Making a Memory

I told you guys about the Custer Travel Curse, right?

Today all 7 of us (hooray!) were traveling from Denver down to Colorado Springs to celebrate Christmas with Nana Custer. The highest point we have to travel over was Monument Hill (around 7,300 feet), and just as we were coasting up said hill, the car began to slow down. No matter how much Dad pumped the gas, we kept slowing and eventually ended up in the emergency lane halfway up Monument Hill.

The battery was in working order, the gas tank read 1/3 full, and all my other mechanical knowledge (zero) told me we shouldn't be stopped right now. But, what was there to do. We kids plus Dad got out into the 23-degree wind and began to push the mini van up the hill. Due to the altitude and weight of the vehicle, we did have to stop every now and then to catch our breath and warm up.

A very kind man in a suit pulled over and offered to tow us, but with no hitch on his own small Ford Escort, we didn't see that working out up the hill. Fortunately, God sent another Good Samaritan along in a pick-up truck with a fat chain and obvious expertise in towing. While we got to sit back in the warmth of the car and told Nana where to come rescue us, he pulled us 2 miles to the closest gas station. Turned out to be a fellow brother in the Lord, and he wouldn't take any money for his good deed.

Meanwhile, as we girls waited for Nana, my two brothers ran across to get some gas, just to see what would happen. Well, what happened was that the van guzzled down nearly 21 gallons of gas, and then started up again like a purring kitten. Can we say "broken gas gauge"?

Anyway, we made it to Colorado Springs without too much of a delay and had a wonderful Christmas despite the curse. Well, till Andi got sick.

Merry Christmas!

The people walking in darkness
have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of the shadow of death
a light has dawned.

For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Of the increase of his government and peace
there will be no end.
He will reign on David's throne
and over his kingdom,
establishing and upholding it
with justice and righteousness
from that time on and forever.
The zeal of the LORD Almighty
will accomplish this.

Isaiah 9:2, 6-7


Love you all! Merry, Merry Christmas!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Airport

Airports always make me reflective. I think it's the internationalness of the place, even dinky little airports in the middle of nowhere. They still represent the launching pad into the wild blue yonder and endless possibilities of destinations. My friends all think I'm addicted and can't stay away for more than 3 months. They're probably right. They just make me smile.

Take paging systems, for example. This past Sunday, a lady's voice came on, cleared her throat, and then said, "Paging Gimpy, paging ... Gimpy. Please meet your party at the baggage claim." Couldn't you just hear his family giggling like crazy?

And then there are the frazzled parents traveling with little kids. I got to watch Dad sitting there with a coffee cup in one hand (indispensable for Generation Y), one hand on the carry-on least he leave it "unattended" for even a minute, and his I'm guessing 15-month old daughter who didn't crawl but scooted on her butt and kept getting farther and farther away. You could see his eyes get bigger with every inch she scuffled.

I love overhearing or even taking part in conversations of where people are headed and why. Some for business, some for family, some for vacations to the Bahamas, others for grandparents' funerals, some for the trip of a lifetime to the Grand Canyon, others to be with family on Christmas.

I love how all generations come together at airports. In my one seat, I can be surrounded by people born in every decade from 1930 to 2000.

I love it when kids of different nationalities, languages, and ethnicity can ignore all social boundaries and crawl under the seats to play cars with each other, to the slight consternation of their parents on either side of the aisle, not to mention the flight attendants.

I love airports, the great equalizers where people of all backgrounds come together to squish on an airplane for a common purpose, at least for a few hours. Not counting 1st class cabins, everyone else is the same. And I've generally met with helpfulness all around. It's in everyone's best interest to help each other, make room, pass bags, trade seats. It reminds me of the Church at its best: diverse, united in a common goal, purposeful, working together.

A First

The Custer family has this thing called "The Custer Travel Curse." Usually it means that when you travel with a Custer, your flights will be delayed, your connections tight, you'll end up next to the only baby on the flight, you'll get asked to switch to a middle seat so that poor Armenian Grandma can sit next to her family, they'll run out of the good drinks or food before they get to your seat, or you'll be in the one seat on the plan with the broken table tray or the one that doesn't recline or the windown shade that won't shut even if the sun's glaring at you, etc. You get the picture.

Yesterday, it struck in an entirely different way.

