The Right Place at the Right Time

Ever since I moved to Germany in June 2016, it's as if God has been pulling all the threads of my life together. Three years of mostly forgotten German in high school and college. Time spent as a child in the Middle East among Arabs. 20 years in Africa. Traumatic life experiences of my own to soften my heart to those who have seen worse. And a decent ability fixing bicycles from years of having to do it myself. 

One of the first ways this came together was in the bicycle ministry at the refugee camp here. My friend Gene is the main guy behind a ministry that finds used bikes for refugees to use getting around town and to school. I go with him every other week to help repair the bikes, which also gives the opportunity to get to know precious adults and kids from Syria, Iran, Afghanistan, Guinea, Nigeria and meet a practical need. 

Gene(L) and Me (R) under the tent working on bikes at the refugee center some time last year. 

Today was one of those days where EVERYTHING COMES TOGETHER in a way that only God can orchestrate. One of those times where you just kind of sit back and say, "Okay, God, You obviously set this all up. I'm along for the ride. Do your thing."

First of all, we weren't even supposed to be at the camp today. Our normal time should have been last week, but since Gene was away, we had canceled. Rather than make it a whole month between visits, we decided to go today instead of next week. 

We each fixed several bikes - not too many, with good time to chat with folks - as always in broken German and English with the odd Arabic word thrown in. 

We got done a bit early and were carrying the tools to the car. I rounded the corner to see an American guy, Brian, with an African talking to the security guards. I hadn't met Brian yet, but Gene knew him. He was saying, "Does anyone know French?" just as I walked by. 

I chimed in and was swept into that place where you're speaking multiple languages. Brian to me in English. His son interpreting into German for the guards. Me to the African guy with him in French: "What's you're name?"  
"Dembele" 
Wait a second. That's a MALIAN name! 
Switch to a Bambara greeting. Dembele breaks into a bigger smile than when I spoke French, beside himself that someone in this strange land speaks Bambara. 
Turns out he's a Malinke from an area in Mali where I did language survey 23 years ago. 

Brian had been out driving with his sons and saw Dembele walking down the road several miles back. Brian works some in East Africa and was moved to stop and see if this guy was okay. They shared no language but somehow he convinced him to get in the car and come with him to the refugee center. He arrived only minutes before we left. 

Confusion ensued as we talked with the camp staff about procedure to follow. I related that he had come from Italy arriving today on the train. He was 10 months in Italy and then before that he crossed the sea from Libya. He had no papers or documents on him. He hadn't eaten in 2 days.

It seems we needed to take him to the larger camp 15 min away. But in the meantime, the police had been called and so we had to wait for them to arrive. Brian needed to get to soccer practice but managed to find a bag of food among his groceries to give to Dembele. We all exchanged contact information. 

Then I sat with Dembele and made him comfortable as we waited 45 minutes for the police to come. It was good to be able to comfort him, tell him a bit what to expect, reassure him of that all would be well. 
It was obvious he was both tired and a bit scared. 
I got someone to go inside and find the couple from Guinea and they came out and talked to him in French and reassure him. 

I asked about his family. His mother is 58. She and his older brother are back in Mali in the village, where his brother grows millet and peanuts. The best I could tell, he left Mali only in search of better opportunities. We tried to call his brother but couldn't get through, but I left a text telling where he was and that he was okay. 

The security guards came over a few times as did different refugees. We'd switch to German or English and I would introduce them. My synapses were close to bursting trying to go back and forth between German (which I speak poorly) and French. At times, it felt like I had to go in and manually shift gears on the language derailleur in my brain. I kept throwing "und" and "oder" into my French sentences - call it skipping gears. At least it made things funny for those around. 

Suddenly the police were there. They were asking questions in German and found out he only speaks French. So I get to be the interpretor. 
Then they're searching him, patting him down, going through his pockets. I'm trying to keep one step ahead with explanations so he'd know to take off his shoes and socks, show the bottom of his feet. Put them back on. Now get in the car. 
I was able to stop and ask where he was going and tell him so he'd know that he was going with them to a nearby town for tonight. Then 2 hours north of hear to a bigger center where he'd be registered and possibly relocated. And then I said goodbye. 

