Saturday, March 31, 2007 

Hosting Lesson Learned

So this guy from Moldova was staying at my apartment for the weekend, and with nothing much to do an a Friday night, we decided to watch a movie. What better movie than Rocky, I figure? So I popped in Rocky 4 and we began to watch.



As you can probably tell from the pic, Rocky 4 is a wee bit on the patriotic side. There's nothing wrong with being patriotic, but when you're sitting next to a guy from a former Soviet republic, it's probably not a great idea to show a movie where the completely evil, inhumane Russian empire falls under Rocky's mighty fists. (Not to mention the 10-minute AmericaFest complete with James Brown singing "Living in America" and Carl Weathers running around in red, white, and blue.)

Fortunately for me, my friend took it in stride and we avoided another Cold War. But the next time a foreigner happens to be staying at the apartment, I think I'll avoid Rocky 4.

12:30 PM | |

 

Need A Place To Stay?

So far I've housed an older couple from Florida, a family of 6 from down the street, a reporter my age from...actually I don't know where he was from, and a guy from Moldova. This summer I'll be boarding a guy from out east, 4 college-aged guys from the states, and the older couple again. Fortunately, they don't all come at the same time...


By the end of the summer I should be one stinkin' awesome host. At the very least I'll do that verse in the Bible: 1 Peter 4:9 "Show hospitality to one another without grumbling."

So if you happen to be passing through my town, give me a call. I can give you a bed, a bowl of cereal, and a towel. I never said I was a great host =)

12:07 PM | |

Saturday, March 24, 2007 

A Good Conversation in a Good Restaurant

A friend took me to a really good restaurant one day after school a few months ago, and since then I've been going by at least a couple of times a week. For all of like $2 bucks you get soup, a main dish, a side dish, and all the bread and water you can fit in your belly. It's a cafeteria-style restaurant, the people there make a whole bunch of something and dish it out to customers. There's been spaghetti, beans, chicken, some kind of meat/vegetable broth thing, it's always a surprise.

Anyway, one night I invited a friend to go with me and enjoy the well-priced experience. I expected to eat, make some conversation, crack a few jokes, and head home. We ended up sitting at the restaurant for 3 hours. He told me how he knew he wasn't a Muslim, but believed that every religion led to the same God. (They all do, but only one way brings you to Him without infinite wrath in the way.) I got to share the gospel with him, and it went pretty well. I explained the problem pretty well, I'm not sure if I explained the solution very well. (I don't think my pocket dictionary has the word "propitiation" in it.) He disagreed with me, but he heard. Sitting in the restaurant that one night, that guy heard the truth.

10:40 AM | |

 

Hotel Pics

A friend emailed me some pics from the hotel I went to a few weekends ago. Enjoy!








10:28 AM | |

Thursday, March 15, 2007 

A Weekend Away

Last weekend I got to leave the big city and travel with the team to a small city by the sea for a weekend away. It was a nice city, even if it was about the same size as my bathroom. It was a good weekend, and not just because I got to skip class Friday.



Saturday for lunch I ate what is quite possibly the best sandwich I have ever eaten in my life. French fries, ketchup, mayonnaise, and bread. French fry sandwiches, just another reason to love this country...




That's a picture of the lobby of the hotel we stayed at. That hotel has to be the best I've ever stayed at. I've been to my fair share of holiday inns and the like, but this one went above and beyond. Every free inch of space was taken up with random artifacts and junk from all over the world. There were Terra Cotta statues from China, a full suit of medieval armor, a stuffed baboon, a big Buddha, Greek statues, a key to some rock in Mecca, Native American-looking idol things, and a full skeleton in a glass case (see the pic above). It was awesome. (I'd put more pics up buy my camera has been on the fritz recently, I'll put some up after I get some from the team).

As if that weren't enough, they had a talking parrot with a better accent than mine.

1:02 PM | |