Send this to 10 people for good luck

So remember the days when e-mail first came out? I was in middle school and all my friends got free hotmail or yahoo accounts. I don't know what we needed e-mail for, but we had fun with it. We would send each other e-mail forwards, chain letters, and "About Me" quizzes. These things were considered good e-mail. After middle school, the "send this to five people you love in the next five minutes" e-mails stopped. So now, ten years later, I am discovering a resurgence of junk e-mail forwards that I don't understand. I guess I am finally "in" at work because all of a sudden the administrative assistants who weren't that friendly to me are sending me all these forwards of pictures of cute animals, rainbows, and "pass this on to your special sisters". Really? I didn't think people in the workplace did this kind of stuff. Do they think I will forward these things on? This is all the result of an afternoon of boy talk. Apparently we've bonded, and I doomed to be on their e-mail forward list forever. Oh well. At least this means I'm "in". In that case, I'll take the forwards.

Lately

I don't have the Internet at my apartment, which has squelched my blogging as of late. I had to choose between paying for Internet or cable tv. Since I sit at a computer 8 hours a day, I chose tv. The funny thing is that I don't miss the Internet at all. I have so much more free time at night now that I can't waste it on Facebook or the iTunes store.

My new free time and freedom from homework has reopened the door to a little past time called "reading for pleasure". I had forgotten how fun it was. I started out with fluff reads like Nicholas Sparks, and I now I am reading "Angela's Ashes" and "Wild Swans", which definitely have more depth. I love memoirs and biographies. I think I'm going to read one of Obama's books next to find out a little bit more about our next president.

I love reading and learning about people's lives. I think that is what first drew me to journalism - a natural curiousity and desire to connect with other people. Good journalism allows you to connect with humans, their stories and emotions. As the interviewer, I made some special connections with the people that I got to talk to. I loved it. I realized that I find that same quality in international student work. I have some students with amazing stories.

It's funny. Back before freshman year at Baylor, we had to take the strengths finder test. My top strength was connectedness, then developer, harmony, learner and belief. I didn't really understand those strengths at the time, but as I've grown older, I recognize how true they are for me. Also, I see how they apply to jobs and career choices now. It's pretty cool.

Anyways, if you have any good book recommendations, let me know.

Anybody want to give me a couch?

Things seem to move fast for me. I found and started a job in a week. Last Saturday I found an apartment and now I'm moving this Saturday. I'm super excited. Except I focused so much on paying for rent and utilities, I forgot to factor in other expenses. Like furniture. I think it's going to be me and my bed and a bookcase for a while. No kidding. I have no couch or table or chairs. I went up to the attic tonight and discovered that my brother and sister took all my kitchen stuff with them to college. Perfect. There's something to be said for being young and poor though. In five years, hopefully I can look back and say "Remember that time I lived in an apartment without furniture? Yeah. That was crazy." At least the move on Saturday won't be too bad because I don't have much to move.

My new home:

Highs: making some friends at UNT to hang out with in Denton/Lewisville and getting to know some of my students better
Lows: realizing that I can't afford to pay for cable or dvr :(, being late for work because I had to defrost my car this morning (I don't know how it got that cold the night before)

Currently listening to: Jason Mraz, We Sing, We Dance, We Steal Things ... check it out!

One month later

So remember those last two years of college when I was stressing about what to do after graduation and what career path God had for me? Yeah, that seems so silly now. For all the time I spent worrying and talking with equally confused friends about the future, my life since graduation has all fallen neatly in to place. The transition has been easier than I thought. I love my job. I enjoy going to work. I feel fulfilled. That is all I ever wanted. I realize that I've only been working for 5 weeks, and this is definitely just a year-or-two job, but I have a good feeling about it. I love my students, I'm never bored, and I have a job with a natural penchant for comedic situations. Perfect.

I am ready to move out of my parent's house though. Besides the hour-long commute, there isn't anything I dislike about living at home. It's just time to move on. I need to start up my life again, make new friends, find a church, get involved in the community somehow. Dating would be good too. When I am at home, I am lazy and feel no motivation to do those things. I'm too comfortable. I'm looking for a roommate, but no luck so far. If you know of anybody, send her my way!

The one where I got a job

Over the last year, I started to form an idea in my head of the type of job I wanted. I never thought I would actually find that job. But I did! Last week I started my job at UNT. I am the counselor for international students going through the Intensive English Language Institute. That means that I get to help students from all over the world settle into life in the US and adjust to their new environment as they take English classes in order to be able to apply for admission to an American university.

