A Trip to Trinidad: Day 8

Wednesday, July 1st
Woke up at 4:30.
Drove to the airport at 5.
Boarded a plat at 8:30.
Bought some souvenirs.
Ate nasty airplane food.
Arrived in Houston.
Went through customs.
Went through immigration.
Went through security.
Boarded a plane at 1:30.
Ate skimpy airplane pretzels.
Laughed with/at Rebekah, who sat next to me.
Arrived in Chicago.
Ate awesome pasta.
Boarded a plane at 7:40.
Slept most of the way.
Arrived home in Green Bay.
Said goodbye to my teammates.
Said hullo to normal living.

And here, dear readers, comes the time when I reflect that God has done and is doing. To be honest, I can’t sum up the feeling that I have now that I’m home. That feeling, that closeness to God, feeling His hand working through us, useless people, for something greater. Something bigger than ourselves. Something so much greater than we could ever imagine. God’s ultimate plan put us there in that moment for that purpose for those people.
It was an honour to serve Him in this little way, and make a difference somehow.
Knowing that we were chosen at that very moment to spread His love to those who haven’t experienced Him, and feel the joy with them as they find Him. Finding Him through our words and our actions.
And thus I leave you with a challenge. If ever you have the opportunity, go. Step out of your comfort zone. Go on a missions trip. Go out in your community. Just make yourself willingly available for God to use you and He will. He changed my life. Maybe He’ll change yours.

A Trip To Trinidad: Day 7

Our lovely tourist day was followed up by a vigorous work day. It started at 8:30 and ended at 2:30. I took one break for lunch, but besides that, I was working non-stop in the hot Trini sun. Doing what? It’s hard to guess.
Painting. Duh. Yes, I painted. And painted. And painted some more. And finally finsihed the fence. It’s interesting too because it started to drizzle a bit hile we were working and I just kept praying “God, hold off the rain.” 10 minutes after the fence was completed, it just poured.
^_^
Interesting how God works sometimes.
Anyway, after we were done painting, we cleaned up.
Oh, and we finally got running water. After what … 5 days? Yay!
Tuesday night, the pastors brought us out to eat. I had a burger with fries. Good ol’ American food. The first I’d had all week. Topped off with a Mountain Dew, it was good.
Tuesday night was the celebration service, thanking and praising God for His awesome work accomplished through us. It was just a great time of fellowship, but all too soon it was over and time to go home.
Home to Lincoln’s house.
Home to Green Bay.

A Trip To Trinidad: Day 6

Monday, June 28th
Since we’ve been working so hard, we got a day to tour around Trinidad. Souvenir shopping, being the only white people (which has also become normal)… all that jazz. We loaded up into Nissam’s Nissan bus, including a plethora of Trinis from church.
We drove up to Port of Spain for the morning (Port of Spain being the capitol). Sauntering around tourist traps and shops, I manged to find some things. I would say what, but some are gifts for other people who might happen to read my blog. =P
We had Subway for lunch, and then headed to Maracas Bay… the beach. It was absolutely gorgeous. I can’t beging to praise God for His creativity. It was like a little piece of paradise.
Imagine mountains all around, gray with clouds, covered with jungle foliage. And in the middle of this ins a bay, sparkling blue, capped with white foam. Palm trees. Yellow sand. Sunshine. Cool breeze. It was perfect.
It was an awesome time. I rode and crashed the waves for a good 2 hours, than lay down on my towel, tanning, with a book. After that, I took a leisurely stroll down the beach. The walk was just lovely, reflecting on all God has done on the trip, and praising Him for reviving my passion to step out in faith.
He’s opened up new doors and polished up some windows I had forgotten about. Like, I’m seriously considering going on a summer-long trip next summer. I can feel the pull again, and this time I’m not going to suppress or ignore it.
For dinner we had Bake ‘N Shark. Basically… a shark sandwich. Delicious as always. And then back home we went, all tired out from a wonderful day.

