After living in the South for nineteen and a half years of my life, I have officially experienced everything there is to experience. Today, as I was driving, I passed a small truck. On the back of this truck (written in mailbox letters you get from wal mart) were the words:
"I'M BOSSY! NAH HOW U DURIN?"
Thank you for making my day, whoever you are.
This completes the extent of my day.
-Matt
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Mindlessness
I guess it's been a while since I've updated anything on my thoughts/life/whatever else is going on around me. To be quite honest with you though, I don't fully know what has been going on or what true festivities have been happening since I got back in the states. I mean, yeah, we had Christmas (which was awesome) but I feel like that may be something that everyone relates with because they had the same thing. Family, fellowship, fun, fantastic gifts. Sorry. I needed another "f".
Seriously, though, with the exception of the past couple of days, my life has consisted of waking up, lounging, eating lunch, lounging, dinner, and then I lounge until bed time. Sure, I'll text people or hold phone conversations with others, but it's not anything spectacular. I'm hoping by now you haven't lost interest in my life story because all I seem to be doing is ranting about dullness. Don't get me wrong. I LOVE THIS. However, it is the reason why I haven't updated in a while.
As I mentioned before, I said the past couple of days have been fairly busy. My granddad and I have been asked to build a stage for the children's ministry at our church. I initially thought that this would be a fairly simple task that would be done within a relatively short period of time. I could not have been more wrong. Apparently the people that ship wood to the hardware store thought it would be freaking hilarious to send warped wood to be sold. Not realizing this, we bought it. On top of working with non-straight boards, the floor in the church seems to be a bit uneven. It's like every minor detail that could go wrong, will go wrong (if it hasn't already).
Again, I apologize if it seems like I'm complaining about things. I'm not. I'm just stating facts about how my life works.
Did you know that the world, in fact, may never know how many licks it takes to get to the center of a tootsie pop? According to the tootsie pop makers, a large variety of factors come into play here, such as: the size of your mouth, the amount of saliva you produce, licking time, etc. Fun stuff, right? Also, did you know that There are 10 human body parts that are only 3 letters long (eye, hip, arm, leg, ear, toe, jaw, rib, lip, gum).
That's all for now. My mindless ranting seems to be slowing down. I feel like the humor needs to be picked up on these. Hope I haven't lost everyone's attention. Well I know I'll have at least one fan. Love you, Mom.
Seriously.
I'm done now.
Enjoy your lives.
-Matt
Seriously, though, with the exception of the past couple of days, my life has consisted of waking up, lounging, eating lunch, lounging, dinner, and then I lounge until bed time. Sure, I'll text people or hold phone conversations with others, but it's not anything spectacular. I'm hoping by now you haven't lost interest in my life story because all I seem to be doing is ranting about dullness. Don't get me wrong. I LOVE THIS. However, it is the reason why I haven't updated in a while.
As I mentioned before, I said the past couple of days have been fairly busy. My granddad and I have been asked to build a stage for the children's ministry at our church. I initially thought that this would be a fairly simple task that would be done within a relatively short period of time. I could not have been more wrong. Apparently the people that ship wood to the hardware store thought it would be freaking hilarious to send warped wood to be sold. Not realizing this, we bought it. On top of working with non-straight boards, the floor in the church seems to be a bit uneven. It's like every minor detail that could go wrong, will go wrong (if it hasn't already).
Again, I apologize if it seems like I'm complaining about things. I'm not. I'm just stating facts about how my life works.
Did you know that the world, in fact, may never know how many licks it takes to get to the center of a tootsie pop? According to the tootsie pop makers, a large variety of factors come into play here, such as: the size of your mouth, the amount of saliva you produce, licking time, etc. Fun stuff, right? Also, did you know that There are 10 human body parts that are only 3 letters long (eye, hip, arm, leg, ear, toe, jaw, rib, lip, gum).
That's all for now. My mindless ranting seems to be slowing down. I feel like the humor needs to be picked up on these. Hope I haven't lost everyone's attention. Well I know I'll have at least one fan. Love you, Mom.
