Personal – Page 14 – It Is Trish

A Week in Greece #21: NEW ROOMMATE, NEW SOCIAL LIFE, OLD INTROVERSION

June 4, 2016June 4, 2016TrishLeave a comment

Monday

Natasha moved in! Technically she moved in Sunday, but I’ll talk about it all here. It’s so nice to have a roommate, especially one who speaks English as their native language. On Sunday night we talked and talked, and I showed her around the neighborhood. On Monday I left work for a while to take her to the laiki – street market – that we have in the area every week. She would whisper to me, “Listen to what they say,” when the sellers gave the price, and it was super weird to be in a position of knowledge. Sometimes knowledge. Good enough knowledge!

Anthi took me to Jumbo after work (the Greek version of Walmart), and I bought a bunch of kitten supplies!! Kendra texted me that she petted my little stray kitten, so hopefully within a week or so, it will be person-friendly enough to be caught. I’ve been reading up on how to domesticate a wild kitten, and I’m super excited. Also nervous, because he or she is a little beat up, BUT. My theology of animals demands that I give love where it is needed, not where it is convenient. I’ve been brainstorming names. I cannot wait to have a little bundle of fur in my home again!

Tuesday

Tuesday was stressful! I got up early to finish some work before work actually began, because I spent the day going back and forth to my house as minor construction projects got finished. The day got considerably less stressful when some Texan college boys came to HD, and I commandeered them into helping me move a bed and construct a garment rack for Natasha.

I love boys! I love American boys! I love their dumb need to impress, to tease each other for their mistakes, to laugh at my jokes. I love when they smile up at me before intentionally making a mistake, and I love bonding over things we miss in America.

Flirting. That’s what I mean. I love flirting. Continue reading →

Let’s Talk About…Captain America

June 1, 2016June 2, 2016Trish1 Comment

If you don’t know what The Toast is, too late, it’s about to shut down. But never fear, Elizabeth and I are here to fulfill the internet’s need for besties shouting at each other via online chat platforms.

Tricia: GASP that reminds me did you watch Captain America Civil War?

Elizabeth: does it have Loki in it?

Tricia: No, but there’s a part where Captain America (wearing a tight grey t-shirt) holds onto a helicopter and a building, and HIS ARMS THO. I blushed and had to cover my face in the theater.

Elizabeth: ❤

Tricia: I have never been more interested in the gun show.

Screen Shot 2016-05-25 at 5.43.56 PM

Elizabeth: wow
like
I’m not generally into the muscular types, but wow
WOW Continue reading →

Unblocking My Creativity

May 30, 2016May 27, 2016TrishLeave a comment

I’ve been hearing a lot of podcast people talking about “being yourself” and how if you want to be creative, don’t worry about doing something New and Exciting. Just be whoever you are, and people will see that and relate and love it (or not).

WHICH IS VERY DIFFICULT FOR ME. Whenever I write a blog post, I think:

Will people think this is funny?
Will people think this is deep?
Will people think I’m a selfish asshole?
Will people judge me for using the word asshole?
Will people think my graphic design attempts are childish?
Will people unsubscribe?
Will someone comment?
Will someone stop supporting my work in Greece financially because I say something they find unChristian or wrong?

And let me tell you, those thoughts running through my head are a TERROR. Continue reading →

A Week in Greece #20: Privileged Americans, HD Breakthrough, Busy Weekend

May 29, 2016TrishLeave a comment

Twenty weeks in Greece! Wow! That sounds properly impressive.

As far as weeks in Greece go, though, it was a pretty slow one! Monday was Mallory’s last day here. She went exploring on her own during the day while I worked, and then we headed downtown for her last Greek meal. I googled “best places to eat in Athens” and settled on a place called GH Attikos because it said it had a rooftop restaurant. We left straight after work at 4:00 and got there around 4:30 for a late lunch. When we arrived, only one other table was full, and the hostess approached.

“What do you want?” she asked.

Confused by the seemingly obvious reply, I said, “…We want to eat.”

“Will you be done before 8?” she asked.

I glanced at my phone. “Uh, yeah.”

She escorted us to our seat, which had a STUNNING view of the Acropolis. While we were ooo-ing and ahh-ing, we heard noises that sounded like the kitchen starting up. We took a closer look at the space around us. None of the tables had plates or napkins or anything. The people sitting at the other table had been done for a long time and were only chatting.

The restaurant wasn’t open. But we waltzed in with our American privilege and assumptions, and ordered a full meal that they mercifully supplied. Sometimes it pays to be ignorant!

Mallory left early Tuesday morning, and I spent the rest of the weekdays soaking up some quality time alone (except for my Greek lesson with Maria on Wednesday night). This was especially necessary because work has been hard. Continue reading →

Adventurous, Not Dangerous

May 26, 2016Trish1 Comment

When I die, I want this video playing on my holographic tombstone.

Hahahahaa, I imagine that very few people will find this as hilarious as I do, but one of those people is Mallory, my amazing friend who shares my dumb sense of humor. I’m so glad she visited and agreed that THIS was the best way to document our adventures.

Enjoy 2 minutes and 20 seconds of the dumbest jokes in the history of idiocy!

