Here is a link to a video dealing with the issue of consumerism. It's called "The Story of Stuff." A German friend of mine recommended it to me, and I thought it was excellent. Take a look if you have a few minutes.
http://www.storyofstuff.com/
Monday, January 12, 2009
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Reflecting
Why is it that every year winter comes as a shock? It's not as if I haven't lived through winter 22 times before. Every year the cold rushes in at the end of the year and somehow catches me by surprise with its jarring chill.
Although I despise being cold and regret not being able to bike as I did the past few months, winter will surely afford me plenty of time for reading and reflecting, as I have been doing the past few hours in my cozy dorm room.
Right now, I am sitting in my fuzzy brown chair in the nook under my bed with a mug of peppermint tea at hand. I have been looking over old blog entries from the past year and realizing how much I have changed in a short amount of time. It was just last year that I was in Vienna hanging out with Julian and his buddies, riding the U-Bahn all over the city, and always having new adventures. And it was only a little over a year ago that I was searching for a job after my anti-climatic graduation from WKU, which consisted of receiving my diploma in the mail after returning from Europe. And it was just about a year ago that I got the Academy job and started re-establishing friendships in Bowling Green that had been on hold while I was in Austria.
I find it amazing that God has brought me back to Bowling Green, a place that I was sure I would never live in again after graduation. I imagined myself living in a Latin American country or a big city somewhere in the US, like Portland or Seattle... just not in Kentucky. Crazy. Crazy how now, all those ambitions I held to be so important before have kind of faded. I have learned to be content with where I am, to trust that this is where I should be, to be joyous. I still desire to go to South America, to improve my Spanish, but I'm not so sure anymore that that is my ideal living situation. It is not the location that matters, but the people. In Bowling Green I have a very healthy church community, a great group of friends, and that has made all the difference.
Things are going much better with my job this year. The experience from last year and generally focusing my attention on finding spiritual direction rather than trying to do everything perfectly at work has helped me put my job into perspective. I see work now as a means of growing in discipline and virtue, learning patience, freeing myself of destructive idleness, and gaining valuable skills for future jobs and dealing with people.
Of course, I still have my frustrations with my job. Namely, I am getting very tired of living in a residence hall. I can't cook for myself as I would like. I can't invite friends over to hang out any time I want to. Most nights that I work, I basically have an 8:00 curfew. Study hours run from 7 to 9, and I have to check the girls on my wing to make sure they are abiding by study hours. Then, I have "student development time" from 9 to 12, where I have to have my door propped open to be accessible to students. While I make use of a lot of that time for reading, I am getting tired of being confined. I am just tired. Worn out. I am VERY glad to have Thanksgiving break this week.
..I have so many more thoughts on my mind that I could share, but I'm not sure how to put them into words. Hence another wordy, superficial post. I hope this brief update shall suffice for the time being.
I also need to think of a new title for my blog. I feel like I've entered a new era of my life which demands a new heading. But nothing comes to mind at the present moment.
Although I despise being cold and regret not being able to bike as I did the past few months, winter will surely afford me plenty of time for reading and reflecting, as I have been doing the past few hours in my cozy dorm room.
Right now, I am sitting in my fuzzy brown chair in the nook under my bed with a mug of peppermint tea at hand. I have been looking over old blog entries from the past year and realizing how much I have changed in a short amount of time. It was just last year that I was in Vienna hanging out with Julian and his buddies, riding the U-Bahn all over the city, and always having new adventures. And it was only a little over a year ago that I was searching for a job after my anti-climatic graduation from WKU, which consisted of receiving my diploma in the mail after returning from Europe. And it was just about a year ago that I got the Academy job and started re-establishing friendships in Bowling Green that had been on hold while I was in Austria.
I find it amazing that God has brought me back to Bowling Green, a place that I was sure I would never live in again after graduation. I imagined myself living in a Latin American country or a big city somewhere in the US, like Portland or Seattle... just not in Kentucky. Crazy. Crazy how now, all those ambitions I held to be so important before have kind of faded. I have learned to be content with where I am, to trust that this is where I should be, to be joyous. I still desire to go to South America, to improve my Spanish, but I'm not so sure anymore that that is my ideal living situation. It is not the location that matters, but the people. In Bowling Green I have a very healthy church community, a great group of friends, and that has made all the difference.
