Why Are They Called Colds?

Sorry I fell off the radar for a while there. I've had a cold. Which means that I missed a lot of lectures and got to know the ends and outs of my little dorm room like the back of my hand. Actually, I mostly slept which is really sad because my parents came to visit. I had so many plans and I'm not sure we accomplished anything. I'm really sorry about that, but I'm still grateful they came.

Anyway, I'm on the mend now so be prepared for profound writing any time now. . . but, if I continued now most of what I have to say would be discussions of mucus, so I'll spare you and make this short.

At least I'll leave you with the postings of pictures on Flickr. (see the top right box)

Silly Things for Friday: Karma Police

What does your music library say about you?

*Put Your iTunes, winamp, mp3 player or whatever on SHUFFLE*For each question, press the next button to get your answer (no cheating)*You must write down song/artist even if it doesn't make sense*Include any comments in parenthesis*

What do your friends say about you?
"Fitter Happier" Radiohead (I hope not!)

2. How would your coworkers describe you?
"Forgiveness" Luna Halo (Sounds about right.)

3. How would you describe yourself?
"Frommer's Best of Paris" (Hmmm. Not sure how this got on my MP3)

4. What do you like in a romantic partner?
"Good Times Gonna Come" Aqualung

5. How do you feel today?
"Good Vibrations" The Beach Boys (*giggle* I am in a good mood.)

6. What is your life's purpose?
"Grace" Jeff Buckley

7. What is your motto?
"Hallelujah" Jeff Buckley (the last two are interesting . . . not Christian songs FYI but pretty on anyway.)

8. What do you think about the most?
And I'll "Hang on to You" Luna Halo (I want this to be true.)

9. What are you going to do on your next vacation?
"Haiti" Arcade Fire (Hahahaha! It's is great how this makes sense, but is probably not true.)

10. What do you think of your first love/date?
"He Woke Me Up Again" Sufjan Stevens

11. What is your life story?
"Heart in Hand" Bethany Nobles (That's right on.)

12. What did you do yesterday?
"Heaven" Luna Halo (My player is loving them today.)

13. What do you think of when you see the person you like/love?
"Heaven When We're Home" Wailin' Jennys (SO true.)

14. What describes your wedding?
"Hold Nothing Back" Copeland (Very nice.)

15. What will they play at your funeral?
"Holy" Bethany Nobles (I probably would make her play at my funeral. But that's just mean.)

16. What is your obsession?
"Horton Hears a Who" Dr. Seuss (Yes, a person's a person, no matter how small.)

17. What is your biggest fear?
"I Remember" Damien Rice

18. What is your biggest secret?
"I'll Look Around" Madeleine Peyroux

19. What is your biggest turn-on?
"I'll See You in My Dreams" Django Reinhardt

20. How do you describe your friends?
"I'm Alright" Bethany Nobles (She's one anyway.)

21. What would you do with a million dollars?
"If I Fall" Aqualung

22. What is your opinion of sex?
"In the Backseat" Arcade Fire (Wow. What can I say?)

23. What is your biggest regret?
"In the Devil's Territory" Sufjan Stevens

24. What would you rather be doing right now?
"In His Temple as in the Hearts of Man for Whom Saved the Earth" Sufjan Steven (absolutely)

25. What will you post this list as?
"Karma Police" Radiohead

The Zen of Sushi

So, last night Ambra and Jenn and I escaped the farm.; after two weeks, you have to remind yourself you're still a person.

First stop, no surprise, was to the closest bookstore which happens to be a two story Barnes and Nobles. And yes, I got two books as if I wasn't constantly reading and working on projects. Consider it therapy. After much debate and help from Ambra, Jenn, and phone-in-friend Everette from New Orleans, I ended up with Ann Rand's Anthem (Did you know she was born Алиса Зиновьевна Розенбаум so I'm not really leaving my Russian literature obsession) and Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig . I'm not really clear how I ended up with this mix, but I'm going with it. Ambra got The Man Who was Thursday. I literally jumped up and down when I saw her with it in her hand; totally geeked out. It's one of my all time favourites. She now knows she has to at least fake that she likes it or I will no longer be her friend.

Next we went to Osaka Sushi and I got a very unhealthy combination of spider rolls and spicy tuna. It was fabulous after all this cafeteria food. No that I'm complaining. Today we're getting Hungarian as out "special" meal. Not sure what their translation of Hungarian will be. I'll let you know.

