't know how things are going to go, so I'm not making any promises! Don't know exactly what things will be like, so we'll see.
Hope to see as much as I can of everyone before I go! Call/email/text/comment me and I'll squeeze ya in!
oh yeah, one more thing. I was requested to post my address. As far as I know, this:
EDIT:
Mail anything to...
Trevor Malda
C/O CRWM Canada
PO Box 5070 STN LCD 1
Burlington, ON L7R 3Y8
As I finish up my last-minute preparations, I'd like to thank everyone for the support they've given me. I really appreciate everything everyone has done. First for all the donations I've gotten to make this possible. Second, and something I really, really appreciate, is the encouragement and support I've gotten. Talking to me about it or letting me blather on about it to you, I appreciate it so much. You have no idea. Really.
My time in Canada is winding down, nine days as of today. I started packing a little while ago already, just to make sure I don't rush it and bring everything I need. Hopefully I don't forget anything vital like my malaria pills... kinda gonna need those.
I do hope to keep this blog updated as much as I can, but I don't know how things are going to go, so I'm not making any promises! Don't know exactly what things will be like, so we'll see.
Hope to see as much as I can of everyone before I go! Call/email/text/comment me and I'll squeeze ya in!
oh yeah, one more thing. I was requested to post my address. As far as I know, this:
Sudan United Mission - CRC Branch
8 Nassarawa Road
PO Box 261
Jos, Plateau State
Nigeria
EDIT:
Mail anything to...
Trevor Malda
C/O CRWM Canada
PO Box 5070 STN LCD 1
Burlington, ON L7R 3Y8
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)