I have come to Thee to take Thy touch before I begin my day.
Let Your eyes rest upon my eyes for a while.
Let me take to my work the assurance of Your friendship.
Fill my mind to last through the desert of noise.
Let Your blessed sunshine fill the peaks of my thoughts.
And give me strength for those who need me.
Amen.

~ Morning Prayer of Mother Teresa

Today...

• my car helped someone jump-start their's... glad I had the time to help them out. I was just looking for a parking place in the jam packed lot when a young woman ran up to me. I rolled down my window and she asked if I had time to help them jump-start their car. I had never experienced this before and had nothing going on so it was fun to be part of this. The guy got on his phone asking his dad how to do it but then another guy came and basically did it for them. I was surprised how simple of a procedure it was!
• I hung out at the playground with my friend's toddler.... fun times swinging and wandering. She really liked to watch the big kids playing. Ahhh... didn't we all!
• I watched the sunset over the beautiful city... beautiful! I had a great people watching spot. I journaled and read, too.
• I viewed the movie, "City of Joy." It was pretty good... though I thought the main character (played by Patrick Swayze) was often insensitive to cultural issues and not very humble. The movie takes place in a slum in Kolkata. I would recommend watching it, though. The movie was based on a book which is said to be really good.
• I panicked over my job search. I still don't have a job, though I have applied to one that I am super excited about. I know that the whole thing is in the Lord's hands but...
• I skimmed through my friend's Doula Handbook... interesting stuff!
• I walked through a farmer's market. Never been to one of those in America. It was so clean and neat and tidy and everything was displayed beautifully to please the artistic eye. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised since this is America and everything. But I'm used to dirt and flies and veggies laying on a dirty tarp on the ground. I'm used to people calling out from their carts that they have the freshest vegetables. I'm used to strong smells and having to watch where you step. But no. This was nice and clean and relatively quiet. And they sold honey.
• Today I read more out of my book called, "West of Kabul East of New York" by Tamim Ansary. It's the story of an Afghan American's life. A true Third Culture Kid, if you know what I mean. I can identify with a lot of what he talks about. It's a facinating story of how he deals with all of his cultures (mother was American and father was Afghan) and his identity in them.
• I ate a peanut butter and honey sandwich and carrot sticks. Well, I did eat more than that but I just wanted to high light that gourmet meal.
• I blogged and now that I am blogging about blogging, it probably means that I should stop writing because I have nothing more to say.
  
  Saalam.

A New Chapter

It's been a number of years since I've blogged but I'm excited to start up again. My creative juices are flowing again and I'm excited to collect them in the form of writing.

I recently moved to a large city. I live in the middle of the city, which is a totally new experience for me. I'm in my bedroom typing but can most distinctly hear the roar of the traffic from the highway which is one and a half blocks from my house. At times it feels as if buildings and people are falling in on me. But really, it probably isn't that bad. Both my brothers live in much more crowded cities.

I've been here three weeks today. Each day this place feels more and more comfortable. City driving (which was a big deal when I first arrived) is getting more normal. I still haven't gone to the same grocery store twice. I get around less and less with the GPS and rely more and more on intuition and maps to get me places. Thrift stores here are AMAZING!!! All the varieties of ethnic foods make me hungry and anxious to get a job so I can go enjoy them.

Stay tuned for (hopefully) more adventures in the city.

Peace,
ME