A Study of Something

Waiting, in more ways than one.

Wed, 25 Jul 2012 23:17:00 +0200

Life has been very interesting since coming back from Germany. Seeing my family after almost a year was amazing, I love them so much and I can’t believe how much they’ve changed in the time I was gone. The second youngest boy is almost six feet tall and has a deeper voice than I do and he constantly steals my tennis shoes because we now wear the same size…this is something I am not accustomed to since my shoes usually look like boats compared to everyone else’. I got to see the oldest girl in my family graduate from high school and that was also pretty strange and wonderful.

I think I underestimated the impact that one year can have on a person’s life and outlook. A year doesn’t seem like a long time but when I look back and realize I lived in the Czech Republic, Ukraine and Germany and traveled and stayed in at least ten more countries in that time, it seems like a lot longer. I went from a new life in Germany, back to where my life started in a tiny Texas town and even though I’ve been home for three months, I still feel like a stranger in my own country. That sounds so melodramatic but I really do. It’s the little things, like having to drive everywhere (without AC, mind you) and being bombarded by political adds and signs at every turn. Fast food franchises and malls stand where cathedrals and cafes stand in my mind and most of my countrymen wear their pride and inflexible attitudes like medals of honor. Here it’s almost a sin to think differently than everyone else and the first week I got back, someone actually looked at me with genuine concern on there face and said, “I bet you’re so glad to be back from that socialist country!” I’m not a socialist but Lord, neither am I on board with the Wal-Mart/McDonalds culture we Americans have created.

I moved to Austin about two weeks ago and I got a job waiting tables at one of Austin’s many iconic restaurants. I like it so far but it feels unreal, like I’m going through the motions, just filling time and waiting for more direction. I’m really working on finding joy in everyday, meaning and worth in every circumstance but it is so stinking hard sometimes. My goal is to work on music while I’m here and that’s why I decided to get a job with some flexibility. I’m working on a CD of my favorite hymns right now and I’m hoping that I’ll be able to pay off at least a chunk of my student loans with the sales and be free to go back to missions in Germany soon.

In other news, I am addicted to the show, “Game of Thrones” and I’m anxiously awaiting the third season! I’m enjoying the random weirdness of Austin for the most part and trying to cope with it’s awful traffic, in my moving sauna of a car. I’ve picked up learning French again and I’m hoping for a German Rosetta stone to magically make it’s way onto my computer so I can learn more German too. Anyway, I’ve got to go into work in a few minutes, so I’m gonna end this post but hopefully I’ll have some funny stories about waiting tables to write about soon. Working in a restaurant never fails to provide an endless array of ridiculous circumstances and people.

Photo

Tue, 20 Mar 2012 21:25:39 +0100

My album is waiting for you to download it.

Sat, 14 Jan 2012 20:37:37 +0100

My album is waiting for you to download it.

One of the songs off of my soon to be released E.P. project....

Fri, 09 Dec 2011 16:10:46 +0100

One of the songs off of my soon to be released E.P. project. Enjoy!

Aaaand I'm the worst blogger ever.

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 15:11:53 +0100

Yeah, so I’m dreadful at updating this thing but I’ll try to be better in the future. Right now I’ve got about three more weeks in the lecture phase of the DTS and then I’m leaving for outreach in early December. My team is going to South Eastern Europe and we don’t have a set plan of what the outreach is going to look like. We do know that photography and the rest of the arts will have a huge part in what we do though and we’ll most likely be working with raising awareness of human trafficking and documenting as much as we can of this going on in countries like Romania, Moldova, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Greece and Turkey. All of these countries have a huge problem with sex trafficking and a large part of girls that are found in western brothels are from this region.

