dwcrx

I haven't done a post here in a long time.  I do have a Facebook and a MySpace.  I check the Facebook regularly and the MySpace 3 or 4 times a year.  If you are on either, be sure to friend me.  I am dwcrx@bellsouth.net still.  Peru is coming up soon and I will probably post again at that time.  Who knows, maybe sooner.

(oops, this one has been sitting on my laptop for a while unposted.)

 

Dia Ocho

 

We arrived back at the Lima airport for the trip home.  Our flight was scheduled to leave shortly after midnight.  This flight is often late because the flight arriving from Atlanta and the time to get the plane ready can affect our departure time.

 

We checked in and went through the baggage weighing ritual.  They had a scale earlier in the queue so we were able to preweigh and adjust as necessary.  Some of the mission group had to adjust.  All of our family’s bags were 16-17kg which is just under 40 pounds so we were great to go.  We have half the luggage going home since one of the bags going was for the mission and also some of the clothing we wore during the week were donated.

 

It was a bit difficult at this point because Tori was on a different airline and couldn’t check in for another 2 hours.  I felt a little helpless because I would have liked to see her through more of the check-in process but it logistically wasn’t possible due to the flight schedules.

 

We then went through the paying of departure tax. This year for the first time, Delta gave us the departure stamps at check in so we didn’t have to wait in a separate line to get them.  We just showed the stamps and went on.  Emigration and security check went quickly and easily.  Shortly we were at gate side.

 

We were relived when the arriving flight showed up on time.  Fortunately, there was a wireless signal in the airport that was not secured and I was able to view flights.  Tori’s flight still appeared to be on time also.

 

Sure enough, we boarded and left only slightly late.  The flight was a bit bumpy but I slept through most of it.  It was very foggy when we arrived in Atlanta.  I later found out that many flights were delayed because of the fog.  Immigration and customs were quick and easy.  We then found our gate which had changed since we checked in of course.  The home stretch was uneventful and we arrived home in the late morning.  It had been a good trip but it was also good to be home.

Dia Seis

 

We woke up ready to get back to the mission after missing a day due to the strike.  We were pleased to already have 4 houses completed.  We carried the panels and sand for house 5.  It, and house 6, are in Hacia del Desarrollo.  This is a much higher community on the side of the mountain.  We ended up standing on the steep part of the grade and passing the panels up instead of trying to walk with them.  A couple of places we passed the panels up rock ledges.  This worked well.  Later we passed sand up.  It was a tough sand line because even with all of the community help, the line was stretched thin and the height of the house above the sand pile was large.  Later we passed water.  All of the other houses were able to be reached with water hoses or existing water but this one required water to be passed.

 

Later we carried panels for house 6.  It was slightly friendlier terrain.  We were able to have teams carry each panel over 50 or 60 feet in relay style.  Then we passed sand.  Nora, one of the Peruvian regulars with Love for Peru Foundation, was driving everyone to pass the sand quickly.  Soon the sand was there.

 

We had lunch and the usual lunchtime soccer game.  During the soccer game several of us walked down to see the library.  It is in the upstairs of one of the preschool buildings.  The presently have hours three days a week.  They have a small number of books and a fair number of text books on particular subjects.  Several of Vicki’s co-workers went together to make a donation that will be used to support the library.

 

After visiting the library, it was time to return to work.  We finished the sand for the 6^th house. We were then told that sand was needed for a 7^th house.  The panels were already assembled but the floor wasn’t poured yet.  The house was the highest yet, in fact, it was about the highest in Project Hope.  We were stretched even thinner but still managed to get the sand passed.

 

We returned to the hotel, cleaned up, and went to supper at a pizza place near Parque Kennedy in Miraflores.  We all felt quite good about the accomplishments of the day and of the week.

 

Dia Cinco

 

Today was the day of the work stoppage.  There were very few large commercial vehicles on the road today.  Traffic was very light.  Commerce was happening but certainly in a reduced way.

 

It was decided for the group to visit Museo de la Nation (the National Museum).  We took 5 taxis to the museum.  The taxi ride was an experience.  We drove rapidly on poor quality roads.  The taxi drivers were very daring darting in and out of traffic, making lanes where none existed, and driving very fast. 

 

Only a limited part of the museum was open.  On the first floor, we saw a lot of pottery from pre-Columbian times, the Wari civilization, and the Inca civilization.  There was also artwork from the 19^th and 20^th centuries.  Then we visited the 4^th floor.  It was mostly an exhibit about potatoes.  Apparently there are over 3000 varieties of potato and Peru was the origin of potatoes.  Finally we visited the 6^th floor.  It was an exhibit of the tough times for Peru from 1980 to 2000 when the combination of government problems and terrorist organizations made Peru a difficult place to live.  It hit home with me because I can remember when Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path) was active.  There was a video we watched (in English) that summarized how Shining Path, a second terrorist organization (the MRTA), and weak government led to a large number of deaths in Peru.

 

It was these same factors that led to the conditions of the people we work with in the barrios (slums) of Lima.  One annotation of the exhibit indicated that it is important for a people to understand their history so they don’t let history repeat itself.

