My Saturday night at the sea-parting festival was one of the worst and also best nights of my life. You see, Justin, Dan, Kevin, and I opted to not use our reservation for our room because our co-teacher at LanGCon booked us a room two hours away from the festival. Why? Who the heck knows, but the last bus back to where our room was booked left at 7:20 and we had only just arrived at the festival at 4:30. There was no way we were leaving the festival that quickly after traveling 11 hours to get there. So, our other travel “buddies”(Ricki, Tina, and Elizabeth) invited us to stay in their room. We were all very exhausted and ended up lying down at 9pm. The lights went out at 9:30, but that was only the beginning of the horrible that was my night.
From 9:30-2am, Ricki, Tina, and Elizabeth talked about nothing but crude things so loud that they were literally shouting. This wore on my nerves as I had only slept 3 hours in the last 36 hours at this point and traveled for so long and then walked around for 5 hours. By “crude things” I mean they literally were talking about their breasts, vaginas, and sexual things so openly that it made me want to gag. On top of that, they were feeling each other up like lesbians. They thought it was hilarious to the point they laughed so hard they couldn’t breath and were snorting. Things got out of hand when they at one point ripped on Christianity and made fun of not knowing about Jesus. On top of that, for some reason they decided it was ok to interupt Dan all day when he tried to say something, including asking about going to dinner, amongst other things. Then, at around midnight in their hysterics, they made fun of Dan having smelly feet (which he clinically can’t help because it is genetic) to the point that he got mad and left the room. Justin went to talk to Dan and have him come back to the room to get some rest. This is when things crossed over the line for me.
All three of the girls decided to rip into Dan AND Justin after they had left the room. They said Dan is a huge baby and should take things like a man and they said Justin was a momma’s boy and acting like Dan’s mom and keeper. Why would they think it was ok to say this stuff about my friends while I was lying there listening? Anyways, apparently Kevin didn’t hear this exchange because he had dozed off. So, I was the only witness to it. This comes into play later on.
Dan and Justin returned and the loud ruckus continued. It only got worse as the night went on. At about 12:30, the Korean men who had rented the room next to us checked into their room. They were louder than Ricki, Tina, and Elizabeth if that is possible. I couldn’t take it anymore, so I asked the girls to quiet down and be considerate so I could go to sleep. They did not do so and said things like “Ok, mom” and complained about me suggesting sleep and “telling them what to do.” I snapped at this point and swore at them saying they are not good friends and never have been and asked what is wrong with them. (Backstory: The same girls do nothing but go to the bars. Their lives are full of drama. They constantly talk about drinking and dancing and going to the clubs. We have constantly invited them to go to places other than the bars, but this was the first time in 10 weeks they actually went with us. So, I should mention that when we were at the sea-parting festival, they did nothing but complain. They kept saying how lame it was and that it was overhyped. GET THIS: THEY DIDN’T EVEN DO THE SEA-WALK!!!)
I am going to admit something very personal right now. I stopped reading the Bible last September. I was fed up with the fakeness of what is most American “Christians” who simply go to church on Sundays and are only happy when they are gossiping about people and destroying their reputations. I wanted nothing to do with church. However, I find myself missing God so much that it pains me at times in my mind. I finally got to the point where I was reminded of my fraternity life situation in college. I have been hanging out with people that do not know God and the worst part, I have become OF THE WORLD instead of just in it. I was hanging out with people that had nothing in common with my moral interests and find very sinful things acceptable. Worst part, I enjoy sin. I like the feeling of drinking and dancing (by dancing, I mean grinding). I like telling dirty jokes and swearing a lot. It is easy to do. But, the easy thing to do is not the right thing. So, I fought with the idea of only having 1-2 beers when I went out, but non-Christians always point out, “Well, you were there at the bar all those times with us.” You see, they justify their drunkeness and don’t even see that I was only having like one beer an hour, if that. I don’t need these kinds of accusations in my life.
The last straw for me was having to hear these three girls fain lesbianism for nearly 5 hours and talk about nothing but sexual things in disgusting detail and plop pot shots down about Christianity.
The girls of course were very pissed off, but did actually quiet down. But, the guys next door were so loud that it was nearly as bad as hearing the girls talk. Then, get this, the girls started complaining about the noise next door! HAHAHAHA, what?!?!? I couldn’t believe it.
So, I got up and went to the room next door to ask them to please quiet down so we could sleep. They obliged and I went back to our room only to find the door locked. I knocked, but no one answered. So, at this point I just sat there outside the room so pissed off that I actually thought of breaking down the door with my shoulder. I was so thoroughly exhausted and cold, as it was in the 30s at night with 25mph gusts of wind.
After about 10 minutes, I knocked again and this time, Kevin opened the door. I gathered my things and left. I put on multiple layers and climbed a nearby mountain and tried to sleep in a pile of leaves. This didn’t work. I nearly froze to death (literally). So, I started to walk around to keep my blood flowing. I got so desperate that I found a public bathroom that was open and used the hand dryer in it to warm myself up a little bit. I got no sleep.
However, I found God again. I promised myself not to hang out with these kinds of people anymore. I am sick of the devil winning me over. I sat and stargazed (it cleared up for a bit at about 3:30am) and I watched some Buddhist monks perform some rituals on the sea shore. I came across a seagull that had been hit by a car and couldn’t watch it as it sat there dying, so I walked away. Later on, I saw that it had been ran over and killed. I started thinking about how life is so pecular and can end so suddenly. That I tend to take things for granted and complain too much, when I have all that I need.
The next day, I decided not to spend time with anyone, including Justin, Dan, and Kevin. Nothing against them, but I was exhausted and felt that time alone was best.
On Monday morning, Justin told me that he doesn’t believe me that Ricki, Tina, and Elizabeth talked poorly about him when he left the room to talk to Dan. This is where the whole Kevin alseep thing comes into play. It is my word against the girls. Justin doesn’t believe me. I think that Justin and I are starting to be on different paths. He seems not to mind hanging out with non-Christians that 90% of the time do nothing but go to the bars and call that a “social life”. I, however, am going to continue to search for a church family while I am here and seek out God and people that are rooted in His living word as I get back into the swing of Christian living.
I know I am no better than other people, that I am a sinner. But, I am sick of being so lazy and not making the right kinds of differences in other people’s lives and letting myself get so angry and bitter. So, I will press on and pray that I can heal.
There were kites flying, the sun was trying desperately to come out, it was a bit warmer, and I went farther out on the sea walk the second time. My feet still hurt and it has now been 5 days since I walked on the rocks. I saw a boat parade, with different kinds of percussionists playing their hearts out along the shore. There was a boat show with the boats forming different shapes and if you were up on the mountain like I was, it was quite a sight to see.