Things are going much better with my job this year. The experience from last year and generally focusing my attention on finding spiritual direction rather than trying to do everything perfectly at work has helped me put my job into perspective. I see work now as a means of growing in discipline and virtue, learning patience, freeing myself of destructive idleness, and gaining valuable skills for future jobs and dealing with people.
Of course, I still have my frustrations with my job. Namely, I am getting very tired of living in a residence hall. I can't cook for myself as I would like. I can't invite friends over to hang out any time I want to. Most nights that I work, I basically have an 8:00 curfew. Study hours run from 7 to 9, and I have to check the girls on my wing to make sure they are abiding by study hours. Then, I have "student development time" from 9 to 12, where I have to have my door propped open to be accessible to students. While I make use of a lot of that time for reading, I am getting tired of being confined. I am just tired. Worn out. I am VERY glad to have Thanksgiving break this week.
..I have so many more thoughts on my mind that I could share, but I'm not sure how to put them into words. Hence another wordy, superficial post. I hope this brief update shall suffice for the time being.
I also need to think of a new title for my blog. I feel like I've entered a new era of my life which demands a new heading. But nothing comes to mind at the present moment.
Monday, October 6, 2008
Finding direction
I have recently been lamenting the lack of direction in my life. I still don't know what career to pursue. I have no idea what I'll be doing next year, or even where I'll live. I can't decide whether to apply for graduate school now or wait until next year (if even then). I don't even know what program I would apply for or at what university.
In some senses, everything is very much up in the air and uncertain. Yet, I believe that I have more direction now than I have ever had. I even feel almost content at this present time of my life, living and working in Bowling Green. I feel that God has placed me here for a purpose. Through much reading, spending time in deep discussion with friends, experiencing Orthodox liturgies, praying and fasting regularly, I am finding spiritual direction that I have never had before. Peace is slowly seeping into me and dispelling confusion and distress. What a wonderful feeling!
Riding my bike in Bowling Green feels liberating. Biking is one of many ways I have been breaking free from bondage to the need for having. I am trying to simply be. To live as God intended, in communion with him and with others is a refreshing escape from the isolation and consumerism of our modern age.
I still have such a long, perhaps rocky and jagged road ahead of me. By God's grace I will remain on the true path, and He will give me direction and meaning.
In some senses, everything is very much up in the air and uncertain. Yet, I believe that I have more direction now than I have ever had. I even feel almost content at this present time of my life, living and working in Bowling Green. I feel that God has placed me here for a purpose. Through much reading, spending time in deep discussion with friends, experiencing Orthodox liturgies, praying and fasting regularly, I am finding spiritual direction that I have never had before. Peace is slowly seeping into me and dispelling confusion and distress. What a wonderful feeling!
Riding my bike in Bowling Green feels liberating. Biking is one of many ways I have been breaking free from bondage to the need for having. I am trying to simply be. To live as God intended, in communion with him and with others is a refreshing escape from the isolation and consumerism of our modern age.
I still have such a long, perhaps rocky and jagged road ahead of me. By God's grace I will remain on the true path, and He will give me direction and meaning.
Saturday, October 4, 2008
Prayer of Saint Ephraim of Syria
This is a simple prayer that I have been praying for many months:
O Lord and Master of my life,
take from me the spirit of sloth, meddling,
lust of power and idle talk.
But give rather the spirit of chastity,
humility, patience and love to thy servant.
Yea, O Lord and King, grant me to see my
own sins and not to judge my brother,
for thou art blessed unto ages of ages. Amen.
O Lord and Master of my life,
take from me the spirit of sloth, meddling,
lust of power and idle talk.
But give rather the spirit of chastity,
humility, patience and love to thy servant.
Yea, O Lord and King, grant me to see my
own sins and not to judge my brother,
for thou art blessed unto ages of ages. Amen.