 

After the museum, we walked across the street to Bembos and had lunch.  Bembos is a Peruvian fast-food chain much like McDonalds.  Then we caught taxis again and returned to the Indian Market.  The second taxi ride was just as wild as the first.  After the Indian Market we walked back to the hotel.  It was a mile or two back.  The walk was nice.  Pedestrians are fair game for Peruvian drivers.  Crosswalks are few and far between and basically meaningless to motorists.

 

Back at the hotel, the donations were sorted.  On mission trips, each person carries 2 bags down.  One bag is personal things and the other is a bag of donations (mostly clothing).

 

Then we walked to supper at Parquetito at Parque Kennedy.  It was a mile or so away but an easy walk.

 

On the news, we later heard there were a lot of protests in the San Juan de Lurigancho area of Lima which is where we work.  There were bigger protests including violence in some parts of the country.  Our local contingent had done well be keeping us in.

 

Also in the news, there had been an earthquake in southern Peru during the wee hours of the morning.  It was near Arequipa and registered around 6 (a moderate but not catastrophic quake).  We had felt a number of tremors the previous day.  Fortunately, it wasn’t like the major quake that hit a year ago between Arequipa and Lima that killed 50,000 people and left 100,000s homeless.

Dia Tres

 

Today is our first day in Project Hope this trip.  We got an early start on the long ride through Lima and out to Project Hope.  It takes a little longer than an hour to get there.  The traffic in Lima is wild and there is very little in the way of freeways.  Traffic has gotten smoother in recent years but is still a far cry from what we have in the United States.  In Peru, traffic sign and signals seem to be mere suggestions.  There have been campaigns here to improve the roads and the difference is very apparent.  The first time I came 5 years ago, aggressiveness and a load horn were the key. You still see them but they don’t rule the road the same as they used to.

 

We arrived in Project Hope and the first thing was a welcome ceremony by the local Peruvians.  We saw many familiar faces, people we were excited to see again and people who were just as excited to see us.  The recipients of the houses were introduced and then we set to work.  The first house was the highest in the Ampliacoin de Primaro de Mayo community that we would be working on.  The road ran above the first house and we were able to carry the panels down to it.  There was also a slab already in place so we didn’t have to pour cement for the floor.  The second house was also below the upper road and fairly easy to get materials to.  Our team was extremely well organized and managed to keep the work going quickly.  By lunch the first house was completely framed and roofed.  We had lunch and after lunch, the Peruvian kids and our kids played soccer.  The adults watched (mostly. A few played).

 

Then the second house was quickly assembled.  Then we began carrying sand for the third house.  As sand was being carried in, an old foundation was being broken up.  Whatever had been here before had a concrete foundation or one was left over from something in the past.  As sand was being passed up, chunks of concrete were being passed down.  This lot was very close to the bottom of the hill so it was easy to get to.

 

The panels were not delivered yet so we called it a day and make the drive back to the hotel.  We cleaned up and went for supper at La Granja del Abuelo.  That translates to grandfather’s range or something like that.  They served cooked chicken that was quite tasty.  It was like a rotisserie chicken.  We then turned in for the evening.  We did find out at the evening briefing that we probably would not be able to travel safely on Wednesday due to the work stoppage.  To travel on this day would be like crossing a picket line in the states.  We trust our Peruvian contingent to know what is best in country.

 

Dia Cuatro

 

This morning we headed to Project Hope again.  There was some urgency since we now knew we would lose a day.  The panels arrived just after we did for the third and forth houses.  The third house was fairly easy.  It was very steep but only a short distance up from the road.  We only needed a small amount of additional sand for this house which went quickly.

 

Then we turned to the forth house which was in Hacia del Desarrollo.  This section is very steep and very high.  We staged the panels in two areas.  First was up a very steep wall and then along an easy incline.  Second was straight up a steep slope.  For the first part, we divided into 5 teams and each team carried each panel an assigned part of the way then returned for the next panel.  For the second part, we stood in a place and passed the panels up the hill.  It would have been very difficult to carry the panels with us over such terrain.  Next we started bringing sand.  Before lunch, we carried sand to the halfway point and after lunch (and another soccer game), we carried it the rest of the way.

 

We left feeling good about basically completing 4 housed in 2 days.  Wednesday would be lost but hopefully we can complete the last 2 houses on Thursday and Friday even though they are in the toughest terrain.  Everything was very successful so far because of good organization and huge community support.

 

We returned to the hotel and had supper at Dim Sum Cocina China.  We were served Chinese food on platters and ate family style.  Everyone is feeling that the team has gelled nicely.

Well the time to visit Peru has arrived again.  Last Thursday evening, we had a packing party.  That is where as much of the group as can get together packs the donations in duffel bags.  This year we were excrutiating caution not to have any overweight (> 50 lb) bags.  Due to the crunch in the airline industry, fees for overweight bags are much higher and once the bags hit the scales at the airport, they are not allowing weight shuffling any more.  We made sure all of the bags were not over 45 lb just to be on the safe side.  The packing party was also a chance to get to know the team members better.  This year we are travelling with all different people than before.  Only the 5 of us and Tori (our forth daughter for this trip each year) had travelled together before.  The thing I've learned is that as long as you are travelling with great people, it doesn't matter how well you know them before.  They become your close friends quickly.

