I WIN

2011-02-02T16:10:00.000-08:00

February 2, 2011
Hey! It has not been that long since last I updated. I was a bit surprised to find that people in the US still read my blog. I was approached twice the other Sunday at church by people telling me to “hang in there” and that they were praying for me. To be honest, I had to go back and re-read my last blog as I was not sure about what they were talking.
January I started full time at work. I still really like the people I work with and am generally happy there. Pangs of international homesickness come still, and I have even applied for some overseas jobs again. I still don’t know what I am doing, but am ok with that for now. We recently implemented some changes in strategy for the work day and that means my mind has to organize to a new routine and get fast and efficient at that routine once again. This is frustrating as I am by nature a slow person. Combine a new routine, a speedy surgeon, my slowness and 46 cats (20 of which are in foul moods) and you have me taking 5 min in a corner to collect myself while a few co-workers awkwardly watch and feel bad. Everyone is very nice about my slowness. I however have no grace for myself. I’ve now been there three whole months, I should be perfect!
Quiz is going really well, and I am having so much fun trying to get prizes that match the scripture. It is good times. I am now also regularly volunteering at Ten Thousand Villages. It makes me a bit “home” sick, but I love to share stories with anyone who will listen. They have gift registry there and I am so tempted to get engaged just so I can register! I keep telling my friends to get married and register there, so I can buy them gifts. As of yet, no one has taken the bait.
Oh yes, for the month of February I am house-sitting in Perrysburg. Instead of an hour and 5 min commute, I now drive 35min!!! It is great. It is also really nice to be alone for a bit. I do like living with my family, but I don’t think I had been alone in a house for more than an hour since July 6!!! It has been such a blessing, especially today. There was “snowmagydon” last night and work was cancelled today!!! I had a place to stay close to work when the weather was frightful. Praise be to God for that one!! The plow person that did the driveway was almost unable to make it through the first 2 big drifts at the top of the driveway. Crazy!!
My friend Jamie and I are trying to start a small group Bible study and have been encountering difficulties in its start-up. Awesomely enough, there was an evening workshoppy thing on starting small groups that I signed up for and went to at our church. It was really nice, and I learned some new was to organize, implement and focus in a small group setting. One of the topics made me really think back to my old small group in Sri Lanka. It was the topic of self-disclosure; I’ll write more on that topic now. This idea of 5 levels is from a book, but I don’t know what book, so forgive the lack of citation. I have paraphrased and rephrased a lot of this.

Self-disclosure is the key to closeness in a group. The more you can know about each other’s situations and feelings, the more helpful you can be to each other. But self-disclosure is risky! How deep does your sharing go?

Level 1: Cliché Conversation. Such communication is safe. Topics include the weather, family, and friends. Uses such phrases as, “how are you?” or “I like your shirt”

Level 2: Sharing Information and Facts. Events, ideas, and facts are talked about but not the self. “At work today, we had a speaker come in.”

Level 3: Sharing Ideas and Opinions. This is where some real communication begins. “It would be a good idea to decrease welfare and increase social health care.”

Level 4: Sharing Feelings. At this level we communicate how we feel about the facts, ideas and opinions. “It makes me so sad to see people I care about have so many financial problems due to unexpected health care.”

Level 5: Sharing Complete Emotional and Personal Truth. By opening ourselves up at this deep level we take a huge risk of being rejected. This true self-disclosure involves a deep sense of openness and transparency. “I feel utterly useless. I see so much wrong happening and I either can’t or just don’t do anything about it. If I try to help it always seems to fail. Sometimes I doubt that God is there at all when I see such dejected situations.”

Ok, so now you understand the background I will expand.
I miss this. This is one of the things that makes me feel “international home-sick.” I had this Level 5 in a small group I was in while living in Sri Lanka. I miss it. I need it. This back and forth of deep sharing, helps get to the root of problems and the honesty is so helpful when you need peace in life. Its how in the midst of so much violence and hate, I was kept sane. I have tried to find groups/individuals like this group since, but for the most part no one wants to go there! (Note: I have found some individuals, but not multiple people and not a group.) The key of this openness in sharing is having it go both ways. Having a group/individuals in which you can share at a deep level with is great, but even more important I think is the sharing others do with you. Without bilateral sharing you end up opening and giving little bits of yourself to people. If said group/individual only returns conversation at a three level they are giving you teaspoons of themselves and you are dealing them gallons. Giving gallons and only receiving teaspoons will then leave you feeling primarily EMPTY, drained and/or emotionally dehydrated; but you could also feel angry, sad that the other person can’t open up, and confused as to whether that person is honest even in the sharing they do disclose. The other person is not a bad person, they just don’t open up. Traversing past this realization point is difficult. Do you work at making the group/individual comfortable- give them time or reassuring, do you throw in the towel and say, “hey it’s a good group/person with whom to be superficial friends,” or do you leave and never look back?
In the small group that Jamie and I are starting, I hope we all get on the same page and stay there!
Peace,
Jodi
(oh one more thing. I am going to Eastern Ohio to the Millers’ house on Friday!!! Robin will be there and Sarah and Paul! I worked with all of them in Big Bang. I am so excited!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

I AM TOO COOL

2011-01-15T17:41:00.000-08:00

January 15, 2011
Hello All!!!
It hasn’t even been a month and I am writing!! I SO win! Well let’s see now. Christmas has now come and gone (well the more focused part of celebrating Christ’s birth has gone). It was nice to be able to work part time this month as I hadn’t had a full home Christmas holiday in four years. It was really lovely spending time with the family. It however was a bit hard, as I thought it might be. All of my siblings now have children of their own and half have multiple children. I think the only reason we arranged to have our family Christmas celebration on Christmas day was because I basically said I would cry if we didn’t. Everyone has sort of grown up and started their own families; well at least they have started their own families. Its just mom, dad, me and uncle Ron now. Anyway, it was good. Everyone was there and that felt super. I love having a big family. We are so goofy and odd. Good times indeed.
For new years I had a great trip around visiting people. On Thursday the 30th I met up with a former co-workers family (Phil’s family for those of you who know my work in the Big Bang). They were hosting Shuvo, another former co-worker’s son. Shuvo is from Bangladesh and his father worked for the same organization where I worked. He is attending Hesston. We spoke Bangla a bit. It was nice to pick it up a bit again, as I don’t have much practice anymore. He was very grateful to be able to speak it with someone as well. I would imagine it would be hard to never be able to speak your native tongue with someone other than on the phone. Anyway, I met up with this crew at Fair Oaks Dairy in Indiana. We toured there and talked about cows! Yea!!! Cows!! It was really a nice day. After the tour, I went back to their residence and we played games and had much merriment. Their family reminds me much of my own; well if you replace the cows with goats. It was also sort of fun to be able to put the name of a goat with the actual goat. You see, my former co-worker (Phil) really likes goats, and not everyone likes to hear about goats. Since I have a livestock education and background, love animals in general and like to listen to people talk about things they are passionate about, I on a few occasions was regaled for hours on end with stories of Phil’s goats. I enjoyed it…most of the time ;-) Anyway, the point is that there were goats I got to meet that I already knew the history of! It was a great visit and I really enjoyed getting to know the whole family.
From there I drove to Columbus, OH and met my friend Deb who was up from North Carolina. Deb and I have been friends since before we can recall. It was so nice to spend some time with her as those moments are becoming few and far between. We went to a pub, did karaoke, and criticized everyone there. It was a magical evening. The next morning we went to breakfast with another friend I hadn’t seen in over four years. Conversation was great! As I get along in years, I’ve found conversation a much more intriguing option. Don’t get me wrong, I still love to run and play, but if I can do those things with people I really like to converse with it’s all the merrier. Anyway, she had to leave by 3:00 so I went to visit my sister. I then decided just to stay the night there and return home in the morning. It was a nice evening playing with the niece and nephew. Phoebe said my name really clearly a few times and that was exciting. It is nice being able to see my nieces and nephews grow and have them know who I am.
In January I started full time at Humane Ohio. There are days I leave early and days I arrive at 7 am and don’t leave until 6pm. Last week however was a slow one and I was quite grateful for that. I took Katie to get spayed on the 4th. It was sort of fun to see it from an owner’s perspective. She is back to her old self now and doing great. I really like the people there and the work I do. I , however, do not know if this is where God is leading me long term or not.
The final bit I will write is about quiz. I am helping out with the local Bible quiz league and that has been really great. Another girl and I are in charge of prizes and quite frankly…we are totally cool and give sweet prizes! It is also a nice social time as some of the volunteers do an after quiz get together. Last week I taught everyone the game “Red and Black”. Hilarity ensued.
Well, I am tired and need to review more quiz material, as I am a judge tomorrow.
Peace,
jodi

Holiday Update

2010-12-17T12:08:00.000-08:00

December 17, 2010 (some of you may recieve this in my holiday card/letter)
Merry Christmas!! This year has brought a whole host of changes. Last year I was celebrating Christmas and New Years in Bangladesh and Malaysia with a great group of non-biological family. This year will be with my family and friends.
In July I finished up my term with MCC in South Asia. This was such an integral part of my life and it has been hard adjusting back into American life. I do however feel God working through this to help me grow nearer to the Lord. I am currently living at home with my parents, 2 sisters and their husbands and one nephew and one niece. Living with family like so many other things has it’s ups and down. I am learning a lot about adjusting and also about being me.
In November I started a job at Humane Ohio, a low-cost spay/neuter clinic in Toledo, Ohio. I really love the people I work with and the mission of the organization is to have no more homeless pets. I can really get behind that and I have. We do on average around 60 animals (cats and dogs) a day. Because we are specialized and can be very efficient, we keep the cost very low. We have clients from many breed rescue organizations and shelters from the surrounding counties. Even though I have a job, I am still looking for other jobs and trying to discern where else, if anywhere, God is leading me.
I am also working with my sister on creating a business plan for our home farm. We would like to “expand” into community supported, locally raised farm products. Currently we are looking at expanding our garden, fruit orchard, chicken/turkey housing, and modification of the cow barn into an automated milking set-up. In the summer I hope to have canning classes. I am really excited about this and we have started researching alternative agriculture methods and business plans. We are also praying for a method to fund all of this.
Year in highlight:
• Went to World Dairy Expo with my parents. It was their first time!
• Visited Sri Lanka and the UK!
• Started a paying job!
• Will be helping out with area Bible Quiz!!
• Ate lots of sandwiches.
• Started marathon training. (May ‘11- Indianapolis 500 Half-marathon, October ’11 Detroit Marathon)
• New niece Adalynn was baptized and I am one of the sponsors! Total number of nieces and nephews is now seven!
• Found someone in the area that speaks Bangla. (One of Humane Ohio’s vet’s husband’s family is originally from Dhaka.)
• The FAIR!!!!
Highlight Lesson of the Year:
Love. I learned a lot about love. I think I learn about this most every year, and I think its pretty important. I don’t know why, but I seem to have a heart for the rejected, dejected and lost. This, I’ve found, is really hard. Normally, people and things have a capability to give you back some of the love you give them. This group tends not to be able to do this. That leaves a person giving and giving and not really receiving. Now here lies the important part. Loving someone should not depend on them reciprocating that love. Jesus didn’t say, “poo poo” to the people that didn’t love him. He loved them even when- especially when- the love was not returned. It is through God we are filled with love and not necessarily through the reciprocation of those we love. I know this sounds like common sense, but I’ve found in practice it is not so simple. One person or thing rejects us and we say, “poo on you! I don’t need you anyway.” If someone said, “great! I love you anyway” we’d think them insane, but I am convinced that is what we are to do. As I grow I hope to get better at this.
I hope you have a blessed holiday season and a happy “new year.”

Peace, Hope and Love,
Jodi R. Crossgrove

Long Time Gone Update

2010-09-24T07:43:00.000-07:00

June 27, 2010
Yarg!!! Its been a while. I should write more often, but life has been crazy as of late. May was good; it was the same old stuff, but good. Early May we had a training on how to facilitate the Visions and Values training. That was fun. Then Robin and I went to Darjeeling to do some trekking which turned out to be a big adventure. I'll talk about that now.

We went by bus which was alright. It however started out with a bit of a jolt. I was just about to fall asleep when I felt some wide projections come through the seat and tickle my bum, and then again. Having had men try and touch me inappropriately while sleeping on busses is well known by me, so you can see how logical my reaction was. I was IRRATE!!! I quickly grabbed the projections and twisted. Well at the same time I heard the lady behind me yelp and I turned to scowl at the jerk that was trying to touch me. However, when I turned around the man was sleeping and the woman had her feet up...up and poking through my seat....oppps. Its actually pretty funny now. Anyway, it took us about 17hours total to get to Darjeeling from Bogra. The last 3 were spent in a jeep and there was about a 4 hour wait at the boarder. We got a hotel and looked around. I wanted to get some cash from the ATM but it was late and we decided its not safe to get cash at night. The next morning the “fun” happened. There was an assassination of a high ranking party official. It was near one of the places we thought we might go for breakfast. Luckily we didn't go there or we would have met with 40 men carrying machetes. However, after that Darjeeling was closed!!! Literally...everything. No ATMs no tourist information no restaurants; nothing was open. We needed to arrange things for our trek but nothing was open and even if it were, we didn't have any money to pay with. So, we left with a group of people headed to Sikkim (the state north of West Bengal). There were ATMs open there. However we had to travel to a town that was about 2 hours out of the way b/c Sikkim requires a permit to enter. (You can get the permit in Darjeeling...when things are open.) We had no money to pay our room bill so the hotel just let us leave on the premise that we would come back through and pay then. (which we of course did!) It is now September 22nd and I am finally getting around to finish this blog!!!! Robin went to arrange for us to stay at a farm in Chamrong near Jorthang while I pack everything up. We went down to the jeep stand, hired a van and were off to Rangpo to get our permit. I was the lucky one that got to sit in the middle of the front seat and straddle the gear shift. Second gear was not my favourite as it meant that the driver must cross the line into my “private square” (it's not my terminology, but it works). Despite one stop for an overheating engine and one for a blown tire we arrived in time to get our permits. However, Robin and I missed all the taxi's to Jorthang. Angered a bit by the unaccommodating taxi stand personnel- one of which told us it was too far to walk to Jorthang. “Thank-you very much. I normally ask people at the taxi stand how long it takes to WALK places.” Anyway, we had to call the farm and tell them we would not arrive until tomorrow. The phone in the telecom shop did not work so a nice gentleman let us use his cell phone. We tired to pay him for the usage but he would not allow it. Having over-heard our predicament he also offered to drive us to Jorthang and put us up for the night; it was too dark to make it to the farm. While at his apartment all interaction went through his female housemate. The fed us dinner, tea, breakfast and another tea before taking us to the jeep stand and helping us get on the correct jeep. They never asked for anything, no money, no photo, nothing. It was amazing. I don't even know his name; her's was Sabina.
The home-stay at the farm was great!! It was so relaxing and peaceful. The owner was sweet and her adopted daughter loved having visitors. The food was fantastic too. There was this cheese curry that was to die for and on evening Robin and I helped to make the noodles for our soup dinner. On the last day we finally got a great cloud free view of the mountains and it was breathtaking!!! Such beautifully created earth leaves me speechless. From the farm we went to Pelling and stayed there one night. The night in Pelling Robin and I opted for the traditional Sikkimese meal. It started with a warm local millet beer. I wasn't all that fond of it as it tasted like what corn silage would taste like if you poured warm water over it. Man did it pack a punch though! It warmed me up after about 2 sips. Anyway the rest of the meal was a stout soup and momos. Yummy!!! The next morning we visited a monastery and some ruins of Sikkim's days of monarchy. From there we went to Yuksum. It is in a valley and has some wonderful hiking around it. There had been a lot of rain the previous days and so some of the hikes were a bit tough. Day one, we encountered an avalanche. I learned that day that you never go over an avalanche. It was scary and I cried a bit because I had to walk under a very large tree stump and roots clump. After we finally made it across, there was yet another avalanche that blocked our path, only this time there was another path. This path was a local path and was steep, but luckily there was a woman and her daughter collecting fire wood. Despite the fact that she knew no English whatsoever and there are only a few words that are the same in Bangla and Nepali, she was unthwarted by the difficulties in communication. I was very grateful for her persistence.
The next day we did a hike to a mountain top lake. It was a long and difficult trek. We might have gotten lost on the way there if not for a friendly lone hiker we picked up. He knew Nepali. It was a 4 hour hike there and we had planned to take a jeep back, but rain the day before made the roads impassible. We ate a quick lunch, looked at the lake and headed back. Our friend decided to stay at the lake for the evening, and so Robin and I got really lost. Where is Lena when you need her?? So, Robin and I stumbled onto a local path that dropped us almost straight down the side of a mountain. It was so steep at one point that I had to sit down and slide, lest I fall over. But as it was turning out the whole trip was full of unplanned paths that led to outcome that were better than expected. This unplanned path led us not 200m from a beautiful waterfall. The next days we spent on shorter walks, reading, or drinking tea.
On the day we wanted to return to Darjeeling there was a strike so we spent one more day in Yuksom and then onto Darjeeling. It was a completely different city when it was open. There were stores open and it was cool. My favourite place was called....ummm oh dear I can't remember....but it served me up a porcine feast for breakfast. I ate the leftovers on the bus home for both dinner and supper.

Ok, so now I will try and remember what happened the rest of May through September...yikes.

May:
was grumpy...it was hot

June:
finished all three Bangla ag ed movies and debuted them!
My birthday party
went to spa for last time
last monthly meeting
Oh oh. We had our Visions and Values training and that went really well. I was very pleased.
had bollywood make-up happy fun farewell party for Iris, Ben, Robin, Joyce and I

July
farewell Bangladesh :-(
Iris came with me to Sri Lanka. We saw great sites like P&A, House of Fashions, Deep and Bella. Nina and Jonas were also visiting so we went to a cello concert Nina played in. We also took a bus to Trinco. There is no A/C bus to Trinco; its just an ordinary packed to the brim bus. Iris learned the hard way why I think Bangladesh inter-city buses are nice. Hee hee. It was bad when she got whacked in the head with a few bags. It was a pretty uneventful trip minus the fact that just outside of Kurunegala (grimace grimace) we saw a man that had hung himself. It was not good; the image is still in my brain. Other than that it was a good ride. The beach was fantastic!! We saw 10 other people at most. We body boarded on some great waves and ate lots of Sri Lankan beach fare. I also introduced Iris to arrak and coke. It was magical!!! After that we went back to Colombo and stayed with Dorothy and Prabo. Iris left and I stayed another week. During that time I went to Madampe; visited Shiloni and family, Navin, and Peshala; and read books. It was nice. It was sad to leave Sri Lanka again but it seems to be getting easier each time.
Next I went to the UK. Nigel picked me up from the airport and it spent time with the Rachel and Nigel. We visited a stately home (Bently House...where they filmed the British version of Pride and Prejudice!). One day Rachel and I went to a spa that was also nice, but mostly I just enjoyed hanging out with them. From there I took a train down passed London to a place called Sutton where my friends Jonas and Nina live. While there I got to visit with some other friends, Abigail and Ben and Shiyani. It was fun-tastic
Got home!!! Jill Dad and Janae met me at the airport and we took the South Shores line to South Bend and then drove home...it was a good way to get home, because we missed all the traffic. We got home at about 11:30pm and I got up and left the next morning at 4:30am to go to the state fair.
I worked at the state fair. It was fun! My sister also worked and so I just stayed with her and her family for those two weeks. I was also able to visit my friend Chris.

August:
Cattle training
moving Janelle, Chris and Sammy
grinding feed
job searching
applying for jobs

September
The FAIR!! It was district 10 show at Fulton County this year and that brings in some cool farmers that I like to converse with. I also got to show with my nephew Lane who is 2 ½. It was a bit harder that I thought. One hand was holding onto the calf the other to Lane. Man was my arm tired!!! It was a great fair.
Got hit on by scary carnie.
Now I am planning a trip to World Dairy Expo. My dad has never gone and our neighbours the Mellers asked if he and mom wanted to go. I think my dad feels bad for taking vacations, so I made the decision that he would go. So it will be me, my parents and our neighbours in a Caddy to Wisconsin. I'll also meet up with my friend Beth! I am pretty excited.
Currently I am at my friend Deb's in North Carolina. She was up in Ohio visiting her sister Michelle who had some problems in he cancer treatment and was in the hospital. I also went to visit Michelle with my sister Janelle and then stayed and came back to NC with Deb. Deb's brother is down in South Carolina for a race and will go back to Columbus at the end of the week and I will hitch a ride back with him.
Ok, consider yourself updated
Peace
jodi

Deep and Wide

2010-05-03T21:38:00.000-07:00

April 28, 2010
Hello again, it’s been a while but not all that long. I ended last blog on a busy note, and since then the tidal wave of projects has subsided and I am actually left quite free from stressors and can afford to take my time on things.
We started milk collection in Dimla!! The first day was...well a first day; everything went wrong. However Mokhles, Sidul and I were there for that very reason and we figured things out...mostly. We are working with Milk Vita (a farmer co-op with government backing), which is actually a good program. Most of the high-ups seem to genuinely care about the industry and the farmers. The man at the area center where we sell is a bit of a...well he just give off the shady vibe. He also indirectly suggested (from what I could tell) that we skim more off the top. However, it is still our best option. It serves our goal to increase availability to different markets. It is really far to their collection center however, so we give the evening milk (which is 1/3 to 2/3 less than AM milk) to BRAC. They have a center in Dimla. When we get enough milk in the evenings (~150L) we will van gari or nosiman (2 wheeled tractor with flatbed) it into Domar where the MV plant is located. We got 95L yesterday morning (the second day) and 120 the next. We are now consistently around 110 to 130L in the mornings and 30L in the evenings. I think it will grow. We just need it to grow fast because right now we have to subsidize the transport. We aren't sending enough to cover the transport to Domar. I really think it will come though. Its already doing its job- people are getting a better price from all area markets. However, we need to make it sustainable, and as of now it is not. I think it will come.
Oh yes and we opened our AI centers this week! We have chutes (metal places to restrain the cows) and all. We are getting semen from the gov. and we purchased the liquid N and tanks from Dhaka. There are some kinks yet to iron out. On both the milk and ai centers we need better book keeping. I had designed a system for the semen tanks that also kept record of N levels, but some people seem to think they are too difficult. Having taken a lot of time to arrange ideas to get only the information we needed in a quick and concise manner, I was disappointed when they were vetoed. I find myself after four years in Asia being quite a stickler on record keeping. Other people don't seem to be. Anyway, we opened them and seem to have had over-the-top liquid N losses. I am trying to figure that out now, but we don't have any records of it other than mental notes. Anyway, we'll work it out.
Other work notes:
• Finishing UTS video
• Preparing proposal for NZAID to get a blade shearing training in Bangladesh.
• Meetings on next years research projects.
• Meetings on values training
On to personal stuff. Since getting back from Cambodia, I have been having much internal conflict. A lot of this has to do with the uncertainty of what will happen after I finish my contract in July, trying to find God's will and wondering why it deviates so much from the plan I thought would be good for my life. Don't get me wrong, I know God's plan is best and I will seek and do it even if I don't want to too. I know it will always work out for the good of those who love God, even if I can't always see that good ending from the get go. It's like sometimes when I am driving a car and I think, “it would be so cool to jump this bridge and land on top of that semi, like they do in the movies.” Although it may be fun for a short while, in the end I would probably suffer from a severe case of deadness. If I go straight I'll probably live and who knows maybe I'll hit a sweet on ramp. Those are fun and don't usually induce deadness. I think that is what following God's will is like for me sometimes. I don't know if that makes sense to you. Maybe if it does you are as nuts as me. Who knows?
I also have financial fears. Not the normal type, I am concerned about getting a job that pays well. It is easy for me to depend on God at this point in my life. I have no money to fall back on, no family to have to support, and not a whole lot around me to want. If I make money and am back in the states there will be this “stuff” that other people have and I don't. That will make it hard. Here I also have a tight group of Christian friends all living in a similar situation. I feel God is calling me to live “radically” and in a way that won't be easy. I say this because I had a dream. Now normally I don't pull anything out of dreams that is significant, but this particular dream I did. I put more clout behind this because God was there. I didn't see God, but there is no doubt God was there. I was swimming in my pond at home and there was a great whirlpool pulling me to the center. Just beneath the surface of the water were the New and Old Testaments of the Bible; not like pages...but they were there. It was rough and I was trying to swim out of this terrible whirlpool that was pulling me down. God was there though, always, and the Bible was supporting me in the water. So there I was trying to swim to God when I awoke. While at retreat 3weeks earlier I had used a whirlpool picture on my “river of life” to signify my college year which were tough and rewarding. See? It is a good one, no? So...living radically and following God through rough waters....here I come!
At the same time as all this God's will searching, I was also having some self doubts. I care way to much what other people think of me. I let people have the power to make me feel bad about myself. I am changing this now. I was walking down the street near shath matha in Bogra one evening. I was already feeling low because earlier that day I had let someones unkind words sink in and affect me. Then someone on the street grabbed me inappropriately. Having someone treat you like that is terrible. It is like you are nothing other than an object, a remote control to lose in the couch when you are finished with TV watching. I was so angry; I forgot all my good bangla retorts except for asking him if he had no shame. After I got that one bangla phrase in I just yell some un-family, sailor-like comments at the man. He had run across the street and I wanted to give chase, but it was Shat Matha and he ran through a gap that came and went in seconds. If you know traffic in Bangladesh, you know why I couldn't cross the street. Anyway, I was so angry I walked all the way home (6km?). I was still seething with anger. I basically couldn't eat for the next 5 days because the anger sat in my stomach. I am better now though. I am also now making it a point to take some good advice I learned in a movie (The Princess Diaries), and that is, “No one can make you feel bad about yourself, without your consent.” Just as I make a conscious effort to choose to be happy in all situations, I now also choose to not give my consent to people who try- be it direct or indirect- to make me feel bad about myself. I will no longer give my consent to let others make me feel bad about me!
So, its been a busy month and an emotional roller coaster. Go Team!
Oh! And I got caught in a downpour. That was a good thing because I love the rain!
Thank you all for listening.
Peace,
Jodi

Jellyfish

2010-04-04T02:25:00.000-07:00

April 4, 2010
Happy Easter!!! I love Easter! It is my favorite holiday. I like the meaning of it. It's perfect. This morning I went to an Easter Sunrise Service at the parliament building. It is put on by all the churches in Dhaka and just about every Christian in Dhaka goes. It was all in Bangla, but I still understood most of it. The songs were also printed in a bulletin so I read them slowly when possible. The police were also there with riot gear just in case any fundamentalist group came to try and prove some point or something. I got back only yesterday from a 2 week trip to Cambodia.

