Saturday, July 19

Waiting on a Plane

It's funny how things come around and end up in the end. How the way you felt about things and life and people change and twist about, resulting in emotions and circumstances that would be totally incomprehensible or unimaginable to the me of yesteryear... it's a queer feeling.

Ok, maybe that's a tad exaggerated...

Still, almost 2 years ago, I set off for the United States, feeling bleakly cold about the state of my life. Despite feeling happy for the oppurtunity of living in a different country, and despite the overwhelming relief of not needing to deal with the dreaded O'levels, I couldn't help but feel a little sorrowful at my departure from home. So many things it seemed were going right; so many things that I felt I was abandoning: my classmates, my studies, my deep friendships and the friendships that felt like they were only just beginning to blossom, all left behind in what felt almost like the spur of the moment...

In the end though, now that I'm preparing to fly home, I find myself looking back on my two years here at Hamline, and at my life now in much the same light. A deep regret at the fact that I may have to leave the many deep and fruitful relationships that I've developed so quickly in these past two years, and a similar disatisfaction at my inability to further develop the relationships I had only just begun to make.

These ressurrected experiences are differentiated by one new insight however: despite these sorrows and regrets, ultimately life (and God) is good. I have been profoundly changed in my time here in the US, physically, mentally and spiritually and in light of my experiences have come to understand the world in new, exciting and wonderful ways. I have found friends that I am proud to say will endure beyond the mere four years of college that I embarked upon and have found greater meaning in and understanding of my Faith and walk with Christ.

The times I have spent here may not always have been pleasant or enjoyable, and there were definitely moments when I wished I was anywhere but in a foreign country filled with 'ang mohs'. Still, knowing what I know now, I am thankful that I was able to come here, and thankful that I was able to experience the American life.

This is a tentative farewell for I intend to come back, until then, to everyone I've met and known here in the Twin Cities, Minnesota:

Thanks, and I'll catch you later...