Meeting the Challenges!

So I haven't kept put with the blog like I planned to (surprise, right?). I guess life got hectic and busy (another big surprise). New things have happened in my life, wonderful and sad. Let's start with the good and wonderful. I have made my way over the ocean twice more, once to Italy and Greece and another time to the United Kingdom. These experiences are wonderful and now I forever have the travel bug! It looks like I also might get to work for a time in the United Kingdom after I graduate. Nothing is official yet, but things are looking very good. My brother got married (finally) and I am extremely happy for him and extremely blessed in my new sister-in-law. I got to spend another amazing summer as a SOAR leader and made some wonderful memories! I am extremely grateful for the wonderful experiences I have been given.

Now for the sad, my time at Northwest is drawing to a close; soon I will no longer be a student there. Most of my friends have left Maryville find went on to jobs and higher education. Some of those same friendships are now beginning to fade. Another sad fact is that I no longer feel like a college student. As I look forward to finishing my degree, I begin to think about things like retirement, benefits, buying a house car, finding the love of my life...most of which are very much in my control but not the average college age worries…

But…I no longer have much of a desire to be a college student, let alone act like one. I have moved away from Maryville and while I will probably move back, I definitely won’t be the same and it absolutely will not be in the same capacity.

The good news is that I am ready for this. Now, you might be saying, "Kirk, you have no idea what it is like to be a grown up with responsibilities." You'd be perfectly right, but that's what I am saying I am ready for. I am ready for the new challenges. I am ready to once again step outside my comfort zone and experience new things, to meet new people and to make new friends. I am ready. I don’t know if I am prepared, but I am excited for the chance to find out.

I start student teaching next week, and then I start a full-time job after that. These are going to be wonderful challenges and I know God has not given me any more than I can handle. So, after an already insane college career, let this crazy life begin. I am going to finish 2012 strong with a degree and then meet the crazy challenges that await in 2013. It’s going to be a fun ride and hopefully I’ll keep you more updated!

It will be worth it.

“Nobody said life would be easy, they just promised it would be worth it.”

It’s been awhile since I posted, not because I haven’t been writing.  I have but none of the things I’ve been writing are ready to post.   I couldn’t help writing now. 

I saw this quote and to be honest, I have no idea who or where it came from but it struck me and struck me hard.   I’ve been looking to the future a lot lately with my college days disappearing rapidly. Over the last two months, I realize more and more every day that what has happened, happened for a reason.  I figured out that what I thought I wanted is not what I really wanted all along.  I discovered that I am scared of the future because of the change.  I’ve also learned that I am excited for the future for that change as well. 

I am a firm believer that certain events are placed in our lives because they are meant to change us and how we live.  There are multitudes of these events in my life and some seem more powerful than most.  One occurred 3 and half years ago when I came to college, when I almost failed to transition to college; I experienced the depression that many college students fall victim to.  I even experienced guilt for my depression because I saw no viable reason for it.   That event changed my perspective, my philosophy, and forever changed the way I look at others.

Another time came last spring, when I was experiencing the highest success I had ever had.  It showed to me that with hard work anything is possible.  I dreamed high and I still do.  It also showed to me that I can dream high for others. There are multitudes of these moments in my life.

Nonetheless, change is always waiting.  I’m a different person from 10 years ago.  I like the person I am, but I am scared to realize that change is inevitable. 10 years from now, I will also be a different person, but it is the person I am meant to be.  I guess I know, that by following His path for me, “it will be worth it.”

So, I guess the message is to realize change happens, let it happen, and become the person you were meant to be become.

As a reminder...

I posted this to facebook a long time ago.  I like it a lot and thinks it deserves its own blog post.

Here goes:

I care about those who don't have the money to feed themselves and get the healthcare they need, not about who is taking my money.

I worry about the person who doesn't have a job, not those that are supposedly stealing our jobs.

I believe that not allowing someone to marry the person they love because you don't believe in who they are is discrimination at its worse.

I think our planet is precious and should be protected against industry and no amount of money I have to pay will change my mind.