While in Cambodia we had a week of spiritual retreat by the sea in the south of Cambodia (Siahnoukville). Andy and Lana Miller are service workers there that do area program coordination stuff (This is not how they explained it but is my oversimplification.) They met us at the airport and we went straight to the beach. It is a 4 hour drive and about half way our bus broke down. We had to wait another 2 hours for a new bus to come and pick us up. No one really complained, as we live in Bangladesh we are used to such happenings. (For Example: When driving in to Dhaka before the Cambodia trip my bus blew a tire; we fixed it and went on our way. Then we sideswiped another bus an knocked of it's side mirror. We had to stop for a skirmish about that. However, the skirmish of flying fists was not enough and the other bus decided to ram us from behind and throw a wrench/spanner through our rear windshield, more fists; cops arrive and all is better.) Anyway, our hotel was nice and the beach was a short walk. In the mornings we had worship and then sessions. Our sessions were about self and personalities. Andy and Lana did a GREAT job planning these! They were really helpful, but also kind of difficult. Its hard to introspect and then share it with others. One comment was,
“I thought we were just going to be reading and relaxing on the beach; this is hard!” It was hard but good. In the afternoons we had free time for relaxing and whatnot. I did a little swimming in the ocean, ocean kayaking, snorkeling, frisbee, sandcastling, and reading/chillaxing.
After the ocean stay we went back to Phnom Penh (capitol of Cambodia) and did some shopping, eating and meeting of the MCC Cambodia staffs. From there I took some vacation time and went to the temples at Angkor with some others from MCC-Bang. It was really nice. One day we went around some of the temples on bike. Minus the first 5 km- the part of the journey where my tire got low and then completely blew out- it was a great day! The temples are ruins from thousands of years ago and are spread over a 15 or so kilometer radius. (I'll have pictures on facebook soon.)
After that we were back in Phnom Penh for one more day. We visited a place called Toul Sleng. It is a detention facility cum museum documenting some of the genocidal atrocities of the Khmer Rouge regime (Rouge standing for communist red.) from 1975 to 1979. It was very sad to see. I feel however more disconnected nothingness than anything else and that scares me a little. It most likely has to do with a combination of events of violence- common shock if you are familiar with that term- witnessed over the years (particularly in the last four). I still don't like the reaction.
Anyway, I am back now and sitting around typing this in the absence of electricity. It has been out for a few hours now. Let me finish up by reviewing other events of the month.
Purchased semen tanks for Monga project, networked with persons in charge of getting us semen, and began set up of the 3 new centers. Also, I worked on designing a good and simple record keeping system. I hope it gets utilized.
The circus was in Bogra and we went to that. It was cute.
More Bible studies
Networking with milk buyers (its still not going so well.)
Thats it really.
Peace
Jodi

March is Here

2010-02-28T22:58:00.000-08:00

Monday, March 1, 2010
It hasn't been all that busy since last I updated my blog.
February saw the visit of a group of people involved with Canadian Food Grains Bank. It is the organization that funds a majority of the Monga Project. It also funds me (through MCC, but I am actually part of the project budget). One man had never been out of Canada and had only been on a plane once in his life, and they did HOMESTAYS in the village!! We were counting one day, while we were driving between farmer visits, how many “firsts” he had had on the trip thus far. They were many. I was really impressed with how well the group did. Perhaps sometime I am too worried about offending people that I hold back a little too much, and that is what I took from the group visit. It was nice.
On the 13th Iris- the SALTer that we inherited due to visa constrictions in India- arrived and Ben and I went down to Dhaka to greet her. It was also Ben's birthday so there was a joint welcome/birthday dinner held at Austin and Marita's. The next day Robin convinced me to stay in Dhaka and leave on the 15th. That night (the 14th) we (Robin, Ben, Iris, Phil and I) went to Barbeque Tonight for kebabs and naan. It was YUMMY! Then the girls and Ben watched Phantom of the Opera!!! Magic. Ben must watch it again though b/c he fell asleep. No one can figure out exactly how he fell asleep though, as we sort of made the movie a sing-along and were quite loud. Oh yes, while in Dhaka Mokhles and I went to visit Milk Vita (a milk co-operative) in another one of our networking/market acquisition attempts. I think we hit the jackpot with this one. (Background: Right now there are about 2000 cows either given by MCC or birthed by a given animal. Soon this amount of production will saturate the market in the area, as it is a remote area with only one milk collection place. To avoid farmers getting ripped off because there is no market, Mokhles and I have been visiting different milk purchasers and trying to get them to visit the area to asses it for future possibilities.) It already has a collection point 20km southwest of Dimla, so they sort of know the area. Also, they give their farmers a good amount of benefits and we could purchase semen from them. It seems to be a win-win if we can get them to set up a milk collection point in Dimla. I really hope it works out.
Ok, later that week I went to visit some MCC projects in Birampur, Dinajpur District. We work with some Catholic missions up there. It all athibashi (indigenous) persons so there are pig projects! It was nice to get out and see other projects. We spent the night in one of the missions and the next morning I attended the morning mass. I didn't understand much, if any, but it was calming and the acoustics rang beautifully. That day was good, but involved much riding on motorcycles. Here starts the story. So, the first day we had taken motorcycles from the bus stand to the mission which took maybe 20 min. I was riding on the back of Rahim's bike and thought it would be appropriate to ride side saddle- an activity that scares me a lot. Rahim is a good driver however and it was alright. The rest of the day we rode van-gari (flat-bed bikes) around for visits so it wasn't bad. The next day I got to ride with Monir, who is a bit younger. He put both foot pedals down for me, so I took that as a sign that he was ok with me riding straddled. I thought this would be much more comfortable, but the comfort was diminished by the fact that I was trying my best not to touch him. So, I ended up spending 45min on a bike leaning slightly back, bar digging into my bum and legs trying not to touch the person in front of me. Wow! It was not comfortable. Despite all that, it was a breathtaking ride on a gorgeous day. (Oh mind you, these bikes were only 80cc.) However, when we got to the village to visit, it was found that the bike that Nate and Shyam were on only had one foot peddle in the rear. So on the way to the next place, I was back to sitting side saddle again. I found out later that one of the shocks on this bike was broken and on the bumpy roads we were on, disaster loomed. So, here is was on the back of an 80cc bike with broken shocks sitting side saddle. The roads were tiny dirt roads not short on bumps and holes. I nearly fell off 3 times when we swerved around a bump or hit a hole. I was literally praying over and over, “Please God don't let me die, please God don't let me die!” You know your in bad shape when God answers you prayer by causing the bike you are riding on to fall apart while you are riding on it. I have never been so happy to have a breakdown in my life!!! In the end Nate and I rode on the mechanically sound bike and Shyam and Monir the other. That day we spent over 40km on those tiny bikes. When we finally got to the bus, I didn't want to sit down. My bum hurt that bad! The whole 2.5 hour bus ride was spent in pain. It mad me grumpy!
Well, I got home from those visits just in time to take a shower and then the Millers were there for dinner. Maria (my baburchi- house help) had already cooked dinner and had everything sitting on the table. I avoided sitting. The Millers came from Dhaka for the weekend. Marita stayed at my house and the boys stayed at the “bari” (comment on this blog if you don't know what the bari is). The next day, Iris came from Mymensingh and we all spent the day at the bari making a brick oven. I did masonry! It was fun, but it dried out my hands like no other. Also, while cleaning things up for the night, I sliced my hand on some wire mesh. It is ok now but it hurt something fierce for that night and the next day. At Bible group the next day I had Karin (Daniel's mom, a doctor) look at it. She said we did a good job pushing it together and then gave me a prescription for some antibiotics just in case. In the end I couldn't find the right drugs at a near-by pharmacy and by the time I was near a big pharmacy I figured I didn't need them. It looks good now and only hurts when I forget its there and hit it or lean on it.
The Monga Project was on the news on the 22nd. While they were shooting I tried my darnedest to stay out of the shots, but I was in it still. Ugg for me, but yea for my farmers and the project as a whole. I am still working on the UTS training video and some easy feed calculations for cattle. That is a process. I am also trying to put together a motivational event in the form of an agricultural fair. I am really excited but it is big and I am having trouble starting.
Next month I will go to Cambodia with the MCC expats. We are having a spiritual retreat and then I am spending a weeks vacation there.
Would appreciate prayers for discernment on what I should do after my term is up here. I have applied to 2 grad schools, but also wouldn't mind staying around home and working for a while. We shall see.
Peace
Jodi

2010-02-03T22:01:00.000-08:00

2 February 2010
Hmm well, left you right before I was off to Alison and Rich's wedding. It was down south in Noakhali. I had never been down there and it was nice. It was cold however and I had to wear a sweater with my sari...OH NO!! Ok, it wasn't that big of a deal really. It was a nice catholic wedding with Bengali flare. It was nice also to get to meet Derek's family.
Later in the month (January) if finished the rough draft of my second educational video. This one is on making and feeding urea treated straw. It also has a segment at the end on feeding leaves with straw. It still needs some revisions, but is farther along than the first rough draft of the first movie was.
We also took a visitor up to Dimla. I like when visitors come and I don't like when visitors come. It is good that they are holding us accountable for our work and taking an interest in the project and the people. It is however always tiring for some reason and I sometimes feel like I am parading the farmers about like show monkeys. Next week we will take a whole group of “lay” visitors to visit the Monga project. I use the term “lay” visitor here to mean people not working directly in the development sector. They are donors to our donor organization, Canadian Food Grains Bank. It is a great opportunity and I am glad they are coming. I am also worried as I feel sometimes “outsiders”- myself included- end up doing some harm. I think it is especially the case with those visiting for only a short time. I don't know really what that harm “looks like” or if it lasts; I think I just worry too much. Anyway, so you see I am excited and happy and yet...not. A friend who has been here a LONG time told me not to worry too much because even if something offensive happens, the Bangladeshi people are very gracious. This is true and I feel a bit better.
January 24-28 I attended a training on Biblical Visions and Values. It was a really great training and I learned a lot. I hope to use much of it. It did however make for a long week, as it was every day from 8am to around 6:30pm everyday for 5 days.
The training ended on Thursday and our All Staff Picnic was on Friday. I was having lower digestive problems that day, as was Robin who had also been at the training, that day and really wasn't worth much. This was sad as at the All Staff Picnic everyone brings their families. I like to meet peoples' families. I didn't make it to visit with even a 1/3 of the people I want to. Then, the bus ride back, which should have taken max 2 hours, took 4 hours! The first hour filled with the painfully annoying and yet humourous banter between a co-worker and the 8 year old son of another co-worker. The next 3 hours were spent trying to find a comfortable position in the hard seats that were set so close it was impossible for even me- with my short stubby legs- to sit straight.
The next day we had an ex-pat meeting and then we ate at A&W for lunch. YUMMY. I had a burger with facon on it. (Facon is fake bacon. It is not made of pork.) In the evening we went to Marita and Austin's house to celebrate Robin's birthday. I went home a bit early b/c I didn't feel well. I spent the next 3 days sick!! Fever and explosive diarrhea. It was crazy! I still feel “off” and it is 5 days later. Two days ago I succumbed to taking medicine. I think that helped. Anyway, my being sick caused me to miss the REAP staff learning tour to Syllete. Now I am in the office and only one other 3 other staff are here, Phil, Steven and Shilpi. There are also 2 birds flying around my office. They get near the open windows but don't go out...errrrgggg.
Well that is my update for now.
Peace
Jodi

December

2010-01-06T17:58:00.000-08:00

January 6, 2010
Welcome new year and welcome blog readers. This month has been spent spectacularly. Well at least I think so anyway. I am working on a new video for urea treated straw (UTS) in Dimla, we are also visiting and networking a lot. We visited the Commissioner for Artificial Insemination and Fodder Cultivation in search for a steady, reliable source of cheap dairy cattle semen. It is working out. We have to send 2 of our staff off for a 2 month in class training and then a 1 month practical training. We have already done some AI and pregnancy diagnosis training, so they have a good background. Also, due to our visits with this guy, our supply of goat sheep and cattle vaccines for the year are secured!! Yea! We also keep on schmoozing with possible markets; Grameen Dannon and Rangpur Dairy. We are trying to source a stable market for up in Dimla because in not too long we will have a supply of milk that saturates the market in that area. Oh yes, we also are trying to get the area some exposure, so we have been making visits to news channels with the Monga Mitigation Project “story” I have continued to work on plans for the retreat in Cambodia. This took me to Malaysia for a short trip just after Christmas and for New Year. I had to pick up a Cambodian visa for Derek who is Bengali and can't get a Cambodian visa on arrival. More about that later.
Non-work related...
We have started a Bible Study/Meditation/Singing Christian Fellowship Gathering in Bogra and it has taken off. We meet on Saturday mornings. I was in charge of it the other week and did a “study” on music and the Bible. It is really a nice group of people and I am very thankful it started.
On Christmas Eve people came over to my house and we made doughnuts. That was fun! Then on Christmas Day I cooked up a brunch and then some after brunch snacks and people brought some snacks. Ben's (Ben is the REAP SALTer this year) family was visiting so they brought some goodies along with themselves and Ben. Hye Young, Phil, Nate and Sadia also came. After brunch we read the Christmas story and sang some carols and watched movies. It was good fun. Oh, one slightly funny/embarrassing thing was when we were discussing what was planned for the day. I began to say how there was all this food and family and being together and watching movies, and you know “what Christmas is about.” To which Nate made the comment that, “I thought Christmas was about Jesus.” After which I turned about 17 shades of red and shut up. “Bazzinga!” It really was a good day. I am so grateful that the Lord of Lords was humbled to come down and live life as a perfect example only to die to gain us a reward.
After Christmas, I left for my trip to Malaysia. While there I managed to get a visa for Derek, see the Petronas towers, visit the aquarium (very cool!), eat lots of pork, have a few beers, hike in the jungle, do a canopy walk in the jungle, watch TV from the toilet of my hotel room (it was a small room about the size of a walk in broom closet. The bathroom doors were like sliding shower doors and I could see the flat panel TV if I kept the panels open just a bit. Yes, I realize just how classy it is to mention such a thing in my blog!) take walking tours of Colonial Kuala Lumpur, Little India and Chinatown, visit the Central Market, Mederka Square (where Communism was officially overthrown, independence begun), have a fish foot spa (you put your feet into a pool and small- 2 to 3 in.- toothless fish nibble all the dead skin off your feet and “micro massage” them), visit the Islamic Museum of Art, shop for groceries not available in Bangladesh, and meet some really nice people. It was a great trip and I needed it more than I knew I did. Kuala Lumpur is a really easy city to get around and NO ONE stared!! It was great!! There are people from all over the world that live there and so, no on really stands out as special. SPECTACULAR!! Oh I also spent the New Year there which was nice. See my pictures on facebook, or give me your email and I will send you the link to snapfish.
Ok, when I got back I spent one night in Dhaka, one in Bogra and then off to Dimla. It was a good trip. We took a crew from ATN news channel up to the program. We had some vaccine camps that day and they got interviews with a lot of our farmers. It was great because it was focussed on the farmers and not on the organization so much. I hope if will help motivate farmers as well as spread awareness of what is going on in the area. Another funny/embarrassing story. So, a co-worker (expat) came to the field with me to take some body weights of farmers, for reporting reasons. Well as usual, I get asked if I am married...I say, “no.” Well one cheeky little girl (although she wouldn't be seen as cheeky/rude in Bengali culture) asked me why I didn't marry the work colleague. Not really knowing what to say or how to say it in Bangla I told the girl he was my little brother. Unfortunately, Aurif a BRIF (our partner) staff person overheard and asked me, “who, who” was my little brother. The girl was standing not 3 feet behind us and although she wouldn't understand if I told him “I lied” I wasn't sure if he would understand either. So trying to whisper it to him in Bangla, I told him I was lying. However, staff up there have a difficult time understanding my Bangla, and I ended up saying it very loudly. Yikes! So for the rest of the time there, the staff thought it funny to keep on asking why I wasn't marrying my “little brother.” The next day they still made fun of me as we held a short training on UTS production for them. It was a good training because we only spent like 1.5 hours on discussing/reviewing. They then taught (well one of them, Hamidur) the rest of the group, as if they were training the farmers. It was like a practice for giving the training.
Well, tomorrow I am off to Derek's daughter's wedding. Yea
Peace
jodi

Yarg!!!

2009-12-13T04:50:00.000-08:00

December 1, 2009
It hasn't been as long as I thought since I last wrote. Yea!!!!
Well since then I have been in Dhaka a lot...too much of the time. Three...
December 2, 2009
Ok so started this yesterday. Didn't get very far.
Since last blog, I have:
From November 12-15 we had All Staff training in Savar. It went really well. It was all in Bangla so it was very hard to pay attention in 2 full days of sessions. This year's focus was on cultural issues. We had sessions on indigenous persons, bideshi (foreigner) cultural issues, peace building, conflict resolution, etc. The person that had been put in charge of the bideshi cultural issues section left Bangladesh and the person in charge of delegating the task to someone else didn't. I ended up taking on the task by force, a day before the training started. It ended up ok. I don't like to talk, so I kept it as interactive as possible. It actually ended up that we didn't finis 2- of 4- of my planned activities, but I think the ones we did finish opened up some good questions. I also hope that the discussions and openness to question one another that occured there carries on out of the session.
There was also a “talent” section done by each office and then the bideshis also did one. The Bogra office's was the BEST. I am not simply biased, it's just plain true. We did 10 one and a half minute skits. My part was to be a bride from a village. The apparently funny part about it was that it was 2 Bengali/American couples; mixed couples are funny. It was super spectacular. At the end everyone just free danced on the stage. I think it was the single most happy moment in Bangladesh. Not the most fun- and I am not saying it wasn't fun- but the most “warm and fuzzy feeling towards everyone and life in general” I've experienced anywhere outside family gatherings. Yea!!! The Bideshis have been having sort of a rough time of thing, so we did a “shortened” version of last year's dance. It wasn't short in time, but the people that did it were short. Phil Robin and Daniel were in front and then Nate, Ben and I stood behind them and were their arms, while they used their arms like feet. Maybe there will be a video if I can figure out how to hyperlink....hmmm. Well, all in all it was a good meeting.
I spent many extra days in Dhaka trying to meet with the Commissioner of Artificial Insemination and Fodder Cultivation. He gave us the run around for a while, but finally yesterday he officially met with us!!! Yea!!! We have given our staff training on artificial insemination but need a reliable cheap source of semen and other AI consumables. We want to get that from the government b/c it is subsidized (40Tk per straw as opposed to 100Tk). It turns out that for us to purchase the subsidized equipments from the government we must first have someone trained (2month in house 1 month practical) by the government. It makes sense as you don't want someone purchasing the semen and charging farmers for AI service if they don't know how to do AI. We already trained our staff, but we will have to send 2 of our staff to this training then the government will equip them and they will be able to purchase semen from the government. The training will be at no cost to us; we need only provide food costs. It wasn't our exact plan, but it means there will be at least 2 village stationed AI techs with a sustainable, stable, local supply of AI consumables. Yea!! We win!! This commissioner may even come and visit the project.
December 13, 2009
Well, sorry this blog is taking so long things have been busy. People from Akron were here and I was in Dhaka a lot for holidays and meetings. The people from Akron brought a turkey for us for Thanksgiving and fresh cranberries. It flew in checked luggage. It was a grand old feast!! The Thursday of Thanksgiving was also the weekend before the Eid Holiday. Joyce, Robin and I had a bus to the Banderbans that evening. We left Dhaka at 1115pm. The bus was supposed to take 8 hours. At 7am we weren't even to Comilla- normally a 2 hour bus ride away. We got off that bus and hailed a bus that was going back to Dhaka. We arrived in Dhaka at noon. The traffic we saw on the way back was nothing short of horrific. Almost the whole way back to Dhaka. Of course, like in any good South Asian country, our traffic going back to Dhaka was also slow. Not because there was a lot of traffic going that way- there was next to none- but because the traffic from the opposite direction had come onto our side. In parts they took up both lanes. That however proved not so good for some, and people revolted and tore cars/busses apart. Anyway, some people from my office in Bogra took 33hours to get where we were going. Rohima and her CHILDREN spent 22 hours on a bus, no place to use the toilet and no food!!! Yikes.
So...I ended up in Dhaka. Most of us at the guest house bought enough food so we wouldn,t have to go outside for the 2 days of Eid slaughtering. In the end however, I thought, “What if I never get another chance to witness this” so I went out. I will tell you. I will take my non-Halal slaughterhouse captive bolt meat any day. I don't think it is a bad holiday or cruel really, but the cow we watched get sacrificed kept bellering long after its throat was cut and they kept trying to stab/cut the spinal chord after that, but the thing just wouldn't give up! A coworker's 6 year old son was watching from the balcony. He said, “I like my beefs.” (He calls cattle beefs since he has figured out that's where beef comes from). The landlady invited us over the next night for dinner. The fresh beef sure was yummy. I thank God for the life of that animal that provided me such yummy nourishment!
Hmmm. I am making a new movie. This one on urea treated straw and feeding leaves. Oh and I am in charge of planning our MCC-Bang spiritual retreat. It is fun but time consuming. It is however nice to feel like I have too much work to get it all done again. I do better with an overload of work than I do with too little work. There is not a great financial situation now and most contries don't get an out of country retreat, but MCC-Bang expats have been hit by a number of blows by people leaving and moral is pretty low. We are having sessions and I hope we will be able to renew as well as come away having learned something to help us when we get back. We shall see.
Ok I'll stop for now
Merry Christmas
Jodi

Again

2009-11-09T21:02:00.000-08:00

November 10, 2009
It's been a while so I will again write. Work has been steady and that is good. This month we did a training with our Monga staff on artificial insemination (AI) of cows, rectal palpations for pregnancy and semen collection. It went really really well. All the staff were very enthusiastic about getting right in there. Now we are working on finding stable local suppliers of semen and other AI consumables (liquid nitrogen, sheaths, gloves, etc...). If we want the project to be sustainable after we are “finished” then we need to make sure the people in the area have access to things we have, up to now, purchased through our larger connections.
On more work related news: I FINISHED MY SALT MINERAL BLOCK MOVIE!!!!!!! I am so so so happy to be done with it. There are more movies yet to start, but with the first one under the belt hopefully the others will go faster. The next one is urea treated straw. I made the music for it today. I am awesome!!
I have also been working on grad school applications this month. That has been a hoot!! I am looking at 3 different programs all having to do with sustainable agriculture. I think I would like to work at home and do some extension type work with sustainable agricultural methods and maybe when I retire go abroad again. We shall see where God leads. I will follow faithfully if not always happily.
There were many farewells this month. Farewells stink and will always stink, but with every farewell there is a hello. A time for everything and so on. So, I remain thankful for the time God has given me with these God's own children.
Well, thats all for now really.
Peace,
Jodi

La la la lal shak

2009-10-05T00:36:00.000-07:00

October 5, 2009

Ok so I am back in Bangladesh, but I still have some updates from when I was home to put up.

