Where Chester Lives

So, my first blog entry got completely deleted.  I don’t know how, but the actual doc is completely empty.  I will try to reproduce it in this entry, and include everything that has happened so far.

We arrived late on March 16th, and Brother Moges (pronounced MO-ges) and Brother Alemayehu (pronounced Al-uh- MY-hu) were waiting at the airport to pick us up.  They were very excited to see us, and called us Brother from the get go.  When I say us, I am including Bill Mara, Matt Huddleston, Harry O’Laughlin, and myself.  In fact, everyone here is Brother or Sister.  It’s very uplifting that they automatically assume close relationship with us.  We walked out to the cars after going through customs (my case got searched, but no questions were asked).  At the cars, I saw my first stray dog.  It wouldn’t be my last.  I saw at least four more dogs on the way to the church of Christ compound in Addis Ababa.

The drive was very interesting, and we seemed to pass from affluence to squalor, depending on the block.  The road would be in good condition, then it would be completely torn up, then back to good condition.  I saw lots of make-shift construction using poles and beams of various sizes, covered in corrugated tin. LOTS of tin.  Fences along the side of the road are made of corrugated tin as well.  It was really late, so we saw very few pedestrians.  Alemayehu drove a car with Harry and I, Moges drove a pickup with Bill and Matt.  The driving in Ethiopia is not the scariest I have ever encountered by far.  I think we assume that it is going to be awful whenever we leave the States…it wasn’t.  Turn signals are used correctly and there is some courtesy among drivers.  I would have no problem driving here.

We arrived at the guest house after a long, long, long trip from Sacramento (the drive wasn’t that long).  Where we are staying in Addis is very interesting.  Matt put it best when he said, “I feel like I’m staying at my grandmother’s house.”  When you walk in the door, there is one main room that functions as a dining room and living room, with a small kitchen at the very front, just to the right of the door.  The furniture is an obvious collection of items imported and left by missionaries/workers of the past.  There is a very large sofa in the living room, with two chairs on the opposite wall and a coffee table separating them.  They are all upholstered to match, including the coffee table.  The room itself is defined by a rug and a corner fireplace.  There is a dining buffet that is serving as a TV stand, and an assortment of pulp fiction on the coffee table and in the bedrooms.

There are three bedrooms and two baths.  Each bedroom has two twin-ish sized beds.  The first two nights, Harry and I shared a bedroom, Matt and Bill shared another, and a guy from Seattle, Curt King, had the third one.  He is here to oversee the drilling of water wells.

We have a lady, Biretu, that comes in and cooks and cleans for us during the day.  The meals in the guest house have been very good.  Any errant thought that entered my head about being able to drop a couple of pounds while I was here has left the building.

So, let’s talk about yesterday.  What an interesting day March 17th was for me.

Harry and I got started on the computer lab here in Addis Ababa.  This is a new structure on the compound.  It is a converted shipping container.  We met Degu, who was responsible for laying the foundation, cutting and placing the windows, and installing the roof and gutter system.  It is impressive, and well-built.  The compound itself has several structures, including a fairly large school building with a central play area, a chapel, office spaces, etc.  It is placed on a hillside with a pretty good view.  Evidently, Degu is responsible for all Church of Christ and deaf school construction throughout all of Ethiopia.  This work spans 40 years, so Degu is not a young man anymore.  He reminds me of my father-in-law;  a hard worker who doesn’t expect much in return.

Anyway, we met the young man that we would be working with on the computer labs in Addis and Awassa.  His name is Shimeles (pronounced Shi-MAL-es).  He is another hard worker and has done amazing work with the existing lab in Awassa.  We started by shuffling some computer systems in order to homogenize the environment as much as we could.  Harry did most of that while I started making network cables.  I brought 250’ of cable with me, but it wasn’t enough, so we are going to get some more cable today.  I had the help of Shimeles and a deaf man (I never got his name) for a while, and was able to teach Shimeles how to make an Ethernet cable.  We have made good progress so far, and expect to be finished with the lab today.  We will spend Friday on training Shimeles on how to utilize the network.  I’m going to spend tonight writing documentation on the network itself, so that it is clear what we are doing and why.