About three weeks ago I went to Nuremberg with four students from the music track to do a weekend outreach. At the time we had no idea what we were going to do there. We were walking through the city, looking for a place to play street music and suddenly realized that we had walked right into the red light district. Barely clothed girls sat in windows, waiting and tapping on the glass when men walked by. We were instantly affected by how spiritually heavy and hopeless the district felt but we prayed and felt like we should stay and play music there. As we played, girls started coming to the windows and opening them to hear us. The atmosphere was transformed as they smiled and clapped from their balconies and they even tried to give us money. Two of the girls in our group went to talk to some of them and they were able to share who we were and why we were there. A girl named Maria would not let them go until they told her what we wanted to drink and she bought us all cokes and waters from the brothel bar. They got to talk and pray with her for about fifteen minutes and we were all so touched that she wanted to bless us just for playing music on the street! Eventually, someone called the police and we had to leave the district but I was so changed by what I had seen that day. I saw with my own eyes the injustices that we have been learning about in the DTS. I talked to women who had most likely been trafficked into Germany from other countries through deceit and manipulation. Statistics became reality, as signs on their windows read, Maria-Romania, Natasha-Ukraine, Amy-Thailand, Sara-Bulgaria…

We went back with a team of nine this weekend and continued to work in the red light district. It was harder this time around because we went at ten o’clock at night on a Saturday and the streets were full of men. We had spent time in prayer beforehand but it was still so hard to see guys walking in and out of brothel doors, not caring a bit that the girls there are offered no hope. They aren’t loved by anyone, they are far from home, they’re looked down on by everyone and most have no way out of the hell they live in.
I felt incredibly useless and powerless against such ignorance and depravity, like I was a child screaming at a tornado to stop but then God reminded me that He is the only one that can affect change in places like that. He has overcome the world already and one day there won’t be red light districts, there won’t be oppression, slavery and manipulation of the innocent. All this evil will pass away but His love will not. The kingdom of darkness is strong but temporary. God’s love is so much stronger and it is eternal.

We had hoped that we’d see Maria again but the girls at her brothel said that she didn’t work there anymore. We don’t know what happened to her but she was most likely moved to a different city. Please keep me and my team in prayer as we prepare for outreach. We will most likely be working in places far worse than the Nuremberg red light district and face much bigger challenges. Pray for these places too, that hope will spring forth in girls like Maria’s hearts and that they will find ways out. Prayer is our biggest weapon but you must believe that it will effect change in the world, that the God that we pray to listens to us and is bigger than any darkness we face.

The Next Step

Tue, 16 Aug 2011 20:57:00 +0200

“In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps.” Proverbs 16:9

Life is confusing. It is for everyone, Christian or non-Christian, man, woman, young and old. If someone tells you that they have everything figured out or that they are in any way in control of their life, then they are either deluded or a liar. That being said, there are moments in my life when I feel like a mist lifts from my eyes and things are clear. When my life stretches out like a river before me and it’s simple…you either sink or you swim.

Recently, life has been anything but simple. I graduated from college with a degree in Spanish and music and I moved to Europe to get certified to teach English. I’m sure that quite a few people were wondering what my thought process was behind this move. I mean, rationally it doesn’t make much since and honestly, I started to feel really sceptical myself when it came down to it. I knew it was what I was supposed to do though. I didn’t know what would come of it or where I would end up but I was being called back to Europe for something.

When I finished my TEFL program in Prague, I was lucky enough to get to spend a few days with my good friend, Kori Bowen. She’s been in Romania for last three months, doing mission work and just being her generally awesome self. It was so great to catch up with her and to hear what was on her heart about Romania, her future and life itself. We spent a few days in Prague and then went to visit our friend, Laken at her YWAM (Youth With a Mission) base in Herrnhut, Germany. When we got to Herrnhut, I heard that YWAM was having a program in September called the Marriage of the Arts. It’s a mission school where artists like painters, musicians, dancers, writers, photographers and the like are trained to use their talents in everyday life and especially in the mission field. Where they are given a chance to do what they love to further the kingdom of God and to give Him the glory. When I heard about this I immediately became excited! I knew that this was exactly what God had been leading me to but I was afraid. I graduated with $25, 000 in student loans and I thought there was no way I could go into missions with that hanging over my head. Even though I was sceptical, Kori and Laken encouraged me to still apply for it and to pray about it.