USA:

I took Greyhound down to Knoxville, TN to meet my best friend Deb. She has 2 very kind, very sweet dogs, Milli and Marley. We really just hung out, watched old foreign scary movies and Romie and Michelle’s High School Reunion. We had an appetizer progressive supper one night where we went to like 3 different restaurants and ordered only an appetizer. One of the best meals ever I would say. We then drove together to Cincinnati and met our friend Christian for a Blondie/Pat Benetar/ The Donnas concert. It was fantastic. Me, normally being the conservatively dressed one, was NOT. Hee hee it was super fun and a great concert. We did however miss the Donnas, because our taxi driver failed to follow the simplest of directions…oh well he was nice about it. The next day we sat by the pool all day, chilling and chit-chatting. It was super fun. Chris then drove me up to Lima where I met my sister, and we proceeded to the Henry County fair for the District 10 show.
We took 2 heifers to the show. Rascal II a Jr. Heifer Calf (Spring Calf) and Evonne a Fall/Jr Yearling. Rascal II got 3^rd (deservedly) but was biggest in her class. We generally breed/grow very dairy but quite small heifers. She was big and I was very happy! Evonne was the only one in her class, so I feel she was sort of looked over. She led like a dream. She has that sort of show glide that I love (and that makes her feet/legs look nicer). I really enjoyed showing that day!!!
The show was on a Wednesday and on Friday I went up to MSU to visit some professors and some old friends. It was a great, typical, good ol’ time at MSU. I ate as much raspberry chocolate chunk ice cream from the dairy store as I could. I love that stuff. I got back Saturday evening.
Sunday morning I spoke at Zion and that went well.
The next day I went to Cedar Point with my brother. It was super fun. We practically jogged from one ride to the next. Altogether we got in 11 rides; Raptor, Mantis, Millenium (2x), Maverick (2x), Wicked Twister, Corkscrew, Top Thrill Dragster (Front Row!!! Jake screamed like a girl, it was hilarious), Gemini ( a very funny ride host) and Magnum XL2000 (it was having it’s 20^th anniversary.)
The next super event was THE FAIR!!!! It was great. We took 4 and had one of our family friends tie one in with us. Dad and I were able to catch Paris (Sr. Yearling)- a feat that they weren’t able to do before the Henry County/District Show. She is one who knows just how far she can go and will take it. She is independent and I like that about her. However if you come at her with a dominating strong arm, she will take you OUT! But anyway… We took her and Evonne and Lizi as Jr. Yearlings. Evonne and Lizi are two VERY different looking animal and I was intrigued to see what the judge had to say about them. It was never really a question of who would place over the other (Evonne had Lizi beat hands down). We also took Rascal II. Paris took 3^rd I think. Evonne and Lizi took one and two. Evonne being the baby in the class (5 months younger than the oldest) extremely dairy and very correct, Lizi dominating in depth and spring of rib, but having too much coverage and less refined dairy character. Rascal II got third. In Jr. best 3 females, we took second. Jake was on Rascal II for a bit but then switched me for Evonne, since she is easiest to show. Rascal II although small is quite a feisty one who loves to jump around. (I may later regret my occasional permittance of her frolicking.) Evonne also went on to pick up Reserve Champion Jr Female. All in all a good fair.
That evening I sat and talked with my old 4-H advisor. Good times! That old coot is crazy.
The fair ended with the demolition derby. Hmmm the fond memories of crashing my car into another. Hmmm
The next morning Janelle and I went via Amtrak to Chicago. We went to the Museum of Science and Industry and had a grand day. Then she took me to the airport. We ate dinner (I had a happy meal!) and I left to come back to Bangladesh.

Bangladesh:

I got back just in time for the end of Ramadan and a whole lot of holidays. For Eid, Joyce, Russle, Ben and I went to Sagor’s house. His family is very nice and his wife is a very good cook. Since it had been a while since I had eaten home cooked Bengali food, I ate a good Bengali amount of rice and enjoyed every bit of it. My attitude has changed since I came back on my own terms and bitterness no longer spoils things as much as I probably let it before.
For Durga Puja, Nate and I went to Rishi’s house. That was nice too. There were some really good sweet meats there! Coconut and sesame seed based sweets, Mmmm!!! It was fun spending time with them. Pujas are such happy festive occasions, everyone was dancing and running about and buying little trinkets and giant prawn cracker-like things.
The next week was a bit difficult as there were some facilitated discussion and other such meetings held in Dhaka. I don’t like meetings much. It was nice however, that Joe came (Asia Director). He is a fun guy and the meetings we had with Jan (a facilitator) and he were productive.
Before Team Bogra left to come back from Dhaka, we went to Sports Zone and did some bowling and DDR. DDR rocks and I am getting better. Oh and we took Annika and Faye with us and it was their first time bowling!! They both did super!!!!!

All things considered I am glad to be back for the time I am given here.

Peace

Jodi

HOME LEAVE

2009-08-08T18:41:00.000-07:00

August 7, 2009
I am at home in America, and just got my GRE official score notice. I did rubbish on the writing section, so I will not even try to write a nice monthly report. I will use bullets as it appears my style of writing isn’t very good. Since July 3rd…Well, I have
Paul and I sat and visited with a man at some NGO (Grameen Shakthi??) for 1.5 hours, only to realize after we left that we were in the right building, floor and office, at the right time, but we met with the wrong person. We got great information, but the poor man we were scheduled to meet with was confused when Paul called to thank him for meeting with us and he was confused since we had never arrived.

Left Bangladesh for 2 months of home leave. (I left on July 9th)
Went to Sri Lanka
Ate lunch packets and as much SL food as I could
Made pol sambol
Went to the beach and swam by a sea turtle!!
Hung out with friends!!
ULTIMATE FRISBEE!!!
Visited my farmers!!! I love them!!!
Visited my office. Presented a short powerpoint.
Went around with the girl that is replacing me. She is great. A Buddhist convert getting her masters and a very determined girl willing to work for what YGro pays!!! I finally feel some closure about my leaving!!!
Hung out with D&P and their 2 boys!
Settlers with Shiloni and Dorothy
Saw Achchi (grandma, in Sinhala), a.k.a. Shiloni’s grandma.

England

With Rachel and Nigel!!!!
Went on walks
Made funny desserts
Ate Christmas pudding
Went on picnics
Went to the Heckington Show (a village fair)
Ate Lincolonshire Red (a breed of beef cow) stakes and Lincolonshire sausages (a special type of sausage from Lincolonshire)
Had a BBQ
Went to Sherrwood Forest (you know, where Robin Hood hung out)
Went to a castle and a minster (small cathedral)
With Abigail
Went to park and chit chatted
Stella and bacon cheese curly fries!!

USA

Came home!!! Met my friend Heidi, Mom, Dad, Jill, Chuck and Janae at airport. I hadn’t seen Heidi (a friend from school) in 3 years. I had never seen Janae!!!
Went to the Ohio State Fair with Mom, Jana, Lane and Phoebe.
Picked top cow at the Futurity- the rest were a bit off, but I got the top one. (It is a big fancy cow show where calves start to be registered at birth and show when they are 3 years.)
Had a bonfire with friends and family. Saw my friend Amy who I hadn’t seen since high school.
Went to eye doctor
Babysat for my 3 month old niece Janae
Went to Historic Sauder’s Village with Janelle and Chris
Held and played with all new and old nieces and nephews.
Hosted Jodi’s Show Cattle Bootcamp Training and Child Daycare Workshop.
Smoked the tires on my brothers ’71 Chevel (he had the drag racing tires on so it really wasn’t that hard)

Well that is all for now. Will update more later.
Peace
Jodi

A Poem: By J.R. Crossgrove

2009-07-04T19:33:00.000-07:00

Ode to the Toilet Queue

Yes ma'am I see you standing there

All brave and unafraid to stare

I know there are questions you must have

As we queue up for the lav

Your skin has pigment and mine does too

Although a slightly different hue

We both wear ornas across our chests

To shield men’s eyes from those things called breasts.

We both have eyes and ears and nose

And friends and family and probably foes

We’re not that different from what I see

So need you watch me wait to pee?

Just another day

2009-07-03T09:06:00.000-07:00

July 3, 2009

6 MORE DAYS TO HOME LEAVE!!!!!! I already started packing some gifts. Ok month in review.

I did a little bit of the beginning of June in my last report so I’ll start from there. Well, it starts off with a sad note. Saying goodbye to Gloria (Designer for a partner organization) was tough. I will miss having another “homegirl” to speak “chill” with. She was also random like me and I will miss that. However, after talking with her and praying about it, I know this is a good thing even if it was hard. Peace Out Gloria, Peace Out man. While I was in Dhaka for the goodbye festivities, I sat on the interview panel for the new “Rajib” (MCC program staff vet.) There were many good candidates and I learned a lot about interviewing. Also it was sort of fun being on that side of the interview. Holy cow, some of them were Freaked out! It was great.

From there I went to Dimla for a few days to do some visits and help train the staff in salt mineral block production. I got back from that and it was orientation for new people in Bogra. That went…ok. There were some scheduling… issues, but in the end it worked out. We visited some of the archeological sights in Bogra, saw the AKB and played a lot of games. Despite, my bad mood on Friday (I totally yelled- like actually raised my voice and nonsensically yelled- at Phill, for no good reason.) it was good times!!

It was HOT. I got angry at the heat!!!!

Ooooo, the next fun thing though was my birthday weekend. It included dinner at A&M’s (sorry Austin and Marita being that you are hitched, I abbreviate thusly.) with mint brownies and all!! Then we went Bowling and did DDR (Dance Dance Revolution, a great video game) and ate gelato. That was Awesome!!! The next night Robin, Sarah and I went out for steak. It was good times had by all.

After that back to Dimla for visits and taping some more movie and now I am here!!

Peace

Jodi

May-hem 2009

2009-06-08T01:26:00.000-07:00

June 8, 2009
Hmm May in review…
May started off with a trip to Dimla to check 170 some odd heifers for repro problems. Then on the 7th I took the GRE. It was as I expected; a ridiculous standardized test which probably doesn’t tell people much other than I am slightly worse than others at taking standardized tests. I did ok on the math but terrible on the verbal, which may or may not have anything to do with the fact that I have spent the past 3 years trying to use small English words and large words in 2 different languages. I am not sure how I did on the writing portion, because they don’t give you that score right away as it must be sent to humans for grading. The quantitative and verbal scores are given to you right after you take the exam, as it is computer based and scores you as you go along. It took 4 hours, after which the proctor of the exam tried to talk me up. He asked if I minded if he asked what score I received. Being that my brain at the time was a bit mushy from overstimulation I responded, “huu?.” I went on to ask what a good score was and he said “around 1200. Did you get over 1200?” I was close but not quite over that mark, so I shook my head. To which he responded, “oh then that is not very good.” I cringed rolled my eyes and took my things from the locked locker they had given me. Then the ostentatious proctor proceeded to ask me if he could have my phone number (which he actually could have just taken from my info page). WTF!!!! First you tell me I am an idiot, then you ask for my number?? I scowled, rolled my eyes and walked out. Afterwards, I had paneer and gelato. That always makes me feel better. Anyway, the universities I am looking at only require an 1000 score. I am over that. Plus I have a little bit of experience.
Ok, what next… I did some work and in perfect time made a chocolate cake. I made it right b4 I found out Lena would be leaving. We spent 2 nights in a row chit chatting and eating chocolate cake for dinner. Then on the 22-23rd I went down with Dave, Lena, Phill, Sarah and Paul to Comilla to visit Shyam-Da’s family. That was good fun even if it was 41 C and 99% humidity. We got to see the WWII cemetery, Bangladesh Ag Research & Development Center(?) (BARD), and some other touristy places down there. We also got to take a boat on the way back. That was great. We didn ‘t get a seat, but I sat for a long time on the ledge around the outside of the boat. Of course as a white lady alone sitting in a place where only poor men sit, I had my pack of spectators, but I was able to stop them from asking questions when I got annoyed. The view was magnificent!!!
The next wknd I stayed home and maybe left my house once. I read an entire 500 page book in 2 days!!!! I am not much of a reader, but I had time and a desire to finish. I also spent some time that wknd cleaning out Lena’s place, which was sad, scary and like Christmas all at the same time.
At work, I am finishing up the final draft of my Salt Mineral Block video and my training cow. They are coming along. The cow is going slower than I hoped, because I only work on it until the sweat covers my glasses and then I stop…it doesn’t take long these days.
Other highlights:
Trip to Dimla with Betty (Canadian Food Grain Bank officer in MCC)
Cutting Nate’s hair in mullet then Mohawk then buzz cut…see what comes next.
I am going to cheat and move into reporting on June activities, because they are fresh in my mind. Andrew is back in Bogra giving Bangla tutoring. I still stink and am terrible at studying, but it is helpful that he gives homework. This past weekend I went to Mymensingh for orientation. It was a really great weekend. I was surprised (not that I thought Robin would host a bad orientation, its just I didn’t think I would be so refreshed by it.) We took a boat ride, visited a botanical garden and the agriculture university. We ate great food cooked by Rauton, Scott and Jojo’s new cook (who actually used to work for MCC long ago.) We went to Taize prayer which was nice and visited other partners there. My favourite place we went was CCH which works with handicapped persons. Growing up I was always afraid of/anxious around mentally handicapped persons, but I think the joy in there smiles was so infectious. In comparison to the stark depressed/hopeless look of most Bengalis, it was a fresh breeze that hit like a ton of bricks (but in a good way). Well, I think that is all I will write for now. Will update again next month
Peace
jodi

Once again

2009-03-25T23:02:00.000-07:00

Thursday, March 26

Ok so I haven’t written in a while, but face it when was the last time YOU updated me on all that was happening in your lives? Life in Bangladesh is coming along as well as coming to a close. It is a bit weird. I felt bad telling one of the farmers in Dimla that I would only be here another 3 months. Just when I am getting to know names, I tell them I will be leaving. I now really understand the 3 year idea that my organization has. Well, I think the last time I wrote was a few months ago so I will try and update succinctly (I am taking the GRE May 7 so I am trying to practice words.).

hmmmm February. (This is taken directly from my monthly report to fellow expats here in country, so if you don’t understand something, just email me.)
    *Went to Dhaka for eye and dentist appointments. No cavities!! Yea!!
*Discussed more "tweaking" of the biogas unit. (which was a bit frustrating as when it comes to designing structures I am only confident with what I know and there have been MANY modifications to  this unit which reach far beyond my experience.)
*Getting to hang out with Sara and Sri while he was
here was a pleasure.
*Retreat, of course, was great. My favorite was the cabin we rode back in on the train. It was cool, like you see in movies!!
*Because I was out more there has been a lot of thinking about beggars. It is a complicated thing. I always want to give something even if it is just a sympathetic "maph korun" and an acknowledging look in the eyes. Even that takes a lot out of me sometimes. (I hate the way that reads and saying it allowed doesn't help either. "Oh poor me, with food and shelter, I am so weary from taking seconds out of my life to look at a poor person." I also generally don't give taka but rather food or something, but who am I to say that just b/c you are poor I have the power over what you can spend money on. Well anyway umm that was that soap box.
*Went to Dimla for 7days. while there, the whole "situation" happened. The border patrol held a coup, and held some high army official captive and threatened to do the same all over the country.   Due to my poor Bangla I didn't realize most of what was going on until it was over anyway. It did however make me think (and believe me I had plenty of time to think as there is hardly ever electricity in the evenings in Dimla and there were many long van-gari (flat bed bicycles) rides out the site to think. ) On multiple occasions (3-4) there was yelling and crying and hitting in or around the homes of the people we were meeting. I saw a small boy throw a 2x4 at an emaciated dog. There was a special on Al Jazeera, "Dining with Terrorists" that look at Sri Lanka and that added to my at that point borderline hopelessness. Where did we ever learn all this stuff? How do people learn to hate so much? Sarah Peace I am glad you are here.
   *Wow on a bit less depressing note, I got to spend much time with Sidul (MCC staff person in Dimla) his wife and their adorable 3 year old daughter. She has taken a liking to me and is teaching me bangla. Although she kept calling her swing "julu" which Sidul has recently informed me is in fact not Bangla for swing but rather a made up word. Well, I guess I know the "3yearoldchild" word for swing now.

That was Feb. I will update you in March when I write that update at the end of the month.

Peace

Jodi

The Cost of Obedience

2009-02-03T21:02:00.000-08:00

Well, as usual it has been a while. My computer is in the shop (was supposed to be back 9days ago...grrrrr). So, I spend most of my time stealing computers or doing work on paper. It is really hard to do work on paper. I don't like it. Oh well. Hmm since last I wrote I have been pretty busy. I conducted a 2 day training on cattle reproduction for our partner staff as well as our agriculture staff here at the Bogra office. It was tough b/c I am new and don't know anyone so I did it all by myself b/c I didn't know who to ask for help. It was translated. I don't like translations. Unfortunately, I only had a month of language study and wasn't qualified AT ALL to even speak a little. It was tiring!!! I think they liked it though and I tried to make it very participatory. My favorite was the bull soundness game we played. I made 5 scrotums out of socks for the scrotums and egg, tomatoes, starfruit etc for testicles. They had to feel them all and pick the good one. Then we went through and discussed why the others were not good. The funniest was the cryptorchid (one or both testicles fail to descend) with only one egg in the sock. They seemed to get a kick out of it. All in all it was good. I did some games that tried to get them all to problem solve. If you have ever lived in Asia you realize that this was a frustrating way to end a training, but I couldn't help but try. (School in Asia is the banking style of learning, you memorize answers and regurgitate them on tests/in life. Critical thinking and problem solving skills are rarely if ever taught.)
Hmm what else....I am continuing to learn to drive motorcycle. I don't like to drive on the roads, but I am learning. The roads here are worse than in Sri Lanka. The mentality/stupidity is the same but Bang has 7x more people and thus much more traffic. Like always it will simply take time.
Ahh I went to Dimla (where the actual project is) for 3 days practical training (more repro). It is a bit frustrating b/c they were improperly taught to detect heat and so to unteach them is tough. Every time they see a bit of mucus they tell me it is in heat or it has aborted. Add to their inadequate teaching the fact that they have sub-par critical thinking skills, and you have them wanting to throw pills at EVERYTHING. THEY WERE GIVING INTRA-UTERINE ANTIBIOTICS AND WASHES TO HEIFERS B/C THEY SAW COLOURED MUCOUS!!!! They told me that she definitely had a retained placenta!!!! SHE'S A HEIFER THERE WAS NEVER A PLACENTA TO RETAIN!!! Ummm....anyway they kept being unhappy when I (the "expert") kept telling them that there was no problem and that they simply needed to look for heat better. I was further vindicated when out of 8 animals checked for cysts (the livestock person insisted they kept coming into heat ever 8-12days) 4 were found to be pregnant. Haa haa I win.

My devotion/Bible study as of late has been on doing the will of God; searching, discerning, obeying and doing and all that that entails. A certain few discussions/studies have been on obedience in doing God's will and they have really spoken to me. This quote in particular:
"Obedience is costly to [me] and those around [me]. [I] cannot know and do the will of God without paying the price of adjustment and obedience." It is from the book Experiencing God by...ummm well I tried to cite it.

Sometimes it is more costly to those you care about than it is to you. However, my belief is that God provides, not only for me but for everyone (which includes those people i care about.)

I have one more thing to write. Recently a newspaper editor was assassinated in Sri Lanka. Having known that writing the truth (especially truth about the government) would most likely get him killed he kept an article written to be published after he was assassinated. Please read this article (link bellow) and pray for Sri Lanka and all those people around the world who have lost loved ones at the hands of those people drunk with the lust for power.
http://www.thesundayleader.lk/20090111/editorial-.htm

Peace and Love
jodi

2009-01-07T21:57:00.001-08:00

December 27, 2008
Its been a long time. Sorry, I haven’t really felt like writing. Things have been rough. I left Sri Lanka on October 31st (well actually 3am on Nov 1). Some co-workers came with me to the airport. We got stopped at the check point by my house. My police-friend was working there and so we just chatted and then he let us all go. Everyone was confused and amused. I cried when going into the airport. On the plane, I was accompanied by another girl I play Frisbee with and her co-worker as their visas had also been rejected. There was also another gentleman I knew on the flight. That was helpful. The flight was supposed to take off at 1235am but was delayed until 3. Then my next flight at Bangkok was also delayed. It made for a long and sad journey. I was trying not to cry the whole time on the flight. They gave me an orchid (usually business and first class passengers get orchids upon leaving a Thai Airlines flight.) and I felt a bit better. Gayle, Larry and Annika met me at the airport (BG CRs) and Annika made me smile right away. Anyway, I was only the “new kid” for a while b/c 2 new service workers came the next day and one more a few days after that. I went to pick up the 2. I had a sign hanging around my neck to welcome them. Annika and I had made it earlier that evening out of old “happy cow” cheese cartons.

Then for a week I visited the place I will be working. We visited farmers and all that good stuff. Election day happened when I was in the field. We thought it was funny that it got over so easily. At Robin’s house (now her OLD house and my NEW house) we had an Obama party. It was fun and there was a lot of chocolate. Moving on, the rest of the month was spent in language study, emotional distress, and intestinal illness. We did have an all staff conference that I thought would really stink b/c it was all in Bangla, but I found it really good. We had thanksgiving dinner and the expats did a dance choreographed by me. It took me over 4 hours to choreograph a 2 min dance. It was a Bollywood style dance. I am magic. I tried to upload it onto You Tube but it didn’t work. Boo. I will try again now!!! Ok all is starting.
What else?
(January 7, 2009) Ok, the video worked. Its on youtube name: Who said Mennonites can’t Dance. On December 5th I left for Sri Lanka (3 wks to finish up work and say good bye to people better). I was so so so happy to be home. I was smiling the full 12hr transit. It was so nice to be back. I was met at the airport by a good friend and it was great. I didn’t plan much for the trip b/c I wanted quality time with people and not the rush around to too many events like my previous good-byes had been. I spent some time at the office (although very little of my time was spent there and even less of that was spent working- mostly I just chit chatted with work friends. Ask me over in person sometime why.) I spent 4 awesome days down south at the beach with some friends. Most all the time was spent body boarding, which was super fun. We also went for a 3 hour whale watching trip. We saw a dead sea turtle and the fish that were eating it. Booo. It was a good ride anyway. One of my favorite parts about the weekend was when my friend’s son (3yr) got toppled by a wave, stood up, shook off and said, “that was awesome.” He was always afraid of the ocean, but has gotten so confident. That was cool. Christmas day I got up and went to church then off to my friend Priya’s for a big lunch and then to the children’s home run by my pastor and his wife for dinner. I power ate twice in one day. It was painful but great. I had almost a whole plate of ham for dinner. The only downer to the night was that I got gored by a cow that one of the children takes care of. There is still a bump and it only just stopped hurting. After Christmas, I just hung with friends and chilled. OHHHHH I forgot on the 18th I went to my friend Anju’s wedding. It was my first Buddhist wedding. It was nice. Very beautiful. I am so happy for him.
Ok back to end of Sri Lanka visit. One of my good friends (formerly atheist) Experienced God. That was a very good experience. Now said person is searching for more truth of God. It makes me happy b/c this person was very sad for a very long time and now feels they have found purpose and meaning in God.

Anyway, I am back in Bangaldesh. It is COLD!!!!!!!!!! Oh my goodness. It gets down to 12 C in the evenings. Wow. I just am not used to that type of cold weather. However, I am adjusting surprisingly well. It’s a bit weird to be honest. I moved into my house where I will be staying for the remainder of my time here. It is nice. The day after I moved in I hosted a New Years Eve party that went really well. New Years Day I did some work at the office but managed to fit in 6 movies with the girls. I am magical. All in all things here are pretty ok. I have lots of work to keep me busy now and that is a nice change. I enjoy throwing myself into work. Speaking of, I am going to get some done now. Peace
~Jodi

Moving On

2008-10-26T22:36:00.000-07:00

October 13, 2008
Went to the beach this weekend with friends. I drove...which I wasn't really all that happy about, but now I can say that I drove on the road I thought I would never drive on. Yea!!!!! It was lovely. I had a great time. We got up early on Sunday morning and went snorkeling. We decided to hire a guide to take us through the reefs. It was my first time snorkeling and there were boats and I was a bit afraid, so our guide took me by the hand. I just swam along side of him and he pointed out fish. The tsunami ruined a lot of the reef, but slowly it is coming back. At one point we were swimming with a school of fish. It was cool.

