Author: Trish

The Beginnings of Culture Shock

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This morning I was in a bad mood.  I felt sickness twisting in my stomach and I was just annoyed by everyone, and no, I am nowhere near being on my period.  Instead, I was suffering from….CULTURE SHOCK.

Everything was wrong.  Nothing was familiar.  I made a list of all the things I miss about the United States:

  • being able to read street signs
  • knowing where to buy a straightener
  • TFC’s worship service
  • Eatzi’s salads
  • being able to watch current TV shows on Hulu
  • Target
  • Rory, my cat
  • speaking quickly
  • libraries
  • knowing that Old Navy is guaranteed to have pants that fit me
  • lots of restaurants with various ethnic foods

As I am very slowly learning, talking about your problems can make them seem more manageable (being a counselor means advising people to do things you are only barely able to do yourself).  So during our break at Greek class, Emi, Elvira, Nir and I sat on the roof to drink tea in the sun.   Continue reading →

Percy Jackson’s Greek Gods by Rick Riordan

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Percy_Jackson's_Greek_GodsPart of me feels like I ought to be ashamed of the fact that 80% of my Greek mythology knowledge comes from one American man, but Rick Riordan makes it so entertaining!  I don’t know how he manages to convey humor while simultaneously making it clear that the gods habits of murdering and raping is abominable…but he does.  It’s very impressive.

I liked his book on heroes more than this one on the gods.  The style and everything is the same; it’s just that I’m more familiar with the stories of the gods and goddesses, so it wasn’t quite as interesting.  Still, it’s a great book, and John Rocco’s illustrations continue to be flat-out gorgeous (although he draws Dionysus as an old fat man despite the story describing him as a beautiful teenage boy with girlish features).

If you like Riordan’s style, you’ll like this book.  Honestly, I’m fully in his pocket, and I’ll read everything he ever writes, I think.  I hope he makes another one of these massive books – maybe about the minor Greek gods, or about Egyptian gods.  Haha, the man is churning out two books a year, but I WANT MORE.   Continue reading →

Workout Week #9

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THIS WEEK’S GOAL:  20 minutes at least 5 times this week.

WorkoutWeek 1.31.16

GOAL NOT MET

Workout Notes

wah waaaah

There goes the success streak.  I was doing so well!  And then Thursday and Friday I was gone all day – literally getting back home at 11:30 p.m. – and then….Saturday I just didn’t want to!  And today I didn’t want to!  And….I didn’t want to write this blog post about how much I don’t want to work out.

Food Notes

There is such a correlation between acting healthy and eating healthy.  As my workout ethic deteriorated, so did my willpower to avoid eating chocolate bars.  And as I ate a bunch of junk food, my body felt more and more like a beached whale that is unable to sit up, let alone do jumping jacks and burpees.

NEXT WEEK’S GOAL:  20 minutes at least 5 times this week.

(I will try again!  Tomorrow is another day!!)

Sunday Summary #16: What’s on the Internet

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Articles

1|  This article brilliantly explains why Beauty and the Beast is NOT an example of Stockholm Syndrome, but in fact portrays a healthy love story based on compassion and realizing you don’t have to be the beast people think you are.

Videos

1|  WOW this song by Ruth B does all sorts of things to my heart feelings.

‘Run, run, lost boy,’ they say to me. ‘Away from all of reality.’
Neverland is home to lost boys like me, and lost boys like me are free.
Neverland is home to lost boys like me, and lost boys like me are free.

2|  WOW, YES PERFECT.  Star Wars/Hamilton mashup!!

A Week in Greece #3: A Greek Play and Exploring on My Own

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Although my mind is still consumed by Greek lessons, I had a bit more of a life this week (for better and for worse).

Last week I felt overwhelmed by all the verbs and vocabulary and grammar that I had to juggle every day in my Greek class.  I also felt overwhelmed by making new friends.  So last weekend, I stayed in my room as much as possible and worked my butt off mastering the Greek we had worked on.  I’m talking 8 hours of Greek on Saturday and another 6 hours on Sunday.  The payoff was worth it – when I returned to class on Monday, I felt like I was swimming through the lessons instead of drowning.  Classes continued, my friendships with Nir and Elvira continued, and I started to really like our teacher Rosa, which is unfortunate because next week we have a new teacher.

I already wrote about the excitement of how we have a location for HD.  The continuation of that is that Anthi took me to see the outside of the building on Thursday night, and it’s nicely secluded with a lot of trees, and there are balconies and…you know, outside of a building stuff.  Eventually I will see the inside and have a stronger opinion.  I’ve also been helping Dina write fundraising updates and letters.  She came to my room Thursday morning and said, “We need $200,000 to fully renovate the house.  God will give us the money!”  Later I told Anthi that I’m just going to kind of borrow Dina’s faith body-of-Christ-style, because I definitely don’t have it.  But, well.  Maybe I do.  Because God came through with providing us the house, so why not the money too?