A Trip To Trinidad: Day 5

Sunday, June 27th
To be honest, the morning was rather uneventful… well, at least the beginning was.
The only interesting thing was that I had a cup of hot chocolate for breakfast. Hot chocolate… in sweaty, humid, exasperatingly hot Trinidad. I was sweating while I drank it. It’s like the polar opposite of when I have it in Green Bay. Oh well.
I wore a very pretty sundress to church at 9:d0. There weren’t too many people there. Even Pastor Rampaul hadn’t shown up yet, but they started the service anyway.
They started out with prayer. Sister Ven prayed yet again (the loud, crescendo lady) and Sean actually counted how many times she said “God” in her 3 minute prayer. 65. ^_^ Oh the things that amuse us.
After prayer was worship. Daleep was on drums. Daniel player guitar, Pastor Richard played Keyboard. Merlene and Shirley lead the singing. The order of worship was as follows. (Actually, I don’t remember. >_<) There were quite a few songs that I knew, like You are Goodand others, but they also played Calypso/Reggae worship.
After worship, Pastor Rampaul (who did eventually show up) talked for a while giving a mini-sermon. Then Jeff talked for quite a long time, preaching on how far House of God and Spring Lake have grown together as sister churches. He really just encouraged that they had more influence than they give themselves credit for. Then after the sermons, were announcements. Overall the service lasted 2 1/2 hours. Very long. Jeff actually fell asleep at the end. Rebekah and I found it hilarious.
Lunch was offered us at Zalenka’s house (one of the women at the church). She made noodles, spicy mangoes, chicken and salad. All was delicious. The mangoes were really spicy hot. Even Sean didn’t want to eat them. Sean the guy who eats Trini hot sauce and doesn’t flinch.
Needless to say, it was spicy, but I’ve learned to just get through it. My spicy food fetish ended on Wednesday, the moment I stepped off the plane.
Sunday afternoon was spent hanging around the house until we went up to church for another house visiting time. I actually didn’t go though. Mom was feeling lightheaded and opted to stay behind. I wanted to make sure someone was with her to keep an eye on her, thus I stayed. We cleaned the church while everyone was out. The youth group was putting on a movie night that evening. So we organized and set up the drinks and chairs. Eventually everyone else came back and we went out for dinner, this time at the Pramsook’s grandmother’s house.
There we had rice with chicken, mangues, spinach, salad, cabbage, roti… the typical. All the food has been amazing! Granted, I’ve probably eaten more this week than I have in the past month. >_< Gotta love eating to please your host. If you don’t eat enough, they feel like you don’t like it. And I would hate to be unhospitable. I am definitely working out/ eating healthy when I get home. No excuses.
Sunday night was spent in our team discussion and then off to bed!

