Bloom!

Make sure to check out part 1  here !                                                                                                                                                                                                                             Want to make friends in a new country?  Be prepared.  This isn't always easy.  Sometimes you meet someone on the train and instantly, you're buddies.  Sometimes you try and try and nothing happens.  Many things factor in - you're a foreigner, you're different, your first language isn't the same as everyone else around you.  Not only all that but your perspective, worldview, and beliefs are almost guaranteed to be different.   Then there's the fact that you've been shaped by your own culture all these years, so yeah, cultural differences are big as well. All this...and I still live abroad.  Better yet, I  choose  this life!  Sure, there's been plenty of disappointments, confusions, misu

Living in another country changes you.  Not only does it change your perspective, but it also changes what you value, what you spend your time on and what you're willing to do (believe me, I've done so many things here that I never planned on or ever dreamed of!).  It tests your faith to see if it's really strong.  It teaches you humility in ways you've never experienced or expected.  It gives you a glimpse of yourself that you had hoped isn't true...but it is.  It forces you to rely on Jesus in ways you never expected. It gives you a taste of loneliness like nothing you've ever been through before.  Something like homesickness that didn't exist in your vocabulary now becomes something you struggle through every once in awhile.  Because sometimes you just want to hug mama, tease dad, kiss your sister and beat your brothers at that board game.  Things you swore you'd never miss - like that meal you always detested or that drive to work and back