The Iraq

Well, right now I'm sitting at my laptop in an office at L'Abri. For my work period today, I'm starting work on designing a book cover for this guy that lives down the road from L'Abri. He's an American who moved here about five years ago I think, and he's sort of involved with L'Abri. I think all he really does is write books. I don't know that much about him. But word got to him that I was a Media Arts major and he asked if I would try to design some book covers for him. So I'm about to start that.

But right now my computer is updating itself and that takes awhile. So, I went to YouTube and I found the most amazing video that any of you has ever seen. This video is a testament to the education system in South Carolina. I am almost speechless at how ridiculous this video is. For some background info, this is the Miss South Carolina contestant at the Miss Teen USA competition.

Enjoy!

Jigga What?

***The title of this post has nothing whatsoever to do with the content. I just couldn't think of a better title***

Hey guys and gals. Thanks for coming back to read my blog even though I'm updating it sporadically at best. I should decide on a day that I'll definitely update it every week. Let's see . . . how about Sunday. I'll do my best to update this blog for sure every Sunday. I'll probably update it on other days as well. But now you know that if you can only check back once a week, there'll be an update for you on Sundays.

Things at L'Abri are going swimmingly. I've had my first meeting of the term with Greg Laughery, my tutor. We picked up pretty easily where we left off. We're talking about a bunch of different things, but I'll try to outline here two of the main things that I'll be studying and thinking about and talking about with Greg this term:

1. What's the point of Christianity? By this I mean . . . well, I mean what's the point. Is it all about getting to heaven? Is the most important thing about Christianity believing the right thing or is it doing the right thing? Are they equally important? It's a hard question because the answer obviously isn't just one thing, but that's the way that it's presented in most churches and books. Take the Four Spiritual Laws, for instance. Seeing that tract makes it pretty clear that Campus Crusade for Christ believes that if you know only one thing about Christianity, it should be how to get to heaven. If the most important thing about Christianity is how to get to heaven and the only way to get to heaven is to believe the right thing, then it is pretty important to make sure you believe the right things. Throw into the mix the idea that if you do believe the right things then you'll want to act a certain way--even have certain emotional responses to things like sin and worship and God, himself--and it becomes very easy--at least for me--to worry constantly about whether or not you get it. So, I'm trying to figure out what the point is. Should I be so worried about what I believe and feel about God or is that just one point? Is it more objective than subjective? I've been reading a book by an Anglican bishop named N.T. Wright called "Simply Christian" to help me think about that some. I highly recommend this book because of it's casual style and original thought. It's been really helpful to me as I've read it some last term and come back to it this term. Of course, I've been reading the Bible as well.

2. Well, I guess this sort of runs in with the other point. I'll also be studying doubt and faith. I think I may have written about this a little bit the other day. I'm reading a book by Os Guinness called "God in the Dark" that outlines seven different types of doubt. It's been a really interesting book so far as well, simply because it's easy to apply to your own life. Reading each chapter takes you into a slightly different form of doubt stemming from different issues. I'm studying this to supplement the first topic and give me a way to interpret some of the doubts that I've been having about the reality of Christianity.

So there you have it. If you've got any questions or comments about any of that or you just want to hear how the studies are going, feel free to shoot me an email.


In other news, I went for an awesome hike this past Thursday. We started at L'Abri and hiked to a mountain peak called Roc D'Orsay. It was about a four hour hike up, and when I say "up," I mean straight up. There were a couple of fields along the way that gave our legs a break, but for the most part, it was just straight up incline the whole way. Below I've put some pictures for your viewing enjoyment.

Also, I've been asked by a local expatriate in town to design some book covers for him. He does this self-publishing thing and writes a bunch of pulp fiction books. He's loosely affiliated with L'Abri because he's arranged to have one or two of Greg Laughery's books published and we were introduced at chapel last Sunday. The books aren't very good and he's not paying me to do it, but they've worked it into my work schedule so I'm not having to take any of my spare time to work on it. Plus, I've never done a book cover before so it'll be a challenge. If I think what I make is good at all I'll post one of the covers on here for you guys to see.

Anything else? I don't think so.

