The Bandwagon

Everyone else seems to be posting and i hate to be left out. I cannot say i have anything new to say that is relevant to anything or anyone, but here's what I've been up to:
I can vouch that Margaret has been painting but i don't understand how it could be stressful.

The weather here has finally cooled down, so those of you on the east side can probably look forward to some nice days ahead.

I have spent the week at work torching holes in large metal tanks, getting inside, scooping out the sand and rock that was inside, getting out, and moving them out of a building. It was fun at first, but rock and sand get really heavy after a while...

Two days ago I gave my old rusted beater of an '88 ford taurus (that runs like a champ and has subwoofers in it) to my cousin because he turned 15 and can now drive (yes, here in iowa people drive at 15 if they live more than a mile from school:) The day after i gave it away i somehow aquired a newer blazer for $50 and for another $60 made it very reliable and even driveable.

Forgot to put on deodorant this morning and was sorry by the end of the day:)

Laid some long blackmarks on the road (with a car) with my friend who is back from Iraq for two weeks

Watched Match Stick Men until i fell asleep (a common problem while watching movies)

Rode around with my cousins on gravle roads looking for an old tractor (my cousin was doing the looking for some specific one)

Thought about how much i want to go back to Egypt or create a little Egypt with you guys in...Iowa?

I'm excited for school to start, but ONLY for the first week

I guess that's all

goin' south

I haven't checked this thing for a while. Thanks, Chelsey, for your nostaligia-filled post. Actually, I find that I've been nostalgic all my life, so don't worry--nothing new in my opinion. It makes life a little more sweet, I think.

Tomorrow my family is flying to Virginia to visit my older brother who lives in Norfolk. He's an architect and the apple of my mother's eye. It should be an interesting five days: my three siblings, my parents and myself--that makes 6--in John's apartment. Making the time even more interesting will be John's mammoth tomato plants inhabiting the living room, and the various saws presiding over the kitchen table (he likes tomatos and woodworking.) I wonder if he'll have room for all of us. My top goals are to 1: swim in the Atlantic (I swam in it last year, but it's always fun. And besides, that will bring my sea and ocean swimming record for this year one higher. Maybe I can get the Pacific in yet this fall.) 2: not get annoyed with my family--especially my mother. 3: Relax--I've been painting at work the past few weeks, and I think it's starting to stress me out. Is that pathetic? Painting stresses me out? So down south we go. Also, this is a first for the Den Boer family: we have never flown together before. We always drove the 32 hours from BC to Minnesota to visit my grandparents. I'm guessing that flying will reduce stress levels dramatically.

I've been reading _The Kite Runner_ by Khaled Hosseini. It's a novel about Afghanistan during the Russian occupation and subsequent coup leading to the Taliban's control. Pretty interesting book. I enjoy picking up on the little references to culture that I recognize--such as refusing something when it's offered to you the first time. So I recommend it to you all. If you're looking for something to read, _The Kite Runner_ would be a good choice. It's a fairly easy read--very engaging. (I feel like I'm standing in front of my grade eleven class giving a book talk.) I'm going to be planning and teaching a unit on it this fall, so if any of you read it and have some ideas for other resources, I'd love to hear from you. Chelsea, what was the name of the movie we watched in flat 2 about that Afghani woman?

Hope you're all well. I think of all of you often.

Rigor, Mortis

Rigor, Mortis!! My mom laughed hysterically as she pointed out that my uncle should have named his son Mortis so all of his son's medical and scholastic forms would display rigor, mortis. Its strange how one small episode can epitomize a whole weekend. This was the story of the Rigor family reunion (my mom's side of the family.) The end.
Just kidding.
We rented 3 beach houses on the Oregon coast, in Lincoln City, if anyone cares to look it up. My family, a cousin, and Nick (yes, the boyfriend came along, not missing a beat in the numerous questions of when we are getting married. My favorite was, "You know you've got some good marriage material in a guy who can throw a bocci ball like that." thanks cousin mark). It was rather strange though because the whole house seemed to slant. So if you wanted to go to the back of the house, it was work. and then if you wanted to go to the kitchen, you seemed to pick up momentum as you walked. Of course I wasn't sure if this was my own intrisic motivation just because I knew there was food in the kitchen or if it was actually due to the slant... but thats beside the point.

