so thankful
I love the rain! This morning I woke up, checked the weather and was happy to see that my “widget” said that it would be 21 degrees (that’s Celsius for you non-Canadians). Happy with another warm day ahead I got ready and walked to class. I was almost all the way across campus when it started to rain… just a little bit! By the time I walked out of class 2 hours later it was pouring! I love to be outside in the rain so I decided that I would walk back to my apartment. 15 minutes later I was SOAKED but so happy! I changed, dried off, grabbed my umbrella and left to meet one of my RA’s for our one-on-one.
Currently it is raining again. I love that I have huge windows in my apartment, that I can hear the wind and the rain so clearly. I also love that I have a front row seat to all the Fischer residents running up the path in front our our building. I am thankful today. Thankful to be here, to live in this place where my life is lived alongside so many others. I am thankful when I think about relationships that I have built this year, for the people that I laugh with and those I cry with! I am thankful for the things that they have taught me and how I have grown because I know them. As much as I am ready for things to wind down after another busy semester, I am mourning the fact that the end is coming so quickly.
I am also thankful for the time and space I have had the last few days. Yesterday I took the afternoon and walked to a nearby park. I had an incredible time sitting under the trees, watching the flower petals fall like a wonderfully warm snow storm. Wheaton is BEAUTIFUL this time of year, full of green and new life! I serve a great and wonderful God, one who loves and cares so deeply for me and is constantly reminding me of his faithfulness in my life!
needed reminders
I spent this past weekend in Minnesota. It was GREAT to go back to a place I love, see people I love and relax!! As I was thinking on my drive back home this afternoon about the trip, it made me realize a few things:
I am not very good at taking care of myself. I don’t often take time off or get away and after this weekend I think that needs to change. When living my life means interacting with my work, it is hard to find the balance between work and play. (Especially when work feels like play so often!) I am not exactly sure how to do this, but this weekend was a wonderful reminder that I am not just a student, I am not just a GRA, I am also a friend and a sister, an artist and child of the king (to name a few). My identity is not my titles or my roles.
I love friends who I have a history with. It is refreshing to not have to explain why I don’t eat the ends of certain foods, or the story behind why I think something is funny. I love inside jokes that have been around for at least 4 or 5 years and never seem to get old. I love seeing that life moves on, people change and yet there is a hint of something that never does change. It is an incredible thing. Although there weren’t a TON of deep, meaningful conversation topics this weekend, just to BE with people was exactly what I needed.
I was reminded of some of the roles that I play in life that are different from what I do every day – and that is a really great feeling. I am also reminded that although I live in a state of permanent transition, there are constants. Remembering what it was like to be a new student at NWC made me realize (again) why I love what I do, and why I desire to dig my heels in and invest everything in the people around me… even in the midst of transition and change.
Oh… and felt really good to come back to Illinois. Home for now!
ya dontcha know then? uff da!
I am back home in the wonderful land of Minnesota. I have to admit, there is a BIG part of me that wished I was moving back as I drove. I can just imagine the little Jetta with a trailer hooked to the back, thankful that the midwest is some of the flattest land on earth! All the same, it is great to be home and to be on vacation!
10 Things I have learned from the last 8 days in Canada
- I have asthma… being in Illinois I had almost forgotten this fact. Coming back to Calgary has been an overwhelming reminder of this.
- Hospital Emergency rooms are a great place to people watch from 1:00am to 8:00am on New Years Eve… especially when you are waiting for your name to be called so you don’t fall asleep!
- Not breathing well no longer means priority in the ER waiting room (as long as you can suck enough air back to make your blood oxygen level okay).
- If you have a puncture wound in your head… you get priority. I was okay with this!
- The Discovery Channel has an entire show (I think it is called “Prehistoric Park”) where people pretend to wrestle with dinosaurs and other random insects like the crocodile hunter does… and they play it over and over again in the middle of the night.
- The emergency room was too small for the amount of people they have, so if you’re not “too sick” you get put into a nice little chair, surrounded by many others who are not “too sick” and stuck in front of a TV. Not the most private of places but it got me inside faster I suppose.
- Hospital gowns are still the same as they were 10 years ago when I was last in the ER… draft up the back included. I never thought I would be so thankful in a hospital to be told I could keep my pants on under my hospital gown. They want to make us feel more comfortable since we are all waiting in those chairs described above, and it was cold in there!
- The hospital wrist bands are not nearly as cool as they were when I was a kid.
- They can pulverize a kidney stone with a laser. How do they do that? (I overheard another conversation from my chair).
- It IS possible to knit a whole sweater in one week… if that is essentially all you do.
It’s Christmas Time in the City! Well… almost!
Today I wandered over to my old blog and began sifting through some of the things I wrote last year. I found a bunch of pictures of my Christmas tree from last year… oh, those are some of my favourite things! I realized that I am SO excited for winter to come and for Christmas lights and decorations to appear. Melissa and I were listening to the Home Alone Christmas CD the other day and downloading Mariah Carey’s “All I want for Christmas” onto our computers… a little premature, I know!
In other news – I am trying to decide what I should do next summer. I know I want to travel at least a little bit. I would LOVE to go to China and see my students and friends again (and see CHINA again!), I would also enjoy going back to Calgary and working a bit and hang out with my family and friends there. Oh… what to do!?
Melissa wrote a post on her blog about the two of us dealing with Culture shock. (There is a link to it on the right). I can definitely agree with her comment about the honeymoon phase being over and the reality of living in Illinois setting in. It is hard but I do still love it here and enjoy the adventure of being in a new ‘culture.’ Today marks the beginning of Fall Break… I think I might take a day off of school work and reading to explore Chicago some more. Maybe this will be the weekend to go to China town!
My First Thanksgiving!
I cooked my first Thanksgiving dinner (turkey and all) this year for our RA staff in honour of Canadian Thanksgiving.
Before
Emily helping me peel the potatoes. This was the biggest potato that I have ever seen!
It’s in the oven!
Me and the bird! I am wearing the apron two of my students gave me when I left China. They told me that I could wear this apron when I got married… I decided to wear it anyway!
Jim eating
I made A LOT of food… and it was all eaten! I have to say, I’m impressed with these RA’s and their ability to polish off a 20 lb Turkey!
New journal for a new life…
New blogs are kind of like new journals. Every once in a while you come to the last page of your journal and you need to start a new one. I figured that there is no better time to start a new journal than at a time when there are so many new things! New job. New grad program. All new people. New city, state, even country!
This is my friend Melissa and I sporting our GRA pagers. Thankfully we look harmless or people may begin to wonder…