Monday, September 8, 2008
how it is with me these days
I feel very positive about the year ahead. The semester has gotten off to a very good start. I like all the girls I have on my wing this year. I took eight out of ten of them consignment shopping last week as a wing activity, and that was of course very fun for me. This Thursday we are having a movie and cookies night, and Friday they are hosting a dance with a prison theme-- interesting. The 1st floor girls are known as the "dungeon girls" for being on the lowest level of the building, practically in the basement, since Schneider Hall is built into a hill. They are playing off of their dungeon image for the dance.
I feel so much more productive now than I did during the summer. I finally feel like I'm becoming a disciplined person, like I'm breaking free from laziness forever. It is an amazing feeling. I am getting a lot of work done on the days that I work, not procrastinating or shying away from working and building relationships with students and interacting with parents. In my free time, I'm reading quite a bit, riding my bike to places I need to go instead of lazily taking my car, keeping my room clean, and truly taking my days off. I've found that it is very important for me to have my personal time, at least somewhat separate from my work time, to regain energy and motivation for work.
Every Tuesday, which is one of my days off, I spend the evening at the house of my friends the Burts, where the Holy Apostles Orthodox Mission of Bowling Green meets informally for a meal, prayers, and a Bible study. We have recently been looking closely at the Beattitudes and how they sum up the teachings of Jesus. It has been good and thought-provoking study. I also have a lot of friends in that group, so it is nice time spent with people away from the Academy.
I am finding that my entire orientation has gradually been changing as I learn more and more about Church history and Eastern Orthodoxy and as I attend liturgy (the Orthodox worship service). It is a slow and difficult journey, but I believe I am finally arriving in the place that I belong, in what I have come to believe is the true Church- the Body of Christ on earth.
I am drawn to the beauty and sacredness of the worship, Orthodoxy's continuity with the historical Church and Judaism, its theological soundness and the fullness of its teaching, and its unity. All these things that have been drawing me to Orthodoxy are things I do not find in Protestant traditions. In fact, the lack of these things has been turning me away from Protestantism for some time now. One of my main impulses for this movement towards Orthodoxy is my ever-growing disillusionment with Protestant forms of worship and theology.
I know this doesn't make much sense at all to many of you, but I thought I would begin to share some of these feelings I have been having for quite a while. If you want to learn more about Orthodox Christianity, which traces back to the Apostles, one place to start would be the Orthodox Church in America website. You can also listen to Orthodox music and pod casts on Ancient Faith Radio.
I feel so much more productive now than I did during the summer. I finally feel like I'm becoming a disciplined person, like I'm breaking free from laziness forever. It is an amazing feeling. I am getting a lot of work done on the days that I work, not procrastinating or shying away from working and building relationships with students and interacting with parents. In my free time, I'm reading quite a bit, riding my bike to places I need to go instead of lazily taking my car, keeping my room clean, and truly taking my days off. I've found that it is very important for me to have my personal time, at least somewhat separate from my work time, to regain energy and motivation for work.
Every Tuesday, which is one of my days off, I spend the evening at the house of my friends the Burts, where the Holy Apostles Orthodox Mission of Bowling Green meets informally for a meal, prayers, and a Bible study. We have recently been looking closely at the Beattitudes and how they sum up the teachings of Jesus. It has been good and thought-provoking study. I also have a lot of friends in that group, so it is nice time spent with people away from the Academy.
I am finding that my entire orientation has gradually been changing as I learn more and more about Church history and Eastern Orthodoxy and as I attend liturgy (the Orthodox worship service). It is a slow and difficult journey, but I believe I am finally arriving in the place that I belong, in what I have come to believe is the true Church- the Body of Christ on earth.
I am drawn to the beauty and sacredness of the worship, Orthodoxy's continuity with the historical Church and Judaism, its theological soundness and the fullness of its teaching, and its unity. All these things that have been drawing me to Orthodoxy are things I do not find in Protestant traditions. In fact, the lack of these things has been turning me away from Protestantism for some time now. One of my main impulses for this movement towards Orthodoxy is my ever-growing disillusionment with Protestant forms of worship and theology.
I know this doesn't make much sense at all to many of you, but I thought I would begin to share some of these feelings I have been having for quite a while. If you want to learn more about Orthodox Christianity, which traces back to the Apostles, one place to start would be the Orthodox Church in America website. You can also listen to Orthodox music and pod casts on Ancient Faith Radio.