After the work day, there was a Bible study, and I was the teacher for this study.  This is where it starts to get interesting, so don’t skip this part. J  I chose to teach about the idea of what a Christian leader is like, and I used the 23rd Psalm as my basis for this.  I taught through an interpreter, which was a complete first for me.  I am accustomed to public speaking, but this was entirely different.  Any ideas of how much time you think you have, cut it in half.  Also, I had to balance between saying enough to make my point, but not so much that it burdened my translator.  It’s a weird balancing act, but the guys said I did a pretty good job.  Even with one major distraction.  During my teaching, a young woman sitting on the front row to the right of me began breast-feeding her baby.  When I say that this is un-American, I mean it in the kindest way possible.  But this is DEFINITELY not how it happens in America.  I completely honor and respect her, and understand the cultural differences associated with childcare abroad.  That doesn’t change the fact that a young woman WAS BREASTFEEDING IN THE FRONT ROW WHILE I WAS TALKING.  WITH FULL VISUAL IMPACT.  A National Geographic moment.   I think I handled the distraction as best I could.  I hope I didn’t look or seem weird about it at all.

After the evening study, Moges and Alemayehu took us out to a traditional Ethiopian dinner.   This was AMAZING.  The typical dinner consists of several small-ish helpings of various cooked meats, veggies, and lentils served on a flat, sponge-like bread called injera.  According to the Ethiopian guide book, this injera is supposed to induce, and I quote, “earth-shattering flatulence.”  Um.  Yeah.  So, this is served on a large clay platter, so the injera itself covers the whole platter and the other foods are spooned on top of it.  You also get rolls of injera to accompany the food.  The injera itself is made with a grain called teff and yeast that is allowed to ferment, then baked on a clay slab; so the bread is very sour and tangy, but not bad.  Just different.  The meats were in various colored sauces, some fairly spicy, but not flaming hot.  There was also goat’s cheese, which we did not eat.  No dairy for our American digestive systems, thank you.  To eat it, you tear off a piece of injera and use it to scoop up some of the other food.  A highly interactive meal, and very tasty.  I didn’t eat anything that I didn’t like.  During our meal, there was live Ethiopian music and dancing.  I got some video of that on my blackberry, and will post it to my facebook account.

So, today we need to get started.  This has been a long post, but I hope it captures some of the local flavor.  Until next time.

So, we aren't there yet, but I'm taking this opportunity to blog some about it while I sit in the KLM lounge in the Amsterdam airport.

So far, we have traveled from Sacramento to Minneapolis to Amsterdam.  We arrived in Amsterdam at 5:20 a.m. Tuesday morning, local time.  We left Sacramento at 6:45 a.m. Monday morning, local time.  There are a few time zones between there and here....just sayin'.

The group consists of Bill Mara, Matt Huddleston, Harry O'Laughlin, and myself.  Bill and Matt are working with preacher/teacher training schools while we are here, and Harry and I are doing computer work.  Well, not here Amsterdam, here Ethiopia.  I'm tired...cut me some slack.

So far I have slept about 3.5 hours since 8:15 a.m. Sunday morning, so I might be a little punchy.  I forgot toothpaste, so I bought some here in Amsterdam.  the tube has a monkey-face on it, so that was totally the deciding factor.

Matt and I walked/stumbled around the Amsterdam airport for a while, cracking wise and giggling like school girls.  We are both a little punchy, and we have one really long leg to go.  Harry and Bill were in the lounge already.  Bill can only bring two guests, so we had to sneak in.  DON'T TELL ANYONE!  The butter cookies were totally worth the subterfuge.

Our last leg leaves for Adis Ababa in about 2 hours, but we have to be at the plane in about 45 minutes.  Don't know why...when we left MN, we showed up at the gate 30 minutes before departure, and they were calling final call.  Bill travels internationally quite frequently, and this was new to him.

Oh...if you ever need sunglasses, watches, or monkey-face toothpaste, Amsterdam airport is your one-stop shop.  Oh, and Herrie Stoppers.  I had to get those...who knows when I might need them.

No, no rivers were cried.  No worlds drowned.

This is the story of a day, sixteen years ago, from my perspective.

The USS Arkansas had left Hawaii about one week ago, and we were just arriving in Japan.  I was very excited to be in Japan, as it was the first time I had been to this place, and I had a place in my heart for anime and manga (this was before it was cool and hip to be into such things...poseurs).  A friend of mine on the ship and I had plans to go see a few certain things and then hit Disneyland Tokyo, simply because we couldn't think of anything more surreal than that.  I had some anxiety for Teresa, who was ~7 months pregnant at the time, but it was towards the back of my mind.  After all, I had just talked to her a few days before while I was in Hawaii and everything was progressing at its normal pace.  Healthy baby (we didn't know gender at that point), healthy wife, everything looked good.  It was a Friday.