Pray for Dembele. He's a fragile young man making his way in a strange land without any English or German or any papers. 
It would be great if he ended up in a camp nearby where Brian's family and I could visit. 
But if not, it was great just to be a friendly face speaking in a familiar language in a strange land. And to know that God is orchestrating a majestic dance around us. 

PS. Oh, and guess what? Today I discovered my "Toubabou" t-shirt from Mali in the bottom of the drawer and put it on for the first time in perhaps a year! God has a sense of humor. 

The Boxing Day Adventure (Lafiabougou to Siby - almost) [2010]

On Boxing Day (Dec 26, 2010), my french friend Olivier Durand and I set out from Bamako (end of the "Marine House road") to Siby and the Natural Bridge by mountain bike.

The Natural Bridge in Siby
I never made it that day.

Rather than go on the goudron (paved road), we set out in the valley that goes past the statue of the warrior and on to Waspy Waterfalls. And then we just kept going straight on that road, which is a pretty poor dirt road for cars, but fine for bikes. The road eventually ends up at the waterfall behind the Natural Bridge and Siby and then goes on to the natural Bridge itself.


Here is our route: http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/26351874



We left at 8:10 a.m. and it was a nice chilly 22 C (72F). All went well as we passed the first waterfalls.

It began to heat up, especially in the sun.

Around about the 35 km mark, I got the first cramps in my thighs, in spite of having some electrolyte stuff in both my water bottle and camelback. I had some tangerines along and also some sesame seed bars.

We road on and Olivier supplied the occasional "coup de fouet" (literally: whiplash) which is a french brand of cycling energy gels.

It was a gradual climb but long for a total of 462 m gained in altitude (1515 feet). Once we got up on the ridge, we actually started moaning each time we went DOWN because we knew it just meant more going up.








By then the cramps were becoming more and more frequent and I had already drained the 3 liters of water I had brought with me. Olivier gave me a bit of his and we stopped in a village where a kind lady with 6 kids gave me some "mini-ji" (drinking water) from the container she had by her hut.




The ridge became more and more desolate. We passed a bush fire, which we HEARD before we actually saw. We thought there must be animals in the trees near us, but the sounds we heard were crackling from the fire. I made sure to say "No" to the bush fire, as the billboards here tell us ("Dites 'non' au feux de brousses"), but I don't think it helped.

Eventually there were no trees and little vegetation at all on the plain of flat volcanic rock and it was HOT. My bike thermometer read 43 and 44 C (111 F) but that was in the sun. The rocks were nicely radiating the heat as I realized when the leg cramps forced me to sit down.

I got my second wind around the 50 km mark, as we started to go down slightly and found some trees. We were nearing the (Siby) waterfall, but finally decided against turning off there, as we were already 1.5 hours late for meeting Olivier's family and driver at the Natural Bridge and I could not fathom going UP anymore.

By this time, we were both out of water. I straggled on, through the sand towards the village (Dyoula Fondo) we both knew was about 5 km from the Natural Bridge. I knew from the "Tabaski Challenge II" (June 2006?) that there was a well with a pump in this village. So I stopped there around 3:30 pm and Olivier went on to get the car and come back as I could go no further.

A girl from the village drew water from the well with her rubber bucket. I added some OMS oral rehydration salts" to it. The kids asked in Bambara if I was putting "Barakatigi" (laundry soap) into my water.

I greeted a woman in the courtyard next door and eventually noticed that she was holding her 2-3 year old in a strange way. his neck was bent way backward and he couldn't straighten it. Is he sick? "Yes, little Toumani Diakité has been like this for 3 months". I assumed it was Meningitis as there is an outbreak here. Had they taken him to the "doktoroso" (clinic) in Siby? No, they had no money. I asked if I could pray for him and did so and then gave them some money to go to the clinic. Not sure if he will make it, if 3 months have really passed.


View of the Natural Bridge in the distance from under my mango tree. The rock formations sticking up to the left of the ridge in the distance is where it is.

