Sunday, May 28, 2006
"rain, rain, go away..."
how's the weather in L.A. these days, I wonder? we had beautiful weather for a while but then it got cloudy and yucky and rainy. pity since we're close by the northern coast (in a town called Slupsk) and we were supposed to go to the beach this afternoon. instead we watched two movies-- one in the afternoon and one late at night after we had gotten all our paperwork done. (rewards! yea! i love them!) both the movies were uplifting. the afternoon movie was "Billy Elliot" which I really loved and the night movie was "Shrek" in Polish (w/English subtitles) which I also really enjoyed (despite having seen it in both English and Polish several times before). anyway, it was nice to relax. we don't do that often enough.
we're getting close to the end of tour-- we're in our final 2 1/2 weeks. and we've got "end-of- mission-itis". (okay, so it's not really inflammation of the end of mission...but it is like a sickness.) we're just really ready for a break and though i'd love to put a few more plays together and book several more performances, it's pretty hard to find the motivation to do so.
as for my two weeks of summer break (14-27 June), I won't be going back to L.A...a first for me, I think. I will be flying back in July amd staying just for a week (mainly to attend a memorial service for our founder, Chuck Tanner who passed away in March). i haven't quite decided where i'll be spending my two week break. i have several options but it's hard to say what's best for me. sometimes i really don't know and pretty soon i'll have to just make a decision.
i should go. i know it's been a while since i've updated and i'd like to write more but i'm pretty tired and i also have to do a search on flights. july is one of the most expensive times to fly, unfortunately.
how's the weather in L.A. these days, I wonder? we had beautiful weather for a while but then it got cloudy and yucky and rainy. pity since we're close by the northern coast (in a town called Slupsk) and we were supposed to go to the beach this afternoon. instead we watched two movies-- one in the afternoon and one late at night after we had gotten all our paperwork done. (rewards! yea! i love them!) both the movies were uplifting. the afternoon movie was "Billy Elliot" which I really loved and the night movie was "Shrek" in Polish (w/English subtitles) which I also really enjoyed (despite having seen it in both English and Polish several times before). anyway, it was nice to relax. we don't do that often enough.
we're getting close to the end of tour-- we're in our final 2 1/2 weeks. and we've got "end-of- mission-itis". (okay, so it's not really inflammation of the end of mission...but it is like a sickness.) we're just really ready for a break and though i'd love to put a few more plays together and book several more performances, it's pretty hard to find the motivation to do so.
as for my two weeks of summer break (14-27 June), I won't be going back to L.A...a first for me, I think. I will be flying back in July amd staying just for a week (mainly to attend a memorial service for our founder, Chuck Tanner who passed away in March). i haven't quite decided where i'll be spending my two week break. i have several options but it's hard to say what's best for me. sometimes i really don't know and pretty soon i'll have to just make a decision.
i should go. i know it's been a while since i've updated and i'd like to write more but i'm pretty tired and i also have to do a search on flights. july is one of the most expensive times to fly, unfortunately.
Wednesday, May 10, 2006
"yea! a 'free' day!"...
how do you like to spend your day off? going to the car mechanice twice in one day perhaps? yeah, we've been hearing weird noises while driving and my teammate Petra also noticed the radiator fluid was really really filthy (despite having had a radiator flush just a month ago) and there was only a tiny bit of motor oil left (despite the fact that she just checked last week and there was plenty). so we took our vehicle into a mechanic and while there, we took a look at our records and discovered-- to our horror-- that the last oil change was 20,000km ago (you're supposed to have it changed every 6000km or 3000mi). after picking up motor oil (we had to go get it ourselves) and going back to the mechanic, he took a good look and showed us that our exhaust pipe is totally corroded-- so corroded that there's a hole and we need to have the whole pipe/exhaust replaced. but i gotta tell you, these crazy Polish mechanics never cease to amaze me. they came up w/a temporary fix for us. they took the part off, sawed off the part with the whole, then welded another pipe on for us-- all without taking any safety precautions of course. for their two hours of labor and creativity, they only charged us about $30. (the oil change and oil was another story but this was dirt cheap!) we still need to get the system replaced but we'll manage for a while.
