One Week, One Island, Two Stoked Surfers

From my computer stall, Idonesian pop tunes drift lazily overhead, seeping from somewhere that feels miles away from where I am perched. The spiced-smoke scent of cloves fills the internet cafe with its fumes, the high-pitched drone of motorcycles outside compete with the hypnotic lines of Balinesian music. I write this portion of the blog while still in Bali- tomorrow we leave this place indefinitely and start the journey home to Nonthaburi, Thailand. There is a resistance in me to write this now, even though it is probably the most ideal time, considering the tendency of one’s memories to rapidly blur into something that soon resembles an off-focus camera image.

Crises (yes, I actually did look up the plural form of crisis) wasted little time to prey on Craig and myself as we made our first land in Jakarta on the island of Java. We first pulled out 1.5 million Rupiah each (to calculate in dollars, just subtract everything by 4 zeros) and made our way out into the city of Jakarta to kill time during our 12-hr layover (I am not deceiving you). We returned only to discover that Craig had left his one (and only) bank card in the machine, and it had been eaten. This is a problem. Actually, a tremendous problem. It is his only access to money for the rest of the trip. Fortunately, I had enough money in my account for the both of us (a dramatic change from my college days) and I simply charged him compound interest. Per day.

Heh heh.

The week has been absolutely fantastic. Our first two nights were spent at a posh surf cottage that cost 50$ a night. However, the Mom and Pop place next door cost an exorbitant 4$ a night (minus A/C and room service ofcourse) so we made the right move. The waves were great- they would crash maybe 100 meters from where we slept. I felt as though I was being rocked to sleep by some enormous cooing mother every night.

Surf-wise, I had a much more difficult time than Craig- mainly because he has been surfing for years and this was the first serious set for me- so the first day was pretty brutal. We couldn’t find a longboard for me to rent- which, by the way, is fantastically easier- so I swam out through the middle of point break with a short board. As Craig would put it, “I got Epic Owned!” Basically, I got stuck in the crash zone, enduring sets of massive waves as they pummeled me against shards of barnacled rocks. I credit this traumatic experience with the gashes and cuts adorning my legs.

For my sake, the whole week wasn’t this dramatic. I ended up finding a long board I could rent (for 6$ a day!) and practiced surf techniques on a more forgiving beach break a few hundred meters down. Craig, ofcourse, caught some amazing waves and showed all young-punk-shortboarders a thing or two with his 9-footer. He also wore a bike helmet the whole time, which I must say, is an amazingly intelligent thing to do, despite who “uncool” it may look to some.

In a wrap, the week was just what I needed as a getaway. We met some fantastic people from all corners of the globe- Spain, Italy, Holland, South Africa- all just to catch the sweet waves in Bali. Craig and I ate amazing food for embarrassingly small amounts (An Aussie-imported sirloin steak meal came to the dizzying amount of, yes, 5$). Also, we rented motorcycles for a bike and trekked all around the Island, exploring a beach side Hindu temple, and even journeyed up an obscure mountain trail to catch an amazing scenic view of the ocean far below. I don’t think I can say anymore for now, other than I am back in Thailand and am already missing Bali.

I think I will go outside, pound my feet against sharp rocks, and relive the moments…ahhh….

What Stands Between Me and My Trip to Bali? A Padlock.

Exhale- I have not been incarcerated in a dank Thai jail. Actually, I had the misfortune of leaving my passport locked deep within the metal desk of our school’s head secretary who, ofcourse, is gone for the weekend.

Crisis- our flight for Bali takes off at 6:00 am.

Monday morning.

The dilemma was so intense that my surfing comrade, Craig, had literal nightmares about the situation. Myself, I was not so worried. I had broken into my own car before to retrieve my keys ( a 98′ 900 Saab which are all built like Swedish bank vaults)  and really, what is a desk next to that? My suspicions served well; we were able to snap off the lock and retrieve my passport in a glorious fashion within a matter of minutes.

Hopefully, Craig will dream of nothing but sweet surf waves tonight.

So that’s the news. I’m leaving tomorrow for a week of surfing, exploring, and motorbiking around the island for an entire week and will be returning next Monday to tell our perilous tale. Probably in the form of an epic video I will be posting on YouTube.