I had been praying for guidance for about a month when a friend from high school called me out of the blue to share about the amazing things God was doing in his life. Without knowing it, he hit on every single thing that was holding me back from doing this program. I had duped myself into thinking that the creator of the universe wouldn’t provide for me! After hearing his testimony, it was like joy bubbled up inside of me to quench the desert of unbelief. The veil of fear had been lifted. This is what I was created for! “Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?” Matthew 6:26.

This decision to go into the mission field may come as a surprise to some of you but it something that I’ve been called to for a very long time. Something that I’ve often run from. When I was eight years old I read Hudson Taylor’s autobiography and was convinced that I would be a missionary to China. His full name was James Hudson Taylor and mine is James Treg Hudson, so I took this as a sign that I should follow in his footsteps. I lost the dream of being a missionary somewhere between childhood and adolescence but no matter what I did, it kept resurfacing through my love of languages, cultures, traveling, art and music. I may have not been consciously preparing myself for the mission field but God was. This early calling in missions coincides with another passion that has shaped my life. I have played the piano ever since I was five years old and a relative decided to drop an old, beat up piano at my house. My parents put me in lessons and I discovered that I could compose songs both musically and lyrically and that music was something that I couldn’t live without. It is my primary outlet for creativity and communication with God. Music is my prayer language. “Through the praise of children and infants you have established a stronghold against your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger.” Psalm 8:2

At the end of August, I’m moving to Germany to begin the Marriage of the Arts. Three months will be spent in preparation for the mission field and the next three to four months will be spent serving the Lord in a third world country (I still don’t know where). I know that many of you may hear the word missionary and cringe. I’m not going to be handing out tracks and shouting at strangers. I’m not going to pass judgement on people or try to “enlighten” them with my wisdom.”There have been men before … who got so interested in proving the existence of God that they came to care nothing for God himself… as if the good Lord had nothing to do but to exist. There have been some who were so preoccupied with spreading Christianity that they never gave a thought to Christ.”- C.S. Lewis, “The Great Divorce” I’m not interested in spreading Christianity for Christianity’s sake. I’m going to attempt to live like Christ did. I’m going to try to love like He did and I want to be a light in dark places. That is my aim and the rest is up to Him.

I’ve set up a PayPal account and you can donate by clicking the yellow button at the top of my blog or by sending money to P.O. Box 53 Art, TX 76820. I’m asking you, my friends and family to help support me either prayerfully or financially. Every little bit helps. I know it sounds crazy but I’m doing it. I really have no idea what the next year of my life will look like or where I’ll end up after this is over; but I do know that I’m walking in God’s will for my life and that he will provide for me. Thank you all for being a part of it, I love you guys.

Instant Coffee and the Vodka Shepherd.

Sat, 06 Aug 2011 16:47:37 +0200

I’m a pretty adventurous person and I knew from a very early age that I wanted to travel the world and see different cultures but it never crossed my mind that I would be living in the middle of nowhere Ukraine.When I was eight or nine years old, I was dead-set on learning Japanese or Chinese even though all I had to learn from was a tiny pocket dictionary that my cousin Emilie gave me. Ten years later, I went to college and decided to study Spanish. I graduate from college with a degree in Spanish and music and now I’m teaching English at a Ukrainian summer camp. Life is funny like that. You envision one thing and then something completely different happens.

I just finished my third week of teaching and I have to say that I really enjoy it. The kids are great (for the most part) and I think that I’m doing a pretty good job in my lessons. I love seeing when the kids are really enjoying something and learning at the same time. Unfortunately, this doesn’t always happen because kids can be kids and I’m also a brand new teacher so not everything I do works. My favorite lesson this week was when I asked my class to come up with six people that they would like to invite to a dinner. They could be fictional characters, long dead writers or politicians, and even cartoon characters. I got some pretty interesting answers, ranging from Lady Gaga and Shakira to Oscar Wilde and Alexander Pushkin. I did a lesson last week over superstitions and I almost lost it when a girl told me some of the stuff her grandmother believes in. She said that if she has to walk alone at night, she will wear a big necklace of garlic and tie strips of cotton cloth around her head. I asked sarcastically if it was to protect her from vampires and she replied with a straight face, “no, she heard about these floating mermaids that live by water and attack at night.” I thought for a minute that I Luna Lovegood had made a guest appearence in my class!

