Reunion

This is Bongwol, the friend we made at YWAM Lausanne.  We enjoyed a delicious Korean lunch in Buena Park, a suburb of LA. Afterwards, we strolled through the Korean supermarket; I marvelled at the amazing samples they were handing out. Strange looking pickled things, mostly. I didn't have any.  I did buy some curly green kale and baby bok choy- the freshest specimans I've ever seen! We also sampled little Korean pastries (cocohodos) at a nearby cafe.  These were molded to look like a walnut, filled with red bean paste, with an actual walnut half inside.  Fresh off the press, and addicting!

Bongwol asks, "Alice, do you know what this is?  It's a machine that peels chestnuts!"  We giggle, remembering the automatic potato peeler in the kitchen at YWAM.

Farewell, January project

Our project at Coachella Valley Rescue Mission is over!  Cam and Terry have finished their beautiful shed.

Betty and I have done a lot of filing in the office, mostly consisting of taking old files from previous years out of drawers and putting them into storage boxes. Then labeling new files for this year.
It's been fun; I enjoyed this change of pace, as I've never done this on a project before.

The most interesting thing the four of us did was to help at a fund-raising golf tournament at a fancy golf course. First, Betty and I filled "goody bags" for the golfers.  The morning of the tournament, our job was: "hole- in- one verifying superintendents", ie, we watched to see if anyone got a hole-in-one.  I stood near the tee box, while Terry was under a tree watching the green.
The prizes were cars, $10,000, and vacations.  Alas, no one quite made it, although there were some close ones.  It wasn't a bad task; I sat in the shade on my golf cart, and enjoyed the sunshine when golfers approached the 6th hole, where we were stationed.

I don't know much about golf, but I did see some interesting birds.  A pair of Roadrunners walked by, coming close enough for me to get a good look at their markings, and the way their tails bobbed up and down.  If I had moved, they would've taken off in a flash. After a delicious lunch (see previous post), we said, "That was a fun day of 'work'!"

Communication Breakdown

Here we are at our first SOWER (Servants on Wheels Ever Ready) project of 2013! We're working at the Coachella Valley Rescue Mission in the Coachella Valley of California, south of Palm Springs.  This is a beautiful new facility, finished just last year with a capacity of 150 clients resident in programs, and about 60 people every night in their emergency shelter.

We thought we were going to be able to park our little trailer next to the facility, as our friends did last year, but the city has outlawed that idea.  Now we, along with the friends who introduced us to SOWERs, Cam and Betty Clarkson, are parked about 12 miles away near the San Bernadino Mountains, in someone's "backyard."  The view towards the cities of the Coachella Valley is great, and it's very quiet at night.  One night Cam saw a javelina outside around 3:00 am.  A javelina looks like a pig, or more accurately , a boar. All Terry and I have seen is a dead one as we walk around the desert.

Betty pauses in the middle of a bite.

However, we don't have WiFi!  Neither does my phone work there in the hills.  We even replaced the battery. All of a sudden I felt cut off from the world.  Terry is still able to check our emails on his phone when we came into the Mission every day, but it isn't the same as having the freedom to reply right away. I couldn't use the computer in the evenings, either.  Nor could I find another e-book to read, since I didn't pack any "paper" books to read.
Frustration!
I finally solved the problem by staying at the Mission after lunch instead of riding home with Betty at noon.  My phone still does not work, but I can call using Google on the computer. 