October 27, 2008
Well, hmmm life stinks sometimes. So after I last wrote I took a trip to the District Secretary office. We got the letter that said she would not be renewing my visa. That sucked. The next day we had a school milk program in Meegahapalessa. It was great. It was at a small Montessori. There were only 15 students. They sang me some songs and gave a necklace. We gave milk and books. I cried b/c they gave this nice speech and the kids sang songs. I realized just how much I love the people of this country. That weekend I planned some hang out time with friends b/c I felt the beginning of the end coming. Wednesday the 22nd we went in to the DS office to appeal. It didn’t work. The woman is unreasonable. Power induced fear and hatred have clouded her judgment. I think she believes she is doing good. In the words of Jimmie Hendrix “only when the power of love overcomes the love of power will we ever see peace.” I sit on a fence between hating her and feeling sorry for her. One who cannot give love and compassion cuts themselves off from receiving love and compassion. That’s got to be tough. Anyway, at the end of our meeting I told her she was unreasonable, but thanked her for allowing me to work here for 2 years. Then I went out to the van and cried/hyperventilated until I almost passed out. One good thing that is coming from this is that I am learning to feel/express my emotions. I think that it makes it easier to get over them then. Anyway, I am exhausted b/c the time I have until I leave is ABSOLUTLY filled with people and goodbyes and packing and passing on work. I think I will arrive in Bangladesh and sleep for a day.

Ok funny story. I got an sms from a guy saying he was 35 and had heard about my visa issues and that he would like to help. I was a bit curious when he said he was 35. Well anyway. It was a guy that knows one of my friends. I had never met him. Anyway, he proposed we should get married. Then was like trying to like sell himself to me. "I own 16perchases of land in Colombo, I work for a Christian medical NGO and am a born again Christian and would like to try a partnership from out (meaning abroad)" here's the cake topper. He asked if he could ask my age and I told him 25. And he was like "i am 35 but don't worry I am of a small build.” It is really sort of funny.

Hmmm Friday I took my office bowling. None of them had ever gone before. It was GREAT. They really enjoyed it. I will miss office people and well everyone. I know God has a plan; even if I cannot see it and for the time being think it sucks.

Ok I will post this now even though there is probably more I could write. Please keep me in your prayers. Feel free to comment and tell me your ideas on what I should choose to do.
Peace,
jodi

2008-10-10T00:47:00.000-07:00

October 10, 2008
I should be working. However, I am not. I feel sort of in limbo. My visa expires the 31st of this month and we have heard nothing of the recommendation letter the District Secretary is supposed to give us. We also know that she doesn’t like foreigners and she is constantly worried that we are Christians aimed at converting all her constituents. She hasn’t liked me from the start. We are going on Wednesday (15th) to see what the hold-up is. Until then I am stuck in this, should I pack up and say goodbye or just keep on keeping on. It is frustrating to say the least. And now one of my friends is angry with me for who knows why. Grrrrr moody people. That is why today I am less than productive.

On a happier note, I finished the book I was reading. I am going to see Mamma Mia tonight hopefully, and this weekend I am going to the beach for a duel Chenoa and Chris birthday bash. Weeeeeeee. Last week I had lunch at PodiManikae’s house. It is nice now that I can go to peoples’ houses and converse (albeit sometimes at great effort) with them. Ok I will once again try and work.
Peace Jodi

Nepal...Y'all

2008-10-03T07:44:00.000-07:00

Aug. 24
Ok since the visit in July I have been in and out. Not in Madampe too much. We have been working really hard on all my visa renewal stuff. Weeeeeee!!!! lots of reports and statistical analysis. During that week I did get to go to a cricket match that I thought I would get to participate in. But apparently “women can stand by the side and cheer.” Even some of my male friends thought it unfair AND it wasn’t the first year for this event or the first year women have been denied the right to play. I left and will no longer be attending events hosted by this particular CHRISTIAN organization. Yes, I did say Christian. Grrrrrrrrrrrrr aaarrrrggg.

On a more exciting note, I coordinated games for vacation Bible school. It was good times and I got to know a lot of people and kids. The songs were good. It was a great time. Most of my games involved water balloons. It rocked. Ok now I am done updating you.

I really am rubbish at keeping this thing up to date. I do try. How many of you all have a journal that you update? How often do YOU update it? I am doing more than the annual Christmas card thing. Anyway, I just spent some time reading a few of my earlier posts. Ha, life is funny. Hmmm since August 24th I have…
Farmers went to a day-long training at a government center and to see the National Livestock Development Board dairy farm.
We had the cornerstone placing ceremonies for the community building in our 5th dairy village Bibiladiniya.
Weighed calves for feed program in Gorakgasagara
Had 2nd annual Colombo Cow Party (big success)
Had loan and insurance training in Bibiladiniya.
Went to Nepal for 2 weeks.
Visited farmers after my vacation
small clinic in Meegahapelesa

Ok Nepal…
I went for a MCC Bangladesh/Sri Lanka retreat and then took an extra week to go trekking in the mountains. The way the flight schedules work out I arrived a day before all the MCCBang peoples. I have never traveled alone when I wasn’t meeting people once I got to a place. I was a bit nervous. But alas I did ok and all was well. I went looking around this touristy trekker area the day I got there. I needed to get some things for the trek for myself and Lena one of the people that also went on the trek. The next day I bought all the stuff and met the MCCBang people at the airport. It was great to see them. From there, they had arranged a van to take us to where we would stay, an hour out of Kathmandu. Well, like half way there we encountered a road block. There was apparently an accident and for some reason people were angry and blocked the road. In Nepal a common form of outrage is seen in road blockages. No one could pass and they said that they were burning people tires and throwing rocks if they passed. However, passing on foot was ok. So, we got out and walked a kilometer to the other side of the road block. On the way we passed 2 large streams of blood (a gallon each maybe) a shoe and partial contents of a bag. It was a bit yucky, definitely people died in the accident. Once on the other side we took a Jeep to our hostel. We were 9 adults, one driver, 4 children and all the baggage all packed in…well 2 adults and some bags rode on top of…the Jeep. I had purchased some walking sticks for the trek and they were on top and apparently in a rather precarious position, leaving Larry- also atop the roof- feel violated. Anyway, September 9-13 was spent relaxing mostly. We played games, went on small hikes and explored the village. Very peaceful. I was however a bit afraid when we went on this 6 hour hike that turned out to be a bit longer and we had to take a bus back. Also, as we were leaving we thought that we had actually gone to the wrong place and were very dumbfounded at our hiking 6 hours and not even seeing what we had hiked to see. But in the end it was in fact the right place. This incident did not give me much hope for our 5 day trek.

After that, Robin, Lena and I left for Pokhara where we would start our trek. On the 14th we got all the permits you need to trek where we would be. It is a conservation area, so you have to have a trekking permit and the also have a system where you sign into a city so they can follow your trek and look for you if you disappear. That took quite a long time and by the time we started the trek it was like 12 noon and we stopped for lunch at 1. The hiking that day was good. Up hill but gradual with ups and a few downs, nothing steep. Day 2 however was a KILLER. Oh my goodness, like 9 hours of stairs strait up. It was a doozey!!!! Only promises of Choco-pies at stops kept me going. I am sure that day was even more beautiful than what we had seen the day before, I was just too tired to notice. However when we got to the town we were staying in for the night, THE VIEW WAS AMAZING!!!!!!!!!! Oh my goodness. It was so worth it. We had a triple room with three walls of windows and a view of the mountains from each side. It was magic. I woke up a few times during the night that evening, because my thighs were paining so much. In the morning we hiked up to 3210m (from 2874m) at 430am to see the sunrise and a 360 degree view of the mountains. However…it was a bit cloudy and the view was better from our hotel room the night before…but we did it…ok!

Well, it is now October 3rd and I am determined to get this posted tonight. As you can see it began on Aug 24th…now where was I? Ah yes…
After sunrise we were talking with a British and an Australian chap. They were going to do our Nay Pul- Goropani- Tatopani- Beni route, but some one told them the last 2 days are dull with no views. So they were going from where we were (Goropani) to Chule then Chamrong, Jihu Danna and then back. This would add a day to our 4 day trek but is supposed to be beautiful. I was a bit weary because we would go up more then down a lot then up some more…and some more then down a whole lot. In the end I thought, “when am I going to do this again?” so that is how we added a day to our trek. So, day 3 we climbed up 1hr to see the sunrise then down 45min back for breakfast. Then up 1hr 30min then down 2.5 hours then lunched…down another hour then up an hour then down an hour. I think this was my favorite day as most of the time we trekked through the forest and we accompanied by a beautiful stream and many waterfalls.
Day 4: we went down 2hours and then up 20min. After that it was supposed to be flat to the place where we were going to have lunch…haaa. It was about as flat as my behind. It was flat at one point…unfortunately it was flat VERTICALLY!!! That was only like 10 feet though. There were also many new landslides since it was the end of monsoon season. This made for some “uncomfortable” paths. They would have been ok I think had we not had our packs. At one point I was almost bellying up to the mountain and grappling for any hold I could find. Eventually after 2 hours of this “flat” (i.e. up up up) land we got to our lunch destination. Today was a leech day and when we took off our shoes for a bit at lunch, I was the leech winner. Three baseball diameter size blood stains on my socks from leech bites. After lunch was a 2 hour trek down to where we stayed the night. We rested for an hour when we got there and then trekked 30min down to the hot springs. Oh man this was nice. Although, getting there the path was FULL of leeches. The hot springs had been destroyed in a recent flood- they sit on the banks of a mighty mountain river- and had only just been repaired. So, we had the pool all to ourselves!!! It was magic and got us ready for our last and final day of trekking. So, the last day was pretty much down the whole way. Not bad down like the other days…gently rolling down. Yeah!!! This was also a leech day. We all got it good this day. When we stopped for tea at 1030 I had like 6 bites, 3 of which were at the same spot. One leech biting through my sock and the other 2 in the same place under my sock. We also had to walk through many water falls on this day so my shoes got soaked. However I set them out at lunch and they mostly dried. That day I was the fast one because my body was dirty, my clothes were smelly, and there were leeches on my hands, belly, back and feet. I was itchy and smelling from the sweaty dirty cloths and I just wanted to be done! ALAS we were done!!!!!! We took the bus back to Pokhara and cleaned up. I had left a pair of clean clothes at the hotel. Mmmm it was nice! We had planned on going to get steak that evening, but we were just too tired and would not have been able to enjoy them properly. We got ice cream instead.
Then next day we went shopping and mulled around. In the evening we went out for steak. It is the same steak house that Rachel Nigel and I had been to a little over a year earlier. It was great. I got the Rum and Cheese steak. Mmmmm. After that we went dancing!! However, the new Maoist government is shutting all establishments down at 10pm. There apparently has been an influx of adult night places and they are trying to make some laws against this and until they do things shut down at 10pm. On a side note, we encountered one such establishment. We were looking for a place to dance…the sign said dancing…we went in…and there in fact was a girl dancing. (don’t worry she was fully clothed, but it was still weird.) The scary waitresses with REALLY dark/trashy make-up pleaded for us to stay…but as three women… we were less than inclined to stay. The next day we went back to Katmandu and the next day I was off back home.
And so ends the tail of my trip to Nepal.

What has happened since I got back.
Highlights:
· Navin got 2 puppies, so I have been over at his place a lot playing with them.
· Went on trip to Rathnapura with Gorakgasagara…they now know for sure that I am absolutely nuts. I think they like it though. Sometimes I am serious…at trainings and stuff.
· I washed my car today.
· I hope to finish Children of Húrin this weekend.

2008-09-22T00:11:00.000-07:00

Happy (belated) Birthday Janelle!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I celebrated your birthday in a natural hot spring. I hope you felt the warmth!!!!!!

Long long Time

2008-08-23T23:51:00.000-07:00

August 13, 2008 (started)- August 24, 2008 (finished)

I am so sorry to all of you that check my blog often. I really do try and write regularly. It is harder than it seems. I will start with a timeline of life since July 2nd. Hmm On July, 2nd we had weights day. We are implementing a heifer calf feeding program in Gorakgasagara and attempting to collect data so that we can show people that you can earn more money feeding your heifers and having them calve in at 2.5yrs (Bos indicus calve later and these are mixed breed mostly so 2.5 would be an excellent average calving age) than having them calve at 3.5-4 years because of the slower growth rate. Anyway once a month we weigh all the calves. We are trying to have people volunteer calves that they are not feeding so that we can have a control group, but we also don’t want to discourage NOT feeding heifers. Now people “see” how well fed calves are doing they are beginning to purchase food for the other calves as well. This is a good thing, but sort of sucks if you want a control group to compare you fed group to. We may just have to use anecdotal evidence. (I put the word “see” in quotes b/c people tend to ‘see’ things out of excitement.) Anyway, I like this day b/c it is physical work. I prefer physical work to computer work.
Next week on the 10th July, we took farmers to the Milk Collection center in Nathandiya. It is where their milk goes when the truck picks it up. There is no processing done there, but it is collected and tested for bacteria, fat and snf. After that we visited a good farm in the area.

Mom and Dad came on the 15th. Shiloni and I went to pick them up in my car. When we stopped security to get into the airport, the guys asked if Shiloni was my tour guide. A dumb question if you ask me. Not too many tourists drive their tour guides around in their cars in Sri Lanka. Anyway, I was super tired (we left my house at 330am as their flight was to get in at like 450 or something like that.) and we waited and waited. Dad came and said that luggage was not. Anyway, we left w/o luggage and a small stipend for clothes. That day we got back and went shopping at P&A (roughly a little like K-mart for clothes.) We also took naps. I am sure mom and dad can give you a better account as they kept journals. Tuesday they came to the Colombo office with me and met all my colleagues. Wednesday to Friday we were in Madampe doing stuff. Friday night we came back for Bible Study. Saturday we left for the cultural triangle Dambulla, Sigiriya and Pollannaruwa. We stopped places there. then went to Kandy and the elephant orphanage and tea estates. We took the train back from Kandy, that was nice. Oh and I took them to the dancing show and the Kandy market (mom forgot the fruit she was going to take back…oopps…it made excellent fruit smoothies for me…thanks mom) After that we went down south to the beach. We went by AC bus. it was good. I didn’t know that Dad had never been to an ocean beach before. He and I are natural body surfers. We were riding waves left and right. I think that was my favorite part of the trip. Hanging out at the beach is often a highlight. It is nice just to be lazy beach bums. Sleep, swim, eat, kick parents’ butts in the Pass the Pigs game. It was nice. We were back in Colombo then for a day or so. Saturday before they left we went to the park for Frisbee and then out for seafood with some of my friends. That was nice. It wasn’t the place I wanted to go b/c they were all booked but it was a nice place with a seafood buffet. Sunday we went to lunch with Pastor and had dinner with Priya and Brindan at Priya’s house. They had to be to the airport early b/c the SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) conferences were in town and security was up up up. They got off ok and the rest they can tell. It was a really good time!!!! I am so happy they came. Even if they think I was annoyed by them by the end (yup, Navin ratted you out). Yes, it is tiring trying to make sure people are having a good time and I was tired by the end. BUT I could have lasted forever and never complained b/c it was worth so much more than being tired!!!

Since then…Not a whole lot. We have been planning for next year and getting stuff ready for my visa renewal application.

Aug. 24
Ok since the visit in July I have been in and out. Not in Madampe too much. We have been working really hard on all my visa renewal stuff. Weeeeeee!!!! lots of reports and statistical analysis. During that week I did get to go to a cricket match that I thought I would get to participate in. But apparently “women can stand by the side and cheer.” Even some of my male friends thought it unfair AND it wasn’t the first year for this event or the first year women have been denied the right to play. I left and will no longer be attending events hosted by this particular CHRISTIAN organization. Yes, I did say Christian. Grrrrrrrrrrrrr aaarrrrggg.

On a more exciting note, I coordinated games for vacation Bible school. It was good times and I got to know a lot of people and kids. The songs were good. It was a great time. Most of my games involved water balloons. It rocked. Ok now I am done updating you.

Long Time Gone

2008-07-05T23:41:00.000-07:00

July 2, 2008

Ok life since then…
then meaning: since I last posted.
Life has been going fast. July 4 is my one year left mark. Crap!!! oh my goodness where does time go??? I am old now. A quarter of a century to be exact and I am still asking myself, “What do I want to be when I grow up?” Now I only have a year left here and must decide on what to do next. I also have to finish things up here and make sure the project is sustainable when I leave. This is ludicrous. Honestly!!!

Anyway, sorry for that short rant.
MCC people came. I had an itinerary and everything made up for them when they arrived. It was magic. And the plan went smoothly. We went to Y Gro CSU, Y Gro Madampe, had other meetings, swam in a pool, played Frisbee, released a baby turtle from a hatchery and had many awesome times sitting on the beach doing one of the hardest things for Americans to do…NOTHING. Sitting and doing nothing. In Sinhala it is “nikang innawa”, which translates to “simply there/being.” I hope my parents can partake in this vacation activity when they are here. (Yes!!! my parents are coming to visit me!!!! Never been out of the country- except for Canada- farmers from Ohio are coming to Sri Lanka…more on this later.) I feel my planning curse has finally been lifted. I have had a curse all my life, that when I plan things, nothing goes as planned, so I have spent most of my life not planning. It works for me. It however does not work when you have people coming to visit you. Anyway, it was a really great visit.

They left on a Wednesday. I had trainings in Madampe on Thursday and Friday. Friday afternoon I drove back to Colombo and went to Bible study. Dorothy made my favorite magic fudge covered brownies. (the are magic b/c they are like a “lazy woman’s cake” you mix all the ingredients in the pan you cook it in, BUT when this brownie is done there is magically fudge on the top!!! The ingredients you mixed together separate and a portion becomes brownie and another becomes fudge…see!!! magic.) Anyway, we were eating dinner before the study and my stomach felt very full very fast. So I stopped eating and went to stretch my stomach. This however didn’t help. I began to feel worse and worse and my stomach began to feel more full even though I was no longer eating. Anyway, I went home early b/c I was really feeling lousy. Pat drove me home b/c I was really in pain and couldn’t drive my car. Anyway, I got home and spent the rest of the night violently ill. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!! In the morning I woke up and was so dehydrated my skin felt dryer than it did when I went home this Christmas. Chenoa my roomie went to the store and bought me some crackers, biscuits, juice and soda. Ben and Pat came up and sang Happy-Birthday and gave me a leftover plate of magic brownie from Bible study and some electrolytes. After this, I realized just how awesome my friends are and decided that this would be the best birthday EVER. I was determined to go to my birthday party which Navin and I had been planning for over a month. So, I forced my self to sleep most of the day. When not sleeping I was drinking either ginger beer (like root beer but ginger), electrolytes or electrolytes in juice and eating crackers. At 4 I went to Navin’s to help him set up. I saved 2 of the 3 diet Pepsi’s I got imported from Bangladesh for this evening. (I was really only going to drink one on my birthday, but since I was sick, I thought I deserved both.) So there I was turning a quarter of a century, dressed as a rock star, knocking back 2 bottles of diet Pepsi, some regular Coke and 3-4 cream crackers…AND BEING THE LIFE OF THE PARTY. I am magic. The best way I kept myself from feeling sick again was to dance/air band to the rocking music that was playing. By 2AM most people had left but there were 9 of us that went to this big beach party in Mt. Lavinia. There was this big platform with lights on it that the DJ was on, which was about 10ft high. My friend Brindan knew a guy and Che and I got to dance on top of this stage. It was so so so cool, like a scene from a movie. Once again, subsisting on only diet Pepsi and cream crackers, I am the life of this party too. I arrive home at 430AM with a slight fever, but feeling well. I wake up the next morning at 945 and go to church. I praise God so much for the gifts I have received ( not just the birthday gifts!) that I nearly fall over. Life is perfect in those moments when we are singing. I know that storms will come and I will fall into darkness many more times before I see the eternal light. However I am at that moment reassured that whenever I am in the darkness Jesus is right there with me begging me simply to open my eyes and receive light again.

On a similar thread, my roomie likes to do a time of reflection for her birthday. She likes this idea and makes us all do in. I however love this idea to, so I don’t mind. Here is my reflection.
Most Defining Event(s): Spiritually I have grown so much. I think being here where there aren’t many Christians has been good. It has allowed me to study other religions more closely and discuss them more with people who are actually a part of them. Also there has been a lot of finding myself, which has also been leading to God. (Which I am very happy about.) If I had to give this year a title it would be Yr24: Growth of Self (in the LIGHT).

Most Memorable Event: This one it easy and I have told the story often. It is definitely the time I was in Bangladesh for Ramadan. Breaking the fast in the evening with a table composed of Muslims (of course), high cast Hindus (one of which serves on the board of a Catholic mission) and Christians from South and North America. It was amazing being able to share that religious experience with such a group.

What’s Up Next? I have one more year on my contract with Y Gro. I don’t know really what I am doing after that. I have some options. (These are in random order) One is to stay in Sri Lanka a while longer and get one of those NGO jobs that pays an American salary. It would be cheap to live here and if I got an American salary I could pay off student loans faster. I would however require that they send me home every year. Apparently it isn’t to hard to get a job with those specifications. Two is to go back to school and get a masters in rural development or peace and conflict studies. Third is to go home and work cows/vet clinic. I had this fun idea to make a sort of U-pick, u-can homegrown niche type farm. one where we would grow a lot of fruits and veggies and then we would have canning and preserving days were people could pay to take classes on canning and preserving their own food and then also have a little store where people could buy the home canned/preserved foods. How cool is that?? Well anyway. We shall see. I am full of ideas but am unfortunately a finisher and not a starter, so many plans never start.

On Sunday 29th we opened our 4th villages milk collection center. An MP (member of parliament…i.e. a big shot) came and we schmoozed with him. It went well.

Yesterday (July 5th) my sister got married in America. I attended the wedding via skype. It was cool. The camera was at the back of the sanctuary and I could see everything. I was being projected on the back wall. When I read the scripture they projected me onto the front wall of the church so everyone could see me. It was so futuristic. It was awesome!!!! There was also a 4 foot tall cardboard cut out of me. I am a bit afraid to see the pictures my family took with it. My goodness!!! They are crazy. Some friends were over with me to watch the wedding. They were all very amused. My family is crazy.

Well I think that is all for now…
OH HEY my parents are coming to visit.!!!! isn’t that cool??? Ok, gotta go take some soup to a sick friend.
Peace
Me

Good times are the "Bomb"

2008-06-13T02:17:00.000-07:00

June 8, 2008

Ok so it has been a bit long since last I wrote. Things have been good. I have been busy which is good for me. Over Wesak I went to Mirissa (the beach) with some friends. It was good. Little beach, little reading, little fun…it was good. On Tuesday we went to Saman Villas. SV is a 5star plus hotel. It was awesome!!! My friend Navin’s dad is a partner in ownership, so all our food and the room was free. It was so cool. We didn’t stay overnight, but we had a room for the day. It had its own private pool (each room did, plus the hotel had another large pool for all the guests!!!) It was so so so so cool. It was like for one day I was super rich. It was weird.
Since, then I have been really busy with work. I enjoy that. I prefer to be busy. I should write more, but I am lazy and sleepy.
On Friday we took farmers from Koulwewa to Kandy. It was a great trip and we had a lot of fun and bonded a lot.
10 June 2008,
Ok more about the Kandy trip. We started out at 6am. We hired a bus and went. There were about 45farmers, 4 Y Gro Staff, the LDI for Koulwewa and the new and old MILCO reps for Nathandiya (where they sell their milk). We first went to a place called Kundasalle. It is the national cattle semen collection center. We got a tour and a demonstration of what happens from start to finish. I think they enjoyed it. I don’t think it is a trip that will make them more money “in the barn”, but there is value in knowing you work in an industry that is really complex and deserving of veneration. People here still don’t see dairying as that respected of an occupation. Its not really looked down upon, nor is it all that respected. I think that wears on the farmers. I hope that by seeing this will make them feel motivated, because they are part of something complex. (complex is not the right word but that is the best I can do for now).
Anyway…after that we went to the “Temple of the Tooth”. I am not sure were all the Y Gro staff went, but I got taken by the hand by one of our farmers and we went to the temple as a “family”. Srimathi, her husband, their daughter and me, along with the other farmers went to temple. They bought flowers for me to put on the shrine table. It was a bit akward, since I am Christian and need them to know that. I however don’t feel that putting flowers on a table is wrong, as I was doing it out of respect and not worship. I was unable however to communicate this rather advanced idea in Sinhala. Because, I was unable to communicate this fact I would have preferred not to make the act. However, I was also unable to respectfully communicate that fact either. So…there I was putting flowers on the shrine and sitting with a group of worshiping Buddhists. I had a nice conversation with God. I would have liked the situation to have gone a bit differently. HOWEVER this was a really good time of bonding with the farmers and I must not devalue relationship building.
After that we went to the botanical gardens. It was more good bonding time. Because this was Koulwewa village and we have technically ended our project there in March, I was more my fun self and played with the children and was silly. In the village I tend to be more professional-like. Ohhhh…At both the temple and the botanical gardens normally foreigners have to pay (Rs 500 at temple and Rs 600 at gardens). I am a resident so I get local rates, but my passport was at the visa office. Anyway, when you have 45 farmers plead your case, they let you in for the local price (free at temple and Rs 30 at gardens)
The way home was filled with Sinhala song and drumming. Good times.