 

Dia Uno

 

Saturday was travel day.  Our team had different departure times from PNS (Pensacola).  Our family had the latest departure and arrived at the airport shortly after 11AM.  The computer at the kiosk at checkin said it couldn't find our reservation.  That made for a scary moment but the agent was able to find it right away.  Check in and bag weighing went without any problems.

 

While waiting to take off and thinking about what could have been forgetten while packing, I looked at the weather radar for Pensacola and Atlanta.  Pensacola was great but Atlanta had a thunderstorm over it.  Sure enoght, the flight to Atlanta took off forty-five minutes late.  The first leg was otherwise uneventful.  In Atlanta, we grabbed a late lunch and headed for the gate.  We met up with most of the rest of the team here.  There were a lot of people at the gate.  I am not sure if many of the people were there for flights at the adjacent gate or a later flight at this gate.  The flight to Peru was an hour late leaving but went well after that.

 

We arrived at Lima close to midnight.  Tori was waiting for us just past immigration.  We could see her as we were waiting in line.  Her flight had been late also but she still get there a couple of hours ahead of us.  Several people in our entourage had missing luggage.  They wouldn't get their bags until tomorrow.  Fortunately our family's luggage was all here.  At customs when you get to the front of the line, you press a button.  A light responds green or red.  Green means you walk through and red means you have you bags checked.  We got red this time as did most of our entourage.  It was still easy because they only x-rayed the luggage.  No questions, nothing was looked at.

 

Luis met us coming out of customs and escorted us to our bus.  We drove clear across Lima to Miraflores where we stay.  We arrived at Hotel Colon about 2AM.

 

Dia Dos

 

We slept in late due to the late arrival.  We met a noon to be breifed.  Magali was here but is recovering from moderate illness (flu then bronchitis and/or walking pneumonia).  She is imporoving but still weak.  She talked about the dynamics of Project Hope, the mission area.  We will be working in 2 communities within Project Hope.  One is Ampliacion de Primero de Mayo and the other is Hacia el Desarrollo.  We normally plan to build 5 houses but to be equal between the 2 communities, we are building 3 in each community for a total of 6.  An additional challenge will be Wednesday.  The will be a work stoppage (strike) and travelling even on a charter bus might be problematic. At this point, it is expected that we will be able to do business as usual.  In a previous year, there was a work stoppage and we were still able to travel.

 

We had lunch at Punta Sal.  It is a three story restaurant with a view of the Pacific Ocean.  The table appetizer was corn that looked like peanuts.  We were served an excellent fish filet with a rice bed with a few very large kernels of corn mixed in.

 

Then we went to the area in front of the restauart were people were parasailing.  Dave, Shelby, Sarah, and Chelsea parasailed.  It was an unusually clear day for Lima.  The parasail rides were great as was the view.  After parasailing, we drove a few miles down the coast.  Then we went to the Indian Market.  Later we had sandwiches from Pasquales at Larco Mar for supper.  Larco Mar is a shopping area built into the cliff looking over the Pacific Ocean.  This was our 'fun' day.

 

 

Okay, it looks like I haven't been on in some time which is correct.  June went by in a flash.  In early June, we did Vacation Bible School at church.  It was very successful.  The kids (and adults) had a lot of fun.

 

Then came choir tour.  A bus and a van load of teens, chaporones, luggage, and equipment went from Pensacola, to Albany (GA), Atlanta, Loudon (TENN), Knoxville, Pigeon Forge, Rising Fawn (GA), Dothan (ALA), and back to Pensacola.  The teens were very well behaved and the trip was a blast.  My only dissappointment was that I was driving the van and not riding on the bus with the kids.  Hopefully next time, we can take the big touring bus again and not deal with the separate van.

 

It is almost time now for our now annual sogern to Peru.  I will try to get accounts of the trip here for anyone with an interest to see. (Hopefully another 3 months won't pass with me being silent here.)

I have watched the landscape of the Democratic side of the nomination with quite a bit of interest lately.  The Republican side is a bit boring for now.  Last fall, the media was in full swing Hillarymania.  I saw headlines like Hillary stands for this great thing or that great thing.  The Obama headlines went something like, "Is Obama Black Enough To Be Accepted by Black Voters?" or "Does Obama Have Enough Experience?".  Hillary was portrayed as the (media's) obvious choice and much of the Democratic leaning folks were on the same track.  Just comparing the two, Hillary seemed to command about 55-60% of the support leaving 40-45% for Obama.

 

Then in the December/January timeframe, something happened.  All the sudden Obama is the media golden child.  Everything you read was great about Obama and not so great about Hillary.  There were headlines like, "Tuesday May Spell Doom For Clinton Campaign" and she trailed by less than 200 delegates with 40% still to be decided.  In the polls between the two of them, Hillary and Obama have basically changed places.  I am suggesting the change is media driven.  To me the scary thing is that the media (a very small percentage of the American public) has the power to do this and the American public is this easily swayed.

 

I think I can be fairly objective in comparing Hillary and Obama since neither is my personal frontrunner at this time.  My order (subject to change) is:  McCain, Clinton, Obama.  So I would rather see a McCain vs Clinton ticket than McCain vs Obama.

