I'm International Now! Part One

I want to take you guys back to the summer of 2004. This was the summer I went to Bulgaria for a mission trip. I'll keep it real and let you see things through my eyes. The events leading up to it and the time spent will be documented. I know you're ready, so let's get into it, ya heard?















It was a normal Sunday at my church when Bob Crews came up to me and asked me if I was interested in doing mission work. My first thought was, yeah I could do it. However, he told me that we would be going across the pond(that's what I call the Atlantic Ocean) to Europe. I'm like, are you for real? I most definitely had to be a part of it!! This was probably 3 months before the trip happened, so Justin, Bob, and myself had to go to an orientation discussing to events that lie ahead. They broke down the language that the people spoke, the shots we had to take to avoid disease, and other things. The guy said somethin' about how things were opposite. For example, if I was to nod my head yes, that means no! Say what?! They also talked about mafias over there. They say you can tell them from everybody else because they wore jewelry and rode around in Benzs. Well, that meant I had to leave my jewelry in the States. Really don't wanna cause trouble(even though I did... tell ya little later). With all this going on, I still had to request time off from my job. Honestly, I was worried. I had only been there for 5 months. How was I gonna ask for time off like that? I wasn't for sure that I was gonna be able to go. I guess my prayer was answered because my boss said I could go. I was pleasantly shocked. With that taken care of, I had to get my shots. I know this is hard to believe, considering I have tattoos, but I don't care for needles. I ain't gonna freak out, it's different when the needle is on the skin, where as the needle was going in. I'm not a veiny person, so they had to search for a vein. Really fun. About as fun your wisdom teeth getting yanked on. After that, all that was left was waiting for the trip. I had my doubts, I ain't gonna lie. I never been on an airplane. After the 9/11 stuff happened, I REALLY wasn't likin' airplanes. I never been outside the United States. Lookin' back now, I believe I was nervous about being taken outta my comfort zone. It's natural. Humans are creatures of habit. Talking to Justin about it eased my fears. Other than that, I was ready to roll. July came quick. Before you know it, I was telling my parents good-bye. I met Bob and Justin about 6 a.m so we could ride to Chicago to catch our flight. We got there about noon or 1 p.m. We were gonna take 2 flights. The first flight was from Chi-town to Germany. That was an over night flight. Let me tell you, airplanes are uncomfortable. I couldn't really relax like I wanted to. It didn't matter. I was really excited to be flying and I wasn't trippin'! The ladies who worked on the plane were very sexy! There's somethin' about women it uniform. They do it for me! Alright, I gettin' sidetracked. Back to the story(this ain't the last time I'm gonna talk about the ladies! Believe that!). The plane ride was an over night flight. They were showing movies on the flight. I remember watching Sherk 2. I love that movie. Pinnoco and Ginger Bread Man killed me! I was liking flying more and more!! Then they showed Dirty Dancing Havana Nights. One word: Lame. I think I fell asleep in the first 30 minutes of it. I couldn't change the channel like I could if I seen a lame movie like this. Eventually, we made it to Germany. I'm not an easy person to intimidate, but the guards were VERY scary. I knew security would be souped up, due to 9/11. These dudes had guns. I don't think they were AKs, but they had the long clip. But still, they had guns! I've shot little guns like 9 millies and 357s, but I never shot guns like they had. Anyway, we took the flight from Germany to Sophia, the capital of Bulgaria. Before that, I wanna tell a story. While we was on the plane, a little girl was an isle to my right. Just by looking at her, she was about to get sick. I pay her no mind and put my music on. All of the sudden: RRRFFFFFFF! The poor little girl is puking her guts out. You all know how puke smells really stanky? Yeah, it smelled really stanky!!!! We are all in a small area, so you can't get away from the funk! Anyway, we finally touch down on Friday afternoon. I'm jet lagged like a motha, but we gotta switch out our money. We meet up this dude named Skip. He told us that the people may try to rob us, so we needed to be careful. I remember telling him if somebody tries to rob me, that person is getting their ass kicked and I gettin' my money back! He looked at me awkwardly after I said that. I wasn't playin'! Ain't nobody gonna rob me and get away with my dough. I don't care where we at!!!! After we changed out out money, we walked around Sophia. Even though I was worn out, that wasn't gonna stop me from checkin' out the local ladies. I remember the guy at the orientation said they weren't hot. Who's he tryin' to lie to? These women was fine as they wanna be. Of course, I'm gettin' alot of stares. At first, I was getting mad. They was lookin' at me like they wanna do somethin' Where I'm from, that's grounds for fightin'. It's considered dissin'. You just don't do that, man. Then I looked at like this: I'm a stranger in a strange land. Just like a woman in L.A who has natural breast and can move her face because she hasn't been Bo toxed, or a New York Yankee fan who wasn't annoying, I was an oddity. I guess they don't see alot of Black people. Especially a 6'3 280 Black guy. It's just like Benton, just only over seas!!!! We made our rounds through the city and met up with our interpreter at that moment. Her name was Deniese. She's a really nice lady and answered all of our concerns. This is gonna be it for awhile. I will be comin' up with a part 2 eventually. The next segment will be on the actual activities at our work site. So until next time............