in a daze

7/11/2005

PHILLILLYPHILLILLYY

[taken from my journal] - contains mostly shallow content of the trip

July 2, 2005 (on my way to PHILLY!)
time: 11:something pm...on the bus
well, i think we have officially disgraced the chinese race (me and imelda) just came back from going through the customs, it was quite scary, so official, honestly. we had to say that we were "VISITING" a church because we needed to have a working permit there even for volunteers so just to be safe "VISITING!" the key word, lol. well anyways, spent some quality time talking to mel and laughing really hard, and apparently the ENTIRE bus heard us -.-" we're sittng at the very, very front, where the bus driver secretly listens to everything we say but pretends he's concentrated on driving, maybe he stopped listening after we sang and tried to do harmony and slightly failed :P i'm sad...wearing my contacts so i don't really want to sleep
- i remember walking into the Bay&Dundas bus terminal, so GIDDILY> yeah, the excitement that i had feared had come. (oh, bus moving again and they kcocked out the lights so i dont know what i'm writing continue later)

well yes, about giddy lol. i have about 5 minutes to write while the bus drivers change or something. oh yeah, they did. aww, i have a feeling if me and mel talk he's gonna join. :P i dont mind, i just dont understand his jokes, okay time to stop.
i'm excited
[my little input]
yes the second bus driver really did join into our convo, see i was right. but hes such a jolly man i didnt mind. he was really sweet. i wish i could have talked to him more but i fell asleep.
but before falling asleep i remember mel fell asleep so i couldnt talk to her so i just stared out the window. it was beautiful. the highways had no streetlights, only those reflective things so looking out into the sky, you could see billions of stars and dark treetops below them. it was so gorgeous.
(well off to play chinese checkers with my mom. back to philly trip in a few.)

july 3, 2005
we're (peggy, queenie, mel, hayley, me, jen, and deniss) are on our way to Fairmount Park in our ghetto tan van, with hitech lights and a/c. go figure. lol. it has comfy squishy seats too ^^ theres a silver and tan car behind us carrying the rest of the group. this whole walkie thing is quite exciting (hehe) dont really get what each other's saying but thats okay. went eating/shopping at some mall (later found it it was called the gallery) it was a small mall (actually a HUGE mall but we only went to a really small section of it) with a "BIG Kmart" which isnt all that big (actually we only went to one part of the kmart too..it was big) well, were at the park now i think were going to the flower section but not sure...CRAZY DRIVING..be back later
- okay were back that took like 2 minutes. someone rented the japanese house/garden for a wedding, i think were going back in an our. okay goung out again brb.
[ we went to a fountain area after finding out our second location a green house was taken. the fountain was really beautiful and cuz i just dangled my feet in the water. it was so nice with the bright sun beaming down on us. and like grass and trees surrounding us. we worshipped a bit and prayed but i think i dozed away for a few seconds >.<] july 3, 2005 (continued)
alright, we just took a prayer walk around the city of philly and we saw the poverty, the filth, the lower side of the city and it was horrible just compared to tdot its like a really sad movie setting. the families out there have so little and yet, i'm complaining about my current living conditions. at least we still have water to shower, to drink, to wash...i shouldnt complain..>.<>OVE" with a crooked 'O' indicating love is imperfect. but the irony lies in Philly, city of brotherly love, theres a large statue saying LOVE and around this statue there are benches with wooden separators, so the homeless cannot sleep comfortably on them. Love, is imperfect.
2. Under the bridge - sitting on the ground, shattered glass surrounding us, under a bridge with a slight breeze. in front of us is a road and a barb-wired fence sourround a glay court. In a corner theres of group of teens huddle arround. everyone just passes you by; how it feels to be homeless. the average age of people on the streets is NINE. nine-years-old.
3. Kensington - In a neglected dark neighbourhood, where PILES of garbage are being built on the sidewalks. where drug dealing, abuse, and prostitution is everywhere. imagine being a child and living in this kind of neighbourhood. imagine knowing the person next door to you is being abused at home. imagine knowing your friend basically sells herself. but theres hope in a corner. a corner where a prominent drug dealer used to run his business until he was arrested and in prison, became a christian. a now believer, he helps those with drug addictions, in the exact same corner that he used to sell drugs.
4. the shoes on the wire - each pair of shoes representing someone who had been murdered in gang violence. there were so many of them, no matter man, woman, or child. there were baby timberlands on that wire too. how, why, did babies get involved...
5. public schools - book to student ratio 4:1. the murals of flowers on the school's walls simply reminds them of their own playground with really nothing. the student drop out rate is 40%.

[hmmm..with our room windows open you could clearly hear the constant sirens that went off...]

