Japa Dogs

Imagine an all beef hot dog smothered in spicy mayo, onions, teriyaki sauce and seaweed...sound appetizing? Surprisingly it is! And it's a huge hit here in Vancouver. Apparently a Japanese man wanted to open up a Japanese Crepe restaurant but could only get a hot dog stand license. The Japa Dog was then created and people will wait in line for 20-30 mins (during the Olympics 1 1/2 hours) to get one. My friend Robin insisted that I try one so we went downtown, waited in line for 20 min and partook in the interesting goodness.

My First Ride

"I brought my extra helmet" were the words that finished an invitation to lunch. Tim rides a motorcycle. I've known this since I first met him. I've also known that someday I would ride it, but suddenly the moment was here and I could either say yes or no. It would be a short ride he assured me. I'd put it off for over a week...all my friends encouraging me to just do it. You'll have fun they promised.
Here's what I envisioned...when I think of riding a motorcycle my thoughts race back to the days that I rode the back of the wave runner with my dad or brother who, like little maniacs, would swerve through the water with sharp turns and 360's every hundred meters. I was holding on for dear life, screaming at the top of my lungs, knowing that inevitably I would be thrown off and hit the water with belly flop force. It was a love hate relationship. I loved driving the wave runner myself. I took some risks, but i was in control...ah, control...I'm sure you can find a fabulous spiritual analogy in there...
I hated riding on the back, I hated not knowing where we were going, when the next turn was going to happen, when I would be thrown into the cat tails where I was convinced there was an alligator waiting to ponce.

Anyway, back to the motorcycle. I imagined the ride to be somewhat like the wave runner experiences. It wasn't. I imagined that I might actually pee on myself from being scared. I didn't. I imagined that I might close my eyes and scream, if only silently. I kept them open with no screaming. Although I will admit that I did mutter, "Jesus I love you and I know you love me" over and over for the first few minutes.

We took some back roads to get Chicken Shawarma first stopping at the bank. As we stood in line for the ATM I had a ridiculous grin on my face. It might have just been a 5 min ride so far, but I loved it. I jokingly told Tim that I half wished that I hated it so that I could talk him out of riding it in the future...but for now it was fun!
We ended up getting lunch, going to the beach to eat and then as we are putting on helmets and getting on the bike Tim looks at me and says, "I'm going to take you on my favorite ride this side of Vancouver."
This is more than a short ride on back roads. I'm not sure if this was planned or not, but I trust him, so I say "great" which is back by emotions of excitement and thoughts of "this is crazy!"
The ride was breathtaking, as much of Vancouver is this time of year. Mountains, ocean, bursts of color. It's a picture of God's creativity. We're driving 60 kilometers per hour (40 mph) and I'm loving every minute of it.

My first ride was a good one...I wonder where we'll go next.

Dinner with Steven

I just wanted food. I was hungry, so was Tim. There are a million choices on Commercial, all we needed to do was pick one. We finally settled on Sushi, a favorite for both of us. We ordered and sat at the only table outside. We couldn't pass it up, it was such a beautiful day. We had just finished the evening service at Tim's church and sat talking about the sermon when a man in a wheel chair came asking for change. Tim asked if he was hungry, he said yes. I went inside to order more food. As we waited the three of us began to talk. He had lived in Montreal for a bit but had been in Vancouver for the last 14 years, was a Canuck's fan (Vancouver's hockey team, who just happens to be in the finals), and had some temporary housing that he was staying in. We invited him to eat with us when the food came. So there sat the three of us - me, Tim and Steven - enjoying sushi on a beautiful Sunday afternoon. It couldn't have felt more right to be there in that moment.
There is something about sharing a meal with the poor because really, it's sharing a meal with Jesus.

Green and Clean

So as I was making my breakfast this morning I found myself watching the garbage man hard at work in the alley behind my house. Here's a summary of the scene that unfolded before me...The white garbage truck rumbles down the street to stop behind my house. The garbage man gets out, moves the huge dumpster in order for the truck to easily lift it up and dump its contents into the bed. He get back in the truck to do the dumping, then gets back out. Now what he does next is what caused me to pause. The man pulls out a can of spray paint. Any graffiti that he sees on the dumpster he sprays over leaving the dumpster looking almost shiny. Then he moves it back into it's little nook gets back in the truck, moves down a half of block to begin the whole process over again.
Why I found this so fascinating I'm not quite sure, but I was intrigued. There was a meticulous manner in which even the garbage is dumped here. Very different from back home.
Vancouver is in the running for being the greenest city in the world. I saw this first hand as a handful of students yelled "no, you must recycle" as I went to throw a can away earlier this week. I missed the fact that there were huge blue recycling bins three feet away. I don't think I will miss there looming presence again...

