First Couchsurfing

big white house
3 Bob Marley dogs
a deaf cat that sat at the top of the stairs and howled
she was so easy-going, so easy to talk to, like i'd known her for years (the girl, not the cat)
working nights in a lab trying to save money for med school
i'm pretty sure she's traveled everywhere on earth
but she's not the braggy, worldly type, simply adventurous and sweet
her friend invited us to see Christmas lights
her friend went to Christian universities and wants to go into ministry
which immediately made me wary
but...the friend was really sweet, didn't advertise that a whole lot, it just came up
we went to Fazoli's (little known fact: Lexington is the birthplace of Fazoli's)
turns out Christmas lights were actually a live walk-thru Nativity
i think Couchsurfing host was embarrassed, but she shouldn't have been
it was nice to be far from home doing home-like things
and...the more I got to know the friend, the more I was pleased to have met a sane Christian
she reminded me of myself when i was in high school (pre-A&M harassment)
she wants to go into ministry for the right reasons, and she doesn't want to convert anyone, and she's very unhappy with the way churches spend money, and she said she was surprised i didn't run screaming when two people i just met invited me to a nativity, and she hates the fakey-fakey-ness of church ---> sane
the Nativity was actually really well done, tons of people acting, several different parts of Bethlehem
scary soldiers, and children asking for alms
my favorite part was a lady leaning out of the Inn window, explaining with hands up and shoulders shrugged, in her thick Kentucky accent, 'looks like we just got lucky, got the last room in the inn!'
a huge, loud marketplace, with tons of people selling rugs and pots and chickens and fish
they even had prostitutes and fortune tellers
and bunnies! I pet a bunch of bunnies, and a horse. they had chickens too but i didn't pet them.
i even saw the nurse manager i worked with in the NICU
i went to bed pretty early that night, they stayed up and watched Gray's Anatomy
before i left at 5am, I stuck an Austin, TX magnet on her fridge and left a bottle of hot sauce on the counter
I highly recommend couchsurfing...fantastic