 

In spite of this, I am not worried about Hillary missing out on the Democratic nomination.  Hillary has huge support at the DNC.  I expect the superdelagates to go heavy in favor of Hillary.  She has invested much more heavily in the DNC over the years and I expect that the DNC will remain loyal to her.  It will still make for an interesting convention.

 Dia Siete,

 

Today is the final day in the mission area.  We stopped at Plaza Vea and bought 6 plastic bins and loaded them with groceries and household supplies.  A bin of supplies will be given to each family receiving a new house.  When we arrived at the mission area, the Peruvians had already carried the panels up the hill and assembled them.  We proceded to send the sand up a sand line.  The live worked so fast, we couldn{t get the bags to the bottom fast enough to fill them again.  Finally the sand was up the hill and the contrete team began. 

 

We then proceded to bless 2 preschools (built before we got there) and the 6 houses we built.  Our family represented the Foundation in blessing one of the preschools.  The recepients of the houses cried tears of joy each time.  Finally there was the celebration to end the week.  In addition to our team, about 300 Peruvains were at the celebration, which was on a concrete soccer field.  There was food (chicken and rice, of course), music, dancing, and the younger kids played ball.  Finally we went to the loading are for the bus.  It was an emotional time with many tears.  We eventually said our final goodbyes and loaded the bus.

 

Climatically, it was an interesting day.  It was misting when we awoke.  To the residents of Lima, this was a hard rain (they get less than 2 inches of rain annually).  At the mission site, it was much hazier than usual.  Normally, the sun burns through the haze by noon and although not sunny, you can tell the sun is in the sky.  Friday we never saw the sun or anything close to it.  As the day went on it was heavier and heavier fog cover, barely even light.

 

Saturday will be a rest and recretation day in Lima.  We will sight see and shop.  It is also Peruvian independence day so we might see some of that celebration.

 

It was a very uplifting and rewarding week at the mission.  I do however look forward to returning home.

Dia Seis,

 

Today we stopped at a building at the base of the mission we the mission is able to stor bags of clothing and other items.  This building is brick and completed to one level although it has steps and rebar sticking out of the top to accommodate a second story.  The building is available to the Association to purchase.  It would be used for a medical clinic and other services (legal, et cetera) for the communities of Project Hope (about 10,000 people).  The second level, once built could serve as a dormitory that could be used by people coming to help at the mission.  The building has water, electricity, and indoor plumbing.  The Association is currently trying to determine if the building is a good deal at the current price.  Then it will have to raise the money to purchase.  It is exciting because the mission would then be able to provide infiniately more service to the people in the area.

 

We then we to the current community and built the 5th house of the week.  Sand had to be transported further for this house.  Coronado, the Peruvian carpenter had 2 Peruvian helpers and wanted 2 more.  I was excited to be one of the 2 he hand picked to help with construction.  I have worked on a lot of houses and know 2 things about Coronado.  #1, he has a way he likes to build the houses, and #2, I always know what is next and anticipate his needs.  I know when a saw is needed.  I know how he likes the tin roof section handed up.  The house was assembled very quickly.  In the afternoon, I helped carry sand and water.  This house was also of high enough elevation that water by hose won{t reach it.

 

We finished our next to last day.  Tomorrow is out last day in the community and we will build one more house.  It will be a very emotional day because the people and especially the children will be very sad to see us leave.  We too, will be sad to leave them.  But we won{t be saying adios (Spanish for goodbye).  To them, it is perminent.  We will say chau (Spanish for see you later).  If you say adios, they either don{t know what it means or they don{t acknowledge it because they would rather not know.

 

By the way, I will post pictures when I return.  I forgot my download cable for the camera and the computers I have access to don{t accept the camera cards.  I have taken about 300 pictures so far.

 

More to follow.

Dia Cinco,

 

Today was much like yesterday except we only built one house.  This one was a bit higher and harder to get to.  We had to run the sand line twice, first to get it half way there and again to get it the rest of the way.  We also had to carry water up.

 

On the ride to the mission area, we wound up wedged between 2 busses with about an inch to spare on each side.  They folded all of the outside rearview mirrors in and the bus on the right inched closer to the curb and we made it through.  Again we had a few near misses.

 

We spent a lot of our spare time playing with the kids.  200-300 kids come to join us each day.  It is really neat seeing the same kids as they grow up from year to year.

 

More tomorrow.

 

 

Dia cuatro,

 

Today started much like yesterday.  We did however, nearly get into an accident on the way to the worksite.  A taxi tried to overtake our bus as our driver was beginning a right turn.  From our vantage point, the vehicles looked incredibly close to the point I couldn{t believe we didn{t collide.  The respective drivers shared some horn honking and jesturing and each went on their own way.  Folks seem so used to this as a way of life, road rage here is commonl but usually short lived.  As soon as you encounter one obnoxious driver, there are 6 more to take his place.

 

Today, our goal is to build 2 houses.  Neither is more than 150 feet from the road and the path was wide and had steps that were not tremendously steep.  One house was too high for water to reach by hose.  The pressure is only enough to reach about 1/3 of the way up the mountain.  So we had to pass sand and water.  I worked closely with Coronado, the maestro (carpenter) today.  He recognized me from previous years.