I went on a bit further and got more water from the pump this time, then outside the village I sat down under a mango tree to rest undisturbed by children until Olivier returned.



Resting under a mango tree, in the village of Dyoula Fondo, after cycling 65 km and
having my legs cramp up in a major way due to dehydrated. I waited here for Olivier
to come get my in the car and drank water from the village well!

It was almost 5 when he came. I was about to wonder if he hadn't gotten lost and try to go on myself, when he showed up with Muriel, his wife, and sandwiches. We headed straight down into Siby without stopping at the Natural Bridge and had some cokes and fruit at the campement before heading home to Bamako on the paved road. That only took 1 hour. . .



And this is what your legs look like after riding 65 km (39 miles) off-road. No idea why
one leg always gets dirty than the other!

Celebrating 200 years of the Bicycle!

This past weekend I went to the Dreiländermuseum (Musée des Trois Pays) in Lörrach, Germany for a special exhibit on the history of the Bicycle.

Did you know that the earliest form of the bicycle had its debut 200 years ago on June 12, 2017. Invented by Karl Drais in the city of Mannheim, about 250 km from where I live. The "Draisine" or "Vélocipède" (French), or Laufmaschine (German, literally: Running machine) had wooden wheels and no pedals.

Except for the wheels, it is basically the same design as the push bikes that children learn to ride on.

Karl chose a nice flat area to do his demonstration and managed to do 14 km (8.5 miles) in one hour.

Without pedals, though this really was quite a lot of work and it did not really take off for some time. 

The next leap in design came in the 1860s when pedals were attached directly to the front wheel. In order to get any efficiency without gears, you needed a really large wheel, which in turn made it quite hard to handle. 

Apparently there were clubs of gentlemen who would ride these around for fun, but they were not practical enough for everyday transport. 

In 1884, an Englishman invented the "bicyclette de sûreté" (Safety Bicyclette) pictured below. 

With the addition of rubber tires, a chain and pedals attached to the middle of the frame, we finally arrive at something similar to a modern "fixie" bicycle (only one speed). 

Note that this even has a bell and a light. It's hard to tell if the light was meant to hold a candle inside it or a lamp with a small gas reservoir). 

In the 1890s, bicycles came into mass production. Apparently there were bicycle clubs in this area of Germany dating back to the turn of the 20th century - and they are still going strong. 

Bicycles also began to be used in armies. Initially they were used for messaging, but eventually some countries had bicycle infantries. The bicycles below are quite literally "Swiss Army Bikes".  They apparently even had some sort of foldable bikes the soldiers would carry on their backs. 

With the arrival of WWI, bicycles came into the mainstream because fuel and vehicles were in short supply and this was the only way to get around. 

The widespread use of bicycles also brought social change. It meant that workers could live further away from the factories where they worked. And it provided a way for women to get around, once it became acceptable for them to ride bikes (around 1900). 

It was also interesting to note that during World War II, bicycles were used by resistance fighters to smuggle documents across the border from Basel, Switzerland into Weil am Rhein and Lörrach (on roads that I likely took today on my bicycle ride). They would hide the documents in the frames and inside the tires and inner tubes! 

There is much to the history of the bicycle - it's replacement by the automobile in the 1950s and resurgence in the 70's due to the energy crisis and more recently for health and environmental reasons! 

If you live in the Drieländereck, head over to this exhibit which is running through Sept 17, 2017 and celebrate this truly marvelous invention! (entry is €3)

OKFreewheel - Day 0 - Hollis to Border

Saturday June 6, 2015 – Hollis to Texas Border            

So Ed Bussa drove down from Grand Rapids last night and we headed out to Hollis, OK about 8:30 this morning.

Hollis is in the far South West corner of Oklahoma. 

Population 3000, according to the woman who served us homemade ice cream.

We got to Hollis around 11:30 and were lucky enough to get a good campsite out of the sun.

After getting organized and set up, we headed out for the border at 2:00 pm.

Here is the Route we did today.

25.6 miles. We actually crossed the border twice, once on the southern side across the Red River into Texas, where we were instantly attacked by Texas-sized horse flies. 