A Trip to Trinidad: Day 4

Saturday, June 27th, 2009
I woke up. Still not running water. Was able to use the bathroom though. Big plus.
For breakfast, I had cereal in a cup, a yogurt in some mangoes. Spent time doing my devo and headed off to church.
Mom and I started painting another portion of the fence, but it began to rain on us yet again. So we had to stop.
We walked down to Daniel’s house since we had nothing better to do. Abby was already there taking a test for school online, so we just waited for her to be done. Mom wanted to play pool. *shudder* I’d never played in my entire life. Ever. So it was… amusing. I wasn’t too bad once I got the hang of it, but I’m not planning on picking it up as a hobby anytime soon.
Once Abby was done with her test, we walked back up to church and finished painting the fence. Well, the front fence anyway. We’ve still got to work on the back and side part of the fence…
I helped prepare lunch back at the house around 12. We had chicken salad sandwiches, pasta salad, PB&J’s, watermelon and cheese. Appetizing combination, no?
After lunch we went and finished painting the fence until 3. Then we cleaned up, bathed in our buckets and met at church for our neighborhood evangelism. Several weeks previously, another group had put on a crusade and many people in the community came and heard the gospel message for the first time. So we were going back out into the community to do follow-up visits, encouraging new believers and praying for them. Showing God’s love to them in simple ways. The 11 of our team and our Trini counterparts (many of the Pastors, youth members and various leaders in the church) split into five groups and headed out into the community. In my group were Daniel, Pastor Krishna and his wife, Esther, and myself, of course.
In the first house we visited, none of the family members were saved, even though they had heard the gospel presented and seemed interested enough. And immediately Krishna just started “blasting” the salvastionmessage at them. For 30 straight minutes he just repeated the message that God loves them, and that they should give their lives to Christ. It was almost like a sales pitch, and I don’t exactly agree with how he did it. The more he talked and asked them, and repeated and asked again, it was like they just felt obligated to give in to make him stop talking. Anyways, 2 of the family memebers gave their lives to the Lord. And me being an American just has to wonder if they were just saying the words to say the words. Only God knows.
The second house we went to, Jeff was there already, so we were just able to converse and enjoy the fellowship. But once there was a lull in the conversation, Krishna pulled out his sales pitch and went to it. Ah well. I did enjoy the time. It really helped me to get out and experience the culture and how things work there.
After we were all done (as we only visited those two houses), the team headed home for the evening. Ate dinner, even though I only had a PB&J.
Afterwards we had our team time, discussing Acts 10, the scripture about Peter having a vision of unclean meats. Being met by Cornelius, a gentile, and having to obey God’s calling and listen to the “men at the gate” calling him out of his normality. To step outside of his law and step into God’s law. At a point, Peter tells God “Surely not.” And I’ve been pondering how at times I do the exact same thing. When things are uncomfortable, “Surely not.” When things are unnatural, “Surely not.” When I’m being just plain stubborn, “Surely not.” But this trip has revived in me a flexibility to do what is needed and not just what I want. My time here really has pushed me to see that there is work to be done at home. Jeff keeps saying that our energy here needs to continue back home, and I completely agree. I’m praying that God will open some doors to continue this passion.
After team time, Mom and I were invited to a Hindu wedding by Yvonne and Daleep. of course, we couldn’t turn down a once-in-a-lifetime deal, so we eagerly agreed. We all (Daleep, Ynconne, Me, Mom and Daniel) loaded up and headed out into the mountains on the eastern side of Trinidad, about an hour from Chaguanas. When we arrived, we were wanred that we would be the only white people… and we were. But I’ve grown accustomed to being stared at constantly. So it didn’t really bother me.
After a few moments of socializing and getting introduced to many of the family members, we decided to eat. Basically, you sat down and hey would bring you this huge leaf to eat on, like your plate. Then they would just started piling food on your plate, but there’s a catch…. no utensils. You use the roti to eat everything else with. There were spiced mangoes, chickpeas, spinach cooked in pepper juice and “Mother-in-La.” It’s composed of peppers and is completely, insanely spicy. Daleep had mentioned it previously and it’s comical because of its name. The mother-in-law is bitter and fiesty, as is the food. ^_^ Needless to say, a great experience.
We then went back to the Pramsook’shouse, as we didn’t want to wake up the rest of the team with our late return back to Lincoln’s house. On the ride back, we picked up Justin and one of their cousins. So we had 7 people in a 5 person truck. Mom, Justin, me and Daniel were squished in the back seat while the rest were up front. It was quite smooshed, everything trying to adjust constantly to get comfortable, but it was fun.
And so we slept basically as soon as we got to their house as it was around 1:30. Lovely day. ^_^