I can't even begin to describe the special place my students have taken up in my heart, and it's only been a week. I have so much empathy and admiration for them and what they are attempting to do. The students are so receptive to my friendship and eager to practice their English skills, which are not very strong yet. Besides counseling, I also get to plan activities for the students to introduce them to American culture. Last week, I took 80 new students to Target to help them get all the supplies they needed to get settled. That was an adventure to say the least. I stood up at the front of the store to help students check out since for most it was their first time in an American store. I noticed that one of the Chinese girls was buying Poise pads, and I had an awkward moment of wondering whether I should tell her that she was buying adult diapers rather than feminine products, or whether I should just let her learn from the experience and not embarrass her in front of the other students. I ended up not saying anything. But she, along with all the other students coming to me with problems last week, reminded me what a difficult thing it is to go to another country and not speak the language. I remember having a hard time at grocery stores when I lived in Maastricht because I couldn't read labels on products. Once I ended up buying fabric softener instead of detergent because the pictures on the labels weren't enough to help be distinguish the product.

Anyways, I feel like God has used my experiences and my desires and interests to uniquely place me in a situation where I can minister to international students. They are desperately in need of friendship and kindness. At the beginning of the summer, I applied for some jobs that I knew I could get, but was never really excited about any of them. Now I see that, while it's difficult, waiting on God and his perfect timing is always worth it. He's had a plan all along. I'm so excited about the adventure he is taking me on. I can already tell that my job will never be boring.

Ecclesiastes 3:1

Life has been full since I arrived home. I've been dealing with a lot of emotions as I adjust to life in Texas and the realities of having to face life now as a financially independent adult. The day after I got home, my parents dropped my car insurance and cell phone bill in my lap and were like, "Here you go". My dad also announced I would have to start paying rent to live at home if I took too long to find a job. I understand, but it was a little much to dump all that on me before I had even been home for 48 hours.

Beyond that, our house was being renovated when I came home. This included turning my room into a guest room. I'm sad all my lime green, blue and purple is gone. I don't have a teenage room anymore. While this was being done, I was living in my brother's room, and my stuff is scattered throughout the house, garage and attic. It's been hard because even though I'm at home, I still feel live my existence is very temporary and unknown. I don't know how long I am going to be living at home, and it's going to be a pain to repack everything up after I just unpacked it when I do move out.

Nevertheless, I love being home and have had fun being with my family again. I've also been slowly but surely catching up with all my friends in the DFW area. Another new adjustment for me is having to transition to having friends scattered across the metroplex, state and country. There are so many people who live far away now that I miss. Is this the point in life when you transition to "adult friendships"? Where you see people every couple of years and just understand that you will always be friends, even when you don't see or talk to them regularly?

I've been using this time of transition to seek God and renew my relationship with him. I have to say, this could have been a difficult or stressful time for me, but I have had complete peace as I wait to see what direction He takes me.

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven.

I think I'm in a season of growth.

Home sweet home

I made it back safe and sound! I've been home for a week now and have been thinking about updating for a while, but I'm lazy, and I can't really blame that on jetlag. My flight to Dallas left from London, so I decided to go to London a day early and spend some time there. However, when I made that plan, I forgot about the fact that I had 100 pounds of luggage to carry around. That's not an exaggeration, it was actually probably more than that. Traveling was a nightmare. I could barely pull/carry all my luggage, and I had to stop every 10 minutes to catch my breath. It was only by the grace of God and kind strangers that I made it through the train station, the streets of London, and the tube to the airport. Let's just say I've got the girl in distress act down pat, although no dramatization was really necessary - I was in distress.

I ended up being disappointed because my pre-planned day in London was ruined by torrential rain. I guess God wanted me to leave England with a reminder of what I was really leaving behind. Today I saw pictures from the British Open going on in Scotland right now. Everybody was huddled up in blankets under umbrellas. Now that I've been back in 100 degree heat and have gotten back into my life, those pictures seem very bizarre. I feel like England is already a faint memory, when I only left it a week ago. I can't believe I too was in Scotland wearing a jacket not long ago.

Oh, a couple days before I came back to the US, I went up to Edinburgh, Scotland and had a great time. I think the only real regret travelwise from this last year was that I didn't get to do any traveling up in Scotland. I wanted to see the highlands and do some hiking, but I just didn't plan my time well enough.

I can't believe my time in England is over. It's good to be home, but it's always sad when something you looked forward to for so long comes to an end. Now I have to find something new to anticipate. That shouldn't be hard seeing as how my life is basically a blank canvas right now. I've applied for four jobs so far and had one interview already on Friday. I'll let you know more when one of my plans comes to fruition. In the meantime, I get to hang out and spend time with my family and friends. I also have some work to do on my dissertation still. My supervisor came up with a few things for me to work on, and I didn't get them finished before I left. I am trying to get it all finished this week so I don't have to think about it any longer.

I think that's about it for now. Love to you all! Please let me know if you're in the Dallas area, I'd love to see you!