One of my favorite things in Arkansas is the state parks system. With multiple types of parks and a wide range of activities, they are sure to have something for everyone. For me, they offer hiking, geocaching, camping, fishing, swimming, and boating. This past weekend was the perfect weekend to enjoy the spring weather -- yes, SPRING! Not too hot, not too cold.
It was also graduation weekend for many university students accross the state and nation and as such I had just the state park to enjoy, one I had enjoyed on several occasions during my time as a student at Arkansas State University. Camping at Lake Frierson State Park would provide me the opportunity to see some of the last people I know at the university graduate, see some friends in the area and get to enjoy a weekend of camping.
As a student we would go to the lake and enjoy kayaking, playing on the playground (when there weren't children present, of course) and watching the sunset. It was a nice park, close enough to town to visit for a couple of hours. I had never visited the camping section.
Upon arriving to the camping area Friday night, I was surprised. The first thing I had to do was visit the restroom, which I expected to be like every other state park campground I had been in. What I found was a toilet in a room with a lock on it. There was no sink and no running water, but at least there was hand sanitizer. Wrong. It may have been labeled hand sanitizer but it was soap. Back at camp I used some bottled water to finish washing my hands before setting up camp.
Once I unloaded, set up the tent and staked it down I sat down at the picnic table to begin trying to make plans to meet some friends for dinner. Then someone came up behind me and told me to move that I was in their site. (He could have been a little nicer about it...) Rather than stand around and argue, I just pulled the stakes out of my tent and moved it; luckily I was camping alone and had a small tent so I didn't have to tear it down. Trying to figure out where to move it was another story. I knew my campsite number, but the sites were poorly laid out so it was hard to tell which site the numbers corresponded with.
That evening I decided to sleep outside; it isn't often I get the opportunity to camp under the stars, either because of the weather or the mosquito I got a little cold so it was difficult to sleep, but what made it worse was the campsite's proximity to the boat ramp. Around 4:30 a.m. loud trucks began driving through the area along with boat trailers that didn't help the noise level anymore. I finally moved inside to avoid some of the lights shining in my eyes.
On the positive side, I think that the staff at the park are much friendlier than Lake Ouachiata State Park. The first night I was there one of the park rangers stopped and asked if I would be wanting any wood. I told him no and asked him about showers and he told me I could use the ones at Crowley's Ridge State Park if I was up for the drive. The next morning I finished the check-in at the office and inquired about what I would need to show if asked at the other park and they gave me some receipts.
According to the park staff they are trying to get running water and showers in the camping area, but haven't yet. No running water isn't a huge problem for me; I don't mind primitive camping, when I am expecting it. Of course, this was my fault. I am sure they offered the information if I had paid attention.
Overall, this is a good park, but I do believe it is more for day-use.
Madrid is not my favorite Spanish city. I think that comes from having spent so much time there in the past. In 2006 I was there for about four days. Then I went for a day in December after my trip to Barcelona and didn't really enjoy myself. And then I had one final trip to Madrid this weekend which left me, still not as a huge Madrid fan, but a better experience at least. This time the trip had a purpose. After spending a year in Spain as a graduate of Arkansas State University, I had the opportunity to meet a professor I had several classes with during my time as a student. It is amazing how much the place and situation can change things. Not having to work for a grade, speaking came much easier. It was a very enjoyable night.
But the next day was more of the same. After only sleeping for four hours, walking all day wasn't on my list of fun things to do. And the planned trip to Segovia fell through when there were long lines at the train station and it was impossible to buy a ticket and catch the train. I wasn't going to buy a ticket to just turn around and come back an hour later, nor was I going to spend an hour and a half on a train when the normal journey lasts 30 minutes. So it was a day in Madrid. On the bright side I saw a park which I hadn't seen before and I was able to see Guernica again. I could probably stand in front of that painting for an hour, but standing wasn't something I wanted to do much of. The longer I stood, the more tired I became. So it was off to the bus station, in hopes of finding there was a 6 p.m. bus to Huelva. Unfortunately, there wasn't one until 10 p.m. So four hours in the area of the bus station seemed like it would take forever.
I'd never explored the surrounding area before. So I only knew about the Corte Ingles that was nearby. Saturday I found there was a planetarium and Imax within walking distance as well. Unfortunately I missed the only movie I would be able to watch and still catch the bus by 15 minutes. And when I arrived to the planetarium they closed in 15 minutes. So it was back to the bus station with another hour before the bus left. Then came a surprise.
As I mentioned in previous blogs, people seem surprised when someone shows some simple kindnesses such as letting them out of their seat on the bus. But in Madrid, while I was waiting on the bus, an older lady, probably in her 70's, asked for help getting her bags out of the elevator because the doors would end up closing before she could get it all off. She had five or six bags and was unable to find a cart. She was trying to figure out what to do and I volunteered to help her take the bags to the taxi. Between three of us, we easily made it in one trip. And in that I also found that although I don't understand a lot of words in Spanish still, sometimes from pronunciation other times simply vocabulary, I can pick up key phrases and guess what people are asking.
I have one more week to practice Spanish before taking the bus from Huelva to the Madrid-Barajas airport, one last time. Only one more eight-hour bus ride. It is bittersweet. I am ready to see my family and friends back home, but I have made friends here that I am leaving behind.
