As it turned out, we were on the Yarn Train. Ladies from a Seattle area knitters guild travel regularly to Portland yarn shops for a day trip. So interesting… Just sayin’.
I have this fear, and I’m sure we all do – that we are going to run out of adventures and slip ignominiously into the boredom abyss. To stave off this looming possibility I decided to sign up as an Uber driver.
I signed up a few weeks ago actually, almost by accident because it was so easy. I wondered if I could and before I knew it, I had. Not that they don’t vet their drivers, because they do. But it takes a matter of minutes instead of the days that usually pass when you want to be cleared for something.
I took my first rider the next day, just to see what it was like before I left to visit my daughter. I took a nice tourist 10 miles south to visit a friend of his. It was the briefest of exposure to the Uber app but enough to make me think “I can do this. I can.”
Now, more than three weeks have passed, my Mom has gone back to the north woods, and Uber has started sending me messages asking why I’m not driving and hinting about my partner account being at risk (AAAAGGGHHH!!!) They call it an inactivity alert. Of course we wouldn’t want that to happen, so I went driving yesterday. All day. I’ll show them.
It’s slightly addictive. It’s like the feeling I get when I’ve just published a post and am waiting for reactions. The phone starts ringing and flashing. I get such an adrenaline rush. I have to accept that invite. I have to see who wants a ride. I have to get out there and sit in long lines of slow moving traffic.
No, wait…
I thought I was used to the long red lights at intersections. Here in Florida, probably no where else, the traffic is horrible, horrible, horrible in the winter. The weather is nice and that’s why so many people are here, in their cars. But now, the red lights seem much longer, like maybe half an hour when I am trying to get quickly to a passenger. And maybe even longer than that in cases like tonight when five teen-age boys were giggling and snorting over something on their ride to Shake ‘n Steak, in my car.
I won’t get rich driving for Uber (more about that later) but I’m already finding it adventurous. Can’t wait to write about the experience as it progresses… just sayin’.
Evidently there are other desperate adventurers in the area…
I don’t know what day it is anymore. Maybe Thursday. Today we went early to help with an outreach in one of the slum areas, of which there are many. The university dorm students are in charge of this endeavor and they do a great job. They are friends with a few older children who are given invitations to pass out in their neighborhoods. All the children arrived this morning at what is called a soccer field, but is really a rare empty lot with indoor/outdoor carpeting on a cement slab.
Slum outreach: Kids watch a skit of the story of David and Goliath (Goliath has just been slain and is lying on the ground.)Attempting to bring some order by lining up…
There were over 200 children, mostly small, perhaps 10 and younger, in all stages of dress/undress running around when we arrived. I smiled and bent down to greet a few of them and that was all it took to set off a stampede. I had children practically jumping into my arms, climbing up my legs and holding onto my hands. To say they are friendly is an understatement. I could not imagine anyone being able to bring order to this chaos. There were a few mothers present but most children were unaccompanied.
The students lined up along one side of the lot and one with a bull horn began talking to the children, telling them to line up. They were soon in about ten lines listening intently. The singing began and they responded loudly and enthusiastically. This was not the first time for many of them so they knew the songs and the routine. They listened to a skit about David and Goliath which was pretty hysterical – the college students have a lot of fun doing this. Our team supervised a game called “four corners” which turned into a free for all. None of the children understood the rules but they loved running back and forth from one corner to the other. We couldn’t get any of them to sit down and quit when they were out.
We finished by giving each child a packet of school supplies and a small loaf of bread. This whole experience was such a great example of community, giving time and attention to people who don’t often get it. It was Cambodians having a heart for Cambodians and inspiring it was to see.
All the neighborhood children holding up their gifts of school supplies
After lunch at Daughters of Cambodia Sugar and Spice, we went to Asia Hope for our last visit to the our sponsored homes there. This was the day I gave all the girls the jewelry craft that was donated by one of my friends. They loved doing this and soon were wearing the rings, pins, earrings, bracelets and necklaces they had made. They are very interested in looking like young ladies and having special things to wear. The ninja ball craft was repeated for PE5 home with possibly even more mess than we created at PE4 home. Flour and balloons everywhere, everywhere…
Good thing it was just flour…All the girls and ladies have jewelry to wear after this craft session.The kids made sidewalk art with chalk at their home
We are again thankful to be safely at the guest house after a productive and fun day. Long, our trusty tuk tuk driver, made a BIG mistake and took the bumpy way home through miles and miles of road construction and we will probably not stop teasing him about it for a long time. One more thing to remember about our days in Phnom Penh. Tomorrow we leave for Kep, the resort where we will have retreats for the dorm students first, then the Asia Hope children.
