|
Glimpses : Memories
Fishing at Salyer Lake:
Many of my memories centered around Salyer Lake at our South West District campground in Oklahoma. It's 11 miles between Binger and Minco on highway 135. The lake lies in valley among red sandstone cliffs and hills and is surrounded by thick forest. It's one of the few places where there is enough natural water support the massive amounts of greenery that enfold our campground.
It was a few years ago now, I was fifteen (I think), and it was one of the first times I went fishing with my Uncle Darrin. Just a half a year ago or so from then my Aunt Eunice and Darin Weizbroad got married, making Darin Uncle Darin. So this fishing trip was a time to get know each other better.
We started early in the morning, like 4 AM early, to start gathering our gear and then to head out onto the placid waters of the lake in a little ten-footer aluminum boat. We had arrived the day before and had spent the night in a RV right by the lake. Breakfast was skipped, well actually it consisted of a couple of Dr. Peppers. A real breakfast would follow after several hours of fishing. The water was calm and there wasn't any wind, the early morning was still and quite with only the faint chirps of crickets to be heard. So with our poles in tackle in hand we head to our "beast" of ship to begin our hunt of the tiny brainless denizens of the water world, bass.
While fish may be practically brainless it doesn't keep them from being stubborn. Bass are some of the tougher fish to catch, which of course is what makes it all worthwhile. My Uncle be a pro at fishing began to teach me the basics of bass fishing, including mutliple casting techniques, rigging several styles of worm rigs, color selection for the lure and how to play the lure back in. The trick with bass is that we are using lures not live bait so you must trick the bass into thinking the little rubber worm is the real deal. And that is where the skill comes into bass fishing.
After several hours of fishing we watched the sun rise over the sandstone cliffs and felt the air begin to heat up. With still some time left before breakfast we continued to fish until we were called in. Not to long after the sun rose we were called in for breakfast and boy was it breakfast, we could smell it before we got back and to the table. It was a real southern breakfast with pancakes, sausage, bacon, toast, an assortment of jams, and of course coffee. After breakfast was done and we were filled to the brim, we did the only natural think in such an occasion, we headed back to boat to fish till lunch.
Midterm to Settle's House -
Midterm first term of my senior year, instead of going to my guardians I traveled to Tanzania to spend the break at a friend's house. The trip started aboard a little plane, a Cessna Caravan I believe, it was a twin engine prop with a seating capacity of about ten. The flight was full and crammed. I thought regular airplanes had no leg room, well I was wrong, as this little plane had even less. Packed with a group of MK's all from RVA, we headed to a little known town in Tanzania called Musoma. The flight was uneventful with most of it occupied with reading a book.
Once landed at the airport in Musoma we met Settle's parents and Brian, Settle, Daniel, and I piled into the car for the long trip to Settle's house. Feeling at home as we bumped down pothole ridden dirt excuses for a road we made the several hour trip towards home. The ride made me homesick as the land looked like home, from the giant stacked boulders, to the grass huts and dark skinned people. The ride was enjoyable as we spent the time chatting about various things and laughed at jokes and stories.
Finally at our final destination, we gladly piled out of the car to great the rest of Settle's family. His house is in the middle of nowhere Tanzania. It lays just a little ways away from the Serengeti. Made of cement with a tin roof, it was a typically built missionary home for the locale. Without provided electricity they ran the house off of a twelve-volt system with large storage batteries charged by solar panels laying upon the roof. The refrigerator was kerosene powered and the stove gas. Running water, but no flush toilet, just a well-constructed long drop, completed the house.
We grabbed our bags and headed inside to Settle's room. Plopping our bags done the three of us, Brian, Settle and I, decided upon the sleeping arrangements and promptly took a nice siesta. A few hours later we rose for food and something to do other than sleep. With evening approaching we whipped out the chessboard and began a series of games. At an appropriate hour, probably early than we thought, we headed to bed to catch up on the sleep school had deprived us from.
The rest of the trip consisted of riding pikkis(motorcycles), more chess, and watching movies. The pikki riding was the highlight as I had never before ridden one. The first trip was spent teaching me the basics of shifting and me getting comfortable with it. After that warm up I immediately began to test the limits of the bike pushing it to its max, flying along the Serengeti at 75-80km an hour. It was a thrill equaled by little. In preceding trips we rode around the area enjoying the wind blowing over us and the power of a machine beneath us. Of course we couldn't leave without trying a few jumps. Your first jump, even though its not really very high, gives a rush like little else. Between all this pikki riding was breaks for food, one of the best aspects of midterm. And it was good home-cooked food that beat anything the cafeteria could ever make.
With the trip sadly over, we head back to RVA. The long car ride to the airport filled with talk about all we had done that weekend and how hard it was to believe that it passed so quickly. Once at the airport we waited, the most common thing the do in Africa, for the plane to arrive. In due time it did arrive, and with it refueled we lifted of headed to Jomo Kenyata, Nairobi's international airport. Aboard the bus bound for RVA we knew that tomorrow we would again start school, but we were still smiling from the memories of our trip.