The story of the socks

"Take these socks," said Ester, from Denmark.  "They look nice and warm."
 I wasn't sure; I had so many pairs of socks already, and these looked too thick to fit inside my shoes. 
"You'll need them to keep warm when you get back to Canada," she persisted.
We were at a girls' staff gathering at the YWAM base in Lausanne, Switzerland.  The staff had evidently been told to bring an item to put onto the "gift table".  We were supposed to select something to keep, as a way of being blessed. At first I didn't really get it.  After all, no one had mentioned to me about bringing anything.  Was I still supposed to choose something?  There were candles, scarves, hats, toiletry items and miscellaneous "stuff".
"All right," I finally said to Ester, and took the pair of socks.  They were wonderful, soft socks made of  white wool.  I love wool; it's so warm and cosy.
Later, on another occasion, I was staring down at Ester's feet as we all sat in a meeting.  She was wearing a pair of socks much like the ones I had picked out, but worn-looking.  Was it Ester who had generously given up her spare pair of socks just to be able to bless someone else?  I was impressed, but still hadn't found an occasion to wear the socks.
Until we arrived home to Canada.
We were taking our little travel trailer down south to Arizona, at a time when no one else was travelling in RVs. (recreational vehicles) It was the end of December.  Normally, we would travel in mid-October, when the weather is usually still conducive to clear highway travel. When we went to where the trailer was parked in our friend's field, it was -24 Celsius, with a wind chill of -34.  Terry had to connect the trailer to the vehicle, while I stood on a small ladder we had brought to sweep off the foot of snow on its roof.
Finally we were on our way.  The roads, mercifully, were clear.  It was hard to imagine it being so cold outside, as the sun shone all day.  That evening we reached our destination--the parking lot of the Walmart store in Great Falls, Montana.  This is one place we knew we could spend the night in relative safety.  We didn't want a fancy campsite, in fact wondered if campsites were even open.  Since we had no water in the trailer, we were going to get a quick meal at Walmart at their Subway, and then go to bed for an early start the next morning. 
However, the furnace didn't work!  What was wrong?  We had plenty of propane.  Was the battery dead?  My resourceful husband ran the car to run the furnace to heat up the trailer a bit. We put the duvets inside the car to get rid of their icy chill.  After about 15 minutes, we turned off the engine, took the warmed covers and climbed into our bed, fully clothed.  We both wore our tuques (knitted hats) and I kept on the cozy circular scarf Annie had knit me for Christmas. The socks!  I remembered the bulky wool socks that were too thick for my shoes. I dug them out, and slipped them over my regular socks.  They say you can't get to sleep unless your feet are warm.  To my surprise, I slept all night, carefully keeping my nose under the covers.
I don't know if the socks were really from Ester, but I think about her every time I wear them now.  Sometimes I kick them off in the middle of the night, but what a wonderful way to get cozy at bedtime. 
Here in the Indio Hills, California, it is not that warm, and I have been grateful for my wool socks.

Korean students

 YWAM Lausanne includes about 25% Korean students and staff.  Since the founding of this base more than 40 years ago, many young Korean Christians have come to take courses and in Discipleship Training Schools.  Lectures are given in both English and Korean in at least one of the quarters of the year; and even in Quarter 4, in which Terry and I are volunteering, and in which the focus is French and English, the students are helped from time to time by having the announcements and teaching translated into Korean.  There are courses in basic English given throughout the year.  The Korean students have varying levels of proficiency in English, but one thing is certain--they are all improving. 
As one of my volunteer opportunities, I was asked to tutor five students.  Four of them have individual times, and one other joins into a group discussion once a week.
JungMo wanted to improve his English because he is involved in leading the worship times.  He wanted to be able to pray aloud in English.  After our first lesson, I encouraged him, "OK, now you can pray in English!"  He was a little taken aback, but did so.  Then he was so pleased that he had overcome this hurdle.  The next step with JungMo is to pray in English before worship time, in front of the whole group.  I challenged him to write down a list of Biblical words.  We've been using our time together to discuss each word and how it is used in a sentence. 
HanSol, sometimes called Hans Solo by his friends, was interested in learning to preach in English.  We discussed the story of the Prodigal Son, and I learned a new perspective on this well known parable as he expounded on his views.
ChangGyu and I reviewed English grammar quite intensively, mostly having to do with the various past tenses, and the irregular past participles of verbs. One day he told me of his adventures with the ambulance and the insurance company, after he fell 3 metres onto some rocks at the lake.  We worked on polishing his story, and he made a speech to one of our small groups. 

