one from the archives

Ha ha, I just found this photo in an old email. Janell and I on the beach (during school, obviously, given my reading material), self-censoring. :)

P.S. What if I grew out my bangs? I have had bangs my whole life and I kind of feel like I have a long horse face without them...but they are so annoying!

BFFs

Ha, ok, not really. These are my friends Claas (from Germany, but lives here) and Dan (Boston) from my Greek class. We have so much fun! We've been hanging out almost every day this week. They are my replacement friends while everyone is gone for the summer. :) We sometimes study Greek, but usually talk about culture, history, family, work, traveling, and mostly how ridiculous Greece is. It's always fun having international friends - who aren't Greeks! - and hearing about their perceptions of your country, and it's been good having someone to talk to who is a fellow foreigner trying to live and work in Greece. Dan leaves Monday (he's been traveling for a year, next on to Italy for a month), so the party's over...but it's been a fun 5 weeks with these two.

a few photos

Ok, here are a few from Cyprus last week...
I just love hay bales!!! And here was a place to swim, with 5,000 of your closest friends...
We stopped by the Salt Lake near Larnaca (the city we stayed in) Saturday morning. It only has water for a couple months of the year, and during that time it is inhabited by flamingos! Of course, during the heat of August when we were there, there was only a sea of dry salt on the lake bed. So off I ran into the salty distance. This picture cracks me up. Stacie is fighting the sun, and apparently I was tired of having my photo taken. :)Saturday afternoon, some Cypriot friends picked us up and took us on an epic adventure. Elena was in my Hands That Heal course in Athens in May, and she attends the Bible School. She is home in Cyprus for the summer. She brought along her friend Penny, who is a great photographer. Both ladies are interested in the trafficking issue, so we discussed and planned and schemed, and had a lot of fun during the day too.They took us up into some mountain villages. One was famous for nuts and dried fruit. (Photo courtesy of Penny)...And my favorite, Kakopetria, known for its "spoon sweets." I loved the old town, with stone houses and streets. Many houses had shops out front selling homemade jars of spoon sweets, which are basically any fruit (or vegetable, I suppose) in so much sugary syrup that it would send you into an immediate diabetic coma. That's why they are called "spoon" sweets, because the serving size is just one small spoonful. Saturday ended with a yummy Cypriot dinner (the Cypriot twist on souvlaki, etc). Fun day! We got back to Athens late Sunday night - which actually ended up being early Sunday morning by the time it was said and done. Now here we are, back in Athens...but it is looking more and more like I will be heading back to Cyprus very soon!

Politics & Government: There will be a reward for reading this.

My internet came back! I know you've been dying to hear the latest update...the free network I've been using magically reappeared last night. It's a miracle!

Nicosia, Cyprus...the Turkish side (Turkish flag in lights on the hill)

So, I am nerdishly fascinated by the politics of Cyprus. When I got to Greece, I cautiously asked a Greek friend who the island belonged to - I didn't even know if it was technically part of Greece or what. The answer I got ("It's Greek, but it's complicated") was a little less than satisfactory. So I asked people who would know better - the ones who live there!

I got the "it's complicated" answer from them, too, of course, because it is. It was a British colony, which explains the driving on the wrong side of the road (which is actually quite fun, once you get the hang of it and stop making right turns into oncoming traffic). In fact, I was surprised at how English it is. Really, though it's officially a Greek-speaking nation, the only thing Greek about it seemed to be a few signs in the language. Everyone speaks English, and to me the town we stayed in felt more like Turkey or Syria or even North Africa. You can definitely see the influence of the surrounding regions. Some of the larger cities are more distinctly Greek.

In an agreement between the UK, Greece, and Turkey, Cyprus became an independent nation in 1960. It has a rocky history, with invasions and and coups all over the place. In 1974, Turkey invaded the island in the name of protecting the Turkish Cypriots there, and gained control of the northern part of the island. 170,000 Greek Cypriots were displaced, fleeing to the south, and 50,000 Turkish Cypriots crossed to the Northern side. They declared "independence" in the '80s, but that is only recognized by Turkey.

Our friend Penny is from a small town on the Turkish-occupied side, but she hasn't been back since '74. It is sad for the Greek Cypriots to see their country divided. On the Turkish side, there is extreme poverty and unrest. The Greeks who have elected to stay and run family businesses have no right to their property or business when the owner dies; it becomes Turkish property rather than staying in the family. As a result many have never returned to their homes there.