But probably one of the most memorable times at my family reunion was when I GOT TO GO SURFING! yeah!! well, I'll let you know now that the Oregon coast doesn't exactly produce the biggest and longest waves, but I managed to stand up a few times just before I had to hop off the board. It was good fun, and yes, I went through the laundry a couple times as well. Man salt water burns when you drink it!

Well thats about it for now. Just thought I'd share a tid-bit of my life. oh yeah, and to brag... um, I got to have dessert with our intern; the lovely Emily CHRISTENSEN. thats right, bring it on East coast and midwest, we've got a party of 2 happenin on the West Side!! okay, I think thats it. lata.

speaking at my church

K, um, this event happend awhile ago, but per reminder from Heather here is the mini-analysis of talking about last semester at my church. Looking back now, it even seems funny that I spoke there. I am in such a weird place after last semester, and the past two years really. I can't put my finger on it enough to explain right now, so for now here is just the story of speaking at my church.

As I explained to Steve at our friends' marriage in late June, I tried to strike a balance between being gutsy and being tactful. That is, I didn't want to be too lily-livered to share thoughts that I believe in, yet also I didn't want to be vitriolic, self-righteous, or overly offensive about it. I talked with the pastor's wife first and she assured me that sometimes you're just going to step on toes, and to go for it.
So although it was in some ways a benign travelogue, I also read an anecdote from We Belong to the Land, and quoted the Abuna's speeches as I stood between two banners which read: "The Lord is Present" and "The Lord is our Peace" in Hebrew. The emphasis was on the humanity of the people that I met in our travels, the beauty and the pain, and hurt, and the love and above all the hope.In fact, was pretty much a one point lecture, and if the message could be summed up in one word, it would be "humanity," the humanity of another people, when "The Other" is so often demonized. While this is nothing different from the basic precepts of Christianity, if we self-examine I think it can be quite revolutionary. At least, I think that is part of what I experienced and was challenged by in Egypt.
After I talked, we did Q & A, dispelling some common sterotypes of Muslims and generalizations about the Middle East. While I articulated the message in positive rather than harsh lingo, I think that listeners' reactions were dependent upon how far they chose to reflectivly engage. But I suppose that stands to reason in almost any instance, doesn't it? We are changed to the extent that we allow ourselves to relate to people. The deeper we allow ourselves to feel, the more we risk and the more we grow as individuals and in our capacity to relate, to love.
To give color and images to mere words was a poster of about 15 representative pictures; mainly of beautiful sceneries and beautiful Egyptians. I also seem to remember a group shot of some sweet Canadian and American college kids in Turkey, as well as a silhoutte of friends holding hands in the desert at sunset.
I'm glad that the opportunity presented itself, or was kind of forced upon me. Most of all, I hope it can be fodder for further thought and a way to spark further conversations and one-on one discussion with members of my church as the summer continues. I've certainly been stuffing away my thoughts and ideas about this past semester, as some of you have indicated, and this was helpful in virtually forcing me into doing some processing. THANKS to all of you who e-mailed me back with articles, advice, insights, and encouragement. I took every one into advisement, even though I didn't write anyone back individually yet.
That's all for now.
P.S. about the public speaking bit....well, I started out with a joke, so as to garner interest and calm my nerves. It worked. I was nervous, but the longer I talked, the easier it got. The congregation was very supportive. And so I peppered the whole thing with jokes and tales and adventures and stories (alas, no puns!), all things that I tried to tie into the main point I was trying to make, but things that made the whole thing more approachable and more, well, human! Plus, hey, I like stories.

pointless post? maybe

I'm pretty excited about this but it's no guarantee that anyone else cares. You won't believe what I just saw in the grocery store! I was buying guacamole for the upcoming Mexico week at daycare and I'm in the international aisle and what do I see but a blue carton of guava juice with a nice white pop top lid. Juice in a box. And sure enough, the side says it was made in Egypt. It was selling for more than 5guinea though. Now if they could just import the drinkable guava yogurt...

Hello my dear ones. I am packing for my family reunion in Florida next week I leave tommorow at 4:45 am sharp (Egyptian time). And the question floats to the surface of my mind. Why would a bunch of Egyptians choose to meet in Florida when the Middle East is so much more interesting? I hear Beirut is beautiful this time of year. The other day I read a paragraph about Cairo in my geography book (for the class I'm taking) and was honestly near tears. The book also said that there are 10 million living in Cairo--last I heard the count was between 14 and 20 million, so then I laughed. Anyway, I'm looking forward to seeing the family, especially my sweet grandparents, who I miss a lot more than I expected. My parents are already speaking in about 50% Arabic--we'll see how much I remember. I want to make Nahid proud.