The second time we crossed the Western border, also into Texas.

Today was challenging in that we were riding from 2-4 in the heat Ic the day, 92F.

But a good start, all in all. 

Tomorrow is 70 miles, riding to Frederick.

Oklahoma Freewheel 2015

You may remember that back in June 2011, I did a 500-mile bike ride across Oklahoma, from South to North. Below are some pics from that time as well as links to blogs.                                                   Day Zero (Durant to the border and back). Obligatory pic at the southern border. 

Day 1

Day 3 - Wewoka to Checotah, The "House of Overalls" in Henrietta and a big storm in Checotah, but no sign of Carrie Underwood. 

Day 4 and 5 - lots of pics

Day 6 and 7 - The final push to the end. And a pic at the Kansas Border. 

Well, this is to let you know that I am about to set out on Oklahoma Freewheel 2015 with my buddy Ed Bussa coming down from Michigan to experience this with me. 

Our schedule is below. If for some reason you're in the neighborhood and want to come hangout along the road or something, text me and let me know. The specific route maps are below in blue. 

We will normally leave around 7 a.m and roll into the host community anywhere between 11 and 2 pm. 

• Saturday June 6, 2015 – Hollis to Texas Border –  Day 0  
• Sunday June 7, 2015 – Hollis to Frederick –  Day 1 
• Monday June 8, 2015 – Frederick to Elgin –  Day 2
• with a climb up Mount Scott in the Wichita Mountains National Wildlife Refuge, where we should see some Bufffalo. Mt Scott Option
• Tuesday June 9, 2015 – Elgin to Lindsay –  Day 3
• Wednesday June 10, 2015 – Lindsay to Ada –  Day 4 
• Thursday June 11, 2015 – Ada to McAlester –  Day 5
• Friday June 12, 2015 – McAlester to Poteau  – Day 6
• Saturday June 13, 2015 – Poteau to Fort Smith, AR –  Day 7
• Saturday June 13, 2015  – Day 7 Optional Cavanal Hill Climb

I'll try to blog and post pics on facebook from time to time but connectivity and cellphone battery will be limited. If you do twitter, you can follow Freewheel at @OKFreewheel

Please pray for 

• God's protection, 
• good weather 
• enjoyment of his creation
• and a good break from work. 

50 years – The Fourth Decade: ’93-2004

Getting My Feet Wet – Dans le Bain

This is the fourth blog post in this series and it treats my fourth decade. We pick up the story when I was 29 and headed to French Study

Places lived:

• France (July 1993 - Sept 1994)
• Cameroon: Sept – Dec 1994 – Africa Orientation Course
• Mali
• Cote d’Ivoire (part of 1995)
• US (fall of 1996 –recruitment on the Dayuma tour, home assignments: 1998, 2002)

Verse:

Deuteronomy 31:8 The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you. He will never leave you or forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.

This verse is actually one that I counted as a “life verse” beginning back in college. But it seemed particularly appropriate as I set out for France and Africa.

Life-Shaping events:

One of our Advanced French classes.

I am on the back row with Hannu Koskenranta just right of me.

Amy Fields is bottom Right. 

French Study – I set off for Chambéry, France after 4-years of teaching ESL, somewhat apprehensive but I remember thinking that if those 18-year old Japanese girls could come to Oklahoma to study English, then I ought to be fine in a foreign country on my own at 29.

My 30th Birthday was in France and had a Tintin theme.

In addition to being a francophile, I am also a "tintophile".

It has been 20 years since I learned French and I simply cannot imagine life now not knowing French. To say that I fell in love with the language and country is an understatement. I am a true Francophile and enjoy French music, TV, books, culture. It is more than just a “tool” that I use to communicate with people but an extension of me, a different window for viewing the world. I think if I went home to the US forever, I would find some way to continue to be involved in French.

30th birthday party with friends from church

Administration:

I went overseas to do linguistics and Bible Translation, trained with a degree in linguistics.

It was in April 1999 that I received an email telling me to “sit down before reading this”. The email then proceeded to tell me that in a few weeks time, I was going to be nominated “from the floor” to be our director.

