by michnicolas | Oct 26, 2017 | Uncategorized
On this post, I am putting the links to old entries instead of putting the entire posts here. Just click on the title to read the post and see the photos, too. 🙂
Airport Musings (November 13, 2012)
Living in Opposites Is Just Fine (November 16, 2012)
Washing Dishes or The Sanctified Sink (November 19, 2012)
When In the World Am I Getting Married? (November 25, 2012)
How God’s Word Can Shape Your 2013 (December 31, 2012)
Wedding Preps and Miracles (January 5, 2013)
Dreaming God-sized Dreams (January 9, 2013)
Road Trip on a 480-Kilometer Stretch (January 16, 2013)
Countryside Joys (January 27, 2013)
WAHM: Work-at-Home…M? (February 9, 2013)
Happy Holiday in Hong Kong (March 21, 2013)
by michnicolas | Oct 26, 2017 | Uncategorized
(This post was originally published on October 24, 2012 right here.)
Is this really happening? I asked myself as I woke up to a new day, looking out from the bus window, arriving at a place that, years later, I would also call home. But not just yet. Not now. I felt like a stranger. On hindsight, it was not so much the place or the people that were unwelcoming; it was me, unwelcoming of the changes. OK, so I probably was remiss on some research regarding the place, so I was caught off guard. Culture shock.
In the city I was used to tall buildings everywhere, malls on every other block (OK, I’m exaggerating…), restaurant choices from A to Z. Now here I was, hundreds of kilometers away from what I used to know…and there was no mall. Nada. No mall?! Where in the world am I going to spend my weekends? Restaurant choices were limited. And Starbucks? What Starbucks? NO Starbucks. NO STARBUCKS?! (There wasn’t even a coffee place to speak of.) The city withdrawal symptoms were creeping in.
Poor City Girl — how foolish of her to expect the same things from the countryside that she expected from the city. Didn’t she realize that, apart from their spelling, the two words of “city” and “country” had other differences? (Oh, really? Duh.) And didn’t she realize that God ordained that there would be beauty in both? (Um, no. Not yet, at least.)
My eyes were veiled then. I only “saw” what was unseen, what was not there. I failed to appreciate that the absence of a concrete jungle meant I had the vast canvas of God’s sky to look at. That the absence of a mall meant I could just chill outdoors (and save money). That the limited restaurant choices meant I could enjoy my husband’s exquisite cooking (and save money). And that no Starbucks meant…well, no Starbucks (but yes, saving money).
So City Girl meets provincial life for real. But she’d have to decide for herself how to cooperate with it to make it work. Thankfully, God’s patience and mercy were in generous store.
Questions: Did you ever have to deal with a sudden change in your life? How’d that turn out? Feel free to post your experience. 🙂
by michnicolas | Oct 26, 2017 | Uncategorized
(This post was originally published on October 20, 2012 right here.)
I was born and raised in the city. And though my parents’ roots were in the province, they spent a good number of their younger years in the city as well. There were no grandparents to visit in the province, as the then surviving ones also lived in the city. I had gone to a few provinces in the past, mostly for vacation (like beaches), or ministry and missions purposes. But staying in a province for a prolonged period? Never. So when the prospect of having to live in a faraway province surfaced, I was not thrilled at all. My whole life, my whole history seemed to be hinged on city life. My family, my friends, my work and ministry — all these were conveniently located in the city.
But I had no way out of it. It was part of my life’s syllabus, much like Photography 101 was part of my college course syllabus (for some reason, I dreaded Photography 101; but being enrolled in Communication Arts, I had to take it. Go figure.)
So I couldn’t escape this prospect, for the very reason that I’d be marrying someone who had just recently relocated there for work. Either I marry the guy and begin a life with him, or marry him and still live a separate life. So I married the guy and we agreed to visit the city every so often.
A feeling of uncertainty and slight sadness came upon me as I said goodbye to my family. Then again, I would be seeing them in two weeks for four days. But for someone who was never away for long periods of time, this could very well be a month or longer! So off I went with my husband of three weeks…to a place unknown…to a people unfamiliar…to a language undecipherable…. (Not once did I go there prior to getting married; not even to check out our future apartment!)
We rode this super deluxe bus. I had never ridden in a bus for that long — nine hours! It was a night trip, and good thing I was able to sleep during the ride. Arrival at our destination was quite surreal. Is this really happening? It was reality all right. And what a reality it was.
