The Loneliness of Culture Shock

TrishLeave a comment

I’ve been emailing with a friend of mine who is serving as a missionary.  I asked her how she was doing with homesickness and culture shock, and she wrote back about loneliness. In particular, she wrote one sentence that really resonated with me:  “My most understanding Arab friend thinks in ways that are worlds apart from me.”

This idea, that the very foundation of how we think affects the way we can relate to others, helped me clarify many of my own feelings of culture shock.  I am in a more Western country than my friend, but even in Greece, there is a slow loneliness that comes from representing your nationality by yourself.  Continue reading →

Let’s Talk About…PRO-LIFE: YOU’RE DOING IT WRONG

Trish12 Comments

I will not apologize for the fact that my conversations with Elizabeth frequently revolve around Tom Hiddleston and other men blessed by God’s artistic prowess, but you know.  Sometimes we talk about slightly more important things, like politics, abortion, and social change! 

Tricia:  THIS is our next Obama/Biden bromance!?

Screen Shot 2016-07-23 at 10.21.07 PM

Elizabeth:  NO.
No, because you’re going to help elect Hillary, right?
And then we never have to hear from these idiots again.

Tricia:  Should our next Let’s Talk About be about politics?

Elizabeth:  Hm.  Maybe.  About 80% of my conversations about national politics these days devolve into me ranting about the hypocrisy of the allegedly pro-life party blocking birth control access.  Is that on brand for your blog?
Because it is an OUTRAGE.

Tricia:  Ooo yes!
What’s your definition of pro-life?   Continue reading →

A Week in Greece #29: Not Much…

TrishLeave a comment

When I write these posts, I look back through my pictures to see what I did during the week.  I have nothing worth posting here, because they are either pictures of HD participants or pictures of stray cats.  Which, honestly, is a pretty good summary of my life in Athens.

I dunno!  This week involved a lot of Skype meetings: with my GEM supervisor, with my SA supervisor, with my brother.  They were fine.  I also had a visit from my “cat supervisor,” to keep this paragraph on point.  Cordelia told me that I can keep Hans Harrison for as long as I’m in Greece, which is excellent news!  She also gave him a cat nip mouse toy that he carries around with him in his mouth as I move from room to room.  Then he tosses it around and meows at me to find it when it disappears from his sight.

Work was fun/rough this week.   Continue reading →

Letters Between Friends: SUNSHINE & SUMMERTIME with 70SPF

TrishLeave a comment

img_3198

Dear Tricia,

How is it that I move from a job where I have summers off BACK to a job where I work year round and this has been one of the funnest summers yet!?

I’ve been working hard to make it a point to take the girls places and do fun summer things…BUT also making sure they see all the work.

But let’s get serious…when you’re “working” with a 2 and almost 4-year-old, everything is entertaining!

Our Summer Activity…

1.      We are outside with LOTS with animals.  We have acquired quite a few animals lately, which requires lots of extra time outside…

The Kittens… Charlotte & Mona  Continue reading →

What I Read | July 2016

Trish1 Comment

I couldn’t give up book reviews entirely!  I still don’t want to write individual reviews for everything I read, but I need to have a list somewhere of the things I’ve read so that when someone asks for a recommendation, I’ll know where to go.  I think a monthly compilation review will be a good compromise!

22544764Uprooted by Naomi Novik

I LOVED this book.  It has enough familiar tropes to feel comfortable (ordinary girl is actually a powerful magician, unlikely romance develops between two opposites) but adds some really creative twists to the world-building and plot.  I was so impressed by Novik’s work that I immediately went to the Kindle store to buy her dragon series.  This is not a part of that, but I have a feeling Novik is going to be an author I can trust.

mediumThe Girl From Everywhere by Heidi Heilig

This book is almost the opposite of Uprooted.  It is incredibly unique (girl lives on a pirate ship that can travel throughout time and space with the help of special maps) but unfortunately devolved into common tropes.  I am TIRED of unnecessary love triangles.  This seems like the beginning of a series, and I would be super into it if it weren’t for that pesky trope.  It just.  The book didn’t need it!  She’s already dealing with a relationship with her dad and the fear of being snuffed out of existence because of time travel!  One love interest is enough.

6607270-MLove’s Executioner by Irvin D. Yalom

My counseling professor recommended this book years ago, but I only just got around to reading it.  Dr. Yalom describes ten of his clients’ stories, which is interesting enough.  But he also goes into a lot of detail about how he felt about each person – the attractions, the frustrations, the disgust – and how he worked through those feelings in order to work with them.  I think this book would be interesting to most people, but it’s undoubtedly for counselors who might benefit from a behind-the-scenes look at a successful counselor’s methods.

Not many for July, but I’m 300 pages into Dostoevsky’s The Idiot, so…hopefully that counts as enough of an explanation

Ilvermorny and Eaglecrest: Sorted into American Wizarding Schools

Trish1 Comment

Always the land of diversity, we here in the US have not one but TWO wizarding schools (one official, one made up in the wonderful world of the Internet, which is…very American):  Ilvermorny and Eaglecrest.  I wanted to sort myself in both and see what happened!

