Hello all from sunny and hot Berlin. Okay, it's only 30 C (about 80F), but it feels hotter because I walk a lot and not many places have A/C. That's okay, I'll live. Once I drop some more weight, hopefully I won't be as uncomfortable. Yesterday was a bit cooler but being in the hot, muggy weather all day took it's toll on me. I have to say it was nice to get 9 hours of sleep last night though, apparently I was a bit exhausted after the day!
So, I'm so excited that I can continue my job search! I'm very encouraged because in all fairness, they should have sent me home this week, so I'm going to give it my best effort this week because money is an issue at the moment (although there are some things in the works, might take some time to get that all ironed out though).
So this week is going to be interesting. I am able to stay in my place for another week thanks to the help of a brother here. It's so hard to ask for money and help and the more I do it, the harder it seems to get. I have always been a responsible adult. I have always been able to pay my bills, take care of my own business and not have to rely on others. I have always taken these responsibilities very seriously and still do. This experience has been a test of my trust that God not only knows where I will be living as of Aug 1, but that he knows how I can take care of some of these bills. It is really a trust issue. I don't really have any other alternatives at the moment other than to trust him.
But for me this week, I need to figure out another living arrangement. Unfortunately there are no spaces available in the brothers household and I have been asking around where I might be able to crash for a month or so, hopefully for very cheap, or (God willing) free, until I can get work and start getting a paycheck. Also, the past few days I have not had internet so I have been spending time at Connections to use the Wi-Fi. It has been a godsend! Thanks Larry for allowing me to do so!
On Friday, I purchased 5 Euros for my internet account. It costs a Euro per day to do it by the day. Unfortunately, somehow that night, the ISP drained my account within 30 minutes and I wasn't able to reach them by phone all weekend! That has really caused problems for me because I really need to be online looking for work and since Connections is about 45 minutes away by bus and train, it takes a lot of extra effort to be able to use the internet. And on top of that, there is a church group that meets there on Sundays so I can't use the Wi-Fi there then. I spoke to a woman over the phone today and she told me that the settings on my account are incorrect and that I should log on to do an update. Logged on and could not find out how to do them. Ugh, I need something to work correctly.... LOL
These there are just the mundane things of life that are distracting me and trying to discourage me from what I need to be doing. Like the fact that I REALLY need a haircut but just don't have the money yet. It's only about 10 Euros, but I will just have to wait until later in the week to do it. Internet problems, need to reload minutes on my phone (again no $$$ to do so), etc.
All of these things just seem to add to the pressure of having to find work. I have decided that I will be going after all areas, making calls, sending emails, whatever it takes. I am praying to find work quickly because I really need to start catching up on some bills. So, I've been feeling pretty stressed about that. For the first time in my life, I have accounts that are past due. I have a plan to start paying on them in the next 1-2 weeks, but it has been a challenge! Please pray for me to find a cheap (or free!) place to stay for the next month. All these little annoyances are starting to add up to stress again.
I had a brother talk to me last week about not being more open with him. I asked him how I could possibly be more open than I have been. I update on facebook, have dozens of in-person conversations every week, update this blog, etc. I was pretty discouraged by the conversation. My situation has changed seemingly constantly (ie: visa expiring, had to get extended and couldn't look for a job. Then they allowed me to start looking for a job again, which means I have to figure out where to live, how to pay for it, etc.). Anyway, I have been getting advice on how to be more open. I feel like I am an open book. I guess if you have questions or concerns about me, what I'm doing, how I'm doing it, if I need assistance, please contact me. I do have a phone, email, facebook, or you can write a comment on this blog as well. Unfortunately the hard thing is to have the same conversation with 100 people every week, that's one of the reasons I take the time to write this blog, so that people know what's happening. Anyway, I'm humbly trying to do better with this brother because I respect him, so it will be better.
Well, that's it for now, thanks for checking in on me. By the way, for some reason I have not been able to give you the surprise I have been promising. I'll tell you what it was supposed to be. I was videotaping myself here in Berlin, to show all of you back in the states and in other places around the world a little bit what my life is like here. Where I live, public transportation and just showing a bit of this beautiful city as well. I am going to try to find a way to get the footage off my video recorder, but it has some kind of problem that it doesn't let me do much of anything. Anyway, I hope you understand. I'll post it if I can figure out how. Thanks, and I'll talk soon with you again!
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