Yogyakarta

Dear Readers,

The last week has been very productive. In the clinic I finished a very large assignment from Dr. Tetty which involved looking through medical records from February to July, collecting data, creating statistics and then evaluating the clinics performance based on 10 different criteria. All of this is more complicated when there are no electronic files and everything isn't in a language that you know. I also did significantly more hands-on work with the patients (although, strictly speaking, I'm not allowed to do this).

Almost every day after work I went straight home and worked on my PTCAS application for physical therapy school. These applications take an insane amount of work. Every school requires several essays, supplemental applications, transcripts, references and answers to a bunch of questions. At the same time as this I'm emailing with two community colleges to try to work out a class schedule for some prerequisits that I need to take, I'm applying for jobs and I'm arranging more shadowing time for when I return to the states. Pray that I don't take my stress out on other people. Have I yet said on my blog that I've decided to return to Washington on October 15th instead of in December? Now I have.

It seemed dumb to fly all the way to Indonesia and then not to leave Jakarta, so when Tyler, a friend from church, asked if I'd like to accompany him on a three day trip to the city of Yogyakarta I jumped on the idea. The plan was to go rafting with a group and then to split off from them and continue to Yogya.

On Saturday morning I got up at 4 am and walked about a mile to the busy road where I was picked up. The GPS said that it would take us about an hour and a half to reach Sukabumi where the river is, but we knew that the traffic would make the time much longer. But nothing could have prepared us for just how bad it would be. At one point we got stuck head to head with a very large truck and neither of us could move because of the cars that had wedged up directly behind us. So we sat there for at least half an hour. It took us 5 hours to go 100km. But we finally got to the rafting spot.

It was a lot of fun! It is the end of the dry season here so the water was quite low. As a result is was more like a lazy river with a few water jets than an intense rafting adventure, but that was fine by me. I just laid back, closed my eyes, and got sunburned. At the end of the trip we got a free massage! I've never had a massage before and I was very excited, but it turned out to just not be my cup of tea. I like to have my back and neck rubbed, but that is it.




Then Tyler and I hopped back into the car and headed to Bandung, where we planned to take an overnight train to Yogyakarta. But again, the traffic was awful. It took us 6 hours instead of 3 and as a result we missed our train.

We found lodging in Bandung and bedded down for the night. This was Saturday night and Sunday was a very big holy day for the Muslims. It is the day that they celebrate Abraham's willingness to sacrifice Ishmael (that's right, they don't think it was Isaac) and for the last few days there has been a lot of livestock around. On Sunday every butchers an animal. But in preparation for the holy day the call to prayer (which usually happens 5 times a day) goes on all night. There was a loud speaker directly outside of our window and we didn't sleep very much.

But that was ok because we needed to get up at 4 again. Up we got and headed to the train station where we caught the 7 am train to Yogya. It was a beautiful train ride and I'm glad that I had a chance to look at the landscape instead of sleep through it. But I still don't think it holds a candle to the beauty of Manipur. I alternated watching the scenery, sleeping and reading. It took us 9 hours to get to Yogya. When we arrived we went straight to our hostel and dumped off our stuff, then we explored for a while.

Yogyakarta is second only to Bali in tourism and we saw many more foreigners than one sees in Jakarta. This was nice in a way, since we weren't constantly the center of attention but there were also many more experienced fleecers and hagglers and I'm-not-going-to-stop-trying-to-sell-you-this-postcard-until-hell-freezes-over kind of people. But they weren't nearly as insistent as their Indian counterparts.

We walked around the markets, looked at the sultan's palace, and then tried some street food that the man at the hostel had recommended. It was the second spiciest thing I have ever put in my mouth. My entire face was tingling.

The next morning we got up at 3 am to join a tour that was going to watch the sunrise over the Hindu temple of Burabudur: one of the seven wonders of the world. I was feeling really sick after the spicy food and the two hour bumpy ride on bad roads with no breakfast with
9 other people in a tiny Angot was very difficult.

 We went to the top of a small mountain where we supposedly could see the
sun rise above Burabudur. Unfortunately it was cloudy and we couldn't
see much. There were several hundred people there (most of them
foreigners). Tyler just slept on a bench and I read and looked at the
view and kept having to run to the bathroom for unpleasantness. I'll be
grateful for western style toilets again.



 Burabudur itself was impressive. It had better be because they charge westerners $25 each for Burabudur and Prambanan. I had a lot of extra time waiting around and I'd lost the
others so I went around talking to school groups. Teachers send their students to find tourists and practice their English. So I granted many interviews. And took a lot of pictures and got sunburned. Then we drove for another hour and a half to Prambanan. I like it more than Burabudur
but most people wouldn't agree. I think the architecture is more
beautiful and the smaller scale makes it more manageable to look at (and
photograph). By this time we we're so tired. Three days in a row of
getting up before the sun. We went back to the hostel and crashed in the
common area. (Since we already had to check out).