despite the fact that this took the majority of our day, it was still nice to have a different sort of day. perhaps all we needed was a change of pace-- a slower rhythm. it's also great to be staying w/our friend, andrzej (pronounced "ahn-jay" w/the "j" pronounced like a French "j" if that makes any sense to you). we met him last tour at a performance, he's come to the rescue of teams in the past in providing last minute housing, he rescued us a few times last minute w/housing, he's also a good friend of my friend darek which gave us instant common ground, and he's hecka funny and makes us laugh. the weather was sunny and warm (i got to wear shorts today!!!) so we had a barbecue which always brings back good memories of my childhood when daddy used to barbecue tons of food for us. so yes, it was a good day despite all the car troubles and worries.
we've had a lot of adventures since my last writing. i wish i had more time to record everything but life got so incredibly busy and we've been doing an extra amount of traveling-- on average, about 10 hrs of driving every week this past month (--not including commutes from place to place once we get into our destinated areas). we've been in the south of Poland, the northeast of Poland, all over Lithuania, and we're now back in the northern area of Poland. by next week we'll be in the extreme west of Poland (Szczecin). we had a marathon of performing Easter weekend -- a Saturday night vigil (10pm-1am), and Easter morning service, and a Resurrection Monday evangelistic outreach. We've also performed in a men's prison, a women's prison, a Franciscan monastery in Lithuania--awesome, two Catholic churches and a primary school in Lithuania. i'll have to talk more about my time in Lithuania one of these days. it was indeed, quite an adventure. again, i wish i'd been able to keep up this blog during this past month, but it was next to impossible. good to be back, though.
how do you like to spend your day off? going to the car mechanice twice in one day perhaps? yeah, we've been hearing weird noises while driving and my teammate Petra also noticed the radiator fluid was really really filthy (despite having had a radiator flush just a month ago) and there was only a tiny bit of motor oil left (despite the fact that she just checked last week and there was plenty). so we took our vehicle into a mechanic and while there, we took a look at our records and discovered-- to our horror-- that the last oil change was 20,000km ago (you're supposed to have it changed every 6000km or 3000mi). after picking up motor oil (we had to go get it ourselves) and going back to the mechanic, he took a good look and showed us that our exhaust pipe is totally corroded-- so corroded that there's a hole and we need to have the whole pipe/exhaust replaced. but i gotta tell you, these crazy Polish mechanics never cease to amaze me. they came up w/a temporary fix for us. they took the part off, sawed off the part with the whole, then welded another pipe on for us-- all without taking any safety precautions of course. for their two hours of labor and creativity, they only charged us about $30. (the oil change and oil was another story but this was dirt cheap!) we still need to get the system replaced but we'll manage for a while.
despite the fact that this took the majority of our day, it was still nice to have a different sort of day. perhaps all we needed was a change of pace-- a slower rhythm. it's also great to be staying w/our friend, andrzej (pronounced "ahn-jay" w/the "j" pronounced like a French "j" if that makes any sense to you). we met him last tour at a performance, he's come to the rescue of teams in the past in providing last minute housing, he rescued us a few times last minute w/housing, he's also a good friend of my friend darek which gave us instant common ground, and he's hecka funny and makes us laugh. the weather was sunny and warm (i got to wear shorts today!!!) so we had a barbecue which always brings back good memories of my childhood when daddy used to barbecue tons of food for us. so yes, it was a good day despite all the car troubles and worries.
we've had a lot of adventures since my last writing. i wish i had more time to record everything but life got so incredibly busy and we've been doing an extra amount of traveling-- on average, about 10 hrs of driving every week this past month (--not including commutes from place to place once we get into our destinated areas). we've been in the south of Poland, the northeast of Poland, all over Lithuania, and we're now back in the northern area of Poland. by next week we'll be in the extreme west of Poland (Szczecin). we had a marathon of performing Easter weekend -- a Saturday night vigil (10pm-1am), and Easter morning service, and a Resurrection Monday evangelistic outreach. We've also performed in a men's prison, a women's prison, a Franciscan monastery in Lithuania--awesome, two Catholic churches and a primary school in Lithuania. i'll have to talk more about my time in Lithuania one of these days. it was indeed, quite an adventure. again, i wish i'd been able to keep up this blog during this past month, but it was next to impossible. good to be back, though.
