Live Out Loud

Talking to co-workers in-person instead of sending an email or instant message Having lunch together every day instead of eating at my desk Commuting an hour to get to a church gathering

Singapore can feel pretty suburban, despite being a global city. Maybe it's just the area I work and live, but I find comfort in the suburban-ness  I should always bring a packet of tissues with me, since restaurants don't offer them as standard protocol Food and drinks are sweet by default. If you want things less sweet, make sure to ask for it (ie: "kopi o kosong" for black coffee) HMCC_SGP didn't feel much different than HMCC_AA, despite being a fraction of the size The people were a lot more open than I expected; I'm excited to get to know them! Despite my prior impression of Asian females, girls in our church here play sports! I'm especially excited to get to know some of the sisters who play basketball and/or rockclimb :) I'm really happy to be here. More than I ever felt 

Today I begin a new season of my life as a student affairs professional in Singapore. I've never been to Singapore but I hear it's quite an efficient and law-abiding city (both of which are strikingly fitting with my personality). I do have anxieties about starting from scratch in a city where I only know three people, but can't help but think that my year in Philadelphia prepared me for a move like this. A card I received last summer when I left AA I knew one person when I was moving to Philly, an old middle school friend whom I was happy to reconnect with. Deciding to leave Michigan for grad school was one of the hardest decisions I've ever made, but one I knew I very much needed. Leaving behind everything I knew in a familiar place to start over seemed illogical, but I came to see my relationship with God in a new light through the challenges of being in a new city, investing in a new church, and surrounding myself with a new community. If there was one trut

"Why do you complain to him that he answers none of man's words? For God does speak--now one way, now another--though man may not perceive it. In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls on men as they slumber in their beds, he may speak in their ears and terrify them with warnings, to turn man from wrongdoing and keep him from pride, to preserve his soul from the pit, his life from perishing by the sword." - Job 32:13-28