 

The second house today was special because it was for Marcos{ family.  Marcos is a now 20ish year old young man who has been one of the most prolific youth ever since I started.  While all of us from the US carefully picked each step and slowly went up and down the hill, Marcos ran up and down like a mountain goat.  Marcos likes to tiptoe behind you and tap you on the far shoulder so when you look the way you were tapped, he is on the opposite side.

 

Marcos step father recently died leaving his mother a widow.  He also has a moderately disabled sister and another brother.  He had moved out on his own in the same community a few years ago but was no back with his mother to help her.  It is always special to build a house for families of those we are so close to.

 

With completed Marcos{ families house and returned to the hotel.  Tonight was pizza night.  We had Pizza Hut pizza at the home of one of the major Lima supporters.  Her place was on the 9th floor of a building and had a panoramic view of town.  Because we got back late and the kids were tired, we skipped the gelatoria tonight and crashed back at the hotel.

Dia Tres,

 

We awoke this morning and enjoyed the buffet at the hotel.  Then we boarded the bus for the mission area.  All of the past years we have used the same bus and drivers.  Unfortunately, that bus is designed for about 20 passengers and this year we have close to 40.  A larger bus was selected and everyone fit on fine.  The ride is about 45 minutes to the mission.  The Monday morning Lima traffic was totally insane.  Vehicles were everywhere.  Lane markings and street signs are merely suggestions.  Traffic patterns are determined by who is biggest, loudest, and most aggressive.  It is quite an experience.

 

At the mission, Project Hope, we were welcomed with open arms.  We knew many of the people from past trips.  There was a welcome ceremony and the recipients of the houses were introduced.  After the welcome, we started the first house.  Panels, tin, lumber, and concrete were carried to the work site.  In the afternoon, we had a bucket brigade to get sand to the house.  This house wasn{t far from the road, so it was pretty easy.  The work load on the first day was relatively light.  Their teens and our teens played soccer.  Later we got out an assortment of other balls and played with their children.  One of the balls was a beach ball about 4 ft in diameter.  The children (and a few grownups) had fun with it.

 

We left the worksite and returned to the hotel to get ready for supper.  We ate at La Granga del Abuela.  I think it translates to my grandfather{s range.  It was broiled chicken with fries and was very good.  We visited the gelateria once more and retired for the night.

 

More to follow.

After settling in at the hotel, we walked a couple of blocks to Wongs.  Wongs is a supermarker chain in Lima.  We picked up enough bottled water for the first few days.  Then we returned for a meeting with the trip organizers.  Piero, Magali, and the rest of their family (plus a friend) were already in Lima and met us.  It is the largest trip I have been a part of.  There are 32 total from the US.  We are joined by the Peruvian contingent.  Everyone was introduced and we got a briefing of the week to come.  We will build 6 houses instead of the usual 5.  We will be working primarily in a community higher on the hill than Primero de Mayo where I worked on the first trip 4 years ago.  After the meeting we left for the Indian Market for a short trip.  We had supper at Pasquales.  On the way back, some of the group stopped at Wongs.  We got off the bus at Wongs and walked to a familiar ice cream shop (Gelateria) a block away with another family on the trip.  The ice cream was very good.  Then we returned to the hotel early to get a good nights sleep since sleeping on an airplane isn{t quite the same. 

Day Uno,

 

Traveling from continent to continent is always an adventure.  Our team assembled at the Pensacola Airport at the designated time.  We left Pensacola with 26 folks.  Some of them we knew before the trip but most we had only met at the pretrip meetings.  I missed one of the meetings due to a cancelled business flight home from Dallas a month and a half ago (which is a story unto itself) so I had only met them once.  Several of the team are youth.  Everyone was very nice.  We caught a lot of attention in the airport because we had on matching Love for Peru foundation shirts.  We arrived at the departure gate ahead of most of the other travelers out of Pensacola.  One of the first of the other travelers to arrive glanced around and took all of our group in then looked at his own non-matching shirt.  Shortly the rest of the passengers arrived and he did not seem so different.  The flight to Atlanta was completely full but it left on time and arrived uneventfully.  We actually arrived 20 minutes early in Atlanta but lost 15 of the early minutes due to a bottle neck from construction at the arrival gate.

 

Once in the Atlanta airport, we went to meet a young lady from south Florida who had made this trip with our group each of the three previous years.  We surprized her by being at her arrival gate when she deplaned.  Then we headed to the departure gate on Concourse E.  We had a couple of extra hours so we ate ate the food court.  We were at the departure gate well ahead of time.  Time to start boading had come and gone.  A plane was at the gate but the jetway had not been moved to it.  Finally there was an announcement that there was an electrical problem with the jetway and we were moved to another gate.  It was a moderate hike but the new gate was also in Concourse E.  We eventually lef an hour late.

 

Day dos

 

We flew through the night and arrived at Lima in the wee hours of the morning.  We arrived about 45 minutes late.  Usually we are on a flight arrived about midnight when a lot of other international flights arrive and immigration has an hour or more wait.  This morning we were the only arrival at this time and moved quickly through.  There was a considerable wait and much confusion getting our baggage.  Our group of 27 had over 50 total bags.  We eventually found all but one.  The missing bag was supplies and not anyones personal belongings so we moved on.

