...On A 'Typical' Day

Today's the last day of the holidays, and as I think about starting back at school tomorrow for Term 2, I think about what my days/weeks will look like over the next 8-9 weeks before the next lot of holidays roll around again.

This is what a typical day for me looks like...

Class at KISC

Before school:

5:45am - alarm goes off
6:00am - exercise
6:30am - shower
7:00am - eat breakfast and spend time with God
7:45am - head to school

School:
(I teach ESL 3 days a week, and do teacher training for Nepali teachers the other 2 days)

8:00am - homeroom
8:20am - classes start
10:10am - morning break
10:35am - more classes
12:25pm - lunch (on Tuesdays, I help to lead Mustard Seeds - the school's lunchtime Christian group)
1:10pm - even more classes
3:00pm - end of school

Learning Nepali

After school:

Mondays - usually staff meetings
Tuesdays - skype friends / chill
Wednesdays - language class and meet with my accountability partner
Thursdays - expat Bible Study
Fridays - language class

Weekends are usually pretty relaxed. I go to Nepali church on Saturday mornings at 10am and a Nepali Bible Study on Sunday afternoons at 5:30pm. Other than that, I chill and hang out with friends.

I've loved being on holidays (sleeping in and lazy days are the best) but it'll be good to get back into the routine of things again...starting tomorrow :-O

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...About Earthquakes

It was late on the evening of Friday August 30th, which happened to be a pretty muggy night. I had come home from helping my friend celebrate his Nepaliversary, and as I settled into bed, fan blowing, I thought I felt my bed shaking. Was it just a strange feeling because I wasn't used to sleeping with my fan on, or was I experiencing an earthquake?

I quickly turned on my bedside lamp to see if I could see anything moving. I wished that I had taken the advice of our KISC CEO and put a glass of water on my bedside table as an earthquake indicator. Nothing was moving so I thought it must have been my imagination, rolled over and went to sleep.

The next morning, Facebook told me that there had, indeed, been an earthquake, with its epicentre in Tibet.

'Did you feel the earthquake' was a common question the next day (and continues to be, even 2 weeks later) as people recalled what they were doing when the earthquake hit.

Most people I know slept through it.

One group of friends were playing boardgames til late and quickly ran outside when they felt the floor moving...unfortunately, one of the guys was in such a panic, he left his wife sleeping downstairs...something I'm sure he won't live down for a long time!

Another girl I heard of jumped straight out of bed and ran out into the garden without any clothes on...her husband quickly running behind her, trying to shield her with a sheet.

No matter what the reaction, it was a very real reminder that earthquakes happen in this part of the world, and Nepal is expecting a big one soon.

Since my arrival in Nepal, I've been warned about the threat of a big earthquake. We regularly have earthquake drills at school, and pretty early on, I bought some gloves, crowbars and whistles to put around my apartment.

The day after the earthquake, I realised how underprepared I was, and so I made up a go bag...a bag I can grab in case of emergencies, with the essentials in them.

A few weeks later, I spoke to some of my Nepali friends, and was surprised at how affected some of them were from the quake.

One friend became really unwell from worry and stress and was going on anti-anxiety medication for it!

This might be a crazy link, but when I think about earthquakes, I often think of Christ's return.

We know that an earthquake is expected in Nepal anytime...we don't know when it'll happen, but we know it will happen...just like Christ's return.

We know it's going to happen, so some people are very prepared...they have earthquake alarms, an earthquake kit, go bags and regularly practice earthquake drills. Some people are also prepared for Christ's return - they are sure of their salvation, are continually working on their relationship with Him and are doing what they can to help others also be prepared by sharing with them about Him.

Others, know the earthquake will come but just figure 'whatever happens happens' and aren't so prepared. So it is with Christ's return.

There's a sense of expectancy for both. Where I'll be and what I'll be doing at the time either happens is unknown. All I know is that I need to prepare myself as much as possible for when it does happen.

I don't know if you have earthquakes in your part of the world or if you're ready for if one comes, but I DO know that earthquake or no earthquake, Jesus IS coming back...and that's something we all need to prepare ourselves for.

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...On Being Thankful

This morning, I read this in my Bible:

Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.

- Colossians 2:6-7 (ESV) -

Funnily, at school assembly this morning, these verses were also mentioned, which made me think 'Hmmm...maybe God's trying to say something'.

As mentioned in my previous post, transitioning back into life in Nepal isn't the easiest thing at the moment. Usually, when I'm faced with struggles, I find it easy to complain and whinge about what's happening...but the ending of those verses really caught my attention, and so, instead of whining, I'm going to 'abound in thanksgiving'.

At a Nepali school that I visited today

Right at this moment, here are a few of the things that I'm thankful for:

• A wonderful place to work - KISC truly is an amazing school. The leadership are wise and desire for the school to be a place where Christ is made known. The staff are humble and have massive servant hearts. The students work hard and are loving and kind. I'm privileged to be able to spend my days with these people.

• The opportunity to be more involved in Nepali schools through KISC EQUIP - Today, I visited a few schools in Kathmandu and was greatly encouraged by the teachers and their desire to offer quality education in their schools. I'm thankful that I get to partner with these teachers to see education transformed in Nepal.

• A fantastic place to live - I love the homeyness of my apartment...especially my couch!

