Culture Shock

I have always found the whole idea of 'culture-shock' to be very interesting. I have no idea what it means... I have yet to be very shocked by any culture.

Coming to Italy, I thought that I would be slightly shocked. Especially since most of the places I have travelled to are in my time zone or on the same continent. Everywhere I had ever been looked so similar... and the people have always been very similar. & I have felt very comfortable everywhere. But people kept telling me that Europe would be different... its a different way of life and the people are so different. So I was a little concerned that maybe I wouldn't like it or that I would be so uncomfortable!

Well, to my dismay... I'm not! I must say I am putting Italy in the same category of everywhere else! Thus far the world has yet to offer me any drastic differences! People eat, drive and live in homes... they have family and friends. They like to eat and talk for hours on end! People are people.

Don't get me wrong, there are differences. They eat a lot of pasta here... and businesses close for lunch. Oh! and every bathroom has a douche! lol. But nothing for me to get all crazy about. I am as comfortable here as I would be at home in Montreal. And you think that the language barrier would make a difference... but uh............... I experience a language barrier in Montreal too!

Part of me is wondering if this is just my ignorance... am I just being ignorant to other cultures and different ways of live. But I don't think so... well, at least I hope not!

But I am leaning towards the belief that this is a good quality! I think that my immigrant family and immigrant friends really helped create this attribute. I am continuously stepping into another culture from the time I step out of my door and/or when I step into another's house. I have been exposed to other cultures and other ways of doing things all my life. Thank God!

I hope that I get to continue to travel to other parts of the world... continuing to be exposed to other people. Only to find out that all people are the same. We all have the same needs and wants... we just might express it in a bit of a different way or look a bit different. But at the end of the day... people are people!

Genesis 1:26

Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground."

Wanting to Know What I Got Before It's Gone

So here I am in Italy... ya I'm a pretty lousy blogger thus far. I have missed a few days. Ah well. I will play catch-up now! Get ready for like 20 blogs in a row! lol. Imagine! Well, I will try to do my best... I know all my readers are sooooo interested in all I have to say of the past 4 days! hahaha. So let me start from the beginning...

Saying good-bye to my family was really tough. I knew that I was going to be emotional but I don't think they were ready for all the emotions I had to offer them! This was going to be my longest trip away from home. And as most of you know... I love my family soooo much. They are some of my best friends! I am the best me when with them... feeling loved & accepted. So on Sunday, the day before I left I called all my aunts & uncles to let them know I was leaving. And then I called Eddie who had been out of town for the weekend to make sure he was coming over to say goodbye. And then he said he wasn't... & the tears just streamed down my face. Of course he heard it in my voice & decided to come afterall. So that night I had dinner with my mom, her boyfriend, Eddie, Renata, Darnell & Alia. And the whole time I was in my glee... just being blessed by their presence. But when it came time to say goodbye to Eddie again, the tears came back. Its so difficult to think of a week without my big brother. I talk to him practically everyday... most of the time for nothing. And I see him at least once a week. All I was thinking was how could I go 5 weeks without him! Then I cried the next day when staying goodbye to Darnell, my mom & Renata. All where at different times too! But of course I felt like a BIG LOSER! But really... I love my family! And it is weird not calling them to share every bit of information of my life... and weird not having them around all the time.

Thankfully, I pulled myself together. But during the plane ride and had the opportunity to talk with the older man next to me. I know... I was pretty shocked myself that me, Ms. Unsocial actually talked to him. But he started to tell me how he was born in Italy but has lived in Toronto for 56 years. He tries to travel every couple of years back to see friends and family. But usually he travels with his wife. And with tears in his eyes, he shared with me how she struggled with arthritis and wasn't able to travel. And of course I felt his pain. But then he talked about his 5 children and 8 grandchildren... the winters he would spend in Mexico... and all the other life experience he had that he shares with his wife. And I told how blessed I thought he was to have such great stories to have and to share with her. And of course he smiled! He kept saying that all the fun things were coming to an end in his life. But really, I saw it as just beginning. He gets to lie there are night with his wife and giggle about all the funny things they have seen and heard! How fun is that?!?!

After talking with him... I just realized how bless we can be to have great people to share our lives with. Even though I wait for my husband... not very patiently... I am happy that God has still given me people to share my life with. I have so many wonderful memories with my family and best friends. & really, I want to savor every minute of it... because even though it will be great fun to sit and talk about everything we've seen and done... I want to make sure that we can also say that we enjoyed every moment we shared completely. Hope you do too ;)

Happy New Year!!!

Yes, I am fully aware that today is not New Year's Day! But I feel compelled to say Happy New Year just the same... because really! 2007 has been such a new freakin year! So much is new & different this year... I love it! & not just because I hated 2006 (because I really hated 2006!!!), this year has been really great! It started out with me deciding to make a change. I wasn't happy with the way life was going. I was depressed and in too many lousy relationships! & I felt like I just wasn't where I was suppose to be... there was something missing... something more to this whole thing called life. More then what I was getting anyway! So what else to do then to turn to God! So I fasted, prayed & sought out God. Only to have God meet me like I never could have imagined! He loved me even though I was weak and pitiful and nothing to offer! & that's when I finally fell in love w/Him.

So to make a very long story short... that's where I am now... madly in love w/Jesus! Oh, & graduated from University in Human Relations, jobless, single & living at home! I also just got my braces off a few days ago... and I just got back from my 1st mission trip in Belize a few weeks ago! & now I'm leaving for Italy in a few hours :)

I really feel like my life is about to unfold before my eyes... hence, the sudden desire to blog! I invite you to take part in my very exciting journey of life... hope you enjoy!!!

Jeremiah 29:11

"For I know the plans I have you," says the Lord, "plans to prosper you & not to harm you, to give you a hope and a future."