"Jake, you get wise. You get to church."

It doesn't matter where you go.  Church people will feed you.  They will ask you about your life and they will touch your shoulder or hand.  And then they will invite you back.  Many times.   

Bratska Jednota Baptistu just happens to be on a street I now know very well and live two blocks away from.  What the hell, right?  I'm not crazy about church.  I kind of think people should keep religion to themselves and just do/believe what feels right to them.  But anyway, I was actually really excited to go once I made plans to last night.  It's been a crazy time of uncertainty and the feeding me and asking about my life and even touching my shoulder or hand was cool.  It's a really diverse group with lots of students and expats and English speaking locals.  The weirdest part was meeting a family from Texas.  They have a niece that goes to HSU and he knows Dr. McGraw from seminary. What....I mean, what?! 

After the blessed goodbyes I went to hang out with my athiest friend.  I took a long-cut through one of my favorite places in the city (so far), Riegrove Sady.  It's a park on a hill full of benches and paths and old people and people with dogs and kids on sleds these days.  There's an awesome view of the city, even awesomer at night.  There's also a beer garden there that I can't wait to drink at once it's warm enough.  Anyway, I love wandering around this park.  Saying "Dobre den" to old people, and petting happy dogs, and watching kids bust off of their sleds. 

Doing so today I kind of took a mental step back and really looked at this thing that I'm doing.  I've had one or two "what-am-I-doing-here-I-wanna-go-home" moments this past week.  Not many, but they've hit hard.  A year seems like such a long time to commit to a teaching job, but I know once I get going it'll fly by.  If I manage this I can manage anything and I'll be so proud of myself afterwords.  I just need to get through the holidays and the job-hunt.  I've met a lot of cool people here but maybe a weekly community thing would be a good support system here. 

ANYway, why am I getting introspective, this isn't the Livejournal.