In answer to your question...
We've been asked, "What is it like living in a foreign land?" Well, it's exciting, scary, interesting, confusing and fun all at the same time.
It's exciting to eat new foods like fruit soup and "fatty bread" and to see new sights like the Danube River and the famous Hungarian horsemen. It's really exciting to make friends with people from all around the world.
It's scary driving for the first time, not being used to new signs and narrow roads. It's scary going to get permits or licenses and not know exactly where to go, how to read the signs, or what to do, and not being able to understand when someone tries to explain it to you. It's scary when the police stop you and you don't know why; but you're relieved when they motion for you to move along because trying to answer their questions would be very difficult.
It's interesting living in a country that is over 1000 years old with a history filled with kings and battles. It's interesting listening to older people tell stories of what life was like under communism. It's even interesting discovering how the language works and learning new figures of speech (like "hungry as a wolf").
It's confusing when you try to go shopping and can't read the packages, can't make sense of the sizes and measurements, and the money is different, too. It's confusing when people do things differently than what you're used to like saying "hello" before they hang up the phone. It's confusing when you almost understand what the clerk said, but not quite. She notices your confusion and instead of repeating what she said, she says it in a way you don't understand at all!
It's fun when people are pleased that you are learning their language and are trying to speak with them. It is great fun to be able to worship with other believers because we enjoy being with our brothers and sisters in Christ. And it is the best fun to be a part in winning people to Christ and helping them grow in their faith.
It could be said that living in another country is kind of like getting married. You live with people you don't understand, who speak a different language than you do, do things differently than you do, and think differently than you do. But if you do it for love, it's worth it.
It's exciting to eat new foods like fruit soup and "fatty bread" and to see new sights like the Danube River and the famous Hungarian horsemen. It's really exciting to make friends with people from all around the world.
It's scary driving for the first time, not being used to new signs and narrow roads. It's scary going to get permits or licenses and not know exactly where to go, how to read the signs, or what to do, and not being able to understand when someone tries to explain it to you. It's scary when the police stop you and you don't know why; but you're relieved when they motion for you to move along because trying to answer their questions would be very difficult.
It's interesting living in a country that is over 1000 years old with a history filled with kings and battles. It's interesting listening to older people tell stories of what life was like under communism. It's even interesting discovering how the language works and learning new figures of speech (like "hungry as a wolf").
It's confusing when you try to go shopping and can't read the packages, can't make sense of the sizes and measurements, and the money is different, too. It's confusing when people do things differently than what you're used to like saying "hello" before they hang up the phone. It's confusing when you almost understand what the clerk said, but not quite. She notices your confusion and instead of repeating what she said, she says it in a way you don't understand at all!
It's fun when people are pleased that you are learning their language and are trying to speak with them. It is great fun to be able to worship with other believers because we enjoy being with our brothers and sisters in Christ. And it is the best fun to be a part in winning people to Christ and helping them grow in their faith.
It could be said that living in another country is kind of like getting married. You live with people you don't understand, who speak a different language than you do, do things differently than you do, and think differently than you do. But if you do it for love, it's worth it.
posted by Mike and Nancy Juntunen @ 3:58 PM
1 Comments:
At November 16, 2009 at 5:01 PM ,
Unknown said...
Great post! You captured it!
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