Seriously.
I'm done now.
Enjoy your lives.
-Matt
Sunday, December 20, 2009
It's Raining and You're With Him
Just kidding. I mean it's raining, but I'm expecting that no one is with him right now. I don't truly know who "he" is either... In all honesty, I'm just giving a shout out to Josh Sizemore. Not because he's with him, but because it's a song he wrote. Hey, Josh.
Seriously, though, it has been raining all day. I'm not talking about a slight drizzle. I'm saying that there's been quite a few inches of rain coming down all day. Which means this has literally been the laziest Sunday I have ever had. And it's been awesome.
Did you know that if there's grease on the bottom of a pot/pan and you put it on the stove, then the stove will catch on fire? Apparently Katie didn't. Katie is also one of my cooking team members. We're still failing at cooking. Did I mention that she was making macaroni and cheese? I'm not complaining at all. I am one-hundred-and-fifty-three-percent-fully impressed that somehow, someway, she managed to start a fire with macaroni and cheese. And how the grease got there, I have no clue. But flames emerged. Twice. And life was interesting, as usual. Tomorrow, we make hamburgers for dinner. Just pray for us...
Tomorrow is the last full day we're in Guatemala. So we're gonna paint. It's also the last day that we're playing soccer. Hopefully, MAYBE, if God smiles upon us, we can beat these kids and go home with our heads held high. Shouldn't we be given a victory after losing to these guys twice and losing to tiny boys and girls countless times? I think not.
Well boys and girls, I think this may be the last time that I'll write from this place. There's been a few things I've left out, such as hearing the story of Casa Aleluya (sorry if I butchered that) and some others as well. So, if you remember, or want to know, just ask when I'm back home and have full communication capabilities.
The quote of the week/the theme of our visit here come from Matthew, chapter 18: "And whosoever shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me."
See you soon.
Seriously, though, it has been raining all day. I'm not talking about a slight drizzle. I'm saying that there's been quite a few inches of rain coming down all day. Which means this has literally been the laziest Sunday I have ever had. And it's been awesome.
Did you know that if there's grease on the bottom of a pot/pan and you put it on the stove, then the stove will catch on fire? Apparently Katie didn't. Katie is also one of my cooking team members. We're still failing at cooking. Did I mention that she was making macaroni and cheese? I'm not complaining at all. I am one-hundred-and-fifty-three-percent-fully impressed that somehow, someway, she managed to start a fire with macaroni and cheese. And how the grease got there, I have no clue. But flames emerged. Twice. And life was interesting, as usual. Tomorrow, we make hamburgers for dinner. Just pray for us...
Tomorrow is the last full day we're in Guatemala. So we're gonna paint. It's also the last day that we're playing soccer. Hopefully, MAYBE, if God smiles upon us, we can beat these kids and go home with our heads held high. Shouldn't we be given a victory after losing to these guys twice and losing to tiny boys and girls countless times? I think not.
Well boys and girls, I think this may be the last time that I'll write from this place. There's been a few things I've left out, such as hearing the story of Casa Aleluya (sorry if I butchered that) and some others as well. So, if you remember, or want to know, just ask when I'm back home and have full communication capabilities.
The quote of the week/the theme of our visit here come from Matthew, chapter 18: "And whosoever shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me."
See you soon.
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Just Another Day...?
More facts about Guatemala:
Don't drink the water. This also means don't eat ice cream. Ice cream comes from ice. Ice comes from water.
Coconuts are a natural laxative.
There is only one true traffic law: do not get in a wreck.
Five o'clock a.m. on the dot means 6:30.
Tim is afraid to pee in front of cars.