ChangGyu

AeYoung and SuHyun joined in a discussion group once a week.  We drilled for a few weeks, for example, picking up slips of paper which  required an answer of more than "yes" or "no".  Then I asked their advice on restaurants in the city.  The girls said to ChangGyu, "We saw you housekeeping in your room."  They were intrigued that ChangGyu and his wife had a little fridge in their room.  "I have a fridge, too", I said.  "I just put my food on the windowsill." Laughter.
What do you want to talk about next week?" I asked them.  Their response was unanimous.  "Jesus!"
We spent the next few weeks going over the topics that had already been introduced in various meetings. I wrote down some questions to get them started, and they quickly photographed the questions with their phones! It wasn't boring, because they had to come up with personal applications to the ideas presented.  Originally they may not have understood everything that had been said. It was interesting to hear their individual stories. 
The first discussion was about hearing God's voice, then we talked about difficult times in our lives, finally we explored in more detail the ways God had provided for us.

SuHyun and AeYoung

.

JungMo, HanSol, and ChangGyu

When the students realized we were actually leaving early the next morning, there was a steady stream of knocks on our bedroom door, as they came, one by one, to say goodbye, offer a box of chocolates, letters and cards, and say, " Please come back!"

Last Eurail Trip

It was umbrella weather as Terry and I walked to the far bus stop early Saturday morning. That bus only comes once an hour, so we made sure we were there in good time.  The three day weekend for L'Armistice made for crowded conditions on the train; we were lucky to get seats in second class.  Many people sat on the floor all around the doors. We'd settled on Lyon as our destination, it being only 3 hours away, and the third largest city in France.
I'd heard there was a big shopping centre right beside the gare in Lyon.  It, too, was too crowded to be fun.  I was already tired, and wondered what I was doing at a "mall" so like the giant ones back home.  I'd wanted to explore the Carrefour department store, but all we did was buy some chocolate.  I should say, I picked out the chocolate.  Terry said, "I'm staying right here with the buggy while you look."

People sitting to eat their sandwiches

After trudging to the Hotel du Parc we'd reserved online, and resting awhile, we went out walking again.  Lots of beautiful buildings, squares, fountains and statues.

City Hall, Place des Terreaux

 

Lion at Place des Avocats in Vieux Lyon

  These paintings on buildings are called "trompe d'oeil", an art technique to create an optical illusion.  The eye is fooled into thinking that the painted objects exist in three dimensions.  There are many of them around the city; in fact Lyon is called the French capital of  trompe d'oeil.  We only saw this one.

Place Bellecour, one of the largest town squares in Europe

Do you see the Subway in the background?

Bortholdi Fountain at Place des Terreaux

The next day it had stopped raining.  We'd had a delicious meal at a restaurant near the hotel on Saturday night, and a "continental breakfast" of fresh croissants, cheese, jam, meats, orange juice, and tea and coffee in the morning. 

Our destination was the Basilique Notre Dame de Fourviere, seen in the picture behind Terry. Also on the hill is a metal tower that looked familiar.  It was actually built in 1894 to resemble  the top part of the Eiffel tower in Paris. Lyon grew up around two rivers, the Rhone, and the Saone, hence many bridges connect parts of the city.  We took a 3 minute funicular to the top of the hill, stopping halfway up to see some Roman ruins.

Roman amphitheatre

It's hard to believe these ruins have been here since the Romans came to what was then Gaul in 43 BC.

Terry and I were clambering over the rocks and taking pictures of the view when a red vested man started yelling at us, "Interdit!"  We found out as we exited that area that we weren't supposed to be climbing on the walls.