NYC (Nazarene Youth Conference 2003) -
July of 2003 my brother and I flew to the states for our Nazarene Youth Conference held in Houston, Texas. It started with a wonderful 30-some hour travel time from Nairobi, Kenya. Tired and exhausted but excited we finally landed in Hobby Airport, Houston, Texas. There we met up with another MK, she was from Russia, and together we all waited from our ride to come and pick us up, after an hour or so, we called the numbers we had of the people in charge of picking us up. Finally after calling the emergency number we managed to get the information through that we had indeed arrived and were waiting to be picked up. Once that was all settled, and we were on our way to the hotel we began to relax and enjoy being back in the states.
At the hotel others slowly arrived bringing our group of MKs up to thirty. Since we were all Mks we immediately hit it off, chatting and goofing around like we already were old friends. Well, some of us were, or at least remembered meeting each other before. With our room keys and roommate assignments we headed to bed at a suitably late hour for a good nights sleep. The next day was to be filled with fun and excitement at Six Flags over Texas.
In total there was some four or five, maybe as high as six thousand Nazarene teens at the conference. Each morning we all gathered together for a worship service. Then there was lunch and the afternoon was filled with workshops and free time. After supper was an evening service with a guest speaker, then some more free time before we headed back to the hotel only to stay up to all hours of the morning. This was repeated for nearly a week, and each day was as fun as the day before. The great thing about Houston in the summer is that it stays light late into the evening, like ten o'clock late. This just encouraged us to stay up late each night goofing around, swimming in the pool, and chatting. We were said when it was finally over. Lasting not nearly long enough to satisfy us and leaving us wishing we had more time to get know each other.
Smiddy's House -
Interim first term of eleventh grade I was invited to my new friend Smiddy's house. Smiddy lives in Mombassa, which is on the coast of Kenya. Mombassa is a tourist's city, its shoreline is lined with beach hotels as far as the eye can see. Smiddy's house is fairly close to Voyager, one of the many hotels. It's a big house, two stories, large living and dining area, four bedrooms, etc. Quite a nice place to be staying, it made the trip very enjoyable and relaxing. The yard was fit the house, quite large, covered in grass and with a cacophony of plants all around.
Since we were near the beach it was a necessity to go there, to not to would have been folly. So to avoid the bad luck we went to the beach a several times. Now while we did go to the beach we didn't swim in the ocean as the particular beach we went to, that in front of Voyager, is not that great. So instead we took Smiddy's metal detector and searched for buried treasure for several hours. While most of our booty consisted of bottle caps, pop cans, and pieces of wire, we did find a scuba weight. Not much in the way of loot, but it was fun. When we weren't scouring the beach we were swimming in the pools of Voyager. We goofed around enjoying the cool water, played water polo, and just lounged around, all in all it was what one would call extremely relaxing.
Since we weren't living at Voyager we did go back to Smiddy's house for the evenings. At his house we ate really good home-cooked food, played PlayStation, and watched movies. And of course stayed up late enjoying the fact that we didn't have to get up the next morning and go to school. If we didn't feel like video games or TV we would go out side, set up a badminton net and play some badminton. The only thing we had to watch for was running into the windows when going after the birdie. It was a great to be invited to a friends house for midterm, making it of the best midterms.
Flying to Beira with Isaac -
The best trip I've ever had retruning from RVA to home in Beira, was the one Isaac and I took together, none have even come close since them. First term of my junior year Isaac Barnes was my roommate. Isaac and I had been friends for a number of years as his parent's were missionaries to Mozambique just like mine. At this time they were living in Chimmio, a city in the mountains about a three-hour drive from Beira where I lived. To get to Isaac's home in Chimmio he had to fly to Beira as it was the nearest major airport.
The trip started early, as all trips do from RVA. We stumbled aboard the bus, bound for the airport, in a half-awake state. Once to Joma Kinyata airport in Nairobi we boarded our flight to Johannesburg, South Africa. The flight was about six hours and fairly uneventful. Once in Joberg we goofed around a little, looking in the shops and stores, but we really didn't do much as it wasn't exceptionally long. The real fun didn't start until we had made it to JoBerg, boarded our next flight to Maputo, the capital of Mozambique, and began our extremely long lay over in the Maputo airport.
The layover was the best part. Maputo airport is really sucky, there's really nothing to do, but that didn't stop us from having some fun. After changing some money we hit the café. We were extremely tired, so we had the only reasonable thing, sugar and caffeine. We ate ice-cream, drank coffee, red bull, and sodas. By the time we left we were so jazzed that we didn't care that we still had a several hour flight ahead of us. It was a great time of joking around and having fun.
|