I got to the airport around 4:40 am (amazing how little time it took the airport when there was no traffic in Quito) and was the 3rd person in line for Continental. The monitor said they'd open at 5:00, so I was just standing and waiting patiently, checking the clock every few seconds and watching people line up behind me. Suddenly, I started feeling nauseated. My first thought was "Oh no. My curse this time is that I'm going to be in the lavatory all flight barfing!" Then I started getting unbearable hot, and the room started spinning. The next thing I knew, I was opening my eyes, lying on the floor, and people were hovering around me. I had fainted!!!!!!!!!!

There happened to be an American girl in line, and she started peppering me with questions, if I was okay, if I needed anything, how long had I been in Quito, that I'd been out for 20-30 seconds, that a medic had already been called, and to stay sitting on the floor. Everyone was really kind in helping me collect my stuff that had scattered all over (I think I pulled it down with me with I fell).

Someone parked a wheelchair next to the check-in counter and helped me into it. I was still pretty shaky at this point, but (laughably now), my biggest worry was my luggage. I tried to sit in the chair while pulling all three of my bags at the same time. Once in the chair, I kept wrestling the suitcase to get it closer and pull my laptop bag into my lap. The medic arrived and took my bloodpressure, pulse, and went through a list of medical conditions they wondered if I had. I don't have anything (that I know of yet), and no, it was my first time fainting. They had trouble believing it, but finally said just to make sure I ate something. Another guy showed up and was put in charge of getting me to the gate, which was by far the nicest side effect I've ever had of a Custer Curse. He checked my bags in for me, paid the airport fee for me, wheeled me to the front of the customs counter and took the right paperwork out of my hand for me, took me through a special security door where I just got the wand while he took care of my carry-on bags for me, and wheeled me right next to the door of the gate! Service.

The rest of the day went pretty smoothly other than my growing headache. I ate some nuts in the airport, had a nice hot breakfast on the plane, and lunch in the Houston airport, and then finally felt stable again. No clue what the fainting spell was about. I can't remember at time I've ever felt so vulnerable afterwards, knowing I could black out just like that with so little warning. But God showed himself good, and his hand of protection was still on me.

Tomorrow!

cleaned up kitchen - check
cleaned up bathroom - check
washed sheets - check
collected all garbage - check
delivered all Christmas gifts - check
packed suitcase and carry on - half check
ordered taxi for the 4:30 am pick up - in 5 minutes
gave away leftover food - check
lit lights on my tiny tree one last time - check

I'm ready to go!

Boring meetings: the bane of my existence

I thought there was nothing worse than sitting through boring big-picture meetings ("Let's talk about our mission and vision statements for a few hours") with no chance for escape. I was wrong. There is something worse: sitting through boring big-picture meetings with no chance for escape in a foreign language I can't understand!!!!!!

Nearly 3 hours of people talking while I got up for tea twice, went to the bathroom once, stared at the cute guy in the sound booth, watched the guy in the sound booth change a light bulb, counted all 102 flags in the room, started in on the lights on the Christmas tree, and tried to keep my eyes from rolling into the back of my head. When the meeting was done, I'm sure everyone wondered what English emergency I bolted off to, but I was more afraid they'd find another agenda item we hadn't covered yet. Ugh. Boring meetings.

Quito Day and Dump Party

What a full weekend, in every connotation of the word. God was present!

Saturday, Dec 6th, was Quito Day, but HCJB celebrated on Friday by having festivities in the courtyard (departments put on plays and dances, even a mock bull fight) and then by taking employees on a Chiva ride. A chiva is a big open bus-like vehicle with a mariachi band on top. They also give you free flags to wave that say "Viva Quito," a cup on a string (so you don't lose it), and whistles to make noise as you drive through the streets of Quito. I felt like I was 5 again and had so much fun doing it!!!

That evening, I had a free ticket to a concert at the Teatro Nacional Sucre. It was an evangelical choir plus this AMAZING Cuban violinist. I could've listened to him the whole time. Right when I got to the concert hall, God also painted a gorgeous sky for me.

Saturday was the big Dump Party. It's called that because, as you probably guessed, it takes place in the Quito slums, which is by the local city trash dump. Special teams came from the states for this big Christmas party which has become an annual event. I was on the games team (there were over 30 games going on), and guess which game they gave my group? American Football Toss!!!! I was so happy!

We worked from 9 - 1, cycling through lines of kids and adults. Other events for them included crafts, face painting, singing Christmas songs, a free lunch, and the ever popular photo with Santa Claus. Seriously, that was the longest line!

