Streams of Consciousness & Thoughts~~~

[Solemateleft]

Going to Guatemala, which in some ways feels like going full circle since my first mission trip was to Honduras (20 years ago). Yep I really am starting to get old, the big 4-0 isn't even that far away anymore.

lol @'starting to get old'... at that age you are less than half way for the avg life expectancy of an American Woman; less than one third of your adult lifespan... always looking at the upside Chica...

 

[Lynx]

Apparently it takes me 3-4 years to recover from being burned out overseas and willing to try again. Granted I'm just going on a 1 week trip that my church is doing and not moving back overseas and I have mixed feelings about it, but this should make for an emotionally interesting year. In the meantime, I have Spanish to brush up on over the next 7 months and passport to renew and paperwork to fill out. (If you had spent the past 4 years in my head, you'd understand why this is kind of a big deal).

Has it been that long? I feel like it was only a year or so ago you were coming back to the USA.

 

[cinder]

Has it been that long? I feel like it was only a year or so ago you were coming back to the USA.

3 years and 3+ months (not that I'm counting or anything).

 

[Lighthearted]

Is there such a thing as too much love...or loving someone too much?

 

[cinder]

Is there such a thing as too much love...or loving someone too much?

Possibly. And there certainly is such a thing as love getting twisted around into an unhealthy obsession, dependency, or desire to have someone dependent on you. In such situations perhaps the better question to ask is if the quality of that love is pure and godly rather than if the quantity is excessive.

 

[Jennie-Mae]

Apparently it takes me 3-4 years to recover from being burned out overseas and willing to try again. Granted I'm just going on a 1 week trip that my church is doing and not moving back overseas and I have mixed feelings about it, but this should make for an emotionally interesting year. In the meantime, I have Spanish to brush up on over the next 7 months and passport to renew and paperwork to fill out. (If you had spent the past 4 years in my head, you'd understand why this is kind of a big deal).

You’ve been living abroad?

What is your experience with living abroad? How did they react when they heard you were American?

What about the language, and not to mention the culture?

I’ve been living abroad for many years myself, that’s why I’m asking.

 

[cinder]

You’ve been living abroad?

What is your experience with living abroad? How did they react when they heard you were American?

What about the language, and not to mention the culture?

I’ve been living abroad for many years myself, that’s why I’m asking.

I lived abroad from 2012-2015 in Vietnam (and did various other short term thing before that). Spent the first year learning the language and learned it well enough to communicate the essentials and attempt to explain more complicated things (like minimum wage laws) about like you'd explain them to a child because that was the extent of my vocabulary. And then there were a few instances where I understood every word said to me but still had no idea what the person talking to me was actually trying to communicate.

As far as being American, walking around with white skin means everyone wants to employ you as an English teacher. Culture wise it was a huge mismatch that not even understanding the differences could completely overcome the stress, frustration, and emotional reaction to some of it.

To be fair they were also people who were amazingly innovative, resilient, and often extremely kind to me. And since so few foreigners learn the language beyond phrasebook level, it was always entertaining for them to have me talk in broken vietnamese.

Anyway, what country have you been living in and how has it been living abroad?

 

[Jennie-Mae]

I lived abroad from 2012-2015 in Vietnam (and did various other short term thing before that). Spent the first year learning the language and learned it well enough to communicate the essentials and attempt to explain more complicated things (like minimum wage laws) about like you'd explain them to a child because that was the extent of my vocabulary. And then there were a few instances where I understood every word said to me but still had no idea what the person talking to me was actually trying to communicate.

As far as being American, walking around with white skin means everyone wants to employ you as an English teacher. Culture wise it was a huge mismatch that not even understanding the differences could completely overcome the stress, frustration, and emotional reaction to some of it.

To be fair they were also people who were amazingly innovative, resilient, and often extremely kind to me. And since so few foreigners learn the language beyond phrasebook level, it was always entertaining for them to have me talk in broken vietnamese.

Anyway, what country have you been living in and how has it been living abroad?

I’m living in Norway. The northern part. Same latitude as Barrow, Alaska. But the climate is milder than what Alaska can offer.

I have been here for many years, and I think it’s safe to say that I know the language better than the culture. But for years I was speaking broken Norwegian.

The Norwegian culture is rather different from the American. Lol, nobody’s never been wanting to employ me as an English teacher, folks here believe they don’t need no further education in English. But frankly, most non native English speakers, regardless of country, don’t know the English language good enough to keep a conversation going.

Whenever I first got here, I thought everybody knew the English language well, and I was rambling on in my Alabama accent...needless to say, nobody understood a word of what I was saying lol.

So I had to learn Norwegian.

 

[RodB65]

Jennie-Mae, you don't have an accent. Everybody else has got an accent.

Just sayin...