The camp is about an hour away from the nearest city of Poltava but there’s a tiny village called Nhovy Sanzhary about a thirty minute walk away. We go there fairly often to stay stocked up on instant coffee (disgusting, I know) but they don’t exactly have a Starbucks on every corner of the forest. To get to the village, you have to walk along the river on a path that goes through an uninhabited part of the forest. Usually the only people you pass are a few locals on mopeds or bicycles but there’s one site on the way that is absolutely hilarious every time I see it. About 15 minutes into the walk, you get to a clearing that opens into fields of grass and a few picnic tables under some trees, next to the river. Seated at one of these tables almost every morning is an old man who I affectionately refer to as “the vodka shepherd”. He just sits there, surrounded by about ten goats either lying in the grass or grazing nearby while he sips on a little bottle of vodka. I got a picture with one of his goats this afternoon and as soon as I can figure out how to get it off of my friends phone and onto a computer it will be my Facebook profile pic.

The food at the camp is absolutley awful. It’s usually a variation of the same three dishes and completely unseasoned. My first week I was introduced to the lovely concoction known as “kefir”. I thought that it was a cold glass of milk and was delighted. I took a big sip of it and quickly realized it wasn’t. It’s fermented milk that tastes like it was brewed in a witches cauldron and flavored with dead bats. OK, so that’s a bit dramatic but it really made me gag and I’m just happy I didn’t throw up on the table. I thought that the food had reached an absolute low but today I was proved wrong. I was eating my mashed potatoes that had a few pieces of dry pork on top and I almost cracked a tooth when I bit into a pebble that was in the potatoes! I don’t know how it got there but I’m glad that my tooth is alright because a trip to a Ukrainian dentist is not an experience I’d like to have.

I hope everyone is having a great summer and staying cool! I can’t tell you how nice it is to not be roasting in my car when it’s 110 outside. The weather here usually stays around 85 degrees and cools down at night:) I miss everyone back home and I love you all but I definitely don’t miss the Texas heat!

I finally finished up my TEFL course in Prague and a few days later, I was joined from Romania by my...