A Trip to Trinidad: Day 3

Friday, June 26th, 2009
Still no water at our place. Well, running water that is. We have drinking water, but we can’t shower or use the restroom. Had to go to Lenny and Shirley’s house to use the bathroom. Oh, what a different world we live in.
For devotions, I read Psalm 107. Very uplifting and comforting. I’ve really been enjoying waking up early anddoing devotions on the front porch, overlooking the street below withthe palm trees all around.
Ate breakfast of mango, watermelon, pineapple, a piece of toast and eggs, topped off with a glass of apple juice.
Around9 we headed out to the church for work. Once again, I felt like I was useless, just sitting around, until I went in to the preschool andstarted watching Curious George with them. It was so cute how they would peer at the strange white girl over their seats. After a while, the guys in charge of construction gave the youtha job of painting the fence around the church. No, chaosdid not ensue with flailing brushes andsplattered paint. We managed to get more paint on the fence than on ourselves. Well… we might have painted each other just a bit. I got Rebekah right across the cheek with a huge white glob. ^_^
The fence took a good 2 hours for half of the front, byt around lunch time, we decided to lime about… which was about 40 minutes or so of just taking a break. Lazy teenagers we are. (Actually, it was getting rather hot out and we had been out in the sun continually throughout the morning.)
Mrs. Nachtwey and Mom make chicken salad sandwiches and broccoli/bacon salad for lunch. Very appetizing.
After lunch, we were going to finish the front portion of the fence, but it started raining. So we scrapped that idea and once again, just hung out some more. As it was only the 2nd work day, we got to know each other a bit better andbegan making some new relationships with our Trini counterparts. After a while we decided to walk to Daniel’s house, since we had nothing to do. So we did.
Daniel turned on the TV for us and we were able to catch up on world news, like MJ’s death. It’s so strange how surreal it all is. I’m halfway across the world and I don’t really care about funeral arrangements or autopsy reports. (That sounds so cold, but it’s true.) It hit home that the things of this world really don’t matter. They all just come and go, fading out of our memories, but that service to God andall the things the surround Him matter so much more, and are the things that truly last.
In the afternoon, still no running water. Eric and Joe managed to put up a large water tank for us to use, hauling water up to use the bathroom and the like. I actually got to wash my hair… in a bucket! The true missionary experience.
We then slipped over to Siri and Hannifer’s house for a fresh coconut. This has become a tradition with every team, because they have grown close to Jeff and his missionary friends. Their son shimmied up a coconut/palm tree with his hands and feet like a little monkey, carrying a machete, and cut down coconuts. Fresh, green ones. Not the brown ones you see in supermarkets. After getting them down to the ground, he then chops open the coconut and lets us drink the “water” inside. The taste is quite… different. Imagine water mixed with sugar, salt, lemon, coconut and all sorts of other spices and you get coconut water. It’s so different, I can’t even really describe it well. I wasn’t a big fan, but I drank it just to be hospitable.
For dinner we went back to Daniel’s house, where we had roti(a popular bread with spiced and ground chick peas in the middle), bajiburgers (breaded spinach with spices and peppers… very hot peppers…) and chicken. That evening was just very low key, spending time together.
Overall, Day 3 went well. I dealt with some conflicting personalities in one of my teammates, but I’ll get over it. I’ve got better things to do than let my emotions distract me from working wholeheartedly for His purposes.

A Trip to Trinidad: Day 2

Thursday, June 24th, 2009
Woke up at 6:30.
Went to shower.
No running water whatsoever.
Greasy hair and lots of deodorant ensued.
Woohoo. I guess it’s all part of the experience. Maybe I’ll look less attractive to the Trini boys now.
There’s always a silver lining.

(Our leader put together a devotion for us. Below are some bits and pieces from it. We studied Psalms 105, talking about Israel’s history and how God delivered them in good times and bad. We were to write out the good things God did for them, but also the things he allowed them to suffer through. Below is the personal application portion.)

-Even through the constant hatred from opposing countries and people, the Israelites they clung to the hope that God would always love them.
-Even through the beatings and bruising and imprisonment, though they were innocent, the clung to the hope that God would set them free.
-Even though God seemed to destroy their means of living, they clung to the hope that God would provide.
-Even though God allowed them to wander in a place far from home, they clung to the hope that God would guide them.
-Even though they doubted God’s plan, they clung to the hope that He wasn’t finished just yet.

Personally, I could praise Him for giving me hope, true hope, in finding a purpose that isn’t just insipid, monotonous, everyday living. I live for a reason: to help the hurting, the broken, the fatherless, the weak, the sinners.
He brought me away from a self-centered life to one of unending, unreserved love for Him.He brought me from the dark, creeping, black of my sin and the guilt that clung to me before.
He brought me from a life without living, just breathing in and breathing out, without a reason, just getting by.
His purpose for me? To give myself to the unwanted, the lonely, the abused, the unloved, the broken, the ashamed, the sinners, the fatherless, the hopeless, and to show them hope, love, grace and mercy that can only come from God.
That is my calling.
That is why I live.

(We were also told to write a personal psalm. I did mine a little different.)
My Healer.
My Redeemer.
My Father.
My Savior.
You are my Everything.
And to you I owe my all, my very life.
Words cannot express my gratitude.
Hopeless. Lifeless. Meaningless. Lost.
That is what I was.
A sheep strayed from my Master’s calling voice.
Deaf to his calls by the sound of my own bleating.
Like I bird without wings, I lacked hope for a future.
My life seemed so lifeless, so dull without You.
Crawling I came before You, but You raised me up from the dust and placed a crown upon my head.
Calling me Daughter.
Calling me Loved.
Through the voices of many, you spoke to me, teaching me through Your glorious Word.
Though many times I have fallen away, still You remain faithful and unchanging.
Ever-constant in an ever-changing world.
Though some rebuke me, I will cling to hope.
Though some beat and abuse me, I will cling to love.
Though I will walk away, I will cling to grace.
Though I will break Your commandments, I will cling to mercy.
Though I may walk through valleys of darkness, through the fires of trial, even through the shadow of death, You will be with me, leading me to those white shores.
And I will live in the house of the Lord, my Father, forever and every dancing before His throne for He is worthy of all that I can offer, though it is nothing compared to Him.
But I will give it, because it’s all I have to give.
I will give my life, because it’s all You ask of me.

