Russian Orthodox!

Today my friend Adam and I attended a Russian Orthodox church in San Fran. I didn't quite know what to expect even though he tried to prepare me. The outside had the great big gold Russian dome things...I hope you know what I am talking about, along with some very pretty murals on the outside. When you walk in though, WOW! It just takes your breath away.

The entire inside of the cathedral was painted with iconography (paintings/picutes/murals). It was all in very deep, rich colors but mostly crimson and gold. The floor was wooden expect for the crimson strip of carpet that was directly down the center of the cathedral and led straight to the alter at the far end of the cathedral. There was alot of wood stuff too. There was a wall that seperated the priests and elements from the congregation. The dome was enromous. It literally made you look to the heavens. I can see why at one time everything was very eloborate and grandoise. It makes you stand in awe of what is before you and at the same time (for me) reminds you how big and grand our God is and how we should stand in awe of God and all God does. It all just makes you look up to the heavens and think, wow, this is amazing!

The iconography depicted stories of Jesus' life, saints, Mary and baby Jesus, and other biblical stories. Some that I noticed were Jesus birth, his baptism, raising Lazarus, crucifixion, taking him off the cross, putting him in the tomb, empty tomb, ascension, last supper, on the mount with Moses and Elijah, and Abraham about to sacrifice Isaac. There was the body of Bishop John Maximos on display for honoring. He was the bishop of San Francisco and Shang Hi apparently. When his body was exumed many years ago, his body had not decomposed. So basically his body was in a display case and you could see his black (from death) hands. It was actually very beautiful how he was dressed but kinda weird at the same time.

There were like for pews and they were only there for the elderly so they could sit if they needed to, otherwise everyone stood! You stood for the entire service...and service lasted about 2 hours! The entire service is sung. There is a choir that sings but you never see them. They are beautiful though. It is like voices coming from heaven since you never see them and the sound just rise up into the dome at the top of the cathedral! It was all done in the Russian language. There was only one time I remember actually being able to understand what was being said and it was hard to understand even then cause it was being chanted. BUT I do know at some point the priest said something about "the armor of God".

There were little alter boys that kept going back and forth from behind the wall through the congregation and out the back. i have no idea what they were doing or where they were going. I am sure it had something to do with eucharist. They had these round gold trays and on them were 2-3 biscuit looking things and a little book.

For communion, the people made a line and would walk up to the priests, the priests would put this "bib" around the persons neck, the person would bend over and the "head" priest would serve them communion by a spoon. Apparently they put the cut up bread in the wine, and then dip out a piece of bread for those receiving communion. Apparently, not everyone takes communion each week. This week it was like all the little kids took communion. I don't know. I understood from the whole priest serving you and the bib that, we "peasants" aren't holy enough to even touch the bread or cup! I don't know that I am right but that is what it felt like!

All in All I really liked it as an experience but not as how I would want to worship regularly! Nonetheless a very cool experience!

Blessed Adventurer,

Liz

Fire Station #2

Since I have been here in Berkeley, I have adopted a fire station! One day I was walking home from working out at the Y and the ambulance drove by and then parked a little ways up the road! I stood there in a dilemna...do I just stand here and stare, do I walk on home, do I go talk to the what seemed to be good looking firemen that just drove by...oh dear what do I do! Ah ha! It hit me...I need a station to take goodies to and this is a perfect opportunity to find a close fire station! Little did I know the ambulance parked right in front of the fire station it belonged to! So as I walked up to the ambulance I realized, Oh there is the station...so now what do I ask? So I introduced myself and told them what I wanted to do! They told me this was the station I needed to bring goodies to and shift C was the shift I had now adopted! They also told me when I come by to bring 3 dice so I could play Liar's dice game with them! I asked what is that and they just said you will have to come and learn! So I left now knowing where my station was! A few days later I made some dessert enchiladas and took it to the station, unfortunately all but like 3 were out on runs! So I gave them the dessert and one of them invited me to come back for dinner with them! Oh how cool! I already had plans that evening and so I declined but later in the evening I thought as a way of accepting the invitation but still declining I would stop by on my way to my other engagement and say thank you and maybe next time! So I stopped by and they said some other time would be fine!

Well since then, I have taken dessert maybe 3 or 4 times and I have had dinner twice with them! I have learned to play liar's dice game...it is still a bit fuzzy to me but i think i could teach others! One night they invited me to stick around and watch a movie with them. So we ate dessert and watched Iron Man!

One day I stopped by to pick up my pans and chatted with them and I ended up getting a ride on the great big truck! I rode kinda in the Tiller Box which is the box at the end of the huge truck and it actually has a stering wheel so it can steer the wheel underneath it! They have to steer back there because the truck is so long without it they would never make the turns in the city!

The guys at the station have been wonderful! They are so nice and are very funny! They have been awesome at trying to understand what I mean by sacred dance...don't get me wrong they still make fun of me but hey, what can you do?!!

Monumental birthday

Technically me birthday was celebrated on OCt 18th because my birthday present to myself was the Hot Air Balloon ride! Then when I came home over Halloween, the youth and adults gave me some cupcakes, sang Happy Birthday and gave me a coupon book!

Well my actual birthday ended up being quite a day! This year my birthday will forever be written in history! My birthday is the day the first African-American President was elected! I don't particularly care whether you are excited about the decision this country made, either way it is a sgnificant moment in our history!

At lunch, my friend Lindsay stood up and in her "big girl voice" announced to the dining hall it was my 27th birthday and they all sang "Happy Birthday" to me!