On a more annoying note, violence has picked up again. 3 Colombo bombings in 1 week; 2trains and a bus. Chandran my boss made me take Mr Fernando (a van driver Y Gro usually uses) to Madampe this week. He didn’t want me to take the bus or even drive alone. There has been some fighting b/t Muslims and Tamils on the main road about 20-50km north of where I turn off to go to Madampe. He was being over-protective. (that’s not an opinion, but a fact.) He is like that. I am sure that makes my mom happy.
I will most likely drive more often now. In Colombo I will probably drive or take trishaws. My friends are beginning to voice their concern over my taking the bus. Even my friend Shazy, who NEVER says anything kind without it being draped in sarcasm simply said, “you need to be careful, taking the bus”.

The only reason I take the bus is this. How can I help people if I don’t understand them? How can I understand a people if I don’t live with them? MCC will pay for me to take trishaws, I am sure. Vino who works in Accounts at the Colombo office takes a bus 2 hours to Colombo and 2 hours back every day. What makes me so special that I should take a trishaw instead of the 30min bus ride? I am safe because I can afford it, not because I deserve (or don’t deserve) it. Seriously, how unjust is that????!!!!???

Tonight (10/6) I went to Kappangamua for evening milk collection. People come and give their milk and wait 10min for the rezulin test to be done. Most people stay longer and “shoot the poo.” I did too. It was cool. I am still rubbish at Sinhala but I sort of kept up. We talked about lots of stuff. It was really good for bonding. I am going again somethime.

Up next…
MCC Bangladesh/Sri Lanka CRs come next week for a visit. It should be good.
My birthday June 28th

Peace,
Jodi

2008-05-15T22:42:00.000-07:00

May 13, 2008
Those crazy charismatics!!

I am a bit reluctant to write this in a public venue…it is deep and meaningful and may cause a few crazy stares. However, b/c I am half a world away from most of you who read this… stare away hosers!!! I don’t care… Ha ha I win! You Lose!!

So, you know those crazy evangelicals? Well…hmm how do I start this??? Today (April 27, 2008) at church, we had a guest preacher. It was good and at the end we prayed for the ability to really pray and talk to God and Jesus, because sometimes we just go through the motions. We were praying and it was good and I was really asking the Holy Spirit to come and fill me. I prayed fervently. I got warmish (Sri Lanka at 1130 in a church…the threshold for heat is high) and began to get misty eyed, as I usually do when I feel God and the Holy Spirit (HS) present. I still prayed harder asking the HS to come. Prayed with all I had, and then…I began to twitch a little. I don’t know whether it was here or later that I eased up on the prayer, but I soon was shaking like a shivering child. By this time my prayer had changed from, “More More HS” to “well now HS, you can feel free to ease up a bit if you like” to “NO MORE NO MORE.” I don’t know how long this lasted (a minute or two maybe) but it felt like a century and an instant all at once. After it was over, I sat down and wept (very difficult for me to do, especially in public, as growing up I learned/saw it to be a sign of weakness) but I also prayed for the country and other pressing things and didn’t really need words. It was like my heart and soul had been completely opened up and I was praying to good with my whole being and not just my mouth and words. I can’t even describe it, the openness and…freedom??? ok it has no words. I am fairly sure that I only breathed once during the whole time. It was crazy. Afterwards, I went forward for prayer (a bit reluctantly, as I didn’t want anyone to see I had been crying) after the prayer with the guest preacher he told me that God had given me the anointing of healing. God has chosen me to be a pair of hands in God’s doing of great miracles.

I am processing this experience now. It’s not that I don’t believe in this sort of thing…its just well, it is for the people that are into that sort of thing. I was happy “those evangelical/charismatic” people existed, but I was quite happy keeping my hands at my side and singing beautiful harmonies to the Lord. But it appears as though this is not where God wants me to be at this time. I am still processing.

Ok a bit lighter… This week we are visiting farmers in our new village of Bibiladiniya. We go to each farmer’s house and ask questions and talk and eat lots of food and drink lots of tea. Yesterday after lunch I really believed that my stomach had in fact exploded within me. We ate lunch at the home of one of the farmers. It was great! However, I am rubbish at saying enough b/c they are so pleased when I eat stuff. Before lunch we had tea at one house and I was given this sweet called “sow aluu ah” I really don’t care for it. I however choked down the whole thing b/c I couldn’t say no and make the farmer feel bad. I thought I was going to yak. Anyway, today was a bit less extravagant. there were less “teas” and lunch was awesome but I was able to say no a bit more. I love eating in village homes…no on cooks better…man it is awesome. I think I am going to gain a stone (14lbs) this week. Oh well.

Oh ok funny story about today’s lunch. So, I like spicy food now, but it still makes my nose run. Well today after eating my nose was really running. I didn’t have my handkerchief and people were watching. Ahh. It is hard to wipe your nose with the hand you aren’t eating with and then wipe it on your skirt gracefully. It was a long time of me not looking up and slyly wiping my nose. It was awkward, but I did it.

Last Saturday, I hosted a “slob” party. A few friends and I ate junk food and watched movies until 3AM. I woke up the next morning and felt TERRIBLE!!! So much junk food makes you feel bad!!!

Ok, i am done now, will write more later.
Peace,
jodi

Will share more later

2008-04-27T20:34:00.000-07:00

April 27, 2008

Hello all. Let’s see now…what has been happening to me. Well, work has been a bit slow because of the New Year holiday. Sinhala/Tamil/Hindu New Year is in April. My neighbor lady died. I didn’t go to the funeral, but we went to the daana (d-ahh-na). It is a Buddhist tradition of giving a dinner on behalf of the deceased. The act of giving is a way to help the living over the grief. After that, I had a wedding, so the ladies from the daana came over and dressed me. I love that and I think they loved it too. They did a really nice job. It looked great and people said I did a very nice job walking in it. The wedding was nice but they kept putting off these exploding streamer things. After the first one, I thought I was going into V-fib (ventricular fibrillation…having a heart attack.) Anyway, it appears as though I survived. The whole wedding was in Tamil…I don’t know Tamil well…ok I don’t really know it at all. Oh well. At the reception the food was really really nice. It was my “cousin” that was getting married. He used to work for our Mannar office but now works for a bigger INGO. His brother works in our accounts department. His brother and I fight like brother and sister. He almost pushed me down the stairs the other day. Anyway, one more thing, when leaving a SL wedding you go say congrats to the bride and groom and have your picture taken. All the Y Gro group went together. When leaving, I said my congrats and Udaya (the groom…my cousin) said that I looked really nice…and then I awkwardly said, “Yeah…so do you.” and then seeing his beautiful new wife I put in, “and so do you”. Talk about your all time lame compliments. It was funny in the end but a bit awkward.

Last Saturday I went to the ocean. It was a Poya day so the waves were wicked. I got thrashed by one and fell and scraped my knee up wicked bad. It is healed now though. I however, had to whip out my vet tech knowledge on wound healing because it was a very dirty wound.

We officially opened our 5th dairy village on Friday, Bibaladiniya.

Tonight (Sunday, April 27) my Sunday school class visited an orphanage for boy. I was in charge of the games. It was a lot of fun, but man was it hard to get them to pay attention. We played games and sang some songs and ate ice cream.

Hey look!!! not so long this time!!!

2008-04-07T02:42:00.000-07:00

April 7, 2008

Ok, not much new today. I am in the Colombo office today. I don’t want to be at work right now…I wish it were the weekend. However, it is only Monday and I have a long way to go, so I might as well deal with it. Hmm, what has happened? The girl that came on out Easter weekend trip that I didn’t know works for the embassy. She has access to the commissary (a store where you can buy American things that you can’t find in Sri Lanka). She got me some brown sugar and baking chocolate and some “add water” pie crust mix. (I have found no suitable substitute for Crisco or lard when making pie crusts.) I made chocolate chunk and spice cutout cookies. My friend Dorothy and her husband had to run some errands that day, so I watched their 3yr old son Mikah. We made the cookies together. I put my “Got Milk” apron on him and tied it all up. It was cute and he liked wiping his hands on it. We then sat together and ate a warm cookie and watched Thomas the Train Engine. I was really tired and almost fell asleep b/c some friends and I had gone to this embassy party the evening before and were dancing up a storm!!! The music was VERY classic Americana. It was fun from all eras; 50’s to present. On the way home, our friend Paul texted us to say that he was almost home safely. After that he fell over a broken wall thing (am not sure, but he assures us that it was not an obvious place for an old cement wall). Anyway, he continued to walk home in order to save face. Once there he realized that it was a very bad injury. He called us the next day and still hadn’t gone to the hospital. He was still bleeding too. Navin, quickly yelled at him and he went. Now he gets to stay in Sri Lanka an extra week b/c the doctor didn’t want him to go back to India yet. His injuries should heal a bit first.

Hmm, what else??? Oh I have been really fervent in my devotions lately. I have also been trying to learn more about other religions. I think you should know what you believe, but ALSO why you don’t believe other things. In order to REALLY know why I don’t believe in Islam I have to first know a bit about it. Well anyway, I think I will do some work now.
Peace and Love
jodi

Hey only 29 days later

2008-03-31T09:32:00.000-07:00

31 March 2008
Last I wrote was before Alpha weekend and sari jacket getting. Hmmm. First I will start with a cute little Sri Lanka story. I am still amazed at the little things and how they make me laugh inside. Prema the office housekeeper sometimes brings food. There are many of us working at the office that live alone, a rare thing, so sometimes she brings food for us poor beings with no moms or wives. I am 24 years old and she is so so so so so happy when I let her feed me. It is Sri Lankan culture to feed your children. At weddings sometimes instead of giving each other the cake you feed your new spouse rice and curry. All done with the hands and no cutlery mind you. There I am 24 yrs old and eating rice and curry off the fingers of our office lady…haa life is funny.
Ok so what has been happening? I got my sari jacket back. It is nice, but I think I will go back to Roshan’s for my nice wedding sari top. It was $2 cheaper, but the quality at Roshan’s is honestly some of the best sewing I have ever seen, and the young lad that does it is so proud of every piece he makes.
Next…I went on Alpha weekend. That was really good. Very moving. I also got to spend time with Mikah and Jesse which is always a pleasure. The highlight of the weekend was the prayer. It was done in a normal fashion but it was just really moving. I was very pleased.
The next week was Easter holiday, but also national holidays here. Thursday was the Holy Prophets birthday and Friday was a full moon Poya, so I had those days off. Some friends and I took a trip up to the hill country. It was fantastic…well it ended that way. We started out Thursday at 5am. We drove for an hour or so until our A/C broke, and in SL in March A/C is a necessity. We stopped and as usual Che had to wee wee. So we went to the squat toilet of the people that lived bellow the A/c fix-it place. Wanting to prevent any discomfort in the future I too went. Well I started to talk to the lady b/c I couldn’t find the toilet. Well she was very pleased with my Sinhala, and invited me in for tea and jagary. We talked and she gave me her number and I gave her mine. Life is funny. Anyway, we were on our way b4 the tea was ready, so I apologized and went on my way. Good times.
We got to Haputale and it was very misty. Our hotel left something to be desired, but had a stunning view. (which we couldn’t really see b/c it was misty. Hot water was only on 4 hours during the day and the water worked in only 2 of our 4 rooms.) Anyway, the man tried to force us to pay 3 nights up front. Given the previous information and the fact that they would not cook for us and the fact that 3 nights up front is ridiculous, we were considerably disgruntled. Oh yes, this also came up at the end of the day, when we were tired, before we had eaten and after 4 rousing rounds of “Red and Black”. (a fabulous game!) Anyway, we paid only for the night, and the next morning when we were getting ready to leave (some had already left, and gotten a room at another hotel so they could have a warm shower. and get away from the random man that came in at 130 am and banged on everyone’s doors looking for the manager) he parked his truck in front of our van and refused to move it until we paid him for the other 2 nights. Grrr ing and Arrrggg ing ensued. NEVER STAY AT CUESTA INN in Haputale, Sri Lanka. Never ever ever ever. However, God has plans. After being evicted from our hotel there, we moved on to the TEA GARDEN HOLIDAY INN in Ella; the most awesome place ever!! It was magic. We went to waterfalls and caves and tea factories and hiking in mountains. It was so Sound of Music!!!! The cook there (actually Chef) was great and made us the best lampries ever. On Easter Sunday we sang Low in the Grave and…another one and it was really just a magic weekend. Go Team
Anyway, on the 27th Y Gro said good-bye to it’s first dairy village. We only work with a village for 3 years and then they graduate. It was a small but nice celebration. I hope to send the book we made for them home (with some translation as it is all in Sinhala). I dressed myself in sari that day. It was cool, but I put the fall (shoulder part) on the wrong side…oh well.
Ok I must get to bed now.
Peace,
jodi

Another GO TEAM

2008-03-02T21:56:00.001-08:00

3 March 2008

Ok, so its been a while. I thought I would get this done on Sunday afternoon, but a friend of mine was having a rough day so I went there. We talked. or…she talked and I listened. When I had a thought I gave it. I appreciate our relationship b/c it is honest. I have gotten sick of people putting on a façade. Those sort of relationships no longer interest me. I want some one who can tell me I am being ridiculous if in fact I am being ridiculous. It is quite sad actually because most of the people I have stopped hanging around have been my Christian friends. It has however given me time to hang out in prayer and Bible studying. The fewer friends I have now are keepers which is nice…sort of upgrading in quality while decreasing the “bulk”…ok maybe calling those friends “bulk” was a bit harsh, but that is the only mental picture I can think of now.
On more exciting note, I got to go to Madampe this week after some time of not being able to go due to a security situation. My boss is a bit overprotective. It was an ok week. I had a bit of a fight with the project coordinator there. It is not fully resolved yet. But anyway, I went to the villages alone on Wed and Thursday and was able to function ok. There was some stuff that people had to say a bunch and then “dumb down” for me but I got most of it in the end. I explained milk fever to farmers…in Sinhala…IT WAS AWESOME!!!! It was scary!!! I thought afterwards, I am never asking God to help me learn a language again…He doesn’t normally give you the ability but rather the opportunity to gain the ability. Hmmmph…sometimes the opportunity is scary (i.e. being in the village alone.)
Hmmm what else??? Udaya, my cousin (we wore grey shirts one day…hence now we are cousins. He used to work for the Y Gro Mannar office. His brother Kiruba works in the Colombo office in Accounts. We talk about wrestling a lot and spend a lot of time avoiding work together.) is getting married on the 11th April. That should be fun.
I went to visit this man in urban Colombo today he has 200 animals on about 1 ½ acres. They go out during the day and “graze” about 2km away at a large garbage dump. He doesn’t milk any of them. In the Buddhist faith it is unacceptable to kill so he is simply keeping them b/c he wants to protect life. He knows he can’t take good care of them, but thinks that slaughter is worse. We are trying to pull some strings and get them taken to a National farm where they could have proper care and food. He would be very happy with that, he just doesn’t want them slaughtered. We’ll see how it goes.
Well I will try and write later this week. Really I am going to try and write weekly…really…i will try…honestly!

Peace, jodi

its been a while

2008-02-21T04:23:00.000-08:00

February 21, 2008

Ok Ok Ok I really am trying to write more often, honestly.

December: Ok I did a lot of stuff, went to America.
Now I am just going to post excerpts from e-mails I sent during the last while:

Sent 29/11/2007 God has been keeping me safe here thus far. There was a Ceylonese krait (as deadly as the russle's viper) in my bathroom in Madampe the other week. I wasn't afraid at the time b/c I like snakes but when they said it was a krait...I now don't walk anywhere in my house w/o a light on. I check the bathroom thouroughly before I go in and under my bed before I walk around it.
Also there was a bomb in front of a store on my bus route. I was in Madampe but my friend Shiloni was on the bus and only about 200 m away when it went off. She was unaffected. I am having a bit of trouble with the whole thing. People should be outraged!!! The security gaurd at the store where it went off called in a suspicious bag and no one came. After they say about 30-45 min he went to check it for himself and detonated it. He was 22yrs old. Shiloni says that she can't make a big deal about it because there are others in the North and East that have to deal with it every day. I say THATS ALL THE MORE REASON TO MAKE A FUSS!!! I think it has to do with the coping mechanism of a people who have lost HOPE. It makes me sad.
But, life goes on for most of us. Mine I have to say is blessed. I am safe when I lean in the arms of God. Please don't be alarmed. I just thought I would update. I am fine and happy.

Sent 4/2/2006 After 6 bombs had gone off in areas around the island in the course of 2 days.
The country is in a very sad situation. There were more bombings today. I am not afraid really and feel basically safe. I am however very sad and also very angry about this situation. People are losing hope.As for things changing [in reference to a change after the cease fire was absolved]....no...now the government can just be more open about what it is doing. The peace treaty died a long time before it "officially" ended. A group from church went to climb this "mountain" called Bible Rock. My phone was in the boot/trunk on the way back. My family also called and I missed them as well.

Sent 5/2/2008
Today was BAD!!!!!!! After Rachel and Nigel left and another good close friend I have been missing "on-the-spot" people to talk to in tough situations. I have good stable resources, but they have kids or don't always have time (I am sure they would make time if needed, but i don't feel right asking as I know they are busy). I have my roommate here, but she is really struggling with her faith right now and that sometimes effects the help she is currently able to give. Perhaps God is trying to teach me to be more open with people (it usually takes me a very long time to be open with people.) Anyway, everything i e-mailed the last time sort of built up. (2 bombs Sunday, 4 Monday, my dog died, other personal issues) On top of that I will be unable to go to Madampe for the next 2-3 weeks due to some problems there.

Problem is this: In December there was a camp (I live in the Y Gro campground in Madampe) of a Tamil church. The pastor in charge of it has been found to have been trafficking suicide bombing vests into Colombo for the LTTE. Rumors ensue...
This past Sat.(I was in Colombo at the time) there was an unrelated camp there that happened to be a Tamil Language ministry of Youth for Christ camp. Without warning or any indicator the police army surrounded the camp questioned everyone searched all the cabins and even took down parts of the ceiling in my house to check for bombs. Well now the rumors are flying in this small Sinhalese village area. I cannot go there, I cannot do my job b/c we now have to do damage control. People think Y Gro is working with the LTTE. We most certainly are not.
When will the stupidity stop? When will people realize that blind hatred of others doesn't solve anything? People are waiting for justice to come, but are sitting back and doing nothing to stop the injustice happening now? When will we stir to action? When will the power of love overcome the love of power? Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am so frustrated with the stupidity of some people!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It is aggravating and now i have to sit here aggravated and do dumb office work instead of being with my farmers where I belong!!!!!!!! I am so annoyed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I did however take my mind off of it a bit tonight, by painting miniature figurines with some friends. An odd, but very calming activity.
Sent 7/2/2008
am bored. I thought i would have more work, b/c I was given a proposal to write on Fri. Unfortunately they wanted it on Tue evening. I got it done on Monday. I took Tuesday off. on my leave form i put Reason: Lunch and hair cut. Ha ha. I actually got a lot done. I went shopping in the morning, met 'the girls' for lunch, got my hair cut and a 30min head neck and shoulder massage. I also went to the jewelry store to have my earrings made. I got moonstones for my birthday and am finally getting them made into really nice earrings. If you come we will make you some jewelry. SL has the most diverse gem mines anywhere. Its really big for sapphires. It is expensive, but 1/3 of what you would pay in the states. I am hoping to get some heirloom quality jewelry before i leave; something i can pass down through generations. Hmmm what else...I really need to write a blog....hmmm maybe I'll just take excerpts from e-mails I have sent in the last while....I think that is a good idea.
So b/c I am here I got to go to morning Frisbee this week. Chenoa (my roomie) runs to Bethany's and then they go together. It is a little over a km. I ran with her this AM and ran the whole way...I win. I got a little tired at Frisbee then though...oh well what to do? On the way back there were 5 of us all sweaty in a trishaw (normally 3 can fit tightly). Anyway that is my life now. I will get some work done i guess.

short November

2008-01-13T10:20:00.000-08:00

January 13, 2008

Well, I am rubbish. It has been quite a while since my last entry. Many good things and not so good things have happened. I think I will just review and then do a year summary. Ok, November and December
November
There was a bomb that went off in a store I shop in that is on my bus route to work. That was crazy. I had a poisonous snake in my bathroom in Madampe. It was a Ceylonese krait. We had Thanksgiving here at my Colombo house. Only two of us were American. We had cranberry chicken, garlic mashed potatoes (like 5lbs with a lb of butter…needless to say they were awesome) salad, and cashew stuff….oh and chocolate biscuit pudding. After we made turkeys with our hands (you know when you trace your hand and make it into a turkey) and indian headdresses and pilgram hats. Chenoa and I gave a summary of what thanksgiving was about…we aren’t historians…we made up a lot.
December
I will write more in the morning.

Peace,
Jodi

Hey Its Me!!!!!!!

2007-11-05T05:59:00.000-08:00

31/10/2007

Ok a few fun stories. I met a homeless- slightly mental I think- woman on the street the other day. She came up and said [Madame] and I gave her my “I am so sorry but not now look” and walked passed. I hate having to do that. On my way back I through, since she wasn’t pushy the first time I went her direction, I decided to give her some. So I went up to her and tried to give her some money. She however proceeded to tell me that there was a shop near and she would really enjoy some biscuits (cookies)… only 20 rupees (less than 20 cents). It was all in Sinhala but she was able to say “nice biscuit packet-ekak” (emphasis on the NICE) that made me laugh. I then walked 50m back to the shop and got the cookies. When I got back she insisted I eat some with her b/c she couldn't possibly eat them all herself. Oh and she tried to get a bottle of water out of me too. Had she said that before I had gone to the shop already I would have bought her some…or maybe milk. Anyway, we chatted for a bit and then I left. I don’t think she was all that hungry but she looked like she needed someone just to talk to. It was nice. (PS don’t think I am a saint…I pass way more poor people than I stop for.)
I have one more funny story. Today we laid the foundation stone for the FMS (community milk collection) building in our 4th dairy village (It was a big deal…auspicious time and place and the boiling over of the milk and the whole cultural ceremonial stuff). It is Sept and has been raining so the ground was wet. The hole they dug to lay the foundation had about 7inches of water in the bottom. Anyway, they let me lay the cornerstone. Ok so I was standing around the edge of this hole on wet sandy soil. Well as you can imagine as I squatted to put this cornerstone in its place the soil caved at my feet and I planted myself in the place of the cornerstone. (well almost but not quite). My boss Gamini, while trying to help me also ran himself into the hole. Man I was so embarrassed but it was really funny to and I laughed and everyone else did too. I also gave an impromptu speech in Sinhala. Ok “speech” is being generous. I said like 3 sentences myself and then did sentences of mixed languages. It was ok I think.
Well I am really tired and will be going to bed now. Peace…Me
Ok this is actually another day but I didn’t have time to post what I had written and now I have more. So on Friday I accomplished what I was beginning to think impossible. I got the worlds lamest people to go bowling!!!! I decided to throw a party for Thiyani from the office. She was interning for 9months and her contract ended on Halloween. A total of six of us went. I wasn’t sure if anyone was going until that morning. I sent out invites early and told people to reply but no one did. I got very angry at some people that day. J. and Chanaka decided to act like I didn’t tell them and that they were all offended. They were doing it to make me mad. Well, they kept going at this all day and at one point were whispering to each other, no doubt about how I didn’t tell them….I was so angry that I yelled “if you have a problem, tell me!!!” (it was in Sinhala…Yea for me!) And they both broke out in uproarious laughter. I was less than amused Anyway, we got to the bowling place and there was a tournament so we couldn’t bowl. Grrr. Upon seeing the exchange of shoes at the counter Tony (a grown man) was confused and asked why they were giving away shoes. I knew he had never been bowling, but it is such a common thing I am used to so I couldn’ t help but burst out laughing. I then explained it to him. I have decided that we will have another office fun night and will try to go bowling again. Anyway, instead of bowling we road the dodgem cars and the scrambler and played laser tag. We even got an extra 5 min of playing laser tag for free. The girls ganged up on the poor laser tag guy and lets face it he didn’t stand a chance. No man can resist my “please sir I am cute and innocent” face. All in all it was great. Ok now I will post this I think…..Oh after I make one public confession. Rachel and Nigel, I am saddened to have to report that Ben and Patrick have shattered the vase. I was devastated! I still am. And I was going to give it to my mother for Christmas. It is a travesty and I am sure there is nothing that will replace it. All joking aside I was a bit annoyed. Although it is a hideous vase, it was full of sentimental value.

Short!!!

2007-10-22T22:39:00.000-07:00

It's 82 degrees Fahrenheit and I am wearing a sweater.....what is this world coming to????

Hello!!!!

