First Impressions – 01/28/2007

Saying goodbye to family and friends is a process that doesn’t ever seem like it can really be finished; it just has to get done. The idea that it was time to leave already was like an explosion going off in my brain – being hit with a million thoughts all at once. A friend of mine drove me to the airport and was happy to see me go, excited about the opportunity and experience he knows this will be. I boarded my flight from O’Hare to London-Heathrow with little difficulty, but in a somewhat less-than-timely manner, which caused some worry. The airliner flew north. Canada is a beautiful nation to fly over. Then again, I’m not sure something can look anything but beautiful from the sky.

Watching those tiny humans march around like ants doing our stuff gives me a wonderful perspective of God. We think we know so much, as humans, because of what we can do. Perhaps ants think the same thing when they’re building their intricate tunnels and foraging for food with their uncanny ability to work together. But I believe God knows differently, and if we had His perspective we might even laugh to ourselves.

London was beautiful from the sky, also. I noted from my observations that most cities in other parts of the world that I saw do not seem to have skyscrapers like we do in America. I don’t recall seeing a building that had more than ten stories. Touching down in London, the plane landed on time but could not dock for 20 minutes. All of the passengers got off the plane at about 6:50am in London (London time is about 6 hours ahead of US Central). My connecting flight was to leave at 8:30am. That seems like it would be no problem, right? That’s what I thought, too. Let me just say that I don’t advise going through London-Heathrow airport! Here’s where the problem started. In America, you’re allowed one carry-on bag, and another carry-on IF it’s a laptop or another item they allow. So, I brought my laptop and a carry-on bag. In London, you can only have ONE carry-on bag – no matter what. So when I tried to board my connecting flight just a few minutes after 7am, they sent me away saying I could only have one carry-on. So I had to go through “passports” where a lady asked me all sorts of questions about why I was there and why I was going to Larnaca (“LAR-naca”). I answered her honestly. She asked me for documented proof. I told her I didn’t have proof, but I had documents on my computer that verify what I said. She told me that documents on my computer were not an acceptable form of proof – I needed a hard copy. So I gave her an innocent look of ignorance with a hint of “so what-do-I-do NOW?”. She told me I would have problems when I got to Cyprus and that they would need all that information so I should remember to have it next time, then she sent me through. I was confused, but didn’t have time to care about that. I had to run aaaalllllllllllllll the waaaaayyyyyyyyyy arooouuunnnnnddddd that HUGE airport and wait in a 30 min line to check my little bag – then wait in 2 more additional lines at security checkpoints. Thankfully, I got to my gate just as they announced boarding - another untimely but smooth transition. I’m not looking forward to my next connection flight there; but that was the worst of it.

Even flying over Cyprus (which was beautiful, I might add), I felt RIGHT at home – like I belong. The northern part is full of hills and the southern part is very flat, reminiscent of Illinois. The airport in Larnaca is right next to the Mediterranean Sea. The landing was pretty intimidating because we began flying very, very low and then did a U-turn over the water, landing on a runway not far from the coast. I estimated, using nearby buildings as perspective, that we were only about 1000 feet from the water. It may sound like a lot, but when you’re in a big passenger plane like that, your perspective can certainly change! The landing was good, though, better than the one in London. The airport is very small, which was great because that minimized the hassle. I got off the plane, onto a bus, rode for about 2 minutes, and that was it. Want to hear about how much of a hassle it was getting into Cyprus? Here it is: I walked up to a little booth, handed the man my passport, he stamped it and said, “have a nice stay;” I thanked him and left.

When I got there, the air was not cold. It definitely felt somewhere between 50 and 60 degrees Fahrenheit in the sun. Later, I learned that the nights can get pretty chilly – but compared to Chicago this is great! I also later learned that the island does, in fact have palm trees – even though if you follow the latitude line on the globe, Cyprus is equivalent to living in southern Tennessee.