All of these I experienced today. All is well, but it's 10:00 p.m., and I just got back to the gringo house. I've been up since four this morning, so I'll keep this brief. We took a 4+ hour drive out to a landfill community where we passed out toys to children. Then we waited. And waited. After that, we waited a little bit more, and decided to head home. During our drive back, someone (Tim) may or may not have distracted our driver to where he rear ended someone on the highway. Being that we were a good hour and a half outside of Guatemala City, it took a good hour and a half for the insurance person to arrive, which meant that Jacob, Tyler, Tim, David, and I sat around with quite literally nothing in the world to do. Since we missed dinner with the rest of the gringos back at the casa due to the wreck, our driver, Adam, took us to Pollo Campero, which I'm convinced means "Chicken Camp" in Spanish.
I have nothing else. It's raining now, which, in turn, means it's bed time.
Hope you are doing well. I'll be back soon.
-Mike
Don't drink the water. This also means don't eat ice cream. Ice cream comes from ice. Ice comes from water.
Coconuts are a natural laxative.
There is only one true traffic law: do not get in a wreck.
Five o'clock a.m. on the dot means 6:30.
Tim is afraid to pee in front of cars.
All of these I experienced today. All is well, but it's 10:00 p.m., and I just got back to the gringo house. I've been up since four this morning, so I'll keep this brief. We took a 4+ hour drive out to a landfill community where we passed out toys to children. Then we waited. And waited. After that, we waited a little bit more, and decided to head home. During our drive back, someone (Tim) may or may not have distracted our driver to where he rear ended someone on the highway. Being that we were a good hour and a half outside of Guatemala City, it took a good hour and a half for the insurance person to arrive, which meant that Jacob, Tyler, Tim, David, and I sat around with quite literally nothing in the world to do. Since we missed dinner with the rest of the gringos back at the casa due to the wreck, our driver, Adam, took us to Pollo Campero, which I'm convinced means "Chicken Camp" in Spanish.
I have nothing else. It's raining now, which, in turn, means it's bed time.
Hope you are doing well. I'll be back soon.
-Mike
Thursday, December 17, 2009
El Red-o and The Heartbreak
Facts about the Spanish language: "El red-o" does not mean "The red one", and "Mi hermana!" does not mean "I'm sorry". Luckily, I have not been the one to make these mistakes, and even better, I have been around to witness them.
Yesterday, we went to a village about an hour or so outside of Santiago. While we were there, we began painting a house for a couple that are due to get married in Marzo (March). After the children that lived there used all of our paint, we walked around the small community and played with the kids. Tyler, Tim, Katie, and I met a man named Timoteo Quie. Talking to him was a bit of a struggle because the language in the village was a Spanish/Mayan hybrid. After about half an hour of us painfully talking to the man, we got a translator, who still couldn't fully understand him. However, we found out that he was there because he wanted to be a missionary. He claimed he had a few monetary problems, but as soon as he could take care of them, he was going to travel the country and teach about God. I wish I could post some pictures right now, but I didn't bring my cable to move pictures from my camera to computer. All in due time though.
Today, we (get ready) painted. Monotony abounds here, but it actually is fairly relaxing. Tomorrow we head for Antigua so we can shop in the markets. I can't wait.
Story of the day. You know those kids that are the stuff, and they know it? Yeah, they abound here. Not that it's a bad thing because they're nice to us, but we know that they know that they are ballers at life. Now, these kids approached us last night, and by kids I mean 17-20 year old boys. They asked us if we would be interested in a "Gringo vs Casa" game. Naturally, we accepted because we are seven confident college guys. 2:30. Today. Stone soccer field. It went down. There were five of them and seven of us, which, believe me are terrible odds for us. One of them is about equal to three of us. However, we brought the rain. We got up 4-2 and only needed one more point to win. By some act of God, though, they came back and beat us 5-4. Now, defeated, we're all hanging our heads low because we were ridiculed for being sissies, again, and we may not have another chance to attempt to redeem ourselves. That's the extent of the past couple days. Sorry if there's not much humor or interesting facts in here. I'll try better next time. Oh yeah. We had a rat yesterday in the gringo house. It was... interesting. More guys freaked out than girls. Actually, it was just Tim.
Hasta luego.