Thu, 21 Jul 2011 22:30:37 +0200

I finally finished up my TEFL course in Prague and a few days later, I was joined from Romania by my friend, Kori Bowen. We hung out in Prague for two days and then went to Hernnhutt, Germany again to visit our friend Laken. I only got to stay for two days but it was wonderful to be in the German countryside with two good friends from Abilene,TX! After the chaos of the TEFL course, it was incredible to be alone in the forest with a good book and some peace. We headed to Prague, early on Wednesday morning and I said my farewells to Kori and Laken at the bus station to leave for Ukraine.
I got on the bus at 11:00 a.m. and spent the next twenty five hours in route to Kiev, on a bus with no English speakers and a Soviet era soap opera playing on the TV (without subtitles, of course). I don’t like sitting in a car for more then four hours anyway, so this bus ride was miserable.I finally go to sleep around 12 o’clock in the morning and was shaken awake shortly after by the Polish/Ukrainian border patrol. Getting through the Polish border wasn’t hard but when we got into Ukraine the lady that took my passport didn’t believe it was mine! I was tired and grumpy and just wanted to go back to sleep and she would not stop asking me questions. Finally, after I answered all of my information correctly, she believed me and we got through the border. There was absolutely no chance for sleep though because after we crossed into Ukraine, the roads got really bad and so we rattled and shook along, making sure to hit every pothole, until we arrived in Kiev 12 o’clock the next day. After arriving in Kiev, I noticed that the station that the bus driver had stopped at, was not the station on my ticket. He spoke a little bit of English, so I asked him why we were at the wrong station. He couldn’t really answer me but he hailed a cab and paid for it to take me to the correct station. I’m so thankful he did, because I didn’t have any Ukrainian money and I have no idea how I would have gotten there.
To say that the bus station was a little sketchy would be a bit of an understatement. None of the lights inside the building were on, so it was just sunlight filtered through broken windows and dingy glass and a few dirty benches for people to sit on. Someone was supposed to be there to pick me up but he hadn’t arrived yet so I panicked a little bit and wandered around through the building and around the outside looking for somebody that spoke English. Hardly anybody in Ukraine speaks English, so finding a girl in McDonalds who let me use her phone was next to a miracle. She was really nice and her and her friends helped me call the school and figure out who was supposed to pick me up. The pick-up guy showed up five minutes later and he spoke about two words of English. His name was Vlad and he took me to the train station to buy my ticket to Poltava, where the camp is located. After waiting around for a few hours, it was finally time for me to take the train to camp and I had a grand time lugging my huge suitcase up and down steps and through crowds of Ukrainian travellers. The tough thing about travelling in Ukraine is that they use the Cyrillic alphabet, so if you don’t know it, you can’t read a thing. Guess what my ticket was in? Vlad told me the name of the stop I got off at and nothing else, so I loaded my stuff on the train and hoped that they would announce the names of all the stops. Of course, they didn’t.
I lucked out once again and sat next to maybe the only lady who spoke English on my half of the train. Her and her husband were incredible and told me exactly when I would get off and then gave me some peaches to eat and some water to drink. Then they told me that I should take a nap because I looked tired and said that they would wake me up when we got to my stop! I slept for about two hours but it’s a five hour train ride from Kiev to Poltava, so they spent the next three hours teaching me some Russian, which I loved.
Once we got close to Poltava, they called the next pick-up person to make sure that they were at the station waiting for me and then they helped me get my luggage off the train and onto the platform! I really was blessed by them that trip because I don’t know if I would have been able to figure out which station to get off at. I was met at the station by one of the camp staffers and we drove another hour into the country to get to the camp. I don’t know if I’ve ever been so happy to go to sleep.
I’ll end this post here because it’s too long as is but I’ll write another shortly about Ukrainian camp life and how my first week has been. I’m doing well though and I’ll have another update soon!

Observations

Thu, 30 Jun 2011 21:43:24 +0200

Well, I’m just about to finish my third week of my TEFL course and I think it’s safe to say that I’ve never been this exhausted in my entire life. I’ve been sick this week but other than that, I think that my classes and lessons have been going pretty well. I plan on getting at least ten hours of sleep tonight, so I hope that I’m better by tomorrow. Here are a few observations (generally speaking) of the Czech Republic and Czech people.

1. With the exception of my landlady (who has supplied me with fresh picked cherries for the last two weeks) Czech people don’t smile that much and definitely not at strangers. I’m sure that there are some lovely Czech people who smile all the time and laugh too…I just haven’t met them yet.

2. Czech people aren’t afraid to stare. Apparently it’s not rude to stare here because you will be in a public place, let’s say on the tram for example and someone sitting across from you will be boring a hole in your face. If you look up and make eye contact with them they don’t look away or have any sort of expression! They just keep on looking at you until you look away. I have no idea why this happens but it’s unnerving to say the least. Maybe they just really like staring contest or something.

3. They reaaaally love their dogs here. At least every other person you see outside has a dog with them and a lot of the time they aren’t even on leashes. They’re so well behaved that most restaurants and businesses let you bring your dog in with you! The only time that I’ve seen a dog here misbehave, is when two German Shepherds got in a fight while I was walking. That was a little scary.

4. They also really love their beer here and I have absolutely no problem with this. It’s cheaper than bottled water and it’s good too.