How to Avoid Fame-Seeking Behaviors While Running a Blog

May 24, 2016May 17, 2016TrishLeave a comment

At HD, we are starting our Formation of Servants meetings every Wednesday. It’s pretty much exactly the 12 Steps used by Alcoholics Anonymous, but more explicitly Christian (aka we use more Bible verses). I am SO EXCITED to be starting this, because I crave this kind of intimacy with co-workers. There is nothing more comforting than knowing that the people you spend most of your time with know you deeply and still want to spend time with you.

The first step is all about admitting you are powerless, and part of the lesson was three pages of recovery topics we might want to focus on. Here’s what stood out to me:

approval dependency
confrontation
criticism
family
fear
forgiveness
humility
jealousy
loneliness
looking good
perfectionism
reconciliation

I immediately noticed a running theme of “I want everyone to love me and I will do anything necessary to appear loveable!”

Since I spend so much of my time blogging, I wondered how much this blog contributes to my problem. I definitely try to appear smart and funny and interesting here. I want people to like my content. I get upset when people don’t. Sometimes I don’t post stories or thoughts because I think people might disagree with me or chastise me.

My first thought was: I will quit my blog! That way I won’t be contributing to the messiness of fame and attention-seeking that it involves.

But this all-or-nothing reaction is unhealthy, I think. I tend to think in dichotomy and All Right or All Wrong. I like easy answers. This is not the first time I have thought this, and a couple years ago, I actually DID quit blogging for several months. It was awful. I don’t think it helped me be any less self-centered, and it took away my biggest creative outlet.

It also ignores all the GREAT things about blogging. Writing is truly one of the things I think I’m gifted at, and blogging is the easiest way to use that gift. I almost never have a problem creating content every day, because my brain never shuts up, and I need an outlet. And in my most honest moments, I share things that are hard or ugly, and those are the posts that always connect me to people – usually through email or secret Facebook messages, but I LOVE those moments when people write to me and say, “You said what I’ve always felt unsafe to say – THANK YOU.” I don’t want to lose the amazing role of being a truth-speaker (or at least honesty-speaker).

So I have both of these thoughts in my head: Quit Everything! and also Maybe I Am Overreacting! And since I’ve learned this in recent years, I tried to think of ways in which I could find a balance. I don’t want my blog to be all about me, but I also don’t want to give it up. What is my middle option?

Well, you may be surprised to find out that this has all been a lead up to….a new blog series!! A couple months ago on Facebook I joined the #womenaremorethan movement, but then forgot about it. I’m going to move that here (and add #menaremorethan, because I’m a feminist and that means valuing equality), and every week, I will put the focus on someone amazing from my life.

If you want to write about #womenaremorethan and #menaremorethan, PLEASE DO. The world can always use more encouraging messages. And hopefully, but using my creative outlet to bolster others instead of myself, I can find that balance between attention-seeking and humility.

Come back next week for my first #womenaremorethan post!

A Week in Greece #19: HD Celebration Week and Mallory Visits!

May 23, 2016May 23, 2016TrishLeave a comment

Monday

While I was at the women’s conference, “A” moved into HD. I use the office for wifi, and she invited me up to see her room and talk on the balcony for a while on Sunday night. On Monday, we began our first Celebration Week! Every fifth week, we take time off for our participants to create an art project in the mornings, and fun times in the afternoon. Francisca and I went to Jumbo with “A” to buy art supplies, and it was really fun to go out on the town together, buying coffee and waiting for buses and lugging shopping bags up the hill.

“A” came over to my house for lunch after class. I wanted to make eggs (of course) to inaugurate my new kitchen and first oven in Greece, and “A” elevated the meal by making us a nice salad. I still don’t have dining room chairs, so we sat at the table in my office chair and on a footstool. It was really nice! But after that (and especially after a weekend of meeting new people), I spent the rest of the day totally alone. Lovely.

Tuesday Continue reading →

How Do You Overcome A Mental Block?

May 18, 2016May 16, 2016TrishLeave a comment

I have been slowly realizing that my lack of using Greek is something far deeper than, “Oh, I just don’t have time/don’t have as many opportunities to use it.” It’s actually something far more along the lines of a psychological block. I get incredibly nervous when I even THINK about using Greek, my brain mentally throws up when I try to formulate a sentence in my head, and I have reverted to only tentatively saying, “Ευχαριστὠ” and ‘Κἀλη μἐρα” on a VERY irregular basis.

What happened!? You might remember that at one time, I was writing hilarious letters to fictional girlfriends in Greek. Looking back, I can only conclude that taking the second level of Greek classes right after the first was a very dumb decision. I was struggling that first month, and I just barely survived. I needed a break, but after one short weekend, I was back in class, and everything immediately fell apart. Continue reading →

I Went to a Greek Women’s Conference about Joy

May 17, 2016May 16, 2016Trish1 Comment

Two of my co-workers are on a committee that creates a yearly inter-denominational conference for Greek Christian women. When they invited me to join them by saying, “It’s at a resort by the beach, and the cost of €100 includes two nights in a 4-star hotel plus six buffet gourmet meals,” it was very easy to say yes.

Dina drove me to Euboea, a massive island near Athens, and we got to the resort hours before the 200+ women who were attending the three-day conference. Due to poor planning on the part of the resort, about half of us had to spend the first night at a nearby sister-hotel. Dina dropped me off there while she worked, and I had virtually AN ENTIRE HOTEL to myself for five hours. It was AMAZING.