Friday, August 1, 2008
It has been a while
Hi folks. Sorry for not keeping up. I don't think I'll ever be good at this blogging thing. I usually live in my own bubble, interacting with the people near me. I only occasionally talk on the phone and email with friends far away. Forgive me if I haven't kept up with relationships as I should have.
Now for an update: I have officially moved back to Bowling Green and have my Academy job back! I have a whole exciting new year of wing activities, adolescent shenanigans, surprising mishaps, weekend programs, prom, and van chauffeuring ahead of me. I am actually looking forward to this year. For a time, I was unsure if I wanted to be here another year or if I should go abroad or do something more international. But I feel good about being here. For some odd reason, Bowling Green seems to be the place where God would have me be at this point in my life. I look forward to growing closer to my Bowling Green friends throughout the year and continuing to grow in many ways on my job.
I have just completed one week of training with my fellow Residential Counselors and supervisors. We are closer than ever as a team and all have one year of experience behind us. Also, a lot of the problems and mistakes of last year have been and will be ironed out. Things should be a lot more organized and expectations should be clearer for this coming year.
Mexico this summer was terrific. I always enjoy hanging out with my Morelian friends. I got to know a friend in Guadalajara much better also, and I gained a better understanding of how study abroad programs operate through the internship that I did with KIIS. I'm still not sure what I want to do career-wise in the future, but even if I don't become the director of international programs, I can say that I've explored that option. I'm not convinced that it is the perfect fit, but I am willing to go wherever God leads me. I have a lot of thinking to do this next year.
As I am a person who loves to set goals for myself (although I don't always carry them out), here are a few that I have for this year at the Academy:
1) Get on a more regular sleeping schedule- go to bed around midnight, wake up at 9-ish (high goal, I know... :) this job is not very conducive to an early bedtime)
2) Read more and spend less time online
3) Bike everywhere I need to go that is in biking distance
4) Make good use of my free time (definition of good use would be reading, praying, spending time with friends, researching grad schools or jobs, exercising, studying French, scrapbooking, and learning in general)
5) Truly take off my days off. I will always have Tuesdays and Wednesdays off, and I hope to get away from the Academy for most of the time those days to rejuvenate
6) Build relationships with a lot of Academy students and also with the staff
Now for an update: I have officially moved back to Bowling Green and have my Academy job back! I have a whole exciting new year of wing activities, adolescent shenanigans, surprising mishaps, weekend programs, prom, and van chauffeuring ahead of me. I am actually looking forward to this year. For a time, I was unsure if I wanted to be here another year or if I should go abroad or do something more international. But I feel good about being here. For some odd reason, Bowling Green seems to be the place where God would have me be at this point in my life. I look forward to growing closer to my Bowling Green friends throughout the year and continuing to grow in many ways on my job.
I have just completed one week of training with my fellow Residential Counselors and supervisors. We are closer than ever as a team and all have one year of experience behind us. Also, a lot of the problems and mistakes of last year have been and will be ironed out. Things should be a lot more organized and expectations should be clearer for this coming year.
Mexico this summer was terrific. I always enjoy hanging out with my Morelian friends. I got to know a friend in Guadalajara much better also, and I gained a better understanding of how study abroad programs operate through the internship that I did with KIIS. I'm still not sure what I want to do career-wise in the future, but even if I don't become the director of international programs, I can say that I've explored that option. I'm not convinced that it is the perfect fit, but I am willing to go wherever God leads me. I have a lot of thinking to do this next year.
