My mom's culture believes in ghosts and the supernatural so I've grown up hearing 'ghost' stories accepted as fact. I am somewhat skeptical of ghost stories, but I do get a kick out of them. An episode of Destination Truth (I know, I love this show) was filmed at Duckett's Grove castle in Ireland to investigate spooky goings on -- somehow ghost stories in old castles just seem that much more believable and entertaining, you know? I don't think I'll have time to go to Duckett's Grove when I'm in the UK but it is definitely going on my list for a future trip. I'd like to go to the southwest coast of Ireland, too, as I hear it is one of the most beautiful parts of Ireland. And then there's my fridge; it's been making weird noises that of course don't happen when maintenance goes in to fix it, but I was able to record it on my phone. My coworker informs me it sounds like my fridge is haunted. Oh, that I could be so lucky! Alas, I thi...
It's a tough life lesson that when you try to be more loving, forgiving and in greater harmony with those around you, you will discover that someone you have feelings for, like and care about turns out to be a person capable of doing awful, despicable, unjust things. Your trust is betrayed. If you think you are justified responding with anger, hate, disgust, public shaming and bringing justice for their actions, well... you are. Totally justified. And people encourage you to do all of these things. But you know: this is not who you are trying to be. You could never again be a person who didn't do those things. When someone breaks your heart and trust, don't break your own soul. They aren't worth your soul. Justice comes of its own accord, in its own time. It's not up to me anymore. When you reach for the capacity to be more loving, turns out you might have to learn that by learning to forgive in your heart (but not your actions) those whose poor choices adversel...
I bought a bag of salt at the grocery store and was looking for a salt shaker. No luck at all, nothing even remotely like a salt shaker. I was so confused as to how there could be salt but no salt shakers. How do people get their salt evenly and cleanly onto their food? Then I opened the bag of salt. It has the consistency and texture of brown sugar, there's no way it would pour out of a salt shaker like the granulated salt I am used to. It's eye-opening to realize how many of these cultural biases I have. The big ones you can try to prepare yourself for; these small ones catch you off guard, and I think it is the small ones that most contribute to culture shock over the long-term. As we (Peace Corps Volunteers) like to say, "Everything's the same, except it's all different."
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