Palace building in the sunset, along Mekong riverfront park, Phnom Pehn.
These preparatory days before the trip are going fast, and even as I answer people that it’s still three weeks away, I know I’ll soon be in that moment when it’s over. I can’t get started on the strangeness of time, it always freaks me out. That’s the main reason I like to count the days of anticipation as part of the trip. It gives me time to savor the coming experience and I can make the trip seem much longer.
This week I’ve seen the list of people going on the trip. Three of us will arrive first followed by six others later during the week. I checked my passport again. Some countries require that you have at least six months left before your passport expires, and I have over a year left on mine. I had checked it earlier knowing that renewal, if it was needed could take quite a bit of time.
And there was the matter of making sure my immunizations were up to date. There’s always that sliver of a chance that one could come down with Japanese encephalitis, or dengue fever, or yellow fever, or malaria, or… the list goes on. It’s hard to imagine how people stay alive over there with all that going on. My strategy is going to be trying to avoid mosquitoes and this will probably be the worst season for them. I didn’t buy travel insurance when I bought my flight, but I’m still considering it. I’ve not been inside a Cambodian hospital but I’ve heard that getting medical treatment in a foreign country can be a pretty scary thing, and getting transported home when you’re already sick can be expensive.
For the first time, I was required to read policies and sign waivers for visiting the children’s homes of Asia’s Hope. As the number of their visitors increases they are finding the need to update their policies and protective measures for the safety of the children, which I totally understand. It made me realize that my first visits four years ago were really quite informal and unstructured in comparison.
Tomorrow I’m going to get some reprints of my family pictures – one for each of the two houses where I spend time. They have big bulletin boards on the wall of their main fellowship room where they post pictures of all the people who sponsor and visit them. One year we saw pictures on the board that had been taken the night before when we first arrived at the airport. It really made me feel special.
This week I went through my stash of Mary Kay products and chose the things I want to take to give the ladies and older girls. I came up with a few other things as well and started thinking about how much room it would take in the suitcases. I’m allowed to check two free bags on an international flight and other years they’ve been dedicated to medical supplies and presents and it will probably be the same this trip. I’m sharing one of my favorite pictures here, of the craft that our team leader brought for the children last year – Rainbow looms and rubber bands. They had such fun making bracelets for themselves and all of our team that I am taking them more rubber bands this year.
Everyone made these bracelets, which means the rubber bands were gone pretty quickly.
They love to sing and I know a fun song I would like to teach them but I can’t remember all of it. It is a sign language song with signs for many different animals. The end goes “I know many signs including I LOVE YOU”
. If anyone knows this song and has the music and words for it, please send it to me and I will be forever grateful.
I was waiting out by the road so my brother wouldn’t have to come down the drive. When I saw what he was pulling I understood why.
We started our adventure about 5pm yesterday and drove until 2am with stops only for gas. It turned out well that we were through Atlanta at night and didn’t have morning rush hour to deal with.
The motel was great! I am highly impressed by any place that has a variety of pillows, that all smell good. Nice, nice, nice. ..for about five hours.
A full day ahead, in which I may attempt driving this thing – but absolutely no backing up (my bro is great at that).
Today I was suddenly entrusted with delivering my 9 year old cousin (twice removed) to her play date at a friend’s house. She hadn’t had breakfast and the plan was to stop for a yogurt parfait at McD’s. I was mentally thinking of the best route for fast food on the way – these are roads I travel frequently.
Me: I think we will head toward the interstate and stop at the McDonald’s right near there. Ok?
Gracie: That’s fine.
Me: Is there anything else you’d like for breakfast? Is that all?
Gracie: Well, there is a Marathon gas station with a Dunkin’ Donuts right there and I really love their hash browns.
Me: So you are sure you are hungry enough for me to make an extra stop for hash browns?
Gracie: Yes, I’m pretty sure
I made it to the first stop without any trouble but on leaving I got in a lane that I wasn’t sure would lead to the hash browns.
Me: Oh, I think I’m in the wrong lane. I don’t know if I’ll be able to turn left again before the interstate.
Gracie: Yes, you can.
Me: I really don’t think there is another light to let me turn left.
Gracie: No there isn’t a light but there’s a place that you can wait in line and turn when there aren’t cars coming.
