Yesterday Josh was riding his bike to the garage to pick up his fixed car when he hit a manhole cover that was a couple inches lower than the road at high speeds and took a big digger into the pavement. He's doing pretty well, hopped up on Vicodin he can walk around without much pain and is showing every sign of a quick recovery. Today we had our first lecture on nano fabrication which was quite interesting. Then we went adventuring in his now-healthy car and found a Walmart with no food and a grocery store that had lots of food.
This evening I played Ultimate Frisbee with some people who are here for the summer. It was really fun, but now reminds me that almost everyone here has a solidified circle of friends. It's easy for me to go and hang out and be friendly and they be friendly to me. But the relationship just isn't there and the only thing that will change that is time. I think this is a good experience for me in light of preparing for new student outreach next fall at Platteville, but I'd much rather be able to have the perspective without going through the frustrating stage of having only a few shallow relationships. I know from talking to other friends who are now far away that I'm not the only one going through this, which is comforting to some degree. I think the main thing that I'm realizing is how important it is in the beginning for an insider to "adopt" the outsider and help them with whatever they need until they become an insider. That hasn't happened for me here yet. Maybe it will, and maybe I'll end up making do with a bit of determination and courage instead. Only time will tell.
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Update on my life (in case you care:)
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2 comments:
Yeah, I know what that's like (shallow relationships) - that's a huge reason I "switched" from His House to Campus Crusade at Tech. I am learning that 1-5 years (and unfortunately for me most of my friends have been upper classmen...so leave!) isn't near long enough to settle for shallowness and small talk for long - though I found that some things can't be rushed and take time.
But most things "can" in the sense that if you see the relationship going somewhere and test that it's mutual - I lean more towards go for it: be purposeful in your conversation and interactions to not settle for small talk, but focus on truly gettin to know eachother and sharing your vision of and passion of God with eachother, so that you can be an encouragement to one another.
So I know how hard it can be - but also know how a shallow relationship can grow depth in a fairly short period of time - shorter than you'd think! Just keep the focus on God, and always show love.
So this week is going pretty well - getting some training and last minute camp preparations (among other things, they moved cabin 2 to by the retreat center for the new craft shack - and the old one is for us to leave our stuff when we're in camp!), and I also have alot of preparation to do - though this evening was so far spent helping Dave with some stuff and then online for a few minutes - and now I'm off to do some prep work and/or reading before bed.
So I should get going - have a great week!
-Tyler
I also know what this is like. Moving here to Madison has been like that. I've met lots of people, but I don't really know many, if any, at all. Being anywhere for a period of time before this always had its share of those shallow, "hi how are ya, I'm so-and-so" relationships, but there was always that notion of knowing I'd be going back home, or to school where I did have my own circle of good friends. Moving though is different. There's no "I'll be back at school/home soon" aspect. Instead its "I live here now." I've been here what...almost 5 months now and still only have about 3 people i know fairly well...and 2 of them i knew from home who have also moved here. Its kinda frustrating. Just gotta remember that solid meaningful relationships take time to build. I fully agree with you about the "outsider" thing, too. I'd be interested to see your perspective at the end of your time there too, to see how things turn out. The other comment on here has a great point too about keeping God as the focus and center of everything and always showing His love to those around us.
Well, I think thats enough comment out of me for now.
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