Two weeks ago I started a new chapter in life - this time I am doing an internship in Scotland. In my last year at university in Brussels, I decided to apply for the scholarship granted to students who want to gain more experience abroad after their studies. I ended up in Stirling, a small city also known as "the gateway to the Highlands". My internship is at a language service provider where I am learning how to manage translation projects. It is a very international company and I have met people from all over Europe and beyond, especially Italy. I will definitely learn Italian while I am here :)
Stirling is really easy to explore by foot and the city-centre is a 40min walk from my flat. The main sight is a castle on top of a hill that overlooks the city and has nice views of the Highlands. The Wallace Monument is the second most visited sight in Stirling and proudly stands as a symbol for William Wallace, the guardian of Scotland who defeated the English at the battle of Stirling Bridge in 1297. The hardest part of getting used to this new environment is the driving on the left side of the road and the lack of zebra crossings. Pedestrians don't have much priority. Also public transport is not the cheapest in the UK compared to Belgium. Luckily I can walk to the office! In addition, the work at the office is a big change from the children's work I did on month ago in Romania. It is not as satisfactory, especially when your heart is still with those little ones whose dreams often are destroyed by their environment. However, through this contrast, I am seeing how we can become so comfortable in a certain bubble and do not think to much about what is outside of that. I realise that wherever I am, no matter how much control I have over the things I am doing, I still depend on my Heavenly Father, from whom I owe my wisdom and strength. I am thankful for the opportunity I have here and I believe God will teach me many things and give me new friends. I am sharing a room with an Italian intern. We walk together to the office every morning and thus have gotten to know each other quite well already. Francesca has been here already since November and quickly introduced me to her friends. Last Sunday we went to Callander. Auriane, another intern from France joined us. Callander is a 40min bus-drive and one of the first towns at the foot of the Highlands. The hike was easy and quite short but we took our time and made many pictures. Before taking the bus back we drank a hot chocolate in the local tea room. My third weekend here I went on my second day trip. Together with some other interns, I visited St. Andrews! This city is named after Scotland's patriot saint and is the home of golf. There is also the university of St. Andrews, one of the best in the UK and the university where Kate Middleton graduated from :) It is a small city by the rocky coast that is definitely worth visiting for its Castle and Cathedral ruins. It's a two hour bus-ride from Stirling with nice scenery. However, we had only 5 hours to visit the city - just about enough time to visit the castle, the cathedral, the university and the beach. In order to reach the beach we had to quickly cross a golf course and pay attention that no one was playing in that particular moment, as indicated on the sign..:) For some reason, I cannot upload any pictures into my blog anymore. See my pictures on facebook by pressing the button below.
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It’s been three weeks since the Warm Feet project 2018, and I can still see the faces of the kids that attended the program we held in the villages surrounding Sighisoara. The memories of the children that were holding my hand while walking towards the facility are still vivid. They will never go away. One of the faces is Larissa from Laslea. In this village, the children didn’t look as poor as in other villages but as I was knocking on doors, inviting children to the program, I saw that Larissa was among the poorest in Laslea. She had a thin jacket on and big circles under her eyes. After the program she received, just as all the others, winter boots and some clothes. Although she had already received, she stayed until we gave to the last ones in line because she wanted to ask for 2 baby packages for her twin brothers. A relative/neighbor of her who waited with Larissa somehow assured us that they are really poor and need it badly, something I had already noticed. As I was helping her to carry all the bags to her home, I was trying to encourage her by asking her about school and telling her that Jesus is always with her, even when other children are mean. When we got to her house, I could see it was a lot smaller than the other houses. Inside, there were just two beds and a small stove. I saw the twin brothers (Nicusor and Matei) sleeping in a buggy. Their mother said that Larissa doesn’t hear so well. I prayed with them for their home and Larissa’s ears. After saying goodbye, Larissa ran after us on the street and hugged me. “Let those who have ears hear” – Jesus This girl might not have heard everything during the program but she was definitely listening with her heart and I believe a seed is growing in her heart as was expressed in her behavior. There are so many people who are perfectly fine, in physical and materialistic terms, but they lack the keys to a fully satisfied heart. When your heart is not open to God’s unconditional love which He granted us freely through Jesus, you are no richer than the girl without a father or a savings account because all earthly things will perish. God however will always be. Likewise, what is in our hearts. Where do you keep your treasure? Is it in your house or is it in your heart? Should we hold on so dearly to the things we will lose at the end of our lives, or should we pursue the things that we can only gain? “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” – Jesus |
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