So you might not think this is a marvelous thing that a 9 year old should know where all the favorite fast food is – true it’s not. But how many know for certain the traffic patterns and how to navigate them when they have never been drivers? I didn’t know there was a left turn opportunity there, for cryin’ out loud! This is also the child that shows me all the short cuts through the neighborhood “the way Daddy goes”. I have been with teens and adults who couldn’t direct me to places they go to ALL THE TIME because they don’t pay attention when someone else is driving.
I’m just sayin’ I know who I want riding with me when I start to forget where I live.
And I also want to remember where this gas station is.
For some reason, I have had presents on my mind lately. No, not because of the not so subtle Christmas marketing EVERYWHERE. It’s more because my parents’ birthdays are both this month, and I was making a gift or two to take to our family Thanksgiving next week. I love presents. It’s fun to make them, fun to give them, fun to get them. I can plan the first two, the making and giving, but it’s hard to plan getting a present unless you are great at buying yourself gifts. As I pretty much always do when thinking to myself, I ran that thought past God. ( He’s listening to my thoughts anyway so I might as well be conversant.) ” It would sure be nice to get a present God. I know there’s really nothing I need, but if there is something you wouldn’t mind giving me, I’d just like the excitement of getting a present. ”
For years now I have been taking guests and friends out on the water in kayaks that I borrow from a good friend. When I know someone wants to go I call my friend several days ahead to make sure he isn’t planning to use his kayaks, then I borrow the husband’s truck, drive 20 minutes and pick up the kayaks which are on a trailer. I have to have the right size hitch on the truck, which means I’ve lost and bought at least two of them. I have to hook up the lights on the trailer, which means I’ve lost, borrowed and bought at least two electrical adapters. I have to lock and unlock the trailer hitch, which means I’ve had to buy and replace a couple of padlocks. I’ve had to buy and borrow life vests for numerous people of varying sizes. All this to say that there is a lot of work involved in having fun on the water. But it is still just so interesting to float around on these beautiful rivers, surrounded by birds and tropical wonders that I’ve considered it well worth the trouble.
Last winter my cousin Mark, who loves to fish, decided we should look for used kayaks. If we each had one, he and a buddy could go fishing in them, and I could take friends out for a paddle too. They would get more use if we shared them. So we spent most of the season looking on craigslist and at sales but nothing was quite right. I continued borrowing from my friend.
Last week my cousin arrived for the winter and decided to go buy his fishing kayak. There was a sale at a sports store and he wanted to get it done. Back he came with a kayak in his Suburban. His wife’s remark was “You know this means that tomorrow you’re going to see a great deal on a used kayak…” I was there, I heard her say that. Unbelievably, fifteen minutes after I got home I got a text from another cousin in town, Kim, telling me that her neighbor was selling his two kayaks for less than half their value and they were in like new condition, with paddles, seats and life vests.
Something like that almost demands to be considered. I’ve been a little financially stressed lately, making sure all my medical bills get paid, lots of house repair expenditures, etc… Even though I’ve managed to meet these demands I still feel insecure enough that it’s hard for me to shell out money for fun when so much serious stuff has to be paid for. I mean, I get nervous eating out, much less buying a boat. I decided to ask the husband if he would be upset with me if this came to pass. Would he tell me the garage was too full already? Would he remind me that we’re trying to downsize, not accumulate more? In what direction might he freak out? What he said, “No, kayaks are always easy to sell again so if they’re a good deal, get them.” Ha ha.
I still thought they might be terrible kayaks, ones that wouldn’t be sturdy enough to hold Mark (who is a big man) or maybe they would smell like dead fish, or be some awful color. All of those possibilities could keep me from having to make the decision… But they were beautiful, hardly used, top quality, and the friendly man from England who was selling them clearly wasn’t out to get his money back. Oh my goodness, we bought them, picked them up an hour later and went immediately out to the river to test them out. They floated very nicely.
Instead of spending the day at home like I had planned, I got to do this.
the water was still and almost black! My boat is blue!Reflections! Two of everything along the bank.love to look at all this crazy Florida plant life!did you know pelicans roosted in trees?Cousin Mark in his new fishing kayak.Our two beauties.Me, enjoying a present.
It’s not that my prayers for blessings always get answered in the affirmative or immediately. But today I got a present and I really had no idea it was coming. I’m going to give God the credit. It’s the kind of thing he would have fun doing. I’m just sayin’…
I Just Have to Say... 