Tomorrow I Leave

New Beginnings:

Tomorrow I fly out to Jordan... this will most likely prove to be a fun and exciting journey in my life. The overall purpose of this year was to gain new life experiences, work with refugees, and overall become more dependent upon Him. This next year in its entirety will be all volunteer work (pro bono), meaning I will be supporting myself from the income I made teaching in Hong Kong. But remember, I do this not for myself, but for those in need.

This blog itself will not necessarily become an assortment of discoherent ramblings and babblings of my life, but rather I hope to make this as insightful and humorous as possible. I would love to interpose spiritual truths to this as possible, but please keep in mind that I might be limited in that capacity.

Fears and Trepidations:

There is a certain thrill each time you leave home. No one was as ready to leave home than I was after high school. My four years of university were filled with many of life's lessons, but it wasn't a major change of scenery. I still lived in the United States, at least until my last semester where I did my student teaching in Hong Kong. Hong Kong must have held a certain allure to me, as it is where I ended up doing my first two years of student teaching. So living in another culture isn't so foreign to me... however, the night before I go I find myself eagerly anticipating it, and wishing I had a few more days to pack up all my belongings.

My Quarter-Life Crisis:

The adjustment back to United States living, took some process. I sometimes wonder why I was unable to visit Pakistan during the summer, but all things work out the way they do for a reason. It took nearly a month to re-citizenship myself back to being an American. I found myself thinking and doing Asian actions. (*See virtually every picture of me, I can't stop making the V sign with my first two fingers. Aiya! ... lol, =__= ).

But after a month, I realized that this was all for a good thing, for my hair had been falling out in buckets from stress. (Seriously, I had lost half of it). Though my follicle forrest has thinned out, I have hope that a few more roots will be growing soon.

As I type this, I'm twenty-four, and young enough to still be figuring out the direction of my life. But 25 is around the corner, and in 5 years, 30, and in 15 years 40. But lets just worry about 24 right now. (Will I ever return to teaching? I certainly hope so, and I haven't strayed far, I'll be teaching English in both Jordan and Thailand this year).

Finding Family Again:

Though I had made a new family in Hong Kong, I have rediscovered my own family (not that I misplaced them, or anything that drastic: just keep in mind that four years of university followed by 2.5 years in Hong Kong, it just was hard to keep up).

My younger brother is now married, he has the cutest little son (my nephew Jace); my sister is in Washington DC on an internship; and my parents shoot guns for fun.

My cats have become inseparably attached to me, which is why my leaving might be harder for them, than for me.

The Five Stages of Kitty Grief:

1. Stage One: Denial -- yesterday, Kiki saw the suitcase in my room, and he knows what it is. Usually he hides when he sees them rolling down the hall for he knows someone will be leaving soon. Instead he climbed into it and fell asleep.

2. Stage Two: Anger -- today, after I began packing, Kiki got very angry with me. He refused to acknowledge my presence, and he stormed out

of my room when I began packing.

3. Stage Three: Bargaining -- a few hours later, he jumped up on my bed and began howling at me, and eventually went to sleep next to the bag. It was as if he was begging me not to go.

4. Stage Four: Depression -- my cat hasn't reached this stage yet, but he will when I don't come home. He has slept on my bed every night and will be in the dumps for weeks to come.

5. Stage Five: Acceptance -- it will take a long time before he reaches this stage.

Final Thoughts:

I'll continue to post on my experiences. Sometimes I might post only one or two times a week, and other times it might be more. Please follow, and of course feed me tons of comments. I would love to hear all the prayers and encouragement that you could offer me.

Last Shoutout!

My mom gets all the credit for the picture above. I chose the site, and wanted a very distinct look... instead she took a candid capture when I wasn't looking, and it turned out to be the best picture in the whole album. Thanks Mom!!!