Several hours later we went to the airport and had an uneventful trip back to Jakarta. I got home at about 11 and went back to work at 7 the next morning. I have so many email to reply to and loose ends to pick up!
 

Weekly update

Hi everyone!

 

It has already been a week since my last blog post. I have nothing huge to report but here are several highlights of the week:

 

On Sunday at church the children performed some songs and then played some interactive games with the congregation. One of the games was “See if you are smarter than a Sunday school class.” Four “volunteers” were chosen from the congregation and they faced off against all the children. They were absolutely crushed.

            After games we all went downstairs and enjoyed a potluck lunch together. I brought my bread and it was eaten all up! After wonderful fellowship Edo, Michelle, Tyler, Jonathan, myself and some others went bowling! There are very few bowling alleys in Jakarta so we couldn’t be picky. The lane broke down about 15 times during one game and twice I bumped the monitor and it went blank. But we had so much fun! Tyler and I bought very bright knee socks and wore shorts. Everyone was looking at the bule gila (crazy white people).

 

In order to even more solidify this image of myself in the Indonesian mind, yesterday I bought a hand carved and painted duck call maker. After leaving the mall (with Dion and Milla) we drove through traffic for over an hour and I got bored. So I rolled down the window and every time someone would try to weave past our car on a motorcycle (which happens constantly in the stop and go traffic) I would give them a duck call and then quickly roll up the window. I thought it was hilarious but I don’t know if anyone else did. Then I accidently did it to a very intimidating police man with an automatic weapon. I also did it inside the mall while Dion and I waited (for what seemed like eons) for Mille to finish her shopping. All in all it was an excellent investment of $2.50.

 

But backing up again. Monday and Tuesday were pretty normal. I worked at the hospital and then came home and wrote essay for DPT program applications. I did bake some delicious chocolate chip cookies! But certain other people devoured most of them when I wasn’t around. I did smuggle a few to the hospital and I gave them to Opung, who traded me some French bread that she had made.

 

On Wednesday after work I went with Edo and Michelle to Life Group. We ate dinner and then sang hymns and other songs and prayed for about an hour. It was very refreshing.

 

And now it is Friday!

 

Please continue to pray for me! 1. My walk with the Lord. 2. My applications for DPT programs. 3. My physical health

Baking, Chess and Football

I left you all in suspense! Haven't you all just been DYING to find out how my scones turned out? Fine. I'll tell you. they were edible and to anyone who has never tasted good scones (like most everyone here) they were good. But I couldn't stand them. At first I thought it was because I didn't have any measuring cups and because I substituted vinegar for cream of tartar, but there was a strange taste that I thought came from the butter. My suspicions were realized when I mentioned this to Sebastian and he told me that the butter here in Indonesia has a strange additive that gives it an awful taste. The only way to get around this is to buy expensive imported French butter. And so my first baking experiment is partially exonerated.

That was Tuesday. On Wednesday I went to the hospital and did the usual thing. I stood around a lot, sometimes talked to patients, and practiced on the PTs when they weren’t busy. Halfway through the day Dr. Tetty introduced me to her daughter, who spoke very good English. I asked her where she had gone to school and she said “Glion Switzerland.” “As in the little town on the mountain above Montreaux?” I replied. “Yes!” She said,  “Do you know it?” “I went hiking there earlier this year!” That was a fun little exchange. Here I am at Rochers De Naye, the peak above Glion:



Just as I was leaving for the day Dr. Tetty told me that she had thought of another assignment for me. Every month the medical rehabilitation department is supposed to conduct self-assessments (patient recovery rates, how well charts are filled in, patient complaints, timeliness etc). These assessments haven’t been done since last January. And so now I am going back through all the files and compiling data. And I mean file files. Not computer files. I’ve been working on it for 16 hours and I have plenty more to go.

Soon after getting home on Wednesday I was picked up by Edo and Michelle, a married couple from IES West (my church). We went to the grocery store (called Hypermart) and then drove out to Karawaci, a city sprawl suburb of Jakarta, for Life Group. It was a very refreshing time. There were about 18 people—most of them international teachers—and we chatted, discussed the sermon from the week and sang some worship songs. AND WE ATE MEXICAN TACOS. I think I had six.

On Thursday I worked on adding numbers for most of the day. In the afternoon several patients came in whom I have formed special bonds with. There is Opung, (Grandma) the Christian lady with the stroke. There is also a man who had a stroke who told me on Monday that he wanted to play chess. So I brought a chess board and we stood him in the stander and played a game. He enjoyed it so much!



