Saturday, August 23, 2008

Divine Coincidence…?

I have a few cool/funny stories from New Orleans that I haven’t shared yet, but promised I would.

A really cool connection –
When I was in New Orleans, I connected with a friend from San Diego (who is now in Seattle) on Facebook. He told me about two other home church communities that were in Cincinnati, which I ended up visiting. But he also told me about a good friend of his that lived in San Diego who was involved in house church networks – who just happened to be visiting Maryland to speak at a conference a few days after I returned home from NOLA (New Orleans, Louisiana)!! The conference he was speaking at was one that I was thinking about going to. It was the second year conference about Organic church leadership. I decided I wasn’t going to go for financial reasons, and then a friend surprised me by paying my way to the conference! (Thanks again, June!!!)

I got a chance to meet Jason and talk about all the great things his family & church are involved with in San Diego. They are involved with some social justice issues that are very close to my heart and that I would love to work with (among them- fighting human trafficking)! I am staying in touch with him and his wife and look forward to meeting up with them again when I finally make it to San Diego.

A (not-so) funny story –
New Orleans may be famous for many things, but the one I will remember is their … Roaches! Ugh!!!! My first night in NOLA I walked to dinner with my wonderful host, Malia. It was dark on the way back and there was a plethora of roaches that shared the sidewalk with us. I asked her how you keep from stepping on them, she said, “they just move out of the way as you walk.” As she said this, I watched roaches head right for her feet. But she walked on and didn’t step on any of them. She reminded me that that area is basically a swamp and the roaches are all around, but not to worry, they didn’t have any in the house – at the moment. Did I mention that these are not your average everyday house roaches? These are HUGE tree roaches, a couple inches long and fat! Ugh (again)!

So, my visit in NOLA was going well. I was getting used to seeing new bugs – outside. Not worrying about them because I was safely inside a cute apartment. One week down and one week to go … then it happened! (pause for dramatic effect…) I was up late (nothing new – by the way, you can pray for me that I can get on a schedule where I’m awake when the rest of the world is awake and asleep at a reasonable time – thanks!) Anyway, I was up late working on my computer (thanks again LSBC family!!!). My back was hurting so I moved from the couch and was sitting on the floor with my computer on the couch. A few minutes later, I noticed movement out of the top right corner of my eye. I looked up and … there it was!!! A HUGE ROACH!!! UUUGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!! Needless to say, I freaked out a little. It was about 2am. I didn’t know how to kill it – it looked like it was bigger than me! I thought if I tried to kill it, it would fly up and bite me (they do fly, and at least one person has told me that he was bitten by one, though I’m not sure if I believe him. He also said that if there were enough of them, they would eat your young.) So, I rushed into my friends room (did I mention how Great Malia is?!) and woke her up by saying “Malia, there’s a huge roach in the living room” (my bedroom). She was so wonderful! She got up, a little groggy, and got a shoe and assured me that she had a hard time killing them when she first moved there.

Well, the roach got away from us and went into the closet. She went back to bed and I tried to get ready for bed. About a half hour later, I heard a noise by the lamp. I went to investigate, assuming that it was just my over sensitive nerves, but I saw the beads on the lamp shade swaying. Telling myself that it was just a draft or something, I heard another noise come from behind the TV. Again, assuming that I was overreacting, I went to look. As I was about to go back to the futon, I saw movement! UUUGGGGHHHH!!!! I called for Malia (she told me I could). She came out and eventually got this roach, ending its short life. (If it was outside, It could have stayed alive, but if they come into my bedroom [her living room, at the time], then they have to be exterminated.) So, obviously, it took me a while to get to sleep that night. Sometime around 4 or 5 am, I believe, I drifted off. And so began a trend for my final week in NOLA. I tried to stay awake as late (early) as I could, until I was too tired to think about it. (Thanks for the late night conversations, Kristen and Larry! :) )

What Are They Thinking???
Ok, who thinks that drinking (alcohol) and driving do NOT go together? So, we are all agreed. Then WHY in the world would you make Drive Thru Daiquiri Shops??????? I’m not lying – I wish I would have taken a picture of one. New Orleans has a ton of Drive Thru Daiquiri shops. According to LA law, you still cannot drink and drive, but you can have open alcoholic beverages in the car with you. These shops sell frozen drinks – these tend to be drinks that are consumed when served (so I’ve heard :) ), not 15 min. later when you get home. What Are They Thinking????

Want to see my pictures from NOLA? Click on this link (let me know if it doesn’t work)
http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=38770&l=ab72b&id=672092186

So, any cool/funny stories you want to share with me?
Talk to you later, love, Kerrie