Do Not Worry About Tomorrow For Tomorrow Will Worry About Itself -Matthew 6

I have been contemplating what my next blog post would be about. A lot of different ideas came to mind and I have been meaning to write a post for about a week or so, but tonight I decided to just write. So this post doesn't really have a direction or a purpose. I am just going to write about all the thoughts and topics I have contemplated over the last few days.

1. The fist topic I am going to write about is communication. This topic in itself has many different avenues that I could write about and I will touch on a few of them. Being one of the few native English speakers in my friend group here has opened my eyes to the complexities of language. I have felt many times that these people who are sitting in front of me and conversing in a language that is not the one they have been learning since birth are much more intellectually advanced. I have shared my view with them that I am amazed by their ability to speak another language so well and that I am sorry I cannot repay their courtesy. While I feel ashamed to be a member of an English society that is so far behind on accommodating other cultures and emphasizing the importance of learning other languages, they view learning English as a necessity for communication with the vast majority of the world. It was eye-opening to see that they did not feel they were "catering" to us by learning our language but only improving their ability to communicate on a larger scale.

On the topic of communication, I saw a familiar phrase the other day on facebook and it succeeded in making me cringe, again. If you have ever heard anyone proudly say, "If they want to come to America, then they better be able to speak our language" or any derivation of this phrase, then please direct them to the nearest airport and send them to a non-English speaking country for awhile. The shear ignorance of that phrase appalls me. If you have ever tried to learn another language you know how hard it is. Do these people think that learning another language comes easily? Do they think the immigrants or visitors like not knowing what is being said around them or not being able to communicate with others? When I was in Germany two summers ago I hated not being able to converse with everyone else when they were speaking German. And now two years later, I still hate not understanding what people are saying when they speak in their native tongue. So for all those people who are self-centered enough to believe that these people don't want to learn the language, you should probably try to learn a language yourself and see how easy that is.

Another communication subtopic is communication with me! Some people have been asking for my mailing address and so I figured I should get that out to everyone cause I do love packages.. :) If you are sending a package mail it to this address:

Amanda Finneseth
Elms Village
Grant House Room 202
78 Malone Road
Belfast
BT9 5BW
Northern Ireland

(If you send me a package let me know when you send it out so that I can make sure to go check for it in like 2 weeks. That is roughly how long it takes the package to get here and if I don't pick it up in 3 weeks they send it back. So let me know! Cause I don't normally check that mail collection area.)

Letters ect.. are delivered to my house since they don't have to be signed for and that address is:
Amanda Finneseth
Grant House Room 202
64 Malone Road
Belfast
BT9 5BT
Northern Ireland

I love getting mail whether it is in the post or via email. There is nothing better than waking up in the morning and having a few emails from the ones I love back home. It is a morning ritual to check my email before I go to class and always starts my day with a smile when I see a familiar name in the inbox. So for everyone who has been so great at emailing me: Mom, Grandma, Aunt Maria & Bob, Abby, Kassie.. and a few others have been semigood at it.. THANKS! And for all your slackers, I would love to hear from you.. haha :)

2. The second topic which is weighing heavily on my mind right now is my career path. It is hard to know exactly what I want to do with my life and uncertainty is something that I do not do well with. I know you are probably thinking Amanda it's okay you have plenty of time, but I am a planner and like to do things to the best of my ability the first time around. So that is why the title of this post is the verse from Matthew 6. I am trying to focus on the fact that I know life has a way of working itself out and even though my plan might not be what I end up doing, I will be doing the plan that I am supposed to be doing.

Currently, I have a lot of decisions with my career and life path that I must make before this semester is over and they are weighing on my mind. I wish I could find the perfect path for me, but maybe that isn't possible. Maybe the perfect path is created by stumbling down paths where you were once uncertain or coming to dead ends when you thought the path was clearly paved. Wherever my path leads I cannot see yet. I feel like I am at that moment in time where I am preparing for my big journey. I have packed my essentials: the books of knowledge and guidance, the nourishment of education, and the encouragement of family and friends. But now I am just wandering until I find that path which calls my name. The one that I recognize as my path, the one that was made for me to tread. This path will not be straight, but windy. This path will not be paved but rugged. There will be times when I will not know what is around the bend but it is at those times when I must remember to "not worry about tomorrow for tomorrow will worry about itself." ~Matthew 6