my trip to cuba

Tomorrow marks one month since I’ve been back from Cuba and I’m still not sure what to write about.  I started out a draft of this giving an in depth analysis of the struggle of summarizing this trip but, lucky for you, I realized that no one wants to read that.  

Sorry in advance to those who think even my regular updates are too long.

WHO:  I went with Ben and June Hiebert and Mark and Bonnie Swecker.  This was Ben & June’s 48^th trip over the past 20 years and Mark and Bonnie’s 4^th. 

WHAT: A trip to Cuba. More on this later.

WHERE: Mostly Santa Clara, right in the middle of the country (home of Che Guevara’s gravesite and   one of the biggest universities) and a few days in Habana (evidently that’s what it’s called, one of the many things I didn’t know ahead of time).

WHEN: September 21^st – October 5^th.

WHY:  To facilitate production and distribution of Christian literature and meet with individuals and small groups associated with one of the churches in Santa Clara.  I mean that’s why they were going, I was invited to bring down the average age of the group and offer sporadic poor translation (but, as someone told me a few months back – the best ability is availability, and that I have).

HOW: Legally I went on a religious Visa with a letter from my home church saying I was going to do religious work (what that means is I gave them a letter I drafted from a template and Lee Gerke signed it).  With this Visa you can fly directly from Miami on a charter flight.  Financially even before I even decided to go my trip was paid for.   Practically I had to get time off work and I asked, via text, and they granted.

Back to the what. 

What housing was like: We flew into Santa Clara and stayed at little hotelish place.  Initially I was going to stay in the home of someone from the congregation but staying in homes on a religious Visa seems to be a grey area.  The hotel was a home with 5 converted individual rooms and bathrooms.  The rooms had hot water and mini fridges and air conditioning, I was not rouging it

What we ate: We would eat breakfast at the hotel including lots fresh fruit, instant oatmeal we packed from home, and coffee.  I usually don’t drink coffee and the first few days back, when I switched back to tea, were rough.  Lunch and dinner we ate at either the church building or a home where they would serve us deliciously extravagant meals.  I was warned ahead of time that I would be eating a lot of beans and rice and somehow was under the impression that there wouldn’t be much more than that.  But no, every lunch and dinner we would have beans and rice (together and separate) and the most delicious mangoes in the world and like three types of meat and fried plantains, and green beans and usually flan too (but sometimes ice cream or arroz con leche or pudding).  So no, I did not come back looking haggard and skinny like a real missionary.  Dinners were especially lovely because each night a few families would get together and prepare us a meal and usually they would eat with us (unless the table was too small or they ran out of dishes, then they would watch us eat and then eat later).  After dinner we would either go to a neighborhood Bible study with them or an extended time of fellowship around the table.  They didn’t even make us feel high maintenance drinking bottled water and passing out hand sanitizer.

These dinners were a great time to eat, hear about their sincere love for the Lord, and laugh.  During one of the most entertaining meals, along with all the usual fare, we had a bowl of shredded meat.  We asked what it was and they said “a surprise.”  This turned into a half hour of Mark and Ben (mostly) playing 20 questions with our hosts while trying to guess the animal.  It lives in trees.  No it’s not a monkey. It has a tail.  It has hair.  It has the diet of a rabbit.  No, it’s not in the zoo. Etc.   All done through my translating.  Finally they told us what it was…Hutia.  Unfortunately the name didn’t help so they let us know that it’s pretty much like a giant rat.  Google it.   Another memorable food experience was in Habana when we offered to take our hosts out to dinner, their choice.  They picked a pizza place…in China town…Los Tres Chinitos y Mas.  Actually pizza wasn’t on their main menu so we had to ask for a special menu.  It was much how you would expect pizza in China town in Cuba to be. 

What the church was like:  The church we worked with in Santa Clara was really amazing.  Technically it’s a house church, so not affiliated with any denomination but the “house” had converted the back yard into pretty much a building, with a stage and cement floors and a permanent roof, but with only half walls around it.  100’s of people meet there on Sundays and various groups for leadership or prayer or youth during the week.  The church started 20 years ago out of a college aged ministry and still most of the leadership is young couples dedicating their lives to spreading the gospel and encouraging believers in their daily walks.  But, because most Cubans don’t have convenient transportation, a lot of church activities aren’t at that building.  During the week there are 150(!!!!) discipleship groups (Bible Studies) in homes all over Santa Clara with 15-30 attending each group.  Most nights after dinner we got to go to one of these groups, not to lead or teach, but to see what God is already doing there.  We would sing and share scriptures and prayer requests and praises and have some Bible teaching.  They weren’t using methods, or curriculum, just sharing the Lord together.  There were special groups too, some for youth or kids and one group that visits and serves the sick and needy.  I asked what they meant by serve and they said you know, bringing food, washing dishes, babysitting, praying…meeting practical needs.