The ship began the process very early in the morning of pulling into port.  For those of you that don't know, this is a long and involved process.  The bridge is a literal throng of officers and enlisted.  I was on security patrol, which meant that I walked around the ship making sure certain checkpoints hadn't been violated, like weapons lockers, ammo storage lockers, and sensitive data storage areas.  Every thirty minutes I would check in at the bridge and report status. "Security patrol reports all secure, time 0435."  This report was made to the officer on the watch, and I then logged an entry in the log book at the quartermaster's station.  On most normal days, the bridge was manned by 6-8 people, but on port days, there were always 12-15 people on the bridge.  My watch went from 0400 to 0800, and immediately after that I reported to my station on the fantail for making dock.  I didn't mind this at all, as it got me out of manning the rails...a long, boring thing to do.  In essence, we would have to dress in the dress uniform of the season (in this case, blues) and stand at the rails of the ship at parade rest for 2-3 hours so that the shipped look pretty.  What.  Ever.

My station for making dock was line 7.  We used 8 lines to moor the ship to the dock, and each non-engineering division was responsible for one line.  This is a fun process...the line captain attaches a small line to the larger line.  At the end of that small line is a monkey's fist.  He would toss that to the men on the pier, when we got close enough, and they would use it to haul the larger line across the water and attach it to the pier stanchion.  I may or may not be using all the correct terminology...it's been a while.  Once the larger line was looped over the pier stanchion, each line team would then haul on their line to pull the ship as tightly to the pier as they were capable...we never actually touched the pier, there was always bumpers between us and the pier to protect both the ship and the pier from damage.  Hauling those lines was hard work...short and intense, and then the line was made secure on our side by looping it back and forth through the cleat.  These cleats were significantly larger than one you might see on a pleasure craft...after all, the Arkatraz displaced 11,300 tons and was 585 feet long and 63 feet wide.  The line itself was six inches in diameter, and was pretty stinking heavy.  Once all the lines were secure, a gangway was placed from ship to shore and services were brought on board (power, water, etc.).  I wasn't involved with that work, so I would usually spend my time in the computer room or display room, waiting for when we could get off that hunk of metal and make a phone call.

That's where I was when I was called to the division office.  A radio message had arrived as soon as we hooked up to power.

I can still remember the lead weight I was carrying in my gut as I slid down the ladder and made my way to the division office.  I can picture everything...the ships crest that Bach had painted on our forward passageway, the blue and white tiles in the mess hall and the stainless steel tray racks. The blue tables (with a lip) and attached vinyl benches that we ate at every day.  The two knee-knockers and then the door on the left.  It was 8:30 a.m., local time.

Everything wasn't going according to plan.  There were complications.  Teresa had something called preeclampsia, whatever that means (i know now, obviously).  Her life and the baby's life hung in the balance.

I was completely lost, and alone, and scared, and helpless.  A ship of 700 guys, and not one that I could really talk to about this.  Too much testosterone over too many days to show instability.  I was SO young; too young to know what to do with myself.  I had to go home.  I had to.

And that's when the chaplain asked me if that was really necessary.  I was suddenly face-to-face with Navy BS, which I dealt with every day, but nothing to this level of impact.  After all, I needed the CO's approval, and he had left the ship.  I was too scared to be angry.  I was shocked into mute acceptance and prayerful wonderings of what the next few hours held for me and my wife, and my child.

This is where it get's a little fuzzy, but I do remember talking to the doctor and getting her assurance that I would be flown home.  I also remember that I found out it was a girl...we already had a name for this girl.  Anne Elizabeth.  I also found out that Teresa was stable, but that they had to deliver the baby because she wouldn't stay stable if they didn't.  I found out that Teresa's kidneys had decided that enough was enough, so she gained like 65 lbs. in water in one week.  I talked to her, but the drugs made her a little...incoherent.  I got approval to fly home, and I got booked on a flight leaving Japan the next day at around 4 p.m.

Those were some very long hours.  Sometime that night; I remember 9 p.m. for some reason(local time); Anne was delivered via C-section.  She was in good condition, but very small.  Three pounds and some change.  Teresa got to tell me.  I was relieved, and proud, and happy, and worried.  I was going home tomorrow to take care of my wife and to meet my daughter.

The next day I rode a bus to the airport from the ship.  So, here is my Japan experience, in a few bullet points.

• They use lots of concrete on their freeways.  LOTS.
• Parking structures are weird.
• Every car is new and shiny.  While not unlike what we see today in the US, it was quite amazing to me then.
• I was taller than almost everyone in the airport, and everyone wanted to meet me and help me.
• I had to buy some special pass for 2000 yen.  I remember thinking that was expensive.
• I ate a hamburger at the airport.  My waitress was very kind, and smiled
  and laughed when I said, "Domo."

I got on a plane that left at 4 in the afternoon on Saturday, and I arrived at 10 a.m. that same day.  Weird.  Charlie Bryant picked me up at the airport and took me straight to John Muir hospital.