Speaking of missing people. I feel lonely for MESP.

Okay here's the point of this post. I just heard that 7 bombs went off in Cairo today. Not sure if its true or not. As I just said, I'm leaving town tomorow so I was wondering, if anyone makes contact with Dave, Diaa, and Carol could you please post? I'm sure they're fine, but I have an active imagination.

Love you guys and hopefully I'll see a few of you sometime in August.

yes (please no groans:) more pictures

i was driving home and couldn't pass this sunset up. thought maybe a few of you might find it comforting as i did...if not at least try to enjoy it until you click to the next webpage:)

once again, a few pictures

i realize i have only posted pictures of vehicles, but i'm not really sure what else to put on here for pictures...and besides, i'm a little proud of this newly purchased, "new" pickup :)

And the ladder climb begins...

It's starting to thunder and rain a bit outside. The weatherman called for huge storms tonight, with flood warnings, advisories, and wind gusts over 60mph. I think we'll be lucky to get a half real thunderstorm. And that's after a day of 90% humidity and a heat index of 105.

Which, all said and done, means it is a perfect opportunity to post.

I've been reading all the posts about how figuring out how to adjust to life in states. I'm in the same boat. And here's my dillemma to top it all off- I'm graduated. No more school. I'm supposed to hit "the real world" now. Whoa- I dont know if I'm ready for this. I dont know if I want to do this! About a month ago I was hired as the Administrative Assistant for the Finance Department of Yark Automotive Group, Toledo's largest auto dealership. I have my own big office, complete with computer, shredder, and plant. I wear heals and dress clothes to work, a day that starts at 5:30 so that I can work from 6:45am to 4:30 0r 5pm. I spend 10 hours a day doing data entry. I'm the underpaid office girl for a department full of young recently graduated frat guys who make $60,000 + a year. I am entirely thankful to have a job, and I keep telling myself that this is only survivor employment, but I really hate it at times. And I get so depressed- why did I study as much and as hard in economics and political science and school in general so that I can enter data into spreadsheets? I feel like my brain is wasting away. And I'm constantly surrounded by the materialistic. I'm afraid that I've been sucked into the reality of the American life- working a lot, spending a lot, and caring more about the size of my pool that the starving in North Korea. [Granted, I dont have a pool and I dont think I'm at that stage yet. But I can see the pace beginning to be set].

I guess I'm afraid. Afraid that I'll never have the career that I want and the ability to make a difference in people's lives. I dont know where I'm going with this jobbled mess of crazy randomness. I just feel like you all [especially the graduated ones] will have a better understanding of this than others would.



Still hasn't stormed yet.

Love,
Liz

a little vaykay

I returned this afternoon from a weekend spent camping with my family at a lake about an hour and a half from here. (Lake Shetek, Andrew--you're the only one who might know.) It was fun, although a little hot and quite humid. My grandpa and his wife (I say his wife because they got married last fall and no one can take the place of my grandma) came up last night for supper. We had corn on the cob cooked over the fire and BLTs. And now I'm back in Sioux Center, just about ready to go to bed so that I can get up in the morning to go to work at 7. It was a nice little break from the routine of normal life. I read a lot and hung out with my family. Went swimming, sat around the campfire. It was pretty much a lazy summer weekend. Nice.

Sometimes I think about how strange summer is. I mean, you get this four month chunk of time off, in which you're supposed to work as hard as you can so that you can afford to go to college, but you're also supposed to relax. It has everything and nothing to do with what you do during the rest of the year. It's a weird period of time, and I'm having a little bit of trouble deciding where my real life is, and how to prepare for what's coming next. Because I feel like I'm floating. My life here feels quite unreal. I feel like I stepped off the plane from Egypt the day before yesterday, and everyone still needs to hear how everything I see applies to Egypt and the Middle East. And it's not that they don't want or need to hear, but I feel inadequate. Sometimes I want to write everyone else who wasn't there with me off, and say, well they havne't been there, so they can't understand. But if they can't understand, why did God give me the opportunity to go there? I mean, I want to go back to Egypt or somewhere in the Middle East to live, but I don't know for sure if that will happen, and if it doesn't, then I should not just forget about what it's like there. And it's not even that I'm unhappy, I just have this very unsettling feeling of ambivalence. life here in the midwest is calm. Nothing very extraordinary happens--aside from crazy old women deciding they need to burn down their garages--and I feel like that contributes to my apathy. I don't know what I'm saying. Are other people confused about what they should be feeling, and what to do next, and how to prepare for what's going to happen next?

