Single Waiting

When one worries about what God has for them, one misses the full scope of His many opportunities. I moved in with Elisabetta and Agnese on Friday and I was so grateful and appreciative of their immediate hospitality. Agnese was such a shy little girl when I met her but 2 days ago. She was full of energy and acceptance and showed me around the flat and was speaking English very well. I had lunch with her and her mom and later met her neighbor. A German woman, Julia, who used to work as a stylist/assistant for photographer at fashion shows and photo sessions in Milan is now living here in Chiavari as floral designer for weddings. She has two children and her husband (Italian) is an architect. She said she has a wedding coming up in April that she is doing the flowers for and wondered if I wouldn't mind taking the pictures of her designs. Whether it happens or not (me taking pictures), I was more than happy to at least talk to her about her passions. She is very sweet and seems t...

"Meet the Press" Is it possible that the days are faster in Italy? Maybe it's the fact that I have to catch up on how to speak English again, or learning Italian and confusing it with Spanish, or that I have yet to feel completely set at a steady pace. Either way, I had a challenge the other night of meeting some of the students. It was, 'come si dice' overwhelming. B-t-dubs, 'come si dice'- "how do you say...?" is my favorite frase right now because it almost solves all problems of describing your willingness to learn a new Italian word every 10 minutes. It was overwhelming because there were quite a bit of new people that I got to meet, and some of them spoke e Inglese poco and some only Italiano, and a minimal amount of Inglese. I wanted to have conversations with all of them, but only got to smile and nod to show that I was friendly and others I had conversations with. As the night was winding down, 3 children of one of the families that ...

So far my expectations of the city have not let me down. It's beautiful here! Today is meet the teacher(s) ie: me. I am looking forward to it and will probably feel a little overwhelmed at first, but I think it will be a good meet and greet. I am also looking forward to moving in with my host, Elisabetta on Friday morning! I'll get to meet her daughter Agnese for the first time who is 11 and who I will be teaching English to.  For my expectations, it is really hard to know what all I will be experiencing for the first time before actually getting to the location. From 3 months worth of emails, I had the idea in my head of where I would be living and what I would be surrounded by. In reality, I had to forgo where I was originally planning on living with a room mate and am staying for the first couple of days with the missionaries family. Then on Friday I will be moving in with my host, Elisabetta. She is a single mother who is also a freelance writer. She also manages social p...

I will say this, and maybe many times after this entry. I am absolutely positive that my heart belongs in Europe. I can't even begin to get the feeling out of my chest of how joyful I was to be in London. Seriously JOYFUL! I stepped out of the terminal, heard the temperature over the intercom stated by the pilot as -2ºC (28ºF), and all the cabin grumbled of the cold foggy weather. I rejoiced about the cold and foggy weather and started humming, "it's a foggy day in London town." Why oh why did my heart feel this way? I did not know, nor was I aware that the capacity of my love for a country could grow immeasurably due to just the sight of the patchwork landscape that I had only seen in movies, and period piece dramas, and dreamed about. I sat amongst people who had NO idea that I was possessing such joy in my heart just to hear them hold an normal conversation. A completely normal conversation. I think some may call it awkward, perhaps pathetic, or even a litt...

I should be on a plane heading to Italy today.  The dates may be different, but I should be on my way in the next 24 hours. I thought that I would give you a cute little update about how I'm feeling about the next 3 months. I know I will be a different woman when I come back and I am looking forward to that. I am also trying to fight the nerves of how different a person I will be. Learning to be a stronger woman in my faith and really, really, really be living in faith. I have found ways to do that in little ways wherever I am, but three months in a different country without the usual amenities that I might be used to. But it will help me to detach from a lot of distractions that I openly let take up my time and energy. I am looking forward to not having immediate accessibility to my phone, computer, tv, etc. Now you know I most likely will not be detached from my camera since I really like documenting everyday things, and this is one opportunity I will not be ...

"I am literally recklessly tired. I feel like I am in this hamster wheel of being near the end but not quite. You know, I can't complain that 2 weeks has stretched out as long as it has, but I think I'm ready to relinquish my rights as a student so I can have a CAREER, not another JOB. Two completely different things, and something that I look forward to. Not a lot of people do, and a lot of people think I'm crazy for wanting a career, and tell me I'll regret saying this when I don't have the comfortability of being in school all day. That has never been me, to be in school all day, sit in a structured environment that doesn't allow me to be a creative thinker all day long. I don't say that it stunted me, but I've always like being outside of the classroom to learn.  The world is my classroom and I think my parents have kind of figured that out. Me getting where I am now is by the grace of God, and the unconditional support of my family, and ...

I am constantly thinking of how my thoughts are challenged. How they will be challenged when I step foot in a different country. How much I will be learning about myself. How much I am relying on God, and not myself, not family, nor friends. Just the two of us. A lot like the Will Smith song " Just the Two of Us ". I have pondered how much I'll be reading, writing, sketching, and drawing, and taking pictures to be constantly reminded that God is present in everything that I do. I would like to read a few books while I'm there. The first being the letters that the Apostle Paul wrote to the church. If emo ever existed back in the day, I'd say he was the first to invent emo of truth. He didn't beat around the bush. Paul was all black and white. He went from persecuting the Christian church and it's believers, and then did a 180º a became one of our most influential missionaries spreading the word of God. My reasoning for saying all of that is that I w...

" I don't think I ever remembered a year going by as quickly as this year has. Here it is November 7th already and I have about 6 more weeks of school left and have got to get the ball running on all of these projects and get them ready and assembled, printed, updated.  I hate getting on CAD to re-do things that I've already done, but it has to be done, and I'm semi prepared for my day tomorrow. It will consist of an all-dayer. School opens at 7am and closes at 11pm. You better believe I will be up there early enough and stay until they close. It's amazing what I get done with a load of music and about 13 hours of uninterrupted time, I can complete everything that I wanted to finish. So be in prayer, i need to finish this project ahead of schedule. I might not be on here as much in the next 6 weeks because yet again I'm going back home for my glow in the dark retainers. That is one thing I'm excited about, the other thing is seeing my parents and ...

Originally written 10.26.10 Let's see where I was and how far I've come from that time. "I have been constantly contemplating what it is that I want to do with my degree. Here's a few options that have crossed my mind from sheer boredom;  making practice basketball shots, playing  M*A*S*H  on the back side of the paper, writing a love note, framing it .... As you can see, none of those would suffice, and none of those would get me anywhere near a job that I'd want. Come to think of it, having a degree is fine and dandy, but getting a job shouldn't rely on a degree alone. If you have no talent and a degree, where is that really going to get you? So over the last couple of months, even years, I have contemplated a variety of jobs and even jobs that are spin-offs from interior architecture. Government work has played a tune across my mind a few times, the perk: traveling. Maybe too rigid for my liking. Non-profit work with the likes of TOMS shoes organization a...