ghetto FABULOUS

ahh...it's good to be back in Vancouver, and it's good to be back in blogosphere.
it's been quite a week in Old Orchard Beach, Maine.
we prayed, preached, prophesied, partied...it was my "best life ever."

re-entry, as usual, was jarring.
though i have lived in the Downtown East side for 2 years now (wow!) i still feel shocked every time i return to it.

i slept all day on planes, on buses and in airports, due to the all-nighter i pulled my last night in Maine (bad idea-- mom, dad, i will listen to your advice forever!)
as a result, i arrived in the DTES feeling like a drug-addict who needed some up (and probably looking like one too). how very incarnational of me.

as we pulled up to my apartment the first thing we notice is a firetruck parked right outside my door! the next thing we notice is an ambulance appearing and multiple paramedics rushing into my door, up the stairs.
we follow them up the stairs, lugging our under 50 lbs. suitcases behind us.
it turns out that one of my house-mates was having a bad reaction to some Tylenol-3s he had taken previously. nothing serious, but still quite a jolting, dramatic entrance back into our household. welcome home.

then i sat on a couch and chatted with my family here about my time in Maine. after sitting for a few minutes i realized that i was scratching my ankles furiously. these were no left-over mosquito bites from Maine. nor was this the irritating sensation of peeling, sunburned skin. no-- these were something else i'm equally familiar with-- bedbug bites. i'm back for less than one hour and i've already met 10 paramedics and been assaulted by a pestilence. welcome home.

i indulged myself with a (much needed) bath...in the dark because our bathroom light isn't working. i went to bed early and awoke early (i love jet lag) only to lay in bed and listen to the hullabaloo in the alley beneath my window. it's good to be back.

as i walked down the street yesterday i felt like it was dirtier then ever before. i figured that it was just the culture shock of leaving and returning-- but then someone informed me that the garbage workers have all gone on strike for the past 4 weeks. this means that dumpsters are overflowing, alleys are teeming, and the sidewalks are beginning to remind me of Nigeria. piles and piles of garbage everywhere and anywhere. this has also resulted in a new discovery of a RAT in our house. i've come to terms with cockroaches and mice, but rats!? oh man, we'd better get rid of that union... ;o)
it's a lovely reality to return home to.

i have never been anywhere quite like the DTES. it's horrible, and i have many reasons why i should hate it here-- but it seems to have this strange sucking power. i suppose that's the call of God on my life. if you could separate my life from the Divine, then my love for this neighborhood is inexplicable. He's given me a love for the DTES that is real-- it's not a "i SHOULD love the poor, so i'll be good to them." it's a genuine love that even overflows into smiling as i drive down Hastings street (the view from a car window is an angle i'm not used to).

i'm in love with this place, even though i'm sure that i don't "belong" here. i don't belong anywhere really...i'm a citizen of heaven, but the DTES is treating me well as a home-away-from-home while i'm still alive.

whenever i go away from this place, i breathe a sigh of relief, and begin to think how sweet it could be to move away. but whenever i return i feel giddy and lovesick and wonder what is going on with my heart.