Dazed and Confused in Portland, Oregon

To be brutally honest I have been wanting to use that title for the past few weeks, but since I am a terrible friend I have not written anything on the blog so far. I hope you can forgive me. I also hope that all of you that have been able to make it out to Calvin are having a great time because all of us who are not able to come are dying of jealousy. Literally Dying of Jealousy. So on to the dazed and confused part of my life. Well it basically has to do with my ability to close my eyes and suddenly end up walking in Agouza. Fairly shocking to me because Portland is about as opposite as one can get. I mean the grass is green everywhere and the evergreen trees are well ever green. Life to me is at a happy chaotic stasis where I really don't know where I am going, but I will know I am there when I get there. That basically means that I really need to get in gear and do my application to Eastern University unless I want to paint houses for the rest of my life. Shockingly painting houses does not rank very high on "The Things that Matt Wants to do With His Life" list. School is well, let's just say that going to school in Portland is a little less exciting than going to school in Cairo and leave it at that because really, how much more do I need to say? On the upside however I am really enjoying taking Biblical Hebrew again. I have had a few good conversations with some people and one conversation where I was informed that Petra is featured in the Left Behind series. That just goes to show you that you learn something new everyday. I was kind of excited for the conversation and it was really going well while I was talking and explaining about the trip because there was some genuine interest on his part in going on MESP. And then HE spoke and I exited quickly off stage right searching desperately for a way out of the conversation. I thankfully escaped unharmed and without saying anything that I would have regretted. That has been my rather tame bad experience so far. I guess if you are naturally shy and don't really want to get into arguments it makes sense that you don't get into too many heated debates. However I did get into a debate about affirmative action recently, but that is another story. So I have bored you too much and I need to read and then go to bed so I can go paint a bathroom tomorrow at 9 dollars an hour. Good Night.

Have a good time at Calvin those of you who are able to go, and those of us who are not able to go ask that those who are able to go to pray for our souls as we envy you greatly.

Matt