Panama Trip

So I know it has been a long time since I've posted again, and a lot has happened since my last one. Namely: Panama Trip 2008 (End of April/Early May).

So many of you might be thinking, "Panama? Why would you go to Panama?" I asked myself that question at first as well. It was actually our fall back plan for Belize. BUT let me tell ya, I was not even a bit disappointed with Panama... well Panama City wasn't overly exciting. I learned how out of practice my Spanish skills have once again become. Unlike Peru, no one in Panama City would even humor you to try and speak English or slow down their Spanish. Outside of the city, things were much better.

We (my friend, and former roommate, Matt and I) arrived in Panama City and about 1:30AM and caught a cab to our hostel. After convincing the guard (somehow) that we had reservations (which we did), we found a couple open beds in the dark and bunked for the night. We spent most of the next day trying to figure out what to do in Panama City. In hindsight we should have went to the canal right away but had it planned for later in the trip. We went to a park in the middle of the city. This isn't really a typical city park, this is like "state park" in the middle of the city. So we hiked a mountain... twice actually because I mislead us (oops). Then we took a ride on these crazy tricked out school buses which are actually their city buses. We didn't have a clue where we were going and ended up in a sketchy neighborhood. (I serious about sketchy too... we went through the same neighborhood again on bus on the way back to the airport and heard gun shots.) We decided to change our plans a little and head to Bocas Del Toro early.

So we catch the overnight bus to Bocas thinking we'll be able to sleep for 10 hours on this bus. Well things were going great until shortly after I fell asleep it got really cold (and I had no warm clothes with as I only brought my small backpack on the trip), then water from the AC started dripping on me, THEN we had to make a rest stop and they forced everyone to get off the bus, THEN we had to stop for the drug test. Needless to say, it wasn't quite as restful as we planned. When we finally get to Almirante at ~5:00AM it is still dark and we have no clue where to go and still cannot communicate in Spanish. Luckily for us, we have made some friends by this point who we follow as they are headed to Bocas as well. So Matt and I get separated at this point into two separate truck taxis and I start praying we end up in the same place, which we do. From Almirante we take a water taxi to Bocas. Where we then sit and wait an hour and a half for the hostels to open.

Finally, we get into an awesome hostel. We shower, nap, and then start our vacation. I will be less specific for a little bit. We get a snorkeling trip where we do some snorkeling, see a bunch of dolphins doing cool tricks, hang out at a sweet beach, see poisonous red frogs, and relax in hammocks talking to newly made friends. Honestly, the people we meet on this really were awesome. People from all over the world and country who have traveled a lot. We went out a few times at night and went to a few beaches. We tried surfing at one; saw a ton of starfish at another. Greatest snack ever: Trits! They are like an ice cream/cookie sandwich but way better than anything I've had here in that category. On our last day on the island, we rented a scooter to drive around the island. Yes, I did say "a" scooter as in one. Think Dumb and Dumber and that is pretty much what it looked like. Crazy fun though. The islands were beautiful. I recommend Bocas del Toro to anyone. Note: when snorkeling, make sure to apply lots of sunscreen to your back and triceps. We got REALLY burned. Couldn't sit back against a chair for days. Matt's back looked leprous when he started to peel.

We changed our plans last minute and went to the mountains for our last day. (Skipping the Panama Canal). It was one of our best decisions the whole trip. We took this ridiculously cramped bus up to there. It was packed with the locals. I luckily got the inconvenient but cool spot next to the door. Matt was cramped in the hot and steamy back. The mountains were amazingly gorgeous. Our hostel was really cheap and probably the worst one I've ever stayed in but we didn't have much of a choice. We survived though. The owner was super cool and helped us find the Canopy Zipline Tour we went on. Again- wicked fun. (p.s. if you want to pretend you are from New England use "wicked" frequently as an adjective... for anything). We ended the trip with a red eye flight back home. I'd love to give more detail if you want them. God blessed us with an awesome trip that couldn't have had better weather or run more smoothly. Burgers in picture called "Super Burger of Luxury". I don't even remember everything on it, but it was the best burger I've ever had.

House pics

I don't know if anyone is reading this still, but I know some people have been curious as to what my place looks like. It is pretty small and anything but luxurious. It works as shelter though I guess. My room is actually leaving soon too so if you know anyone who is looking for a place to live for a few months, let me know. Ha!

One picture is of the kitchen and the other is the living room. I didn't take any pics of my room because it's too messy.

I Like Ecstasy!