July 4, 2005 (Indendence Day)
started the day at 8, or well, 7:20 or something and took a shower. [i was brave] and tried not to complain [it wasnt that bad actualy :)] anyways, apparently i was touching peggy's face during the night [its not my fauult, our heads were all so close together]its like going right beside the subways. oh, for breakfast we had cereal from "Millville" it's funny all the things they have that we don't and vice versa. they call washrooms, restrooms! no wonder the man from k-mart looked confused! anyways, we went to the originial housing site that the groups from Ohio and NorthCarolina were staying at. there we waited for karen while she tried to parallel park, over, and over and over again :P we went on the trolley (street car), its like the ttc's buuut it goes UNDERGROUND, is that cool or what. we were supposed to go on a city search around philly but i dont think we went everywhere lol we just kinda sat down in the shade and went our own way. we went to a memorial park where it remembers all the unknown soldiers that died for freedom and on top of the memorial was this quote: freedom is a light for which many men have died in darkness." and it definitely could be applied to christianity..
there seemed to be a recurring theme of liberty today. lookie here, it was independence day, we found this quote, and then we go to the liberty bell. don't you see it lol..kind of? anyways at first i was a little bit not looking forward to the libery bell because really, it didnt have much a meaning as a canadian. but i was thinking how this bell symbolized freedom of everything. and hten i remembered Katy and Kelly telling us how the people in Philly were in bondage of their kind of lifestyle. it's sad.
we bought lunch at a street vendor and then walked around a few gift shops, and left empty handed...besides a RED BULL :D [got soooo awake after THAT!]
arrived back around the city hall after getting lost and meeting this old man called Eugene who was so sweet. he was over 85 and was in the war station in Edmonton. anyways, yes, he was really sweet.
after we went back to get our cars at the original housing and we drew pictures with sidewalk chalk. after we went to eat dinner (philly cheesesteaks) but the place was closed so we went else where where it says has the "best steak in philly" we all got pens as a souvenir..[but sadly i somehow lost mine for the FIVE times and now i really cant find it] we watched the parade and left before the free concert with elton john, bryan adams, patti labelle and other people of whom i dont seem to remember (booo) but yeah its okay we wanted to take a shower. most of us went out again to watch fireworks but we couldnt see any of them [later found out elton john got a bit too carried away with his singing so the fireworks were postponed by like an hour..at 11 30] in the car, i got a bit blonde, oh my, i was really stupid. i doubt i will EVER be a politician lol. we went back to our house and just pretended that the fireworks were great. :P
oh yeah! in the "ghetto" neighbourhoods, it was really cool because they would close up their block and have parties with all their neighbours. its just really cool how they could be so close and chummy with their neighbours and then you think about back here where you hardly ever see them and stuff..its crazy.

July 5, 2005
well this morning i didnt hit peggy but queenie hit jen (i laugh with glee ^^)
anyways i took a quick shower which took like 4 minutes (yess!) and then went down for breakfast. ANYWAYS we went to St Philips _______ Church which was basically a day camp in the summer and the kids were SOOO cute. at first it was a tad weird like trying to shove myself on them like HI! lol but they were really sweet and open to us. after the camp we went back to the house to make lunch (sandwiches) and made the classic pb and bananaaa :P oh and honey roasted ham tastes really good.
i'm sorry i'm giving so much useless information.
after we drove to the dream Center where we met rachel. it was amazing seeing what they do for people i mean hear this: they drive buses out on sundays to shelters and other places inviting people to come to their service 4 hours before it actually starts, provide them a good meal and then drive them back, completely free of charge. its inspiring how rachel dedicates herself to this every single day although it provides no income whatsoever. just the ways that she thinks of helping people is so creative. well we went to the projects where our team split up into smaller groups, some went to pick up garbage at the parks, some handed out flyers for a charity rap concert and basketball game and our group (rachel, peggy, kitty, patricia, dennis, suvit, me) went to an elderly womans home to clean/wash her walls and ceilings before it gets repainted by the "Dream Team". it was frightening just to see the brownish colour on the wall fade to a yellowish-white, showing the filthyness of the walls/ceilings. we spent quite a white there cleaning in the stuffy, dirty, dim-litted room but honestly, it was definitely fulfilling. as suvit was mopping the floors, the old lady (mrs shad..i dont know how to spell her last name) came out and she was estatic at how much cleaner the place was. personally, i didn't see much difference but it felt cleaner. i wish i could see her reaction after its all done and painted minty fresh green and beautiful! well anyways i was besider her when she came out from her room and we had a very brief conversation. she told meshe was getting too old to do a lot of things for herself like clean and she was here when the Libery Bell rang which was a looong time ago. and most importantly she told me how she hadnt had her walls washed for quite a while. in fast the last time they were washed was by her son who wasnt alive anymore. i didnt really know what to feel or say. but im glad we could, i dont know, like give some love by cleaning her walls as her son used to..
well afterwards we went to a gas station and oh my, american gas is SO confusing. i mean honestly. pay BEFORE pumping gas. hahahaha. and suuit getting sick from BOTTLED WATER. and then peggy (mother bear) goes in and from our perspective scolds them and marches them out. anyways we went to a jamaican restaurant called "Caribbean Delight" while parking we stood by waiting for katy to guide us to the restaurant so we were just standing around trying to look in what direction they might be in and then a nearby woman asked if we needed help. i LOVE the people here they were so friendly and they dont hesitate to help. well, at the restaurant we ate patties, jerk chicken (spicy), currey chicken (mild) and broth chicken (normal). and they all had rice and a side dish with them and it was sooo good and the patties. oh my, theres a world outside of just beef patties! i had a chicken patty :P it was pretyyy good. and then we had these jamaican drinks. i hand a grapefuit soda thing called TING! which was soo refreshing. and the thing i loved the most - ALL NATURAL no artificial flavours or preservatives! whoaho! not too many of those these days. well afterwards we went to a Greekish looking park to "unwind, rewind" as Katy calls it. Had a cartwheel contest which was so hilarious. and yeah. we all suck completely at it :P oh! corniest joke : we walked by a square tree after dinnerand peggy was like, "OH LOOK! a square root" [insert corny drum bit] oh man!
we came back after debrief and a few of us girls were in our room just chilling it was fun. like when we tried on the csm tshirts. i would LOVE to go shopping with you guys. y'all give the bestest advice
anyways we bought a shirt for Chris too and then suuit bought the same shirt for himself.