 

Luis, Alphonso, and Joel greated us as we emerged from the airport.  We traveled to our hotel in the San Isidro district.  The morning traffic was wild like Lima always is but certainly not like weekday traffic when there is 3 times as much.  We are in a different hotel this year.  It is exceptionally nice for this type of trip.  Apparently they gave us quite a bargain.

 

More to follow.

Saturday

Tropical Storm Barry now has 60 MPH winds and is headed much closer to Tampa than previously (mis)forecasted.  By 8AM waves of spiral bands with torrential downpours are hitting.  By 9AM we are seeing the full force of the tropical storm.  Steve and I decide to load the bus to keep the teens dry.  They have a concert scheduled at 10AM at the Methodist Retirement Center about 2 miles away.  We had the bus park in the dead center of a very quiet street to be as high above the water as possible.  The rain was falling so fast, it couldn’t drain.  Steve and I wore swimwear since drenching was inevitable.  After loading, we had Raymond move the bus as close to the raised sidewalk as he could.  The rain was falling slower so the teens were able to load without getting soaked.  By the time we arrived at the retirement home, the rain had nearly stopped but there were big puddles everywhere.

The SonSeekers performed at the Methodist Retirement Home.  This home is an inner-city facility and most of the residents are not very well off.  The crowd was small but seemed very appreciative.  I think the fact that the program coordinator was off on Saturday affected attendance.  Of note, the postman stopped for a while and listened.  He seemed to really enjoy the music.  After the performance, the teens spent a few minutes talking to the residents.  They were very appreciative.  By the time we left, the rain was completely gone.  The wind continued to gust and there was a lot of water and a bit of debris everywhere.

We had lunch at the Westshore Mall then headed to St Petersburg.  The water level in the Tampa Bay was very high.  At times, waves crashed above the concrete barriers leading to the Howard Frankland bridge.  The roadway stayed clear of water, barely.  I heard several of the causeways were closed.  We arrived at The Abbey Rehab Center in St Pete in the early afternoon.  Again the activities director wasn’t there but we still had a number of residents who enjoyed the concert.  At one point during the concert the kids could see a man on the floor in the hall who appeared to have fallen.  I could see something had their attention and once I saw him I rushed to help him.  The staff quickly interrupted me explaining that his just lays down periodically wherever he happens to be.

Next we went to Tyrone Square Mall and had an early supper.  Then we found Oakhurst UMC in Seminole.  Here we met host families who would house us for the night.  Our host family joined with 2 others at the house one of them had on the beach.  The combined group had 8 teens and 2 chaperones, and 3 hosts.  The teens splashed in the pool and had a good time.  Later we split and went to the actual homes.

Sunday

The Son Seekers sang at two services at Oakhurst UMC.  Phil was well known (and well loved) at this church.  After the services, we were fed lunch.  We had a few extra minutes so we rode over to Madeira Beach and walked on the beach.  Since we had a concert to go to, we were dressed to well to do anything but walk.  After a little while, we went to the Seminole Square Retirement Center.  This is a very upscale place.  There were nearly 100 residents at the concert which they seemed to very much enjoy.  After the concert, we headed to St Luke UMC in St Pete. 

It was an exciting moment when we arrived at St Luke UMC and Peter was there to meet us.  He was feeling better and his father had brought him to join us.  St Lukes fed us supper and then we gave a concert in their sanctuary.  The people here also knew and loved Phil.  St Luke also provided host homes for the night.

Pictures:

TS Barry

Loading bus in TS Barry

Methodist Home

SonSeekers at Madeira Beach

Singing at Oakhurst UMC

SonSeekers in front of Oakhurst UMC 

Singing at St Luke UMC

Wednesday PM

Sandra had a final rehearsal before hitting the road.  Everyone got an orange ‘tour shirt’ to have in addition to the usual Son Seekers shirt.  We found out that Raymond will be our driver.  We had Raymond the two previous years also.

Back at home there is a lot of packing and last minute details.

Thursday

There was a final packing and a good bye to all of the pets left at home.  This applied to everyone except Ashley, who carried her pet to the drop-off point at Cokesbury.  Ashley got to say bye to Gizmo, her Chihuahua just before departure.  At the church, the tour bus was here and everyone was excited to be going.  The only down point was Peter was too sick to go.  Everyone has arrived on time including Kathy who arrives at the last minute.  We had a final prayer before leaving. 

We said goodbye and off we went.  The first stop was a rest area at the 191 mile marker on I-10.  The thrill is still in the air.  We were then back on the road.  We didn’t stop for lunch until 12:30 (there aren’t many places to feed 31 people between Tallahassee and Gainesville).  We stopped at the Oaks Mall in Gainesville.

After lunch, were back on the road toward Tampa.  We arrived in Tampa about 17:00.  We crossed town in rush hour then found Hyde Park UMC.  We unloaded the bus and went to the International Mall in the Westshore area.  It is a very upscale mall with the fancy named stores as tenants (Tiffany, et cetera).

We returned to Hyde Park UMC for devotion time.  Kaitlin W read scripture and talked about purpose.  There was quite a bit of discussion.  We were watching a tropical depression that wasn’t expected to do much.

