September 29th: My Fun-Filled Date With Dan

Where did we go you might ask?

To the Epcot International Food & Wine Festival of course!

I've always enjoyed Epcot, but now I love it even more! They successfully combined two of my favorite things: international flair + food. And what's more, I experienced this lovely festival with my favorite person...my boyfriend Dan. :)

After donning our newly purchased outfits, Dan with his faux-hawk and me in my green conductor hat excitedly entered the park. Yes, we totally worked the "prep" look!

Disney music greeted us as we strolled to the International Marketplace. Once the song turned into a waltz, we couldn't help ourselves. Dan stopped and asked me to dance. So we waltzed right there in the middle of the sidewalk. It was so fun! We even received compliments and smiles from people passing by. That's when I knew it was going to be a fantastic day. :)

First stop: Argentina

We bought both main dishes and shared. I chose the spicy beef empanada and he got the grilled beef with chimichurri sauce. We saw on the menu that underneath each entree it listed a wine and gave a price...we both thought, "oh you get a discount when you buy the item with the wine." FALSE. You pay for both, as in the wine itself is another $3.50! Disney is ridiculous.

After finishing our food, we graded them. It was then that we decided the only true way to experience this festival is to come up with a scale: 1 (troll), through 5 (outstanding). Yes, I just used Harry Potter OWL references... I know, I know, I'm a book worm, but J.K. Rowling uses such perfect descriptions I couldn't resist! My dish received a 2, and his a 3. To me both wines were gross, so he graded them and both scored lower than a 3.

Mexico was next on the list but instead of eating there, we took a boat and floated through Rio del Tiempo. I have to say that they changed the ride to include more Disney characters and flat screens...didn't like it much, sensory overload! Before it explained Mexican history and now you travel through Mexico in search of Donald Duck...not as interesting. What did I learn about Mexico? They enjoy having fiestas...all the time.

Up next: Visiting the Emerald Isle.

Better than a Life Jacket

Has it really been 18 months since I graced the stage at Florida State?
Where has the time gone?
I mean 18 ... really?

The order of my life and how to live in this world radically changed once I drove out of Tallahassee. No more holiday breaks, no more "semester" thinking, no more tests, no more essays, no more classes and no more lectures. My friends became teachers ... and anyone who is single and under 35 somehow became my peers. Never mind the fact that when they were learning to drive I was learning to write my name ... and now we're supposed to relate. R-I-G-H-T.

But I have to say I've met a lot of single, 20-somethings and do enjoy spending time with them and consider them friends, its' just odd to be the "young" one again. Especially since I've been the "oldest" most of my life in my immediate family and in my friend groups through school.

It's funny to watch people react to my age. It's "Oh, so are you living at home?" or "Yeah, I remember those days." or "Do you miss college?" Sometimes I just get the condescending smile that reads, "Oh, you're still young and don't know anything yet" and I feel as though the person just wants to pat me on the head and push me on the back as they say, "Bye-bye now! What a cute little person."

I've also noticed that most of the time when someone asks for my age they never tell me theirs. Kinda like when you talk to a four year old, and you ask them in a cutesy way, "Tell me how old you are!" and they proudly show off four fingers...you never hold out your hands and tell the kid your age. You just smile and think, "How cute!"

And yes, it's true that there's A LOT I don't understand and have yet to discover about this whole "real world" deal. Most of the time I feel like I'm swimming upstream hitting learning curve after learning curve and somehow still managing to breathe above the water. Or that I've been pushed off some huge merry-go-round called "SCHOOL" that I've been on for 18 years and now expected to walk straight and know exactly where I'm going!

Sometimes I wish that these people who "remember those days" would actually sit down and remember those days/years ... and throw me a life jacket or at least pull me onto their boat for a time before I have to get back into the river.

Having an 8 to 5 job life is like learning to walk all over again only this time there's no hand to grab in case I fall. And there's no one there to shout, "hooray!" when I do manage to stand on my own and take a few steps!

Just yesterday I had the depressing idea to check out my bank account only to see how much it has lowered since moving into my apartment. As usual I began to mentally berate myself for not being more financially responsible, that I should have budgeted, or spent less on groceries... I looked at my paycheck and saw how much I wasn't saving and how many bills that money went to...

But.

When I came home, I put on some instrumental Christmas music and God began to whisper...

Emmanuel

He gently picked up my sad heart and brushed aside the fears.

Emmanuel

God with us. I let that truth soak into my soul.

I am the same today as I was then. I will take care of you.