The Basilique Notre Dame de Fourviere was huge, the ceiling covered with tiny crumbling mosaic tiles, the interior ornate. I wanted to see the scene showing Joan of Arc, but there was scaffolding everywhere because the mosaics were being restored.

Another interesting feature of the Old Town were the traboules.

These are indoor passageways from medieval times connecting parallel streets, that allowed people to quickly get from one area of the city to another.  During World War II they were used for info-gathering and escape routes for the Resistance

This relaxing day included a stop at a patisserie, where we had delicious quiches, and then pastries on top of that.  Well, an experience we both enjoyed. I tried not to think of the calories. A gentleman peering into the window at the same time we did  proclaimed, "This is a good one."  He was right. 

We came home satisfied with our weekend, despite the rainy start.

Return to Lucerne

Twenty years ago our family, with all three boys, was in Lucerne overnight, on our way back to Slovakia from an Easter trip to Paris.  I'd always wanted to go back to this  beautiful city.  We had been living in New Denver, B.C., situated in the West Kootenays on the glacial Slocan Lake.  The area reminded the early settlers of Switzerland, so they named the local school "Lucerne".  When Terry taught there, it was the Lucerne Elementary-Secondary School, with all grades.
Lucerne was Bongwol's choice for a trip with us before going home. There are a certain number of day passes for unlimited travel sold for every day; if one went to Epalinges, one could buy them with no complicated questions asked, but only 3 per day are sold. Bongwol managed to get a pass for Nov. 3, which gave her unlimited access to anywhere in Switzerland on that day, by rail or by bus.
The train trip itself took 2 hours 15 minutes with no changeovers; we arrived in Lucerne at 10:00 am. Our first destination was the tourist information, conveniently located in the railway station.  Then we walked through the Saturday market, and across the wooden Chapel Bridge with its octagonal water tower.

These paintings on the ceiling of the bridge are from the 17th century; some of them were destroyed in a fire in 1993, when a leisure boat moored under the bridge caught fire.  Parts of the bridge were reconstructed, but some paintings were destroyed completely, and only charred wood remains. Now the bridge is a non-smoking area with security cameras!

After pushing our way through the Saturday market, we crossed the Reuss River via the Covered Bridge; this one was original.

Bongwol's dream was to go up Mt. Pilatus, so we hopped onto a train that rode for 20 minutes along Lake Luzern.  We were so blessed by the weather today--beautiful sunshine and a high of 16 degrees C.

This is the lake looking back towards Lucerne.

a little like Slocan Lake

 

At Alpnachstad we bought tickets for the cog train, but had to wait about half an hour before we could board.  About halfway up, we started to see patches of snow.  Apparently one could see Ibex on this mountain, but the only one we saw was the stuffed one at the observation building on the top.  I could just imagine it jumping from rocky crag to rocky crag as in the photo below.

 

 

Half an hour later, we were at the viewing platform, which included a hotel, restaurants, and a gift shop.  We were at 7,000 feet!  Terry and Bongwol climbed another 5 minutes on foot, to a higher viewpoint, but I was too hungry.  I scouted out the buffet style restaurant instead; later, Terry and I shared a "smokey" and the fast food version of rosti.
The name "Pilatus"  probably comes from a Latin word for cloudy, but we were blessed that day to be able to see a fine view.

I'm not smiling because I'm hungry and I forgot my sunglasses
 

Terry was thrilled that he was in his shirtsleeves, but he's actually wearing several layers under his shirt.

On the way down, there were fewer people in the train compartment, so we had more freedom to lean over and take pictures.  Sometimes we went through tunnels. This cog wheel train is supposed to be the steepest in the world at a 48% grade.

 

There are still leaves on the trees at the lower levels.

 

 We had a great day!

This is the last time we'll be able to go on an outing in Switzerland with Bongwol!  On Nov. 5, she flew back to her home in Texas.  We're going to miss you, Bongwol! Thank you for blessing our lives. We hope to meet Bongwol in January in California, when she goes to visit her daughter.