A working girl mingles

Wow, working 40 hours a week doesn't leave too much time for fun! So I've been cramming a lot of things to do into the weekend. Saturday I rode the metro into D.C. to see an IU friend, Kristen. We had a pretty fun afternoon wandering around the gigantic national zoo with every other kid on the planet. The zoo was very nice, but a lot less exciting than Chinese zoos, which are more like the circus. The animals here are fed so well, and probably have nicer habitats than the majority of humans on earth.

After that, I headed back to northern Virginia where I met an acquaintance, Paula, at her house. She used to be the staff worker for the InterVarsity ministry I'm a part of at IU, but left at the time I arrived. I "randomly" emailed her, so we could meet up. Except for church, I am never around other believers. It was like a breath of fresh air; I almost wanted to cry. We have basically the same background, and she and her husband had been missionaries in Kazakhstan! That is the place I have dreamed about going, especially after I hung out with Kazakhs in northwestern China. They still have friends there, and said I could always visit them if I want to visit that field. She also just helped redirect my focus to my purpose here, which is easily become skewed after hanging out in such affluence and secularism for the past few weeks.

Today I went back to that great church I mentioned, and decided to go to the adult Sunday school, which meant I was hanging out with people twice my age. But I'm more comfortable around older people anyway. :) There were a few people in their thirties, and there were also a few graduates from schools in Indiana. They were just all really welcoming, and again, I felt like I wanted to cry. Fellowship with other believers cannot ever be overrated.

The rest of today was spent helping host a party with the wonderful people I live with. All of their friends are very nice, but I am a million more times comfortable helping cook and wash things, than mingling. I got to do all of the above. And it's always so hard when the conversation usually goes like this:

"So, Laura, what are you doing?" I'm a graduate student in Indiana, interning here for the summer.
"Are you from Indiana?" I'm from Kansas.
"Oh, so Virginia is new for you!" Actually, I got my bachelor's in Norfolk at Old Dominion.
"Great! Did you go straight to Indiana after Old Dominion?" No, I was in China for 2 years.
"China? Wow, you have such fortitude to come here all by yourself and do so many different things!"

I can't count how many times I've experienced a version of that conversation. A Southern gentleman said I had "fortitude" about five times. Other people said I must be so brave and independent. I'm not even quite sure exactly what fortitude is, but all I know is that I have faith, which isn't even that strong most of the time. I just step out in faith where God calls me to go.

Oh, gosh, I don't know what else to say. It's going to be a long week with long days lasting from working 6:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. I get to go to the French Embassy, for example, for a cocktail reception and a talk. How do I handle that situation? I guess I'll figure it out, since I apparently have fortitude. :)