A house with a view

The house that I am living in is just lovely. I'm going to post a few pictures. I love all the natural light that comes pouring in...when it's sunny that is, which surprisingly for Vancouver there has been at least some sun every day this week.
There is a great rocking recliner facing the windows which I have deemed my "official" quiet time chair...
My roommates are great - Shiloh, Nitra, Rebecca and Janina (whose room I am taking over when she moves out next week). I haven't seen much of them, it's finals week at Regent.

Crossing the border...

After 6 hours on a plane I arrive at the Seattle airport with three checked bags, a carry-on and my computer bag. Not too bad for a 5 1/2 month stay, or at least that's what the lady in front of me at the airport said.
Tim arrived with flowers in hand...beautiful flowers of different varieties some of which must be native to up here because I've never seen them before. We drove about 20 min to a restaurant that comes highly recommended, only to realize that it's closed on Mondays. But we quickly discovered that the area of town we were in, Freemont, was full of delightfully quaint cafes and restaurants (most of which are also closed on Mondays or during the day) and settle on a place with delicious sandwiches and soups. From there we walked, talked and did some sight seeing. It was such a needed break from the stale air and hard seats of the plane.
Once back in the car we made a few more stops (to Trader Joes and to meet another Tim Rathjen...) then on to the border(about 2 hours away). I was highly anticipating this great moment. I'm not sure where I got the picture in my mind of border patrol being crossing gates with Canadian Mounties in their red and black uniforms wearing guns came from, but that is not what we encountered. Instead it reminded me of a toll booth or waiting in line to pay for parking at Disney World. We had one slight setback, I apparently needed a study permit...cost me $125 (and set off a flag at Bank of America which caused them to freeze my account). But the women inside was nice and didn't deport me, so for that, I am grateful.

After about a 15 min drive we entered into Abbotsford, where Tim grew up and his parents still live. I met them for the first time. They are a delightfully eccentric couple that were thrilled to meet me. All of my nervousness subsided when I walked into their home. We had a delicious dinner and dessert full of conversation and laughter. I believe that I made a good first impression. I guess time will tell.

Another car ride (and 1 1/2) later we arrived at my new home. 3 of the 4 women where either sleeping or studying but Rebecca graciously let me me and helped me feel at home. Although I am temporarily sleeping in the "guest nook" (a section of the living room blocked off by book shelves) on a pull out couch, I am finding myself to be at ease in my lovely surroundings.

This is the first of many updates as an official American in Canada :)

What a way to begin...

I've been sleeping on an air mattress for the past week and a half in a room that's half the size that I've been in. It's been slightly humbling to be honest to you. I like having space...more than I apparently realized.
I've been spending the last week working long hours trying to tie up all the loose ends at work...and for those of you also in ministry, you know the work is never quite done.
The greatest thing that has happened all semester happened on the last day of my "office time", Wednesday.
I had met Brenda last semester at a LaFe Bible study last semester. She's a fiery Mexican American who loves to laugh, talk, and is passionate about helping the unfortunate. Back in February Brenda came to Breakthrough and I got an opportunity to hear from her where she was at spiritually. She was so close to following Jesus but had some roadblocks holding her back. I told her we should have coffee...2 months later we finally did.
What an amazing conversation we had. It was real! Full of laughter, questions, the sharing of fears, confusions, longings. As I shared the gospel to her, I could see her spirit being awakened to what God was all about. As I finished sharing I said to her "Brenda,you know the truth. Jesus is asking you to follow Him with your whole life. He loves you, delights in you, desires to cleanse you from all your sin and draw you back into relationship with Him. The question is, are you ready." As she looked up at me, with eyes shining, she said "Yeah, I'm ready. I want to follow him. This feels right this time. Let's do it." So we prayed. It was awesome. It was a rush. It was a celebration in heaven.
What a way to begin my sabbatical!!