I took this before God and felt led to allow my name to stand and accept the outcome of the election. This meant that in June 1999, I moved out of language work and into Administration as Assistant Director, eventually to become Director on April 1, 2004 (the end of this decade).

A verse that God gave to me at this time was 1 Chronicles 17:16-18:

The King David went in and sat before the LORD and prayed, “Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my family that you have brought me this far? And now, O God, in addition to everything else, you speak of giving me a lasting dynasty! You speak as though I were someone very great, O LORD God. What more can I say about the way you have honored me? You know what I am really like.”

I could relate well to David’s surprise that God had chosen him, especially since God knew what I was really like.

I really did not know what I was doing at the beginning and learned a lot on the job and from Eddie Arthur and Phil Davison, both of whom were Director while I was Assistant Director. On furlough, I had some management training and orientation and the privilege of working under Bob Creson.

In any case, the work was one of stretching and growing and above all, asking God for wisdom.

Crises:

Rick Warren says that, "Your greatest ministry will most likely come out of your greatest hurt." In this time period I begin to deal with painful crisis events. In retrospect, I can see how initially these touched others directly, with me trying as best I could to manage the situation and create normalcy for them.

One of the evacuation groups

preparing to (not) leave Cote d'Ivoire. 

Their chartered plane was turned around mid-flight. 

In October of 2002, our folks evacuated out of Cote d’Ivoire and we hosted them. This was the beginning of my Crisis Management work. I was involved in evacuating folks out again in January of 2003 and November of 2004 as well.

Also in my early years as director, we dealt with the death of an employee from cancer and I oversaw the first and probably most intense of 8 med-evacuations I would do through the years.

---

Roommates:

At last count there have been 60+ guys with whom I shared a living space for at least a month. In this decade I had 21 different roommates. 9 in French study, 3 in Cote d’Ivoire, 4 in Mali, 5 on furlough.

Roomies that stand out in this decade:

• Hannu Koskenranta: Finnish guy who was my roommate during French study.
• Ed Bussa: Short-termer in Mali for 2000-2001 who stayed with me for half of that time and has been a dear friend ever since.

Ed Bussa and Me at the Chutes de Guina

Friends: 

There were many - here are some who made the journey better. Thank you all!

• Bill and Julie Johnson, 
• Peter and Sandy Jorgensens
• Phil and Cathy Davison
• Brad and Sue Smeltzer
• Jeff and Elizabeth Jansen
• Bamako Singles group: Janet Souster, Shari Anderson, Kim Nelson, Carina Saarloos

Languages:

language survey in Malinke

In addition to learning French for 1 year in France,

I learned the basics of Bambara, Mali’s trade language.
And I did a year of language learning in another language. (see this post on language learning). 

I did linguistic survey in several dialects of Malinke in Guinea, Senegal, Mali and Cote d'Ivoire. 

Matthias Liebrecht and  traveling in a cattle car on survey.

Testing for Comprehension under a big tree

Rides:

In France I had two bikes. The first one, I assembled in the parking lot of Carrefour before riding it home. That one was stolen and I bought a used bike. This was the first time I had a bike as my only means of transport other than the bus and the first time I was riding my bike a LOT.

In Mali, I bought a bike within the first few months, just to ride around town. It was during this period that I began riding somewhat for fun but not long distances. Also during this time frame, I bought the much maligned "Snow Bike" which was made in Dubai and a bit too small for me.

Tim and Bob the Tomato (Robert Tomaticɛ)

In 1996, I bought a red Suzuki Vitara (Similar to US model Sidekick) and this served me until my 2006 furlough. I made a “Bob the Tomato” tire cover to go on the rear tire.  This car and I had several adventures, the most exciting of which was crossing the Niger river in Guinea on the back of 2 pirogues (canoes).

crossing the Niger River in Guinea with my Suzuki riding on 2 pirogues. 

