Finale!

Today is Wednesday, the middle of my last full week in Romania. Where has the time flown? I apologize for not having been on top of blogging. But nonetheless, I began this experience blogging, so I must end it with a post. J

As this season comes to an end, I’ve been asked questions such as what are my most precious memories, what I am going to take back, what have I learned… and to be honest, it’s been hard attempting to answer those questions. But I’ve been taking time to really evaluate them. I have been looking back at how the different decisions and circumstances in life led me here, and I can’t help but acknowledge that there was a reason why I was brought here. So I now ask myself, why?

The summer of 2009 when I wrote the first draft for my application I knew I wanted to include one of my favorite quotes by Desmond Tutu, “my humanity is bound up in yours, for we can only be human together.” Fulbright was an opportunity for me, and thousands of others, to leave their homes, their comfort, their loved ones, their jobs- their everything- and move in a foreign country for the purpose of research/teaching and cultural exchange. It was an opportunity for us to be placed in communities around the world so that we could be “human” with those around us. It’s easy for me to romanticize and simplify this and say, “it wasn’t a simple task, but it was worth it” and leave it at that. But I feel like that would be an injustice to what this experience has been.

So with all of that said, what are my answers to those questions? I would say the most valuable aspect of my experience has been the relationships. Be it:

-          The gentleman at the corner 24-hour minimarket I talked to every other day when I would buy my water- who didn’t believe me when I told him I was born in the States because my accent wasn’t strong enough (yup, I admit, I was pretty proud J).

-          The dedicated students who demonstrated an ardent interest in learning and excelled beyond my highest expectations. The students who expressed their desire to do something worthwhile with their lives. 

-          My church family who welcomed me into their church and homes with open arms.

-          The generous friends of friends who took time out of their day to befriend me and welcomed me into their lives.

-          The family friends who drove hours and hundreds of miles to pick me up and bring me to their home.

-          The new friends I met from other cities who hosted me when I would visit.

-          The people I would have coffee-breaks-turned-into-half-day-lunches in Unirii Square.

-          The thoughtful colleagues who took care of any work-related challenges in order to make sure I had a smooth and successful experience.

It was these experiences with the local, everyday people that I treasure most.

Of course there were challenges that at times made me feel overwhelmed. There were times when I didn’t always feel embraced and accepted. I longed for normalcy, organization, and a better understanding of the cultural context. Yes my independent self missed the convenience of a car. Or simply the convenience of being comfortable with friends whom you know have already seen you at your best and worst.  There wasn’t always a smile on my face and a skip in my step. But nonetheless, this was all eventually overshadowed by the people who made this experience worth it!

I look at life and the world around us and my heart breaks. It breaks at the injustice, at the circumstances that limit people and humanity from achieving the potential that God placed in each and everyone of us. I look at the people around me as they long to find the answer to the void in their lives. I see them struggling to achieve something great but failing since circumstances seem to always be against them. It’s easy to see these things and feel hopeless. But I then look at the fact that I had the opportunity to come back to the country my mother was a refugee from. She fled because the government at the time limited her from achieving her potential due to her religious background and other factors. Yet, here I am, decades later, teaching courses like “Human Rights” and “Religion and Politics,” in the same country she once left. This full circle story is something I deeply treasure because it illustrates the struggle mankind continues to fight for- for good, for something better, for justice, for hope.

As we go through life, it is easy to lose focus of what truly matters. So I encourage you to look at life as a whole. Who are you? Why are you where you are right now in life? What talents were you given? What are you doing with them? As I look back at the decisions I made along the years, I see how God led each step in this direction. And now that I am here, I am overwhelmed with gratitude for this opportunity. The opportunity to have been “human” amidst the communities He placed me in. The opportunity to have returned to the country of my ancestors and hopefully have been the blessing others have been for me.