I think every person should have equal opportunity for a good education not just those who can afford it.

I believe that everyone has the right to believe what they choose to, and not be discriminated against for their beliefs.

I believe that the world must be taken with some evils for there are NO blacks and whites only varying shades of grey.

I think every opinion matters, not just those opinions that agree with me.

I think every person deserves kindness and respect regardless of who they are.

I am a liberal.


I see the good in the world around me, do you?

I have hope for the world around me, if people just open their eyes to the people around them, will you open yours?

I think putting yourself in someone else's shoes can have a huge impact; will you try on someone else's shoes?

I am not perfect and try to embrace imperfections, will you embrace mine?

The Last Days...

My last full day in Birmingham was great. Birmingham hosted a student leadership conference in hopes to get students involved at their respective colleges.We had Usman Ali, the Vice President of Nation Union of Students in the United Kingdom.He had quite an inspirational story about how hard work and determination and you can achieve anything.Stuart talked about the Student Academic Partners scheme at BCU and Paul had the students work on potential projects for their own colleges. I talked about Student Employment as a route for engagement and involvement at the Univeristy and the benefits getting jobs and being engaged at the university. It was really funny watching the crowd’s reaction to my speech.During most of my visit, no one had batted an eye at my accent. Birmingham is so multi-cultural that accents weren’t that rare, but these students apparently had not heard that many Americans speak.You could tell by the sporadic giggling and the delayed reaction to my words that the audience was listening to how I said something not actually what I said. Jokes did not work because the laughter was delayed.It was a little wierd getting all that attention, but I guess that is how the British feel when they visit Northwest Missouri

Usman and I at the conference

I felt like we made an impact that day with those students.We really sparked their interest to take charge of their education and future by getting involved.

After the day, we celebrated at the local pub and then hit up the German Christmas Market for my last night. For anyone’s future reference, German beer tastes delicious and if you are looking at woven hats at what looks like an authentic German stand, they still could have been made in Nepal. Anyways, the German market was fun!We stood around and had some brauts and I was introduced to some mini pancakes that were absolutely delicious!

It was a really fun night. I got to know Usman a little more and I liked hanging out with Luke, Luke, Stuart, Paul, Cully, and Gemma!It was just nice and really sad to see them all go but the night ended before I knew it.

Cully and Paul at the Hare after the conference


Luke, Stuart, and Luke at the German Market

Paul and Gemma at the German Market


Stuart and Luke at my apartment building

 
The next day, I had to get up bright and early to catch the plane ride back because I was flying out of London. Stuart drove me and once again he showed his aptitude for asking probing questions. It is truly strange how he can literally cut to down to the heart of the issue. Stuart then offered me fantastic opportunities for the future. The details aren’t worked out, but I figure I will be visiting Birmingham again.

It was sad saying goodbye to Stuart. It all started for me by participating on a student panel. With a few conversations and a trip over the pond, I had made new friends and now I was saying goodbye. I would talk about the trip home, but to be honest, besides reuniting with the family, nothing compares to the trip itself. I gained confidence, I gained new perspectives, I gained reflection, and most of all I gained new friends.

Thanksgiving - British Style

I love Thanksgiving. When I found that I was going to spend this holiday away from home, I realized how much that I actually love this day.Of almost all the holidays we celebrate in the United States have been sullied by commercialism and material possessions.Valentine’s, Mother’s, and Father’s days seemed to be about something or getting someone something and rather about the person were getting these thingsfrom or who we are giving them to. Christmas is the worse.When Christmas comes, we are all excited about presents, there are shopping deals and a huge deal is made out of Santa Claus, let’s be honest if there is anyone pulling the focus away from the true meaning of Christmas it is Santa.Anyways, I digress; Thanksgiving seems to me to be one of the few holidays that is not tainted by material possessions.Yes the biggest shopping day of the year is the day after Thanksgiving but that really isn’t part of the holiday.What people do or should do on thanksgiving is indulge in a little too much food with family and friends and give thanks.That is one the most genuine experiences, giving thanks, this can be to God, family, friends, health, anything! The last two year I have made thanksgiving for my friends, partly because I like the food but also I want to give my thanks to my friends for being exactly who they are and for what they mean to me.

