Back! (long overdue post...)

God has really been teaching me a lot lately. When I was working on my MA paper, He made me realize how impatient I was. I was panicking so much for the entire month of August cuz my supervisor was away and took forever to edit my paper. I had to email and call my colleagues to make sure I was on the same page as them. I was panicking so much that I was thinking I might have to postpone my graduation. The thing was, how could I not think that way when I still hadn't received feedback on my potential final draft, still hadn't gotten to the second reader, still hadn't gotten it proofread by a professional proofreader and still hadn't gotten it revised and bound..? By the 8th last day, I was contemplating/praying whether I should just be honest with my supervisor and email him to tell him that I needed to get it done so I could go on vacation. I honestly wasn't sure if I should email him, because that is basically rushing him and it is impolite. But at the same time, I really needed confirmation. A bunch of my friends told me to just be honest, and I am glad I sent him an email. Within the last 8 days before my vacation, he gave me back my feedback, the second reader read it in 5 hours and I got it proofread by a professional proofreader. phew! It was really scary! Throughout this whole thing, God really taught me to be patient. To wait and to have faith in the Lord at all times, and certainly in times of trouble. In the end, I was the 3rd person (out of 10 people) to hand in the paper. I thank God for this lesson because I am really not a patient person and I usually panic when things are done at the last minute.

I really thank the Lord for giving me the opportunity to go on a cruise with my family this year. It's been a while since our family went anywhere. It was also a perfect time for me to relax from stressing over that MA paper. The whole cruise experience was really amazing, and just like how the motto of the ship says it, you really get to Escape Completely. You get to do whatever you want, whenever you want, . You don't have to worry about anything. God's just been constantly teaching me things and he continued to teach me stuff while I was away on vacation. One of the things that has engraved in my heart throughout this entire trip was the fact that the people who work on the ship work really hard to provide for their family. 95% of the workers were filipinos and I didn't know much about them till my family asked our two waiters about their job status. In the beginning, I thought it would be really fun working on the ship cuz you get free housing, free food, free this and that, AND you get to cruise around the world. FUN! But after talking to them, I found out that it is really hard work. They work for 10 consecutive months on the ship and then they get 2 months off. While on the ship, they work literally 12 hours a day, 7 days a week. They get time off (1-4 hour breaks per day where they are allowed to go on shore) but never days off -You are practically in prison. No freedom whatsoever. The two waiters told us they really need to provide for their children back home and it really sucks that they have to leave their family for 10 months. I certainly wouldn't want my husband leaving me for 10 months and I wouldn't want my dad to leave for 10 months and only come back for 2 months. Family relationships destroy like that because of a lack of communication. But these workers have no choice. They need money support their family. But then again, why have kids if you can't afford them? And I think that's one of the reasons why most of the workers are men. I can't imagine women doing the same things our two waiters did. And despite all that, you wouldn't be able to have kids. It is just impossible.

You can tell they really miss home because they got really happy when we asked them about life, food, language in the philippines. And when I busted out my limited tagalog, they were surprised and started teaching me simple tagalog. My heart ached a little every time I see them working so hard - lifting stuff, running back and forth, doing this and that, just because they trying to please us and make us happy.

It is not a right for people to serve us just because it is their job, but it is a privilege. Everyone deserves to be served. And so, we really need to appreciate what others do for us, whether it is small or big stuff, because they sacrificed their time for it.