Yep, that's right. I like Ecstasy. Frankly though, I'm a little disappointed in those of you who thought I meant the drug. Although, the Ecstasy I like can give you a little bit of a high or maybe an adrenaline rush. The Ecstasy I'm talking about is actually a run at Sunday River. It isn't a double black diamond or even a single black diamond. It is actually a blue square, but it is just a fun run. I have been spending almost every friday the past few months at Sunday River. Dropping the cash for a season pass was tough, but it has been completely worth it. I have went snowboarding way more because of it. Luckily, my friend Peter is able to go up on Fridays as well. Last weekend, we took a group of Young Life kids up there Friday night and stayed at one of the kid's family's cabin. It was a ridiculously fun time. They had a ping pong table and an air hockey table on the floor that the guys stayed on. Needless to say, we didn't get a whole lot of sleep that night. However, as the warmer weather and decreased snow is great to see along the coast, it is less exciting up in the mountains as snow conditions are suffering. It's to be expected I guess, and in all honesty I totally stoked for the late spring and summer. I can't wait to start hiking and kayaking again. Not that I own a kayak... yet. Bethel, Maine which is near Sunday River now has the world record for the tallest snow man and woman. They broke the record for the tallest snow woman this year. In other snowboarding news, I also hit up Sugarloaf for the first time. It is the other popular mountain here. Maybe some of you remember Bode Miller from the past Winter Olympics- This is the mountain he developed his mad skills on.

For Easter and my birthday, I travelled down to Pennsylvania with my roommate Matt. We went to his hometown of Hollidaysburg which is near Altoona. It is right in the Appalachian Mountains. It was pretty beautiful despite the lack of green yet. We hung out with his family and some of his friends. We went fishing one night which proved to be quite an exciting adventure believe it or not. They didn't have any snow left when we got there, but you better believe they got 3 inches one night while I was there. We celebrated Easter with his immediate family on Saturday then drove Easter day to Philly to eat even more food with his dad's side of the family. I ate SO much food. The following weekend, my friends had a birthday party for me and my friend Jenny. It was small but fun.

In other news, I'm going to Panama at the end of the month. Matt and I had decided a while back it would be fun to go to Belize just because. Unfortunately, by the time I was told I could have work off, ticket prices to Belize had increased. So we looked for another option that was also cheap. So to Panama I go. I can't wait. It is going to be a blast. I better start tuning up my Spanish skills.

Otherwise, I stay busy with Young Life. My friend Sarah (not the Sarah from previous posts) and I lead the game time disguised as Boris and Ivana. It is a riot. My costume includes a pair of shorts that are right on the verge of indescent. Well, they might actually be indescent, but they aren't too the level of scarring. Work is going well. After about two weeks of a horribly slow schedule, I've spent the past two crammed with patients.

I also received good news recently that my time off request was approved in August so I get to return home for the annual BWCA trip with my boys from GR. Unfortunately, we have to wait until August.

Due to popular demand-

Hello again! Sorry for the delay. I have gotten a few requests to post some blogs again so I thought today would be a good day since it is snowing yet again and I have some time. Once Cody started making comments on Dokken's blog about how big of a blog slacker I was, I figured maybe I should get back in gear with it. I will admit that it is sort of flattering to know that people actually give a crap. Sometime when writting, I think "Is anyone even going to read this thing?" I think I do need to take a lesson from Cody and maybe focus more on short updates rather than feeling I need to write short stories.

So, what have I bee up to since October huh. Wow! Well, mostly I've been settling into life in Maine. I haven't settled too much. I still try to keep exploring and not just settle and forget that I have tons of God's beautiful creation all around me waiting to be appreciated.

For example, last fall during a "Nor'Easter" storm, some friends and I drove down to Portland to check out some popular light houses. Let me tell ya, being along a rocky coast during a storm is AWESOME. It is so powerful. Watching huge waves crashing into large, solid rocks is actually sort of a spiritual thing. Not to mention, you feel sort of young as you are your buddies make get excited and make comments like, "Whoa! Did you see that one? It was huge." Plus, rocky shores also provide a chance for rock jumping, which honestly, who doesn't get a weird enjoyment of jumping from rock to rock. The only down fall was that it was sort of wet and cold. Wind and rain will do that.

I've taken a couple trips to Boston. Once with my friends who had never been there which was fun. So besides the ridiculously rude service (but really good food) we received at an Italian restaurant on the North side, the next best story from that trip that I can remember was the hawk I saw sitting in a tree eating a squirrel in the middle of Boston Commons. So cool! Smart bird huh! There are tons of squirrels around there and not many hawks. Surprised I never saw any on the UofMN campus. The picture was taken on the subway on the way to Harvard. It was Leah's first time on a subway, hence her silly facial expression in the picture. My next trip to Boston was also a great time but on less happy terms. This trip was to hang out with Dokken before he left for England. It was great to catch up before he left, and we had a good time. Unfortunately, we did not represent Minnesota well in the pool games we played. Sorry MN!

