Did you know that people get sick in America too? I started to think I was immune and had created super resistance after getting ill in China just about every other day. I can't remember the last time I was sick in America. But apparently standing out in blizzards and riding crowded buses with coughing people everywhere can also get you sick in America. I'm glad it's the weekend though, so I don't mind my fever and sore throat as much. I do miss my Chinese students texting me to tell me to "drink more hot water and wear more cloth-es." Now I don't know what to do!
So I have survived my first week back at classes and I'm officially a second semester grad student, which sounds more impressive than a first semester one. Surely now I'm filled with so much more knowledge and overall impressiveness, right? Of course not. I'm just reminded each day of how little I do know.
And after a first semester of only quantitative and "numbers" classes, I have to learn again how to use large vocabulary words and write 20 page term papers. I haven't used a calculator once this past week. I thought I would be thrilled about that, but classmates are much more opinionated and argumentative when the topic isn't about regression analysis or marginal cost pricing. Now I have classes, like law, where we discuss what on earth "civic republicanism" is. I still don't know. I think I'm just more intrigued at how my old classmates have transformed into political scientists and public managers. Am I the only person who hasn't worked in the White House or State Department?
Okay, I'm really not complaining, but I feel like I'm on a slippery slope. I think going to the super crowded grocery store with thousands of undergrads on a Saturday morning when you're sick can do that to you...
So here's some positive things that happened this past week:
-I got to meet more new people in my new classes.
-I hung out with my Chinese friend, Grace, and we studied Chinese and English.
-My Kenyan friend came to the IV Grad Faculty Ministry Bible Study with me this week.
-I have been spending a lot more quality time in His Word.
-Last night I hung out with some of my friends and other like-minded believers, when we talked for hours about how we can better love and serve the huge international community here in Bloomington.
-I made some really good chocolate chip muffins and ate them.
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Monday, January 10, 2011
School daze
I'm in a cloudy daze. At 5 a.m. this morning after getting approximately 2.6 hours of sleep, Andrea and I hopped into my car to take her 60 miles away to the Indianapolis airport for her flight back to Orlando.
Andrea spent a good portion of last night talking with some nice folks in India on the phone with US Airways and Expedia. She has the most incredible patience. Her flights for this afternoon were canceled because of the impending snowstorm of the century blanketing the South. After waiting for about 45 minutes to speak to a guy with US Airways who had canceled her flights, she was informed that he couldn't help, because her flights had been booked through Expedia. Thus ensued another 45 minutes waiting, plus another 45 minutes talking to an Expedia guy in India, who probably shared the same office with the US Airways guy. Maybe it was even the same person.
They honestly had no clue what they were doing, so Andrea kindly prompted them along. Nobody could rebook her flights for one reason or another, and if they did rebook her flight that went through Charlotte for Tuesday, her flight from Indiana would probably be canceled because of an impending snowstorm tomorrow here. So I found Andrea a cheap non-stop flight straight to Orlando and past all the crummy weather for the wee hours of this morning. I booked it for her while Andrea was convincing the guy to give her a refund. The flight we booked was $97. Andrea got a refund for her canceled flights for $130. So she ended up saving money through this whole ordeal and has finally arrived safely back in Florida.
It's been enjoyable hanging out with Andrea for the past few days and weeks. I always learn so much from her, especially about patience, endurance, and the faithfulness of God. Everything she does seems to teach me something. When we were driving back to Indiana from Kansas a few days ago, we were driving on one- lane, deserted back roads late at night in a raging snowstorm. Civilization was not to be found. While I was nearly shaking with thoughts of falling off into a ditch, or sliding off a mountain of some sort, Andrea calmly, skillfully, and prayerfully drove us to Bloomington. I've been in much more precarious situations, but I panicked at the thought that I had led my dear sister into some terrible end in remote, backwoods Indiana.
So I have parted with my dear sister and started school all in one day on one ounce of sleep. I was also supposed to go to work for 4 hours, but I wouldn't have survived. My classes in general put me in a daze. They always turn out fine, but I am always overwhelmed at first, especially with the daunting amount of group projects facing me this semester on topics that I hardly know anything about. But that's why I'm in school, right?
Happy mid-January! Hope you are warm and blessed wherever you are.
Andrea spent a good portion of last night talking with some nice folks in India on the phone with US Airways and Expedia. She has the most incredible patience. Her flights for this afternoon were canceled because of the impending snowstorm of the century blanketing the South. After waiting for about 45 minutes to speak to a guy with US Airways who had canceled her flights, she was informed that he couldn't help, because her flights had been booked through Expedia. Thus ensued another 45 minutes waiting, plus another 45 minutes talking to an Expedia guy in India, who probably shared the same office with the US Airways guy. Maybe it was even the same person.
They honestly had no clue what they were doing, so Andrea kindly prompted them along. Nobody could rebook her flights for one reason or another, and if they did rebook her flight that went through Charlotte for Tuesday, her flight from Indiana would probably be canceled because of an impending snowstorm tomorrow here. So I found Andrea a cheap non-stop flight straight to Orlando and past all the crummy weather for the wee hours of this morning. I booked it for her while Andrea was convincing the guy to give her a refund. The flight we booked was $97. Andrea got a refund for her canceled flights for $130. So she ended up saving money through this whole ordeal and has finally arrived safely back in Florida.
It's been enjoyable hanging out with Andrea for the past few days and weeks. I always learn so much from her, especially about patience, endurance, and the faithfulness of God. Everything she does seems to teach me something. When we were driving back to Indiana from Kansas a few days ago, we were driving on one- lane, deserted back roads late at night in a raging snowstorm. Civilization was not to be found. While I was nearly shaking with thoughts of falling off into a ditch, or sliding off a mountain of some sort, Andrea calmly, skillfully, and prayerfully drove us to Bloomington. I've been in much more precarious situations, but I panicked at the thought that I had led my dear sister into some terrible end in remote, backwoods Indiana.
So I have parted with my dear sister and started school all in one day on one ounce of sleep. I was also supposed to go to work for 4 hours, but I wouldn't have survived. My classes in general put me in a daze. They always turn out fine, but I am always overwhelmed at first, especially with the daunting amount of group projects facing me this semester on topics that I hardly know anything about. But that's why I'm in school, right?
Happy mid-January! Hope you are warm and blessed wherever you are.
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