new beginnings. again.

I got here safe and sound on Saturday morning and was apt-hunting by the afternoon. I think I've decided on an apt and I'm waiting for the real estate agent to haggle the rent down a bit more. The apt has a pink-ed room (furnishings and fixtures) and it will really grate on my nerves if I can't figure out a way to hide most of that pink.

Anyway, the transition has been much easier than I expected. I'm not from here and I haven't spent a lot of time here but I feel a lot more comfortable than I thought I would. But I also feel uneasy. I'm trying to remember that I first felt uncomfortable in all the different cities I've lived in the past 10 years! I even hated LA when I first got there and of course, after 6 months, I loved living there. I'll never grow fond of its traffic and I don't think I'll ever grow fond of this city's air pollution but I already appreciate its food and transportation system. I haven't ventured out much into other parts of the city yet although I will go shopping for a new cell phone tomorrow in a popular shopping district. Everyone I've met--even strangers on buses and streets!--has been very kind, helpful, and friendly.

I like the building my dept is housed in and I like my office too! I can't wait to get settled in an apt so that I can concentrate on teaching. There's quite a bit of red tape associated with settling into a new institution and country but again, everyone's been very helpful and they've really tried to make the process easier.

Just the same, my new city is still a mystery. That's not so much of a surprise but it's hard to see how I fit in and that makes me anxious. I skyped with an old friend from grad school yesterday and she said, well, yes, you can't expect to feel as if you've lived there for years! This is another exercise in patience, and as it turns out, Nouwen's daily meditation for the day is precisely on patience. Serendipity.

ps - Most ppl I've met so far assume that I'm a student and are surprised to find out that I'm a teacher. This means I need a makeover.

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Daily Meditation for January 5, 2010
            written by Henri Nouwen

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Living the Moment to the Fullest

Patience is a hard discipline. It is not just waiting until
something happens over which we have no control: the arrival
of the bus, the end of the rain, the return of a friend, the
resolution of a conflict. Patience is not a waiting
passivity until someone else does something. Patience asks
us to live the moment to the fullest, to be completely
present to the moment, to taste the here and now, to be
where we are. When we are impatient we try to get away from
where we are. We behave as if the real thing will happen
tomorrow, later and somewhere else. Let's be patient and
trust that the treasure we look for is hidden in the ground
on which we stand.