Gadgets: 
Someone commented the other day that I was one of the first people they knew with a cellphone in Mali (and it was due to my job). I think I must have gotten a basic Alcatel phone. No one else had a cellphone except the pilots. 
Also in this phase, I got my first Palm Pilot and quickly grew to love having notes, contacts, Bible at my fingertips. 

Reading:

This was back before Amazon and certainly before e-books and Kindle apps, and so reading material was limited to what you could borrow from friends and missionary guesthouses. Bookstores in Africa are pretty few and far between.

• Frank Peretti
• Stephen Lawhead
• John Grisham – I had a tradition of reading a new Grisham thriller on cross-atlantic trips.
• Tom Clancy
• Clive Cussler: Dirk Pitt Novels
• Ellis Peters: Father Cadfael Mysteries (in both French and English).

French books:

One of the joys of learning another language is reading their literature in the original language. Suddenly instead of one list of classics from English, you have TWO and a whole new world of creativity to explore. 

• Les Miserables – all three “tomes”, unabridged, in French.
• Notre Dame de Paris
• Les Trois Mousquetaires. (The 3 Musketeers).
• Le Petit Prince (The Little Prince).

Tunes:

This was pre-itunes and getting CDs overseas was not easy. I ordered quite a bit from Mount Carmel, a service for missionaries.   CDs that I wore out:

• DC Talk: Jesus Freak
• Ashley Cleveland: BigTown, and Lesson of Love
• Harry Connick, Jr.: She
• Patrick Bruel: Bruel (French)
• Margaret Becker: Simple House
• Rich Mullins: the Jesus Record
• Jars of Clay: Jars of Clay

Movies:

• Lord of the Rings
• The Matrix (trilogy) - (I frequently pondered the "Why, oh why didn't I take the blue pill?" question with regards to taking on the administration roles). 
• Pirates of the Caribbean
• Amelie (wonderful french film)
• Knight’s Tale
• Dodgeball
• Zoolander

TV:

• Star Trek:TNG, Star Trek: DS9 – videos people sent overseas
• X-files (also on videos)
• Simpsons
• Friends

50 years – The Second Decade: 74-86 [Basic education - or what I learned in school in between moves]

So I am turning fifty this month. And that of course gives one pause to think about his life. Who am I? Where have I been along this journey? This is the second blog post and it treats my second decade (minus 2 years).

Places lived: Ethiopia, Yemen, Oklahoma, India

• Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (Good Shepherd School – 74-75 school year: 5^th grade)
• Yemen (American International School - fall semester 1975)
• Oklahoma City (Spring semester 1976, and 76-77 school year: 7^th grade)
• Sanaa, Yemen (77-78 school year: 8^th grade)
• Mussoorie, India (Woodstock School – 78-79 school year: 9^th grade)
• Edmond, Oklahoma (1979-1982: 10^th-12^th grade in the same school system)

  

  Woodstock school, Mussoorie, India (foothills of the Himalayas

Life Shaping events:

Two years of boarding school. 5^th Grade in Ethiopia and 9^th grade in India. It was hard being so far away from home, and this before the age of email and skype and cellphones. Letters routinely took 3 weeks each way!

The frequent moves across cultures – 11 schools in total before I graduated from high school – had several effects on me:

• Like many Third-Culture kids, I becamse leery of forming deeper relationships for fear of the eventual separation. But that also made me into someone who works hard at keeping up old friendships.
• It made me very flexible and adaptable to different contexts and understanding of other cultures.

Senior Picture (High school 1982)

Returning to the US in 10^th grade was a big adjustment after being overseas off and on for 7 years. Going from a small boarding school to Edmond where each class was 600+ students was a big change.  The Youth Group at First Baptist Church Edmond was a safe and accepting place during this time. Thanks to Roger Hagan, our youth minister, and to the kids in the youth group.

Spiritual Growth:

After growing up in a Christian home and hearing about God all my life, I realized that I needed to make it personal sometime in the fall of 1974 while in Ethiopia. So one night after the dorm devotions, I prayed to ask Jesus to come into my heart. I don’t think I knew all that that meant then, and am still learning today.

In India, I was involved in a small group Bible study that met in one of the staff’s home and really began to grow in my walk. 