After work on Thursday I played chess with Dion and baked bread! It turned out great! I devoured so much that I couldn’t eat my dinner. After dinner I went with Rocky to play indoor soccer with a lot of the other PTs. I’ve never been good at soccer and I don’t know what happened but halfway through the hour long match something clicked and I scored 12 goals in 40 minutes. And 5 in a row! It felt great! (of course I couldn’t have done most of them without Sadly’s assists). Look how red I am compared to everyone else.



Today (Friday), I crunched numbers again and I shared bread with everyone in the PT department. Rocky said it wasn’t sweet enough. These Indonesians don’t think bread is good unless it tastes like a doughnut. Opung came and I gave her some. Another patient tried it too:







And I have spent all afternoon working on my PT application and writing up this blog post.

Tomorrow I only work from 8 to 12 and then I will Skype the most wonderful girl in the world.

Please keep praying for me! Pray for my health. Pray for my application to PT school. Pray for my mood and for my walk with the Lord. Pray that I don’t worry about the future.

Thank you all of reading my blog!

More pictures

Emergency Endoscopy!

September 11,

I woke this morning at about 4 am with acute pain and unrelenting pain in my stomach. The next few hours of waiting for the sun to rise seemed to last for weeks. I prayed and prayed but it was very difficult not to panic. What if I had a stomach ulcer and it ruptured and I bled out here, thousands of miles away from my friends and family? Before you make fun of me, you think about how you would feel if you were experiencing this kind of pain at 4 am in Indonesia. (With the tell-tale black diarrhea. But perhaps that is TMI).

 

At 7:35 I dragged myself onto my bicycle, wove through the Jakartan traffic to the hospital, and stumbled into Dr. Tetty’s office. Actually first I waited about an hour to get up my nerve because I already feel like I’ve been nothing but trouble here in Siloam. I was so tired that I fell asleep several times. Rocky kept coming over and shaking me awake (I was pretending to read a textbook on Rehabilitation Modalities).

 

Under the pretense of returning the textbook I went into Dr. Tetty’s office and she asked me how I was. “Well not that good actually.” When I told her about my new symptoms and pain she immediately picked up the phone and scheduled another appointment with Dr. Epistale—the Gastrointestinal specialist. He is very kind, speaks wonderful English, and didn’t charge me for either of my visits.

 

Dr. Epistale told me that I needed to have an endoscopy so that he could be certain of what was going on inside of me. It is also the only way that they have of testing for heliobactor Pylori, which is a bacterium that can cause ulcers. However I had eaten some breakfast and I needed to wait 7 hours after eating before the procedure. So I went back to the Rehabilitation department and lay on an examination table for 3 hours.  I hate waiting.

 

At 1 o’clock I went to the Endoscopy room and waited for another hour. Two of the PTs waited with me which was comforting but I was still very worried. I realized that I hadn’t written down emergency contact information for my family anywhere, so I did that. Then the nurse brought in all the paperwork for me to sign. Most of it was in Bahasa Indonesian, but on the bottom it said something like, “The physician has explained to me all the risks of the procedure and I understand everything that it says above.” I understood nothing of it. And I also realized for the first time that they would be administering general anesthesia to me. It was all happening very quickly. But I signed it.

 

Then the nurse started an IV and I fell asleep, at the same time as my friends and family on the other side of the world.

 

When I woke up I felt horrible. My throat burned and my stomach felt as bad as ever. After I had recovered enough to walk I went with Dr. Epistale. He said that it was good news: my entire stomach was mildly inflamed but that there was no ulcer and no sign of bacteria. He prescribed another kind of medicine and gave me strict rules on what I could and could not eat.

 

But the pain persists. And so does the bill (which I sure hope that travel insurance will cover).

 

Dr. Epistale says that the pain should subside after a few days but I don’t know what to do in the meantime. Should I continue to go to work? And what if it doesn’t stop? It has already been a month. At what point to I give up and go home and spend my last few days with my family?

 

I probably shouldn’t have bicycled home in rush hour just after waking up from anesthesia. But I made it.

 

Pray for me. This is not the kind of adventure or experience that I had hoped for.

 

September 16,

Once again it has been far too long since I have updated my blog, and I have no excuse. Many days I get from the hospital at about 5 PM and watch Battlestar Galactica (which Rachael got me addicted to) or play chess with Dion. So I DO have the time to update my blog, I just don't.

 

Things are going much better now than there were last week. I am being very careful about what I eat and I am faithfully taking the medicine that the doctor gave me. I am learning quite a bit at the clinic! Rocky and Yuri gave me lessons in myofacial release, traction of the ankle, back massage, sling therapy, stretching for relief of pain in the lower back and many other things. I have played around with ultra sound, E-stim and wax baths.
 

But here, as well as in the States, I am not allowed to touch patients and this seriously limits what I am allowed to do. I wonder if three months was too long of a time to come for. I'm waiting to see how things are after a month and a half. 

