Cruising, Part 2

You've seen what we did when the boat docked in port... but what did we do on the cruise ship?
LOTS!

One day, we sailed into Glacier Bay National Park to see some glaciers. The scenery in Glacier Bay really boasts of God's creative power.

 

  

  

Chunks of glacier in the water.

  

The Margerie Glacier; the largest glacier we saw.

It extended far back into the mountains.

Looks like a bird to me.

 

   On board ship, there was lots to do:

Write

  Read. Play games. Swim. Soak in the hot tub.

Whale watch

Go to the bar. Go to the casino. Go to the spa. Listen to the jazz band, the classical duet, the BB King band, the piano man, or go to the nightly performance.

 



Hang out on deck

Play ping pong. Play Nintendo DS with your cousin.

Admire the towel animals the staff left in our rooms each night

And, of course, EAT! Along with the all-day buffet, the ship had a formal dining room. We had two tables reserved for us for dinnertime. It was so nice to eat all as a family! And, my, was it fancy! The servers pulled out your chair for you and scooted you in (speaking as a woman, it made me feel special) and then laid your napkin on your lap. Then, they would hand you the menu and you would have to pick an appetizer, an entrée, and a dessert. They would bring each course one at a time.

Chicken stew and biscuits.

Some sort of zucchini and cheese appetizer.

 

A fancy strawberry dessert.

The ship even had formal nights where you couldn't enter the dining room unless you passed the dress code. It was fun to see all the different patrons in their fancy dresses and collared shirts and the servers in their dress uniforms.

 

But the best part of being on board the ship? Spending time with my family!


Day 9: Zondag (Sunday)

April 27th was a very special day for us: we visited the church that my grandma went to when she was a little girl, and we visited the farmhouse that she grew up in!

The Ooste Kerk.

Inside:

(Look how symmetrical it is!  Isn't that cool?)

This stained glass window was given to the people after World War Two. Beauty in brokenness.

There's something special about worshiping with other believers, even if you don't understand the language. On this particular day, they were having an infant baptism. At first, I thought the father was the baby's big brother! He looked rather like a young Michael Jackson (or one of his big brothers in the Jackson Five) and sang like him too! The baby's older sister - who looked about five or six - was in charge of holding a candle. And not one of those fake ones. This was a real candle, very tall, with very real fire at the end. I thought she was going to light her siblings on fire! Either them or the minister in his robes. Thankfully, no mishaps occurred. 

My grandma's family have supposedly been living on the same piece of land since the 1600's. In the 1850's, the below farmhouse was built. It was where my grandma, her siblings, and many of her other relatives (including my dad's cousins) were born.

The farm is run by my dad's cousin and they raise cattle for milk. While we were there visiting I drink some pure, unpasteurized milk, that came straight out of the tank (that had recently pumped the milk out of the cow). Wow! If milk tasted like that all the time, I might drink it. (When I was little, I had an allergy to milk. I've since grown out of the allergy, but we never switched from rice milk to regular. I don't drink milk; it goes only on my cereal and occasionally in hot chocolate.)

The farm, like most other farms, has other animals... cats, a dog, and some ponies, which my dad's cousin's daughter trains and rides. I even got into the saddle for a short ride!

My dad's cousin's daughter (I will give five hundred imaginary dollars to whoever figures out what relation she is to me) doesn't speak much English, and I don't speak much Dutch (I'm better at understanding it) but we managed to communicate a little bit. We're around the same age. She asked me what I wanted to do with my life. I tried to explain youth ministry in the church... but that didn't work too well. Whenever I told anyone about youth ministry, they didn't really understand. It wasn't a speech barrier, more like a cultural or religious one. They just didn't seem to have any programs for youth - at least not in the churches we visited. But more on that in a later post.
The girl was telling me about what she wanted to do as well. I believe it was something with horses and equestrian... but I could be mistaken.
In the end, I don't think either of us really got much out of the conversation, but it was fun nonetheless! And the horse was very nice.

Now, there are several big barns where the cattle are kept, but when my grandma was growing up, the animals were kept in the barn attached to the house. Can you imagine the smell? Now, the cows are milked in the attached barn. The really young calves live in the attached barn as well.

Inside the farmhouse there were three bedrooms upstairs, and one more downstairs. There was also the kitchen/parlor, where my grandma's family would usually sit. We sat in the "Sunday parlor," which, when my grandma was young, was only used on Sundays (it reminded me of Great Expectations). Now the parlor is used any time.