When I first saw Teresa, I hadn't seen her in a couple of months.  If I didn't know that my wife was the one who was in the hospital bed, I would not have recognized her.  She had retained so much water that the normal skin wrinkles on her knuckles had disappeared.  She was still very dazed from the drugs (mag, I believe), and she has no recollection of that moment.  I remember wondering what I should do, and she said, "You can hug me if you want to."  So I did.  I spent some time with her first, then they took me to the intensive care nursery.

I had never seen anything so beautiful in my life.  She was so small and perfect.  Her tiny fingers squeezed involuntarily and she would scrunch up her tiny face.  She had very little body fat, having lost a pound since her birthday, and looked like a miniature version of my brother.  I don't know why...genes are weird.  She looks nothing like him now.  Her lips were BRIGHT red, and she had tiny hairs all over her face, like peach down.  She rarely opened her eyes in the very early days.  Her fingernails were the size of small piece of paper, like the leftover bits from tearing a piece out of a wire ring binder. 

She was too small and weak to breast feed, so they used tiny bottles.  Her first meals were measured in single ounces.  Her preemie diaper had to be folded down twice so as not to cause an infection at the umbilical site.  Her butt fit securely in the palm of my hand, with her little head resting on my fingertips.My wedding band fit around all of her fingertips.

I held her and stared at her, for a very long time.  She was my world.

Those next five weeks I spent at home, mostly in the hospital.  Anne had to stay in an isolette for three weeks because she could not maintain her own body heat.  Teresa lost all of that water in a matter of 48 hours.  Good thing she had a catheter, otherwise she would have LIVED in the bathroom.  I spent my days at Treasure Island Naval Base, doing odd jobs for the base and our nights were spent at the hospital, holding, cuddling, and singing to our beautiful princess.  She gained enough weight (5 pounds at the end!!) and we were able to take her home.  I left almost the very next day, for a round-the world flight to the Persian Gulf, where my ship had gone while I was away.

Anne, this entry is for you as much as it is for me.  I can't believe that this happened sixteen years ago, it doesn't seem fair that it should pass so quickly.  You have grown beautifully and exceeded all of our expectations and dreams for you (Emma, so have you, but today is Anne's day).  You are beautiful, smart, and funny and are universally loved by your friends and family.  You have a natural wisdom that many adults never achieve in their entire life.  You consistently make me proud and humble, and I love you so very much.  Happy Birthday, sweetie.

Happy, Happy, Happy Birthday.

Yup.  It's another list.  Shoot me.

1. Turn by turn GPS.
2. Cellular Phone with email and web.
3. The Internet (insert smarmy name for internet here, such as IntarrWub).
4. Good pen.
5. Sunglasses.
6. Peet's Coffee and Tea.
7. The personal computer.
8. The transistor.
9. Black Forest ham.
10. English muffins.
11. DVR.
12. Modern medicine.  ESPECIALLY modern medicine.
13. Antibiotics (see above).
14. Bicycle helmet.
15. Memory foam mattress.
16. portable MP3 device.
17. Burritos.
18. Febreze.
19. Ethernet.
20. Fry's Electronics.

And now for the serious ones.  These are more important than the snarky list above, obviously.

1. My God.
2. My wife.
3. My daughters.
4. My friends.
5. My dogs.  Sometimes, even Gigi.  but mostly Chester.

It's true.

1. Chicks dig a man in uniform.
2. All negotiations can be enhanced by a double axe handle chop to the shoulder blades.
3. When heading into the unknown, take your two best friends and a guy you can throw to the wolves.
4. Everyone looks good in a double-breasted pin stripe suit and a fedora.
5. Small, cute, furry things are more trouble than they're worth.
6. Your life can be enhanced if your soundtrack is performed by Queen.
7. Girls are pretty, and going to great lengths to impress them is never a bad idea.
8. You haven't lived until you've had Romulan Ale.
9. The universe is full of strange things.
10. The line between confidence and arrogance is very thin, and easily crossed.
11. There is no room for prejudice.
12. Communication sometimes requires a funny looking thing in your ear.
13. No life is complete without faith and logic.
14. Try to leave things the way you found them.
15. People that wear red shirts always die.  Horribly.
16. In the future, bathrooms will no longer be required.
17. Better technology and increased firepower doesn't guarantee the win.
18. Pausing while you speak helps people understand you.
19. If you can raise one eyebrow, you are the coolest guy ever.
20. You can always give a little more, even if you don't think "she" can take it.
21. Warp cores are easily replaceable.
22. Space is pretty.
23. Value isn't imparted by monetary worth.
24. The best job in the world is the captain of a starship.