Barcelona has been great. I definately want to come back one day. I spent most of my time walking around just looking. But I also paid to see a few sights such as an IMAX film and La Sagrada Familia. I opted not to pay for one of the attractions such as the "Spanish Village." Why see that when I am living in one.
I managed to pay only about 50 dollars in food and drinks while being here. It really helped with the hotel I am staying at, Hotel Continental Barcelona on La Rambla, 138. It is a three-star hotel. I am not a hotel connoisseur who knows a lot about different hotels, but this one I have to recommend.
La Rambla is one of the post popular streets in the city and located in the city center. The hotel is just around the corner from three "Corte Ingles" stores and the Hard Rock Cafe. It is easily accessible from both the airport and the city center. The airport bus drops off about three blocks from the hotel. And the metro green line comes up about half a block from the hotel entrance. The red line is across the streets about three to four blocks away. It can also be accessed through the underground tunnels.
The room is small. There are cracks in parts of the ceilings. The decorations are not very attractive. My room is almost completely pink and the lobby is decorated in floured wallpaper, including light fixtures, siding and the ceiling. But the size, decor and a little wear and tear shouldn't be of a concern. The room is comfortable, it provides a bed to sleep, heating and cooling, a refrigerator, microwave, shower/bath, and a safe. I have had no problems with the room.
Like all of the other European Hotels I have been in, this one has energy efficiency keys. There is a plastic card separated to the room key to insert to have electricity. The only complaint I have is that the "Do not Disturb," signs that are built into the door seem to be ignored. Maybe if the deadbolt were locked and the sign were up they would pay more attention. But my plan was to leave it up for the entire weekend so that they did not replace any of the towels with new ones, helping to save energy, water, and pollution. But this is a minor concern. Four tourists, sleeping late is a waste of precious sight-seeing time so it doesn't really matter.
To further add to the convenience of the hotel, there is free food and drinks 24/7. Drinks include water, tea, white wine, rose wine, orange juice, milk, soft drinks and coffee. There are two meals, breakfast and lunch/dinner. Breakfast was usually quiche, another egg custard, ham and bacon, boiled eggs and cereals. Lunch and dinner were usually a type of pasta, rice and potatoes. Foods such as bread, olives and fruits were available at all meals. There may not be a huge selection of food but it is available and it does taste good. And more than just the food and drink was free: the entire hotel has wirelss internet which allowed me to do necessary banking, contact friends and family, write these blogs, research tourist sites and listen to the Arkansas State Red Wolves football game online.
The hotel was cheap, at 78 euros per night. Everything is about equal in the USA when it comes to price (a coke that is one dollar usually equals one euro, etc.) and this hotel was also. Most hotels in the USA cost around 80 dollars for a cheap one and include a continental breakfast from 6 a.m. to 9 or 10 a.m. They usually include WiFi in the rooms. But they don't include 24/7 free food and drinks (especially alcohol).
And if you don't speak Spanish, you are sure to find someone anywhere you go in Barcelona that can speak English. I practiced speaking Spanish, but because I don't speak perfect Spanish and I look like a foreigner, most people just automatically spoke to me in English, even when I responded in Spanish.
Hopefully I can come back to Barcelona before I leave Spain. And when I do, I will definitely be looking to book a room here at Hotel Continental again.
The staff of Cafe Bar Aqua took this photo and posted it on Facebook a few weeks ago. That was my first week to attend the language "tandem" or exchange here in Huelva. I have attended each week since then. I think I have attended four now, and the past three I have talked to the same group.
This week I went early and ate beforehand. As soon as I walked up to the bar, one of the main employees knew exactly what I would order to drink. We also talked for the thirty minutes until it started getting busy. Later I joined the language table.
This is where I get to the title of the post. I have had more than one experience where I meet a person or group of people from the same part of the world as I am. One time I met someone who lived in the same city while in the Virgin Islands. On another trip we met a teacher from the school I would be attending the following year. These are a just a few that I can mention. The chances of these meetings are much higher than one that happened last night at the language exchange.
Last night, I met someone who I went to university with for four years, had the same major, and graduated at the same time. We had never met before. Our first time meeting was halfway across the world in Huelva, Spain-- not where it would have logically made since in Jonesboro, Arkansas.
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El foto arriba es de un empleo en el cafe bar Aqua aqui en Huelva que puso en Facebook unas semanas pasadas. Fue mi primera vez asistir a Tertulia aquí. Desde entonces he asistido a Tertulia cada semana, cuatro semanas. Por las tres semanas pasadas, he hablado con el mismo grupo.
Esta semana fui al bar temprano para comer algo. Cuando llegué, el trabajador ya sabía que quería beber. Tambien hablabamos por 30 minutos hasta estar ocupado. Luego reuní con los otros hablando ingles/español.
Aquí esta donde puedo hablar del titulo de esta mensaje. He conocido a gente in otros lugares de mi propio pueblo anterior: un amigo en los Virgin Islands; una profesora en mi escuela nueva en Hawaii. Pero después de graduarnos de la misma universidad, estudiar la misma tema (español) por cuatro años, conocí a alguien aquí en Huelva, casi el otro lado del mundo.
