Waiting
Reflecting back on 2005, it seems to have been a year of waiting and procrastinating...
I guess in the balance of life, there needs to be years like that to balance out the craziness of hopping from one country to another, having spent years in Italy and France, travelling round doing fun studenty things, looking back at 2005 seems to have been a more mature, settled year...
not sure I like being 'mature and settled'
When you embark on any cross-cultural work and live for a significant length of time in any country, no one tells you that you will never again be completely satisfied with living in one particular country... (they save that for when you are trying to get your head around moving back to the UK) Put me in the middle of France and I'm as a happy as a Frenchman with a beret, string of onions and a bike, send me to Italy and I'll blend in effortlessly with the locals swanning round the piazzas with my dark sunglasses and curls... My only major experience of culture shock was when I arrived in the USA, but that's a story for another day.
As I look ahead to what will most definitely be a crazy year, full of surprises and challenges, I suppose I am grateful for the thinking time that's been afforded to me this year, despite my many moans at God for not acting sooner and jumping in to situations. I'm optimistic about what God's going to do in me and through me as I say 'yes' to these plans, at the same time very much aware that I'm not the one ultimately in control. I have no idea what daily living will be like in Africa, I fear it may make even America seem tame, but I don't go alone. So it's one adventure I'm looking forward to immensely...
Whatever you end up doing for New Year, and whoever you are with, make sure you celebrate in style! See you in 2006!
I guess in the balance of life, there needs to be years like that to balance out the craziness of hopping from one country to another, having spent years in Italy and France, travelling round doing fun studenty things, looking back at 2005 seems to have been a more mature, settled year...
not sure I like being 'mature and settled'
When you embark on any cross-cultural work and live for a significant length of time in any country, no one tells you that you will never again be completely satisfied with living in one particular country... (they save that for when you are trying to get your head around moving back to the UK) Put me in the middle of France and I'm as a happy as a Frenchman with a beret, string of onions and a bike, send me to Italy and I'll blend in effortlessly with the locals swanning round the piazzas with my dark sunglasses and curls... My only major experience of culture shock was when I arrived in the USA, but that's a story for another day.
As I look ahead to what will most definitely be a crazy year, full of surprises and challenges, I suppose I am grateful for the thinking time that's been afforded to me this year, despite my many moans at God for not acting sooner and jumping in to situations. I'm optimistic about what God's going to do in me and through me as I say 'yes' to these plans, at the same time very much aware that I'm not the one ultimately in control. I have no idea what daily living will be like in Africa, I fear it may make even America seem tame, but I don't go alone. So it's one adventure I'm looking forward to immensely...
Whatever you end up doing for New Year, and whoever you are with, make sure you celebrate in style! See you in 2006!
posted by Caroline @ 2:49 pm
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