5. I would NEVER ride a bike or drive here. Prague is very hilly and almost completely cobble stoned, except for some of the the little roads they have for cars to drive on. This wouldn’t be that big a deal if the trams also didn’t use these roads. Yes, scary, big, red trams moving at high speeds, bearing down on unsuspecting drivers and pedestrians alike. You think I’m exaggerating but I’ve already seen a tram hit a car that wasn’t fully out of the way and after slowing down to let the poor driver pull up, it just sped off again as if nothing had happened. Oh yeah, I was also inside the tram at the time.

6. Finally, deodorant is optional. For some reason I always seem to be standing next to the person who doesn’t realize that they smell like a dead animal. This is awful because if it’s a busy day, you’re squeezed into a small space with people who are all raising one of their arms to hold onto the top rail. This means, someone’s armpit in your face. Smelliness ensues.

Prague, finally.

Tue, 21 Jun 2011 22:04:35 +0200

I’m sorry for not writing a post sooner but this week has been incredibly busy and a bit of a blur. I finally made it to Prague at 9p.m. on the 8th. I lugged my giant roller suitcase and two bags out of the airport, onto the metro, onto a tram and up (what seemed at the time) the steepest hill in all of Prague. I finally made it to my apartment and I have never wanted sleep so badly in my entire life. I slept like a rock until four in the morning and I woke up completely wide awake. This might have had something to do with the fact that the sun starts to rise at four in the morning! Not cool Czech Republic, not in the least bit. I finally got back to sleep and woke up at around ten in the morning. My friend Krisi happened to be traveling through Prague for the week and I met up with her at her hostel. This was after I took three different trams and ended up on the outskirts of the city! If you don’t know, my sense of direction is slightly less then perfect and my family loves to give me a hard time about this. I don’t know why though, because I’m almost positive that I inherited my ability to get lost at any given moment from my father! I finally made it to her apartment and we eventually made it to the bus station to visit our friend Laken in Hernhutt, Germany. Despite having to travel to Hernhutt, standing in the aisle of a packed bus for two hours, it ended up being a restful weekend. It was great to see Laken and Krisi and I can finally say that I have been to Germany! My classes have been really hard but I’m learning a lot and I’m staying really busy. For the first week we had class about seven hours a day and it was really difficult to resist the urge to zone out for about thirty minutes every few hours. I made it through the first week though and today was my first time to give a full lesson to a Czech class. It’s a beginner class and there are only two people in it. While this may sound easy, believe me, it in fact is not. They hardly speak English and there are only two of them, so it’s hard to really do a lot of activities and games with such a small class. I got through it though and had a pretty good lesson and I’m counting it as a success because I didn’t pass out in front of the white board or throw up during the class. All in all, I think I’ve had a pretty good start to my TEFL certification and I’m alive and well. Prague is beautiful (I’ll put up pictures in my next blog) and I have the nicest land lady of all time. I got home from my class today and she knocked on my door to give me a bowl of fresh picked cherries from her and her husband’s cherry tree. How nice is that?

Polo match? I think yes.

Tue, 07 Jun 2011 16:09:33 +0200

Yesterday I went to a polo match on Governor’s Island. I had never heard of the place before but it was kind of like Shutter Island from the movie, minus the crazy people and Leonardo DiCaprio. This doesn’t mean that it was completely devoid of celebrities though because the match was hosted by Hugh Jackman and Marc Jacobs and was called Veuve Cliquot, very fancy indeed. We took a ferry ride over to the island and immediately set about trying to find a good place to throw down a blanket for a pre-polo picnic. It ended up being a rather long picnic because we arrived at 11:30 and the match didn’t start until 4:30 in the afternoon. I don’t think that I’ve ever been that early for something in my entire life, Harry Potter premiers included.

Anyway, we had a picnic and we were joined by a guy named Dennis who just kind of sat down right by our blanket. He was a nice enough guy at the start but by the fourth hour of listening to him talk about nothing in particular and drink his 30 dollar glass of champagne, I affectionately started referring to him as Dennis the Menace. The polo match finally started and it was really cool to watch. There are four players on each team and it’s basically like a combination of croquet, horses and soccer. Each team just gallops around, swinging their mallets and trying to hit the white ball through two posts. At half-time or “intermission” as they call it, the crowd walks on the field and smooths out the divots made by the horses hooves by stepping on them. We ended up leaving after intermission because it took forever to get on a ferry because of the crowd.