• My bicycle - I'm glad that I can get places quickly without having to step in the mud and puddles that are on the roads at the moment because of the monsoon

• The internet - I don't know what I'd do if I wasn't able to communicate with my family and friends back home (or if I could no longer use 'google')

• People who support me prayerfully and financially - I'm continually humbled by my friends' (and church's) generous giving and commitment to bringing me before God in prayer. I know that I wouldn't be here without them.

...do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. 

- Philippians 4:8-9 (ESV) -

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...About Transition

It's hard.

The last 8 months have been an interesting time of transition for me...one which I still find myself in but hope, as I settle back into life in Nepal, will not continue for much longer because, as I just mentioned, it's hard.

After 2.5 years in Nepal, in December 2012, I went back to Melbourne for Home Leave...my first time back since I left in 2010.

With my parents, the day I arrived back in Melbourne

I got home in time for Christmas, which I was happy to spend with my parents and younger sister, Bek.

At that time, as I visited friends and noticed that many of them now had TVs you could plug a USB into (they didn't really exist before I left for Nepal), I felt a disconnect...how could these two worlds coexist- one where people had so much, and one where people had so little? Why was I so bothered by the materialism and consumerism I was seeing in Australia?

I soon realised that for the past few years, I had been living amongst people who had so little, yet were still content. What I was seeing in Melbourne was that people often didn't feel content unless they had the latest thing.

I could easily have become all judgemental, but needed to remind myself that for someone who's never experienced anything other than the abundance of the West, they'd have no reason to think any differently. I was also very aware that, being in a place where so much was available, I could easily slip into being consumeristic and start feeling discontent with what I had.

Having said that, these two worlds do co-exist and I constantly find it hard to reconcile them in my mind.

Anyway, shorty after New Year, Bek moved up to Queensland, so I spent some time driving her car up for her, then spent 2 weeks with her in Hervey Bay, helping her find a place to live and just hanging out.

At Tahlee

I then headed to Tahlee Ministries where I spent 3 weeks completing a Cert IV TESOL and Cert IV Training and Assessment in preparation for the work I would do with KISC EQUIP (www.kisc.edu.np) once I returned to Nepal.

At the end of the course, I was to fly back to Melbourne for the remaining 3 months of my Home Leave. When it came time to leave Tahlee, I was faced with a question I'd never had to worry about before - who would pick me up from the airport?!

Usually, it would be my parents or Bek who would come and get me, but my parents had returned to their job in South Korea, and Bek was now living in Queensland! Sure I had friends in Melbourne, but I'd been away for a few years and hadn't had time to re-connect with them. I was unsure where I stood in many of my friendships and didn't know who I could ask a favor of. Talk about feeling alone! (Thankfully my aunt kindly picked me up from the airport.)

The next few months I had in Melbourne were fantastic. I spent most of my time reconnecting with friends, sharing about Nepal with different groups of people and enjoying all the good food and coffee Melbourne had to offer.

In May, about a month before I was to return to Nepal, people started asking 'are you excited to be going back?' At the time, I didn't want to think about leaving the comforts of life in Melbourne and so, I usually responded with a hesitant 'Yeeeeeaaaahhhhhh, kind of.'

As time drew nearer, my enthusiasm about coming back didn't pick up, which always made it awkward when people asked me how I was feeling. I WANTED to be excited but I just wasn't.

Friends I've had the joy of journeying with for years

I'd just had a fantastic few months reconnecting with friends who I've done life with for years...people who knew me, who I shared history with, people who I connected with because there wasn't all the cultural stuff to get past...and the thought of coming back to a place with a highly transient community, where friendships lasted a year or two, was not enticing. I also knew that when I returned to Nepal, some of my closest friends would be leaving, and I would have to start getting to know a whole bunch of new people. The thought of the effort it would take was (and still is) draining!

Leaving Melbourne was HARD! SO much harder than when I left for Nepal the first time. Maybe it's because when I first came to Nepal, everything was new and exciting! I didn't know what to expect so just took everything in. Coming back, I knew what life would be like. I knew that the roads were pot-holey and dusty, that people drove crazily and food never quite tasted how you thought it would. I knew the every-day challenges I would face and the thought of going back to those were less than exciting.

As I prayed, asking God to give me an enthusiasm about my return, I was reminded of the words in a song called 'I surrender all':

All to Jesus I surrender;
All to Him I freely give;
I will ever love and trust Him, 
In His presence daily live.

I surrender all,

I surrender all,
All to thee, my blessed Saviour,
I surrender all.

All to Jesus I surrender;
Humbly at His feet I bow,
Worldly pleasures all forsaken;
Take me, Jesus, take me now.

Worldly pleasures all forsaken...all those years ago when I made myself available for God to use me wherever He wanted, I surrendered all to Him, comforts included. I was reminded that following God wasn't always going to be easy and that my contentment needed to be found in Him alone, not in what I had around me.

Streets of Kathmandu

I'm glad that through all of this, I've had an unwavering peace that I'm meant to be in Nepal. If I didn't have that, then coming back would have been even harder than it's already been.

I've cried more these last few months than I have before. Saying goodbye to friends and grieving the loss of them in my every day life is something I've never really done before, but have realised is important for me to do.

Transition is hard but it's a part of life. I'm working hard and putting things in place with the hopes that next time, I'll be able to do things better and maybe, just maybe, it won't be as hard as it's been this time 'round.

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