About a week ago I went to the store to buy a few items. On that list were notebooks. I brought one notebook with me to Spain which I intend to use for journaling and vocabulary. So I needed more for school and random notes.
I had been to the store before and seen the paper. So I quickly found it when I went in. I picked up a spiral notebook and a legal pad. Both were graph paper. Eventually there was another customer on the same isle and I asked her, "If you want to write a letter to your friend, is this what you would use?"
She told me she would use that or solid white paper. So I went ahead and bought the graph paper. That is another difference here. To me, using graph paper as lined paper is a little strange but it is normal here. However, I guess I know now why in some of my Spanish classes at Arkansas State the teachers gave us printer paper to write essays on.
As I move further into the job I am realizing I probably should have bought folders and solid white paper and I probably will soon.
A few other notes and updates:
I found a website online used for studying called Quizlett. I took a test on 501 Spanish verbs and got a 70%. I don't think I ever made that low on a Spanish test in school before. It is amazing how much I have forgotten in those four months, but hope to regain it plus more soon.
I brought my laptop charger into the living room of the appartment and got it back down to 1/3 with the converters. I may be able to start carying it with me to school so that I can work more efficiently during my prep periods. I have some programs the school doesn't and know the keyboard shortcuts in English.
Senior year came and went. Of course I remember it the best because it was the most recent, but a lot of noteworthy stuff also happened.
After spending the summer in Washington, D.C., I looked at the credits I had. When I returned to ASU, a week before the semester started, I talked to the Department of World Languages and Cultures. I finally, after three semesters and a summer semester of Spanish classes, declared a second major. It would actually show up; I would get a second diploma.
I would take all of my classes but one, each of my last two semesters, in Spanish. That was 15 hours first semester and 12 the next. One of the classes my last semester was an internship.
In November, I applied for a program in Spain where I would help teach English for a year. By April, I knew that I would be going. I have been working with that for a while and continue to work on the requirements.
In February I began dating Asuka. And in May I graduated with both degrees, from ASU.
Reading, Writing, and Arithmatic... Thats what they say in school, although I may not be the greatest or have the greatest need for the last part. However, I am already using the skills that I learned during my four years in college.
Graduation was one week ago, tomorrow, May 7, 2011. I began my internship at Heifer International's Headquarters in Little Rock, Ark. on Monday, May 9, 2011. The first day I spent in orientation sessions, and when I was not in those, I worked on writing scripts for a video series our team is making from stories from the field.
The second day was better, as was the third. The fourth, Thursday, was probably the best because it was busy. But my responsibilities this far have been editing stories, posting them to the web, writing those scripts, and other tasks. I may have the opportunity to help with multimedia projects as well. I have already used photoshop to resize images for the web and add background color to graphics.
Although it is Internal Communications, I am using the skills I learned at ASU. Although it is Internal Communications, I feel like I am making some kind of difference.
Four years ago I left high school and dreaded my first year in college. It is funny how things changed. My freshman year I would go home at least once or twice each month. By sophomore year I would go home every other month, until eventually I didn't even go home long on holidays my senior year.
I have so many great memories from all four years in college. Here are some of them from my freshman year.
One of the most memorable is the fire alarms. We had a record-breaking semester with more than 40 fire alarms. Most of them were around 3 in the morning. We had one real fire. Another time the building flooded. During one alarm we went to Waffle House and I asked an employee if our fire alarms helped their business to which she responded, "You're going to pull our fire alarm?"
In another experience, my friends and I were sitting in the cafeteria having breakfast on a weekend morning. It was a day after a shooting on campus. Derrick gets a phone call saying "Go outside the cafeteria and accept a package from the man in red and no one gets shot." After several calls they called the number back to see who it was. Later the police came in and we filed a report. The police answered the next time they called, "If you know whats good for you, you will quit calling," the caller said. UPD responded, "This is the police" and the caller hung up. Eventually the number was traced and a friend knew who it was-- his coworker...
This isn't the first semester that we have dealt with tornado warnings at Arkansas State University. I can remember several instances, all the way back to my freshman year. Freshman year was the first experience of a tornado I had away from my family. It was the time that a tornado stayed on the ground for over a hundred miles. We had to take cover in the basement of Kays Hall.
In other semesters I remember going outside to watch the sky during the storm. One time it was on the third floor of the parking garage. Another time we stood outside North Park Quads and saw building 4 get struck by lightening.
Then there was tonight. We have had several warnings tonight. But at least only one caused a stir. The university police department sent out emergency warnings. I was in the library and they forced us all into the basement there. That was even more unpleasant than freshman year. The funny thing is, all those storms were north of here and moving northeast.
About 15 minutes later another warning was issued southeast of here. That storm was also moving northeast, but no police warning was issued. No "relocation" was required, even though it was more of a threat. Now I just have to stay in the library another 45 minutes and allow the rain to stop.
I was just thinking how funny it was the papers I wrote my freshman year of college vs. the papers I write now.