Next on the list was a stop at Ben Franklin, which if you're from this area you'll know that's sort of like Michaels but with a more dime store vibe. We got yarn and hooks because we have discovered that most of the speakers realize that you're in lecture for six hours a day and you might need something to keep you mind focused. I made a little sweater for my water bottle and I'm half way finished with a hat that I'm making for someone going somewhere cold. Next I'm making scarves for Jenn and Ambra. We picked out yarn for a long time before coming to some very fun conclusions. Ambra is learning quickly - but we need to learn not to be crafty too late inot the night. Sleep is essential if you're going to make it through these classes and retain anything they're throwing at you. (Seriously, Think they've gone over everything I learned in seminary over the past two weeks.)

Then we, of course, made our way to Target: the land of the free and the brave. I will miss it, but in Vienna I will have IKEA and KIKA: land of the funky light bulbs and cool kitchen cabinets. Some how the sirens called us into the clothes department and we managed to rationalize long dress purchases for upcoming cultural worship experiences/swimsuit covers for the coming summer. I think the last plan was to meet in Spain to go to the beach. We'll see if that happens, but just in case we'll have to the right cover-up for the boadwalks. We left as quickly as possible after that, but our cashier still made fun of our purchaces - but there is nothing wrong with getting sundresses, Draino, and a Downy Ball! That's what makes it such a wonderufl place!

Alrighty. Now you can see the sillier side of this crazy adventure. I hope you've enjoyed it.

Culture Shock

Apparently you should get ready for this title to be used often. But, this time I will say that I'm learning about it more than I'm living it so as to make it easier when I really experiencing differences in my new culture. As for how I'm doing, I've grown used to my surroundings so much faster than I thought. And I'm really loving it here. I owe you thanks for your part in my transition.

I now wake up before my alarm goes off at 7 - today I woke up at 4 which was a little too early to function for the day. Of course that would happen when I'm trying to cut down on coffee intake again.

I go to lectures all day about life . . . and life insurance. I skipped the mosquito class. Don't tell the nurses. I'm still not sure what shots I will get - but I didn't think I'd be getting any until I got here! I'm deciding what to do about banking options and investigating health care in Vienna. Their medicine is apparently a lot better than I gave them credit for. It will be nice to not worry about having to travel for good care. Some of my friends will not be so lucky.

I also made my first retreat to the City of Richmond. Carytown was wonderful: it's one of those areas like Magazine Street in New Orleans with plenty of shops, boutiques, salons and little cafes. There was a great ----- store where I found my brother's birthday gift. There was even a import shop called Eurotrash - where we discovered that our 'Lottie money' would not get far but it was fun to play. I'll post pictures of my adventure with my fellow Western Europe bound girls as soon as I can. They are available on Facebook now if you are my "friend."

**** News bulletin****

Amber's apartment is gorgeous. Her super just sent her a video tour of her place. It's perfect for having people over for dinner. And, with the way she cooks I'm sure people will be crowding in. If only I could get a place that close to a metro station! I can't believe they were able to find that place!

****End bulletin****

But, as I was saying, life is normalizing quickly. We were all quite challenged by our guest speaker, Stan, today as he gave us a crash course on cultural anthropology. And we were all grateful for the chocolate he tossed out to help us stay focused. Clearly, he is a brilliant man. I think a bunch of us our going to go with him to get coffee and talk more about how to communicate the God's love and His Gospel in a other cultures contexts tonight.

And, I'm also looking forward to more "special meals". Today we had pico de guillo, black beans and rice served with tortillas (rather than silverware) to experience a different way to eat. I have to say that it's been my favorite and probably one of the healthiest meals I've had here.

I wonder what we'll do next?

Treasuring Up in My Heart

God is doing amazing things and moving among all the people of the earth even more than I thought - and I look and watch for those kinds of things!

Hearing story after story, how do I respond?
After our morning session today, we all left for lunch rather quiet and sobered. Not because of we were sad or disquieted. We were awed. And I'm even more awed now that I've had some time to process. And then at lunch I sat with a couple who had lived among the subjects of some of the stories and they verified them. They had tears of memories and smiles on their faces. They were ready to be back out there.

After the past few days, there are only two versus from Scripture that come to mind:

(Revelations 10:11) “I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, ‘Now the salvation, and the strength, and the kingdom of our God, and authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down.’
And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony for they did not love their lives even unto death.”