(Back to regular journal entry)
After no shower, I did my devos and had an interesting breakfast of a PB&J with pineapple. Mmmm.
Pastor Ramdath brought us to the church at 9 and the work began. As Pastor Rickie had specified that the construction work was “man’s work,” the females were assigned to help in the preschool. Abby and I took to the 6-7 year olds and were in for quite the surprise. The teacher wanted us to give the daily devotion. The catch? We weren’t told until it was time for us to share. We had to whip something together, which was actually quite easy. I shared the story of Jesus calming the story from Matthew 8:23. Since they were young and were rather surprised/shocked to have 2 white girls int the class, they seemed rater non-responsive, but nonetheless, it was a good experience for me. Just being able to pull something out without notice was good practice.
After that, Abby and I were assigned 2 kids to “teach.” They were going over their reading lesson, and we were to guide them along. I was assigned to the pastor’s son, Joshua, and another little boy named Anthony.
Poor little kid was Anthony. He tried so hard to figure out his lesson, but he just struggled and struggled. The spark was there, you could tell. But the fire just wasn’t being ranned in the right way. We were reading about telling the timeand he was so trying to get it. The cogs were turning, but he was just troubled. Sometimes it was frustrating to me because I just couldn’t get through to him. He wanted to figure it out in his own strength and was failing. Yet if he just accepted the help of the teacher (me), he could have understood.
It was a nice analogy to think through… me being able to put myself in God’s shoes for a minute as we try to deal with things on our own.
Anyways, school was dismissed for lunch and I ended up at Daleep and Yvonne’s house making lunch. Except that the food had already been prepared to I ened up just talking to Justin and Daniel for a while. We just sat around at their house and at the church, since it began to rain fairly hard for about 15-30ish minutes. It’s quite refreshing to have the cool breeze. I won’t complain about being hot at home for months after this.
For lunch, Yvonne prepared a mixture of chicken and rice, which I think will become the missionary staple of Trinidad. They eat a lot of chicken as it is rather inexpensive and easy to prepare.
Since school was dismissed, the ladies had absolutely nothing to do. Lovely feeling, knowing that people paid for us to come just to sit on our rears. Thankfully, Ramdath brought us shopping for the food we would need during the week, so we felt a bit more productive. There are so many different things there, food-wise. Though some are similar, those that are the same are called by different names. For example, eggplant is melonjene. Thus it’s hard to tell what is what.
They also have very interesting soda flavours. Peardrax is a popular pear soda. Mom stated it tasted like beer. No wonder I liked it. =P
And then, after nearly 48 hours without one, I got to take a shower! Evidently since the city has been working on building larger water pipes, they shut off water flow in certain neighborhoods. Hopefully, we’ll have running water tomorrow. Who knows.
For dinner we had doubles, a Trini food composed of a pita-like bread with chick peas and curry on top. It was quite appetizing.
Then at 7pm was their Thursday night prayer meeting. They spent the first 15ish minutes just praying, truly thanking God for every blessing for His great love.
One woman, Vendra, began praying normally, but as time went on she grew more and more animated, gradually crescendoing her voice until she was shouting at the top of her lungs. It was just amazing to observe their simple faith and wholehearted belief that God will answer prayer. Compared to Americans who try to rationalize everything and sometimes pray like God might be listening or might answer their prayer, it was quite refreshing.
Another amusing thing happened during the worship time. Daniel and Pastor Richard started playing some unknown Calypso song, and it transition into the Hokey Pokey. (I kid you not.) I tried so hard not to laugh, it was just too out of the blue. The chorus went like this.
“Put your whole self in.
Put your whole self out.
Put your whole self in and shake it all about.
Raise your hands to Jesus and turn yourself around.
That’s what it’s all about.”
Pastor Krishna Singh from Bermuda spoke about Failure. (Notes removed for lack of space… plus, I didn’t really take them. So. =P)
After service we ate cake and more cake… and more cake. Oh, and we socialized. Then we headed back home for bed.