Freshman year paper:
TheMatrix, with its many computer generated images and action packed plot, is a highly entertaining work, but it goes deeper than mere entertainment. On the first level, the movie tells the story of Neo, as he escapes the world he once perceived as reality. If one looks carefully at some of the characterization and scenes and the movie they actually go much deeper, on into a second level. Choosing the pill to take, being disconnected from “the matrix” and the characterization of Agent Smith can all be viewed as religious metaphors.
When Neo first meets Morpheus he is given a choice to make. Morpheus holds out his hand and tells Neo he can choose the blue pill and go back to living like he was, in ignorance, or the red pill and learn what the real world is like, a world disconnected from “the matrix.” This choice is a lot like a choice people in our world have to make, to accept Christ or not. To take the blue pill would be like rejecting Christ, and returning to all of the old ways of living. Taking the red pill would be like accepting him and learning a complete new way of life.
In another scene, not long after Neo makes his choice to take the red pill, he is disconnected from the matrix. The scene shows him waking up in a chamber with many chords attached to his body. Around him were many other bodies in other chambers, and he realized that everything was true. Everyone who was in the world he had perceived were not really experiencing life, they were puppets of “the matrix.” In this scene Neo is detached and joins the group of people that have been disconnected. Again, similar to the choice humans have to make. After accepting Christ, one is no longer bound by this world. One is no longer a part of the flesh, being controlled by the things of the world. Those disconnected from “the matrix” were no longer living a life as puppets in an imaginary world.
Finally, the characterization of Agent Smith is another of the metaphors in the movie. Smith is the bad guy. Whenever those that have been freed, such as Neo, return into the program (“the matrix”), Smith is sure to show up to try to stop them from taking others out of the program. Smith can easily be compared to the devil in Christianity because they indeed play the same type of role. The devil will use many kinds of tricks and lies to try and keep a hold of people in the world so they do not make the right choice, the choice to be freed. He may come in any form, just like Smith. In many scenes, Agent Smith transforms a person still attached to “the matrix” into Smith clones. Both will go to extreme measures in order to keep people attached, whether to “the matrix” or to the world.
Whether the screen writers of TheMatrix thought about these metaphors when writing scripts or not, these three aspects definitely have a religious metaphor clinging to them. Choosing the pill, being disconnected from “the matrix” and Agent Smith all display these characteristics. Though TheMatrix is a highly entertaining movie because of graphics and its action packed plot, it takes one more step up in importance because of the deeper meaning.
And the now:
Dinero, Dinero, Dinero: A quien le culpa la violencia en Latinoamérica
Más gente han muertos en la guerra contra drogas desde 2005 que los soldados americanos luchando en el medio oriente en las guerras del Golfo Pérsico, Operación de Iraquí Libertad, y Operación de Libertad Duradera[i]. Los muertos son ciudadanos, extranjeros, las policías, y los militares. El gran problema de violencia en los países latinoamericanos vine de muchos problemas como la pobreza, las drogas, y la corrupción. La cuestión es, ¿Cómo pueden dejar de la violencia? Con mucha gente a culpar, los gobiernos de todos países tienen que hacer mucho para resolver el problema.
Dinero. La mayoría de gente quiere más. En un mundo donde el dinero está alabado, la pobreza es un gran problema. Mucha gente no le importa la manera, solo que ellos reciben más dinero. La criminalidad sigue después ideas como esos. Ladrones roban a la gente quien ha trabajado mucho para su dinero. Mucha gente vive su vida, trabajando muchas horas, aunque nunca reciben mucho dinero. Otros quien no pueden encontrar trabajo traen un problema nuevo: los narcotráficos y las drogas.
Los quien no pueden encontrar trabajo muchas veces trabajan para los narcos. Obviamente es ilegal y por eso la violencia sigue. Para traer las drogas a sus destinaciones, los narcos tienen que hacer miedo la gente, el gobierno, la policía y otros grupos de narco. Su contesta es la violencia. Asesinan a cualquier persona está entre su y “su” dinero y manera de vida. Como si la situación ya no había suficiente, muchos del miembros deben ser luchando contra el problema.
Algunos de la policía y el gobierno también toman parte en la violencia. Muchas veces ellos también, solo de miedo o a veces de corrupción, ayudan a los narcos. En un ejemplo, un grupo le culpan la policía de ayudando otro grupo[ii]. Si no ayudan los narcos, muchas veces no intentan a quitar de la violencia de los narcos.
Si quieran resolver los problemas de violencia en los países latinoamericanos, primero tienen que resolver los problemas de la pobreza, las drogas y la corrupción. Después de resolverlos, una participación global es necesaria. Con un mercado de drogas grande en Los Estados Unidos, no van a dejar del hecho de drogas. Hay mucho dinero en el mercado porque los precios son muy altos. Un paso muy importante es para reducir la demanda para las drogas. Si no habría demanda, no habría una fuente. Sin los narcos la violencia bajará. Pero también para bajar el problema, el gobierno necesita hacer algo para crear trabajos para los ciudadanos y crecer la economía. Con una economía más fuerte, habría más de trabajos y menos de la pobreza. Entonces no es necesario para trabajar para los narcos. Si los países no resuelven los problemas de la pobreza, los narcos y la corrupción, no van a resolver la violencia.
