So, I had fully intended to take pictures of the incredibly beautiful place that I am living in for a month. However, my life has been so full that I haven't even had time to think about it! So pictures are to come.
I got to the YWAM base on Saturday night and was so jet-lagged that I wanted to go direct from the plane to my bed. However, in YWAM fashion I met a ton of people on that journey so I finally collapsed into my lofted bed in my dorm room late that night. I'm only now beginning to get over jet-lag.
So, I've been in class eight hours a day every day this week learning linguistics, grammar, speaking activities, lesson planning, etc, etc, etc. It's been pretty intense but also a lot of fun. As many of you know, I am a bit of a grammar geek and as we were going through things like "syntax" and "present continuous" I couldn't help but give a little shout-out to all my past English teachers, especially Dr. Black. She taught advanced grammar and I was her teacher's assistant for three years. Good times.
Tomorrow is a day off so a bunch of us are going to drive up into Glacier National Park and hike around a bit and see the beauty of the area. I'm sooooo looking forward to it, especially after staring at nothing but dirt all summer! On Monday I will start the practicum part of the course and I will be teaching ESL to internationals in the Kalispell area each night for two and a half weeks.
Friday, July 25, 2008
Friday, July 18, 2008
Things I'm thankful for...
Traveling back and forth between two cultures that are the complete opposites of eachother (ie. Af.stan and the USA, if you hadn't guessed by now), does not come without its difficulties and adjustments. I had to work really hard to learn the Afghan customs and become Danika in a place that is so different from whom I have become. Some people may assume that when you return to your home culture, it's like breathing a sigh of relief. But, it's not all the time. You get to experience what some term "reverse culture shock" when your own culture becomes difficult to deal with. I also notice things that I once took for granted and find great joy in them and get crazy excited about these little things. To let you in on my current re-adjustment process, here is a list of things I am over-the-top excited about:
- a shower that can be any temperature I want it to and has super great water pressure! And....I don't have to turn my sink on to get the hot water to come out of the shower head. Beautiful.
- 24/7 electricity that doesn't surge
- coffee...strong, dark, hot and on every street corner and in nearly every home. Praise God!
- a bed, not a mattress on the floor. And a full-sized bed so I feel like an adult, not a teenager!
- I can drive a car and no one stares
- I can walk down the street and no one stares
- I can go shopping and no one stares
- I can run and no one....okay, you get the point.
- I can understand 100% of what people are saying, not just 50-70.
- my credit/debit cards work here
- I can get a whole list of things done in one day.
- Guys open doors for me and let me walk through first.
- Salads and fresh vegetables
- No dust
- My hairdryer and piles of hair products
- I can wear my hair down and it can look pretty for other people to see.
- tank tops
- eye-contact and firm handshakes
- choices and options
- privacy
- people drive within the lines on the road (most of them at least).
- paved roads
- people stand in lines and take turns
- everything is SO green and beautiful.
- diversity and uniqueness is valued, not questioned.
- I have the freedom to be myself
The list could go on.
And here are a few of the things that take me by surprise, overwhelm me, or downright bother me about American culture. I won't tell you which ones cause which reactions. :)
- Americans are so loud! The stereotype really is true!
- We have WAY too many choices. Have you ever noticed just how many kinds of toothpaste there are?!?
- If you have to wait one extra minute, everyone gets impatient.
- People talk about money and their stuff an awful lot.
- There are lots of very overweight people in this country.
- It can be a bit lonely transitioning from a very community-oriented culture. No one stops by just to say hi here. Or, people only have 5 minutes to talk, not an hour or two over tea. I miss that.
- Everyone is so busy, too busy. and we all think that it's a good thing to be so busy.
So, for those of you who work with or are friends with or are family members of people who travel be it for business, for "M" work, or whatever, don't assume that their returning home is all roses but be a listening ear, ask about their experiences and really be interested in what they have to say, and don't force them to go to Walmart the first day they are back. Those things can be a bit too much to face when you've been face-to-face with poverty, injustice, simpler lifestyles, and cultural diversity. And as for me...I had some great kabob earlier this week and a great cup of coffee from Starbucks today. And along the way I found good friends, had wonderful conversations, made new discoveries, and know a God that intricately understands the Af.stan Danika and the American Danika that often have to coexist.
