I owe ya one.

I've officially spent my first major holiday away from home. It's not too bad though- crepes with Dakatine/Nutella and pasta with pesto sauce made for quite the delicious post-noon "Brunch."

The Easter holidays have brought quite a change to my little way of life on this island. As opposed to my normally very-productive-rather-active-altogether-distracted self, the past four days have been absolutely nothing but beach, food, reading (for fun!), lack of internet access (and therefore lack of ability to work), and lack of open places to go away from the Cite. Also, I literally think a good 50% of my friends have visitors from their home countries right now-family or significant others. It's kind of exciting in a way, living vicariously through their affectionate sentiments, but also rather boring, since after all, half my friends are spending LESS time with me and MORE time with their families! What scandal.

One really unique thing I DID do this weekend, though: ate a filet of kangaroo. A lovely little group of 14 of my friends and I went to the esteemed Roland Garros restaurant in downtown Saint Denis, and it was positively great to eat something different from rice, rice, rice, fish, fish, fish. I was skeptical about the idea of kangaroo meat, but I can proudly boast that I think I ordered the best thing on the menu. It's a very dark meat, rather tender, and was served in a sweet dark sauce with mushrooms, accompanied by green beans, tomato, and seasoned potatoes. Add a little red wine, then some dessert of coffee and chocolate ice cream, and Laura went home a happy girl. The evening was definitely a splurge, but totally worth it. (For any of my non-anglophone amigos reading this, a splurge is when you spend more money that you can really justify spending on something luxurious.)

Currently reading: English: John Piper's A Hunger for God, W. S. Maugham's Of Human Bondage, and, newly begun, Yann Martel's Life of Pi. French: Harry Potter et le Prisonnier d'Azkaban. Also, before returning it to the library, I read a bit of a book on Therevada Buddhism in Southeast Asia, and the first two chapters were quite fascinating. Came across the following description:

"[...the monk] has always existed for the world."

I immediately had to put the book down and address the question barking in my mind: Who do I exist for? I know the answer I'd LIKE to respond with: Christ. And certainly I've made the decision to serve Him, at least in ways that are convenient for me. That's the thing: is my entire existence designed and decidedly FOR HIM? The issue, you see, is that I actually love life quite a bit! I'm having a blast, and it just so happens to be quite convenient with my way of thinking to carry out my actions in this life as somewhat consistent with Christian theology. But is that EXISTING FOR God? No, it's not. My purpose is ultimately selfish, even if kind enough in approach.

In coming to this random little island in the Indian Ocean, I had ever intention of learning dependence while here, and while I've certainly learned a great deal, some of which while being dependent on God, I'm not sure I can say I've really learned dependence. I have a comfort zone here, even, with my fellow foreign students and my lap top and my routine. It's quite interesting to realize that I've forgotten what the word ministry is supposed to look like, if I ever really knew in the first place.

The long and short of it is that I've been entirely taken aback by how different my way of thinking is, even when my way of life isn't that dissimilar to the way I've always done things. I do believe I'm growing. Learning, even. Go figure.