What our days were like:  I’ve covered food and evenings but the days varied a lot.  Usually after breakfast we would head over to the church and see what was going on there.  Sometimes we would meet with people one-on-one.  And by “we” I mean they would and, since the good Cuban translators weren’t always available in the daytime, I would translate.  On topics like marital problems, or safe driving practices, or baptism, or how to repair a violin…you know…Spanish 1 stuff.  In the afternoons we would usually head back to the hotel for rest time or to walk around and shop at some of the 100 stores that all sold the same few items.   And by few items I mean, if they had what you wanted, they would have it everywhere and if they didn’t have what you wanted, no one would have it. Like tape.  They used to sell it, now they don’t.  So we learned if you need tape you ask around until someone you know has some for you to use and the people are lovely and generous so if they have it (or know someone who might) and you need it they will go out of their way to help.  I think toilet paper falls into the same category (that’s why we packed our own).

What Habana was like:  For 3 nights we went to Habana and there we were able to stay with a family that they’ve worked with in the past.  Most organizational headquarters are in Habana so we met with a few denominations, printing presses and the Cuban Bible Commission.  The Bible Commission is the secular governmental organization that receives all the shipments of Bibles and literature that Ben and June get shipped into the country.  They then distribute the containers full of literature to denominations that are recognized by the government.  Meeting with them we were able to receive Bibles and pamphlets and pass them out to believers we knew who did not have adequate resources.  We were also able to purchase Bibles from one of the churches there and bring them back to Santa  Clara with us  These  were study Bibles that were only $4 and exclaimed to be the most beautiful Bibles they had ever seen.  Also in Habana we meet with two organizations who had printing presses and were able to leave them money to print tracts that they will be able to use to further the gospel work.  And in Habana there were lots of classic American cars (proportionately, overall there are very few cars at all) and we saw the embassy and China town. 

What other things stood out:  My life is very dependent on internet, phones and technology in general but I can survive with out it, the Cubans do it all the time.  I really don’t understand the role the government plays in the everyday lives of the people but there were quite a few conversations peppered with, “don’t tell anyone about this,” and one “Joy, don’t say that…you don’t know who’s listening” and I never had any clue what the big deal was.  I also learned that while I’ve always used the word ahorita as “right now” in Cuba it means “in a little while.”  So when someone kept asking me for clarification if I meant ahora or ahorita they weren’t asking me if I meant “now” or “right now.”

What else is going on:  This weekend I’m going to San Diego and next weekend to New York. Yesterday at work I learned what materials we actually process.  Today at work we had no internet (flashbacks to Cuba) so I spent some time on this email and then left early.

I should be packing but instead I'm doing this

Recently at dinner my dad told me he was talking to a friend and the man asked about me.  I was like, yeah dad?  What did you tell him?  He said, oh actually I was telling him things and it really made you sound successful.  Then he had my mom and I had a great chuckle. 

I’ve been reflecting on this, I’m good with words, I know how to present the facts in a way that gets the response I want (for the most part).  I can share highlights to make things sound glamorous, or lowlights to elicit sympathy/empathy.  But sometimes I spend too much time thinking about how to present things.  And it’s difficult to not become proud of my accomplishments or discouraged by my failures.  Maybe you’ve picked up that this whole thing is very self-centered. Jeremiah 9:26 says, “But the one who boasts should boast in this, that he understands and knows Me—that I am Yahweh, showing faithful love, justice and righteousness on the earth, for I delight in theses things.  This is the Lord’s declaration.”  This is the good news, that even more than I know Him, He knows me and continually shows His faithful love. 

But since you might want to know what’s going on with my life here it is, completely tainted by my perceptions and open to your interpretation.