Enough about the meaning of Thanksgiving but as you can tell, I was kind of sad that I wouldn’t be spending it with my family.The British seemed pretty determined to make it special though and what a Thanksgiving I had.First, Paul, Stuart, and Marissa took me to breakfast and that was delicious.Then all the office had dressed as Americans!

Luke, Me, Oliver, Cully (sp?), Paul, and Luke

You might not be able to tell in the picture but whether it was hats, a Las Vegas Security shirt, or loads of bearcat gear, they are all wearing American clothing!

I had traditional Indian food for lunch…some beef balti! Then for supper, I was going with Paul, Gemma and a bunch of their friends. It was a good time! I had traditional fish and chips and I was just grateful for the opportunity to spend Thanksgiving with people in another country. I was thankful that I spent my holiday with new friends. I was just really thankful for all that I have. Afterwards we went to a pub called the Fighting Cock and we all talked and I got to know and make new friends. It was really nice. It really felt like and was a genuine Thanksgiving.

Mentoring

Mentoring. This is what my purpose seemed to be turning into at BCU. I was intrigued because I thought mentoring was one of my favorite things I do I really enjoy at Northwest. I was thinking of peer advising, SOAR, etc. As it turns out, however, apparently everything I do is “mentoring” at BCU. This includes things like academic mentoring, what we would call tutoring. 

Anyways, Luke Nagle and I were to develop some mentoring principles so that Stuart could use some money to develop mentoring programs for BCU and pretty quickly as in January. It was interesting and exciting to look at developing a new program especially as it was what I love to do. It is at this point, early the second week of my visit, that I found out that I would be coming back to Birmingham to continue to work with the University. The previous week there had been joking discussions and speculations that I should work in Birmingham. All these talks kind of scared me because of the big commitment that it proposed! But there were two reasons that the idea concerned me.

1. I get really scared by changes and I change slowly but I’ve live with the philosophy that you should take opportunities so what scared me about this one was that I knew I would say yes whether I was ready for it or not. 

2. When I came to college I discovered my passion. I loved teaching, but at the heart of things, my passion was helping other people. The biggest joy of my life was helping others and making their life a little bit better. This is why I like tutoring. I named this blog, “Just Smile” because besides being a happy person, I hope my smile makes someone else’s day better. I know that I would still be helping people in Birmingham; it just feels a little bit more indirect.

Nonetheless, I continued worked on the mentoring schemes with Luke with excitement. It’s a different kind of work and I hope I will find it satisfying. It’s definitely exciting to be developing these different programs and having the prospect of coming back for another visit. We met with a couple of other enthusiastic students who were excited to run and help develop mentoring programs. One girl even asked if she would get to go to America! She kind of reminded me of myself although I did not ask to get to go to the UK but rather just enthusiastically participated in any discussion that might involve me going!

I also had several memorable nights this week. Gemma and Paul had me over one evening and Gemma cooked me traditional Greek food. The food was delicious, and it was fun meeting their friends. Paul’s flat was really neat, and I think it would be a lot of fun to live in one of those. Another night I went out with Luke Nagle. We decided to go eat at Urban Pie which was absolutely delicious. You cannot go wrong with a warm pie with a hearty filling, mashed potatoes, and carrots all smothered in delicious gravy! We met his friend, Matt, there. Matt was Luke’s friend that lived on a boat in the canal. They had recently just moved it outside of town. I thought this would be a really crazy way to live for a while! After Urban Pie we went to the Victorian (see previous post) and to our delight there was a pub quiz for only one pound. Now thinking of the cheap price and that Americans know pop culture we thought would dominate (even though I told them that I did not know pop culture). We did not dominate, we lost and achieved the illustrious position of last place. I actually used the fact that I was American as my excuse…I did know two questions though. On Wednesday night, Stuart and Luke took me to the Old Joint stock where once again I indulged into delicious pies! 