2007-10-21T03:28:00.000-07:00

October 21, 2007

Ok I am back from the big Bang(ladesh). It has been a busy couple of days. I am about ready to throw everything out the window and say “poo on you work and stuff”…but not quite yet. I can’t throw in the towel that easily. I’m not even dead yet. It’s not like me do give up that easily…lets face it I wouldn’t have done even a tenth of what I have done in my life if I had let fear and frustration take the helm.

Some deep thoughts by me in Bangladesh:
I was thinking after talking to someone and feeling down on myself: If I can rationally say to myself, “Jodi, you are being irrational,” I am in fact not being irrational. I think it then must be “the world” that has become sub-rational. When I say the aforementioned quote to myself, it is not me being over sensitive or overreacting but others being undersensative or underacting. HAVE A HEART YOU COLD COLD PEOPLE!
[As I rode the train out of Dhaka]
Sometimes I feel…bad. I have so much and always want more. I don’t live in a slum, my house isn’t made of garbage strung together, I have plumbing and for the most part electricity. They seem a group possibly forgotten by God. I know this isn’t true… but it still makes you wander why I am well fed and on a train and not in their shoes…feet. I am obsessed with consumption; food, goods, natural resources. I allowed myself to feel justified when I splurge every once in a while. AM I ??? I realize complete self-denial is not the answer, but limiting what I spend on me is good; also consuming fewer resources. My goodness there is a lot of trash everywhere. I hope this idea sticks in my mind.
Police in Bangladesh carry big sticks…not club or guns…actual sticks like from trees…crazy.
I left Bangladesh on Id-Ul-Fitr (the end of the fasting month of Ramadan for the Muslim community). It was great, like Christmas with lights and shopping. The whole city looked like a Hindi telladrama. Everyone was in panjabis or saris of new white or a very bright colour, ornately designed and freshly pressed; minus one man that was completely naked…cant win ‘em all. Even the man at the flight gate was nice and we talked for a while. He was Muslim and working on the biggest day of the year for him but managed to make kind conversation with me.

Some Deep Thoughts from Sri Lanka:
A Buddhist monk I saw on the bus one day allows/asks a tired Muslim woman to share the bus seat by him. Monks are entitled to always have a seat on the bus and women shouldn’t sit next to them. Why do we fight again??? A group of South/Central/North American Christians and Bangladeshi high cast Hindus break fast with their Muslim friends during the holy days of Ramadan. Who is your brother, who is your sister? A man sitting on a bed he has been confined to for the last few weeks smiles and asks you to sit down. Can this only happen in your “homeland”?
People are basically the same, so why do we want to see so many differences. I love culture and everything that surrounds it; language, dress, religion (sometimes cross cultural), dance, food, colour. In that way people are different, but still basically the same. Hmmmm… people are like burgers; meat and bun. Culture is like the “fixins” you know lettuce and ketchup. If people could just pick off the pickles and onions of each other and realize that they are all burgers.

On a lighter note:
We took a group of farmers to the hills to see a big dairy and a milk powder plant. It was awesome minus everyone was getting sick from riding in the hills…oh well. I made some good friends. We also went to the national semen collection center and got a demonstration. Leave it to me to take conservative farmers for a semen collection (We told the children they may want to leave and anyone else could go to). It was great. We left at 4am and on the way back around 10pm we stopped for tea. I was grumpy and my but hurt from sitting so long. My friend Madasheeka asked me to sit down and out of the blue I just told her honestly that my bum hurt. (I used the word bum b/c I don’t know the sinhala word for butt). She giggled a bit but was ok. He uncle from across the room, told her to let me sit and yelling across the room she said “it seems her bum hurts”. Well now that everyone knows that my bum hurts they all had a good laugh. I moved from white lady to crazy white lady…YEA!!!!! OH yeah, I forgot it was also awesome b/c the hills are about 30 degrees cooler than where I live. It was freezing! Like 60 degrees. Crazy.

I AM GOING TO AMERICA FOR CHRISTMAS!!!! Come visit.
Peace
jodi

More of me

2007-09-23T20:11:00.000-07:00

September, 20

I have been here over a year…I am so so so old. The year has been good. I can’t really complain…Ok…I CAN complain but I think the pros would have just a slight advantage over the cons this year…so I’ll report on the winning team.
I got through “fair time” ok. My cow party was a hit and people are calling it the “1st Annual” Colombo County Fair/ Cow Show Party- the name will most likely be shortened. Next year there may be some guest appearances by some actual cows. I hope to post some pix on snapfish and facebook soon.
September is a time of leaving here in SL. I have “lost” 3 people in a week. R&N went Saturday and my roommate went on Wednesday. No, they did not die. They went back to their “home” countries. It has only been a few days, but I really miss being able to comfortably say ANYTHING to Jen and Rachel. I have yet to find someone to fill that roll; very logical and systematic about mental processes. (Nigel I miss you too…sort of ;-) Shiloni comes close but there are certain work things I tend to shy away from speaking to her about. I pray that I will find another processor for my thoughts. All this leaving made for some very busy times. On Friday evening R&N’s going away shindig. Then in the morning I went for a visit to distract Rachel while Nigel packed (opps, did I write that out loud). I packed up some goodies from their house as well. Then goodbyes were said, and I was the lone member of MCC Team Sri Lanka. That afternoon I started to move from my old Colombo place to the new Colombo place. I was also working on a project for jen’s going away. That evening was a big party for jen leaving. It was good and low key, and still went until about 330am. Sunday morning we got up for church ( ok so we were like an hour late and had to sit in this side corridor b/c we couldn’t find an easy seat. It was sweltering with no fan. We felt like we were in the “sinners” section of church.) After church we went to brunch after brunch more packing and moving. Sunday evening Jen, Chenoa, Ben, Patrick, Viraj, and I went to see a musical called Blood Brothers. Knowing it would most likely be air conditioned –i.e. freeeeezing cold- I wore a cardigan. Jen and Patrick were really cold. Pat asked if he could borrow my sweater (jumper- for all you Brits). I was reluctant but he offered chocolate and a chance to see him wearing a woman’s cardigan in a public venue. It was priceless…until he wouldn’t give it back (like 45seconds). Eventually he did give it back and all was well. So that takes us to Monday. Monday was our girls night Sari party (Jonas came to drive Nina but sat away; Patrick was there to keep him company). It was grand with good food and pretty saris. Tuesday morning we got up early to make breakfast for Ben as it was his 27th birthday. He woke a bit early and we ended up making the pancake mix in Pat’s room. We had the milk in there and Ben was very upset when he saw there was no milk in the fridge. It was a bit hard to listen to him sing to himself and complain about the milk without laughing. Eventually, we jumped out and surprised him. We got him a sarong, which he modeled in regular Ben fashion (hence my odd profile picture on facebook). After that more packing and moving and work and in the evening a dinner for Jen’s final evening. Needless to say I fell asleep at the dinner. A good but busy weekend.
I am working again on visa stuff. My current visa runs out Oct 31. I am also in Bangladesh from September 29 to October 14. I pray we can get everything done.
I was going to write more but in the interest of time I will forego and just post this now.

2007-09-02T10:07:00.000-07:00

September 2, 2007

Ok so what is new with me…I need to write more often b/c I have too much to tell b/c I want to tell everything at once….oh well.
I did a training by “myself”. It was on clean milk production and mastitis testing. Sherine was sick so it was just me Gamini and Bandara (area Livestock Development instructor) I really wasn’t prepared to do it in Sinhala, but I have been having Sherine go through talks we usually give to people and she writes them in English, Sinhala w/english font and then sinhala w/sinhala script. That was helpful and I said a few things and added to the training I think. I did however have to really strain to keep from crying at one point. I think Gamini and Bandara just expected me to do it in Sinhala…my face was petrified the whole time. I said some technical things in Sinhala and the people clapped (which actually made me feel worse which I KNOW was not their intention). Although it was really really hard, I want to wean myself off of using Sherine. It is a hard process but I think it will be a time of great learning as well. Its like taking the swimmies off of a child in the pool. They generally have to splash and sputter a while but then they learn to swim. I just have to go throw the splashing and sputtering part now. Weee it should be fun!!!! (that was a bit sarcastic)
Ok here is a funny story. So on Friday I was going to go into work a bit late. I told Shiloni around 10:00. I went to a Consortium of Humanitarian Aid (CHA) meeting, and afterward there was a livelihood forum on a Dairy project in Vavuniya. It was a very good meeting, however it was actually after the general meeting so it didn’t get over until 11:00. I had given my phone to Robin- visiting from Bangladesh- in case she got lost on her solo trek around colombo, so I had no way to contact the office. I also had to pick up something at the main post office. So after I got out of the meeting I went to pick up the package. After signing everything in triplicate, showing my passport, waiting, standing, handing my papers to another person, watching them open and view the packages contents and paying for it and showing my passport once more I got the package and took the bus home. It was now about noon so the bus took forever. Anyway I dropped my stuff off at home and while looking in my bag I realized I didn’t have my passport. In a mad furry, I threw everything out of my bag and searched what seemed to me to be everywhere. “I must have left it at the post office,” I said to myself. Grrrrr Arrrggg. I was already really late for work and couldn’t call b/c I had no phone and now I had to go back to the post office to get my passport. Well I was walking down my drive out to the road to get a trishawl- I was already late the bus would be too slow- and I said a short prayer, “Dear God you never give us more than we can handle and I have about had it.” Well, who pulls up and blocks the way out of my driveway? It was none other than the trishawl guy that always hits on me and tries to give me free rides. Looking up I smiled and laughed at God’s sense of humor. I got what I needed, but with a slightly ironic twist. Anyway, I got in and told him we would be going to town hall (the north part of Colombo and then Kalubowila south of Colombo) I had talked to this trishawl guy before and he has OVER-confidence in my Sinhala ability. So he kept rattling on and I kept telling him to say things again and slower. It was an interesting conversation to say the least. He was speaking at lightening speed and I was sputtering out words and sentence fragments. Eventually it came out that I had left my passport at the office. “Oh no Miss!! Very bad very bad”….. . Well anyway, I got to the office and the people there were very helpful but unfortunately could not find it. I felt a bit bad, b/c the one man was like “I gave I gave.” (in Sinhala) But wouldn’t say it to me until I told him in Sinhala that “yes he did give it, but I think I did not take it.” Well anyway I went to give them my address in case they found it…opened my bag….and what was in there but my stupid passport. Well, feeling a bit sheepish, I told them that I would come back and check again. Ooooppps. So I go back to the trishawl and give him a thumbs up!! We go off and then the wants to stop for thambili (orange colour coconut used for its water and sometimes its meat which is thin and not firm like normal coconut) so he goes and gets this coconut…FOR ME!! Umm ok thank you….so I am sitting in the back of the trishawl driving down the bumpy road trying to minimize the amount of water that is splashing out of the coconut and onto my pants. Anyway, now he asks if I want it cut so I can eat the inside and I was like, “no that’s ok.” However that wasn’t good enough and he stopped anyway. While eating it I was like, “oh no he drugged it….” Well he didn’t but I was nervous for a bit b/c as americans we are taught that people are not to be trusted. Anyway, we got to the office and I asked how much and he said no no madam for you it is free…I just enjoy taking you around..WHAT???? this was probably a 700 rupee trip!!!!! I really had no idea how much, but I insisted on giving him at least 500 so he agreed to take that much. My my my…what a day. I saw him again yesterday and he is still offering me free rides…very strange. Anyway…that is my funny story
I went to Kandy for a long weekend (Tuesday was a holiday and I took Monday off) It was great. I took a walk in the forest. However it is right near the president’s Kandy home so there were soldiers along parts of the trek. Ooooo nothing as calming as walking through a forest filled with camouflaged men with guns. At one point Robin got caught in a forest vine and thought it was a booby-trap. It was hilarious! All in all it was a good walk. We also went to the Elephant Orphanage and to the Elsa Perahara (parade like thing.) you can see my pictures on snapfish. It is one of the top things to see in Asia. It does have one flaw though. It starts and ends at the same point and NO ONE is allowed to cross the street when it is going on. We just so happened to be seated on the inside of the circle and our hotel was on the outside. When the Perahara was done for us at 11pm we turned to walk back to the hotel and saw the beginning of it; it’s a 3hr long parade…so we sat in Pizza Hut (oh yeah…we got Pizza Hut and McDonalds) and had a pizza. Finally we got back to the cottage. A good but tiring night.
Anyway I will write more soon. I am having a party tomorrow night, because I am missing the fair. We are having sausage sandwiches and milkshakes and some of my friends are dressing like cows and I am giving a ribbon to the best looking “cow”. It should be good…not like the real thing of course but good.
I hope this finds all of you well. Please pray for Sri Lanka.
Peace
Jodi

Long time writting

2007-08-20T09:34:00.000-07:00

12 August 2007
Hello all!! How are things in the countries you live? I am ok. I am having some personal issues with a person I work with. It is annoying and I am really trying to work through it with out yelling or blowing up. So far so good. I may have to get some aid from an elder worker. Oh well. This week was ok. I got rice and curry packets from villagers on Wednesday and Thursday night so I didn’t have to cook and got to eat nice food. They were wrapped in banana leaves…mmmmm. Makes it yummy. I also got homemade ice cream from one of the farmers. It was nice…with cashew and sultanas (raisins). I made a cake for them but I sort of messed it up a bit. I put a bit too much vinegar. I read the recipe 4 times, was confused, but put the vinegar in. Then I read it one more time…and was very annoyed that after I put it in I realized I was reading the wrong line. Anyway it was bad, but they appreciated the effort. I have to make another one sometime and redeem myself. Hmmm what else. Oh yes I learned 2 new dishes; a canned fish curry and upumma a northern dish of vegetables and semolina. I think I am going to try it tonight. We will see.
Yesterday we played a mean game of Ultimate Frisbee. I was playing my heart out but we lost all three matches. That was really disappointing. I did however get the catch of the game. It was awesome, I totally went flat out. My teammate missed the catch but never fear…I was behind him to catch what was missed. I am great.
On a sadder note, I am missing the State Fair and the Henry County Fair (District 10 show is there this year) It really sucks and I am a bit bummed out about it.
Ok a bit more, I just got back from YFC/Y Gro staff retreat. It was good times. A bit scary at first b/c of my terrible speaking skills and even if I can speak some english and some sinhala just over half of the people spoke tamil so…I don’t really know any tamil yet. Plus there were lots of people there and I am a bit afraid of lots of people in groups…then you add the language thing and life gets a bit more complicated. I roomed with Dilani the secretary from the Madampe office. She speaks VERY little english and Annette from Up country and she speaks all three languages quite well. The sessions were great and I learned a lot, and had some great GOD-time. It was good, I will send pix sometime. Some extra-conference learnings…There is a person I work with that I am having trouble getting along with. This was a family conference so I picked up some info when I saw how his/her spouse and child were like ducks behind this person. I see where a person like me could throw off a person like that. I am no duckling!
I wish I could see you all and talk to you first hand but that probably won’t happen for a while.

Hey one more

2007-08-06T00:33:00.001-07:00

6 August 2007
Ok one small additional story. I went for a massage. Yes, like the kind in a fancy shmancy place where they give you a robe and tea and play nice music. My friends got together and a 90min session for me for my birthday. It was really interesting and nice. I don’t know as though I would ever pay for one for myself b/c it is quite expensive, but I am glad I did it once in my life…good experience. Um, also now is “fair season” back home. That makes me sad that I am not there. Ok that was just a short update I thought I’d send.
Peace
jodi

Hey....look at me!!!!!

2007-08-05T10:11:00.000-07:00

5 August 2007
Well well well, I am back (as in I wrote) and in under a month. Go me, I win!!!! Hmm what have I been up to since my walk on the beach? Well, I am still working…that is going well I think. Last week we opened a bulk milk tank in our second village of Kappangamua. I gave a speech…in sinhala. It was no oratorical masterpiece but they understood. At one point they clapped and I had to quickly translate what I was saying into English and then I understood why they were clapping. I said, “they were up to the challenge that this new equipment would bring.” The evening before we went to the village to help them set up for the festivities. Instead I just sat there and then they fed me rice and curry and we watched Sinhala teledramas with one of our new farmers. I managed to communicate how surprised and angry I was that Karan had married Tanya when he thought that Nandani was going to died, and also that I didn’t know that Annula’s wife died while trying to kill his ex-wife who he still loves but is now married to another man….Yea!!! I can communicate small things.
People are getting ready to leave now, and that is sad. (there is a mass exodus of ex-pats out of SL now that most of the tsunami work is done) Sabrina left today, Jen and R&N (sorry rachel and nigel you are reduced to just initials) leave early September and so on and so forth. I am consoled by one small thing however. I get all their things when they leave. Sorry you have to go….thanks for the TV. But all joking aside, I would much rather have their company than 20 new shirts and a tv. And so it goes.
On Saturday, Jen and I had lunch with our friend Priya. She is a nice cook and made Northern Sri Lanka (Tamil) food. It was great. She also had a saree that she really didn’t like the color of, so she gave it to me!!!! I went today (Sunday) and got measured for a saree blouse. I have other sarees but I just got ready made stretch jackets to go with them. This will be nice with a real jacket. The workmanship of this gentleman’s jackets is EXCELENT too so I am excited to see how it turns out. Oh, Priya is also taking me somewhere to get some cheap sharwal Kamises (those are the long shirts with the baggy pants and a shawl ) they are generally quite expensive, but she got 4 for 3000/= rupees. (a little less than $30)
Well, I am done for now…will post again later.
Pray for peace in this country.
God Bless, Jodi

Look Mom I Blog

2007-07-17T09:52:00.001-07:00

July 17, 2007
Ok so here is my attempt at writing more. So yesterday was picture day and I didn’t wear a saree…oh so sad. I just brought it with me to work and didn’t wear it. Woo hoo. Oh another thing. I had thought I lost a lot of money; I mean a lot! I took a FULL weekend and then a half-day off work to try and find it in my books and in my house. I also sent my accounts to Nigel to try and figure them out. It was terrible and ended in a complete mental collapse. Now most all is found!!! A small glitch in my excel sheet. Cool.
Shiloni and I went to the ocean today. We never get to do things anymore because she has classes on Sat and Sun. Now Chandran is away and she has a lot more responsibility. (Chandran is my boss and Shiloni is his secretary) So it was nice to get out even if it was only to the beach…ha ha ha. I laugh b/c it’s the beach. There aren’t a lot of people back home, if any, that could take a walk on the beach for a short time after work.
Oh on the way home, I hopped on the 100 bus. Now, I found that after I got on it was the bus going north and not south…poo. I wondered why the conductor was confused when I said Malagiriya. Oh well.
Ok that is all.
Peace and Love
Jodi

Ok ok ok I posted ok

2007-07-14T01:50:00.000-07:00

July 7, 2007

Ok so its been quite a while. I am really trying to write more but have been quite busy. Life is going well, there are still moments of extreme frustration but I think you have that no matter where you are. In mid June I went to Bangladesh to visit some agriculture programs. It was good. Most of it was project related but I did get some time to visit some historical places and whatnot. I flew Qatar air. It was nice. Ajith Fernando was on my Colombo to Doha flight so that was cool. (Ajith is the head of YFC Sri Lanka and a big time speaker and Nilmili and Asiri’s dad) The plane got off late in Colombo and so I got to my Doha-Dhaka flight at last call. I got off the Colombo flight very worried that would happen and then there was a 20min bus ride from the arrival to the departure terminal so eventhough the plane had landed I had 20 min to worry if my flight was taking off while I sat there on the bus unable to do anything. I did make it, I was the last person on! However on my flight back we waited in Doha an hour for people to join our flight from another Qatar connecting flight, so I am sure they would have waited for me. In Bangladesh I was in Dhaka, Sarajganj, Dimla, Mohdupur, Meymhensing and some other places. I have pictures on snapfish and if you didn’t get the e-mail then send me one and I’ll add you to the snapfish emailing list. Overall it was a great trip. People in Bangladesh are a lot poorer than here. It kind of made me feel bad, like I was just making the rich richer. I guess its all relative. Nigel says he kind of felt that way too, but he thinks that if God had wanted him in Bangladesh that S/He would have sent him there and not to SL. I think that is a good idea. People are very curious about white people in BG. I guess in SL they are used to seeing them a bit more. In every village we visited there was always a huge crowd that would follow us everywhere. It was a bit crazy, but only fair. I took pictures of them, they stared at me. It works. Oh…one very annoying thing about BG was the orna (the scarf/shawl you wear). I could not for the life of me get mine to stay put. It was always falling off or getting caught on something. It was so annoying. The worst part was that when it would fall down I felt so exposed and indecent. It is the most indecent I have ever felt while wearing that much clothes. Oh well. It was a very busy week but a good one. (Other than when we went shopping one evening Reba- another MCCer- had the whole contents of her purse stolen.)
After Bangladesh was my birthday. That was good. I spent the day in the village then came into Colombo for the evening. We went out to the Siam House, a Thai restaurant. It was good fun. Then I got presents and a motorbike ride. Then my ride turned into a lesson, I can now mildly drive a motorcycle. Ok so I never got out of first gear, but that’s unfair b/c the peddles were set big and I couldn’t get it right. Hmm… I think that is all for now. I will try and write more frequently and less length.
Peace, Jodi
Oh yea. Next week we are taking an office picture and I have to wear a saree. Today I am practicing dressing myself. However it will most likely end up that the girls at the office will dress me.

2007-05-31T03:35:00.000-07:00

May 31, 2007

Well, It’s been about a month. Time for me to write again. The month of April sure went fast…oh man it’s the end of May…I guess I mean the months of April and May went fast. I can’t believe it’s already June basically. Where does the time go??? Well needless to say I’ve been keeping busy. This week I was in the Colombo office all week trying to get some administrative stuff done- project reporting and other paperwork. We are giving a presentation of our work at a GGR/USAID island-wide conference. GGR/USAID is our main donor for the dairy project. We want them to like us. Anyway I was getting that presentation ready and a poster (like a scientific poster) for it too. Last week Dr. Peter Queesenburry came for a visit. He knows uncle Chandran (calling people uncle/aunt here is very common…even if Chandran is my boss) and had visited the project last year. He has worked in Asia for 27 years and wrote the book “Where There is No Animal Doctor”. He came with a younger American friend that he met in Thailand. I was really concerned about having to entertain these people for a whole week in Madampe but it was nice. I was also a bit intimidated by the fact that the dr. is very well known and has a very heavy resume and he was coming to see MY project. A girl with no development background who just graduated college. BUT it went really well and he thinks I am doing a great job. I still have to say that anything that I have been doing has failed…it is only God’s hands at work through me when things succeed.
Hmmm not a whole lot to say most of my time is filled with work. I did however say goodbye to a friend the other day. He went back to America and I will miss him (I know what some of you are thinking and the answer is NO. He was a just brother and friend when I needed one nothing more). Hmmm I got a new roommate. She is the sister of one of my friends that now moved to Australia. She is doing some graduate project at Colombo University and staying until Aug.
Saturday I am going to a play that the Sinhala ministry of Youth for Christ is putting on. One of the boys in our office is in it so I think the Colombo office will all go together. It should be fun. Man I am boring…hmmmmm
Well, I may go river rafting for my birthday. That should be cool. Kitugalla is also good for hiking and overall beautiful scenery. However, I hear that there are leaches, but I know basically how to deal with those. Sort of…
OH YEAH I FORGOT! I am going to Bangladesh June 16-24. I am going there to look at some of the agriculture projects they have there. It should be a good trip. I went yesterday to get my visa. $100 USD!!!!! Crap!!!! But I guess that is what USA charges them for a visa…so its fair. Well I think I am going to go now. I may write more later.
Peace
Jodi

More Stuff from here

2007-04-30T23:02:00.000-07:00

Its Vesak- the day that celebrates Buddha's birth death and enlightenment- today. Yet another holiday. I decided to come into work anyway...because I am lame. Sri Lanka just lost the Cricket World Cup...it kind of sucks...I have learned a lot about the game. I however didn't watch much of the match. It was rain delayed from 7pm to 9:15pm and when it is a 6hr game well it is hard to watch the whole thing. Also, I don't have a TV- it exploded and I haven't been around enough to call and get it fixed- so I went to Dorthy and Prabo's house and then went home around 10 b/c I didn't feel well. I spent the rest of the night mostly in the bathroom being sick (for 4hrs and 4min I threw up every 61min....kind of funny in a well not so funny way). I could hear fire crackers going off and crowds yelling...I thought, "we must be playing well" however I couldn't get too excited because a) I was sick b) the electricity was out so there was no fan...it is wise to stay as calm as possible in those times. Well I found out the next day that SL had in fact lost by 50points to the Aussies. Grr. Then on Monday I found out that what I thought was a celebration with firecrackers was actually an air attack by the LTTE. Not a large scale thing, the power plant (hence no electricity) and some oil tanks or something. Anyway, I am staying off the buses on Galle Road for a while...Other than that I am not really nervous. I know a lot more people in way more scary positions. I can't really worry...no time. I am sure GOD's hands are capable of worrying for me ;-)
Things are going well with the project. I am excited about our new village, unlike the rest of the people that helped make the decision on what village it would be. I think they have made some exaggerated judgements and will be happy to see this village rise above their expectations. One gentleman associated with the project- not on the Y Gro side- decided to criticize the chairman and secretary at a meeting of the village. It was not done in a helpful but hurtful way. He was way out of line!!!! I was so so so angry. However, they sat there and took it...smiling. And the secretary's closing remarks were, "I know I have many faults and I will work very hard to change and help make this FMS great." I was very impressed and have expectations beyond what others see.
On another note, my bible study group went on a retreat to upcountry last weekend. It was perfect timing!!!. We stayed at a guesthouse/tea estate owned by our one of my friends uncles. My friend manages the tea estate and helps manage the guesthouse. It was a great mixture of relaxing and fun activities. There was a lake we hiked up to and a waterfall we hiked down to and a natural rock water slide. We did different types of worship in the morning and evening and a bible study on Saturday afternoon. It was great! I really liked Saturday night where we sang hymns and praise songs from 7pm to 1am. Some people went to bed but there were a few literally lying around on the floor singing and playing guitar. One bad thing about this place was that there was a lot of leaches....YUCK. After we had gone to the water slide I found one on my stomach!!! I didn't scream, but asked for some salt and got it off with some help from a friend. Then I was taking a shower and I found a big one under my arm...I did squeal a bit this time...it was huge. I tried to get it off with salt and it didn't come off right way so I went to get more salt and saw myself in the mirror and there was blood all down my side and down my leg. Certain now that I was in fact going to die, I called my roommate in for backup. It is off now and I am in fact alive....yea!!!!!
Oh yeah for Sinhala/ Tamil new year (april 14) I went to YFC teen camp as a helper. It was cool. (It was also at the Y Gro campsite in Madampe...where I live...very convenient) However now a bunch of teenagers think that I am Jodi Foster....I tried to tell them....it was no use....kind of a funny story.
Anyway I will write more later
Peace,
Jodi

TURNING 40 and other stories of a cool cat!

