I'm Being Followed ...

I think I'm being followed...
Nakeli, a good friend/co-worker has a theory about me: where ever I go I find someone I know, am connected to, or make friends with anyone near. I pretty much laugh it off because I have lived in the same town for almost 24 years. So knowing, what seems like to my friend, a majority of the population is understandable. See this theory is becoming "fact," so my friend says. Then I started thinking about it a little more this past week. When I hopped on the plane headed for Rome I thought, "surely I won't know anyone other than my friend who lives in Italy." boy was I wrong. On the flight to Toronto the lady that sat next to me turned out to be from my home town. Not just that, she works at ASU in a department our office works with quite frequently. I was stunned ... Then I thought, "whew! That won't happen again the rest of the time I am gone. Who could impossibly run into in Italy?" 

On Wednesday I headed out to Rome on my own. I went to the Colosseum on an English guided tour. I started chatting with the others going through the same tour. They were a sweet couple from Scotland who enjoyed traveling through Europe on holiday. I spent a majority of the day with them and enjoyed every little bit. The next day Janelle and I are leaving the Vatican when we hear, "Bailey!" we turn around and it's the Scottish couple from the day before. Janelle laughed and said, "your friend is right, can't take you anywhere." I was still half in shock that it happened at all. 

Stepping back to Wednesday for a moment, when I was out I stopped and had lunch at this little restaurant facing the Vittorini building. When I finished lunch the waiter asked me where I was from and I replied. A table over a Taiwanese lady heard me say Arkansas. She turned around and asked me more specifically where in Arkansas. She then told me she has family in Little Rock. 

I got on the plane to head back from Rome and thought I was in the clear, it had been a few days since I met anyone with Arkansas connections or anyone who recognized me. When I sat down in the plane from Switzerland to New Jersey I started chatting with the girl next to me. Low and behold she is from Arkansas. I started laughing before she asked me where I was from and then felt the need to explain. I can imagine she was weirded out by "this would prove my friend's theory" laughter. She laughed after I explained. 

Then I got to the airport in Newark, while I was waiting on my flight a guy sits down 3 seats to my left. I looked, because of my minor ADD, it was a student from ASU that I have spoken with on several occasions. As we boarded the plane I noticed a history professor from ASU as well.

I think I am being followed by Arkansas ... 

Then again

Maybe I am just chatty...

Surely that is what it is, I am a chatty Cathy. I have no problem with that, I learned from the Nigerian lady on the metro that I look friendly. Maybe that is what it is. So I am admitting defeat and beginning to believe my friend's theory (proved fact) ... Just don't expect me to run for office or anything. 

Oh! By the way, our flight attendant looked like Oprah. Her name tag even says "Oprah."

Welcome to my life. 

Nigerian on the Metro

Janelle and I were headed into Rome on Thursday. While we were waiting for the metro to get to the station a lady approached us to ask if we speak English. We told her yes and she let out a huge sigh of relief; she physically looked as if weights had been lifted off her shoulders. She was so excited to find English speakers that it was a joy to speak English. She told us she is from Nigeria and she traveled to Italy to find work. She is horribly homesick and misses her husband and children. She was accuse fly on the wrong metro and didn't know how to get back in the right direction. She began to just talk talk talk on the way to her stop. 

To be honest I can't even tell you her name, but God used her to remind me even when we are obedient to His will and His way things will not always be easy. Honestly I have no idea where she stands spiritually but God likes to remind me of things in the neatest little ways. My desire is to move overseas and share the gospel, He has out this in my heart. Meeting that woman reminded me that leaving everything behind and moving half way around the world is not an easy task. She doesn't speak the language and is struggling in learning and picking it up. She seems to be trying so very hard to make it and not be discouraged. These are the same challenges I will someday, soon, be facing. He doesn't let everything be easy because He wants us to rely on Him. That is what this woman was having to do, rely on something/someone other than herself. She literally relied on two complete strangers to help her. It was such a blessing to be able to be there and give her an (English) outlet. 

Let me back up for a second, when she approached us and realized we spoke English she told us she only approached us because we look friendly. If you know me you know I could talk to a brick wall if I thought it would talk back, basically I love people. This was such a huge compliment, Janelle and I looked friendly, approachable, that is just what she did - she took a leap of faith and approached us for help. I forget how important it is to just appear friendly and loving and approachable. God uses even the simplest things to execute His will. He used Janelle and I to provide the slightest bit of relief to this woman. She walked away with higher spirits than the day before and seemed more confident to conquer the day. Yay for being where God wants us when He wants us there! We don't have to worry if God is going to put us where He wants us, because if we are being obedient (and even in times we are not being so obedient) He has us right where He wants us. Hopefully this thought will stick with me for the rest of this year (2012- not just the school year). This is something I struggle struggle with greatly, wanting to be somewhere else... Somewhere "better."

A Little Taste of Italy...

Wow! Let me tell you that God has blessed me immensely with loving family, great friends, and good food (hehe) ... well and safe travels of course. As I look through my own pictures I can't help but ask myself if that is really me posing in front of this or that building. "Am I really here," the question that kept playing through my mind. Before leaving to get on the plane people asked me if I was excited to go. That was hard for me to answer, not because I didn't want to go but because it didn't quite seem real. It seemed as if I was living someone else's life doing things someone else would do. But this has been my dream since I was little. I think I was 6 years old when someone asked me what I wanted to do when I grew up. I told them I wanted to go to other countries and help people. Which is what I am on the path to do currently. Cultures, languages, religions, people, and history all fascinate me. Being in Rome where the history and culture is so thick is, well, almost unreal. My life still goes on day-by-day. I walk, eat, sleep, and breathe just like I would in Arkansas. Only, I'm not in Arkansas ... I'm nowhere near my family or closest friends. Yet, I don't feel very far way either.  It is the strangest feeling to have. This is my life, this is how I am supposed to live; off in some other country where I may or may not know the people I go to live amongst.