 

I had a great day on Sunday. I woke up early and watched Battlestar Galactica with my favorite girl. Then I went to church. Well actually, it was a bit more complicated than that. Milla and Sebastian were out of town so I had arranged to be picked up by a couple that I had met last week. Apparently the address I gave them would not show up in google maps, and they drove in circles for about half an hour. I was on the phone with them but I couldn't tell them how to find me because Jakarta is a maze. So I finally just started walking up the road. After walking for about a mile I came to a busy road and started reading the names of the businesses until they recognized one. Then they came and picked me up.

 

Church was such a breath of fresh air. I just love how God and the gospel are the same all over the world! I am going to an international Assemblies of God church. Sure I have doctrinal and theological differences (especially since pastor Lew preached on baptism) but the gospel is preached and the people are wonderful.

 

After church I went out to eat with a group of young adults. There were three other Bules (white people) and we went to eat Bebek Goreng (fried duck). The food was great and the conversation was even better. Most of the others are teachers at various international schools.

 

I got home at about 4:45 and at 5:30 Rocky picked me up. We went to the home of Therinde, one of the other PTs, where we met up with Abdul. Then the four of us rode on two motorcycles the 45 minutes into central Jakarta. It sure is fun to weave through traffic at night.

 

We went to the "old city" which is a western style group of buildings built by the Dutch back when Jakarta was a settlement. The central plaza was packed with people smoking and playing guitars -- obviously this is the place to hang out on Sunday nights. All the side roads were full of people selling cheap clothes and electronics. It was a very festive and fun area with people doing acrobatics and magic tricks. Unfortunately it was also very trashy. Everyone just throws their garbage on the ground. We drove past a river that was PILED with garbage. it reeked.

 

After the Old City we went to Monas which is the national monument of Indonesia. Here we met up with Ida and Yuri, two other PTs. it was the same thing here. Lots of people and sellers and an inconceivable amount of trash. There was an old man with a chess set sitting on the ground and Rocky explained to me that if you paid 5,000 rupiahs you could try to beat him in three moves. if you won, you would win three packs of cigarettes. The board was set up so that he only had two bishops and I had all my pieces, but I still could see that it wasn't easy (but if you paid him 50,000 he would show you how to win). I sat there for about 30 minutes (while everyone else politely waited) and tried about 4 times but I couldn't do it. It was SO hard! 5,000 rupiahs is about 50 cents.

 

The others ate street food but I am being very careful about what I eat so I just went to a store and bought a bunch of pisang (bananas). I ate about 4 and this caused problems the next day.

 

Yesterday (Monday) was a pretty normal day. I went to the hospital and observed for 8 more hours. then I came home and watched some Battlestar Galactica, worked a little on my PT applications, played a game of chess with Dion (only one because he is studying for an exam) and then went to bed at 9:30. I am excited for Wednesday evening when I go to Life Group with the people from Church!

 

After work today Ida and Yuri took me to the mall to get ice cream. It was the biggest mall I have ever seen! But maybe that isn't saying much. Before coming to Jakarta the only mall I can remember ever going to was the Tacoma mall.

 

We ate Chinese ice cream, which is much much more than just ice cream. They make little creatures and other creations out of jello and shaved ice and strange foreign candies. I got a teddy bear and it was one of the best desserts I have ever had. Only the nose is ice cream, the rest is chocolate flavored ice. And in the bottom was tapioca-ish stuff and chocolate syrup. MMMMMM

 

Now I am attempting to bake scones but I don't have some of the ingredients and I have no measuring cups. So it is pretty touch and go. They are about to come out so I have my fingers crossed.

Diving into Indonesian Life!

Hello my friends! Greetings from Jakarta Indonesia!

 

I am sorry that it has taken me almost a week to write my first blog post. I’m sure that all of my friends and relations have spent many sleepless nights this week refreshing my blog over and over in anticipation of a post…Or maybe you were sleeping soundly in bed. Either way, I am posting!

 

It took 23 hours of travel and two days for me to get to Jakarta from Seattle. The trip wasn’t pleasant. I was experiencing stomach pain as well an acute case of long-distance relationship heart-ach. I endured the 16 hours of airplaning.

 

It was 11:30 PM when we landed in Jakarta and about 12:45 when I arrived at the place where I am staying. (And the taxi driver got lost several times. We even knocked on the wrong door. Quite embarrassing at that time of night and when you can’t speak the language).

 

I secured my lodging by emailing the pastor of an Assemblies of God church in West Jakarta (where I am) and asking him if any of his congregants would be willing to host me. A very wonderful couple named Milla and Sebastian opened the magnificent home to me. I live like royalty.