 

[Lighthearted]

Possibly. And there certainly is such a thing as love getting twisted around into an unhealthy obsession, dependency, or desire to have someone dependent on you. In such situations perhaps the better question to ask is if the quality of that love is pure and godly rather than if the quantity is excessive.

I agree it needs to be a healthy love...but I don't believe one can love too much.
This question really goes beyond love that we can fathom. When we imagine God's love, we barely scratch the surface in the depth of His love.

 

[Deade]

Possibly. And there certainly is such a thing as love getting twisted around into an unhealthy obsession, dependency, or desire to have someone dependent on you. In such situations perhaps the better question to ask is if the quality of that love is pure and godly rather than if the quantity is excessive.

This is true, if we become dependent on another human we can choke all the emotion out of the relationship. That type of dependence is more like ownership than love. That said: I have never seen a human's dependence on God having a bad effect. Somehow, when we depend on God, we exercise faith because we can't always see the solutions He delivers until they are there. Our dependence on God builds strength and character. Perhaps it is because He does own us. He owns everything.

 

[seoulsearch]

'Tis a sad, sad day within the CC community.

I don't know if I missed a goodbye post or thread, but the user "MissCris" now says guest, and she will be sorely missed.

I knew I hadn't seen her around in a while, but I didn't know she left the site. She was, hands down, one of the best writers that CC has ever had.

God's blessings to you, Cristen, and we hope to see you back with us soon.

 

[Jennie-Mae]

'Tis a sad, sad day within the CC community.

I don't know if I missed a goodbye post or thread, but the user "MissCris" now says guest, and she will be sorely missed.

I knew I hadn't seen her around in a while, but I didn't know she left the site. She was, hands down, one of the best writers that CC has ever had.

God's blessings to you, Cristen, and we hope to see you back with us soon.

I didn’t really know her, but I noticed her writing skills. Some folks somehow manage to put down in writing excerpts from their everyday life in a way that makes you want to keep on reading their posts. I could relate to some of her posts as well, because, to my recollection, she was a wife and a mother.

I don’t know why she left, but I have left this site on several occasions, the last time a couple of years back, due to the fact that some men, way older than myself, felt free to say whatever to me.

I hope that didn’t happen to her.

 

[Subhumanoidal]

Strangest thing just happened. I'm sitting here in my house and heard the sound of a train horn blowing. Multiple times. Over the course of a few minutes. What makes it strange is we don't live near train tracks. I've never heard a train here before...

 

[Lynx]

Oh dat evenin' train might be too late
I'm goin' home on de mornin' train

 

[zeroturbulence]

'Tis a sad, sad day within the CC community.

I don't know if I missed a goodbye post or thread, but the user "MissCris" now says guest, and she will be sorely missed.

I knew I hadn't seen her around in a while, but I didn't know she left the site. She was, hands down, one of the best writers that CC has ever had.

God's blessings to you, Cristen, and we hope to see you back with us soon.

I didn’t really know her, but I noticed her writing skills. Some folks somehow manage to put down in writing excerpts from their everyday life in a way that makes you want to keep on reading their posts. I could relate to some of her posts as well, because, to my recollection, she was a wife and a mother.

I don’t know why she left, but I have left this site on several occasions, the last time a couple of years back, due to the fact that some men, way older than myself, felt free to say whatever to me.

I hope that didn’t happen to her.

She has a blog page. And its pretty darn good.

https://aboundingsoul.com

 

[zeroturbulence]

I just had a scary thought. I saw a pic of someone's gravestone on facebook and it made me realize that we're all here temporarily. I mean I knew that but I never really got the depth of it until now.

All of us that are here now will be gone one day. Every single one of us that are breathing, talking, living... One day we'll all be gone and for many of us the only mark we will leave behind on this earth will be a gravestone with our name on it.

I wonder if any of us will miss the place. I know heaven is so much better, but just to think that once you're gone you will never be able to come back here again. You won't be able to visit the place where you grew up, places that were special to you. It's making me sad. I should go to bed..

 

[Lynx]

The irreversible nature is the most daunting aspect of death. Once you go to the other side there is no way to return. Maybe it is a better place, maybe it is not, but whatever it is you are stuck with it once you get there... and we are all being pushed inexorably toward it.

Death wouldn't be nearly so intimidating if you could pop in and out at will.

 

[p_rehbein]

The irreversible nature is the most daunting aspect of death. Once you go to the other side there is no way to return. Maybe it is a better place, maybe it is not, but whatever it is you are stuck with it once you get there... and we are all being pushed inexorably toward it.

Death wouldn't be nearly so intimidating if you could pop in and out at will.

that may be why some choose to believe in reincarnation?

 

[cinder]

All I can think to add to this discussion is never trust that aliens with a book titled to serve man are taking people to a better place on their planet (someone else must have seen that episode of the twilight zone).