The 14 floors of poorly maintained floors had a faint smell of trash and has cracks in the walls coupled with peeling paint, layed in hopes of once being a thriving resort… as I entered this building I had no idea of the vision and work that was layed into its foundation and walls, let alone the other 2 mirrired towers complete with a beautiful pool… the seemingly only upkept area of the resort, and it was indeed, very nice. The rock archway that was a bridge across the pool, and the long island in the middle of the pool making for a gorgeous getaway from all the hustle and bustle of life, swimming in the pool gave an extremely nice feeling of what the vision was for this place.
It wasn’t until my 3rd day there that I realized the full potential of what this pool could be, I walked past the people, through the corridors that felt like a mix of Afghanistan and western influence. Smiling with the girls and at the same time keeping a keen knowledge of my surroundings and being aware of what is and what could be. As the bunch of us got in the pool, I really felt at peace. I made sure our items were safe, and made sure I had fun with the girls in the pool… but little did I know how much fun I was about to actually have.
I was quickly labeled “The dragon” because of my ability to stalk people underwater and make loud noises, spraying water everywhere. After we got in an argument with who owned the island, I quickly realized that women of this age still have the ability to reason and win arguments with ease, truly this skill is developed at a young age and matures very quickly; I was in shock. I crept into my cove and sunbathed for a while, then flipped into the water in pursuit of the women, then I realized “I should be nice to them!” so as I emerged out of the water slowly and wiped my eyes to see 3 angry women staring at me, I simply asked “Can I come over and play with you? It’s your island.” They all smiled and said “Oh Good! Now we can have a banquet and invite the dragon because he is good now!” So I was quickly rushed over to a section of the island where the first course of food was served, and I wrapped my shirt around my head so it looked like long hair, we ate our “food” which was leaves on leaves… and laughed as we talked in the afternoon breeze.
I rushed over to apply the beauty of nature to my new hat (That now looked like a turban) applied long sharp leaves, dangling large leaves, and small bits of “dinner” to my brow. I transformed from a dragon to a prince, and invited everyone in the pool to a dance.
We all bowed to eachother and I began singing a melodic tune that enthused the girls as we danced in all fravality, using as much energy as possible, the twirling and singing was a memory all by itself, but when I stopped, gently panting, I noticed the people in the surrounding towers, staring at all of us, and I can only imagine what they were thinking… I just smiled and continued to dance and have fun with these fine women until it was time to go.
I later found out that us having that amount of fun with kids was a testimony that went beyond all languages spoken here. Older people do not hang out or have fun with youth, there’s just “no importance in it” so me having that amount of fun must have made them ask the question “Should we love the youth?” the thought of all westerners being Christians is the mindset of everyone here, and it was told later to me by Kay that “Just having fun like that was a huge testimony to the locals of what Christianity looks like” I just smiled after I heard that, and walked away wondering what other opportunities I could have.
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