She had a pink hibiscus on her shoulder by her ear
It caught my glance because tattoos aren't common around here
I asked her why she had it
And she grinned without surprise
Then rubbed half off with a blue-nailed finger
And laughed with green-rimmed eyes

Why not take a chance, she asked?
What else are colours for?
If they're not used to paint your life
What do you save them for?




-random jotting from today

Old Town

Spent yesterday wandering the old town... honestly, I'd have enjoyed it more if I wasn't *living* here. And if there had been more people around- anywhere in the world, there would have been more people out enjoying the sunshine and breeze. Even on a Sunday afternoon. Especially on a Sunday afternoon.

Why does it still surprise me to hear people speaking English?

Subconsciously I still expect to hear the neighbors talking in Dutch across the fence. Schoolkids walking by should be speaking German. Shopkeepers should be arguing politely in Arabic. And I should *especially* not understand anything going on around me in airports. That I do is a little unsettling. It's been almost a year... two more weeks? And the time between hearing a voice and having those tones translate into Anglicised words is still... odd.

The only excuse I have for the delay is that hardly anyone in the southern United States speaks proper English anyway.

Travel Snapshots

No language homework today... yet. Might still happen, might not. I've been pretty good about it, especially considering there's no one to make me or even really care. Which is encouraging when I wonder how I'll do when I get overseas. To be sure, I could be travelling so much I won't be sent to language school, but I'd still want to do well whatever country I lived in,and I absolutely hate being an obvious foreigner. In Holland, I didn't care if I stood out, as long as it was for the right reasons- height, sports passion, multilingualness.... And some accent was okay, especially when they said I sounded more British or Canadian than American :P But not to stand out as an awkward, 'visibly unassimilated' outsider. And I don't really see that changing. Which means extra study here and now. *shrugs*

I'm a little curious as to whether some of the recent tax law changes in europe and friends leaving are going to mean any changes in leadership or timing... is there *any* chance I could make my way over before next year? I realised today, while out on a run, that I've still got a footlocker or two in storage over there, wondering how I'm going to get it out. Or if, you know, I even really need it anytime soon. Was reading about Rebekah at the well (Genesis 24) yesterday- I never caught the speed of the story before. She saw the situation as God's hand on her, and left her home for the future in about 24 hrs. I've read that story several times before, and yet I'm at an age and place where God could very easily send me out as well. And would I be as graceful about it? For the adventure, definitely! In full trust in God and His timing in the surprise invitation- that would be harder. And could I make ready and be gone in 24 hours? She probably had servants, lol, but it's still a good challenge. Should we ever be to the point where we couldn't leave everything behind in 24 hours to follow God's call?

"Does He not say that where two or three are met in His name, there He is in the midst of them?"

"Yes."

"Then thus far I will justify myself to you, that, if I do not go to what you call *church*, I yet often make one of a company met in His name."

"He does not limit the company to two or three."

"Assuredly not. But if I find I get more help and strength with a certain few, why should I go with a multitude to get less? Will you draw a line other than the Master's? Why should it be more sacred to worship with five hundred or five thousand than with three? If He is in the midest of them, they cannot be wrongly gathered!"


-George MacDonald, 'The Elect Lady'

Still working on overseas opportunities for next year...

And, yeah, I'll admit I'm frustrated it won't be sooner. At least I'm getting to the stage where I think I can see the hand of God in that, and not just wondering why He won't do the 'logical' thing and send me over sooner. I know how good this time for me here is. And I'm grateful for the discussions that are going on even now that might give me a job over there that I'd really love, and maybe have long-term. I was so ready to go in February- I would have happily gotten on a plane within six hours and been at the training, and then on across the sea. Which would have been crazy fun on one hand, but I think this will be better, long-term.

I'm just not very good with long-term. And considering that it affects life so much, long-term is probably something God's working with me nowadays.

new favourite place. and new half-way point, eminently visitable. a library just blocks down from our church. with wifi. and hidden corners near windows, where i can sit, access internet, and watch squirrels outside. a small downside is that the web system blocks xanga, so i'll have to upload certain jottings later. but blogger.com is fine, so i'll def be more motivated to keep that up.