Friday

Today was our first play day.  We had breakfast at McDonalds and headed to Busch Gardens.  Busch Gardens is probably the best one day theme park there is.  There are rides of several intensities, many animals, and a good variety of shows.  By late afternoon, there was a steady shower and we headed out.  Supper was at a nearby Sonny’s Barbeque.  Tonight’s devotion was by Ashley.  The tropical depression now has 39 MPH winds making it Tropical Storm Barry.  It is headed north of the Tampa Bay area and not expected to strengthen any more.

Pictures:

The Prayer Circle

At the rest area

Animals at Busch Gardens (2)

A roller coaster at Busch Gardens

Wow, All of the sudden I lost touch.  A few friends who actually read my Apprentice blogs noticed that I fell off the face of the earth after Week 8.  Actually I didn't completely fall off the face of the earth but a lot did happen.  First my laptop died.  I was in Chicago and using the internet in the demo room at my conference.  The demo room was the only place with free wireless internet.  It started doing a Java update that I didn't ask for.  Anyway, it was time to go so I closed up the laptop and left.  After checking in at Ohare, I opened the laptop to the blue screen of death.  I rebooted x 6 to no avail.  I called Dell and was on the phone with them for an hour including boarding my flight.  Eventually the flight attendent said to turn off electronic devices, so I did.  The next day, from home I called Dell back.  The long and short of it was I had to reinitialize the laptop and lost my documents on the computer.  The good news was that everything essential was also on my desktop.  The bad news is that I lost 2 weeks of Apprentice thoughts and I never caught up.

 

The Apprentice ended with Stefani winning over James.  Stefani played the game well.  She worked hard in the shadows and was always praised by her fellow candidates.  James was sharp but a bit too full of himself.  I was happy for Stefani to win.

 

The next thing for me is that from the last week of April to June 10th, I am out of town more than I am in.  I had a business trip to Chicago; Dallas; Anderson, SC; and Dallas (again).  I chaporoned the fifth grade patrol trip (with Kid3) to Valdosta, GA and the Cokesbury United Methodist Church Son Seekers all over Florida.  Also, we are totally remodeling a bathroom at home in our spare time.

 

One of the trips was also quite an adventure.  The second Dallas trip was supposed to have me leave Dallas at 4:45PM and arrive in Pensacola at 6:30PM.  I was then supposed to run to Gulf Breeze for the 2007 Peru Mission Trip meeting.  Well the weather in Dallas was bad and my flight was cancelled.  Due to the Memorial Day Holiday weekend, I couldn't be rebooked for 3-4 days.  So I ended up renting a car and 2 coworkers and I drove the 600 miles to Pensacola.  We left Dallas at about 5PM in rush hour and bad weather.  It was 100 miles later in Tyler where we outran the bad weather.  We arrove in Pensacola at 5 something the next morning.  It was a couple of days later when I caught up on sleep.

 

I am now on the choir tour facing limited internet availability.  Starting tomorrow, I will reflect on the choir tour.

 

Attached pictures:  Bathroom #3 stripped to the studs

This week’s episode begins with Surya telling how happy he is with his decision to move to Arrow.  Interestingly the rest of the group isn’t as impressed with Surya as he is with himself.  James (especially) and Frank aren’t shy about their thoughts about Surya.

The candidates meet the Donald with Bill Rancic by his side.  They meet in Echo Park with a GNC executive.  The task is to put on a halftime show for a Los Angeles Galaxy soccer game.

Arrow starts brainstorming in the van.  Surya is taking notes as ideas fly.  James is incensed about Surya’s style.

At Kinetic, Kristine becomes the project manager.  The all female team gets off to a smoother start and also brainstorms while riding in the van.  Muna and Kristine are at odds over how the team will function but they move on.

At Arrow, Tim had the idea of having a boxing match.  James, predictably is at odds with Surya.  James manages to always have something negative to say.  As the halftime approaches, Arrow seems very chaotic.

Kinetic goes first with a vitamin Olympics theme.   The event came off good.  Arrow was next with the boxing theme.  The Arrow exhibition didn’t look as good to me.

Shortly we will find out what Donald and the GNC executive thought.

When the results are revealed, Kinetic won easily.  The team was thrilled with the win and the reward was to golf with Trump at one of his prestige courses.  In addition to playing with Donald, each one received a set of Taylormade Donald J Trump golf clubs.  The women were surprisingly good at golf.  Angela was (not so surprisingly) especially good.  Donald paid a lot of attention to Angela.

Surya has a between the bushes survival strategy discussion with Kinetic.  He knows his team will turn on him in the boardroom.

Surya’s concern is correct and all of the team places blame on him.  There is some discussion of James being difficult and Tim for the solo idea from brainstorming being his.  Bill is particularly annoyed by James and puts pressure on him a time or two.  Surya is getting the most pressure but he reminds Trump that his 5 and 2 record is the best of the candidates.  Surya decides to bring James and Tim back to the final boardroom.

Tim obviously can’t be fired.  He has romantic interest in Nicole to pursue; although this week, the only romantic interests that made the cuts was Trump’s affection for Angela.

