Well, I have certainly been seeing my perspectives shift over the last 6 months. I suppose this is one way of looking at things...
Susan shared a wonderful article with me that shed some additional perspective on my discussion. It is a short update. You can read the article here, or it is in the post as well.
Wow, it is hard to believe that we have already been here six months. In the midst of another full week, we were fortunate to have a mid-year retreat to clear our minds and prepare for moving forward.
Well it was a very eventful week. You can here about how we all reacted to our "winter" weather, a visit from the Irish Ambassador to Sister Mary, and a few dangerous situations from the week.
As I ignore most of a January challenge about technology, I do take a minute to look at what living without the internet in my home has helped me realize about my relationship with the world wide web!
To begin our vacation, Susan and I took the night train to Bangkok. We had a wonderful experience and also spoke with a nice Englishman. The experience caused me to stop and reflect on our relationship.
As you can see, I have returned from vacation with a renewed fire of productivity. Today, I have just shared an 18-minute TedTalks that I listened to on vacation along with the journal entry I wrote just after it. I thought I would just share another glimpse into how my mind works for those of you who are interested.
Like it or not, our skin pigment has a significant effect on our daily interactions in America. I touched on the idea in Part2, but in part 3 I address a few common stereotypes that are thrown around, talk more about a few of my experiences with skin pigment differences, and begin to look forward to the future.
Today I wanted to share the story of a man who has come to our care center since my arrival. The name is fictitious, but the story is not. I hope you get a small sense of who he is and why he is important.
Today's post is not very long, but I think I have finally started to find a way to describe how poverty is affecting me here. I am surprised by how long and how much processing it has taken me to just take these first few steps. My hope is that like running a marathon maybe the first few steps are some of the hardest, and understanding will come a bit more easily from here on.
As 2015 draws to a close, some of my friends compile and share lists of their favorite songs from the year. In a similar vein, I have compiled and shared some of my favorite recordings from the year. I hope you enjoy the sounds and their descriptions.
A few reflections on my relationship with Christmas, gift giving, and generosity. I try to find some understanding about the stress I feel around the holidays, I share a story about an embarrassing gift, and you will here a recording of Oh, Holy Night from the Catholic Church in NongKhai.
Well, with our first gift exchange on 12/17, and the big performance on 12/19 - we are in full-time Christmas mode. Luckily, last weekend the Christmas spirit unexpectedly arrived for me. The where (Thailand, Obviously!!), but the how is what today's post is about. I stripped it down as much as I could, I hope you get the sense and maybe (yimm) smile.
Well, part 2 is here with a little reflection on how all the attention can affect me. I also draw a few comparisons to the experience of people in my favorite city - Chicago.
This week you can find my post featured on the Good Shepherd Volunteers (GSV) website at: http://justlovegsv.blogspot.com/
Let it Begin! I am really excited to share my first Blog Series!!! I am tagging it the "SkinPigmentSeries". This is a topic that I have been thinking, reading, and learning a lot about for a long time, but certainly more intensely for the last 3 months. I will be keeping them shorter, like little vignettes. I hope they share some insight into another aspect of our experience here, and how it is affecting how I see the world.
Today's post surprised me a little because it was inspired by the Pixar animated movie Inside Out. I share some reflections on spirituality, mental illness, and memory.