That’s all for now- By the way, it was fantastic hearing from some of you who responded to my request in the last blog and told me a little about what is going on in their lives- I promise to write every one of you back! For the rest out there, the request still stands- I love hearing from you all.

See you in a week!

23 Middle Schoolers. 16 hours. Lots of Coffee.

My joints and upper body muscles tingle even now from worming my way through the thick foliage during the night game. My eyes give a knowing droop from the lack of sleep they suffer from. I think the title explains the jist of it, but let me embellish.

As one of the youth pastors for my church, CCC, I was part of an all night lock-in held for the middle school group. The theme was “Hands On Bangkok” because the night’s activities were centered around exposing the kids to the lives of the less fortunate living around them (99% of the kids are the children of enormously wealthy ex-pats living in outer Bangkok)  and showing them how they themselves can help meet their needs in a tangible way. Going into it, I wasn’t sure what to expect from the event, but I was about to be surprised by how powerfully they would respond.

Including myself.

Friday night commenced with two highly-charged games of Capture the Flag, using the whole campus of IS Bangkok (an elite international school that most of them attend) as our playing field. After the game, instead of feeding them pizza like they had expected, we took them through three stations where we gently exposed them to the lives of those existing right outside of their gilded gates. The first station emphasized the homeless who live with handicaps. To hit home a taste of what they have to live with, each student was given a “handicap” (such as blindness, or limb disfigurement) and had to go around the rest of the night blinded with a pantyhose tied around their head or an arm/leg tied down.

The next station taught the students about the horrific living conditions prisoners experience in the Thai prison system, using statistics and images to help such a distant reality appear more real, and more personal, to them.

The next station was a meal. We cooked rice and had them all eat the same amount given to prisoners for their meal, along with the few sips of water allotted to them. It was fascinating to see how 23 self-consumed (not that I wasn’t at the age- or even still) middle schoolers could enter the evening’s event disconnected to what we were saying, and by the end, silent in their contemplation of what they realized to be true for real people who essentially desired the same things in life as they.

Later on, we actually did hand them out pizza (much to the chagrin of myself and one of the Thai youth leaders:), I played some worship songs, and we ended the night by watching a movie which ended around 3 am. The kids brought their sleeping bags to the church, so we all slept there.

In the morning, we woke up at 7:30 (hence the coffee) eat a fruit and pancake breakfast, and hopped into vans headed to Joy House, a Christian-based orphanage that created a nurturing home for children with disabilities. At first, our kids hung back shyly, as if the orphans had some type of contagious infection, but this only lasted a few minutes. For the next two hours, we played soccer with the kids, caught little fish with them in the pond and absolutely had a blast! A memory for me was a mentally-handicapped child name Nong (which means 1 in Thai) who, for some reason or another, was strongly attracted to me as soon as he laid eyes on my one-day stubble. With hands outstretched, he clung to me for the next hour, absolutely fascinated with the bristles on my face, rubbing his face and his against them without so much as a pause.

He was the sweetest child I have ever met.

With an enormous smile, he laughed continuously and sung little tunes repeatedly while I was with him. when we finally left, some of the children cried to see us go, and the teens I played soccer with held onto me until I had to gently pry their hands off; otherwise, you might not have ever gotten this blog! My heart broke for these kids- I won’t easily forget their faces from my thoughts. Lord willing, I will be back soon to play soccer with them.

Friends, life is busy. One more week of school and October break begins. The rest is welcome, and so is the surf trip to Bali I will be making with my good friend Craig- we are 100% stoked at this point. How are you? I love hearing from you, it really makes my day to read a glimpse from your own life. By the way, if any of you ever do want to send a personal note my way, my address is chrismart28@gmail.com- let me hear about you for a change!

P.S For those who don’t already know this from facebook, I posted a hilarious video of my “Rice Song” on YouTube- hilarious due to my serious lack of vocal prowess, but the words are pretty funny. Just put in “Rice Song Chris Martin” on YouTube, and it will come up. And by the way, don’t have too high of expectations:)

Cheers.