No, NBC, we are not rednecks!

(i thought i had posted this a few days ago, but i guess it only posted as a draft. i apologize if i am mixed up and this actually did post)
There is a family that is very good friends with my family. We have, and still do, spend a lot of time together. Saturday happened to be the birthday of the mother of this other family-we'll call her Susy. Susy turned 49 and is probably the best/extreme Christian pyromaniac i know. Susy and her family live on a small acerage in the country and there is a garage on this acerage that is very old and falling apart. Susy has always wanted to get rid of (by burning, of course) this garage but her husband did not want to see it go. Susy has actually tried (slightly) to burn the garage down in the past but it never completely burned.
On Susy's 49th birthday she was going to get to burn down this garage. I went out there in the afternoon to witness this event. There we were (my family and there's) sitting on the porch beer in hand watching Susy put the final lighter to the diesel fuel in the garage...i'll admit it, we felt like rednecks and it was kinda fun.
All was well and we had hoses ready just in case because the house was over 50 feet away. Turns out 50 feet was not quite far enough. As Susy's daughter (a good friend of mine) was filming this momentous occasion and Susy's husband was watering off the house to keep it cool, a neighbor boy (also relation) walked over and commented on the vinal (sp?) siding that seemed to be melting off the house. Sure enough, part of the vinal siding was melting and curling up on the house. No on thought this would happen because we were standing b/w the fire and the siding and didn't think it was too hot for the siding...we were wrong:)
Up to this point the story is really not that interesting, crazy, or hardly worth telling...that changed. As the moment became a little more tense with siding starting to melt and a search for more hoses, three vans pull over on the road (gravel road of course) and about 12 people get with cameras. Not picture cameras though, this was a film crew! Turns out there is a new show called "three wishes" that is going to be on NBC. A town about a half hour away was their base for some of the "wishes" to be requested. One of the wishes came from a farm nearby that had a milking parlor burn down. Turns out this crew was filming at this farm for the show (i guess they are going to grant them a new milking parlor or something) and they saw the smoke (which was very visible:)
Talk about craziness. There is was with a my friend talking to the host of the show. It's some guy named Eric and he's famous i guess? The irony is that i do not think there has ever been a national TV film crew in our county before and here they show up in the country while we're burning down a garage...for fun! They asked why we didn't just take it down with a hammer and put it in a dumpster. Ha, not nearly as easy and not half as much fun!
I have to go to church now, but after all that we went inside to continue the birthday party as we at cake and ice cream:)
later
ANdrew

Just a little koshari

I had my first koshari making experience tonight (well, I'm sort of still having it since cooking rice does not seem to be my forte - it's still on the stove). When I tasted the lentils to see if they were done, I realized how much I missed the sensory experience of Egypt. Well, maybe not the part about having black snot from the pollution... I learned a valuable lesson. Don't try to cook too much at once. I had to throw out half of my chocolate biscotti because it burned while the koshari was in process. :-( But I'd be happy to share the rest - Who's coming over?
I've got enough koshari to last me for at least the week since my parents are visiting homes in SC where they hope to move and I'm the only one who will be eating it all. Many many meals ahead.
Not too much else going on here. I finished Harry Potter yesterday after buying it at a midnight release. It definitely wasn't my favorite of the series and may be near the bottom, but it's too soon to tell. At least it's providing lots of material for thought. I've been working at a day care I worked at 3 years in high school this summer. It's sometimes fun, sometimes exhausting, sometimes frustrating, and usually interesting. Chris has been in Uganda for a bit over a week now. There's a few pictures of his team if anyone wants to see at http://teenmissions.org/gallery/view_photo.php?set_albumName=Team-Photos&id=05032_Uganda and http://teenmissions.org/gallery/view_photo.php?set_albumName=Team-Photos&id=IMG_3080 and http://teenmissions.org/gallery/view_photo.php?set_albumName=Team-Photos&id=IMG_3097 . He'll be back August 18th around the time of my family's move. I forgot to mention that our house sold too. It was on the market for 8 days which is incredible. So we need to be out by the end of August and preferably a bit before. Guess I'll see what happens. I hope you guys are doing well - I certainly think of you often and when I look at pictuers that's when I get really sad. Inshaallah, there's New Years. :-) Love, Heather Joy