This weekend was amazing! We missed several people this year, but many new people came. The bonfire had been planned for New Years Eve but was canceled because of rain. We rescheduled for this past weekend and had a lot of fun.
(Left to right: [ Yi Chen (squatted), Ashley Handcock, Derrick Brockman, Duane Johnson, Asuka Morimoto, CG]
We left campus around 1:30 on Saturday and headed to Sheridan. Once we arrived we unloaded the cars into the spare bedroom. In the process of getting the firewood to the park area, several of the non-drivers got to drive my mom's fourwheeler which is a lot like a car. Later we went on a tour of the property, before returning to the fire for dinner and s'mores.
Dusty holding a s'more
After a nice time around the fire, and a few marshmallow fights later, we went inside for a night of karaoke.
(From left to right: CG, Ashley Handcock, Dusty Johnson (green), Derrick Brockman, Yi Chen (Red) and Mizuki Ueno open up the Karaoke with Lady Gaga's Poker Face.)
Later we all made a recording of Hallelujah (the one from Shrek).
We had an amazing break from school work. We returned to Jonesboro Sunday evening and had dinner at the Hibachi Grill.
Thank you to my mom for letting me use her photos in the blog. I was a bad journalist and forgot my camera!
Out of my entire 7 semesters at ASU, I believe that my 8th and final semester has the craziest schedule of all my semesters. I have had some poor schedules and some great schedules. This one is in between and minus one thing would probably be my best schedule.
I am taking 15 credit hours this semester. Nine hours of in class Spanish, three hours of in class Journalism and Spanish Internship. I also have a lab for the Journalism class. The Internship and Lab were both TBA on their time and place. That is understandable to some degree. The internship we schedule around our classes. The lab we would probably sign up for some number of events in the community to cover. I expected to skip my Tuesday evening class a time or two. However, when I got to the class I found something out that was not pleasing at all.
The Journalism class has most of the events assigned. It seems the entire class will be there including the teacher. If we walk in late, it is an automatic letter grade deduction. If we leave early, same thing. We were told that most meetings would be on Mondays and Tuesdays. After class I ask for an estimate of how many would be on Tuesdays. Someone else asked times. I was told most meetings began at 6 or 6:30 and most would be on Tuesdays.
The whole reason I am taking a night class (5-6:15 on T/TR) is because the class I really needed for my Spanish major met at the exact same time as Public Affairs Reporting. So the department works with me and allows me to substitute a Special Topics course for it. I am in every Spanish class that I have not already taken (other than grammar) this semester. There are no other options for classes to take. And now I find that we are required to go to a lot of meetings at the same time I am already in a class.
My plan is to let my Spanish teacher know I will be skipping and/or leaving class early frequently on Tuesdays and tell him why. Most meetings are downtown so I have to go back to my appartment to get my car and drive there.
My second option may be to talk to the instructor and department chair and see if I can substitute a class in place of public affairs.
My updated calendar for the semester is at the bottom of the blog or at the link with this post.
Although it was a rather boring Halloween weekend, today started out pretty good. The Japanese Student Organization hosted "Little Japan" today and I was finally able to attend one of their events. Before going to my class I got to watch a Japanese dance, try some Japanese food and learn to fold a throwing star from one of my Japanese friends.
Then came class which brought with it discouragement. I love to speak in Spanish and I have been practicing, trying to read Spanish short stories. In order of proficiency, I am probably: Speaking, Writing, Reading, and listening isn't even on the chart. When it comes to the last two, I am not always exactly sure what I am reading. It doesn't always make since and what I think is happening isn't necessarily happening.
I said the character dies in the end of the story. The teacher shakes his head no and asks the class, "What do you think, does he die or not?" No one can answer and he says to have an answer for the next class. He speaks slow and I get the gist of it, he speeds up and I don't even try to take notes. He says this is how they actually speak in Spain. I believe him.
It isn't uncommon for me to ask my friends to repeat themselves when speaking Spanish. Or other times I just make up an answer and hope I understood correctly. I began asking myself, should I apply for this job in Spain that I want to get so badly? If I get there and I can't understand the majority of what they tell me it is going to be very difficult.
If English is the hardest language to learn, I hate to imagine what so many of our international students must feel like every day!
18As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 19"Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men." 20At once they left their nets and followed him. ~ (Matthew 18-20, NIV, Bible Gateway)
We are called to be fishers of men. In Matthew 28, known as the great commission, he tells us to go and make DISCIPLES in all the nations. He is with us everywhere we go. It wasn't a suggestion. It was a command.
This command is part of the reason I am still at Arkansas State University. My freshman year I wanted to go home. I wanted to quit. Then I met a group of Christian friends who were also trying to answer that call. I got involved with them and one of the opportunities gave us were these "fishing trips."
That is how I met the group. Two of them came up to me in the cafeteria and began to witness. I had heard it before and knew where they had learned the style from. And in the future, I would be out there with them.
I know God doesn't need us. He could make everyone know the truth, he could take away our free will, but he doesn't. He CHOOSES to use us. He chooses to speak through humans. How great of an honor is that that he chooses to speak through us, sinners, who also have to be saved through the blood of Christ!