My bags came in safely, which I was concerned about at first. After picking them up and walking out some automatic doors, there was the usual crowd of people holding signs for pick-ups. One sign read, “Chris – YWAM”. I waved at the older, thin, and mostly-bald man holding it but he already spotted me and knew who I was. He saw a picture of me before and I was the only male my age getting off the plane.

“Hi, I’m Claude.” He said. We dumped my luggage in the car and drove off. The drive from Larnaca to the DTS was 40 minutes, so we had time to talk. I asked some questions, and Claude answered.

“What languages do you speak?”

“My native tongue is Swiss-French. I also speak English, and pretty good German.”

“How long have you lived in Cyprus?”

“Three years.” He answered, and then cut in with a question of his own. So you’re from Chicago?” Claude has two sons and a daughter in the US. I think two of them are in Illinois, one near Chicago and one in Champaign. So I told him I went to school in Champaign, and then continued with my questions.

“Where’s the American embassy? I was told to ask.”

He laughed at me, and it was obvious at the time that there wasn’t one, but he confirmed that anyway. The rest of the car ride, he sporadically made jokes that I should ask or visit the US Embassy in Cyprus. Soon after meeting Claude, I realized I would have to develop a sarcasm filter very quickly if I wanted straight answers. He’s got a very good sense of humor, likes to joke a lot – and he’ll stop joking and say things straight after he’s properly confused me. I also learned how small Cyprus is. From northern to southern coast, the drive is only about 80 minutes. I’m not sure how long it takes to drive east to west, but from looking at a map of the island, it would be quite a bit longer.

YWAM does not own their own building anymore for the DTS in Cyprus. They rent part of a building from a church that they know well. It’s pretty nice. The strangest part is the bathroom – which I don’t think is normal for Cyprus. The guys and girls share a single bathroom with maximized privacy, considering. Although I’m not sure that makes it any less uncomfortable (for the guys or the girls). There are separate little compartment/rooms for each toilet and shower, which are gender-labeled. Each toilet has a mini-sink inside and there are 3 other sinks for people to use.

The people are great! There are more staff members than I expected, 3 girls in their 20’s and 3 guys in their 30’s and up. Other than that my expectations were incredibly and surprisingly accurate. It is a small school. There are only 10 students, 6 guys and 4 girls, and I’m happy to announce that I’m the only American. One guy is from Canada, one from London, one from New Zealand, and two from Lebanon, although one of them spent 20 years living in Africa. One girl is from South Korea, one is from Jordan, and two are from Palestine. They are great, really very nice and their English is very good. The school was originally expecting 4 other students, 2 girls and a guy all from Egypt, and one other – but the government rejected their visas so they couldn’t come. That’s disappointing to me, but I’m also comforted to know a friend right now who is in Cairo, sharing the hope that Jesus gives us.

Lastly, some information that I thought was very interesting. The YWAM DTS in Cyprus used to be very big in the 70’s. It was a launch pad for training Christian leadership and missionaries for the Middle East because it is so close (a few people at my DTS only had to fly 30 minutes to get here). Later, the Middle East opened up so the school in Cyprus drastically decreased and nearly faded away. Right now, they’re in the process of rebuilding it. I asked Claude to clarify what he meant when he said the Middle East “opened up”, because I didn’t see any DTS locations in the Middle East on the YWAM website. He said that’s because they’d be shut down if the locations were listed on the website, but that they’re all over the place. Praise God!!! Since those schools became available, the need for students to come to Cyprus for a DTS drastically decreased. He also said they had one in Iraq and one in Lebanon. The one in Iraq was only recently shut down because it became too dangerous with the sectarian violence, but right after the regime toppled, YWAM was waiting to send people right in and start a school! The school in Lebanon was also shut down because of the bombings and violence with Hezbolah and Israel.

I’m writing this at 6:43am Cyprus time (which is the same as Jerusalem time and Lebanon time - 8 hours ahead of US Central). Before the sun came up, I could hear the nearby Mosques sounding/chanting their morning prayer. It was really cool, and just now, the bells on the nearby Christian churches rang and I heard dogs howling.