July 6, 2005
woke up a bit late, well not wake up, got up late just listened to people talking while the wasroom was taken. went to st philip again personally i dont feel like im helping them very much but its great playing with them..i just think eventually theyll forget what they have heard..hopefully they wont...
well! they went swimming today but i just sat at the side and hung my feet in the water. they were so cute though just like splashing around :) they were so happy even though their environment wasnt anything special. oh man they were so happy.
afterwards we went to aids for friends and its kinda like meals on wheels except they do more like build churches around and stuff too. the people that worked there like ray were so devoted to it. and they were really such great people and so full of God, it was so obvious. it really inspired me how you just listen to him for like 2 minutes and you can tell how in love with God he was. now i'm just like, i pray that one day i will be so devoted and overflowing. suuit, jen, kelly and i packed the meals into boxes and it was fun. we were working pretty quickly and we got to just chill and laugh a lot. like suuit on the freezer ground LOL i cannot stop laughing at that. when we were leaving we got frozen peaches and bagels from Ray :) aww and he gave carmen crutches cuz she couldnt walk. went back home for a bit and then went back out for our "night off"
it was fun, we took a while looking for parking and tan cars walkie talkie ran out of batteries so some communication cut off..we were so dumb though on wednesday evenings the parking meters are free but we paid $6 flat rate at a parking lot -.- oh wellss took a while to find the passengers of the tan car. but we finially all met up and we decided to eat at johnny rockets, partially due to my not-so-subtle hints (hehe) anyways i was excited because it brings back some good sentimental memories by the ocean. :) the food was good and the old school music and the crazy straw dispensers! but after we finished..we ran into a few money problems which put everyone..or our table into a grey mixed with red mood. we had like 15 minutes to walk around south st. which was kinda like the queen st or toronto. it was so pretty but unfortunately we werent able to reach the mosaic buildings (art galleries?) during the drive home we nearly got lost and peggy did some crazy driving action. its like those action movies :P
highLIGHTS of the day: suuit slipping, playing candyland with marcus, walkie talkie, looking for chicken in boxes, learning nothing is impossible with christ, eating frozen peaches, booger in the pool, nathasha swimming, carmen's ankle and struggle, talk with peggars, edwin forgetting to make lunch