We met all sorts of people today. Aaron and I went to tailgate city before the football game to talk to people. The first man that I talked to was saved. Not only did he know the gospel, he told it to me and then he turned back to me and asked me if I knew where I would go when I die :). This was the first person we talked to today and it was encouraging. The second was a group of two guys and Aaron talked to them. He used the same tract as I did, the survey with trick questions. After a few silly questions it was time for the serious questions; they had heard the gospel before. There seemed to be some conviction when you looked at their faces and listened to their voices.
The next person was an older lady. I asked her a few questions and then moved to the serious ones. She said you got to heaven by doing good things. Aaron asked her if everyone went to heaven. She said she never really thought about it. And then I told her the bible says works can't save us and she responded about Jesus. I know know if she believes or not.
After we talked to her we went in prayed. After praying we got up and started again. We started using the million dollar bill and asking "Have you heard the million dollar question?" We were able to talk to one member of the Methodist church. After that we went to the student side of Tailgate city and I talked to what appeared to be a family. I went through the gospel with them and they had heard it before. Again, I don't know what they believe and they are not involved with any churches or anything.
I think my favorite was with an alumni behind the stadium. He and his wife were here for the game and he knew the gospel as well and was saved. He was from Helena and we actually had a conversation about changes. He talked about how Satan had gotten a foothold here and there was a lot more violence and drugs on the campus that when he was a student. One of my teacher's family members plays the piano where someone in his family goes to church. It is a small world!
In total I think we talked to 8 people and/or groups of people. Afterward we went to the cafeteria and ate with two other friends. One I don't know what he believes. The other is Catholic. We were able to discuss religion and different beliefs as well as international and domestic policies. It was a very educational lunch.
I also had the opportunity to witness to one of my good friends last night, and pray for some others. God is moving and I can't wait to see what else he will do on this campus and in this community and in my life.
I got to briefly relive my summer today for about an hour. As part of getting credit for my internship at ASU, I had to talk to two FYE classes today, each for about half an hour. It was an interesting experience and a new one.
I have sat in my own Journalism classes when we have had guest speakers. But today I got to be on the other end of that-- I was the speaker. I saw the expressions on the students faces. I saw the emotion, or lack thereof. I was able to take questions if the students had any.
The presentations were about the internship I had this summer. Mine included how I got the internship, what I did, and what I learned from the internship. (Click here to see the first version of the PowerPoint that went with it.) It went a lot better than I expected. I didn't put much preparation into it. All I did was make the PowerPoint presentation and practice a real quick run-through in my room about a week ago. After all, with all of the presentations in Spanish, an English Presentation would be easy. And it was.
But, no matter how easy it is or what language it is in, it never goes as expected or intended. There were things that I said in one class that I didn't say in the other. There are things I wanted to say in both classes but I didn't. There were ways I wanted to begin that I didn't. But it all worked out anyway. It was a great opportunity. It was a lot different from an Oral Communications class.
I remember being extremely nervous in Oral Communications. Today wasn't that bad. I went in to the classes looking forward to it. I looked for the opportunity to put a little bit of public speaking behind me. Who knows how much I will have to do in the future. And being on the other side of speaking, I am able to see how all our guest speakers might feel, or even the instructors.
When we as students slouch down in our chairs and look bored, they can sense it. It doesn't help the professor and in turn it probably makes things worse for the students. I honestly wondered, especially in the second presentation, if anyone was even paying attention. It had been my intention to answer more questions in the second, because they had already listened to another presentation before mine. But only one person asked a question.
So, from the internship I learned just how important some of my classes are. Even though I didn't understand how much I needed some of the information, it turned out very valuable at the internship. And then, from presenting that information today, I learned a little bit more about what it is like for teachers and presenters. As students, we should give them all a little more respect. Ask questions (assuming it is that kind of class). Sit up. Use body language appropriate-- smile, nod... something to show we are paying attention and understand what is being said. It could all make a world of a difference.
I thought I wasn't even going to be able to write this blog tonight because it takes so long to load a BLANK page. I don't know if you have ever seen the text editing page for blogger. If not, here is a screenshot.
The following is a Facebook status in which I tagged Arkansas State University-- although I do not know how much good it will do. They don't seem to do anything that makes since.
Video Length: 1 minute 12 seconds. Time to load and watch- Cell phone: 1:12; computer: 14.5 minutes.... CONCLUSION: Arkansas State University - Jonesboro should start charging less for athletic fees, and recreation fees and allocating money in areas we really need it like technology and academics.
The story behind the status: I was talking to friends today and said I could probably load a Youtube video faster on my cell phone than I could on my computer. I got so tired of it that I finally tried it tonight. Sure enough, the results were not a big surprise. It loaded more than 13 minutes faster on my cell phone! It only took the length of the video, a minute and 12 seconds for me to load and watch it on my phone.
Another one of my friends posted a status around the same time as I posted mine saying she had just lost an entire homework assignment because of the internet.
I do not know for sure about hers but my experiment was performed using ETHERNET, not wireless!
Something has got to change. Classes depend on the internet now! It is the primary source of research. It is one of the main ways teachers and students communicate, especially outside of the classroom. It is how many students take classes. In some classes, videos are a part of the class. They have to be watched outside of class and are streamed through blackboard and/or Youtube.