Arabic names

Dear friends, I am in need of a bit of help/some input from you. I'm working at a day care this summer and in a desperate attempt to get the older kids excited about something (other than Star Wars cards and fighting over who gets to be Mr. Fantastic), I am doing a unit next week on Egypt. I'm trying to work out the kids names in Arabic to do nametags for them and I'm having significant trouble with a few, especially the ones with a short "e" sound. Here's the ones that are being particularly tricky: Megan, Dawson, Devon, Rachel, and Brett. Any help would be great. Thanks a million.

oodles of fun

a quick thought i had...if anyone is up for a root toot'n good time this weekend you ought to come to sioux county iowa. besides seeing margaret and I, you could attend one of margaret's most favorite events (i think, but no confirmation on this :)
The tractor pull of all tractor pulls in Hinton, IA.
that's all

Til Kingdom Come?

A day of incredibly hot and extremely humid weather finds me sitting, once again, at my computer. The world, for a few moments, seems to be at peace as i listen to the corn grow and stare at my dog laying on the driveway. I cannot figure out how life here can seem so peaceful and serene for an evening while memories of injustice and corruption haunt my overworked thoughts.
Seven pairs of shorts? Yep, seven is the number of shorts my brother contemplated taking with him to Honduras. I don't own seven pairs of shorts; why did i find that so absurd? I have more than one vehicle and somehow justify it. In fact, i just purchased an old pickup with money that could have likely gone to an NGO along the Nile or a starving child in the next door. Why is money such a big deal if we have it or if we do not?
Life just isn't fair...but is that good enough? can i just rationalize this life as "unfair?" I don't know.
Despite this injustice I have hope. The corn is now 2 inches taller than when i began typing this mangled mess of words and I am at peace. Coldplay is singing to my ears about waiting til kingdom come and I realize I am not in charge. Life is beautiful and I am reminded why...

Jerusalem Barrier

I don't know how many of you have already seen this article, but I thought it was significant enough to be of interest.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/10/AR2005071000371_pf.html

Three cheers for pictures working...

Thought you might find these cool, interesting, or funny, etc...please no belittling comments :)

Fidel!

I just watched the movie, Fidel!--about none other than Fidel Castro (insert Claire saying, "Elion can stay) and was reminded of why I like Fidel. So much so that while we were in Cairo I suggested we start a religion with him as the mascot since he's such a nice guy that he'll attend your birthday party. Now, I'm obviously joking about the religion thing (just in case some of you are taking me seriously about this--sometimes I'm a little bit afraid that people take me seriously when they shouldn't. I mean, can't you hear the dripping sarcasm that is in my head but doesn't always come out in my voice?) but I am intruiged by Fidel Castro. Anyway, there's something fascinating about a revolutionary, you know? Che has the same sort of appeal--but he's more famous because he's dead and Castro is still the dictator or whatever you want to call it of Cuba. But at the beginning of the revolution in Cuba, Fidel was this articulate, energetic, idealistic young man who was defeated many times, but still believed that the revolution should go on and would inevitably succeed. And Cuba must be such a cool place. All you have to do is listen to the music. I wanna go there. . . . I don't know much about what Fidel is up to now, but I suspect that I don't like him now as much as I like the young Fidel. And of course, the situation is anything but one-sided. Castro did some pretty despicable things in order to keep the revolution going. I wish we learned more about Cuba in school. Seems we're missing out. So who wants to go to Cuba with me?

Disappointing

a little down here...the image button refuses to display my pictures. i'm sorry to say i do not know enough about computers to solve this problem...how does the Hello program work? Mr. Ulasich???

A Few Days

I see it has been a few days since someone has posted...or maybe it just seems that way. Either way, i have been dying to try out the new "add image" button so that's what i'm going to do. I know how much each of you has been in relentless pursuit of my race car pictures because they will someday be famous. I hate to break the news over such an impersonal means-I will never be anymore than a leisure racer. However, if for some reason MTV decides to do a documentary on me in the future, these pictures could make you some money...I've taken up the beer bottle organ.
Ok, that was all just so i didn't post pictures without saying anything and here are the only pictures i have to test out the "add image" button.