2007-04-02T01:11:00.000-07:00

Ok so I need a bit of work on the title of my post. So what have I been up to? Well quite a bit actually. I flew to Nepal on the 7th March and got back on the 19th. Before I left, I had to do a big report for the District Secretary and that was fun…..not! But she liked it and that was good. Then I got a break in Nepal. Tony (my brother…long story if you haven’t heard it) Kirupa and Shiloni took Rachel and Nigel and I to the airport. There were a lot of mishaps at the beginning; I forgot to get a passport photo for the Nepal Visa…Nigel forgot to put shoes on and then on the way to the airport we had a passport check- Rachel asked if we all had our passports, we all did when we got to the airport and the van drove away….I looked for my passport and money…it was not there…Rachel had to call shiloni and the van had to come back. I was so embarrassed. When I got my passport purse out for the passport check, I just set it in my lap. When I got up it fell onto the floor. I was so embarrassed. I took my passport from Shiloni and never looked at anyone in the van because I knew they would laugh…I laughed. Anyway Nepal was great and I had a lot of fun. I went PARAGLIDING IN THE HIMALAYAS!!!! How flipping cool is that. Oh yes…paragliding was a bit out of my budget (but about 1/3 of the price of doing it in the US and 1000x better view) so Nigel was making it his 40th birthday present so I too decided to celebrate my 40th in style. YEA!!! I celebrated my 40th birthday in Nepal. It was a great time in Nepal, even if Team Sri Lanka did find it quite cold.
I am so so so itchy!!!!!! I want to itch off my whole body. So I have this really bad itchy rash all over. I went to the dermatologist on Monday (March 26th) and am now on pills and creams and soaps. It is working, but slowly. My face is now cleared up though which is nice. On the Monday I went to the Dr. the inner corner of my eye and eyelid and bridge of nose were all swollen (lots of little bumpies) and itchy and all over my face was bumps…I know it may be a bit vain but I found the look of my face as bad or worse than the itch. It doesn’t help that March and April are the hottest days of the year so it’s been around 40 C and 93% humidity. Anyway, thank you to all that support MCC b/c you not only help with the projects but you also help send service workers like me to the doctor. Yeah for People that help me not itch.
So next week is Sinhala/Tamil New Year. The whole week is pretty much a non-work week. Villages have all these parties and games and sweets. I think I may go up to Madampe and visit some of my villages. Also YFC-English Ministry has a youth camp at the camp ground where I live so I might do some things with that as well. If all other plans fail, I can go to Kandy for a Tamil Methodist camp. (This is a really funny concept since I only know how to say older and younger brother, what, running, you’re crazy, and go away in Tamil. But it was nice of my friend to invite me anyway.)
For those of you that haven’t heard I did get my next 6 month visa extension. Yea!!! God provides!!!! Oh speaking of… All my new farmers now have cows!!!!! I am so excited. They are really working hard. One person thought the progress was too slow and that further new farmers wouldn’t be successful. There are some times I shut my mouth due to cultural taboos about the roll of women. This was not one of them. He is now knows that just because results are slow doesn’t mean the project has failed, also next time he will talk to the new farmers and see that they have much more dignity and self-respect and this sentence is a run-on. Oh and speaking about keeping my mouth shut around male chauvinist boars. On Friday the 23rd we met with a donor to try and get more money. After all was done and we were having a nice lunch (if you want to hear a less than funny story ask me about the lunch and Tony’s experience with turkey pie) and talking about ourselves, it came out that the donor had very controversial views on women’s rolls and divorce. Not wanting to start a big debate I kept my mouth shut. Priya however opened the door. Thus his overly conservative views were shared. I mostly politely nodded while twisting my napkin in my hand and trying not to grimace. I did however ask one question and that was what he thought of my roll since I am put in charge of teaching men. He didn’t like it which I knew he would say, but then came the statement that, “[my] term would be more productive if I were married.” The reason being something about security. I slipped a little and let out a bit of my inner-conflict in a short mangled laugh. Then I very begrudgingly told him, “he was entitled to his opinion.” Thinking to myself, “even if it is wrong!” Just a side note…he was doing God’s work and collecting money for projects all over the world. However he was staying at a 5 star hotel and taking us out for Rs 1500/per person meals…hmmm.
Anyway, things with me are good. Things in the country however are not. Please keep Sri Lanka in your prayers. An air force base- the one right next to the only international airport was bombed the other day. It was bombed by planes, an obvious indicator that the LTTE now has planes… There is a feeling of detachment and hopelessness among people. Please pray for the country, its leaders, and people.
Well, I have to go now.
Peace
jodi

Long time gone

2007-02-18T19:40:00.000-08:00

February 19, 2007

So its been over a month since I wrote anything……So what have I been doing since January. Well, a lot. I have continued my work in Koulwewa and have begun to work in Kappangamua. On the 31st of January we had the grand opening of the Koulwewa’s milk tank. That was sweet! I wore a saree and everyone was very excited “dawase sathu thui” or happy day. It took 45min for my neighbor Nirosha to dress me and then when I got to the village they undressed and redressed me. 30 women and children huddled around me, wrapping, unwrapping and rewrapping. Oh and I was on the news….ha ha I am a multinational TV super star!!!!! Good times! Things are going ok with it….there needs to be more milk in the evenings so we are really trying to stress some feeding things and also getting new farmers to milk 2x/day.
I did a CMT (California Mastitis Test- tests to see if animals have an infection in their udder) test of the villages 15 cows from each. Not a good outcome 73% of the animals had a 1 or greater score in at least one of their quarters (that means there is an infection). I am hoping to get a paddle and CMT reagent for each village and try to get them to test on their own. I’ll have to do another training but it should be short.
Right now I am working (or should be working) on a presentation for the district secretary so she will give me another year ideally but probably 6months. PLEASE PRAY ABOUT THIS!!!!! I don’t want to leave yet….I like it here.
If any of you feel like reading a great book about Sri Lanka and conflict, I just finished a book called SriLanka: stories from a war zone it is excellent and I think it paints a fairly unbiased picture of the situation here. Hmmm what else do I have….???
I went to Galle (down south) this weekend there was an international elephant polo tournament there and we went to see it. Elephant polo is like horse polo only on elephants. It was the funniest and slowest game I have ever seen. FANTASTIC…I’ll be putting pix up eventually. We also went to the beach and around the Galle Fort- an old Dutch fort. It was nice. The train ride back however was 2.5 hrs STANDING on a bumpy train in very close proximity to those people around you….not really very fun. My personal space ideas were the first things that had to go when I moved here. Anyway, I am going to work on stuff now. I will write eventually again…Peace and Love, JODI

And so it goes

2007-01-07T22:32:00.000-08:00

Well well well, its been a while since my last entry. I did go to Kandy. I had to sleep snuggled in a blanket with no fan on. In the mornings I wore a jacket. It was down to like 67F at night and only got up to the high 70s during the day…so cold ;-) I think my internal temp. has reset because I was actually a little chilly. Anyway, we went to the elephant orphanage (for good pix see my snapfish account, e-mail me if you need it), botanical gardens, to the markets and to a Kandian dancing show and a bunch of stuff. The inn that we were staying at had THE best food I have yet had in Sri Lanka. We (Team Sri Lanka) liked it. Dinner was a buffet at 7pm guesthouse style. Anyway the first night we got our rice and curry and without a thought Rachel and I started right in with our fingers…Nigel, seeing everyone else using silver looked at us slightly shocked…and then happily proceeded to dig in sans silver. It tastes better when you use your hands. Anyway, after we were finished they brought us the hottest finger bowls ever. The water must have been fresh off the boil. And so the sport of X-treme finger-bowling was born. It was a very nice trip indeed.
On New Years Eve I went out to a get together at a friends house. It was a fancy dress party. Very fun. We stayed up all night dancing and playing games and talking…oh and eating. We left around 0600. Dan and Jen had the not so brilliant idea of going to the New Years Day service at St. Paul’s. I was extremely disinclined to acquiesce, however I was overruled and since we were sharing a trishawl I really had no choice. So we went. Both of them fell asleep promptly leaving me to try and keep them from falling out of the bench…with Dan I was unsuccessful. Even when I gave him a Bible to hold he still fell asleep and the Bible fell with a loud thud. Ayy yo. After the post-sermon prayer I prodded them hastily out the door.
On the 4th Y Gro’s Colombo office got robbed. They broke open all the desk drawers and stole all the money from the money boxes in the accounting department. My laptop was in my desk but they didn’t take any electronics only cash…Lucky for me….very lucky. It was robbed during the day when we were all at a prayer and fasting thing with YFC. Grrr. The next day we all spent ½ a day downstairs in the eating/training/living area b/c they had to dust for finger prints.
While downstairs some of us were talking in the kitchen. I went to leave and was walking out when I noticed something scamper on the floor right where I was going to be setting my foot down. Well you know how you can’t really stop yourself after mid-stride. Well this instance was no exception. I set my foot down on the giant spider but I had noticed it early enough that the step was light and quick enough not to squish it. I lifted my foot, it scampered away. I jumped around for a while making screechy-girly noised and then jumped onto the counter. People were very confused and thought I was doing a dance. However when my screeching stopped I was able to form the sentence “I hate bugs. Spider”, repeat it over and over, and point to the floor. Oh…I forgot to mention that I had taken off my shoes earlier that morning, so I was barefoot.
Pray for my sanity in more "fun" visa situations.
Anyway that is life for me now. I hope to hear from some of you.
Peace and Love
jodi

Today

2006-12-17T21:20:00.000-08:00

16 December 2006
Hello again
I think things are starting to get worked out and the program is getting rolling. My Sinhala is still terrible. I am able to understand more and more each day, but I don’t like to speak it. Next week in Madampe it will only be Roshan and Gamini translating b/c everyone at the CSU (Colombo office) is very busy…the Ministry of Social Services told all the NGO’s last week that the 2007 year plans are due on the 22nd. THANKS FOR THE EARLY NOTICE MSS. Its ssssthhhuper great the way you give people a whole 2 weeks notice to write a yearly plan and buget… we sort of have most of it done but we have to change it into the right format and breakdown the budget into what we will be spending per village. Yeah for paper work…My favorite.
I am driving now pretty well in the villages and in the Madampe area. Sometimes in traffic I get a bit shaky but it is coming. Next Thursday I have to drive to Colombo. I am really not excited. The traffic is not fun in Colombo and it is well crazy. I am not excited at all. Oh well I have to do it sometime…uggg.
Other than that life is just getting fairly routine…..Oh wait there is one thing…So the rat that I scorched while baking cookies apparently came back to my oven…it ran behind my bookshelves the other day as I was sitting doing work. Shenali and I chased it into the kitchen with brooms. It hid under the stove and we banged at the stove and the oven on and stuck things under the oven…but it was no use. That is until Shenali was getting a drink from the fridge and it ran out again. We eventually got it caught in the back room and after quite a bit of jumping and screaming it eventually ran outside….YEA!!!! Hopefully it will not come back.

Poya Day

2006-12-04T06:29:00.000-08:00

4 December 2006
Things are going…good I guess. It’s not bad so I guess it is good. Things are hard and I am still frustrated by the fact that I really have no idea how to put what’s on paper into a real situation. Last week we gave some water buckets to the farmers and that was cool. They made ME hand each bucket to the farmers…and they took pictures of each one…it was really weird that they made such a big deal about it but Shiloni tells me that is the norm for people giving gifts. It felt odd but that is ok. I also did a “motivational” power point for our 10 new farmers. It had some of my background in it and some basics of all the work you have to do (Cows don’t get poya day off) and then the fact that it is not just economically rewarding but more deeply (ie being part of the life cycle…a profession one can take pride in…and whatnot) At the end of the presentation for the Koulwewa group (5 of the ten are from KW and 5 are from Kappangamua) one of the ladies spoke for the group and said how grateful they were that we chose them…she was on the verge of tears. It was like wow. I felt so little and not worthy to help them. There is apparently a waiting list to get into our program…I knew there was a list of 10-15 people who would be willing to join… I didn’t however realize it was a waiting list… It was weird.
Anyway the next day we tagged all cows and heifer calves. Bandara, the area livestock development instructor (LDI) did all of them. Kasturi and others helped hold. I helped on a few of the tougher ones. It is a bit hard to balance between being me who wants to show the men that I am just as good and being sensitive of culture. I also feel the need to do some things so the villagers will be able to relate to me better. Anyway, they were very impressed with what little animal handling I did do. Very technical and “brave”...whatever.
Shiloni and I made sugar cut out cookies in the evening unfortunately I have no cookie cutters so we cut them out with knives…nither of us being very good artists…it was…interesting to say the least. But good. They turned out ok.
Jaykumma came on Thursday to fix the Mdmp computer and rode home with us in the van back to Colombo. He was very talkative and Shaloni and I weren’t. So he kept talking. He is fun to listen to when he speaks English b/c its like a little kid. Sometimes I feel bad for laughing “with” him on the inside but he’ll survive. At one point I responded to what he said in a very very fast slang English response. He turned around and didn’t talk for a bit. I think I confused him. Its good times.
Saturday I played ultimate Frisbee with some expats. it was so great. Its Monday now and I still ache…it is an every Sat thing now. How cool is that. Afterwards we all went to Keith’s (after showering that is ) and we had a barbeque. Hamburgers….oh how I had missed burgers…it was so so good. Chenoa and I also got to make mac and cheese…oh how I missed its cheesy goodness. It was a great party with burgers, veggies, mac and cheese and good conversation.
Anyway, today is a Poya Day so some friends and I are going to a hotel for swimming and buffet. Good times.
Also, I have decided to stop taking anti-malarials. Talking with the Dr. at Navajeevana I think I can get by. If I am here for 3 years I might as well get used to it and the Dr. says it isn’t really much of a risk anyway. I might however take some on a short term basis if I go to Mannar which is in the North.
OH ok side note I just thought of. On the way back to Colombo we got stopped at the Colombo bridge checkpoint. Everyone had to get out and show ID. I went to get out and the soldier was like, “sit, sit madam” Grrrrrrr, I know it is youthful idealism, but grrr. Why should I be treated different b/c I am white? I could be bad…I’m not…but I could be. Grrr anyway…
ALSO PLEASE PRAY FOR THE COUNTRY! Another bomb went off in Kullupitiya area Thursday about a 2km from my evening church. The target was the defense secretary. I still do not understand war…it is very confusing…

One last thing…I am going to be putting mass pictures on snapfish…currently I only send the e-mail saying that I put pix up to my family so if you want to see pix leave me a comment on this blog.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

2006-11-22T18:21:00.000-08:00

Well as you can tell by my lack of posts, things are starting to roll. Work has really picked up and most of my life is consumed by it now. But that is ok b/c I like the people I work with. I have been in Madampe now 3-4 days each week. Suresh interpreted last week. It was finishing up our sub-sample group of farmers with a general survey. It was a good week only that on Tuesday night the electricity went out at 4pm and didn’t come on until 6am…YUCK. Sleeping in Sri Lanka without a fan is not easy…even for me who can sleep in very hot conditions (Jill you know this…ha ha). Anyway to pass the time I took pictures and I am posting them along with some others. On Wednesday night the electricity went out on the whole island but only for about 4hours. I made cookies…oh I have a story about that…MOM DON’T READ THIS SECTION!
So I wanted to make some cookies…chocolate chip…the pudding kind…very moist and yummy. I cleaned out my oven in Madampe and checked the underside for rats. (I live in a rural area…rats are inevitable) SERIOUSLY MOM YOU DON’T WANT TO READ THIS! I saw nothing so turned on the oven. After a bit it smelled very bad. I had cleaned the oven, but maybe I had not gotten it all…well. Anyway about 5min after I turned the gas on… out runs a very angry rat. It got out somehow…I have no idea how but it was gone in a flash. And that is the story of the rat I now refer to as Ashy. Anyway, the cookies were a big hit at the Colombo office. Only, no one knew what they were. I still don’t understand how you could possibly not know what a chocolate chip cookie was…I don’t understand…I have done a great service for Sri Lanka by bringing the idea of the chocolate chip cookie here. Maybe that is God’s purpose for me…OR NOT. Also they were a bit too fluffy b/c I don’t have a cup measurer only a gram measure… Yea for CHRISTmas…hint hint. Oh, for those of you disappointed in non-american brown sugar, it is not the same here either. I am starting a petition to make brown sugar america’s national symbol, because it is done so well there. Anyway.
I did not go to the Elephant Orphanage b/c in the end all my friends including me were too busy. Oh well I got some work done. Sort of…I am having a lot of trouble with project planning right now. I don’t know how to do it and that is a problem…people are helping but it is still a little shaky and will be for a while. Like the start of any new job.
This week we are getting into more meat and potatoes stuff with Koul Wewa. Yeah…and they like me!!! Double yeah…even if I can’t speak much. Oh and I will never have to go grocery shopping again. Every time I visit a farmer there is always tea and some sort of biscuit (that is British for cookie…Sri Lanka was under British rule for a while) Oh there are these pancakes (crepes really) that are filled with coconut and coconut honey…ay yo! bohome rasay (very tasty).
Oh another thing, pray for my meeting with the District Secretary. It actually has already happened and it went well. (God is above time so I am sure s/he heard the prayer you may pray after the meeting before the meeting) Anyway, she made sure to let me know that she only reluctantly gave me the visa and that she thinks I am unnecessary. Instead of giving her the pleasure of arguing with her, I simply sat with a rock solid face completely unscathed by her comment. I handed her the 6-month plan and a cover letter that I had written. It was kind of a brown nose letter…I am humbled to work with you crap. Upon meeting her I realized maybe not the best type of letter for her personality, but my presentation of the plan and demeanor at the meeting was good. She is very cut to the point and get rid of the fluff kind of person. Although she seems hard and mean, she is judicious and cares for her district. For those Archboldians, she is a Mrs. Thatcher. I like her. We’ll just have to see what she says in April. It may have gone well but prayers are still welcome.
I am starting to drive the car around now. I get a lot of looks…White Women drivers are very uncommon here. Oh well, being that I am so attractive I am used to stares.
Hmm there’s got to be more than that…
Oh, some small amusing thoughts:
Sri Lankans are the only people I have found able to pull off the "manpri" sucessfully. Yea. (the manpri is just 3/4length pants...called capris when women wear them but I guess that was too femanin so when men wear them they are called "manpris"
Sri Lankans however CANNOT pull of a mullet. but then agian no one can...if anyone has seen my families christmas pix from last year you will agree with this point. None of us looked good in the mullet wig. Anyway, the Lanka Mullet as I call it is one of the worst b/c it is a mixture of "jerry curl" and mullet....not good.
Ok then I must off
Peace and Love
Jodi

GO TEAM

2006-11-13T01:03:00.000-08:00

13/11/2006
So so so. It has been a while since I posted anything. Things are going well. I am busy and sometimes have to stop and pray this prayer repeatedly.
“Dear God, I think I am going to throw-up”
Maybe not the most eloquent prayer but I think the point gets across.
Last week I went to Madampe on Tuesday-Thursday. It went well. I interviewed some farmers and will finish with the majority of the farmers next week. It was good…I have to have an interpreter which is kind of annoying, but I will learn eventually. I have 3 years. Well, 6 months according to the current visa, but they are going to extend it. Why you ask? Because I am awesome, that’s why. Some have expressed to me that what the district secretary is asking for is ridiculous and it wouldn’t be failing if my visa was not extended. I respectfully hear what they are saying, but really that is a bunch of crap. It may be an unreasonable request. Unfortunately for that crazy Provincial Director, I majored in verbal-culinary-arts….I like to make people eat their words(yes that phrase is copyrighted so don’t even think of stealing it…you know you want to)…so, “stand back you old nag! You don’t know who you are messing with!”
Anyway, I forgot my camera last week but hope to post some pictures if I take them this week.
It is still a beautiful place and one evening Shiloni and I walked around the camp part of the estate. There is this weed there called “needy kumba” which translates to “sleepy head”. It folds up when you touch it. Larry Armstrong was growing this or something similar one time when I was younger. Deb and I would go and touch it…hours of amusement…and I am glad to say that it still amuses me.
I also spent some time with Shiloni learning all the last names of people in the central office. There are some really not easy names.
Oh, on Thursday when we were visiting farmers we got the van stuck in the mud. They all laughed at the thought that it was a new experience for me. They seemed amused so I let them think that that was a new thing for me.
Anyway, Friday was back in the office. No one was there and I got a lot of work done. Tony, Shiloni, Kiru and Jaykuma were all at a wedding; Nimali is on study leave; Esther was gone; and Chanaka had a lot of errands to run. It was weird.
Today, I worked on some stuff in the morning and then in the evening was Micah’s 2nd birthday party. Micah is Dorthy and Probo’s son. I go to a Bible study that D&P also attend. All is well and next weekend I am going to the Elephant Orphanage. Yea!!!!
Peace
jrc

New post- same old

2006-11-01T01:34:00.000-08:00

Ok so what is new with me? Well last week was crazy…but I stayed out of trouble…sort of. Wednesday (the 25th) I went to Madampe for the first time. It was lovely. I will post some pix eventually. I got to visit the first village that was created by Y Gro called Koul Wewa. I visited some cows…it was so so so cool. I am a bit disappointed in the scientifically designed barns that the government has put up. I think they are great except for 2 things. 1) they are tie stalls and most farmers don’t let the producing animals out…so the want of increased AI s is tough b/c they cant show heat well (jump). 2) there has already been a small increase in laminitis…cement floors…no bedding…laminitis…
It was good and I gathered some more baseline knowledge of what normally goes on.
After that we visited my future home and the office where I will work. Good and good…I met my neighbors Bandula and Nirosha and others that I will work with...Ruan, Roshan and Dilani. On the way back into Colombo we stopped at a Hotel/Restaurant where we were planning to take Ed and Joe (MCC Asia). It was nice and right by the ocean. After we ate we were able to go to the beach for a bit. That was nice. The ride home was nice except for the fact that Colombo traffic doubled the normal time it would take us to get back….blah. Plus there were torrential rains…yea! So while sitting in the van being very bored Shiloni and I decided to be crazy and do motions to all the songs on the radio. It was amusing to say the least. We captivated our audience- who were also probably bored from sitting in traffic.
After we had dropped Shiloni off, I tried sleeping again…it didn’t work. Anyway, I had my eyes closed and I felt something hit my arm. I opened my eyes but there was nothing. Then Jaykummar who was sitting beside me started to thrash a bit. Knowing he is prone to be a bit odd, I just kind of ignored it. But in a short while I figured out what had hit my arm and what Jakummar had been thrashing for…giant flying cockroach; walking just to the left of me…ready to strike…going right for the jugular no doubt. Fear occluding my throat; I grabbed Jakummar with one hand and pointed with the other. He was able to sweep the gigantic bug down and out of the window. I don’t know if I will ever get used to large bugs, but at least it makes an interesting story.
Thursday Joe and Ed came to the office and we gave presentations on Y Gro as an organization and then a presentation on the dairy villages and one on the tsunami relief. Tony did the presentation on the tsunami and part of it was just music and pictures and it was moving. Tony is the office’s quiet sensitive guy (or so I thought). That evening then Rachel, Nigel, Ed, Joe and I went to dinner. It was nice and we got to talk about lots of things. A very good evening, I would say.
It rained more that evening.
Friday was normal but VERY rainy. It is the first day that I have been here where I did not see the sun at all. I had a Sinhala lesson that evening. Unfortunately I got off a bus stop too early and got caught in a downpour; arriving at the lesson a bit drippy. But Oh well what can one do to stop the rain? After the lesson I was going back to the office. We were leaving early in the morning to take Ed and Joe to Madampe, so Shiloni and I were going to spend the night at the office (there are some living quarters downstairs…Tony resides in one bedroom and there are two others for the use of…others. Also I may be staying there on the weekends after I move to Madampe) and maybe watch a movie using the projector that we had rented for the presentations on Thursday. Anyway, on the bus ride back to the office I hit Friday evening traffic. There were so many people on the bus that I was stuck. Really I couldn’t move. I wanted to scream…cry…something. It was terrible. I eventually got off about 2km after my stop. I am now very cautious where I stand/sit on the bus. Anyway, I got to the office eventually. Very tired and annoyed. So the evening was truncated after a bit of cricket watching and dinner.
On Saturday we picked up Ed and Joe and set off for Madampe. Unfortunately, the rains on the previous days had caused flooding so the trip was very slow and we didn’t end up going to Madampe anyway. The roads near Madampe were passable but we chose not to go b/c we thought they would get worse as the day went on. God’s hand was truly guiding us b/c we found out later that the waters had risen to over 3ft and the Y Gro staff in the Madampe center had to be evacuated by tractor. Still on the way to the Hotel where we were to have lunch, Tony drove the van through 2.5ft plus. It was crazy… We made it there and remained there for meetings and meals. Here also is where I found out that Tony is not exactly the nice quiet sensitive guy I had made him out to be. He threw Shiloni into the ocean; skirt, nice blouse and all. I think I stared at him with wide eyes and gaping mouth for a good minute. I am usually such a good judge of personality. She had other clothes so it was ok…but wow…I normally pick personalities up right away.
Anyway the ride home was good and full of water…lots of fun driving through it.
Sunday was youth service at Nugegoda Methodist…probably my church of choice I think. It went well. (Youth here are from like middle school up to like 30 or married) That evening we went swimming at St. Peters. Ha ha ha. Almost November and I am still swimming outside. Good times.
On Monday I got the news that 2 of the dairy villages were flooded and grass for feeding was nil to none. Grass is now being chopped at the Madampe center and being sent to the villagers. Nothing like starting out on the right foot.
Also, the peace talks in Geneva have failed.