I use half of the money they charge me for laundry each semester. This semester I pay 50 dollars to be able to park anywhere on campus for 3 hours per day, 5 days per week. I pay 180 dollars in Athletic Fee. I pay 180 in Information Technology, 50 in infrastructure. I pay 105 for Student Recreation and 150 for Student Union. Then another 20 for Student Activity.
If I go to every home football game and buy a ticket, it would cost me about 85 dollars. There are 95 dollars left for basketball (men and women), baseball and soccer. Most students don't go to every football game, much less all the other games. I would rather pay to enter a game than be overcharged. And where does all the other fee money go? Obviously some of it goes to watering the sidewalks around campus. Some of it (a lot of it) goes into searching for a new president.
Why don't they decrease some of these other fees and put the money into EDUCATION? We need reliable internet. We need reliable computers in the library that do not have viruses or crash in the middle of typing a report. We need new academic space more than we need a new place to work out. Academics should be a top priority. I would rather be known as a university that turns out some of the most educated students in the State of Arkansas than a university who is all about partying, playing and sports.
Want to walk down the sidewalk from your dorm to the Union? There's a fee for that. Want to go to a single football game? There's a fee for that. Fees, fees, fees. Everywhere a college student turns, there are more fees. They seem endless. Most of them seem pointless. Where is all of this fee money going? Probably not to the wisest places.
Students at ASU are charged an athletic fee. When we go to the games we don't have to pay which is nice, but for those of us who go to maybe a baseball game, and four or five football games the fee is much higher than what we actually use.
Living in an on campus apartment or dorm? I don't think there is a specific fee for laundry, but it is built into room and board. We have a certain amount of money on our student ID to do laundry each semester. It does not roll over from year to year which is unnecessary anyway. There is way too much money to use. I could probably do my laundry and a friends laundry and still have money left over. But I don't get a refund.
Then there is recreation fees and student union fees and the list continues. But one of the fees that I try to make use of is the library fee. It is about 100 dollars each semester. It covers printing for "single, academic copies." Of course some classes require multiple copies, but they are understanding and just tell you to print one copy, then go print a second on another trip. That is fine. But the problem this year seems that the printer is never working.
I make special trips to the library sometimes to print. I have my own printer in my room but I am paying a large fee for printing in the library. I don't want to run my own printer out of ink and paper if I can use the supplies I already paid for in the library. Not to mention I spend more time in the library than my room anyway.
It seems that every time I go to print something the printer is out of order. They finally bought a new printer and they got rid of the other two printers they have had since my freshman year. I wonder what the deal is-- are there more students printing this year? Who knows. I just hope it doesn't continue.
Before Arkansas State was a university, it was Arkansas State College. In its early history the old Administration building burned to the ground and very little was saved from the fire.
About 1:40 on Wednesday afternoon faculty, staff and students evacuated the building because of smoke. The smell began at least fifteen minutes earlier but the smell of smoke increased throughout the hour. No fire alarms sounded, though smoke could be smelled all the way up to the fourth floor.
The Jonesboro Fire Department did respond to the call. According to one firefighter there was a fire in a trash can in the building.
They opened windows in the building and everyone was allowed back in the building by 2p.m.
Scholarships: Those things that help keep many of us from going into debt (or lower it). The things that allow us to go to school. Why do they have some of the regulations they do?
Time Limits: Most scholarships expire after four years. Why not agree to pay for a certain amount of credits (maybe the maximum a student could take in four years)? If it were not four the four-year time limit on my scholarships I would take fewer hours. But even that is not possible under the full-time student requirement.
Full-time Student Requirement: A full-time student is usually someone who takes 12 hours in a semester. That is the case here. But in terms of full time for many scholarships it is 15 hours. Why 15 hours? Probably so that we graduate in four years. Although, my major requires so many hours that (even though one is for tuition and fees) my scholarship won't even cover all of them. I have to take more than 15 hours in some semesters. Why all of these technicalities? Maybe their intention is for students to drop below the GPA standard and lose the scholarships? I don't know.
GPA Requirement: Most scholarships require a minimum of a 2.5 or a 3.0 GPA. Some require higher GPA's. This requirement would be much easier to meet if I did not have to take 12, 15, 18 hours of class in order to graduate in four years. That is a minimum of five classes each semester. Sometimes it means taking six, as in this one. One class specifically is probably being taught like a graduate class. We are expected to read one chapter and answer the questions, read a newspaper article, along with other assignments. This generally takes me at least three hours and that's being generous. There have been several times already I have spent 8+ hours working for this class. Then I have five other classes.
I have two literature classes. I have a conversation class. I have a business class. All of them require reading and homework as well. Then there is the online Public Relations. I tend to neglect it because of having so much other homework.
I am thankful to have a scholarship; so far I have not taken any loans. But--couldn't the state find some better way to give the aid?
I’ve been having a rough time this semester. Emotionally I have been pretty low lately and there are several reasons why, I think. One is I am having to spend so much time in the library studying for all of my Spanish that I very rarely see my friends. The other is that I am supposed to graduate in May.