Job:

I am still employed by Clean Harbors.  I still don’t have defined tasks. Next week marks 4 months of employment.  Thanks to Clean Harbors I now have clean teeth and it has been confirmed that I still don’t need glasses and I have good blood pressure.  Last month I was off a Wednesday-Friday and when I came back on Monday they had moved all my stuff.  Evidently someone with legitimate responsibilities got demoted into my office and they gave me a smaller office with no exterior windows.   This was a little humbling because before when people would ask me what I do I could say, “I don’t know, but I have an office with a window and a really nice view.” Now what can I say?  On the flip side, my new office has 2 glass walls and I now understand, more fully, how fish feel.  And actually the furniture is laid out better so I’ve been able to decorate with houseplants and artwork.   As I was told recently, I sit there and look pretty.  And a lot more people pass by and stop in to chat and tell me their life stories. 

Although I have no responsibilities (not an exaggeration folks), next week I am getting sent to Houston for “training.”  The irony is I’m supposed to tell them what I want to be trained on.   I don’t even know who the training people are, or what they could train me on.  We work with oil and it’s Texas so maybe I can ask them how to find oil, I hear that’s a lucrative market.

The good news is I have friends in Houston and it’s a free trip.  So actually I’m really excited.  That brings be to why I should be packing, I fly out tomorrow morning at 6am. I'm not quite sure what to pack for the 100* humid weather. 

Other Travel:

The other benefit of having a job with no expectations is it’s really easy to ask for un-paid leave.   One time I brought up to a boss that I wanted to take a week off to help a friend move from NM to IL.  He hesitated because I was, “really learning some helpful things.” The next day, someone asked me to sharpen a box of pencils—this is not a joke—a whole box.  The next time I asked him about taking the time off he didn’t hesitate and I went on a road trip. 

With this availability the Lord recently dropped a trip to Cuba on my lap. If you know the Hieberts this trip will make slightly more sense.  If you don’t know them, they’re this Canadian couple I guess in their 70’s that have been going down there a few times a year for the past 20 years this time they’re going with another American couple (Mark and Bonnie Swecker) that has been a bunch and they invited me to go along.  I guess it's a missions trip of sorts.  

They sent me a flight itinerary and a packing list: instant oatmeal, power bars, pillow, towels, toilet paper…basically it’s like camping.  But it won’t be camping because a young couple from a church they meet up with is hosting me. I think I won’t let them know that I brought my own toilet paper unless it seems appropriate. 

We’re still waiting for our religious visas to come through (us 3 Americans, the Canadians don’t have to worry about it) and then the plan is to fly out of Miami on September 21^st and fly back on October 5^th.  I would fill you in on details but I really don’t have any.  As far as travel planning goes the only think I have done is sent in a picture of my passport (taken on my phone) and June Hiebert told me I should wear long skirts and leave pretty much all of my clothes there so I’ve been purging my closet.   I did buy one skirt at Salvation Army with the trip in mind but love it too much (I think that is a sign of a bad missionary) and God is really going to have to make it clear if I need to give that skirt.  I was also planning on re-watching Dirty Dancing - Havana Nights to brush up on my Cuban knowledge, I have seen it once but don't remember much. The tagline is "No one puts this baby in a corner -- not even Castro," so, if I remember correctly, it's a documentary. I'm not being purposfully vague, if I knew more I'd share.  

Other things:

• I’ve found myself in multiple conversations lately that have left me wondering, HOW IN THE WORLD did I get here.  Then I have to try to keep a neutral face and come up with the right response.  Sometimes it has worked, at least once it totally failed and I had to do a lot of backtracking and prayer later on. 
• One example:  I said something and this lady at work asked me if I live with my mom.  And I said yes.  Then she asked me if I help my mom out.  Again I said yes.  Then she said, “That’s good that you can live with her if she needs the help.” Then I realized she was thinking my mom was elderly and needed rides and help to the bathroom or something and I had to clarify that I meant we take turns cooking and I'm not a total bum.     
• I bought a newer car last weekend, by newer I mean it is literally 20 years newer than my old car.  This is 83% exciting and 17% depressing that just as I am finishing up my student loans I added another chunk of debt.  As my dad pointed out, now I have to keep my job.
• Also, most of you know (or know of) my mom's dad, Grandpa Vern - poet, artist, song writer, cowboy, flea market operator.  We just found out (yesterday) that his prostate cancer has progressed really rapidly and they're putting him on hospice (tomorrow). This afternoon when my sister and I were visiting him in the hospital he was still reciting poetry and talking about how it will be good to be moving into my parents' house for his last days because we can all do karaoke together (so get ready cousins).  You can pray for our family, especially my parents and aunt as they have a lot of decisions to make and take on the roles of primary care takers and that his boasting will be in the Lord.  