Screen Shot 2016-07-22 at 11.37.38 AM

On Pottermore, J.K. Rowling recently announced that the United States has its own wizarding school, Ilvermorny.  While it is AMAZING to have a Hogwarts of our own, the school has been pretty controversial.  Each house is represented by Native American legends, which could be cool if it were coherent or based in a narrative where Native Americans created the school.  Instead, Irish wizards created Ilvermorny and adapted Native American culture as they saw fit, which is…pretty problematic.   Continue reading →

#menaremorethan | STEVE

TrishLeave a comment

Whenever I think of men who make me feelScreen Shot 2016-07-26 at 11.46.36 AM safe, Steve is always the first to come to mind.  He runs a construction business and is massively tall, so by all rights he ought to be intimidating and hyper-masculine.  Instead, he absolutely radiates gentleness.

I had the pleasure of co-teaching junior high Sunday School with Steve, and I was constantly impressed by how respectful he was of me, a woman half his age.  He was always complimentary of my lessons, and he went out of his way to make sure I felt happy with the way we divided our work.

I also got to see his love for middle schoolers, arguably the most trying age group of any.  Steve chose to work with this group for years and years, not out of obligation but out of genuine love.  He brought tools and live-demonstations into class to illustrate a point, and he somehow managed to convey the fact that he would both teach you how to use a soldering gun AND listen to you complain about your math teacher at the same time.

Steve smiles often and laughs easily.  He is one of the nicest people to be around, and he is definitely a man who is #morethan a gender stereotype.

The Doubting Christian’s Starter Pack

Trish4 Comments

Are you drawn to the story of a God who lives and dies full of love for a rebellious creation…yet find yourself wondering how it could possibly be true?  Have you grown weary of rules that seem to cause slavery rather than freedom?  Are you skeptical about the usefulness of “good news” that doesn’t seem so good?  Do you worry that the religion you grew up with doesn’t apply to a more diverse population?

Welcome to the Doubting Christians Club!

In a desire to provide a strong foundation for its members, the Church has often promoted a rigorous belief system that seems to leave little room for doubt…which can make doubters feel like they either need to leave the Church or else hide their doubts.  I don’t believe either of these options is a good idea for the Doubting Christian – the first because you will miss out on the beauty you are drawn to, and the second because you will live a double life that will slowly isolate and destroy you.

Luckily, there are others out there just like you (myself, for instance)!  Listed below is the Doubting Christians Starter Pack that will stretch your mind, give you hope, and assure you that you are not alone.

71891781|  O Me of Little Faith: True Confessions of a Spiritual Weakling by Jason Boyett  

This is the book that began my journey toward becoming comfortable with my doubt.    It was given to me, unasked for, by my pastor, which has earned him my undying respect.  In this book, Boyett gets honest about his doubts and comes to the conclusion that perhaps doubters are closer to God than those who never question their faith – after all, doubt is an inextricable part of a faith given to something unseen.

Continue reading →

Sunday Summary #36: What’s on the Internet

Trish2 Comments

The Stephen Colbert Edition, apparently

The only way I can stand to keep up with American politics (and I am SO thankful that I’m not living in the US right now and having to hear all this nonsense on a daily basis) is through late night talk shows hosts.  So imagine my UTTER DELIGHT when Stephen Colbert went to Jon Stewart for help in this time of political crisis (their spit takes of surprise when hearing that Donald Trump is the Republican nominee are WONDERFUL) and came back with “Stephen Colbert” the most egotistic conservative until, well, Trump. MY SOUL IS SO HAPPY, even if our nation is not.  But that’s what the Internet is for, right?

Of course “Stephen Colbert” would return in a chariot pulled by topless Uncle Sams, omg, I love him (which is why, like, I GET why people are all about Donald Trump, because spectacle is entertaining, but only for TELEVISION, people, NOT THE HIGHEST OFFICE IN OUR COUNTRY).

And here, one more!  Stephen Colbert singing is always great, and this one is particularly absurd and delightful.

 

A Week in Greece #28: I Slept A lot

TrishLeave a comment

There is very little to say about this week, because I basically went from work to my bed.

No, I am not suffering from depression (I don’t think).  I got my first Greek cold.  Waa waa.  It wasn’t all that bad, since I just…slept constantly, but it does mean that I have very little to talk about here!

Let’s see.  I publicly announced that I will be staying in Athens for another year, which is pretty exciting!  I thought I would stay more than a year before I even came here, and by March I knew I wanted to extend at least through December 2017.  Granted, there was a month or so where I was super homesick and culture shock-y and I just wanted to go home nooooow, but that was expected.  Anyway, it feels good!  I’ve been here seven months now, and it still feels so much like I’m settling in.  There’s so much more I have to do to make this place my home, and I don’t want to leave before I get to experience that.

Plus my work at HD just keeps growing and growing, and new challenges pop up literally every other day.  It’s a perfect job for me: enough routine to make me feel safe, and enough fires to put out that I feel animated and challenged.  It’s so fun to be a part of a new organization where everyone is doing three jobs at once.

But…I’m super not a workaholic, no matter how that last bit sounded.   Continue reading →