- a shower that can be any temperature I want it to and has super great water pressure! And....I don't have to turn my sink on to get the hot water to come out of the shower head. Beautiful.
- 24/7 electricity that doesn't surge
- coffee...strong, dark, hot and on every street corner and in nearly every home. Praise God!
- a bed, not a mattress on the floor. And a full-sized bed so I feel like an adult, not a teenager!
- I can drive a car and no one stares
- I can walk down the street and no one stares
- I can go shopping and no one stares
- I can run and no one....okay, you get the point.
- I can understand 100% of what people are saying, not just 50-70.
- my credit/debit cards work here
- I can get a whole list of things done in one day.
- Guys open doors for me and let me walk through first.
- Salads and fresh vegetables
- No dust
- My hairdryer and piles of hair products
- I can wear my hair down and it can look pretty for other people to see.
- tank tops
- eye-contact and firm handshakes
- choices and options
- privacy
- people drive within the lines on the road (most of them at least).
- paved roads
- people stand in lines and take turns
- everything is SO green and beautiful.
- diversity and uniqueness is valued, not questioned.
- I have the freedom to be myself
The list could go on.
And here are a few of the things that take me by surprise, overwhelm me, or downright bother me about American culture. I won't tell you which ones cause which reactions. :)
- Americans are so loud! The stereotype really is true!
- We have WAY too many choices. Have you ever noticed just how many kinds of toothpaste there are?!?
- If you have to wait one extra minute, everyone gets impatient.
- People talk about money and their stuff an awful lot.
- There are lots of very overweight people in this country.
- It can be a bit lonely transitioning from a very community-oriented culture. No one stops by just to say hi here. Or, people only have 5 minutes to talk, not an hour or two over tea. I miss that.
- Everyone is so busy, too busy. and we all think that it's a good thing to be so busy.
So, for those of you who work with or are friends with or are family members of people who travel be it for business, for "M" work, or whatever, don't assume that their returning home is all roses but be a listening ear, ask about their experiences and really be interested in what they have to say, and don't force them to go to Walmart the first day they are back. Those things can be a bit too much to face when you've been face-to-face with poverty, injustice, simpler lifestyles, and cultural diversity. And as for me...I had some great kabob earlier this week and a great cup of coffee from Starbucks today. And along the way I found good friends, had wonderful conversations, made new discoveries, and know a God that intricately understands the Af.stan Danika and the American Danika that often have to coexist.
Monday, July 14, 2008
It's a good thing I don't make decisions on days like today...
I think I woke up on the wrong side of the floor today.
After tossing and turning all night long and willing my thermometer on my alarm clock to please drop below 96 degrees, I peeled my eyes open to hear a strange water sound. Outside my window was sunny so it wasn't rain. I groaned and rolled off my mattress on the floor to realize a pipe must be leaking or the faucet was left on. Sure enough, some pipe that goes through my garden was spilling water out of it, flooding the garden. "I have to take care of this" was my thought. So, in my passive-aggressive state i went upstairs to take a shower in hopes that the problem would disappear.
Thankfully, the water did stop pouring into my garden. But I still have to call the plumber.
Then I strolled into the kitchen because I desperately needed a cup of coffee. I turned on the gas only to find the gas bottle was empty and I couldn't make coffee this morning.
My next thought was this: "Okay, I don't think I want to work in Af.stan any more."
Yep...got up on the wrong side of the floor.
So, I proceeded to get ready for the day, only to have a few fires to put out with my office staff over the phone in my 5-year-old level Dari, which I'm sure earns me great respect with the Afghan men I'm the boss over, and I leave to go to our other team house.
I put my laundry in the washer and turn the water pump on...nothing. The socket is broken and the guy who works at my house has to help jimmy-rig it so that we can stick two live wires into the wall in order to turn the water on. Just another day in paradise.