(On a side note, I heard that Michael Jackson passed away today. I wept inwardly…. and danced to Thriller in memory of him. *tear tear* I never will forget the great influence he’s had on my life.)

A Trip To Trinidad: Day 1

The next conjunction of posts are excerpts from my journal. They record all the goings and comings from my missions trip to Trinidad, dated June 24th to July 1st. Even though there were moments that words cannot express, I did my best to give the details. If I had recorded every moment, it would be a novel in itself, but I’ll try to keep it fairly brief.

As a fellow teammate (who is not a writer in any way) wrote in her journal…
“Trip to Trinidad.
It was great.”

^_^
God worked in amazing ways, but I’ll wait to express my reflections and emotions at the very end.
Wednesday, July 24th, 2009
If I dared to say that to day was uneventful, it wasn’t. If I simply wrote that we boarded a plane in Green Bay and arrived 13 hours later in Port of Spain, Trinidad, I wouldn’t be telling the whole story.
It took 13 hours, 11 people, 3 plane rides, 2 airport meals, 2 different countries, 2 forms to fill out… and 1 great God.
Though we ran into a few rough patches along the way, this story isn’t just about the physical. It’s not about the mental. This trip is about the supernatural.
Imagine for a moment the first initial feeling as you step off the plan into a foreign country, when you had been snug at home a mere 24 hours previous. That cold, yet refreshing, tingling inches its way up your spine until you are completely intoxicated with the feeling.
Just thinking that God wants to use a teen from the frozen tundra of Wisconsin to work, benefiting His kingdom is completely humbling. Me, a sinner, a nobody, young, inexperienced, sometimes a bit immature… Yet He called me to go and make disciples of nations. Called me to go and set an example for the believers.
And that’s what I’m here to do. To explore new cultures, to meet new people, try strange, new foods. Yes, these things are important.
But I’m here for a plan bigger than myself.
I’m here for God’s plan.
And I can’t wait to see how He moves.

We woke up at 3:45am. Insane, yes, I know. I had gotten about a 5 hour sleep as I had stayed up thinking through some things. I was beginning to question my motive and heart for the trip. Why was I going? For whose honour and for what purpose? Was I just excited to be back in a new country where I’d soak up the culture and get a nice tan… or was there more?
Thankfully God’s been tugging at my heartstrings and showing me there is.
5am at the airport and we were off. 11 travelers. 1 great God. As the week progresses I’ll write more on my teammates, but below is just a list of those who went.
Mom and myself.
Caleb, Rebekah and Joe Vanderlinden.
Sharon and Abigail Nachtwey.
Eric Leinheiser.
Chuck Richardson.
Sean Smith.
And our fearless leader, Jeff Hollenbeck.
Flight #1 from Green Bay to Chicago was amusing. It was Rebekah’s first time flying ever, so she was rather paranoid about what was going on. I had to relay intercom messages and airport tips to her. I must have done a good job, because she started calling me her personal Flight Attendant. The flight lasted about 30 minutes, and at the end, Rebekah was like an old pro.
In Chicago, we connected to a flight to Houston, TX. That flight lasted 2ish hours which was quite uneventful.
Our last flight (from Houston to Port of Spain) lasted 5 hours and 40 minutes. I nearly died. Thank goodness for iPods and C.S. Lewis’ literary genius. They helped me survive.
Then on to Trinidad. We were met by quite the group of Trinis. It was like a parade. From Port of Spain we drive in Rickie’s “Disco” bus to Chaguanas. They have a tradition that all missions teams are brought to Pizza Hut. So we ate pizza at 9:30pm. Welcome to having a Trini “limin” schedule.
Oh, interesting things. They eat their pizza with ketchup. First trip in January I didn’t try it, but I want to step out a bit more this time. It wasn’t that bad actually. It gave the pizza a sweet taste.
Then off to our home away from home. A member of the church, Lincoln Samaroo, owns it, but lives elsewhere. So we are quite blessed to stay there. Mom and I shared a bedroom in the back of the house. We’re rather spoiled actually. We get a queen sized bed, air conditioning and a mosquito net. Oh, the simple things in life.
And there we slept. The water was running, the bugs were eating away at our flesh, and geckos clung to the wall in our kitchen.
Overall, Day 1. Brilliant.