Our friends said they live peacefully, obviously, but there is always the small fear that they will wake up one morning to an invasion or fighting. There are still bullet holes in the walls of the police department in Larnaca from 1974. The home Stacie and I stayed in has a large basement that has been commandeered for any type of emergency like this - it is the neighborhood's safe house. There are some refugees, though it is illegal to help them - another sign of the mistrust toward neighboring countries and possible takeovers - and the trafficking problem is enormous because of its location and entry into the EU.

So, yes, although everyone would like to lay claim to this small Mediterranean island nation, I would have to concede that the answer I got at the beginning was correct - it's complicated.

Next time, as a reward for putting up with my fascinating history and politics lesson, I will post some pictures. :)

trafficking in Cyprus

Guess I'd better update while I have a faint internet signal...!

So, read about this guy, Father Savvas, who has been working with trafficked women in Cyprus for the past three years. Prostitution in Cyprus largely takes place through Cabaret Bars, where women dance and usually are forced to prostitute as well. The girl I got in contact with who took us around one of the red light districts showed us the cabaret bars, where we saw hoards of girls arriving for work - many from just next door! They live very close to these bars in buildings with such names as "Chiquita Apartments," where purchasers know that they live and frequently seek them out in their own homes at all hours.

This Russian orthodox priest heard about all this through confessionals at his church and began to do something about it - going to talk to the girls as they work, and opening a shelter for those who got out. There are other groups who I met this past week who are also working and/or praying for the issue - Cyprus is a major destination country for sex trafficking. One of the girls working there told me that some of the rescued girls they have worked with are unable to talk about what happened to them in one of these particular cities in Cyprus - they can talk about their experiences everywhere else, but what is happening to them here is apparently unspeakable. They think there are close to 10,000 women in prostitution on this island.

I have several contacts now, in the churches and others, who I'll be talking with. I'd love to see some kind of networking happening there, and many expressed interest in (and have even asked in the past for) training in working with trafficking victims. Hey - I can do that! ;)

a little bit of everything

I went to Cyprus. My friend Stacie knew some people there with a little mother-in-law apartment that we were able to stay in, so off we went to this culturally and politically interesting locale. Visa stamp. Anti-trafficking connections. Beach. An all-encompassing trip, really.
I bet you don't know what a mouflon is.

So I will write more this week, however, my free hijacked neighborhood wireless network has disappeared while I've been gone. I am currently using a very weak signal from somewhere not-so-nearby, hoping my regular connection reappears! It's not looking good. I might have to actually pay now...which involves going to some government office to obtain a tax ID number, calling the Ote company 37 times and waiting for weeks until they finally come to hook me up. Sigh.

Cyprus is quite interesting, as I mentioned. Here were some highlights/interesting tidbits that I may or may not elaborate on later:

• Is it Greek? Is it Turkish? Is it occupied or governed? What happens if you cross into the north side? Who is in charge here??
• Rented a car, and had my first international driving-on-the-wrong-side-of-the-road experience. I'm a pro now!
• Met with some girls who are doing some trafficking ministry there and went out with them a couple of nights.
• Subsequently met quite a large number of people who are interested in human trafficking, seeing as how it's quite a large problem in Cyprus, and may be returning at some point to do some training there.
• Heard of an Orthodox priest who has rescued hundreds of girls from prostitution in the last 4 years.
• Spent some time with some girls we knew from the Bible college here in Athens, who took us on a little day trip into the mountains, where we encountered my new favorite village, Kakopetria ("Evil Rock").
  
• Mouflons.

I'm hooooome

I left. I'm back now.

For those interested, I am not on fire. However, there are several friends who are in the parts of Athens which have been evacuated or are in danger of burning. We could see the fires from the airport tonight, and the whole city smells like smoke. (Kind of reminds me of California!) Would appreciate your prayers for our city...

the hard part...

Ramesh & Allen in Seattle earlier this year

I picked quite a year to vacate the country. Let's see ... once-in-a-lifetime milestone events that I have already missed or will soon be missing:

• Kim & Jon's wedding
• Grad school graduations
  
• Kristin & James' newest addition, Sophie
• One shall-remain-unnamed-to-protect-the-innocent mother's 60th birthday
• Jana's wedding
• a Jamie & Jason baby
  

And most recently, the engagement of one of my best friends!! (Mucho love and congrats to Ramesh and Allen...and I am voting for the December date so that I can be there!!! xo)

The DRC...on my mind (even before Hillary!)

