tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-56069432011-04-21T16:11:21.232-07:00Out of My ElementDriving on the Wrong Side of the RoadKristinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10880163823672278540noreply@blogger.comBlogger171100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5606943.post-1111483448717205072005-03-22T00:58:00.000-08:002005-03-22T01:24:08.716-08:00Well I guess I was right, I am pretty disappointing since its been over a year since I created a new post. Not all I was cracked up to be.I've been distracted living life here on Okinawa--what a great time we have had.We are about to leave Okinawa and return home, and as I write this the charming chimes that play every evening here on Okinawa at 6pm are ringing. Like many things, I wish I Kristinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10880163823672278540noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5606943.post-1077682696953194672004-02-24T20:18:00.000-08:002004-02-24T20:20:18.496-08:00Why?
Right not I feel like no one is that great--I've got nothin' for anyone, including myself. We are all disappointing. So this should turn my attention to God, but I guess I'm not done being mad and frustrated about how little I get from anyone, and how little I give.
Didn't you know we would be this way?
Didn't you know how disappointing we would be?
And yet still you created us and Kristinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10880163823672278540noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5606943.post-1076561604537601782004-02-11T20:53:00.000-08:002004-02-11T20:55:12.590-08:00Lost in Translation
If you have seen this movie and wondered if it exaggerated the supposed (to the American mind) oddities of Japanese culture just for the sake of comedy, I can tell you it did not. The movie showed exactly what it is like trying to get Japan, and communicate with the Japanese as an English-speaking American.
We laughed our heads off.
I also could relate to the characters' Kristinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10880163823672278540noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5606943.post-1075081934777713252004-01-25T17:52:00.000-08:002004-01-25T17:53:45.653-08:00Emptiness
All through my life I've heard people come to Jesus and say it was because of an emptiness. I'd always nod in agreement, thinking I knew what they were talking about, but realizing I had not experienced it. I was a "second-generation Christian," raised in the church, and bypassed the emptiness because I started making right choices early. The Christian life is the right way to liveKristinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10880163823672278540noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5606943.post-1074816198473690532004-01-22T16:03:00.000-08:002004-01-22T16:04:46.966-08:00No More Excuses
Well, we got a new computer, and it is an absolute dream to work on. Thanks to GGG for all the tips and advice, and for talking us out of being cheap screws--we got the most expensive one. I can read all my favorite bloggers, go to any website, send and receive mail--all things that have been frustratingly difficult since September--and its fast fast fast.
So now I'm having a Kristinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10880163823672278540noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5606943.post-1067915146122069282003-11-03T19:05:00.000-08:002003-11-03T19:05:44.810-08:00Unwired
Well our computer is STILL down, and I am at a community center to use a computer. Apparantly I have difficulty publishing here, because I see an old blog didn't get published. Anyway, Kevin took our tower to a computer-whiz friend at work, and he thinks he can fix it for a case of beer. If not, I'm pretty sure we'll be computer shopping as I barely saved the computer we have from Kristinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10880163823672278540noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5606943.post-1065696768578872722003-10-09T03:52:00.000-07:002003-10-09T03:52:48.766-07:00Back--not really
Well I'm back at the community center--that's rights, we're still off line. Kevin has been really busy at work, so we are isolated from everyone in the states. It's okay. I got fired from the teaching job, we just couldn't work out the schedule. Partly communication problems, partly he was demanding. "Either you teach for me Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursday andKristinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10880163823672278540noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5606943.post-1064896997625728432003-09-29T21:21:00.000-07:002003-09-29T21:47:49.770-07:00
Upgrading....not
Well it's been a couple of weeks since I've been able to blog or read any blogs. Kevin did some great work updating some things on our computer, and we got faster internet service to every website except ones associated with blogspot, which we cannot enter at all. So today I'm going to an internet community center to read and hopefully publish this.