july 7, 2005 (unfinished)
[i didnt finish this journal entry..] once again, went to st. philips didnt really play with the kids because i wanted to finish the friendship bracelet which i most definitely wont finish came back home for lunc (its weird calling here - home) anyways had the "ushe" for lunch..actually not really (to be continued)
[my input]
at st. philips it was great because weve progressed really quickly yet smoothly to telling them about Gods love. see on tuesday, we didnt really do anything with them, on wednesday we taught them songs, on thursday, we had a short skit about love and then linking it to God and then friday it was just plain teaching about God. we went back to the house to make lunch and i followed imeldas lead and made a ham and cheese sandwich =O and i decide i like pb & j better :P but it wasnt bad at all. after we went out to _________ street where we had the urban plunge. this was probably the most impacting for us all and really made us think. or well it was for me. for this i went with jen and we just walked up and down the street looking for people we could talk to. about 10 minutes before we met up we decided to talk to ANYONE not just people sitting down. anyways we went up to many people but many of them didnt want our help or anything so they just kind of brushed us off. mannn we just wanted to help. but hopefully we helped their day by just asking if we could help them. it is so sad to see people who are skeptical of you when you offer to help them. oh man, it just shows you again how much of ourselves were losing.
anyways near the end we went to a lady in a bright pink shirt and we asked if we could help her and it turns out she was a christian too. anyways i'm not sure but i would like to think that we were an encouragement to her by going out and trying to help people. and i really pray that she was able to get her sons birth certificate. some people came back with really amazing stories and some were like us, that were constantly rejected but its okay it was just the experience of sending yourself out there and being bold not holding back and having a genuine heart to help
and then at night we went to the helping hands rescue missions which is one of my favourite parts of the entire missions trip. pastor matt and his wife darlene are the sweetest people i have ever met and such a beautiful and genuine heart for God and serving him. again, its SO inspiring to see how their love for God just pours out of them and you cant help but definitely see Jesus working through them. its so beautiful. during the bible study, it was so amazing just to see these homeless people, asking questions about God not afraid of sounding stupid even when they say something completely wrong. and when they were wrong, they accept correction so graciously. they broke the stereotypical homeless people. they were gentle, intelligent, and polite. and i am just so amazed by their humility to learn about God. i was amazed by pastor matts gentleness in his teaching and how he not only cared for one certain need. he provided clothing for them, food, but most importantly he provided them with spiritual wisdom. he taught our team so much as well. he gave us advice about life, relationships, work, future, spirituality, EVERYTHING. he was such an inspiration, honestly
oh yeah, and there we met adam bruckner as well. (HEHE) he was fairly goodlooking but what was super sweet was how he had changed his life and is living for God. how he went out regularly to help the homeless, gave money to those who needed to get id so they could go into shelters. its amazing too.
this day could be described simply as, whoa.

july 8, 2005 (it feels like graduation)
its been quite an eventful day. went to st philips for our last day and it was cute. the kids were all singing, well, not all, but most. they had eggs, ham and toasts for breakfast today instead of their usual cereal because its a friday. i was tempted to eat their eggs and i couldnt hold back and stole a bit of queenies :P it was so goood..its been a long itme since weve had a homemade meal. =7 went upstairs with the little kids and watched a video on rome. teehee the kids started sleeping during the movie and gregory was sleeping on my leg and alex was sleeping in front of me SOO CUTE. anyways after the video we got to play with the kids and she "read" to me, even though i knew she didnt know how to read. but yes shes really good at pretending she does =P after went to play dominoes with corey and tehn we made designs with the dominoes. theyre smart. they made the craziest designs and then i was making them with them and they were like correcting me because my design wouldnt work when you tip it over. whoaho. the intelligence! it was sad when we had to leave and i hadnt even really gotten close with them! and gregoryy!! he started cryinng - aaah, hes gonna grow up to be such a charmer. during lunch a few of the girls came down informing us that our room was leaving! soo we all trooped upstairs but it was mainly the north east part that was leaking. jens suitcase was soaked and karens, hayleys, and jens sleeping bags were wet and we all helped them clean it up and everything. when we headed for Mary Janes Enrichemnt Center jen/hayley/karens things got washed at the other housing site. at mary jane's served, they served food, and places to live, etc to the needy and it was there i heard about the london bombings. it was then that i realized how behind with the world ive been i mean we didnt hear about ANYTHING that had happened. anyways, it reminded me again of the world that we live in..you can just feel the darkness, and its scary. and the hurricane. >.< goood =")">july 9, 2005 (leaving philly to NY)
we just passed independence mall east street and markvet avenue where i bought my hot sausage from the vendor on independence day *smiles*

july 10, 2005 (back at home)
its technically sunday now, 3:00 am. got home an hour ago and spent a LOT of time in the washroom i havent been able to stay in the washroom for so looong teehee. but it feels like im back into a very superficial world. its crazy i'm back with my closet, makeup, all my toiletries, bed, blanket, pillows, etc. i feel so spoiled i dont even fully under still how blessed i am.
life has quite a contrast

only picture i have currently, this should tide yall for now until i get the pictures from the 12 other cameras

jen frenchbraiding katys (host) hair :)

posted by joanne - @ 4:30 pm