People like pictures but I never take any, I did scrounge up two.  The 1st is one Saturday morning when all of Julie's kids ended up in bed with me.  Landon was especially excited to tell me, in all sincerity, I won the sleeping-in contest.  

The 2nd is me and this statue at the University of Illinois - my friend said it was a model engineering student, "reading and ignoring girls."

A job and some other things

Hello again!

I think it’s been 3 months (that’s a quarter of a year!) since I’ve posted so it’s time again to fill you in on my very exciting life.

My complete aversion to travelling has worn off and I was able to go to on a few trips, nothing foreign – unless you count New Mexico.  It’s good to get out because here I still spend 98% of time with relatives.  I got a job, but that didn’t really help with diversifying of my social network (more on that later).

This has nothing to do with travelling, but last weekend I went on  this hike thing to some local sand mines.  Here is a picture of me, my sister, my dad and some niblings in the mines.

I was working on a project of organizing my parents’ pictures and have lost all momentum.  I realized I like tasks with hope of a clean finish but sorting 100 years of pictures is really hard.  And when I ask my mom if a baby is me or my sister she only knows sometimes.  So what hope is there of her knowing which baby is which in the box of Eklund black and whites my dad found in the garage.  Label your photos folks. 

I’ve been cooking more, it’s a lot different cooking when you a) have other people to eat your food and b) have other people paying for the ingredients.   I had some expired airline miles that I was able to cash in on magazine subscriptions (a fair trade) so now get Southern Living and Cooking Light. I like to pretend the recipes in Southern Living are from Cooking Light and are secretly healthy. 

When I last wrote I was applying for a job that required heavy lifting and forklift driving.  Then my cousin-in-law informed me that it actually would require me to lift heavy things and drive a forklift so scratch that.  So we were back to another 2 months of sporadic emails and then they created a new job for me.  Then I had this “interview” (with a different relative-through-marriage that works there) and then I went on vacation and mid-April I became InSite Administration for Clean Harbors Industrial Services (actually there seems to be some discrepancy on if it’s Industrial or Environmental Services).  One day someone asked me what division I was in and I said, “This one.” Now I know “this one” is material processing. 

A big part of my first few weeks was watching training videos, approximately 40 videos in I got to the ones titled “Who We Are” and learned about what this company actually does.  A direct quote: “What does Clean Harbors do? Plenty…in a bunch of industries.”  Well, if that doesn’t clear things up, I don’t know what would.   The “Who We Are” videos did not cover names of people working in my office but I’ve learned that Tony or Brian are normally pretty good guesses.   Another big video topic was safety.  If you’re driving a truck in a snowstorm, be extra careful.  I don’t think that knowledge is directly relevant to my job but it will help if I’m ever called on to life coach a truck driver (except one in California, we’re in a drought).   Also keep in mind that the main cause of fatigue is lack of sleep (not lack of caffeine). 

Up to this point in the email I have been at work waiting for my next task, and don’t feel guilty because I already color coordinated my files. Here comes the switch to personal time

Now that I’m done with training videos, what I do is a little bit of a mystery.   Basically I ask people if they need any help and then I sit in my office, with my space heater on, listening to podcasts, drinking tea/water, and doing whatever data entryish project someone needs help with. Drinking tea/water is great because it gives me an excuse to get up from my desk more frequently (either to the kitchen or bathroom). And has fewer side-effects than smoking.

But sometimes I do have stuff to do and I fail- really this job is keeping my humble.  Yesterday I had to cover the phones for someone who was out.  Let’s just say if I received a performance review based on how long someone was on hold before getting directed to the proper person, I would be fired.  I was literally walking around the office inside and out trying to find anyone to help me figure out who the call was for and how to use the phone to transfer calls.

In general the people I work with are very nice, except for the few that walk around scowling.  The woman I work with the most is super chatty, like ask me anything about her and I could tell you.  What kind of socks does her boyfriend wear? How often does she wear deodorant? SERIOUSLY I NOW KNOW THESE THINGS (although I just realized you’re probably thinking you know too much about me too-it’s different though).  Also one day she told me about her boyfriend’s friend smoking pot in the back seat of her brand new car, which was just super rude.  I told her about my one friend whose dad smokes cigars- we really had a bonding moment.  But really she’s wonderful and has been gone the last few days and it’s been rough.