 

If I hadn’t experienced live-in servants in India my current situation would have taken more getting used to. I’m not allowed to wash my dishes or my clothes or even fry my eggs. And I have to jump and make my bed first thing unless I want that done for me as well. The living situation for the servants looks awful to us westerners (an tiny room with a cot in a garage-like area separate from the house) but in comparison to the village situations that the servants came from it is posh. Sebastian is French, and he said that he also had to get used to it. To him it looked like slavery. But Milla teaches the servants basic accounting and how to cook as well as paying them, and it is her hope that they will move up in the world as a result. One of their maids recently got married and now is a shopkeeper.

 

Anyway, I arrived early Thursday morning and Milla and Sebastian rolled out the red carpet. They and their son Dion are so welcoming. Thursday I got a haircut and went to the mall to buy some black pants for work.

 

Indonesia is similar to India in some ways, but this lulled me into a false belief that it was similar to India in every way—which it isn’t. But one thing remains the same all over Asia: the traffic is awful. I am one of the very few people here who rides a bicycle, and while it is much faster than driving a car (because you can fit through small spaces) it isn’t very safe. All the little children point and laugh at me when they see me flying by.

 

I wish that I had a GoPro so that I could film by Jakarta Bicycle Antics. All the main roads don’t have 4 way intersections. Instead there are medians and you have to turn left (because you drive on the left side of the road of course) drive for several hundred meters, do a U tern, drive back several hundred meters and then turn left. That is how you cross an major street. Why?

 

It is even worse at night.

 

On Friday I began my internship. I was so worried that I would get lost on the way to Siloam Hospital (a valid concern) that I left 30 minutes before I needed to. After sitting for 30 minutes I met Ibu Grace Imelda—the head of HR at the hospital. For about 2 hours she showed me orientation slideshows, translated paperwork for me to sign, and showed me around the hospital. My orientation at the school in India took about 10 minutes and was wonderfully relaxed—this took much longer and was wonderfully structured and professional. I like both ways.

 

Siloam Hospitals is a Christian chain of about 14 hospitals stretching across Indonesia. They are the most advanced hospitals in the country and the first to be granted international accreditation. Siloam Kebun Jeruk (where I am) has one of the most advanced Urology departments in the nation. They are overtly Christian.

 

At about 10 I finished my orientation and went to the Rehabilitation department. I entered a world that I knew and loved. Everyone was wearing tennis shoes and there were balls and treadmills and colorful equipment. Oh how I want to be a Physical Therapist. Ibu Grace introduced me to Dr. Tetty, who is my supervisor. She is a very kind an smart woman and made me feel right at home.

 

There are about 23 PTs in the Rehab center, and they take two shifts. Some speak better English than others but they are all eager to show me how to do things. So sometimes it is really difficult when they are attempting to explain processes or modalities which include lots of medical terminology. Do I want to be polite and nod or understand and have them repeat it 5 times and/or ask for someone to come over and translate?

 

I eat lunch in the Hospital café where I get treated to Indonesian cuisine.

 

The first two days I mostly stood around and observed. I felt very useless—everyone else was so busy. Then Dr. Tetty started having me record the wait time of every patient. At the end of the month I will add up and average the wait times and we can see how the department is doing. This job keeps me on my toes.

 

Today (Monday) I learned was introduced to many machines. The E-stim, Micro-Thermy, and Ultrasound machines. There is also a system of chords (called RedCord) which the PTs used to help in exercising the patients. I haven’t seen it in the states but it is highly effective.

 

After work on Friday and Saturday I went back to the house and sat in my room and worked on applications for PT schools. I was afraid that if I left I would get lost and would have to pay for a taxi to show me the way home. I admit that I was also very lonely and homesick—(I still am, but I know more people now).

 

Things got a lot better when I went to Church on Sunday with Milla and Sebastian. It is an international English-speaking church (not like in India where I didn’t understand the sermons) and the people were so welcoming! There were several Americans who teach at international schools here and they immediately invited me to join their Life Group, which is just like Community Groups at Mars Hill. The Life Group meets at 7 PM on Wednesdays and I am SO looking forward to it!

 

After church and chatting Milla and Sebastian took me and Pastor Lew and his wife Monica out for lunch. As an American who has lived in Indonesia for 15 years Pastor Lew was able to give me lots of helpful advice. He is a really swell guy.

 

Then, while Milla went grocery shopping, Sebastian and I dropped in at ACE Hardware to look at manly things. Haha tools are so different (and wimpy) here.

 

I’ve been having a difficult time so far because my stomach has been hurting almost non-stop. Today I caved and went to see a Doctor. This was complicated in itself because the appointment desk people didn’t speak English and the paperwork was in Bahasa Indonesian. But Dr. Tetty and Yuri (one of the PTs) helped me.

 

The stomach Dr. spoke very good English and told me that I most likely had gastritis caused by too regularly taking Ibuprofen. It wasn’t too satisfying since I already had come to that conclusion. It just seems to me that after a month of not taking Ibuprofen I should see some healing. But I will take the medicine that he prescribed and pray. Please pray for my healing. I would find it much easier to thrive in this foreign place if I wasn’t constantly clutching my gut in pain.