I've been reading for awhile the horrific conditions for women in the Democratic Republic of Congo...well, what has been happening for years, without much attention given. Women are being brutally raped, tortured, maimed, prostituted, and killed. It's easy to turn away, to not want to hear the graphic reports of abuse and exploitation, but what about when you remember that these are actual human beings for whom this is life and reality? I am admittedly not easily moved, but this never fails to do it for me.

Even before Hillary made herself look a leeeetle bit like an idiot (oops...you mean he didn't really say that??) yesterday in the DRC, disappointingly bringing all the attention to her rather than to the issue, it's something that I had been feeling a bit mournful about lately. But, what a great opportunity she gave to talk about it!!

This report was published in 2007 about these atrocities. It is difficult reading, so I'm not copying any of it here, but if you can, read it, be aware. It highlights the lack of action that has been taken against the crimes in this nation, and the lack of relief and aid coming after countless reports and campaigns. It is heartbreaking to read the stories of women who have survived violent gang rapes in front of their families and communities, gunshots and stab wounds to their genital organs, etc. Sorry to be so graphic. But I'm kind of over the sugar-coating of what is the daily reality for thousands and thousands of people.

Last week this article came out about the fate of street girls in this same country. The social stigma for rape victims here is impossible to overcome...shame, abandonment, ostracism. These street girls, already stigmatized by their social position, are rarely defended by the law or even viewed as having the rights of another member of society. Their rape and brutalization is often overlooked.

Yesterday Clinton pledged $17 million in US aid to the DRC to help curb the epidemic of sexual abuse, and the UN is beginning to take steps this week to look into ways to combat this issue. I read so many stories of abuse and trafficking and sexual exploitation...and see many more that I just don't have the energy to read or digest. For whatever reason this one always gets to me and I felt like writing about it today. Money alone won't fix these problems (and I don't know what would besides Jesus coming back!). But I think we still need to do our best to support those groups and individuals who are working hard for the rescue and restoration of these souls. I can't go to Africa, and frankly I don't think I'm cut out for or trained to work among this level of human destruction and abuse. But I can be angry, I can talk about it, I can mourn for those who have lost so much. The worst thing we can do is turn away from it because it's too hard or doesn't affect us (though I would argue that it does).

Thanks for reading my rants...I continue to believe that awareness is one of our biggest weapons in combating these issues. Now resuming regularly scheduled superficial summer blogging...or not.

*********

There are several ways you can advocate for and support the women of the Congo. Here are four:

(1) Learn more from Friends of the Congo; (http://www.friendsofthecongo.org/)

(2) Sign a petition and/or make a contribution to support women?x2019;s groups in Congo with the Congolese Women's Campaign Against Sexual Violence in the DRC; (http://www.rdcviolencesexuelle.org/site/en/node/58)

(3) Support HEAL Africa or Panzi Hospital; (http://healafrica.org/cms/)

(4) Learn about and support the International Violence Against Women Act (HR 5927), designed to incorporate solutions for reducing violence against women into US foreign assistance programs. (http://www.raisehopeforcongo.org/ivawa)

(from Sharon Gramby-Sobukwe)

Βαριέμαι να διαβάσω Ελληνικά!

Here are some photos of the place that has been consuming most of my life of late:

My classroom...
The courtyard of the Athens Centre...
View from the roof (yes that is the Acropolis)...
Most of my class in the kitchen, cutting up fruit to eat with yogurt, yum! We have German guy, Canadian guy, my fellow American, Slovenian girl (and a Russian girl who is missing from the picture), and my teacher Rosa on the right...
Rosa put on the scarf just for this picture. She is a little crazy, there's no way around it. Some might say "eccentric." But she's a great teacher. :)I'm not going to lie, I am really ready for this course to be over. Three more days!

gifted AND motivated!?

Teaching the Hands That Heal course in May

Had a very thought-provoking discussion last night, with someone who said she has been digesting and processing this information for the last couple of years. We all have natural gifts and skills, whether those be administration, teaching, leadership, organization, creativity, encouragement, hospitality, etc. However, motivation also plays a role in how we perform our jobs or tasks.