(Luke 2:1819) "And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds had told them. But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart."

I can't broadcast what I've heard, but I wish you could understand all the same. Our God is full of mercy and he is doing things I only hoped and dreamed. People from every tribe and nation will know of Him and His love for them.

His Gospel is not far off, but near to them.

Rutuine . . . Rouxtine . . . ruetin???

I'm not only a bad speller, I'm not much of a routine person. I need structure in my life, but it just doesn't happen naturally. But, with teammates depending on me and due dates every day, I HAVE to figure out something. And soon.

I began to realize this long ago, but Dr. Rankin talked today and he made it very clear that we have to maintain balance in our lives or we leave ourselves to chaos and destruction. Not that he was threatening us, like I'm making it sound. Just that we will have too much going on if we do not clearly protect out priorities, nothing will get done.

Well, Lets see how I've done so far today:

- Meet with book team and Dr. Rankin to discuss book distribution at 8:55am - check
- Copy learning goals worksheet to keep for reference - maybe tonight?
- E-mail weekly feedback report - check!
- E-mail book team strategy for approval - check
- E-mail book team to set book room moving date - oh yeah . . . forgot about that.
- E-mail reminder to next week's topic leader - that, too.
- Meet with A at dinner to be interviewed about going on the field for her school project- in about ten minutes
- Excersize 30 min on the elliptical - after dinner
- 1 hour on German - Gah! I'm already so tired. . . but it's "my goal"
- spend some wind down time in the Word - how do married people do that sort of thing? I'm loving II Corinthians though. . . and Acts for assignment (at least it's just a chapter a day)
- Work on personal prayer calender - maybe just the rest of the week laid out (another goal)
- Go to bed before 11pm - do-able if I can stay away from my friends!

twenty-five things

I have gotten enough tags from friends about twenty-five random things that I'm going to respond, but do not feel like you have to:

1. I don't really like my music collection. I like a lot of the music one it, but there are so many pieces (songs) that I want that I have never gotten around to getting. Just other priority.

2. Operatic singing is my favorite feeling in the world. I wish I could explain the number of journey's of the mind I have in a three minute song. It's beautiful.

3. I sang for my dorm-mates last night. All of them. It was a little weird, but I'm not complaining. It was good to sing again.

4. I still crave Angelo Broccatto's pancotta.

5. I'm growing my hair out, mainly so I will be more aware of the amount of time that has gone by over the next two years. I'll probably end up cutting it at some point.

6. I'm much more Texan than Southern in mind-set and taste; i.e. I don't like salty greens or sweet tea and I could live on Blue Bell and tortillas.

7. I have a "learning disability" that makes it difficult to read chords in music which is the main reason I've really never gotten into playing piano even though I love it.

8. I think that I am very blessed in my relatives.

9. Some of my very favorite movies are not in English.

10. I also love old movies. I could watch Philadelphia Story everyday.

11. I am amazed by how fresh the Scriptures remain to me after the number of years I've been reading them.

12. I'm a follower of Christ above all other things.

13. I have joined with Southern Baptists because I believe they are dedicated to the Scriptures and are dedicated to the Mission of God through the Co-operative program, all other issues aside.

14. I am amazed by artists. There are so many pieces that I have spent hours staring at and I consider those moments precious.

15. I love to walk along bodies of water.

16. Really I love walking anywhere in windy weather. I even like the sting of my ears when I walk back inside of a building.

17. I'm trying to accept my limits while not limiting myself.

18. If I don't think about it, I say, "whale" rather than, "well"; "sail" rather than "sell"; "seal" rather than "sill." I also have trouble saying prayer because I lived in Lubbock, Texas as a small child.

19. I boycott Walmart. I think after two years, it's just a matter of stubborness. I know I'm not changing anything, except what stuff I buy for myself. I'm still glad I do.

20. One of the things I most look forward to in Vienna is the street markets.

21. My feet hurt everyday. I wish I could have reconstruction surgery on them.

22. I love fruits and vegetables.

23. I cannot wait to sell my car and not drive to two years. I wish I never had to drive again.

24. I spend at least half of every year of my life with a Beach Boys song stuck in my head. Right now, "won't it be nice if we were older and we didn't have to wait so long . . . " is running through my head.

25. I dream. Attainable goals are hard to me to make. I'm working on that.

The END!!!