 

Today I spent almost 12 hours at the hospital. I stayed late because Rocky, another of the PTs, offered to begin teaching me a technique called Myofascial release, which is all the rage, both in Indonesia and America. As an Intern I am not allowed to touch patients, but if the PTs have gaps where they are not treating anyone they let me practice on them. I learned a whole lot today from Rocky. He is a great guy. We have also gone out the last few days at lunch time and tried different Indonesian foods.

 

So there you are! I can’t believe how disjointed this blog post is. I also apologize for not taking pictures. You know what the inside of an airplane looks like and I am not supposed to take pictures inside the clinic without Dr. Tetty’s permission. I guess I could take pictures of the road as I bicycle to work…. But only one picture for now:

 

 

Me, Pastor Lew, Monica, Milla, Sebastian

 

 

Please pray for me!

 

1.      That my body would heal

2.      That I would be cheerful and thrive here (I miss home a lot and am tempted to wallow in loneliness)

3.      That I would make lots of friends at work and church and be a witness

 

Paris, France

I arrived in Paris at about 6 PM and made ny way to Saint Christopher's hostel, which is located on the fringe, quite a ways from train attractions.

The first evening I didn't do anything except for go for a walk along the canal eating a baguette. I felt very Parisian.

That night I had a lot if trouble sleeping. Some moron in the next bed came in at 1 am and started watching a movie and eating chips. It sounded like that had about bags of chips and they were lying on them. There was a constant crunching and crackling and sniffling. And zippers being done and undone. I don't think I've ever been so angry. But for some reason, In my sleep deprived state, I thought it.would be rude to tell them to be quiet. So I waited It out. I should have just gotten up and beaten them into silence.

The next morning I got up at 7:00 and got to the Louvre at 8:45 in order to get in when it opened at 9:00. I had learned from my mistake at the Vatican Museum. But I needn't have worried. Whoever complained about the Louvre lines has obviously not seen the ones in Rome or Florence. I was in by 9:15, but even later in the day, when I re-entered, it still only took 15 minutes. I spent over 6 hours in the Louvre and saw almost every room. It was a lot to take in and I'm pretty sure I got my money's worth.

Halfway through I took a break and went to Notre Dame. It wad cool. Across the square there was a large pavilion in which a baguette baking competition was taking place.

Then I went back to the Louvre.

When I got back to the hostel I got into a conversation with a group of guys in my room and we had a beer together and talked for a while. Then they went off to get drunk and I went to bed and slept much better than the night before.

Then next day I went up the Eiffel Tower with two of the guys from the hostel. It was as cool as everyone said. Then we walked the Swine back to Notre Dame and I went in again.

In the afternoon I read a book and took it easy. It was raining.

On Wednesday I got up early and toon the metro to the Arc du Triumph. Now I've been to most of the triumphal arches in the world. There were two in Rome and one in Delhi.

Then I walked down the boulevard back to the Louvre and went to the Museum D'Orsey. It was great. It only took about 3 hours and was crammed full of impressionist paintings. Cezanne, Degas, Monet, Manet and Van Goph.

Then I went to Saint Chapelle, which is said to be the most beautiful gothic church. They doing extensive renovation which was disappointing, but I could still see enough to appreciate it. The entire chapel seems to be made of strained glass.

Then I went back to the hostel, read and went to bed. I have to catch a very early train tomorrow.

Geneva, Switzerland

The train ride from Como to Geneva was quick and beautiful. I passed through the Italian and Swiss alps and was pretty much glued to the window.

I arrived in Geneva at 4:18 and caught the #9 bus at the airport. Then I transferred to the A bus and arrived at the Masters' house at 5.

I didn't know many siblings Christian had. I was greeted by four very rowdy and fun boys named Micah, Jeremiah, Josh and Caleb. And Charity, who is not rowdy. I immediately felt at home. We could messy, we could be noisy, and we could eat as much food as we wanted. Mrs. Masters was at Christian's graduation, and Mr. Masters was away on business.

The next morning I walked the 4 miles in to Geneva. I have plenty of time and every time I walk I save €3. That is $25 over three days.

First I went to the famous fountain and then to Reformation wall. It was funny. 4 days before I was in Rome at Saint Peters Basilica--the center if Catholicism--and now I was in Geneva, where the Reformation began. I should go to Mecca and Varanasi.

In front if the wall I met another American, named David, whose father is a Calvin scholar. We got to talking and walked fir he cathedral together. I had to work hard not to make the sign of the cross as I entered. I have spent a lot of tome in Catholic territory.

We spent almost an hour in the cathedral listening to the organ play. It was beautiful.