OK, I could tell you even more about this but you’d probably read too much into it and think I’ve gone completely crazy.  So here are ten straight-up great things about my job. 

1) As of today I have health benefits including dental and vision.  I was thinking I’d need to use the vision right away because my eyes were killing me at work but…

2) I got my very own office with a window offering tons of natural light and I can see again!  And my mom gave me a plant. Here is a picture of the view out of the window.

3) My commute is always less than 30 minutes and very pretty.  And during this commute I hear the traffic reports for my old commute to San Ramon and I rejoice a little more.   

4) I get paid

5) I get to listen to lots of podcasts and sermons, so I’m up on all sorts of things.  Maybe I’ll move to books on tape or whatever we call them these days.  Recommendations?

6) I can wear jeans everyday, or not.  No one cares.  Side note- I found 3 pairs of jeans last weekend for $2.50.

7) I have flexible hours.

8) It’s drama-free. I was talking to someone from my job in NM yesterday and am really glad to not be there.

9) My bosses have great wives.

10) It’s very clearly God’s provision and gives me hours of stand up material.

In one of my podcasts (NPR’s How To Do Everything) someone called in to ask how to make small talk with children.  A 10-year-old consultant said that she thought a good question is, “is there anything important happening with you?” Because that opens it up from birthdays to really anything that important to the individual (like the junk this email was filled with). 

Anyways, anything important happening with you?

Livin' the California Dream

Hello again, 

Now that I've been back for almost 2.5 months you're getting a whirlwind overview of my very exciting life.  Brace yourselves.  

Mostly these months have been spent reacclimating to California life and accepting opportunities to serve.  Some of these tasks have been easy, and some have been horrifying, like tossing all the notes I had saved from Jr. High days, which I tried to do as quickly as possible without actually reading anything.  I also had some lovely conversations with AAA trying to figure out how I was signed up for their safe teen driver program.  Then, of course, Covered California, hopefully I don't get the measles because I have no clue if I have health insurance.  I also had the opportunity to co-create, with my cousin, a Christmas trivia game, Joypardy, and made a really spectacular mission bulletin board for church.  

Another step of acclimation has been honing my babysitting skills, fortunately I have plenty of opportunity to do this.  I do appreciate the zest for life that children bring, but one day recently I didn't answer the phone because I was afraid it was someone asking me to babysit and I didn't want to be caught off guard.  It wasn't about that at all, I am just irrationally paranoid (or maybe rationally).  I realize when writing this it's a little like when I was staying at a friend's a few months ago and she kept saying how annoying house guests are, so dearest siblings and cousins I love you and your children.  

Since went to grad school many people think that I actually have formed career-oriented goals.  This is still not true.  My plan since I came back was to start thinking about a job in January.  Since I've been living with my parents (and grandfather) I haven't been financially pressed to start getting income but have come to the point of actually desiring a job as a form of escapism.  The company I used to work for in San Ramon offered me my job back, but they called the week of Christmas and said I could start the next Monday.  I stalled and said I'd let them know and then, after all of my family laughed at the prospect, formally declined.  Since then two friends have encouraged me to apply for their companies but neither of them seemed that appealing.  Some of my confidence in declining these has come from conversations I've had with my cousin's husband for working at his company.  I have no idea what the job actually is but it has flexible hours, a good commute and decent pay so finally yesterday I bit the bullet and applied.  They only have online applications so I was told I should apply for kind of a generic job and it will get me in the system until we decide on a more permanent fit for me within the organization.  This seemed all fine and dandy until I actually read the job requirements for the Environmental Technician II, there was little I could do to beef up my resume and tie in my strong administrative skills to the ability to drive a forklift and lift 50lbs-100lbs.  The good news is I was finally able to reference that class I took in tractor driving on an application.  

Yesterday I was talking to my mom and she compared my life to that of Job.  You know, the guy in the Bible (not Arrested Development) who loses everything and is miserable.  This makes me seem quite pathetic, especially since there are a lot of people around me that are going though actual trials.  But yes, the transition back to life here has not been easy (but it is really nice to sit outside in a tee shirt in January).  Although I would always claim that my fulfillment comes from the Lord I am learning more about what this means when I don't have a lot else going for me.  

Happy Superbowl Weekend, my goal for today is to find out who is playing so I can drop it into conversation like I know what I'm talking about. 

Love,

Joy