The day after, I went uptown to see Central Park and I could live there! Seriously thought, everything was so beautiful and the day had perfect 80 degree sunny weather. I meant to go to the Met but I ended up wandering around all day and ended back up in Central Park. I also got to see the Rockefeller Center and I desperately wanted to see Tina Fey walk out of the doors and say something ridiculous. It didn’t happen though. Then I went to the coolest/most expensive toy store ever, F.A.O. Swartz. It was incredible and I got to dance around on the big piano with a bunch of little kids.

After walking around all day, my feet and legs were so sore, so I ended up in a coffee shop (surprise, surprise) reading a book that I bought at a used bookstore. In summary, I really, really love New York. What a wonderful city.

Hello, New York. It's so nice to finally meet you.

Sat, 04 Jun 2011 17:38:35 +0200

I’ve wanted to go to New York for a long time and I’m finally here! I’ve always wanted to visit but I didn’t think that I would like it near as much as I do. Yes it’s noisy, dirty and a bit much to take in but it’s incredibly exciting and beautiful at the same time. I’m staying with my friend Masha in a little apartment on the east side. My room is right by the street, so I’ve been woken up at six in the morning both nights I’ve been here from the traffic and the garbage trucks. Yesterday I thought that there was a fight in the street but it was just some Puerto Ricans arguing over a domino game.

When I first flew in, I got my bags, which consists of a giant suitcase (thank the Lord it rolls) a duffel bag and my computer bag and I headed out of the airport to find the bus. My friend told me to meet her at Union Square and to take the M60 bus and that was all the directions I had. The bus was packed, so I was standing in the aisle with all my bags trying not to fall down. Finally a seat opened up and I took it. I asked the lady next to me where the nearest subway stop was so that I could get to Union Square. She gave me a blank look and started to speak to me in Spanish. Situations like these are when I’m so thankful I majored in Spanish. She gave me directions and I got off in the next few stops. I found the subway station and asked another lady which line I should get on. She also only spoke Spanish! I got on the subway and had yet another Spanish conversation with someone who told me when to get off. On a side note, Puerto Rican Spanish is kind of ugly and so hard to understand.

Yesterday, I spent the whole day just walking around and taking the bus and subway around the city. I went to Brooklyn and walked around the old historical part, found a used bookstore and then walked part of the way across the Brooklyn Bridge. I got tired though and decided to turn around and find a subway stop. I then went to Chinatown and Little Italy and explored around there for a long time. I ended up in a coffee shop where I bought a wonderful iced mocha and read my book. I then went to eat some great Thai food with Masha and two of her friends and I ended the night with a trip past Time Square to meet up with Lydia Becker, her mom and two of Lydia’s friends for some drinks at a pub. It was a good day but my legs are killing me. Oh, and also I kicked two pigeons:) That’s what the flying rats deserve.

So, here goes something.

Wed, 06 Apr 2011 23:14:12 +0200

Well, I’m giving the blogging thing another shot. I kept up with one pretty regularly when I was studying in Spain and I just stopped when I got back to Abilene. I guess I thought that my regular life was too boring to write about and that may very well be the case but I miss writing either way. So, here goes.

I rode my bike to work today and I immediately regretted the decision when I started down a hill and realized that it was really cold. The wind was making my eyes hurt, so I would keep one open for a little while, close it and open the other one. Probably not the safest way to go down a giant hill. Oh, did I mention the insane drivers flying past me? Abilene is not the safest place to ride a bike.

This is a pretty accurate description of an Abilene driver’s attitude towards bikers.

Despite the dangers, biking is totally worth it.

1) I didn’t spend any money on gas.

2) I got some early morning excercise in.

3) Monks coffee tasted so good after riding in the cold.

"Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the..."

Wed, 30 Mar 2011 17:54:36 +0200

““Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”-Howard Thurman”