Yesterday, we went to a village about an hour or so outside of Santiago. While we were there, we began painting a house for a couple that are due to get married in Marzo (March). After the children that lived there used all of our paint, we walked around the small community and played with the kids. Tyler, Tim, Katie, and I met a man named Timoteo Quie. Talking to him was a bit of a struggle because the language in the village was a Spanish/Mayan hybrid. After about half an hour of us painfully talking to the man, we got a translator, who still couldn't fully understand him. However, we found out that he was there because he wanted to be a missionary. He claimed he had a few monetary problems, but as soon as he could take care of them, he was going to travel the country and teach about God. I wish I could post some pictures right now, but I didn't bring my cable to move pictures from my camera to computer. All in due time though.
Today, we (get ready) painted. Monotony abounds here, but it actually is fairly relaxing. Tomorrow we head for Antigua so we can shop in the markets. I can't wait.
Story of the day. You know those kids that are the stuff, and they know it? Yeah, they abound here. Not that it's a bad thing because they're nice to us, but we know that they know that they are ballers at life. Now, these kids approached us last night, and by kids I mean 17-20 year old boys. They asked us if we would be interested in a "Gringo vs Casa" game. Naturally, we accepted because we are seven confident college guys. 2:30. Today. Stone soccer field. It went down. There were five of them and seven of us, which, believe me are terrible odds for us. One of them is about equal to three of us. However, we brought the rain. We got up 4-2 and only needed one more point to win. By some act of God, though, they came back and beat us 5-4. Now, defeated, we're all hanging our heads low because we were ridiculed for being sissies, again, and we may not have another chance to attempt to redeem ourselves. That's the extent of the past couple days. Sorry if there's not much humor or interesting facts in here. I'll try better next time. Oh yeah. We had a rat yesterday in the gringo house. It was... interesting. More guys freaked out than girls. Actually, it was just Tim.
Hasta luego.
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Sunburns at Christmas
Day Three in the Guatemalan Jungle.
Life is still amazing in this place.
Even now, the hard work we're doing is paying off. The school that the Casa has made over the years has been repainted, as have the stairs that lead up to it. Today, three of our guys and I put up the walls to a shed, which (believe me) is a whole heck of a lot harder than it sounds.
PAUSE. Yes, those of you who decide pick at my word usage, I know that the previous statement is not grammatically correct. However, it was the best that I could do.
Now, back to what is going on down here. We just got through working for the day; therefore, I'm now blogging. Usually the trend is work until lunchtime, take a break for a little bit, and then go play with the niños ("children" for those of you who have not taken Spanish).
I was told that tomorrow we will be traveling to a nearby village to check up on the pastor there, and we will most likely be giving food to the residents there. Before I go on to some humorous portions of this trip, let me first say that I am amazed at this group of people that I'm with. There are only eleven of us, all of which (exept one) are 19-20 years old. Not once have any of these people complained about this work nor have they had to be motivated to do anything. It truly is awesome what is happening here.
As I said before, it is day three of jungledom; however, we have been together as a team for about four days. Shortly after my last post, I, as well as everyone else staying in the lovingly named "gringo house", found out that one of our team members did not know what my name actually was because he yelled "Hey, Mike!" in my general direction. So, after much laughter, we told him that he was wrong. Problem fixed, yes? No. It turns out that my dear team members have now decided to abandon my name given to me at birth and have now all started calling me Mike. What's even worse, though, is that I'm now responding to it.
We have also been split up into cooking teams. Not a bad idea, naturally, because who wants to cook every single night for ten nights? Not this guy. No way, no how. Not my chair, not my problem. That's what I always say. Sorry for that tangent. I hope someone that reads this knows what I'm referring to and maybe, somehow, possibly that person will laugh. Anyway, cooking teams. Awesome idea. Poorly executed. I'm on a team with two other people that don't know how to cook either. I'm sure Rachel Ray would have gladly jumped off of a cliff if she saw what was taking place in the kitchen two nights ago. We made spaghetti. SPAGHETTI! There is no possible way that spaghetti can be hard to make. But it was. Nonetheless, we struggled through and, in the end, were complimented on our dinner. Thursday night, we are up again for dinner, and are supposed to make Santa Fe soup. Hopefully, that will go a bit better. I mean, how bad can you mess up soup?