Please thank God for family, faith, keeping you safe and pray for Sri Lanka and its people and my financial situation.
Peace
jrc

Just some rainy day pictures

2006-10-22T21:18:00.000-07:00

Herman takes refuge from the rain in my bedroom.
Rain rain rain rain rain rain rain. Water in the "parking lot"...the place I have to walk through when coming and going.
Since everything is very open rain spatter tends to blow in so I thought I would protect my computer with an umbrella. It made it feel very tropically...then again...I live in Sri Lanka everything is tropically.

2006-10-22T21:15:00.000-07:00

So I am back…yea for all of you. I’m feeling good…listening to the Police greatest hits…its good times. I saw in the news that western NY got a bunch of snow…its sunny and 80s here…man that still gets me…its just so not normal to me. Also, I still have to stop every once in a while and smile at the palm trees on my way to the office or pinch myself to make sure that I am not in some very strange dream. Good times though. On Friday I sat in the office of the Department of Immigration and Emigration (all the workers wear lanyards that have DIE written down the edges) for 3 hours waiting for my visa to be signed. It was awesome! With that note…I am very pleased at the sarcastic nature of my co-workers. I was so nervous that sarcasm would be socially unacceptable. Its not so YEA!!!!! Mr. Walker can take his “A-“ and eat it. (Mr. Walker gave me an A- in gym class one quarter b/c I was too sarcastic. It doesn’t bother me anymore and I have no hard feelings, but it makes a great story so I tell it like I am annoyed)
Wow, I wrote the previous paragraph a while ago. I however never posted it…or finished it. Hmm what has happened since last I wrote? Things are getting busy and that is ok by me. Last week I went to Kuranagala which is about 2.5hrs northeast of Colombo. I went to meet with the director of the Department of Animal Production and Health for the Northwest Province, Dr. Chandrasoma. There was an animal “expo” at a school there that the “Department” put on. On the way there we stopped for breakfast. String hoppers…yummy. A nice change from rice and curry…string hoppers and curry. Also, Surish bought some sweets that were very good. Anyway at the expo the “important” people were ushered in by the school band (middle schoolish grades) and some traditional Kandian dancers. It was very cool. At the expo we talked with Dr. Chandrasoma about what the government was doing for the farmers and then I picked his brain for stats and other cow things. There was also a manager from one of the model farms there and I talked to him as well. He didn’t speak English so Chandran translated for me. It was excellent…the talking not the having to have a translator.
On the way home I drove the car for a while. It was terrible!!!! Not that I did a bad job, just I was not fun. The car is a manual transmission, I was driving on the left side of the road, and the traffic here is…unlike what I am used to…completely!!! I would really like to just learn to drive in the middle of nowhere first…it just seems like too much right now. I don’t mind the bus even when it is crowded…ok that part about not minding the crowding may be a bit of an exaggeration. I deal with it but sometimes I want to scream.
Wednesday was Nimali’s birthday…I wasn’t there (the office). The boys decorated her space in a way that only silly boys can. Thursday was Shiloni’s birthday once again the boys decorated. Everything in her office was out of place. After about 5min of Jaykumma trying to tell me that it was Shiloni’s birthday and I should look at her office I went to look at it (Jaykumma doesn’t speak a whole lot of English so it sounded like it was Shiloni’s Workday not birthday). That evening I went to Shiloni’s house for a get together. She is part of the YFC English mission so the group gets together for birthdays. It was good. We played uno and told jokes. Very good. (Minus the fact that I didn’t tell Francis- the maintenance/night guard/everything else- that I would be in late and he got worried and called Chandran who then had to call me to make sure I was OK. Ooops!) Friday night I went out for Chenoa’s birthday. We had dinner at her flat and then we went dancing. I like dancing…it was good. On the way home though we got stopped 3times at checkpoints. Kind of annoying but so it goes.
This week will be busy as I will be visiting Madampe for the first time on Wednesday. I will be meeting the people at the office there and seeing where I’ll live and shop and stuff and I will also be meeting with the District’s veterinary surgeon to pick his brain on common diseases. Then Thursday-Saturday Ed and Joe from MCC Asia will be visiting and we will be taking them to Madampe on Saturday. Good times.
Ok one more thing. I tried cooking curry with coconut milk (I am not that daring so I just got the powder and didn’t do the whole break, scrape and squeeze thing that most do. I just got the instant ) It was terrible but I will keep trying.
Prayer requests I have:
· Financial stability (some loans I thought were taken care of and consolidated are now apparently not and it is hard to work on that stuff since I am overseas and don’t have internet in my flat)
· Mental Stability (Things are getting a bit crazy now and I am having a lot of self-doubt)
· Sri Lanka (it is a lovely country with kind people and the conflict here makes me sad)

I needed a mental break

2006-10-11T21:39:00.000-07:00

Me...I am having so much fun at the beach...don't you want to come and visit me. We could go to the beach.

We could laze in a hammock or text someone on my phone.

You could use my bathroom and I would even supply TP!!

We could watch the sun set....

while relaxing on the beach with some friends.

Short Rant

2006-10-10T22:33:00.000-07:00

So...life here just got A LOT crazier. There has been some corruption with NGOs and a struggle of the government to say that "they [the government] can handle themselves w/o the aid of NGOs" so it has been...a "process" getting my residence visa. The Department of Animal Health and Production and the Ministry of Social Services gave the thumbs up quite easily unfortunately the District Secretary was a bit of a....well she was strict. Anyway, she agreed to give me a 6 month resident visa on the condition that now every month me and my work associates must present her with results only then will she give consideration to extending the visa. So instead of taking time to learn language I will be thrown into working................CRAP...not only working but having to get measureable results....crap crap....
it is good in a way I guess...I was getting board with not having much work. Now I am a bit overwhelmed that I should have to get firm results right away and every month at that. Crap crap crap. I think I am ok with the technical aspect...the administrative aspect is a bit fuzzy to say the least....poo.
I don’t question that God has sent me here....I do however wonder if S/He made a mistake...Maybe in all of history and all that will come to be I am God's only mistake...naaaa, that’s just nonsense....probably.....I hope....Well crap I just need to hike up my skirt and deal with it. As my life philosophy goes "Shit'll buff out".

Just more random banter...but with pictures

2006-10-10T01:36:00.000-07:00

Hello Puppet
Lets see now…where did I leave off. Ok I’ll start with Thursday. Nothing much really. Kiru was late to pick me up so I thought maybe he wasn’t coming. Well anyway as the story goes I left and he came later…Oppps. I got to work and saw to my dismay he wasn’t there…crud. I texted him and told him I was already at the office and gave many apologies when he reached the office. Oh well…I am now taking the bus to work on my own. Yea for me.
Anyway, Friday was a Poya day so I didn’t have to work. (Poya is a Sri Lankan holiday that comes once a month…Yea for holidays that happen every month) I did nothing that day.
Saturday I went to Unawatuna which is down south near Galle. It has the most fabulous beach with the warmest and most turquoise ocean anywhere. I have pictures but they don’t really do any justice. We went by train on the way there. It is fairly cheap (roughly 1.50 US$ for the 2.5hr express train) but we spent half of the very bumpy journey standing. Seats are first come first serve but with people getting on and off eventually everyone in our group got to sit down. I went with Dan and Jen who I know through R&N and Tristin and Munir…friends of friends. It was a good group.
We swam in the ocean and read and just were lazy on Saturday and Sunday. It was good…I NEEDED to get out of Colombo for a while…relax.
On Saturday night we ate with some of the “Swedes” who were also there for the weekend. I’ve learned one thing about the Swedes so far and that is if you eat with them, prepare to pay. However they pick out the places with the best food. That evening my group of 5 shared 3 orders of the “catch of the day” which was jumbo prawn. Ha…me and fresh just caught seafood. Well there’s a first. Tristin had to give me a rundown on how exactly to eat prawn as it came with head, tail, legs and all. It actually tasted quite nice with lots of garlic and a little butter. Way better than the lobster tail I had once in Chicago when Jill and I went with Dad on a Nat. Dairy Board trip.
Later that evening we went to a very western beach party and I realized that I don’t miss American culture at all. Really, not at all. I still had fun however. I do a mean sprinkler and all were impressed with my lawnmower (dance moves).
On the way back we were waiting for the bus and got sequestered by a van driver. Same price…no stops…and I got dropped off right at my junction. So what if we were 10-13 of 13 people in what in the states would be a 9 person van. The van driver was even pretty decent fast but in control…
Anyway that is all for now. I think…yup that’s all.
Peace

I am an ass!

2006-10-04T00:22:00.000-07:00

Ok I will explain the title a bit later. First I would like to say that I went swimming last night in a pool, outside, unheated, in October and it was warm. To all of you…Ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha. So anyway the day started out with devotions from 8:30-11:30. Every Tuesday the Y Gro staff and the YFC (youth for CHRIST) staff get together and have a devotion/service time. Singing, tea, sermon and then prayer group time…This week the service was in Tamil with a Sinhala translation. Nimali sat next to me and translated some to English. I was also able to pick up some words. I know numbers up to 39 in Sinhala so whenever a verse was said I knew where to look. YEA for me!!! I also picked up sometimes on what few other words I know. (Every day I learn a few more b/c Prema the maintenance lady at the office REFUSES to speak to me in English. I don’t mind though b/c I want to learn. So I know mainly things that are involved with her bringing me tea.) Anyway the songs for worship were put on an overhead. However they were written only in Tamil and Sinhala so I just sang a mean back-up harmonizing “oh” or “ah”.
After work Nimali and I went to get me a swim cap. I chose a silver one (the only other ones were bright multi-coloured and reminded me of clown wigs). I just have to say that I looked super-hot. I would have included a picture but I forgot my camera. Anyway swimming was nice. On the way home there was a man on the bus staring at me. Now, this is not an uncommon occurrence…at all. It is quite obvious with my blue eyes, blond hair and light skin that I am not a native. Thus I am interesting. Anyway, most of the time I am fine with staring and what not but a combination of the bus being packed (not even a centimeter of personal space) and me being tired just made me really annoyed. I didn’t do anything or even let my feelings show on my face…Now I am over it. One time when I was walking down the street a younger gentleman did a few double-takes at the sight of me. One the forth take I smiled and waved. Feeling a bit foolish, I assume, he stopped looking and went on his way.
Oh OK now the “I am an ass” part. Ok so Kirupa picks me up in the morning so we can ride the bus together. Neither of us being very good conversationalists (which may be due to the fact that English is not his first language and I speak no Tamil) I decided to ask him to tell me an interesting story about himself. After a bit of thinking and a statement that there were “too many stories” he began to tell me a story. It was a story of his time in Jaffna and all that he had seen and lived with. It was... I could never even beging to understand.
After the story, there was the inevitable return request for a story. Well crap! I don’t have anything that comes within a million kilometers of that. It was like a wooly mammoth asking a naked mole rat to tell him stories about the troubles the naked mole rat has had with hair. I had absolutely no story to tell. Nothing…me with no story…there’s a first. I told some story...I don't even know what I said but whatever it was...I felt like an ass.
Ok side note…YEA!!!! I got a 6month residence visa. So some might not know b/c I haven’t communicated much b/c I hate to worry people about things…Anyway, the government here is becoming very restrictive with NGO’s. After the tsunami there was an overwhelming and perhaps ill controlled influx of INGOs. Now they are cracking down in efforts to make sure…umm…basically they don’t what a bunch of pushy people religiously harassing the population pissing everyone off and causing even more “breaks” …tension…anger between peoples. So, they have been banning many “western”…Christian organizations…
So yea that they have concluded that this shy westerner has come to help families by helping develop their agricultural skills and not to “convert the population by condemnation” Wooo hooo. Go Me I win.
Umm anyway, I think that I am done now…yup I’m done.
Peace

Only read if you need to waste time!

2006-10-01T21:33:00.000-07:00

Some days are great…today is one of them…not really I was just hoping that writing that would make the day better. It’s not altogether horrible. I just don’t feel well. I haven’t all weekend. I should really lie on the ground and charge people Rs1 per min to have them put their feet on my abdomen. There is enough rumbling that it would be like a footsy-wootsy at the Ohio State Fair. (For those of you unfamiliar with the GREATEST FAIR IN THE WORLD and its podiatric perks, a Footsy-wootsy is a machine where you put a quarter in and set your feet on a panel that vibrates. Good times…yes…good times). I love the state fair. Mmmmm, fond memories.
Anyway, this weekend was slow and kind of lazy. On Saturday, I went to a “town meeting”. It was a time for Americans to meet the ambassador and get briefed on the security situation. The meeting part was actually a big waste of time.
North and East are “unsafe” don’t go there.
We can renew your passport.
Carry a first aid kit.
So much great information!
However I did get a chance to meet some more people and there was food and free drinks. So, it wasn’t a total loss. I say “free” but really I paid for it…taxes and all.
Anyway, we (Jen, Chenoa and I ) stayed there talking to some Salvation Army workers (Chris, Adam and Mindy) until most of the doors were locked. We also got to take some of the leftovers…sweet…I’m going to parties at the consulate more often! After that we went to dinner with “the Swedes” at Tao a very posh restaurant at the very posh Cinnamon Grand Hotel. There were 21people there in the end 3 Americans and 18 Swedes. None of which I knew at the time. As the evening progressed (that’s code for as I waited the 2hours it took to get my food) I was able to get to know Jonahs and Ann Marie. They were very nice and we had a good conversation. Jonahs has a IT company here but will be going back to Sweden soon. His daughter is starting preschool there. It was cute to see how much he missed her. His wife and she had gone back to Sweden a few weeks earlier. Overall, a very nice chap. Ann Marie works for a economic development NGO in Jaffna. She was in Colombo when the cease-fire broke and has been unable to return since then. However, the main office is here in Colombo, so she has been able to work.
That was pretty much it for my weekend. Oh…Sunday night the power went out for like and hour. This was the first time it had gone out for a “long” period of time while I was awake. Without the fans it was hot, but I amused myself with shadow puppets and candles and tried to ignore the sweat running down my face. (Really I’ve gotten quite proficient at ignoring sweat)
Anyway…I never had a lot to say, but I seemed to have said a lot anyway…hmm.
Alright, peace out word to your mother.

Cows and Cars

2006-09-27T21:43:00.000-07:00

Part 1
Hello all…Today is another day. And a day I have chosen to talk about cows. I wasn’t really expecting to see cows until I was a little more rural. However, to my dismay on the way from the airport into Colombo I found cows. Yes, city cows. Feral cows that have no home and just roam around eating trash and people’s grass and plants. Nimali was telling me how her aunt hates the city cows because they always eat her favorite flowers. If they eat nothing else they will eat her flowers. I have also seen them eating trash like plastic and compost along the roadside. I have to wonder if plastic could be considered a roughage…no it can’t but if I HAD to put it somewhere I would put it there. I think I will e-mail some nutritionists and get their opinions. There is probably a large incidence of hardware, I imagine. (Hardware is a “disease” where a ruminant ingests metal and it can irritate or even puncture the part of the stomach called the reticulum which lies very close to the diaphragm and the heart).
Cows also add to an already extremely crazy driving situation (I think the second part of this blog will review driving “rules” in Sri Lanka). The other day when Tony was driving me to work (For the first while I was picked up to come to work. Now I take the bus…which makes my boss VERY nervous so he sends someone to ride with me…Tomorrow however I hope he will let me come on my own) ummm where was I…ah yes Tony was driving me to work and this cow like ran out into the road and I think I had a heart attack. Can you imagine? “what happened to you?”… “oh we hit a cow” what is up with that…We didn’t actually hit it but Wow was it close.

Part 2
Sri Lankan driving rules:
1) If there is room drive there (irregardless of what side of the road it is) drive there. Lanes are so constricting.
2) If it’s bigger than you it has the right of way.
3) Who needs stop signs or lights (see rule 2)
4) No rules are concrete.

All is well, I still like it here.
Ok well I think that I am finished with today’s blog.
Peace
JRC

Big blue signs

2006-09-24T20:46:00.000-07:00

Lazy days……
Today is Sunday and rainy…..although a rainy day here is sun, rain for and hour and then more sun. I am going to attempt to give this post more structure than what is normal in my writing. I am also going to try and put emotion into it. (Having been brought up in a more factual than emotional based “system”, I often leave emotions out of things. However in this situation of unfamiliarity of the reader to…all that surrounds me…Sri Lanka…my experiences…whatever, I thought it wise to attempt to put emotion into my writing. I hope this will be able to paint a clearer picture.)
Ok….So Friday I went with Rachel and Nigel and an Australian down to Tangol to the site where CRUF is building a fair-trade textiles (handbags) factory. It is about a three hour drive down the coast. Along the way, I got to see some of the damage caused by the tsunami. Two years after there are still people living in temporary shacks on the foundations of what used to be a house. Dotted along the coast were also polished floors and foundations in good conditions but lacking houses to shelter them. A few broken skeletons of boats lay bleaching in the sun. Large blue signs have been put up with stick figures running away from a large wave; at the bottom arrows point inland or to higher ground. I think the purposes of these are not for more efficient evacuation (although I was told a lot of people ran toward the sea out of curiosity) but rather to help people emotionally...deal I guess. Like the duck and cover drills they used to do in case of a nuclear bomb. Ducking and covering isn’t going to do a lot just as having signs pointing inland don’t do much. They just make the public feel better…they have a task to do in case of emergency.
Anyway, I got to visit the sea. It was absolutely lovely. The water is so warm and so so blue. It was hard for me to imagine it a ferocious beast, but most people there could.
There are tons of boats and lots of seafood (Kristen if you read this there is a lot of really nice seafood for very very cheap;). Apparently there are way more boats and fishing nets here than there were prior to the tsunami due to people sending so many over.
Anyway, that was a nice change of pace, good to get out of Colombo for a while. Oh yes, on the way there I found out that mutton here is not older sheep, but goat. Still quite tasty though.
Ok I’m up to Saturday now. On Sat. I went on a picnic with Namali’s church, Dehewala Methodist. It was nice to get out of Colombo again. It was about an hour west of here and there were trees and plants and it was gorgeous. On the way there, the bus that we took was unable to make a turn and we had to pull into someone’s drive and make the turn that way. However, the only way we could make it was by backing up. So, we drove down the road in reverse for about a quarter mile. Anyway we had an outside service with singing and food and it was good. People are still very amazed that I eat so well with my fingers (See mom there was a purpose…so there). They are also amazed that I handle the spice. It is very spicy…very and I stop eating not when I feel full but rather when my mouth and lips can handle no more spice. There was singing and games…I played cricket for the “first” time. I say “first” b/c the only other time I played it was in gym class and no one really understood what was going on. I did fairly well fielding, but when it was my turn to bat…well. I held it like a baseball bat and for a while until someone told me to hold it down. After that I got a bunch of runs...sort of. YEA for me. All and all it was good. I did however have a bit of an internal struggle. I went with Namali who is part of the young adults who have fun and are really great. However, being that I am here in a position that some find me too young for I struggled. To stay with the youth who i relate to better or stay with the adults trying to act older than I am so people have an easier time believing I am competent. In the end it worked out where there were times I was with the adults and times with the youth, so yeah for that.
Sunday…
Ok today I slept in. That was nice. I read and goofed around…folded laundry…Then in the afternoon I went out with Jen an ex-pat. From California. I took the bus on the way there. It was Rs 6. about half way to where we were going to meet the bus stopped. I waited about 10min and decided that I would walk. As I walked I saw the hold up. The police were searching every bus. Police check. Not an uncommon occurrence. I thought living here would help me understand conflict better. It doesn’t! I am now more confused why people fight. The closer I get the less I understand. People here are living happily Tamil and Sinhalese, neighbors and friends. I don’t understand where this anger is seated or who controls it. Its just weird. Anyway, eventually I got where I was going and that is good. I went to a posh store and then Jen and I got ice-cream and talked. We also picked out a movie for Daniel a friend recently turned Christian. It was called The Bible. Just an old movie, kind of a joke and just kinda fun. Alright, I have tried to express emotion, but I think I just wrote more fluff. Oh well!
Peace and Love

Hello Again

2006-09-21T03:53:00.000-07:00

Don't read if you don't like non-structured poorly-written text.
Today is good. Today I laughed talked and ate more than I have since I've been here. My sleep patterns are now that of a Sri Lankan; as Shiloni put it "today [I] woke up a Sri Lankan". Well, I said, "as far as sleeping patterns go". Things thus far are great! Easy.....NO!! but I live one day at a time and try to conquere something new every day (going to the store, taking a bus, crossing the street, etc...) There are good days and bad ups and downs highs and lows (I like redundencies). I have no valid complaints thus far. As for my appetite i am not sure why it was so low. I attribute some of it to the anti-malarial I am on some to my nerves and the heat. But there was even more lack of want for food than even those reasons can justify. Today I think I am to the point where now those reasons alone can stand for my lack of hunger.
(Here is a mental break for those of you not used to my "spazmatic" writing. Stop....breathe in.........out.......in.....out.....good)
I have become quite addicted to 2 short Sri Lankan soap operas. I dont know if it will be the same once I know what they are saying........a lot of the enjoyment I get out of them is getting to make up what they are saying........Fabulous.
I found yesterday that I do not live alone. No I have a small protector. I call him.......Herman. He is a small yellowish anole. He came down from my ceiling and onto the wall by my kitchen table. At first I thought he was my arch enemy......the centipede........evil creatures they are. After I realized it was a lizzard I was releaved and gave him the name Herman.....why Herman you ask? That is the first name that popped into my head......thus that is his name.

2006-09-17T22:47:00.000-07:00

Hello
This is my first blog.......blog......it sounds as if I am going to throw up.......oh well. I just sent a bunch of e-mails and dont really feel like writing anything so i am going to play around with putting some picture on. A picture is worth a thousand words so.......its like writing w/o all the hassle.
Very fast, very large roach.

Our Reserve Grand Champion Cow at the District 10 Holstein Show. Jana on lead (white cow) Evita, Jr 3yr old cow. Sweet (I was able to be home for my county fair so yea for that)

Two pictures of my house. I would put more up but I haven't the patience.