The last 2 days

Today is Wednesday. We leave tomorrow night. Surreal. I have packed things up and am taking care of last minute business. We have seen so many great things here. and now on my way back home... I have been singing songs like, "wanna go home -a oh! a a oh! come now baby wanna go home..." and one by Nelly Furtado, "all good things come to an end, come to an end..." and of course, Micheal Bublea's "Home" song. I haven't been singing it, it is not my fav. but it is a good "home" song. I have been trying to think of others.
Tonight we are having dinner with a Vietnamese girl that we met. We have been giving English lessons to her. She is a nun, Buddhist. She is so sweet. She is cooking dinner for us tonight. So, there will be about 10 of us in one little room sitting on the floor all eating some kind of rice and veg with basil and other spices. It brings much Joy to all of us to be able to do this. Her honor to cook for us, and ours to partake -to share one last evening before being in the sky for 13 hours far away from them.

The last 2 weeks and the future to come.

I really can't believe time is almost up here. Two more weeks, we can count down the days now. Our work has changed here a lot. We are not in villages anymore, but instead, we are staying in the biggest city here. It is so beautiful, but sometimes smells really bad. :) The trash system here is to throw it on the side of the street and let the cows and pigs and crows eat it up, burn the rest, or plant bushes over it.
We are now working with students in the universities here. We have been giving English lessons to a few of them. They are from Vietnam and so I love getting that cultural influence as well. One of the students cooked Vietnamese food for us. He is a Buddhist monk, too. So is the other student. My friend and I have been working with the girl Buddhist monk. She shaves her head, and wears simple clothes from Vietnam. We have to take off our shoes before we enter her home and we sit on the floor (which is not uncommon here). They keep everything so clean compared to the nationals. It is culture shock for them as well. She is quiet natured and so nice. Understandings on some things are hard to communicate, considering she isn't strong in English nor expressions. So, it is great to build a relationship with her. I love it, and especially teaching her how to pronounce English words and all sorts of English fun.
We have also been working with a company that trains professionals on conflict management and business values such as integrity and honesty. The business world here is very aggressive and
competitive, scaring hurting people. So, Biblically based curriculum is what we are working on by editing and adding creativity to it. That is fun as well.
Today is Tuesday, so we have one more week and 2 days before we head off on a big airplane to cross the big ocean for many hours, all to land on different soil, a different world, and a different plan. It will be so different going back. Things are already changed. My life will change. Completely. No more DBU, or 30 minute drives to the other side of the city. I will be planted in different soil, doing a different work. I already feel my roots have changed. I will not have tests and papers due and pressure of classes. However, my studies will not dissapear. I know that I will continue to educate myself and learn new things as I go along in life. I will be able to pick up books and write papers at my own pace and study. This will be nice, and I really am so excited about it. Some things I would like to pick up are chemistry, working with nutrition and the body. I love the studies about how the body functions and works. I think this will lead me to brain and social studies. Working with neurosciences/psychology. I love this, I really do. I remember going to an information center for UTD and they talked about their neuro studies, and I was fascinated, wanting to learn more. It has been 3 years since then, so maybe now I will be able to. :) So, neurology and "nutrition" here I come! (hopefully my time and place will allow for this.)
2 more weeks till I get back, but I know I will be gone again soon. Off to another place, another time. I am not sure where I will end up soon, but in the meantime I will be looking for other opportunities to travel again, maybe working in another country. I eventually want to learn Arabic, so hopefully I will be in a place where I can learn and practice this. I hope to go to the middle east sometime, for a life-time/full-time/career for my life. However, I don't know where I will be next.
My plan is to travel/work for the next few years, then maybe do some formal studies again (masters work), and then I will know my next direction.
Okay, chao for now!

today

So, i am like sick right now. i haven't been able to get on the internet either. i haven't had it in so long. but now i can get on. we are staying in the biggest city now, at the Y, it is like a hostel and it is nice/fun. but the thing is i caught a cold! ? i don't know how or why, but it is at the end of the first session, and all the other students are on planes back to America. i feel like i should be going home, but we have a little over 2 more weeks here. i had friend once tell me that after hard spiritual work, it is not uncommon for that person to get sick. kind of like, you know you worked well when you are tired; you know you've done well if your sick. so, great!

i am just hoping to get over this soon. i have been sleeping for like 2 days straight. i am usually never like this. my friends have been taking good care of me.

anyway, thanks everyone for being apart of this summer with me! i'll catch ya up later!

Snap!

Days

We got into the city last night. Late last night. We took a train through the mountains and saw the sun set over them. I sat next to a couple that had a baby. They were playing cards, a form of crazy 8. Behind me sat a man I met a man who "reads handwriting." I thought, how interesting. I ended up listening to him for a bit as he explained to me his job. He was in the middle of reading up on how to check for counterfiet money. He stopped that for a bit, and even offered me the reading and asked about plastic money in the states. I said the only plastic money I know is credit cards. But he was talking about actually plastic bills like they have in Australia. (okay?) Well, he ended up being a forensic scientist in the city we were staying in. Then we got served dinner on the train and I tried to fall asleep was too awed about the mountains. and the lights and the bugs. The train then arrived to a city about 30 mins outside of our destination. So, late at night, at the leadership of one of the guys who were with us, we found a taxi, arrived to destination and fell asleep. The day before, i had gotten a massage. and i smelled. I smelled like th oil that poured all over me. It was an ayervedic massage and medicine and such. The hindu lady tried to explain to me all about it and told me i could build a building with rooms for men and women, and baths and saunas and spas and she could come and give massages. I said, alright? and changed the subject. she wants to come to America, too. It was a full body massage. The head massage was good, but the oil smelled and was "a special mixture" of all herbs and such. It smelled like soysauce cooking oil, and I did not smell good, especially as i lied down to go to sleep. The massage was basically a full body rub. I enjoyed the massages on the beaches of the mediteranian by the little chinese women more. My friends told me that if I wanted a good massage to go to china.
So, I am glad I got it, and am thankful for the relaxation and experience. Through everything, I learn, so there is benefit in it all.

The Alchemist
i read a book. The Alchemist. At one of the houses i was staying at was a book called "The Warrior of Light." This I picked up becuase of Light, i am. and a Warrior, too. So, i thought it might be for me. It was by an author a friend from Brazil told me about. That this author is so famous, world wide. So, i finally came in touch with this author and picked up another one of his books. An interesting authro/person he is, and what a story i read in The Alchemist. It is about a boy, from Spain, southern spain, who was studying to be a pastor, and left that to be a Shepherd of sheep instead. (which both are pasotrs, one if of people, the other of sheep). This young boy was a traveler, with the sheep, and came across some instincts that told him to go west. he answered, and left and went to Morrocco. He sold his sheep and his hope for love of a particular girl in a certain town. Instead, he found his answer, his mate, and learned aton. The answer was (and i'll ruin it for you if you haven't read it) that under the tree he laid with his sheep was buried a treasure box. So, there he returned and became a better pastor, richer, and in love. ah. that was nice. and undescribable for me. This young traveler, of spain, went to Morrocco, accross the deserts, -so much of that book hit my heart, made it bleed. So, experiences i have had here. and who can ignore their calling? no one, i hope. let us listen, let us listen to what He is trying to say to us. Most of all, to obey. once we have listened, we must follow and obey. amen. So, these are just some of the experiences i have had.