"You have to hang up your travelling shoes and stop wandering sooner or later, don't you?"
"So I've been told. Personally, I just keep on wandering."
- Dr. Who

Found this while working on campus... hardly thought one day I'd be applying it to heading out from there myself.


"God does not ask us to do the things that are easy to us naturally. He only aks us to do the things that we are perfectly fitted to do by His grace." - Oswald Chambers

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.
- Mark Twain

"You've both escaped from somewhere, haven't you?"
"Frequently."

- Dr. Who

Nice new photo database I found... http://www.dropshots.com/

What affects men sharply about a foreign nation is not so much finding or not finding familiar things; it is rather not finding them in the familiar place.
G.K. Chesterton

"When you remember me, it means that you have carried something of who I am with you, that I have left some mark of who I am on who you are. It means that you can summon me back to your mind even though countless years and miles may stand between us. It means that if we meet again, you will know me. It means that even after I die, you can still see my face and hear my voice and speak to me in your heart.

For as long as you remember me, I am never entirely lost. When I'm feeling most ghost-like, it is your remembering me that helps remind me that I actually exist. When I'm feeling sad, it's my consolation. When I'm feeling happy, it's part of why I feel that way.

If you forget me, one of the ways I remember who I am will be gone. If you forget, part of who I am will be gone. "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." the good thief said from his cross (Luke 23:42). There are perhaps no more human words in all of Scripture, no prayer we can pray so well."
-Frederick Buechner

So ready to go. All these resources - language learning, storytelling, history and underlying rationale of it all - lie at my fingertips. And the more I explore them the more impatient I get, it seems. I know there's a time for everything, but some fast-forwarding motion would be nice. I want to *be* challenged to explain why I want to go, *be* in training, and *be* overseas working my heart out.

Finding a thought-provoking spiritual gifts test online, realising that's probably going to come into play later as well....

This question I couldn't easily answer, as much as I'd love to give a decisive 'yes'.
"I am ready to try the impossible because I have a great trust in God."
With my heart, sure I'd agree, and the word 'impossible' is such a beautiful challenge, as is 'trust'. I'd just be wary of whether it meant emotionally/mentally/spiritually possible, or physically possible. Physically, as in 'translate all 33 stories in half a year' - bring it on! So I guess 'yes' to the impossible... I don't know if that'd be based more on the adventure sense or on the trust in God, though. I do trust that God can do impossible things through us, through me, when He wants to.

"I do NOT feel uncomfortable when people drop in unexpectedly."
This one's funny, because by nature and from growing up overseas, I'm highly comfortably with unexpected visitors.

Strongest end scores - Hospitality, Going, Craftsmanship, Helping, Encouragement, Music, Writing.


Interesting. Seems pretty in-line with how life is, with what I love... taking care of people and doing my own jobs well, not to mention no-brainer inescapables like writing and music :) And just think if I get the videography job this summer- such a beautiful combination of craftsmanship, music, helping, and encouragement :)

Life is suddenly better, this February. It looks like there's a chance I may be heading back overseas, though not before fall. I had started studying Arabic, then went ahead and switched to Italian- the Middle East is still a possibility, but Europe tugs at me more. And I still have a half-finished workbook from last year, so it's easy to get back into it.

Knowing there's 'a future and a hope' just makes this year so much more faceable. Like I was telling someeone the other day, I "spent two challenging, delightful, frustrating weeks in SC with the wilderness training, then two weeks here wondering how it all went wrong, and what I was going to do with my life." But now I think I can see a little further into the future, a little more of what has for me. And that revs me up, so to speak, because when I know what's coming I can prepare for it. Just the simple step of studying Italian helps, as do some recent storytelling resources.

So we'll just have to see how all this develops, but I'd be highly excited (and not very surprised) to be on the road again soon....

“I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel's sake. The great affair is to move.”

Robert Louis Stevenson