In the final boardroom there is a lot of pressure on Surya.  Surya was aggressive on his feet in defending himself.  Thanks to Bill, there is also a lot of pressure on James.  Only once did the pressure turn to Tim.  It was correctly pointed out that Tim shouldn’t suffer for having the one and only brainstorming idea.  It might have even worked if the production had come off smoother.  As the boardroom progresses the tide turns more and more against James.  Then Surya inadvertently commits boardroom suicide.  It wasn’t quite as bad as Derek last week but I think Surya wishes he could put his last comment back in his mouth.  He said he was a better follower than leader.

Trump zeroed in quickly and James was saved.  I don’t think Surya could have survived to the end but I would have preferred to see James fired tonight.  But Surya controlled his own destiny on this one.

See you next week.

 

This week begans with Aimee leaving after being fired on the previous episode.  She is giving Derek the look of death.  Derek says, “We just got rid of another piece of Riff Raff.  (Hmmm, that name seems familiar.  Wasn’t that the butler on Rocky Horror Picture Show?)

While they are talking, Jenn volunteers to be the next Project Manager.  Derek says off-screen that Jenn is the last of the riff raff.

Next we see James and Frank both picking Surya apart.  Tim weighs in on Surya also.  Surya is seriously short on allies and I am not sure he realizes it.

The teams meet Trump in Beverly Hills on Rodeo Drive in front of all of the ritzy stores.  Randall Pinkett is there in place of Ivanka.  I still haven’t forgotten what he did to Rebecca in the last episode of season 4.  I’m sure she has found success at whatever she is doing.  She is that kind of person.

Anyway, the task is to create an owner experience for preferred guest to introduce a new Lexus model.  Each team has a $50,000 budget (which probably wouldn't come close to buying one of the cars they are featuring).  Kinetic comes up with the theme of a sixth sense of luxury but had difficulty developing it.  Ideas ranged from having a tarot card reader, a magician, and go-carts.  The go-cart idea was poopooed but there were no better ideas.  Heidi and Muna learned extensively about the car but the rest of the team floundered.

At Arrow, Surya was busy at the whiteboard.  His group mostly ignored him.  Tim and Nicole were gazing into each other’s eyes, of course.

At Kinetic, Derek and Angela are working on graphic designs.  For reasons not clear to me, the design is delayed and they are limited in banners for the presentation.  Derek makes it clear that it wasn’t his fault saying, “Angela is responsible.  I report to her.”  I'm not sure the buck has ever stopped at Derek. 

Over at Arrow we hear the predictable, “Oh Tim, you’re the best” from guess who… Nicole.

During the presentation, Arrow’s prototype car battery runs low and all of the special features go haywire.  At Kinetic, Jenn is babbling and has difficulty reading the monitors due to glare.  The presentation comes off very sloppy.  The guests who participate in the go-cart event seem to enjoy it but they didn't rate it as conveying the luxury of Lexus.  The magician looks like a hoodlum and is only on screen momentarily.

At Arrow, there is a demonstration of the self parallel parking feature.  Nicole states that this is sick (the car being able to parallel park itself).  [I too find this very interesting.  Suppose you go take the driving test and they ask you to parallel park and the car parks itself.  How about a car that drives itself to the gas station and fills itself with gas.  Or one that gets a job and pays for the gas.]

After the event, it isn’t surprising that Arrow won.  Arrow won a jam session with Snoop Dogg, who according to Trump is an astute business man and a hip-hop artist.  Arrow is very excited especially Surya who says Snoop Dogg is his favorite. 

At the reward event, James and Frank attempt freestyle rap.  I am not a rap fan but I know enough to realize that James and Frank need to keep other career options open.  At the event, Surya stood by the wall and barely spoke.  He seemed very preoccupied with something.

Back at the boardroom for Kinetic was interesting.  Trump asked Derek what he thought went wrong.  Derek started out saying that he was white-trash and couldn’t really say what went wrong.  Trump questioned him about this and he went on and on about being white-trash.  Trump promptly fired him for being stupid.  [Boardroom rule #7  Don’t commit boardroom suicide.]

Some years back there was MASH.  I am talking about the movie that predated the very cleaned up TV show by the same name.  A song in the movie was “Suicide is Painless”.  The same tune was used in the opener for the TV show but the words were omitted as part of the cleanup.  I’m not sure boardroom suicide is quite so painless for Derek.

Somewhat to the surprise of the rest of Kinetic, the boardroom resumes.  There is a lot of focus on Jenn’s botched presentation.  Then there is focus on Angela for lack of marketing.  The toughest focus is on Jenn and she was feeling quite vunerable.  Jenn looks to Surya for support.  Surya, who hasn’t spoken a word yet, says, “I didn’t want to interrupt”.  Trump says, “I don’t mind if you interrupt, just say something.”  Moments later, Randall starts talking and Trump says, “Wait Randall”.  Randall resumes, “Derek was against the go-carts after you brainstormed”.  Trump cuts in again, “Excuse me Randall…Enough…Enough”.  It seems Surya is supposed to interrupt and Randall isn’t.  Go figure.

There is a little discussion about who Jenn will bring to the final board room then Trump decides to fire her on the spot.  I think for the first time this season, everyone was cordial after the firing.  Jenn and the team wished each other well.  [Boardroom rule #8  It doesn’t hurt to show a little class on the way out.]

As everyone is leaving the room, Trump chides Angela for a poor performance.  I am thinking that Angela would be smart to be Project Manager next week and a good one at that.

More to follow after another episode.