Roommates:

Boarding school begin a very long phase of having roommates. At last count there have been 60+ guys with whom I shared a living space for at least a month. In these 8 years, I had seven roommates – all before I started university. In keeping with the cross-cultural mix in my life, I had roommates from the US, UK, Afghanistan, Iran, and India

Roomies that stand out in this period

Judd Threlkeld (5^th grade),

Taizoon Shakir, Zaphar Al-Talib (9^th grade)

Languages I spoke then and have more or less forgotten today:

• Arabic – I only remember the odd word here and there, especially loan words that have made their way into African languages via Islam.
• Hindi – an interesting language related to European languages.
• German – 3 years in high school, 1 year in college. Mostly forgotten over the past 30 years but I was very surprised last year in Germany how much was flooding back into my mind.

Rides:

• On our 1976 furlough, I got a Raleigh 10-speed bike from Wheeler Dealer in Oklahoma City. At this stage in life, I was not riding anywhere for transportation, just around the neighborhood for fun and occasionally to the swimming pool.
• Skateboard: I had a few nice skateboard and actually still have my nicer one in storage somewhere. Back in 1976, my brother and I both got cool plastic skateboards “by GT”. We had a game that involved chasing each other all over the apartment complex sidewalks on skateboard and trying to crash into the other. In retrospect, it was very similar to our “passport” bicycle game.
• My first car was a Fiat 124 special. Nothing very special about it as it was always needing repairs. I drove it on one of my first jobs as a spotter for the “Edmond Evening Sun” newspaper, delivering newspaper bundles to the delivery boys. 

Activities:

• Boarding school: Once you get over the initial home-sickness, you can have a lot of fun. In Ethiopia, I was on the baseball team, and was in a production of Mary Poppins and a youth musical called “Come Together”. We made our own darts out of matchsticks and paper and pins. And rigged up strings all around our room to turn off the lights and close the curtains from the bed.
• In India, there were Saturday trips into the Bazaar, and buying gelabees, throwing chapatis like Frisbees off the balcony to the monkeys. And a rainy season that never ended, and towels that never dried out. I was happy to never get a leech. The school organized a lot of dances and this was the era of Saturday Night Fever. My mom always said I learned to dance at boarding school.
• Piano lessons: practicing in the freezing cold in India, learning jazz with Fran Young in Edmond.
• Drums: I did snare drum in 7^th -10^th grade. Marching band in 10^th grade. I wasn’t that good and dropped out.  That hasn’t stopped me from tapping on things since then. I now have a Djembe drum that I really enjoy playing.
• Studying – Looking back, it seems I was pretty nerdy.
• Work: In the summers, I would work with my granddad, George Gaidaroff, who was a small-town pastor and worked in the week as a painter and wallpaper. I learned to paint and paper working with him and have always enjoyed painting. (but not so much wall-papering). 

Reading:

The Bible. I transitioned from the Living Bible to the NASB.

Chronicles of Narnia. I won a boxed set in some sort of Sunday school context in 6^th grade.

The Lord of the Rings. (I mistakenly started with the Simarillon and quickly abandoned that).

Tunes:

I got my first Toshiba cassette tape recorder before I went to boarding school in 5^th grade. It was red and I remember that these were really cutting edge at the time. My folks and grandparents sent me audio cassettes when I was in boarding school.

• I recall listening to Herb Albert and the Tijuana Brass – my parents had this.
• We picked up Evie and BJ Thomas cassettes on furlough in 1976
• Then in high school I got a record player and listened to Amy Grant, The Imperials, Leon Patillo, Ken Medema, Truth.

50 years: The First Decade:1964-74

So I am turning fifty later this month. And that of course gives you pause to think about your life. Who am I? Where have I been along this journey? Who and what have made me what I am today. 

My plan is to do a blogpost about each decade. So here goes.

Born: Oklahoma City, Oklahoma in Baptist Hospital (now Integris).

Siblings: I was the first child in my family and first grandchild on both sides. By the end of the decade I had a brother 2 years younger, Todd, and a sister 7.5 years younger, Tamara, as well as 2 cousins on each side.