I could have stayed at the farm longer, I think. Not only were the owners of the farm and their children there, but two of my dad's other cousins with their children and spouses came as well! And an old aunt. There were 18 of us all together, I think! It was so much fun to sit with every one and to listen to them laugh and talk in a strange mixture of Dutch and English! I love having such a big family; I don't love that everyone lives so far away that we can't just invite them over or be invited over on a Sunday afternoon.

We had to leave, however, because we were going to another church service - a special Koningsdag service. This service had a female minister, and a beautiful, beautiful choir! Oh, how I wished I could go up and join them! The roofs of old Dutch churches radiate the music back to those sitting in the pews; it's gorgeous. I can't wait to do a special post on Dutch churches, because they were really wonderful (maybe not so much the worship - because we couldn't understand it - but the architecture, and the music. Oh).

It was a nice, restful Sunday.

Stay tuned for Day 10, where Tintin made a new friend named TomTom...

P.S. For anyone wondering, I didn't actually have my wisdom teeth removed today. There was a scheduling mishap where they didn't even have us down for an appointment today (plus the surgeon is in India because of a family emergency) so now my surgery is rescheduled for sometime in the last week in July.

Postponed. Oh no, Christmas is canceled!

I am postponing today's Top Tuesdays until tomorrow because I have something important to talk about that I have been thinking about for a few months now.

Fandoms.

Wikipedia says that a Fandom is....
Fandom (consisting of fan [fanatic] plus the suffix -dom, as in kingdom, freedom, etc.) is a term used to refer to a subculture composed of fans characterized by a feeling of sympathy and camaraderie with others who share a common interest. Fans typically are interested in even minor details of the object(s) of their fandom and spend a significant portion of their time and energy involved with their interest, often as a part of a social network with particular practices (a fandom).

So basically, a fandom is a community of fanatics.... Some examples of different fandoms would be: Sherlock, Doctor Who, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.... it goes on and on. Anything geeky and popular will probably have a fandom.

Those who know about fandoms and BBC are probably aware of this phrase:

 

I have mostly seen this phrase in correlation to Sherlock... And Doctor Who whenever someone dies. "Right in the feels" pretty much means that something angsty (anxiety, pain, fear) happens (usually a character dies) and because the person behind the screen was so attached to the characters or the storyline that they feel pain at whatever happened.

Now, this post is going to take a random turn... But remember "the feels."

In "A Scandal in Belgravia" (Sherlock season 2, episode 1) Irene Adler says, "Brainy is the new sexy" and I think she's right (despite my dislike of the S word. And of Irene herself). A few years ago you were popular if you loved makeup and Justin Bieber and Twilight and frilly, girly things. And boys and Disney Channel and stuff like that. Now, however, the tables are turning. With shows like Doctor Who and The Big Bang Theory becoming so popular all over the world, the tides are turning towards geekiness. More girls are now becoming obsessed with BBC shows and sci-fi and fantasy are replacing Hannah Montana and Wizards of Waverly Place - the Highschool Musical that every little girl dreamed of. Now girls dream of The Doctor coming to pick them up in the TARDIS.
I look at people's blogs (mostly random people) and I see people's Pinterest's (again, mostly random people) and I feel sad. They obsess over these BBC shows and these BBC guys and really, I see no difference between girls obsessing over Zac Efron and David Tennant. I see true geekery as knowing everything about the shows... For example, knowing how to talk in Klingon, or knowing the history of Gallifry, or knowing how to write in Elvish. Knowing the little things. Simply obsessing over something, doesn't really give much depth.... The depth comes in knowing the little things.
Anyway, that's not my point.
I feel SO sad for the people that only obsess over TV shows, geeky or not. For me, it's great to be known as the "Trekkie" at church. It makes me feel good. It makes me feel unique. For other girls, I think it feels good to be "geeky." They want to fit in (and hey, if hot, time travelling aliens are involved, it's just an added bonus!). It's fun to post funny pictures and "get the reference." (Did you guys get the one in the title??? It's from Sherlock!!)
I know I enjoy looking at funny pictures. But... is that all?
It that all there is to life?
No.
Of course not.
But do all the fangirls know that? I don't know. I don't know what they think.
But it makes me very very sad to see people obsessing over TV shows. Things that don't matter. Life should be spent doing better things. Getting a good education.... Working.... Family.
GOD. Getting to know God.
In youth group we just started a new series where we're talking about being a follower, verses being a fan. A fan sticks around the sidelines while a follower... Actually, we haven't talked about what a follower is yet. I believe that is next week (that or I wasn't paying attention).
Similarly, our pastor is always stressing the point that being in the Word of God is very important. We should spend time daily in the Bible, getting to know God.
I think, how much time do people spend watching Doctor Who?
Then I think, how much time do Christians spend watching TV shows. Time that could better be spent getting to know God better.
I know that I spend waaaay too much time watching TV or surfing the wide web. I don't spend nearly enough time with God.
Some say that their teen years are for partying. They use their teen years as an excuse. I am finding that I am using my teen years as an excuse for watching TV. I keep thinking, "I don't want my kids to grow up watching too much TV - ruining their imaginations. I want them to read books. Maybe I won't even HAVE a TV when I get married and have kids! I want them to be closer to God." Then I think, ashamedly, what about me? I could stop watching TV right now. But I'm a teen, I can goof off if I want. I'm a teenager!
I'm using it as an excuse. I realise that. And I really am trying to change. It's hard, though.
Anyway, these are my own personal convictions I've been going through lately... I don't mean to change any of your minds.