L.L. Beans main store is in Freeport, ME (essentially where I spend most of my free time- Freeport that is, not Beans). Anyway, they pretty much have a campus there. The morning of their Grand Opening of their new Hunting and Fishing store, they were giving away free gift certificates ranging from $25-$500. So Sarah, Kim, and I woke up ridiculously early to get in line. Unfortunately, we all thought we'd be able to wait inside the other store, but unfortunately that was not the case so we were slightly under dressed and spent most of the morning huddling together for warmth. ;) Yeh!!! Huddling with two ladies. hahaha. Our friend Peter, did take pity on us late in the morning and brought us some Dunkin' Donuts coffee and doughnuts. This was shortly before the Starbucks people came I believe. Anyway, after all the wait and cold, I only ended up with a $25 gift certificate. Better than nothing, and the guy first in line who was there at 7pm the night before got the same thing. His friend did get $500 though. Sorry, that was sort of a lame story. I'll try to pick it up a little.

As most of you know, I started working with the Young Life ministry out here which means I get to hang out with a bunch of awesome high schoolers. I'm not even joking, it's fun. (As all my teacher friends reading this roll their eyes- ha!) I was able to go to Camp Saranac in upstate NY, just a short distance from Lake Placid. First of all, it was beautiful up there. We were doing a Work Crew Weekend, which means there are NY kids there doing the "camp" thing and our kids are there being Christ-like servants to make their stay a good one. This means our kids were preparing and serving food (restaurant style- essentially), doing dishes and laundry, etc. The poor kids on my crew got to do the outside physical labor. Needless to say, my crew started with three kids and I think ended with one. His name was Kyle. Let me explain mine and Kyle's experience. We had the job of digging out the foundation of a building. So we are underneath a building, digging out all the dirt underneath it. So at the tallest point it was maybe 3 feet. Plus there was the foundation was built around a large boulder and the building built over it. So we have points where we are laying over this rock trying to get all the dirt out. It was pure insanity, but we did get to wear sweet white jump suits. Can't deny that is a little cool. You know how hard it is to display a Christ-like servant attitude when you have dirt in your nose and eyes and your back and shoulders are screaming. Just saying! But we got it done and definitely grew from the experience. Otherwise, I stay busy just trying to be a part of these kids lives, help them grow in their relationship with Jesus, and to reach out to other kids.

Hmmm... what else. Oh yeah! Thanksgiving away from home. So I went with some friends to Connecticut (who would have thought you spelled it that way) to have dinner with a family my buddy was connected to down there. So imagine the most Italian-American family you can and that was this family. They were great. It was a lot of fun and the food... Wow! The first course was lasagna which I was all about since I love that stuff, BUT this lasagna was all homemade even the noodles. It was probably better than the lasagna I actually had in Italy. I think I'm drooling a little just thinking about it. The rest of the food was great too as was all the homemade wine. Turkey was an option, but mostly as a technicality. I think only myself and a couple other people ate any. I had to eat some, I mean, it's Thanksgiving, right.

I was able to make it home twice in Decemeber which was great for seeing family and friends but bad for the bank and getting a little homesick. The first time was be there for two of my best friends getting married. Bryan and Alicia said "I do" on December 9th. It was a great time and a beautiful wedding. They are now living in Iowa trying to not get bored out of their minds. At least I moved someplace fun to visit! (Just kidding Iowa- I'm sure its great there). The second trip was for Christmas. I can't even explain how it felt to be home for Christmas this year. I love my family. I was also able to see some high school peeps which was for far to short of a time though. This trip also encompassed the last time I would see my Grandfather alive. He passed away in February. When I saw him in December, he made the comment "Sometimes I just want to give up." What do you say to that? At least, I know he was ready to go and ok with it. He is not longer suffering and is in a much better place. I was able to travel home to be with my family as well. Perhaps the best thing about a funeral is that it brings family together. For my immediate family, it was the first time in years that we have all been together. My oldest brother and his family flew in from Neveda. It was so good to see them.

What else: I got a season lift pass so I go snowboarding whenever I can (thankfully I have fridays off). New Years was a total gong show which entailed my roommate at one point having to press his bare chest against a cold door window for 5 minutes and Rob dancing a little to close to Peter for everyone's comfort, especially Peter's. You'll have to ask me about that story if you want more details. It was the result of a crazy board game called "Would you rather..." I own it, we'll play it sometime. My friends Nate and Jen had a beautiful baby boy, Christian, on Dec. 9th. He was about 3 months premature and spent a few months in the hospital but is now home and growing like crazy. I went cross-country skiing for the first time last weekend. I pretty much rock at it. ha! or something like that. I went snowshoeing today. I think we've gotten about 100" of snow this winter already. I hate shoveling. My roommate and I have done a little rock climbing. My roommate continues to travel a lot for work, but he is on his last trip now. Then he will be here from mid-March till beginning of May before he moves out, which will be a sad day. Well, I think I covered most of the highlights since my last post. I'm excited to see all of you who are planning trips out here.

Some of you may be wondering about my future plans. Status: Still waiting on God's direction. I'm still considering moving out west (maybe Bozeman, Montana) for a while or trying traveling PT for a while. I'm not sure when I'll leave here yet. Getting involved with a ministry doesn't make it any easier to leave. Please pray for me as I look for God's guidance with that. p.s. Apartment pics are on the way soon.

Miss you all. God bless.