On Thursday night, I went to Anthi’s house after class.  We had dinner, she took me to see the house, and then we went to Ambelokipi (meaning “grape garden” because there were vineyards in the area before there was city) to meet up with Dina, Francisca, and Natasha to see a play!  It was a three-hour production of Crime and Punishment in Greek.  When the music started and a man slowly walked on stage, lighting a lantern and pouring a glass of water, Anthi leaned over and whispered, “Do you understand what has happened so far?”  She filled me in every ten minutes or so, and I could mostly keep up.  I wondered how much of the exaggerated emotion (there’s nothing quite so strange as listening to gibberish spoken normally SUDDENLY JUMPING TO SHOUTED GIBBERISH) was due to the plot and how much was due to the Greek actors.  When it was over I found out that several of the cast were famous Greek TV actors, and Natasha made Anthi take multiple pictures of her standing with one of the men.   Continue reading →

Percy Jackson’s Greek Heroes by Rick Riordan

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61dF-z3PjxL._SX371_BO1,204,203,200_Percy Jackson breathes new life into familiar Greek myths and introduces several less-popular men and women.  You’ve got Hercules and Theseus, of course, but also Phaethon, Orpheus, and Bellerophon.  Most importantly (to my interests), Riordan tells the stories of four heroines!  The ancient Greeks weren’t huge on female inspiration, and I appreciate Riordan’s intentionality in choosing to include Psyche, Otrera, Atalanta, and Cyrene.

The tone of the book is irreverent and modern, much like the Percy Jackson books, which makes sense as Percy is the “author” of these stories.  He has no problem calling out the gods on their weird and/or horrible actions.  For instance, when describing Danae’s imprisonment, Percy says:  Continue reading →

BIG NEWS: We Have a House!

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We have had some disappointments during our search for a HD location, and there has been talk of us delaying our opening until July.  While driving me to church on Sunday, Dina saw through my fake “everything’s fine” facade and assured me, “Don’t worry about the people who paid for you to be here. God is in control. He knows what he is doing, and when we will open.  He is doing something – we have a bank account even though banks are not opening new accounts, and you are here now.  We will find out what he is doing when he has made us ready.” I was still lying a little bit when I agreed with her, but she said she spent all day Saturday praying, so I decided to trust her wisdom.

We parked the car and got on the metro.  A girl from school happened to be on the red line with us.  Veta, her mother, was visiting the city, and she and Dina happily reunited while we walked to the church.  After the service, a tiny older lady asked me how HD was doing.  “Oh, it’s slow,” I said.  “We can’t find a house, and the budget keeps shrinking.”  Belatedly, I wondered if I should be telling these things to a stranger, but she had already walked away.

I visited with some other people before circling back to Dina.  Her face lit up when she saw me.  “We found a house!” she cried.  “Um, what?” I asked.  Two hours ago we were complaining and doubting (well, I was), and immediately our problems were solved?

“Veta and her husband are old friends of ours, and they have been praying for HD for years.  They have a house that they have wanted to be used by a ministry, but they didn’t think that we needed one.  Now they are going to let us use it for very cheap, thanks to you!”

“Thanks to me?” I asked.  I hadn’t talked to Veta on the metro or at the church.

“You told Mrs. Hill that we didn’t have a house, and she knew Veta was trying to rent one.  She told her to talk to me!  I told you this morning that God brought you here for a reason.”

Filled with Greek exuberance, I threw my hands in the air, delighted to find that my big mouth had accomplished something wonderful.

Over lunch with Dina and Argyris, we discussed all the benefits of the house.  It’s in a good area, it’s private, it’s owned by people they know and trust, and it’s half the price of our already slashed budget.

On Monday, Dina and the other HD women went to the house in the afternoon while I was in Greek school.  They loved it.  They went over the budget, they talked with important people, and it was decided:

We’re renting the house, and we’re ready to get started ASAP!

I cannot actually comprehend how ridiculous this is.  Dina and I talked about trusting God in the morning, and in the afternoon he answered our prayers, and the next day everything is good to go?  It’s crazy and exciting and with such perfect timing that I have to see God’s hand at work.

I don’t think this is the end of our obstacles.  But this week has strengthened my weak faith – God can, and will, side-step every obstacle with ease.  After all, as I keep hearing, this is not our project.  God is interested in freeing women from a lifetime of emotional and physical slavery, and he will get the job done, in his uniquely absurd and delightful way.

What Is My Faith Made Of?

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“Καλημερα!  Καλημερα, Τρισια!” I heard behind me as I turned right in front of the 1896 Olympic Stadium.  I turned around.  Nir held his arms open.  “Like my jacket?” he asked.  “My parents bought it for me.”

We discussed our weekends, and he asked about how church works.  He asked about Christmas and Easter, and I asked about Yom Kippur and Purim.  He said he wasn’t religious, but was I?  “Yes,” I said, grimacing.  I’ve thought about this before, how much I hate to tell new people that Christianity is a big deal to me.  Romans 1:16 runs through my head like an accusation, but I’ve decided that I’m not ashamed of the gospel…I’m ashamed of a lot of the people who go around talking about it.

“What does it mean for you?  To be religious or not religious?” Nir asked.   Continue reading →

Sunday Summary #15: What’s on the Internet

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Articles

1|  I’ve got six months to figure out how to watch PBS in Greece, because I am NOT missing their special on Hamilton!!

2|  The Mary Sue covers two of my favorite topics – feminism and Star Wars!  But this post isn’t about Rey.  It’s about the men of The Force Awakens, and how they are a shining example of feminist men in the media.

Videos

1|  I just discovered Nadine, a travel vlogger, and this video about airport/airplane travel hacks was really informative!  Some I knew, but a lot of her suggestions were really genius.