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Living in a Muslim Country

Trish5 Comments

The other day, I told a stranger about my plans to move to Greece to work at a safe house.  “You be careful,” he said.  I get this a lot, so I hummed in appreciation/agreement without getting into why it’s dangerous to live anywhere.  But then he continued, “You’re brave to live in a Muslim country.”

“Oh.  Well.  Greece is a Christian country.  Greek Orthodox?  Christian,” I explained.  I was totally thrown by his assumption that Greece was an Islamic country.  He was equally thrown that it wasn’t.  “Well….good luck,” and he was gone.

What I didn’t say, partly because my brain was shutting down in confusion, and partly because it wasn’t 100% relevant, is that I’ve already lived in a Muslim country, and I don’t think I was particularly brave for doing so.  Never once did I fear for my life while I spent five months in Senegal, except maybe when I took a moto taxi with a twelve-year-old driver.  But what do I know?   Continue reading →

How to Party Like an Introvert

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  1. Invite two of your closest friends over.  A week in advance, obviously.
  2. The day of, text everyone to make sure they are coming.
  3. Feel both happy and disappointed when they say yes.
  4. Greet them at the door with awkward small talk.
  5. Watch that indie movie on Netflix.
  6. Talk about how the movie reminded you of the inevitability of death and how earlier that week you thought your mole was cancerous until it turned out to be a bit of chocolate.
  7. Start obnoxiously yawning around 9:45.
  8. Say, “Well, I’ve got an early day tomorrow, so…” at 10:00.
  9. Respond “So?” when someone points out that tomorrow is Saturday.
  10. Wave from the doorway as they leave.
  11. Sprint to your room to change into comfy pajamas.
  12. Make hot chocolate and pop a bowl of popcorn.
  13. Turn on the side lamps in your room and turn off the overhead light.
  14. Pat the bed until your cat curls up beside you.
  15. Get out that 500-page book you were dying to read the whole time your friends were over.
  16. Sip your hot chocolate, eat your popcorn, pet your cat, and get lost in someone else’s life.

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(Image from Grammarly)

How to Stress Like an Introvert

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The past couple weeks have been super stressful.  This is almost entirely centered around two things:  1)  putting a lot of pressure on myself to get all my fundraising done NOW, and 2) wanting to be involved in everything all the time.  This amounts to a lot of complaining about things that I legitimately enjoy doing.  Plan a party for a retiring minister.  Yes!  Plan a massive yard sale that keeps growing with thoughtful donations?  Of course!  Work on designing and adding content to the church website?  Ooo, cool!  Five more concerned friends offering fundraising ideas?  Great.

But all of this together?  The fun starts feeling like pressure.  And as an introvert who shuts down in the face of stress rather than acts out, things usually look like this:  Continue reading →

Another Life: If I Stayed in Peoria

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Shelly, a man from my church, is letting me use his house for my yard sale this weekend.  He’s moving out, and when I first showed up to start unloading people’s donations, my mom and I took a quick tour of the empty rooms.  It’s an old person house, for sure.  Lots of carpeting, small rooms, individual fix-its.  I fell in love immediately.

“Look!  The sink is in the corner,” I breathed.  My mom nodded in agreement.  Yes, the kitchen sink was in the corner.

Then she laughed.  “There’s a toilet back here!  With just a curtain.  I think I’d rather have a door.”

With the unthinking ferocity of the newly obsessed, I insisted, “No, this makes perfect sense.  When you have to, like, go to the bathroom really badly, you don’t have to deal with….doors.”

We moved on, and with every room, I fell more in love.  It is an extremely small house with surprisingly roomy closets.  With custom-made shelves, always a weakness of mine.  Outside was even cuter, with lots of trees and landscaped flowerbeds.

“Mom, I love this house.  I love this house.  I want it.  Will you buy it for me?”

My mom side-eyed me pretty hard.  “Tricia.  You’re moving to Greece in four months.”

“Yes, but.  After that?”

“I guess you could just tell people that you’re taking the money they’re donating and using it to buy a house instead!”

“Psyche!”  I laughed.  Then I considered this.  Could I convince everyone that their thousands of dollars were better spent buying me a house rather than enabling me to teach and befriend women who have been sexually trafficked?  ….Probably not.

We went back to loading the garage with donated goods and planning the yard sale.

***

The next day we were back.   Continue reading →

Not Much Has Changed in Five Years

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For fun, and because I’m quite self-obsessed, I’ve spent some of this afternoon reading old blog posts from my time immediately after I moved from Senegal back to Peoria.  It’s a little eerie, reading about the same joy of living with old friends and the same surety that I cannot stay.  I don’t know if this is the most narcissistic way to learn, but I found myself very encouraged by…myself.  I suppose God can use anyone, even 22-year-old ItIsTrish.

