A break from the everyday

I haven't been blogging much lately- I've been too busy taking a break from regular life.  It's a hidden benefit of teaching overseas: you get to periodically leave behind your entire day-to-day life and routine for more than the length of a normal trip or vacation.  It helps that I get to go back to a fresh school year with a fresh start.  I get all kinds of crazy notions over the summer of things I am going to do or change for the coming school year, and sometimes I even follow through on one or two.  Most teachers get that break to come back refreshed and full of new energy and ideas, but few of us get to regularly do that with life, not just our jobs. 

So I have enjoyed my weeks of not-so-normal activities for me.  Going to baseball games.  Grilling meat and veggies.  Pushing my friends' kids on the swings.  Watching way too much American television.  Driving.  Dinners with my Grandpas.  Playing Life and getting beat by a 7 year old. 

It's been nice to leave behind the alarm clocks and humidity and responsibilities for a few weeks.  It's a good time to step back, look at what was accomplished, and take a deep breath before stepping back into the fray. 

I'll wrap up my US tour with a long weekend in New York and then a few days in Detroit and Chicago.  One more month till the alarm clocks and humidity and responsibilities come back full force! 

These are not suburban sounds

birds tell stories on their way past
     dusk
  from my perch
deafening roar of insect orchestra drowns
  the motor of a passing boat
  night does not fall
  quietly 
sun dips below
  palm trees
  cicada chorus
  raspberry clouds
  roll and tumble golden
streaks of honey

All circumstances: thoughts on contentment

Funny how sometimes being home makes me homesick.  It's like a big giant reminder of what I miss when I'm gone.  Yesterday I got to hang out with one of my dearest friends, meet her newborn, and spend time with her older two kids.  I'd never gotten to hear the two year old speak a complete sentence before, but as I walked in the door cradling a warm loaf of blueberry bread wrapped in a tea towel he looked at me quizzically and asked, "You have a new baby too?"  I miss watching him grow up, and I feel that all the more keenly when I do get to spend time with him.  His older sister told me at dinner that maybe when she got a little bigger she could come with me to Thailand :)  And it amazed me how sad I felt leaving their house after a lovely few hours. It wasn't sadness over this visit so much as sadness at all the visits I don't get to have. 

Paul writes about being content in all circumstances- as in having plenty or being in want.  For me, content in all circumstances means content in all locations.  It means that when I am in Thailand, I live in Thailand, and that when I am in the States I am fully present with those here.  And when I have special times, like next month in Argentina, to be fully there and enjoy the company of friends that I don't often get to see.

I don't foresee this tension between places ever going away.  I cannot be in all three places at once and no matter where I am, I miss someone's wedding or someone's birth, someone's grief or growing vocabulary.  So instead I find a way to live in that tension- to celebrate the weddings I do get to attend, the newborns (in several countries) that I do get to snuggle, the lives that I do get to walk alongside.  I live in that tension because I know that God has called me to be content even in the sadness of the things I miss.  I can be content because it grows out of the core foundation on my being in Christ.  So whether I'm sipping tea in Michigan, mate in Buenos Aires, or cha yen in Bangkok, I know that it is not culture or location that defines my contentment.  That lies much deeper, in doing what God has called me to and walking beside him each day. 

I want to do better at this.  I want to rest more easily in this contentment, in this struggle that so many of us face, not just the ones who move overseas.  The world challenges our contentment in so many ways.  So I do what I can to fix my eyes on Christ- the only way we're ever going to escape the tensions of having and wanting and of being and not being- so that we too can say, I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am (Philippians 4:11).

Being there

Yesterday, I got to be there.  And that's not something I get to say everyday.  I got to be there when my little sister tried on wedding gowns, and I got to be there when she found The One.  I got to be there when she put on something that was definitely not it and we could just look at each other and go "ummm, No."  I got to be there to zip and unzip and hang and rehang and poke and prod and adjust for a few hours.  These are once in a lifetime moments and I am so grateful that I got to be there.  The girl waited nearly 4 months after her engagement to try on a dress just so I could be there.  Impressive.  I love my life and I love living abroad.  I wouldn't have it any other way. But I know it's not always easy for everyone else to work around that, and I just love that she gave me the opportunity to be there this week. 

Back stateside!

Two things that seem slightly off to me being in the US this week:
not automatically removing ones shoes indoors
throwing the toilet paper in the toilet all the time

It's been a remarkable whirlwind of a first four days: two days in Chicago at my dad's and two days in Grand Rapids- seeing college friends, grilling in the backyard with my sister and her fiance, and shopping at my favorite store.  Tomorrow is wedding dress shopping day with my sister before heading to the east side of the state.

One thing that has made this week doable is that I've had almost no jet lag :)  I'd like to think it's because of my well thought out and executed plan for how to reduce the jet lag, but in reality it's probably just due to my incredible talent for sleeping and seeming natural ability to change times rapidly (knock on wood). 

Things I have enjoyed in the US: Multigrain Cheerios * lime yogurt * mac and cheese * amazing salads that are a meal in themselves * knowing the brands * long hours of daylight * meat on the grill * tap water * clothes made for my body type * cool nights * wearing jeans * no traffic!*

You might be an ex-pat if...

• You have a box in your house labeled "cell phones and chargers" where you keep your out of country phones. 
• You bookmark your passport to help the immigration officials get to the correct pages faster. 
• You own special liquid soap made for fruits and veggies.  
• You look forward to layovers in Incheon because it's just that nice. 
• Every bag and purse you own has a copy of your passport in it. 
• You periodically pack up your home so that you can go home for a bit. 
• You have your passport number memorized. 
• Flights under 8 hours are considered "short".  
• You keep a bag of foreign currency in your desk drawer. 
• No matter where you are you miss being somewhere else.