Then we went to the International Museum of the Reformation. It occupied the building in which Calvin used to meet with the other Reformers, and it was incredibly detailed. It even explained predestination and the difference between transubstanciation and consubstanciantion. I hope many non-Christians go there. We spent many hours in there.

After that David and I parted ways and I went to the cemetery where Calvin is allegedly buried. I took a selfie with him.

Then I walked back to the Masters house. In the evening the boys taught me a soccer game called Rapido which involves a lot of running and shooting goals. It was great fun.

The next day was beautiful. Not a cloud in the sky. I walked back into town and for most of the day went from park to park reading my book. I'm reading "A Farewell to Arms" which is great. By the way I just finished "Atlas Shrugged" which I highly recommend.

When I got back to the Masters' house I met Rob Masters, who had just returned from his business trip. He is really cool. What would you expect when he has 7 really cool kids?

That night was movie night and we watched Spiderman.

The next day I took a day trip. I walked into town, caught a train to Montreaux and from there took another train to a small villages called Caux. Picture a small alpine Swiss village. That's Caux. That I hiked up a steep mountain to a peak called Rorchers-du-Naye. It was about 6000 ft of elevation gain. The view was stunning.

I hiked back down and did everything in reverse until I got back to the Master's house.

The next day was Sunday and at 10 I said farewell to all my new friend. Then I took the bus into town and went to an English speaking church called the Evangelical Baptist church of Geneva. Then I rushed to the Tran station and caught the TGV train to Paris.

Geneva was wonderful. For most people it's one of the most expensive cities In Europe, but not for me thanks to the Masters!

Como, Italy

I swore I'd never take another over night train without a couchette. But when I reserved my ticket from Rome to Como it was too late: I was stuck with a seat.

I didn't sleep much. I changed in Genoa, then again in Milan and reached Como at noon. Como is a beautiful lake town situated in the Italian Alps only several kilometers from the Swiss boarder.

As I stepped out of the station I was greeted by Sari! "Hello African." He said, "Tenemos al santa de carra." It was an inside joke. I felt at home.

We walked to a bar and had a coffee. He was skipping school to hang out with me. At 2 we went to the school and met Ilaria and Bubu and two other dogs!

Then Ilaria took me to her house, which she calls "the ship." It is a perfect writers retreat set back in the woods. Her parents live in a much grander house next door. I met her mother.

Then we took a 7 mile hike. We were so used to walking together. At 6 Ilaria had a meeting, so I sat in a field with the dogs for an hour. It was wonderful. I hadn't a care in the world.

I stayed at a wonderful bed and breakfast that gave me a discount because I was Ilaria's friend.

The next day I went with Ilaria to school. She said that her class really wanted to see me and that I would give the lesson. I wasn't that nervous because of teaching in India, I was curious.

There they were: about 20 boys all studying to be plumbers and taking Ilaria's class only because they were required to. It was bedlam. They were playing games in their phones, sleeping, playing with lighters and hanging out the windows. I don't know how she keeps her sanity.

But the boys and I had fun. They asked me many questions. I avoided the ones about sex and drugs (there were many) but I kept grasping for something that would interest them. For some reason I mentioned that I had brewed beer. THAT got their attention. Next thing I knew I was explaining (and diagraming on the board) the process of fermentation to a class of boys (my age) in Italy. It was weird. They wanted exact amounts and everything.

I "taught" for two hours. Then it was PE and the guys asked me to come. Of course PE in Italy is synonymous with football. Today there were tests. We juggled the ball as many times as we could and did as many pushups as we could in 30 seconds. It was a good workout. And I got the best grade in the class with pushups!

At 1 I said goodbye to the guys and went to the B and B where I collapsed for several hours and recovered. Then I met Sari and Ilaria for what Ilaria called a "celebration reunion dinner." I brought my certificate from the Vatican as the centerpiece. We had a blast. Ilaria gave me a signed copy of one of her books and a carved pendant that she got im Jerusalem. It is the Green Tou--the symbol of Christian salvation. Then we all called Luca, our pilgrim friend from Lucca and told him how much we wished he was there. He said he was with us in spirit.

After a dinner we walked the streets of the old town. Como has a beautiful cathedral and many ancient buildings. Suddenly, at one of the oldest buildings, Ilaria said, "This is my house!"

"But I thought the other house was your house." I said.

"This is mine too. My grandparents bought it during WWII." We entered a beautiful courtyard. The house huge. It actually has 5 different flats, each large enough for a family. 3 are occupied by Ilarias siblings and their families, and two are bed and breakfasts. Ilarias sister and nephews are so great.

The next day I met Sari at 8:15: he was skipping school again but after what I had seen of his class I was pretty sure that he'd learn more practicing English with me anyway.

Our plan was to take an incline railway to the top of a nearby mountain but we couldn't find it. So we climbed the mountain. It sure was hard but the view was almost worth it.