Places lived (US)

• Oklahoma (several places)
• California
• Galveston, TX (where my brother Todd was born)
• Fort Worth, TX
• Pine Mountain, Georgia (Missionary Orientation 



A trip to the Houston Zoo with my mom (1966?)



they still have a lion fountain (2009)

Places lived (Overseas):

Climbing on some ruins in Lebanon (1973)

When I was 8 we moved overseas with my parents serving as medical missionaries.

• Lebanon – 1973, Arabic study for my parents. 
• Jordan – summer or 1973. 
• Yemen 1974 (-1979)

Influences:

• My parents, providing a great home and teaching me to love and honor God from the beginning. And they certainly got me started on my overseas adventure early!
• My grandparents - more of the same. 
• Happy C Boehm – the first teacher I remember very specifically. She came to tutor my brother and me in Yemen using the Calvert Correspondence Course. She was a bit eccentric and had us doing things like making “oobleck” for a Dr. Seuss “Bartholomew and the Oobleck Party”, painting panaromic views of the countryside. She gave me an assignment to find homonyms. I eventually had a handwritten list of 200 or so, that was an early linguistics pursuit.

 Languages:

• English
• French - in 3rd grade in Lebanon, studied entirely by rote watching of filmstrips with an audio track. Absolutely no value was provided from this experience when I started really learning french in 1993
• Arabic - first in Lebanon and then in Yemen. I remember thinking when we arrived in Lebanon that Arabic must be like a code and if I just figured out which letter corresponded with which English letter, I could decrypt it.

Rides:

I don’t recall my first bike ever, but do remember having a great red bike with a banana seat on it, and those wonderful kick brakes and giant raised handlebars. We shipped this in our crate to Yemen. I don't have a picture of it, but this is one that is pretty similar I found on the internet. The epitome of coolness. 

I recall going up and down the big hill on the compound and once I wiped out and walked up the hill and into our house, bleeding but standing very calmly before my mom.

My brother and I invented a bicycle game called “passport” which we played on the tennis court, much to the chagrin I am sure of Dr. Young. The object was to ride over to the opponent’s side of the court and back to yours without him running his bike into yours.

Pets:

• Snoopy, the beagle that our grandparents kept for us when we went overseas.
• Togo, the white german shepherd we inherited in Yemen who would chase rocks.
• Blackstripe, the donkey my brother and I bought in Yemen. The idea was to ride him but he was unridable and so he stayed tied up all day somewhere on the compound grazing to his heart’s content. Eventually we sold him and we always wondered what it must have been like for him to have to work like a real donkey.

 Interests/Loisirs/Memories:

• Jot - I recall watching JOT on TV, along with Davey and Goliath.  
  
• Building forts: In pine mountain, Georgia, they were log cabins made out of pine trees. In Yemen, my brother and I made them out of rocks and mud. They never got taller than about 2 feet high but we had big plans.
• Hiking – lots of fun mountains to climb in Yemen. Not to mention the old Turkish fort which was just across the valley and great for exploring as it was abandoned. 
• I began collecting rocks and also coins while in Yemen. Both of these rather heavy items made their way back to the US when we returned for good.
• Double board monopoly, risk and clue. We had lots of time to kill as MKs and board games were the way to go.

Reading:

• When I first learned to read, I recall just reading out whatever I saw on signs as we went down the road in the car. Unfortunately, I never grew out of this.
•  In second grade or so, I discovered my dad’s old set of Hardy Boys books at my grandmother’s house and began reading these, and doing book reports on them for school. My dad’s set had plain brown covers. I recall at one point listing “Franklin W. Dixon” as my favorite author. Obviously my choice would be different today. 
•  I discovered Tintin comic books while in Lebanon and then totally forgot about them entirely until arriving in France 20 years later for French study.
• “Now that you are 7”. For some reason, I remember getting this book on my birthday, with all sorts of exciting things I could do now that I was indeed seven.
•  Sometime around my 9^th or 10^th Birthday my parents got me a Living Bible and I remember being excited to actually understand more of what I was reading in the Bible.