There is so much to be told about the 6 days I have spent in Rome and I will write about them, slowly, and tell you not only what I did and saw but what I learned from the culture, language, religion, people, and history. If I wrote it all at once you wouldn't want to read it; trust me, it would be really long. Just know this, everything (practically) that I have done since being here is new to me. So these posts will not be labelled like the rest of the "31 Day March" challenge but everyday has been something new and exciting.

I will tell you this, before I venture into posting and updating and whatnot, God continues to show me how much He loves me (not just me but this is my blog and what God is showing me so that is what I am sharing with you). He has provided constant protection, safe travels, lovely people, interesting situations, cultural sensitivity training (yes, even God reminds me to be sensitive to other cultures), and well... more than I can think of right now. There will not be a quiz or a test over this so don't feel like you have to read this or ask me about what I have been writing. There are so many things out there to see and do that I don't expect you to be part of every little thing I have done. Go, live your life!

This has probably been the biggest lesson of all. We only have one life to live, so why not start living it now.

Taking a Chance and Making Some Changes

For some reason, my whole life I have wanted to just uproot my life and travel the world. There is so much to be seen and so much to do outside of tiny city (compared to the rest of the world). This week I read an article or blog post or what-not titled Stop Delaying That Big Trip. Stop it. (click here to read it). Reading it made me really thankful for some recent changes in my life and  has encouraged me to look at some things in a different perspective. 

After I graduated high school in 2006 I went on a 1 week mission trip to Venezuela. Since then I have been dying to go back outside the country and never seemed to be able to go. The next two summers (2007 and 2008) I went on a Christian training project called Orlando Project with Campus Outreach. It was great but just fueled my desire to travel even more. We worked at Universal Studios our first summer and then we worked at Sea World (that summer we worked at a resort and it was AMAZING). I continued to meet people from all over the world everyday both summers. In 2008 I started working with international students. Once again, it just fueled the fire in my heart to drop everything I know and move thousands of miles away where I could see cultures, religions, and people for what they really are. So in November (2011) I started talking to a friend of mine who lives in Italy and decided in March I would go visit her. So in about 3 1/2 weeks I will be getting on a plane headed to Rome. There will be a few stops in other countries as I change planes (Canada, Germany, Italy, and Switzerland are all the airports I will be visiting). It is almost a thrill to know I am about to travel half way around the world with no plan. When I say no plan, I mean I have nothing scheduled; no meetings, no deadlines, nothing is required of me except to go and enjoy myself. I get a real vacation, I get to do what I have been waiting for my entire life. 

Most people are what is holding them back from their dreams. My friends know me as the safe one, the man with the plan. They know me as Business Bailey or Fanny Pack Mom. I am the one who doesn't take big risks or chances because there are so many things to be cautious of, but if we caution ourselves to the very point that we get in the way of ourselves we have lead very boring lives. Think about the craziest thing you have ever done. What was it? What did you do to get there? At this point of my life I have traveled outside the country without family and swam (and surfed) in shark infested waters (New Smyrna Beach, Florida is in the top 10 list for most shark attacks in the world), in 3 1/2 weeks I will be traveling out of the country completely alone for holiday. Reading the article I mentioned earlier, it brought up things I have heard others say and things I have said or thought to myself.

"If I don't do it now, I probably never will. - I couldn't live with that."

I too could not live with the fact that I have not done what I have always wanted to do, travel. So travel I will. My goal for 2012 is to travel outside the US twice. In March I will be going to Italy. Hopefully in May I will be going to India, if this trip does not work out I am all but begging my boss to let me go with the other recruiters to China. There are also some other trips I am looking into, but that is for another post another time. 

"To act as though traveling- especially when you're young - is some kind of insane luxury that is utterly unattainable unless the stars align perfectly and God hands you a couple hundred dollar bills while no one is looking is ludicrous."

With each new year comes new friends and new places and new-ness in general. I didn't make any new years resolutions or anything, however I did decide I am going to be myself and live more. These are two things I often forget to do because I have become so cautious of everything around me that taking chances pretty much went out the window. I viewed traveling as an "insane luxury that (was) utterly unattainable" until it suddenly hit me ... I am not married, have no kids, and nothing truly holding me back but myself. The adventurous spirit I once had was somehow gone. God did make it possible for me to go on this trip and continues to open doors for future travel. But I started making changes in my life to make this possible. If you want something you typically do something to make it work. Well, I decided to get certified to teach EFL (English as a Foreign Language) and finish my degree. This will allow me to eventually move outside of the country and travel to where the next job takes me. Told you, the adventurer in me is back :). 

“You’re so young. Go see the world, then come back and build your life."

So go, figure out who you are and what you want to do with your life. You only get one, so choose to live it well and with purpose. 

For the most part, jumping out and taking the chance to do this has reminded me of what I want to do with life. God has made it very clear to me that my current city will not be my home forever. The US is not my home, and ultimately the Earth is not my home (not that I am going to live on Mars or anything). My heart is to move overseas to share the gospel and fulfill the purpose God has given me. 

Oh and don't you worry, I will be posting about my trip(s). :)