Overall, the official number of people was 4,002. They all also left with a free bag of rice and some other Christmas presents and the message that God loves them. Pray it made an impact!

Middle of the World

In Spanish: Mitad del Mundo. It's the place where scientists in the 17th and 18th century set up camp to study the equatorial line and differences on either side. Apparently, even though Ecuador isn't the only country on the equator, it was the place where indigenous settlers as far back the birth of Christ realized exactly where the line ran.

I was taken there last week by my boss Mary and her family (husband Diego, daughter Andrea, and son Martin). Funnily enough, if you go to Mitad del Mundo, you'll find two lines. Here's us on the real one and then a shot of me straddling the "tourist" one. (It came about after they had built that huge square monument and someone thought it was on the line - never was. But they painted the line anyway, and tourists come to take pictures because it's a nicer setting than the real one.)


On the real line, however, we were able to do a bunch of experiments, such as read this clock, which has two faces: one for when the sun is in the southern hemisphere and one for when it's in the northern hemisphere. Since it's in the south right now, we used the southern face. Our guide also was able to balance an egg on its end right on the line. Sadly, the rest of us weren't skilled enough to mimic her though Diego tried for a full 5 minutes. We also watched water go straight down the drain without swirling. Cool.


Mitad del Mundo also has a bunch of other cultural things, one of which was blowing a dart out of a Huaorani dart-blowing thing (what are those called?). You had to wear the fancy traditional hat if you wanted to shoot.


As we were leaving the touristy equator (the fake line), some dancers came out and started performing in the square. Sadly, I was out of room for a video. They also danced this dance later while balancing items on their heads.

Christmas Survey

Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? I agree with Allison: both. I only discovered egg nog two years ago, but it's wonderful.

Colored lights on tree or white? White. And not just on the tree, everywhere in the house! Unfortunately, the first two packets I bought here in Ecuador tricked me and were colored, so this year, I have both.

When do you put your decorations up? The sooner the better, but usually a couple of hours after Thanksgiving.

What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)? Again, I'm with Allison: mashed potatoes and gravy.

Favorite holiday memory as a child? It's extremely difficult to choose one

When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? Austrians don't really have Santa. It was the Christmas Child who brought the gifts, but I can't remember a time when I didn't know it was my parents, even if they did sign the present "From Santa."

Snow! Love it or dread it? Love it. Love it! Love it!!!!!! Miss it. :-(

Can you ice skate? Yes, I can, but it's my absolute least favorite activity in winter. It KILLS my feet after only 10 minutes, (and no, it's not just something that will go away with exposure. It's been going on for 27 years).

Do you remember your favorite gift? Oh my, not really. Well, maybe the money in 1998 that I was able to put toward my amazing Eurorail trip the next summer.

What's the most important thing about the holidays for you? I love it ALL! (And you who know me know I'm not exaggerating.) But I find it hard to not say the most important thing is celebrating my Savior who stepped over the biggest cross-cultural barriers by making himself tiny and becoming not just human but a helpless baby.

What is your favorite holiday dessert? Only one?!? Peanut butter balls, preferably with only some chocolate on it. (followed by pecan pie, sugar cookies with lots of icing, fudge, wassail, ...)

What is your favorite tradition? Again, just one?!? Going to the Christmas Eve service and following it up with our family fondue. I remember always dreading the fondue being over, and that's intensified more and more as we've gotten older.

What is your favorite Christmas Song? That honestly changes every 2 days in the Christmas season. Today it's "I'll be home for Christmas" (Josh Groban version) - guess why. :-)

Ever recycled a Christmas present? Yes. Is that bad? I don't mind getting other gifts people don't like if they truly think I'll like it.

Thanks, Allison, for starting this. I'm going to have to go hunt for some egg nog now ....

Tagged

I was tagged to post the 6th picture in my 6th folder.

The guy all the way on the right in the flowered shirt is my brother, Andi, and the guy in the car is a famous Austrian politician, Joerg Haider, who hates foreigners. So, we always liked this picture because his hand is resting on Andi's arm, and Andi's a foreigner. Heehee. Joergi (that's what we call him) also showed up at my senior ball, so my Dad and I danced over to him, bumped him gently, and then danced away again really quickly so he couldn't ask me to dance. Good memories. Sadly Joergi died in a terrible car accident about a month ago, probably in that same car, as a matter of fact. Anyway, moving on....

Who hasn't been tagged yet and wants to post a picture? Erin? Bonny?