Here we are hiking hardcore style. If you're wondering who those people are, here's the list, starting from behind me: Rhett from Alabama, Jon from New Hampshire, Molly from Connecticut, and Renea from Texas.


That's the mountain peak we were about to hike up. The last bit, going up to the very top, almost killed me.


I didn't really take many pictures at the top because it's just the same thing all over this country. Mountain, valley, mountain, valley, vineyard, mountain. The picture up at the top of the post is at the top of Roc D'Orsay, but you can't really see that much except me. I figured I'd put that one up there so you'd have a visual of me on mountain saying all of this to you. Anyway, here's a pic of our gondola ride down. We decided that it was worth it to grab a ride down. Also, they weren't checking tickets so we just kind of snuck on one.

I am victorious

Well, I'm not sick anymore. Yippee! I battled my bowels and I won. I am now in control of my body. It was a tough fight, but I am always and ever victorious!

There's not really too much to say since I was in bed from Thursday until today (Sunday). I read a lot. Well, I tried to read a lot. I fell asleep a lot because just climbing in and out of my top bunk felt like running a marathon so I was constantly exhausted. I actually thought I might have mono for a while, but I guess it was some other mystery disease that Mr. Pansy Bowels picked up.

Hmmmm . . . I can't think of much else to write. Maybe I'll just tell you what books I've been reading in bed. I've started reading 'Pilgrim at Tinker Creek' by Annie Dillard, and although it took me a chapter or two to get into her writing style, I've been enjoying it ever since. It's a very wordy and descriptive (but not fluffy) book describing the author's year-long stay by Tinker Creek in Virginia. It's one of my roommate Nate's favorite books.

I know that's not a very good description, but I don't really feel like writing much more about it.

I'm also reading a book called 'God in the Dark' by Os Guinness. It's a really well-written and interesting book discussing doubt in God. Guinness (awesome surname) was a worker at L'Abri in England for awhile and has written a ton of books. This one was recommended to me by a guy named Nico from Argentina in March, but I'm just now getting around to it. So far I'm only through the first two chapters. In those chapters he outlines the purpose of the book and defines 'doubt' as he will be using it. In the next seven chapters he's going to go through the seven main "families" of doubt. It should be good.

I'm not very good at doing book reviews.

I can't think of anything else to write. I'll post again later.

My Mom was right

Yep, my Mom was right. I have a weak stomach/immune system. Just a few days before I left to come to Switzerland, my Mom made a joke about how I get sick everywhere I go (horrible bloody food poisoning in Beirut, horrible projectile vomiting food poisoning in Buenos Aires, etc). Of course, I told her that I had a superman stomach that was impervious to all but the most mishandled of foods, and I also reminded her that I didn't get sick once while I was at L'Abri over the summer.

Well, I was wrong. Something horrible exploded in my bowels yesterday (Thursday), and it has had me reeling for the past 36 hours. I woke up yesterday feeling kind of nauseous but I figured it was just from being worn out from travelling a quarter of the way around the world. By lunch I was feeling green. By dinner I was violently ejecting all liquids and solids from my system . . . from both ends. I was sitting on a toilet with a trash can in front of me for about an hour, praying to the gastrointestinal gods for mercy. Alas, they have not granted it.

Last night I slept about three hours because of this demon inside me. I think I had a pretty high fever, and I couldn't stop shivering and sweating profusely. I would go to sleep for an hour and then wake up dehydrated and urgently needing a toilet. Today has been similar though slightly better. I think the fever is almost gone, and I'm not puking anymore, but as far as my guts being back on track, I think I have a long way to go. I'm also a little bit achy in my muscles and bones which makes me worried that it could be the flu, but I'll hold out hope until tomorrow morning.

Another girl here is sick as well. The same symptoms as me and we both started puking within an hour of each other. My roommate says he's starting to feel a little sick as well. Let's just hope that I start to feel better by tomorrow morning because being confined to my room today made it the most boring day of my life.