I don’t regret double majoring in Spanish. I think it is a good decision and will open doors down the road. The thing is, I am a slow reader in English. When I have to switch over and read in Spanish it takes me hours to get through a page or two. Most of the time I have to study alone to get anything done. Other times I study with a friend and classmate who pushes me to work harder, but it is still too much time in the library.
I don’t mind spending time with my friends in the library, but I miss when I was able to hang out with more than one person there. And I really miss being able to hang out outside of the library. I fear I may lose some friends this semester because I am never around. I miss going to the park. I miss hanging out every night on the weekend. I miss those late night McDonald’s runs. I miss the occasional eating out. I miss movie nights. I miss sitting around the dinner table for an hour and a half.
Then there is the graduation thing. Most people look forward to graduation. They look forward to being done with school and getting started in the “real world.” But I see it a little differently. Don’t get me wrong, I am ready to be done with my studying, but I also see the positive side. I am off on the weekends. I get holidays. I make a lot of friends. And when I graduate I see what I am going to lose. I won’t be able to take classes with my friends anymore. I won’t see my friends very much because we will live in different places, eat in different places and generally be doing other things. Or worse, I will have to move off to find a job. There may not be any opportunities in Jonesboro.
Even if I do stay in Jonesboro to start out, a lot of my friends who are also graduating will move away. The friends who are still in school will eventually graduate and most of them will also move. Many of my friends I fear I will never see again because once they graduate they will probably be on the other side of the world in Africa, Asia, and Europe. I will miss them. I try to tell myself that thanks to technology we will stay in contact, but it doesn’t help. I know from experience that when we go separate ways we begin to lose contact, even with our closest friends. Thinking about not seeing my friends again hurts.
What hurts more is thinking about how many do not know Christ and who I won’t even get to see in heaven. I know the most important thing in the friendship is to share the gospel with them so that they might believe; and pray for them. I want to see them know Jesus.
We are all sinners. There is no one reading this that can say they are not a sinner. Just taking the ten commandments and what Jesus said, I don’t think I’ve kept a single one of them. I have borrowed and not returned (stolen); I have looked at a girl with lust (adultery); I have lied; I have hated (murder), and the list goes on. All it takes to be separated from God is one sin. He is the great, fair, judge. A just judge wouldn’t let someone off the hook when they used the excuse, “I only did it once.” They do the crime, they do the crime.
But God loves us. He wants us to be with him. None of us have done anything that is too bad for him to forgive, through Jesus. He sent him, he lived a perfect life. He was tempted just like any other human, and then sentenced to die on the cross. He died for OUR sins. After they took him of the cross he was in the grave for three days before he was raised from the dead. He conquered death. He died and he rose again! Through faith in Jesus, we too will be raised. We will have eternal life with God, which is good. Being separated from God would be torture enough, the other stuff of Hell I don’t even want to think about. But Jesus paid the price so we didn’t have to. The world needs to know this.
This morning, God showed me another reason why I felt the way I do. He is preparing me. I keep saying that I don’t know what I will do when I graduate. I say I would like to stay in Jonesboro to work for a while so that I can stay where I actually know people. I don’t want to leave and go somewhere I don’t know anyone. But I also have an opportunity to apply to go to Spain for a few years and help teach English, which is only available right after I graduate. I want to do this. Then there is graduate school, seminary and/or working somewhere outside of Jonesboro and maybe Arkansas. I don’t know what to do.
Well, this morning at church God spoke to my heart. Several missionaries from our church that had returned from the field shared their testimony about what God was doing. The first told us about spending two years in the Journeyman program. (I need to look into that a little more.) She was in France for those two years; sometimes there were teams, other times they tried to build relations with those in the area.
That is when God starting bringing some other scriptures to my mind. He reminded me of those who wanted to go back to bury their family member first to which Jesus responded, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God,” (Luke 9:60 NIV). He also reminded me of the man who wanted to say by to his family. “Jesus replied, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.” When I gave him my life, I was giving him my entire life. My life is no longer my own. That means if he calls me to go to a far-off country where I don’t know anyone; I don’t know the culture; I don’t know the language—I am supposed to go. He will go with me. The question is not an if he sends me; it is a where will he send me.
I began studying Spanish so I could use it in missions. It opens up Spain, Central and South America as places I can communicate. But I am willing to go wherever. Through my time at ASU God has placed a lot of East-Asians in my life. We have become friends and I have had the opportunity to get the gospel in many of their hands. There are other opportunities I have missed. But God has really put them on my heart. I wonder if he is not only preparing me to leave all of the familiarity but maybe even calling me to China or Japan.
I will be honest: the thought of going to be a long-term missionary in China, a communist country, scares me. Japan scares me simply because of being a different culture and language. But should I start trying to learn those languages from friends right here at ASU? Which one? God definitely showed me that he is preparing me to leave my friends and my family this morning. I don’t know how. I don’t know where. But I want to do it, filled with joy. Life is a journey. Life is an adventure. It is a good thing that I am not supposed to be the pilot.
Please pray for me that God would ease the stress some and that I could enjoy the friendships while we are right here together. Pray that he would give me the opportunities (and that I would take the opportunities) to share the gospel with them. Please pray that God would tear down the walls in their hearts and that he would grow the seeds. Please pray for me, that God would show me exactly where he wants me to go, when, how and all of that good stuff.