I'm glad some of you are actually checking in on this. It makes my rants seem a little less pointless. Here's another saying that is probably a little more significant in your lives than John Wayne. "Get busy living, or get busy dying." It's from The Shawshank Redemption. And yes, Tyler, I did happen to steal this off of your facebook page.
Time to go get my play on. Take care.
-Matt
Quick update. After posting this initially, I noticed that I never referred to the title. It's Christmas time. I have a sunburn. I am not entirely too sure whether I'm amazed, excited, or sad. You decide. Vote on it. Somehow. Maybe. Or not. I'm stopping now. Until later.
Life is still amazing in this place.
Even now, the hard work we're doing is paying off. The school that the Casa has made over the years has been repainted, as have the stairs that lead up to it. Today, three of our guys and I put up the walls to a shed, which (believe me) is a whole heck of a lot harder than it sounds.
PAUSE. Yes, those of you who decide pick at my word usage, I know that the previous statement is not grammatically correct. However, it was the best that I could do.
Now, back to what is going on down here. We just got through working for the day; therefore, I'm now blogging. Usually the trend is work until lunchtime, take a break for a little bit, and then go play with the niños ("children" for those of you who have not taken Spanish).
I was told that tomorrow we will be traveling to a nearby village to check up on the pastor there, and we will most likely be giving food to the residents there. Before I go on to some humorous portions of this trip, let me first say that I am amazed at this group of people that I'm with. There are only eleven of us, all of which (exept one) are 19-20 years old. Not once have any of these people complained about this work nor have they had to be motivated to do anything. It truly is awesome what is happening here.
As I said before, it is day three of jungledom; however, we have been together as a team for about four days. Shortly after my last post, I, as well as everyone else staying in the lovingly named "gringo house", found out that one of our team members did not know what my name actually was because he yelled "Hey, Mike!" in my general direction. So, after much laughter, we told him that he was wrong. Problem fixed, yes? No. It turns out that my dear team members have now decided to abandon my name given to me at birth and have now all started calling me Mike. What's even worse, though, is that I'm now responding to it.
We have also been split up into cooking teams. Not a bad idea, naturally, because who wants to cook every single night for ten nights? Not this guy. No way, no how. Not my chair, not my problem. That's what I always say. Sorry for that tangent. I hope someone that reads this knows what I'm referring to and maybe, somehow, possibly that person will laugh. Anyway, cooking teams. Awesome idea. Poorly executed. I'm on a team with two other people that don't know how to cook either. I'm sure Rachel Ray would have gladly jumped off of a cliff if she saw what was taking place in the kitchen two nights ago. We made spaghetti. SPAGHETTI! There is no possible way that spaghetti can be hard to make. But it was. Nonetheless, we struggled through and, in the end, were complimented on our dinner. Thursday night, we are up again for dinner, and are supposed to make Santa Fe soup. Hopefully, that will go a bit better. I mean, how bad can you mess up soup?
I'm glad some of you are actually checking in on this. It makes my rants seem a little less pointless. Here's another saying that is probably a little more significant in your lives than John Wayne. "Get busy living, or get busy dying." It's from The Shawshank Redemption. And yes, Tyler, I did happen to steal this off of your facebook page.
Time to go get my play on. Take care.
-Matt
Quick update. After posting this initially, I noticed that I never referred to the title. It's Christmas time. I have a sunburn. I am not entirely too sure whether I'm amazed, excited, or sad. You decide. Vote on it. Somehow. Maybe. Or not. I'm stopping now. Until later.
Sunday, December 13, 2009
The Third World
What's up everyone? Turns out that the third world country that I am currently in (Guatemala for those of you who didn't read my only post and are too lazy to scroll down) has wireless internet. That's not entirely too true, actually. We're at an orphanage for about 300+ kids from infants and up, and the place just installed a working wireless internet here. So I decided to update from here.