It was at that moment when I realized I'm not supposed to get it yet. I don't have to understand how to do life. I am still learning and that's ok. He will provide enough strength, enough patience, and enough joy for today. Then in the morning, He will provide again until He calls me home. He is faithful.

So it turns out I do have someone who remembers those days. He is in the river, swimming right next to me, cheering me on, and lifting me--so my head stays above the water.


"Behold the virgin will be with child and bear a son, and they shall call His name Emmanuel, which translated means, 'God with us.'" -Matthew 1:23

The Reason You've Prospered

The Inaccuracy of Kathy Griffin's Remarks on Jesus
Thursday , September 13, 2007
By Lauren Green

I just don't understand comedian Kathy Griffin. Please understand that I like her. She's been on the FOX News Channel quite a bit and for the brief times we've talked, I've found her to be funny and self-effacing.

So, it puzzled me at first, then angered me second, that she would accept an award and then insult a man who preached love and acceptance. Why would someone do that? William Donohue of the Catholic League was so angry that he used the “b” word to describe her (rhymes with rich).

In case you haven't yet heard, on Saturday night at the Creative Arts Emmy Awards, Kathy Griffin won a trophy for her show, "My Life on the D-List." Griffin is sort of the female Rodney Dangerfield. Her gimmick is that she's an entertainer who doesn't get a lot of respect. When she accepted her long-awaited award, she said: "A lot of people come up here and thank Jesus for this award. I want you to know that no one had less to do with this award than Jesus."

Now I could have been mildly insulted at that and turned the other cheek, as the founder of Christianity taught. But then she went on to say "Suck it, Jesus. This award is my God now."

Needless to say, she offended me and millions of other Christians.

I don't know what went through her mind and why she would think that was cutting edge or even funny. But first, I want to actually show you that, in fact, Kathy Griffin is wrong. Jesus had everything to do with her winning that award. And here's the reasoning.

Jesus died on a cross 2,000 years ago. His dying words were, "Forgive them Father for they know not what they do." He died and they buried him in a rock cut tomb. Three days later, as the Bible says, he rose from the dead. That day is what Christians celebrate as Easter.

After the resurrection, Christianity began to take off like wildfire, spreading from the Middle East northward to Europe and westward into Ethiopia. In 300 A.D. Emperor Constantine accepted Christianity and it beccame the religion of Europe. Rome soon became the seat of the faith. After several years of human failings, the church went through conflicts and quite a few unbiblical years — the crusades and the inquisition to name just two. Out of that came the Reformation — the reforming of the Church, sort of a back-to-basics Bible and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Out of the Reformation emerged a vision of law by Samuel Rutherford, called Lex is Rex, Law is King. From that, others devised a secular version that is used to help lay the foundation of government for a new land called America. Ninety-four percent of America's founding era documents mention the Bible; 34 percent quote the Bible directly. The idea of bringing unity to the universal is a particularly Biblical concept.

The freedoms we enjoy in this country to speak freely and to live freely are directly related to that man who died on a cross 2,000 years ago.

So, you see, Kathy Griffin, Jesus has everything to do with you winning that award. You live in a free country where your abilities can be recognized if you're willing to work hard enough. That's at least the dream of America. If you'd been born in many other parts of the world, your daily activity might involve seeking out a way to survive, or even trying to avoid persecution and death. Luxuries like pursuing a career in the entertainment industry would never have been realized; luxuries like being able to insult the founder of a religion of forgiveness and acceptance would not have been possible.

Kathy Griffin, just because you "can" say something, doesn't mean you "should." When you say "suck it, Jesus," you didn't just insult Christianity … you insulted the very reason you've prospered.

The Voice of This Hidden Immigrant

Definition of a TCK: third culture kid; children from one culture, living in other cultures, who among themselves form a third culture which is unique to their experience, has certain ties to their parent's work overseas and is unplaced geographically.

I started reading Hidden Immigrants: Legacies of Growing Up Abroad by Linda Bell. It's a collection of interviews Bell had with 13 TCKs stemming from all kinds of backgrounds (missionary, military, government job, international business) and who all lived in multiple countries growing up. Bell herself lived overseas with her husband and had two children. She noticed her girls struggling to be "Americans" in the States and decided to research the effects being a TCK has on your life by interviewing older TCKs.

So far most of what they've described while experiencing culture shock, is very similar to what i felt and thought. I'll be posting quotes that exactly represent my experience as I read.

Hopefully this will give you a better glimpse and understanding of what this hidden immigrant experienced 10 years ago and to some extent still struggles with even now...