That night Alvin said his son was coming to pick him up for dinner and wanted to know if I would join them! I knew I had plans to go bowling with Lindsay but knew she would understand me spending time with his family. I had no idea that they knew it was my birthday!! Bob showed up with a little planter with a pink rose plant and a card! We went and ate at a little Thai place here in Berkeley! It was a great dinner. Ruth joined us too!

After that Lindsay and I went to Albany Bowl and danced, bowled and had a great time! Our dance moves seemed to draw attention to us! The lane next to us were shouting "Break it down girls" and "Uh-oh, look at you go!"

The next day Karen from my Tuesday class took me to lunch at a little Sushi place off of Euclid. It was awesome too! I tried tempura for the first time and it was very delicious! She is a sweetheart! It was great to sit and visit with her about her journey and to just have a friend close to my age and interested in religion! That is something I miss in Oklahoma!

3 hour Service!

Well I know the clock disappeared apparently sometime ago at Wickline because time wasn't supposed to be an issue for service! Even though at City of Refuge there is a clock at the back, time didn't seem to be a factor! Service lasted from 1 to 4pm! It was filled with up beat music, drama, dance, balloons, prayer, and dynamic preaching! I honestly can say I would never have assumed it was 3 hours after I arrived for worship! Everything seemed to flow into the next and it never lulled! It was very very neat service to be a part especially being a minority!

Thank Goodness They Let Me Go!

The last day Melissa was here we took an adventure to San Fran again this time with my friends Lindsay and Eric! We went to Alcatraz island and Fisherman's wharf! We took this bus their and when we got off we had to find another bus but at that corner there was a bit of construction so we couldn't find the sign that identified where our bus would stop.

 I noticed a couple officers standing at the corner and it seemed logical that they would know where the bus stop should be! That assumption was not correct and it gave my friends lots of ammunition to tease me! I walked over and asked where the Muni 10 bus stop was and they were like...duh! i don't know! So I chatted with them a moment and then left! We crossed the street only to find out the bus stop was where we had been! So as we crossed back across the street, I walked over to the officers and told them..."just in case someone else asks you where the Muni 10 stop is, it is right over here!"

 They laughed and i stood and talked to them a few more minutes til the bus arrived. Well Lindsay and Melissa both laugh at me cause they say I flirt with them without knowing it! I really don't know what they are talking about but they give me a hard time either way!

So we boarded the ferry to the island and off we went! The island was very neat and the tour was great!

 It talked about how 3 men escaped from their cells and technically off the island but there has never been any evidnce to suggest they actually made it to land! They had spent almost a year digging a hole behind the vents in their rooms big enough for them to get out. They created fake heads to put on their beds so it appeared they were still sleeping. They somehow fashioned a make shift boat out of a rain jacket! It is so fasinating that somehow they got the supplies to make these fake heads that looked so real!

Afterwards we went to Fisherman's Wharf and ate some seafood and watched (and listened) to the sea lions!




I think that wraps up that day!

Hot Air Balloon over Napa

4:30am two days in a row is no bueno for this girl! But we got up and at 'em! We arrived, re-signed the "if you die, you can't sue us" forms, and headed off to the launch site. This time the cards were in our favor! They started filling up the balloon with hot air! They are so huge! There were 16 of us in the balloon...4 in each of the corners of the basket! It is the largest type of passenger basket! We had to climb over the basket to get in! We were next to a very sweet couple! All of a sudden we looked down and we were like 10 feet off the ground! You couldn't even really tell you were floating! It was crazy! The sun was jusst barely coming up over the mountains to the east! Fog was barely covering the tips of the mountains on both sides. The vineyards varied in color, size, and direction creating such a beautiful display on the ground. There were about 8-10 other balloons in the air at the same time! So we could watch them rise and fall in the air! We travelled a whole 2.7 mph! It was such a neat experience! It was awesome to see God's creation from above!

this is one of the things on my list of "Things I WILL do in my lifetime"! Check! It is so cool to know i am accomplishing things on my list! :-)

Balloon or Bust

So we rose at 4:30am to get ready to head to Napa, CA for our Hot Air Balloon Ride! We arrived, filled out the "if you die, you can't sue us" form, and awaited our departure! We hopped into one of the vans that was taking us to our launch site! Our driver was very nice! He didn't talk a whole lot, well he did when we asked him questions! We arrived at our 1st launch site (yes our 1st) and they told us it was too "breezy"! Apparently "too breezy" means 7-8 mph on the ground. So they asked if you just had to fly over Napa, the vans would take you back if it was ok to fly over another area load up and they were going to take us to another launch site. So Melissa and I decided to go to the 2nd launch site. On our way there we saw this crazy driver swerving all over the road, it was so bad we called the cops! When we arrived at our second site, the wind picked up and almost blew the balloon away! So we had to reschedule for the next day!

So we decided to switch our plans for Sunday to Saturday and decided to head to San Fran. We went to Chinatown. I bought me a tea set and tried on some very cool silk jackets that I loved! We ate at a restaurant that was kinda hidden which made us laugh. We took a red cable/trolly car to Lombard street. The cable car stopped for a while in the middle of the road so we had our driver take pictures of us hanging off the side of the car! We arrived at the wrong end of Lombard street. We were on the bottom side of the gigantic hill! So we had to trek up this huge hill to get to the part that is all squiggly! Then we jumped (well not literally) on the bus and went to the Golden Gate Bridge. It was dark by this time and it was all lit up by the lights! It was a beautiful site! On our way up the sidewalk, we saw a skunk! It was walking around in the flowers and bushes!