In other news, I made it here safely and aside from the sickness things are going well so far. Since there's only one guy helper this term, they've put me in charge of two of the grounds crews each week. Because of my bacteria-laden bowels, I had to abdicate my position for the day. My roommate is Tim, the one guy helper, and he's pretty cool. He's from Denver (although he grew up in France because his parents are missionaries) and he was at L'Abri in the summer of '06. Pretty much all of the students here this term are here for the whole term which is nice because it'll give us a chance to get to know each other really well. Everyone seems really cool. The weather's great here: 65-75 and sunny. It's a nice break from the triple-digit temps we had back in South Carolina.

Anyway, I can't think of much else to write so I guess I'll conclude this post. Thanks for reading and shoot me an email sometime because I love to hear from you guys. I miss y'all.

Yo man let's get out of here.

Word to your mother.

Yep, I'm leaving tomorrow for Switzerland. My sister's driving me to Charlotte tomorrow morning and my flight leaves at 2:50 in the afternoon. I'll be in Geneva by 8 am Tuesday morning and to L'Abri by 11 that afternoon. Soooo...I'll see you guys in a few months. Three-and-a-half to be exact. I'll be back in the states on December 4th. I'll miss you guys.

As far as my blog goes, I'm going to try to update it at least once a week. Once I get over there, I'll probably decide on a day or two that I will definitely post. Another thing is that since I'll have my computer with me, I'll be able to write blog posts offline and then post them once or twice a week. So look forward to that. It's going to be awesome.

Bye guys.

Everything you need to know

Seriously. Go to WiseGeek.com and you will find answers to any question you could realistically imagine. They have answers to everything. What do you want to know? Hmmmm . . .

-What is a quarter horse?

-How can I clean a keyboard?

-What is the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs)?

And that is just a few of the millions of questions and answers that you can find on this amazing website. I highly suggest you go and waste as much time as possible on WiseGeek.com.

In other news, I went with my family to Charleston this weekend. Every year they take a boat trip down there with the Tammy and Kendall Elvis and (for the past three years) Rick and Jackie Norris. The trip was great. I got to hang out with Josh Eichenberger and Peter Hearn, two of my best friends from high school who I haven't seen in probably three years. I also got the pleasure of hanging out with Becky Ryan one night. Between those friends and my awesome family, the weekend was a blast.

Curse you, Chris Martin!!!

Before I say anything else, I'd like to apologize to the five or six of you who read this blog with any regularity. I'll be honest with you, I just haven't really felt like posting anything on here for the past couple of days. It's a horrible thing, apathy; it's a real disease, with doctors, and medicine and everything (Blades of Glory--good movie, saw it on the plane back from Argentina). But enough of my shortcomings, on to the post.

CURSE YOU, CHRIS MARTIN!!! No, I'm not cursing the Christian media designer Chris Martin, nor am I cursing the lame-o Chris Martin who has yet to put up any of his certainly hideous photographs at www.iamchrismartin.com, and I am most definitely not cursing the international superstar frontman of Coldplay Chris Martin. I am cursing the Brooklyn-based drug trafficker Chris Martin.

Yes, his infamy has once again caused my untarnished reputation abroad to fall under the dark shadow of doubt. In case you missed the first go round, you can read the post here.

This time around, I was coming into America via Atlanta, GA. After an incredibly uncomfortable 12-hour flight from Buenos Aires--during which we were diverted around Brazil for lack of permission to use their airspace which forced us to land in Ft. Lauderdale, FL to refuel before we got to Atlanta--I was stopped in customs in the same fashion as last time, diverted down to a sitting area, and told to wait until someone could figure out why I was there. The questioning, once I was called forward, was pretty much the same as last time:

--"Have you ever been to Jamaica?"
--"No."
--"Do you live in Brooklyn?"
--"No. Hey, is that about that guy who sells drugs from Jamaica? Cuz I'm not him."
--"Do you have family in Brooklyn?"
--"No. Hey, when I came into the country earlier this summer they asked me all about this and they said I wasn't him either so . . . "
--"How are you employed?"
--"Un."
--"You sure do a lot of traveling for an unemployed person. Mind telling me how you afford all of that?"
--"Well . . . it all started about six years ago in Laos. I'd heard the legends, we all had, but that's all they were, right? Just legends. As I set out to hike to Cambodia, I had no idea of the adventure on which I was about to embark. The mystery, the intrigue, friends made . . . and lost. And, of course, the treasure . . . I'm just kidding. I have money saved up from other things." *see note at bottom*
--"Well, Mr. Martin, that will be all. You can take your bags right through that door and rejoin your group."