As I am a person who loves to set goals for myself (although I don't always carry them out), here are a few that I have for this year at the Academy:
1) Get on a more regular sleeping schedule- go to bed around midnight, wake up at 9-ish (high goal, I know... :) this job is not very conducive to an early bedtime)
2) Read more and spend less time online
3) Bike everywhere I need to go that is in biking distance
4) Make good use of my free time (definition of good use would be reading, praying, spending time with friends, researching grad schools or jobs, exercising, studying French, scrapbooking, and learning in general)
5) Truly take off my days off. I will always have Tuesdays and Wednesdays off, and I hope to get away from the Academy for most of the time those days to rejuvenate
6) Build relationships with a lot of Academy students and also with the staff
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Summer Plans and Academy Craziness
My new hobby (or should I say old?) has been looking for plane tickets. I have been quite annoyed with the high cost of airfare to Europe until I realized yesterday that I'm looking up flights that are six months away! No wonder they are so expensive! I am hoping to visit Austria again this summer, this time with my sistas, who have been invited to stay with relatives for a month or so and get the Austria experience for the first time. I may also be in Morelia for about a month, also. We shall see how these ambitious summer plans shape up...
This past week at the Academy has been absolutely crazy. I started a game of Marshmallow Assassins about a week ago and am still amazed that I was the one who initiated the madness. About 60 students played, bringing about massive chaos in the building for many days. The way the game is works is that everyone who is participating receives a marshmallow and the picture of their secret target, the person they are to find in a common area and hit with the marshmallow. When you hit your target, they are out and you take their target. The last person left wins.
Ever since the game began, there has been running and yelling throughout the dorm. Some students have been hiding away on the their wings for hours on end to avoid getting hit. Others have banded together, making agreements with opponents and helping friends enter and leave the building safely.
I believe that if we play this game next year, there will be many more rules.
While working the front desk for nine hours on Thursday, I lived through a Marshmallow Assassin hostage situation, a massive downpour that created a waterfall of dirty water from an overflowing drain near our dorm, and a tornado warning. That was probably the most eventful desk shift I've had.
And then this past weekend was our trip to Perfect North for a day of skiing/snowboarding, from which it took me a good three days to recover. Thankfully, no one got majorly injured, and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. I had no falls, but I was also not daring enough to go on some of the more difficult slopes. I did go on one fairly hard one and somehow managed to get to the bottom without wiping out. That was definitely an adrenaline rush, and I was not able to work up the courage to go on it again. But now I sort of wish I had, because I probably won't get to go skiing again for another year or so.
This weekend is a four-day weekend. The dorm closes, so I'm off work for the those days, which is exciting. I plan on going home, sleeping a lot, and watching a few movies. After that, it's back to work and back to class. This semester I am taking an Advanced Oral Spanish class and an upper-level Religious Studies course on the History of Christianity Since the Reformation. Let's hope I can pull off another couple As with everything that will be going on this semester at the Academy.
This past week at the Academy has been absolutely crazy. I started a game of Marshmallow Assassins about a week ago and am still amazed that I was the one who initiated the madness. About 60 students played, bringing about massive chaos in the building for many days. The way the game is works is that everyone who is participating receives a marshmallow and the picture of their secret target, the person they are to find in a common area and hit with the marshmallow. When you hit your target, they are out and you take their target. The last person left wins.
Ever since the game began, there has been running and yelling throughout the dorm. Some students have been hiding away on the their wings for hours on end to avoid getting hit. Others have banded together, making agreements with opponents and helping friends enter and leave the building safely.
I believe that if we play this game next year, there will be many more rules.
While working the front desk for nine hours on Thursday, I lived through a Marshmallow Assassin hostage situation, a massive downpour that created a waterfall of dirty water from an overflowing drain near our dorm, and a tornado warning. That was probably the most eventful desk shift I've had.
And then this past weekend was our trip to Perfect North for a day of skiing/snowboarding, from which it took me a good three days to recover. Thankfully, no one got majorly injured, and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. I had no falls, but I was also not daring enough to go on some of the more difficult slopes. I did go on one fairly hard one and somehow managed to get to the bottom without wiping out. That was definitely an adrenaline rush, and I was not able to work up the courage to go on it again. But now I sort of wish I had, because I probably won't get to go skiing again for another year or so.
This weekend is a four-day weekend. The dorm closes, so I'm off work for the those days, which is exciting. I plan on going home, sleeping a lot, and watching a few movies. After that, it's back to work and back to class. This semester I am taking an Advanced Oral Spanish class and an upper-level Religious Studies course on the History of Christianity Since the Reformation. Let's hope I can pull off another couple As with everything that will be going on this semester at the Academy.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