English as a Kristinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10880163823672278540noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5606943.post-1064224978110441382003-09-22T02:35:00.000-07:002003-09-22T03:06:52.096-07:00Crossing Cultures
Since I got here I have been saying I want to get away from only doing the American things here on Okinawa, and mix with the locals. Well today I interviewed to teach English to Okinawan children. It was not like I thought the interview would be, all stuffy with lots of talk about degrees and experience. Instead I met this Okinawan couple, the owners of the Tomato Kristinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10880163823672278540noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5606943.post-1063462064312856842003-09-13T07:06:00.000-07:002003-09-13T07:13:05.026-07:00Community?
Last night, I was in a bar. Not really that unusual these days since we have been plunged back into the community of fighter pilots and their spouses. But in this bar I had a moment of truth when I looked around the room. I saw pictures of naked women, heard my husband yelling“3,4,5!” with a dice cup in one hand and a beer in the other, and I laughed as a new dad was telling me Kristinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10880163823672278540noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5606943.post-1062331884146509432003-08-31T05:11:00.000-07:002003-08-31T05:25:42.803-07:00Spoon Feed Me
I ordered an on-line Bible Study today. In a way I feel like a failure, that I can't completely contemplate God on my own. That I am failing at true Christianity and I am going for the crutch when I should be working more at physical therapy. That I'm going back to conventional Christianity. But I'm not. I've at least learned that I'm not becoming a super-Christian with all my Kristinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10880163823672278540noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5606943.post-1062242314534469782003-08-30T04:18:00.000-07:002003-08-30T04:18:34.686-07:00It's hard to write without some audience in mind, and when I blog I think of my husband and my two friends Gregg and Heidi reading my words, and they are safe, and I am okay with that. When I think of other people reading this bunk I freak out.Kristinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10880163823672278540noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5606943.post-1062242121540049792003-08-30T04:15:00.000-07:002003-08-30T04:16:27.010-07:00Life
Okay—no Korea, no merry-go-round, and I am glad. I need help from the Almighty to realize I am not okay. I spend every ounce of energy trying to convince myself that I am okay, but the truth is I am not, I just don’t believe it all the time. I keep going back to a freezing evening many months ago on the grounds of the Library of Congress, a steaming mocha the only thing keeping me warm, Kristinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10880163823672278540noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5606943.post-1062054412986012082003-08-28T00:06:00.000-07:002003-08-28T00:06:53.040-07:00I need to realize I will never do anything, be anything, or find any satisfaction in life unless I put myself in more uncomfortable positions. It goes against my nature, I want things to feel right, but I will never write a book or learn a language, or enjoy the fruits of labor unless I get off the merry-go-round, and deal with truth and life and self. Right now the ache, that I long to feel, Kristinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10880163823672278540noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5606943.post-1060326546410521152003-08-08T00:09:00.000-07:002003-08-08T00:10:07.773-07:00Life on Empty
I cannot continue to read these works of mystics and contemplatives and not share them, work them over, write them down, discuss and hash them out with someone—perhaps with Jesus, but also with the one or two people who may read this blog. I can recognize faintly so much of what I am reading, and yet not quite grasp, not quite see, how it can be borne in regular life. The more I Kristinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10880163823672278540noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5606943.post-1059983609163567932003-08-04T00:53:00.000-07:002003-08-04T00:53:29.200-07:00Running
It seems I have to have running in my life. I can and do workout all different ways, classes, swimming, lifting etc., but the running makes the most difference. Yes, physically, it will keep my butt from getting big, but more mentally, spiritually and emotionally. Basically it’s humbling, and I guess I need that. Its always hard, and I always want to quit at some point.
Motivation Kristinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10880163823672278540noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5606943.post-1058962949899089882003-07-23T05:22:00.000-07:002003-07-23T05:53:35.453-07:00I'm new to blogging...one reason I feel out of my element.
But I need to try this. I need the outlet. I need the community. I need the organization of my thoughts and ideas. For I am out of my element in so many ways. I am living on an island, in a foreign country, where I do not speak the language. I am on this island with a bunch of Americans I seem to only relate to shallowly. I am on Kristinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10880163823672278540noreply@blogger.com