So, just thought I'd share with you what life can be like in "the hard places." Sometimes it just is downright annoying and full of the "tyranny of the urgent" and some days you do really feel like packing up and going home (it does help that I am flying out of here the day after tomorrow! he he). But, then days like these usually pass. You meet some cool people. Have opportunities for some great conversation. See God move in amazing ways. And you realize again why you are actually here. But sometimes, you have to fix the leaky pipe, challenge death when you plug things into the wall, and go without a cup of coffee or two. I guess that's just life.
After tossing and turning all night long and willing my thermometer on my alarm clock to please drop below 96 degrees, I peeled my eyes open to hear a strange water sound. Outside my window was sunny so it wasn't rain. I groaned and rolled off my mattress on the floor to realize a pipe must be leaking or the faucet was left on. Sure enough, some pipe that goes through my garden was spilling water out of it, flooding the garden. "I have to take care of this" was my thought. So, in my passive-aggressive state i went upstairs to take a shower in hopes that the problem would disappear.
Thankfully, the water did stop pouring into my garden. But I still have to call the plumber.
Then I strolled into the kitchen because I desperately needed a cup of coffee. I turned on the gas only to find the gas bottle was empty and I couldn't make coffee this morning.
My next thought was this: "Okay, I don't think I want to work in Af.stan any more."
Yep...got up on the wrong side of the floor.
So, I proceeded to get ready for the day, only to have a few fires to put out with my office staff over the phone in my 5-year-old level Dari, which I'm sure earns me great respect with the Afghan men I'm the boss over, and I leave to go to our other team house.
I put my laundry in the washer and turn the water pump on...nothing. The socket is broken and the guy who works at my house has to help jimmy-rig it so that we can stick two live wires into the wall in order to turn the water on. Just another day in paradise.
So, just thought I'd share with you what life can be like in "the hard places." Sometimes it just is downright annoying and full of the "tyranny of the urgent" and some days you do really feel like packing up and going home (it does help that I am flying out of here the day after tomorrow! he he). But, then days like these usually pass. You meet some cool people. Have opportunities for some great conversation. See God move in amazing ways. And you realize again why you are actually here. But sometimes, you have to fix the leaky pipe, challenge death when you plug things into the wall, and go without a cup of coffee or two. I guess that's just life.
Sunday, July 06, 2008
Shaving my feet
I had a moment in Kyrgyzstan where I was thinking "I have to blog about this." You can tell you are really getting into blogging when you start rating your life experiences as blog-worthy or not.
So, here's the moment: A teammate and I decided we really wanted to get a pedicure before heading back to Af and destroying our feet again. So, we got a friend to schedule a time for us. We walked in to the salon, said "pedicure" with a russian accent and got seated with our feet in a tub of water and a Russian makeover show on TV in front of us. It was your typical pedicure: they soaked our feet, took my current nail polish off, cleaned around my nails, etc. Then she takes out the pumice stone to smooth away my incredibly rough, Af-stan abused feet. The pumice stone just wasn't cutting it. SOOOO, she pulls out a razor blade, attaches it to the razor and proceeds to SHAVE the dead skin off the bottom of my feet. That was when I thought, "this is a blog-worthy moment."
What was even more disgusting was the pile of dead skin after she was done. Yuck.
So, here's the moment: A teammate and I decided we really wanted to get a pedicure before heading back to Af and destroying our feet again. So, we got a friend to schedule a time for us. We walked in to the salon, said "pedicure" with a russian accent and got seated with our feet in a tub of water and a Russian makeover show on TV in front of us. It was your typical pedicure: they soaked our feet, took my current nail polish off, cleaned around my nails, etc. Then she takes out the pumice stone to smooth away my incredibly rough, Af-stan abused feet. The pumice stone just wasn't cutting it. SOOOO, she pulls out a razor blade, attaches it to the razor and proceeds to SHAVE the dead skin off the bottom of my feet. That was when I thought, "this is a blog-worthy moment."
What was even more disgusting was the pile of dead skin after she was done. Yuck.
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