So, spending more time with God is my first point.
My second point is family.
Tonight I have been watching family videos from a family reunion on my Dad's side in 1998. The whole family was these - every child and every grandchild (except for my Favorite Cousin, who was not yet born). That is no easy task... My dad has quite a few siblings who each have a few children of their own.
Anyway, my dad was videotaping the whole event. He was asking everyone to tell a story that they remembered of Grandma and Grandpa (or Mom and Dad, for his siblings). He was also being teased for always videotaping. He said at one point, "It's all part of the memories!" and I couldn't help but think, "OHH! RIGHT IN THE FEELS!"
You see, my parental Grandpa passed away last July. For the last 10 years or so, he had been suffering from Alzheimer's, a heightened version of dementia (says Wikipedia). All I know, is that Grandpa didn't know anything when he passed away. His soul was gone and all that was left was an empty shell.

 

Near the end, all he would do was sit with his eyes closed. He would have to be fed and bathed and put to bed. Through it all, my Grandpa loved him and took care of him - everyone in the family did, really.
It was a blessing when God finally took him home. The memorial service was a really really good time. Stories were shared and it was a time of rejoicing in my Grandpa's life.
I never really had a close relationship with my Grandpa, because his Alzheimer's was already pretty bad when I was old enough to have any sort of relationship with him (though from what I hear, he was a pretty hard person to get to know). It was really good to hear stories about him. I kind of got to know him through hearing other people talk about him and I am so grateful for that. I really regret not being able to "get to know him" or even just to observe him. He was my Grandpa, after all.
Anyway, on this family video that I'm watching, he's there. He's not just there, he's there. As in, his mind hasn't gone yet. He was interviewed by some of the family. He was talking, telling stories, telling jokes... And all caught on camera! I was really happy to see that as well.
Tonight I was going to watch Star Wars but I popped this in instead since it was sitting there and I had been wanting to see what was on the tape.
I am SO glad I did.
I am enjoying watching this SO much more than watching Star Wars or Doctor Who or any other TV show.
Watching TV isn't bad. Watching movies isn't bad. But too much TV, to the point of not doing other things, is bad.
Someone said (people say it is Einstein, but I don't know) that "I fear the day that technology will surpass our human interaction. The world will have a generation of idiots."
I think that day has come. We are so caught up in our own little worlds.... We can talk over the internet but it is so impersonal. We watch TV shows and feel like the characters are our friends... Is that right? Shouldn't we be spending more time getting to know our friends, family, relatives, and God? than getting to know TV characters?
I'm not a fangirl. I try to make that known to people. I enjoy TV, and occasionally it becomes more important than other things... But I try really hard not to let it overtake my life. I don't want to be a fangirl. I don't want to spend my whole life talking about TV shows and characters because there is no substance to that sort of life. It is an escape, sure. But for how long? We all have to come back to reality sometime. And when we wake up, we'll find ourselves all alone because we've spent more time watching TV or cat videos than building relationships with people. I don't want that kind of life. There's nothing to that life! It's so dull and surface! There's no depth!
Watching these home videos, where everyone is laughing and talking has really opened my eyes, I think. (And when people weren't laughing or talking they were all sitting in the same room reading. Hee hee. How times have changed... Now we sit in the same room glued to our screens.)
Anyway, this is all my own opinion. It's just stuff I've been thinking about lately.

And seeing my Grandpa smiling and laughing may just be the best thing I will see this month.