I really don’t think I would be so unsatisfied, if there wasn’t so much to choose from. I’ve been trying for the past…well, long time, to add a banner to this site, i have one made up, which I’ll proudly display here:
but I’m still not sure how to edit the style sheet to make it appear correctly. I’m also learning lots of php things and other nerdy stuff like MySQL and things that no one cares about in a blog post.
I’ve been really inspired by several sites lately, which I’ll list here, I hope you enjoy visiting them if you get the time.
Oh, and if you can believe it, my return to America is in 21 days, but first, we’ll go to Serbia on June 16th through the 24th for our own tailor made summer project, that I really believe will inject into those going motivation and boldness to be the difference that’s needed in Slovakia and on their campuses.
Last week my team went on something called “debrief.”
Now, I think for many of my friends, this might be confusing, because we throw around the debrief word to talk about the fact that we need to talk about an awkward situation later. That debrief came from the real meaning of the word, which is to go over and talk through what you’ve been learning and how you might be able to apply it and what it will look like in your next steps in life. Debrief coming from one year on stint, brings about a lot of interesting conversation - the fact that we’ve immersed ourselves in a culture that most Americans will never understand or experience. During debrief we flew from Kosice to Bratislava, met with our country director there, then took a train to Vienna (Austria), where we stayed the night, had a delicious dinner and Starbucks, then toured around Vienna (Austria) a bit before heading to Venice the next day. We flew to Venice (Italy) where we found the public transportation system to be having a strike - which we found inconvenient, in our packs, in the rain, with hundreds of angry Italians waiting for a bus. We spent the week in Venice, took some amazing pictures and were back in Kosice after a week of water, sun, and really big pizzas. ….and drumroll please, the debrief slideshow.
Here is one day last week, when I was waiting for the tram, I’m wearing a skirt and flip flops for the first time since last August and people are staring at me everywhere.
Slovaks don’t know what to do when they see such exposure this early in the year. This is a month without an R in it, so I’m allowed to sit on the bench, at least I pass in that area. I’m definitely going to miss the trams and all of the public transportation, especially with gas being so high in the states.
We finally finished learning all 6 cases in language school, just yesterday.
What this means is, with a little more understanding and grasp on this language, I could, in effect speak Slovak fluently. This is the closest I’ve ever been to understanding a language. I speak in somewhat broken Slovak, you know SSL (Slovak as second language). But, I don’t know if I’ve ever given you a sampling of what we learn in class, so I though I’d maybe type up an excerpt in the book of what we’re reading and translating.
Tak, kone?ne som zasa tu. Devätnásteho septembra mi prišiel email. Otec pisal, že mama je chorá a musí ís? na operáciu. Ráno som musela íst na fakultu na potom na pliciu po viyum. Potom som si kúpila letenku a taxíkom som išla na letisko. Cestovala som najprv do Prahy. Musela som odle tie? dvadsiateho prvého, lebo dalšie lietadlo lei až o týžde?. škoda, že letenkz z Viedne už boli vzpredané - zo Schwetchatu lieta lietadlo každy de?.
Kinda crazy for me to see that I understand this whole paragraph. Wild. So, don’t be surprised when I venture back to America if I throw some Slovak into our conversations. Some that might come up in a convo with me:
hej - yeh
myslim - I think
tak že - so that
rozumiem - I understand
?o? - what?
pre?o? - why?
toto - this
?o je to? - what is it?
no - yes (hopefully this one won’t ruin anything for me)
potom - later, after, then
?aj - tea
prosim - please
zajimavae - interesting
I’m sure I’ll have fun teaching everyone as much as you want to learn, get ready.
Sometimes we have fun in language. This was one of those days. Here we are as Aaron gives an example of a Bob’s furniture commercial. Bobovi Nabytok = Bob’s Furniture. Another favorite from the year: Tom Bradyho (the Super Bowl) and Tracy Turnbladova (Hairspray).
[language school vid embedded below, also available here]
I just got back from Krakow last night. It was a fun trip. I spent most of Saturday reading, walking around, drinking hot chocolate and eating cheesecake, reading, journaling, and shopping. I even went to the salt mine to check it out for the first time, it was like a study on the verse, “you are the salt of the earth.” I’ve never thought about how valuable salt is, more thoughts on this to come (maybe). Here’s a photo mosaic from my trip.
Here is a video that I just put together after seeing all of my Barcelona videos just lying around without connection on my mac. I tried to feature different aspects of the trip, but I gave you the highlights. So, here ya go, the recap vid almost 2 months later…
My flat is invaded with ants. They are everywhere.
They are easy to spot on the hardwoods, they are busy things, and they are never alone. Maybe we can learn from this. In Proverbs 6, the ants are referenced as hard working - they don’t even have a master, but they work hard anyway. Then, likewise, we who have a Father who is in heaven, should work hard to please the Lord. They are never alone, they are working together. When you talk about ants you always talk about them in the plural. I’m learning to see truth and design in ant-life. I think this is life as God intends it. Working together, for a common goal, being like-minded (Phil 2) and in community. May we be like the ants and invade lives with the truth of the gospel and the unity of a common goal.
I read this on a daily basis to know which tram will be at what stop and when, so I can take it to my desired destination. I kind of forget that this looks like a complete puzzle to most, but to me it’s my daily life, and it’s survival. So this is quite literally how I get where I’m going.
i like them, i think i should wear them more, but decidedly i should take less pictures of me in them. also, it’s hard for me to imagine writing (red) any other way.
(side note: they aren’t new, they are just prescription readers, i wear them when i read…hence the name)
i might blog later about something deep, other than change jars and red glasses.
many of you know that i am a big fan of donald miller, his talks, his books, and even i’ve developed somewhat a crush on him.
i just listened to a great talk by miller that i got off of itunes called 13 shifts on a paradigm. thought i’d link you to it (below), it’s a bit long but really refreshing and helps me to get back to what matters.
for those of you wondering, a paradigm by definition is “one that serves as a pattern or model.”
a couple of these he lists are other people exist (it’s not logical to assume that life is about me) and nobody will listen to you, unless they know you like them.
here is the link to it in the itunes store, it’s a free talk that Donald did at Seattle Pacific University.