My train was leaving for Geneva at 11:17 so we had to rush back down again.

It was hard to say goodbye to Sari. My tine in Como was too short (because it wasn't part of my planned itinerary), and I hope I can come back some day.

Rome, Italy

Before dinner in the first night the people in the convent held a ceremony for the pilgrims who had just arrived. They read a prayer and then washed and kissed our feet.

There are two American girls who live in Rome and volunteer at the Convent where I was staying. Of course they were gold mines of knowledge as far as sightseeing in Rome was concerned, but even better were the conversations that I had with then about their faith.

I have never talked to a Catholic who was my age and actually took their faith seriously. (But I haven't been looking for them or moving in the right circles to for that). Mary Kathryn and Corinne are obviously Christians and they believe in the gospel--that we are sinners saved by Christ alone. We then talked for hours about our differences and I had a lot of miss-conceptions and assumptions corrected. Conversations like this are the reason that I travel. They are wonderful people. (And Erin too, who dropped by).

I had always thought that the saints were viewed almost as lesser-deities who had earned their statuses by living good lives, but they aren't. They are roll models, just as we look up to and emulate Calvin or pastor Rayburn. Erin said that she asks for her friends to pray for her, why then, would She not ask the "great cloud of witnesses" to pray for her too? I thought it was a good point.

On Friday I went out to see as much as Rome as I could. I went with two other pilgrims who had arrived at the same tine as me (they had bicycled which is why I didn't encounter then earlier). Their name.were Oscar and Alexander and they live near Milan.

First we went back to St. Peter's square and applied to the Uffizi gate of the Vatican to receive our Testimoniums, which are certificates proving that we did the pilgrimage. We were allowed in by two medieval Swiss guards and ushered into an office where we were given visitors passes. We felt very important.

Then we went to another office where we gave a man our credentials and then waited. After a while he returned with the very official documents. They have the Vatican's stamp on them!

We took one look at the line into the Vatican Museum and decided that we'd try again later.

We walked to the Spanish steps, the Trevi Fountain, big government buildings ans this magnificent monument/museum dedicated to fallen soldiers. Then it began to pour rain and we took cover with a crowd of people under and awning for about 45 minutes.

Then we continued to the Roman Forum, the Palentine Hill, and the Colliseum. I had read that if we buy our tickets to all the forum then we can skip the ticket line at the Colliseum, and this worked like a charm. We had no wait at all at the forum, and skipped at least an hour's worth of line later on.

The ruins were pretty amazing. But they barely suggest the grandeur which they building must have had when they were intact.

By that point we were pretty tired, So we headed home. I spend most of the rest of the day just talking to them and other people in the convent.

After breakfast the next morning I said goodbye to all my new friends and went off to find my youth hostel. (Pilgrims are only allowed to stay 2 nights). I plan to see the girls again on Sunday in Saint Peter's square. We are going to watch the pope wave.

I walked all the way across Rome to my hostel and then to the train station, to try to figure out a reservation to Como. But Como has three stations and I don't know which one to go to. So I'll have to contact Sari or Ilaria and find out.

The next day I found my youth hostel and then took the metro to a Cappucini Monastary. In this monastary is a crypt where some 16th century monk with artistic ability and a morbid sense if humor decorated the crypts with the bones of 6000 dead monks. It was a sight to see. I wasn't allowed to take photos but you should Google it. Its incredible.

Then I headed to the Vatican to begin waiting in line for the Museum. I had been told that the best time to go was early afternoon. But the line still took me 4 and a quarter hours. I was one of the last people they allowed in. It was aweful. So I sprinted through the Museum and barely got to see the Sistine Chapel before it closed. But I got to see it. It was pretty awesome.

Then I went back to the hostel, made dinner, and called my family. I should do that more often.

On Sunday I checked out of the hostel very early and took the metro back to the pilgrim house where I met Mary Kathryn, Erin and Corinne at 8:45. Together we walked to the North American International Seminary, which is just a few steps from Saint Peter's. The place was full of American Seminary students. It was a culture shock for me. Its the first time I've been to an English service in over a month.

The guys were great. Afterward we all had a brunch together and about 10 of us crowded around a small table and chatted. I felt so at home.

Then we rushed to Saint Peter's and recieved a blessing from the Pope! It was so cool to see him in person (although he was very far away). After that deacon Taylor (from the seminary) mentioned that he had to go to frisbee practice. So of course I went too. We had a great time playing ultimate.

Deacon Taylor and I then had an intense discussion about the Catholic faith as we waljed back into the center of the city. He gave me a rosary that he made himself. I will treasure it.

This has been a perfect day in Rome. No monuments. Just genuine people. Tonight I'm going to the pilgrim home once more then catching an overnight to Como!

Francigena, 12-14