Everything we do, for a job, ministry, or whatever, falls into one of four categories:

1. Gifted & skilled, with high motivation
2. Not gifted or skilled, but with high motivation
3. Gifted & skilled, with low motivation
4. Not gifted or skilled, no motivation

I have always thought I had the gift of administration. I do it very well, and have usually found myself in these roles with work and ministry. Yet, I hate it. I have found satisfaction in it when helping with a missions organization training, or church ministries. Yet after awhile I would find myself waiting until the last minute to get things done or not doing the best I could do, after my initial motivation waned (and this was kind of alarming, as I had always thought it was my gifting). Someone years ago told me I was "despising" my gift, so I bucked up and kept doing it.

Last night I realized that this falls into the 2nd category for me: administration is not necessarily a natural gift, but I do it very well, as well as someone gifted in it, when I am motivated for the cause (missions, ministry, etc). I want it done well, I can even get satisfaction from seeing it done well, so if it's necessary, I'll do it.

Ideally most of our roles should fall into the first category, gifted/skilled and highly motivated. Not all of them, since life doesn't work like that. It is when most of our roles fall into this second category that we get burned out. Category #2 often comes with high stress and high cost. There are some things we all have to do that we are neither gifted in or have motivation for (#4), which can sometimes have disastrous results - my friend did the bookkeeping for her ministry organization and somehow "lost" $1600. Oops. She hated bookkeeping, wasn't good at it, wasn't motivated, and ended up not occupying that role for long. :) But I wonder how many people get to find themselves operating largely in this first category on a regular basis?

It is worth it for me to think about some of the roles I assume here, and maybe some I have filled in the past, and put each of them into a category, as I figure out where life is leading. Plus I love this kind of stuff, and love helping others figure it out too. :) I've had many many thoughts this week about future roles, things corresponding with my life's passions, and excited to see where it all goes...

self care, thoughts, and prayer

We took advantage of Judy T. being here last weekend and put on a little spiritual formation/soul care seminar for people in a couple of the trafficking/pr0stitution ministries here on Friday. I've been thinking so much about some of the things we discussed over the weekend following that I spent with her and Gene. Lots of things, like trainings, self care, soul care, giftings and skills, projects here in Greece, etc. She almost has me convinced to go home and do the MA in spiritual formation... ;)

I've been thinking so much about the soul care stuff...it's so difficult here. I haven't journaled since May, which is a good indication of how introspective I've been lately! Community is difficult, and when you're involved in a difficult ministry, it's hard to figure out how to process it correctly and appropriately, especially in a foreign culture and setting. One friend of mine who has been here the same length of time as me (about 9 months) is in a stage of being totally overwhelmed by everything. I, however, don't feel much of anything at times. Opposite ways of dealing with things. I am going to look into how we can better integrate self care into our ministry, because I think (perhaps on the mission field as a whole) it is something that is sorely missing.

Which leads me to more thoughts...how much I enjoy the discipleship/study/teaching aspect of things. Thinking of how this fits into my current roles...... many thoughts to be had.

P.S. Please pray for my friends, Emily and Ryan, who are missionaries in the Dominican Republic but had to make an emergency trip back to the States this week because of pregnancy complications...click on their names for more details.

so so so so so so

sick of Greek right now. :(

enough for one day

This morning I had a trail of ants in my kitchen, from the counter to an obscure corner on the floor where there were hundreds of them swarming some tiny decomposing thing. :( I sprayed the living daylights out of the ants and my whole kitchen before I had to rush off to my Greek class, leaving a trail of black dots behind.

This afternoon I was putting dishes away and bumped the drying rack off my counter. At least 5 (as far as I could count) glasses were on it...and are no more. I swept the broken glass up with the ant bodies.

Tonight a huge cockroach joined me in the kitchen. I chased it behind the stove, and as I was washing dishes noticed it scampering around right in between my feet and freaked out. I tried stomping on it and inadvertently chased it into my bedroom. We played hide and seek for awhile while I finished my dishes in a cold sweat before I finally scared it out from under my bed and smashed it 14 or 15 times and then sprayed the whole floor with disinfectant.

I am ready for bed now. (Too bad I have 4 million pages to complete in my Greek workbook.)

I support encouraging visits from home!

Judy T. and I at Cape Sounio outside Athens - perfect timing, just in time for the spectacular sunset!

I had some super-fab visitors this weekend. Yay for the TenElshofs (she is the director of the Institute for Spiritual Formation at Biola, he runs the Hilltop Renewal Center in Southern California), who ended a cruise in Athens and decided to stay a couple days extra and hang out with me. ;) This was a fabulous combination of rest, fun, exploring, therapy, connection and validation and refocusing. And now I am exhausted, but it's ok. :) Thankful. It is good to be cared for.

Cape Sounio