|
I started just a week and a half ago with my “weeder” job and have already been pulling those long-rooted, thorny, fast-growing spiders for over 40 hours. That's a lot of weeds. I usually pack a lunch, but today was running a bit late so I went to WWU's gas station for a fresh smoothie and some nuts. I didn’t have my debit card on me but had my student ID, which I never use to buy stuff, but knew I could pay with it for this one time. I went up to the cashier's counter and swiped my card, the cashier went to tell one of the workers about the smoothie while I opened my little nut pouch and proceed to eat it’s contents. A minute or so later the cashier asked me to come back to the front because my card didn't' work. I swiped again, feeling very awkward because I had already eaten about half of the nut pouch, and unfortunately didn’t work once again. The guy behind me in line looked at me and at the cashier and said that he got me. I didn’t know what to say, I just looked at him feeling even more awkward and said wow, thank you so much. After he paid and went to go fill up his soda cup I went and asked his name and what he did for work. I once again thanked him and walked out of the gas station feeling overwhelming blessed because that little kindness wasn’t just a little, it was huge. It made me want to be better, do better, love better. I needed that reminder to help me be less selfish, to appreciate the little things, and to know that there are so many loving people in this world. That no matter where you are, you can make a difference, sometimes the smaller ones are in fact the most heart opening out there.
0 Comments
One of my jobs this summer is working at Walla Walla University on the grounds crew as a “weeder,” not the kind you smoke, just to clarify. I wanted to do something that would give me time to think and process this upcoming year. My boss is kind and lets his employees listen to stuff while we work, which makes the time go by quicker. I know I've said that I am not good at grammar, words, and especially spelling, but I also have never really liked to read, which totally makes sense given my history with English. Anyway, I have always loved the thought that one day I will really get into the book reading thing. I love the idea of all the new things I could learn, grow, and take with me in life. My brother has always had tons of books. I remember while growing up he would shove his face in for hours. Give me 5 minutes and I wouldn’t even know what I just read on the last page. About two years ago my brother gave me around 15 books as a birthday present, all which sounded amazing. I read one, the best book ever, “Love Does” by Bob Goff. This book is a must read. I have also started on about three others in the past year. I've only one or two chapters into each of them and haven't been able to finish. I went to Australia this last spring break to visit one of my friends. I took one of the books I had started, from my brother's precious gift collection, and was determined to finish it as I had almost 72 hours of travel time, plenty for me to finish an average size book. But, oh no I didn’t touch it the whole time. Before I left, my friend saw that I had the book her friend had recommended to her and I just let her have it, sorry Niq. I knew that she would actually read it and get something out of it, or it would go back home to me with dust starting to rust the inked pages. Well all this background information leads me to the point that I have successfully listened to, not read, two whole books in only four days! That's a record! I really wanted to listen to books that would help me prepare for this exciting adventure, books that inspire, learning how to work in different environments, looking at situations in different ways etc., and I have already learned a great deal from these two books: David and Goliath by Malcolm Gladwell and The Birth Order Book; Why you are the way you are by Dr. Kevin Leman. If you have any audiobook or podcasts suggestions for this upcoming adventure I would love to hear them. Please comment down below.
After school was out for the year, it has hit me that in just a few short months, I will be on a plane heading to a new country, alone, for a full year. I still have a lot to do: buying my plane tickets, visa, packing, getting all my personal things squared away, listening/reading to podcasts and audiobooks about how to teach, how to be effective, and about Bangladesh itself, and getting some piano content for the kids prepared and ready. Each day that goes by, I am getting more and more excited and nervous of what's yet to come.
Another project I am excited to be helping with is taking better pictures of the kids for sponsoring a child as well as starting up an Instagram page. I want to get the word out about the orphanage in any kind of way possible. There are a lot more things I will be doing as well, but these are just a few I currently know about.
|
~ Kate ~Writing about my student mission experience in Bangladesh. Archives
February 2021
Categories
All
|
RSS Feed