First off, let me say hey to my mother. I'm alive and will be home shortly. Thanks for putting up with me leaving you right at Christmas time.
Ok, now off to my trip. Long story short, we had an incredibly long bus trip to Atlanta/flight to Guatemala. We arrived, though safe and sound, and then, having not slept in 48 hours, decided to play with the kids. Don't get me wrong, people, it was amazing. We (7 nineteen year old guys) got DEMOLISHED by 6 and 7 year old girls in soccer. This statement, too, is a minor fabrication. They were 12 and 13. It was murder. However, it was incredibly fun. This is what has consisted of my life for the past two days. All of this reminds me that although I have taken 3 and a half years of Spanish in my life, all that I could understand from anyone was the little girls calling us sissies. And this is only because an English speaking child told us this.
Well, I'm being antisocial with my team here, so I should probably go now. Tomorrow is the beginning of the work week. It should be... interesting to say the least. I'm sure it will be awesome though. I'll try to update throughout the week but can't make any promises. Hope everyone's break is going well.
Oh yes, the quote of the day: "Get off your butt and join the Marines!" - John Wayne. Is there any significance to this? Probably not. Enjoy it though.
First off, let me say hey to my mother. I'm alive and will be home shortly. Thanks for putting up with me leaving you right at Christmas time.
Ok, now off to my trip. Long story short, we had an incredibly long bus trip to Atlanta/flight to Guatemala. We arrived, though safe and sound, and then, having not slept in 48 hours, decided to play with the kids. Don't get me wrong, people, it was amazing. We (7 nineteen year old guys) got DEMOLISHED by 6 and 7 year old girls in soccer. This statement, too, is a minor fabrication. They were 12 and 13. It was murder. However, it was incredibly fun. This is what has consisted of my life for the past two days. All of this reminds me that although I have taken 3 and a half years of Spanish in my life, all that I could understand from anyone was the little girls calling us sissies. And this is only because an English speaking child told us this.
Well, I'm being antisocial with my team here, so I should probably go now. Tomorrow is the beginning of the work week. It should be... interesting to say the least. I'm sure it will be awesome though. I'll try to update throughout the week but can't make any promises. Hope everyone's break is going well.
Oh yes, the quote of the day: "Get off your butt and join the Marines!" - John Wayne. Is there any significance to this? Probably not. Enjoy it though.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
On The Bandwagon
Well, it seems as if I want to conform to the ways of three of my friends and start blogging. I can only hope that this is half as interesting as theirs, so that maybe I can up my cool points by at least a fraction. It's all I ask really.
Of course, in my life I've been known to do things with bad timing. So, naturally, the day I actually commit to blogging, I have to stop because I'm leaving the country for ten days in order to go to Guatemala with one of my friends, Tyler, and about ten other people from his church. We'll be working from sunup to sundown, which makes me worn out just thinking of it, but I know that this isn't about me. Well I don't want to go overboard on my initial post, but I'll leave you with this fairly profound quote from Jon Foreman.
"If you approach the world with the apron of a servant, then you are allowed to go places that you can’t go if you approach it with the crown of a king.”
Marinate on that for a while, if you wish.
Guys (and girls, of course) have an awesome several days. I'll be sure to update on my trip as soon as I get back in the States. Until then.
Of course, in my life I've been known to do things with bad timing. So, naturally, the day I actually commit to blogging, I have to stop because I'm leaving the country for ten days in order to go to Guatemala with one of my friends, Tyler, and about ten other people from his church. We'll be working from sunup to sundown, which makes me worn out just thinking of it, but I know that this isn't about me. Well I don't want to go overboard on my initial post, but I'll leave you with this fairly profound quote from Jon Foreman.
"If you approach the world with the apron of a servant, then you are allowed to go places that you can’t go if you approach it with the crown of a king.”
Marinate on that for a while, if you wish.
Guys (and girls, of course) have an awesome several days. I'll be sure to update on my trip as soon as I get back in the States. Until then.
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