Because of all the work and all the people, it is at this point I am getting attached. I may have been there for only two weeks, but these are memories and friendships that were created. There was one point at the Victorian when I realized that I was going to miss this place…a lot.

Taking London by Storm

London. That was the goal for the day and Paul and Gemma were going to help me do it! We had the hour long train ride from Birmingham to plan out our day and it was an amazing day! We decided that the best thing to do was to see as much as we could see and if we didn’t get to all of it, then we’ll have to hope I come back in the future!

We got into London, immediately got some maps, and headed to the London Museum. We decided to hit the exhibits that we were the most interested in which was the ancient Greeks and Romans along with British history (of course).

Next we decided to catch the tube and go Buckingham palace then walk up to the houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey. We went to the Palace and took the traditional cheesy pictures in front, and then we were walking towards the houses of Parliament when an older gentleman started talking to us. After a few moments, Paul asked if he was a royalist and he vehemently replied, “yes.” I didn’t know what a royalist was but as the man continued talking it was clear what being a royalist means. For those of you that were like me, a royalist is someone who supports the monarchy, in particular constitutional monarchy, of a particular country as the best type of government. (On a side note there is a actually a royalist party of America that seeks to institute a constitutional monarchy here in the states…Google it). This royalist told us how great the queen was and how the recent marriage wasn’t proper but that it was a good family and everything would work out. It was just interesting because the man definitely had a different idea of what is good for the government than Americans. It seemed to me that we are trained from birth that Kings and Queens are something that we don’t have and don’t want to have (and yet who hasn’t dreamed of being a price or princess when they are little).

We also learned from the gentleman that the big ben was actually the name of the bell NOT the tower! As we drew closer to big ben’s tower we saw the queen’s soldiers and their unflappable nature. Of course I took the stereotypical photo!

Cheesy Picture with Queen's soldier

We went and took pictures of Westminster Abbey and listened to their fantastic bells. Here is a clip of the bells ringing

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After we listened to Westminster’s bells, we then crossed the Thames towards the eye of London. The eye of London was huge and it was amazing how slowly it went and how big the carriages are of that massive Ferris wheel. Hopefully, this picture will give a clear idea.
We got tired of walking really fast and caught the nearest tube to St. Paul’s cathedral . This cathedral was beautiful and I wish I could have taken pictures of the inside. It was really special and kind of made me wish I would have gone inside Westminster Abbey. Outside St. Paul’s was the “Occupy London” movement and while I sympathize with their ideals at times, I would never be able to do what they do. Quite frankly, their whole camped smelled…bad.

We then took the tube to the Tower of London. This was one of my favorite places in London. I won’t give all the details but I could have spent hours looking around and reading about the history. There was one moment when we were standing at the land where many of Henry VIII’s wives had been executed and that era of English history fascinates me! It was really fascinating to see some the rituals. They have soldiers still living there and they still perform the same duties in the same manner that they did many years ago. They also had the crown jewels there and that was really neat to see. I wanted to take pictures but I wasn’t allowed to of the crown jewels. Gemma and Paul were a little disgusted by the crown jewels and the amount of wealth they represented; discontent among the British!

After taking some wonderful pictures of the tower bridge at sunset, we went to convent garden. This garden was a place for performers to hone their skills on the streets. We watched shows and singers entertain. We caught a drink at a pub and enjoyed the festive atmosphere. Finally we went and got some food…delicious pub food as always! We were exhausted and went to Leicester square (Kind of like our Times Square except for more theatres) and then caught the train home to Birmingham.

Tower Bridge at Sunset

I will never forget that day. Rarely do you get the opportunity to see so much in so little time, it was truly a memorable day of my life and has given me the bug to see and do more. I am beginning to crave those experiences for the richness that they are. Ever since I came to college, I had a clear purpose for my life, but it was a day like this and a trip like this to make me realize that there was potential in my purpose for travel and experience. More on that later!

I do want to say how thankful I am for Gemma and Paul showing me such a wonderful day. I do not think I could have had a better experience with anyone else!