Preparations

I think everyone prepares for an upcoming move in different ways. I have already felt my routine start to shift though I am still three months away. Some of these changes began way back in August, but I suppose I haven't had the chance to reflect on them until now in the lull of October.

Perhaps the most obvious shift was from working full time hours in an office to just part-time. One would imagine that all of a sudden I would gain a significant amount of time and to a certain extent that has been true, but it is amazing how quickly I can fill that time. Raising support takes a good chunk of that time and in actuality could be considered another part-time job. God has been really good in that area though, and I've consistently felt that it isn't something I'm striving for but something I'm to be blessed with. Tied in with that is an increased intentionality of connecting with people. I have been known to get a little panicked on this one in the past, especially as I try to make each moment perfect, which of course it can never be with me over-analyzing everything. So far, I haven't reached a panic point, (and I hope to generally avoid it if possible since I tend to get cranky which isn't so nice for my roommates). However, it has become a bit of a juggling act as I try to travel and see far away friends & family but still attempt to savor my life here as long as possible.


Then there are the less obvious shifts. I start eying my possessions by their size and how much they weigh. My attire has even changed a little as I acquire clothing that would be more appropriate for Middle Eastern modesty. For the most part, these shifts have been intellectual and strategic. Yet, I think my emotions are no longer completely fooled. Each day is an experience of bittersweet contentedness.

Fall Favorites

I have a feeling this blog will be a whole lot more interesting when I am actually overseas and living in the Middle East. Then I can write about all of the odd stories and cultural adjustments as they happen. In the meantime, my topics will just be a little random. So, since this will be my last autumn for a couple years I thought I'd write a bit about what I love during this season. In fact I think I can probably summarize in just two words:


1. Apples  
Technically, they are available all year long -- even in the Middle East, I think. However, as soon as autumn hits what was once simply an enjoyable fruit becomes a bit more like an obsession. Instead of buying a few at the grocery store, I feel compelled to buy a whole bag and I transform into an apple-baking fiend: apple crisp, apple butter, applesauce, apple fritters, and if I get truly ambitious, apple cider donuts. Oh, did I forget to mention cider? I don't have a cider press but stores are very handy in these situations. And of course, I enjoy a fun trip to an apple orchard or farm, which brings me to my second fall infatuation...


2. Pumpkins (and to a lesser extent their gourd cousins of the squash variety)

I have been blessed to have roommates who know how to cook with pumpkins (pumpkin + chocolate chips = tastiness). Alas my experience is mostly limited to carving them, toasting their seeds, and then after they have sat on our porch for a while, taking photos of them and creating a twisted story about them. Perhaps more will be posted on that later...

The creations of my roommate and I: Mine is the cyclops pumpkin. I call him Bert.

I enjoy other parts of fall of course. The weather is lovely for biking & raking, the leaves brilliant (I collected some the other day and pressed them between the pages of my oboe methods book), hot chocolate has become my friend again, and I get to dress up as a red-haired fictional character for Halloween. I'm sure I will miss this season when I live in a desert, but in the meantime, I will proceed to enjoy it this year as much as possible.

Cultural Blunders

I originally thought to write these stories in a personal email to my dear friend who just moved to Japan. However, after a little consideration, I realized that I may as well just write it into a post of my own. Sometimes when you mess up it's nice to hear that you're not the only one blundering.

Blunder #1: Just because you find the right word in the language dictionary doesn't mean that you will be understood. I first discovered this on a college band tour to Japan. I was staying by myself with a lovely family in Utsunomiya for a couple days equipped with my Japanese-English dictionary but really little else. My Japanese host mother didn't speak English very well so we made quite the pair flipping through our respective dictionaries to communicate. On my first night, she asked me whether I would rather sleep on a futon mattress or an air mattress. In my typical indecisive fashion I tried to respond that "whichever" or "both" were fine, hoping that she would choose the option most convenient for her. This didn't translate well, judging from her increasingly puzzled expression. Finally I found the word for "both" in my dictionary and showed it to her. This seemed to clarify the question for her so the conversation ended with both of us satisfied. It wasn't until later that I discovered her very literal translation of my answer: She stacked the air mattress on top of the futon mattress and that was how I slept for my entire home-stay.

Blunder #2: Sometimes you can be refusing a gift without realizing it and thereby offend your host. This happened with the same host family I mentioned before. They generously gave me some money to buy gifts for my family (which was an amazingly thoughtful gift as I had previously wondered how I was going to afford gifts at all.) Then on the second night the whole family and I went to a mall. We strolled through a series of traditional craft booths and while I greatly admired their work, they were still a little too expensive for family gifts. When we reached the second to last booth, my host father turned to me, clearly offended, and asked if the crafts displayed weren't good enough for me. It was then that I realized, to my horror, that we had actually been shopping for a gift for me. By walking past all the other booths I had unintentionally been refusing their gift offering. Well, I apologized repeatedly and at the last booth he purchased three glass wind chimes: one for me and the others for his daughters. 

Though I have traveled quite a bit since those first experiences in Japan, I haven't lost my knack for cultural blunders (i.e. telling my coworkers in Scotland that my friend and I shared all of our clothes, even our pants; or remarking to an Irish woman that I had people tell me I looked British to which she firmly insisted that I didn't look British, I looked Irish...) I'm fairly certain I will continue to stumble culturally and that's okay. Humility and grace are necessary parts of life.