 Even though my only actual plans for the future include living overseas, I’ve secretly been hesitant. It’s just very easy to live in Peoria. I have a ready-made family, and a ready-made circle of friends, and a ready-made church community. Everything is laid out for me.

I didn’t know if I wanted to go through the hassle of starting over. I made a new life in Jackson. I made a new life in Senegal. Now I’m reintegrating into my first life in Peoria. It might be nice to just settle down. If I make a new friend, awesome. But it’s not like I have to actively work to make new friends, not like if I moved somewhere new and I had no established friends. It’s a lot of work. And even though I ended up loving the Forsythes and Liz and Holly and Lamba and Mame Codou…it took a while to get there. It took a good couple months for the comfort to set in.

Do I want to do that again?

Today I realized the answer is definitely yes. I mean, I don’t actually like who I am in Peoria. It’s better than it used to be, but I tend to emotionally regress when I’m here. It’s not surprising, since I’m living with my parents and hanging out with the people who knew me as a high schooler. But my spiritual life sucks here. And my contentment sucks here. I don’t like it. And even though I know that this is something I should work through instead of run away from…even though I think I should work through it, I don’t want to stay here forever.

I think I can force myself to grow if I stay in Peoria. But when I travel…when I throw my life into God’s hands and trust that He’ll take care of me, when I see a world completely different from what I know…that’s when my heart changes and my beliefs become solid and my passion is enflamed. Not because of anything I do. I don’t force myself to change. The situation, and the way God works in the situation, changes me.

I want that again.

(June 4, 2010)

Book MASH

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Sarah E. from Rocky Top Real Talk posted a challenge I couldn’t resist:  playing the book version of MASH.  For those of you not in the know, I can only assume you were not a girl in the 90s.  MASH (Mansion/Apartment/Shack/House) is a game that predicts your future!  I’ve played it hundreds of times, which is I guess all the evidence I need for the existence of parallel universes.  However, all those previous games pale in comparison to this one.

IMG_6185I’ve always played MASH with three good choices and one bad per category.  That way there’s an element of realism?  So while I might get the chance to marry Peeta, I might also have to ride a school bus home to Minas Morgul.  As you can tell from my potential choices, I leaned heavily on fantasy and sci fi books.

IMG_6187I am so happy with how things turned out!  Because my spiral of 8 wiped out most of the bad choices first, I wound up with a really great future!  I was sad to lose out on Huan and Taggle (a talking dog and cat respectively), I am quite happy to have a flying mechanical dragon for a pet.  The only category I’m disappointed in is my job.  Although I’m very glad I missed out on being a Tribute, I was kind of hoping for becoming a cyborg mechanic.  Oh well.

IMG_6188I’m super stoked to marry Eugenides (from Megan Whalen Turner’s The Thief series).  Having a one-handed husband who is whiny, adventurous, and better than you is pretty much exactly the kind of man I’m attracted to.  And I’ve always wanted to travel via Floo Powder!  Honestly, this all sounds like a really great book.  Someone write my future for me!

Try out a book MASH for yourself and let me know your future in the comments!

Harry Potter Library Party

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I once worked for two years as the children’s librarian at a public library.  Every aspect of the job was fun for my nerdy, child-like personality, but the undisputed highlight was when I threw a Harry Potter party for the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II.  It was a movie release, sure, but I hadn’t been a librarian when the books came out, and no way was I going to miss this opportunity.   Continue reading →

Inspirational Quotes Challenge

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Coolbeans4 challenged me to share three quotes in three days, but I’m going to follow her example and do all three at once!  Three times the inspiration.

1. Thank the person who nominated you.
2. Post a quote for 3 consecutive days (1 quote for each day).
3. Nominate three new bloggers.   Continue reading →

I’ve Been Nominated for the Sunshine Blogger Award!

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I just received notice that I’ve been nominated for the Sunshine Blogger Award!  How fun.

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I was nominated by coolbeans4.  Thanks so much for thinking of me!

The rules for this award are as follows:

1) Thank the person who nominated you.
2) Answer the questions from the person who has nominated you.
3) Nominate some other bloggers for this award.
4) Write the same amount of questions for the bloggers you have nominated. 
5) Notify the bloggers you have nominated.   Continue reading →

4 Things I’ve Learned at Woodland Baptist Church

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I get to work as church secretary for Woodland while the official secretary is on maternity leave.  This is merely the latest in a long line of jobs I’ve had here, and I’ve learned things from each one.  For instance, when I taught piano lessons, I learned that sometimes you’ve got to let a kid run around the room for ten seconds when he gets increasingly frustrated with a difficult melody.  But for all the things I’ve learned while working at Woodland, I’ve learned far more simply from jumping into the activities and relationships found with this group of people.  Below are four valuable life lessons I learned while at Woodland.   Continue reading →