So, I asked her if there was any way that I could get my name somehow put on the "Safe Christopher Allen Martins" list and she said there was nothing that they could do. I asked if I should expect this the next time I return to the country from abroad. She said I should expect it until the other Chris Martin is arrested.

With that said, I am calling on all Christopher Allen Martins (yes, he shares my same exact name) to help me apprehend and destroy this traitor to the name! I'm talking about an army. An unstoppable, vigilante, paramilitary force. I'll let you guys do most of the planning. I don't want to have too much of the power concentrated in one place since, as far as I have been able to tell, I'm the only one speaking up about this and am thus very susceptible to attack. Get on it, guys. I'll be waiting for you to contact me.

In other news, Argentina was awesome. Too much to write here, but a picture says a thousand words so here's a few thousand at least:


This is one of the churches we did construction on. It was in a poor area of a town called La Plata. We built some walls, poured a lot of cement, and painted a lot of stuff.










Here's Johnny putting the final touches on one of the walls we helped build.












This is a shot of downtown Buenos Aires.



















**Note: I didn't actually say anything before that last sentence (I have money saved . . .); it's just what I wish I had said to make the situation a little more comical.

Leaving on a Jet Plane

Bye everybody. I'm going to Argentina today. Don't worry, I won't be gone long. I'll be back next Saturday (the 21st). The trip to Argentina should be a good one. I'm going with Northeast Presbyterian Church which is the church I went to for awhile in Columbia. The guy who's leading the trip, Henry Clay, was a missionary in Argentina for about two decades and so he enjoys taking some people down there each summer to get an idea of what the church and culture are like in and around Buenos Aires. We're going to be doing some construction work on an orphanage and meeting a lot of the people that Mr. Clay worked with while he was down there.

I'm going to take as many pictures as I can, and I'll be sure to post and write about it when I get back. I hope you guys don't miss me too much cuz I won't be posting while I'm over there.


I'll leave you with this amazingly addictive game. It's called Escapa! and you can play it here. The goal is to click on the red square and keep it from hitting any of the walls or the moving blue shapes. My personal record is around 40 seconds. See if you can beat it. Escapa!

Oh Snap!

Okay, okay, I guess this may be considered old news, but it has just reached my desk and I'm loving it.

Check out this article (actually, a confirmation of a widely circulated e-mail) that compares the energy efficiency of the houses of two politicians.

Don't get me wrong, I hate climate change as much as the next guy and I'm not dissing Al Gore for making his documentary, but Mr. Gore, I think you just got served.

I am . . .

I am sitting in a computer lab in the Academic Enrichment (read: tutoring for athletes) Center at USC. I never thought I'd be using a USC computer again, but apparently I just can't stay away. Actually, the reason I'm here is that James Basler, a friend of mine, needed a ride up here so that he could apply to be a tutor this year. I guess they're in desperate need for tutors because the first thing that the woman said to him was "When can you start?" Yes, at USC it's none but the best tutors for our athletes.

I hate being talked down to. The lady who was helping James apply to be a tutor spoke down to me. She told me I could go use the computer lab, but only if I "promise to be an exemplary student." I know it doesn't sound very condescending when I write it out, but if you had been here, you would have felt it.

I don't have anything to say here; I'm just wasting time until James gets done. It's been about 30 minutes so far. I'm going to see if I can find anything interesting.

I'll be right back.

Well, here's something. An article at CNN.com with the headline of "Man flies 193 miles in lawn chair." Pretty amazing. Actually, it's just amazing that this guy does this kind of stuff just for fun. He's not a professional pilot or anything; he just decided he wanted to fly through the air on a lawn chair lifted by helium-filled balloons. Check out the article. It's worth a read.

I think James is almost ready to go. I can hear him talking to that lady in the hall. I think she's asking him if he can tutor tonight. I better go.

Good bye.

Oh yeah, I leave for Argentina in two days! I'll post about that trip before I head out on Thursday.