eddie izzard on religion

i got this from the liturgy website and it's freakin hilarious. love eddie izzard.

spring in nyc

i am blissed out, sitting in my backyard, in a sunny spot. it's a beautiful day and we aren't having a good stretch of those this spring so i'm extra appreciative.

i was thinking this a.m. about people's stereotypes about nuns. i went to catholic school for nursery school until 8th grade. in the upper elementary school grades and middle school years, basically 4th - 8th grades, i had some really mean nuns for teachers. they couldn't hit us anymore (although one of my friends who grew up in the same neighb at the same time as i did but went to a different catholic school did have hitting nuns) so they humiliated us and yelled at us something fierce. it scared the hell out of me. and they were just ugly, mean women with god on their side, or so it seemed to us at the time. i'm sure they had little or no vocation to teaching and to the religious life but were tithed by their families and had less vocation to be nurses so we got stuck with them.
for high school i went to a private episcopal convent school and the nuns there were a whole other ball game. they treated us with respect. they were kind. they never yelled at us. they were patient with our teenaged ways. if i hadn't gone to that school and experienced those nuns i would probably have had a much more difficult time dealing with my own call to the religious life.
i would like to be the nun who changes people's ideas aobut nuns. i don't mean i'm going to be "cool." i'm not cool now i'm sure. but, i am quirky. and i'll keep being quirky. i'm also the most aquarian aquarius ever which can be a lot for others to handle.
i'm getting more and more ready all the time. i'm enjoying my life here but i'm starting to count down the days as it were.

nun sighting

a catholic nun with a peaked veil coming out of staples as i was walking in. this is a lot! every nun sighting i've had is a completely different nun. i never see the same nun twice. some people tell me that i see so many nuns b/c i have a sharp eye out for nuns b/c of my calling. i think that's pretty skeptical. no one in the u.s. sees this many nuns. i mean, really! sounds like the universe is telling me something.

nun sighting

a regular catholic nun in a suit from filene's basement and a white veil as i was coming out of tasti dlite on east 86th street. these nun sightings are really starting to wrack up!

nun sighting

but only if seeing a buddhist nun counts. she was walking down b'way past the duane reade. i think it counts.
also, i had a dream last night that i was visiting order of the holy paraclete in whitby, yorkshire. i was very happy and excited but also nervous - like the first day of first grade kind of feeling. i had to remind myself in the dream that i was only visiting for a couple of weeks, not moving in yet.
the funny thing is, when i did visit ohp a few years ago, i had an ego freakout and instead of hearing the small, still voice and the "ah, i'm home" feeling that i had hoped for, i heard a squeaky, shrieking voice in my head as i crossed the threshold saying, "I DON'T WANT TO BE HERE! RUN AWAY! RUN AWAY!" like in monty python or something! so, i'm taking this dream to be propheticish.
when i live in spain, it'll be easier and cheaper for me to visit england and africa so i hope to take a couple of trips to each.
the first time i went, i was freezing ... in august. i had my little heater on. i shivered, my fingers were cold, i wore sweaters and jackets. not my ideal weather. we shall see.

my plan so far

well, i was hoping to go to swaziland this summer to visit order of the holy paraclete's orphanage for girls in bulembu village. however, i don't have the money for the plane ticket right now so we'll see. if not this summer, i certainly have plenty of other vacations as a teacher so plenty of other opportunities to visit.
meanwhile, i'm working on a plan to transition from this life to that one. i want to live in europe again before i enter the convent. i also want to be warm. i am a heat-seeking missile, a delicate hot house rose. so, i'm working out a plan to move to spain in a year and a bit. i probably can't teach english b/c i don't have e.u. citizenship, despite my qualifications (a masters in teaching english to speakers of other languages). i could tutor and teach online university like phoenix u. and i want to write. i have a couple of good stories in me. i'm thinking of doing this for a year or so. a gap year if you will. i will bring my dog and my bunny. i will sell everything i own. i will give up my life here, which i am getting ready to do. nyc is not for the middle class anymore. i can't afford it here as a single school teacher. i'd also like to live a slower-paced lifestyle than nyc. a mediterranean (sp?) lifestyle.
so far i am torn between moving to barcelona and seville. barcelona is colder. seville is right on the beach. barcelona has an anglican church with a woman rector. there's most likely a bigger expat scene in barcelona (my spanish sucks and i'm not going to have an easy time making friends with natives, plus, my experience of living abroad has taught me that i need american and english-speaking friends who get my humor and whose humor i get). barcelona is more expensive. i guess i could live in both places. i guess i don't have to make this decision right now.
i do enjoy imagining my dog and i walking along la playa. she is getting old - 10 and a half. i have to wait for her to die before i can enter the religious life! can't bring her with me to the convent. bunny bun bun will like spain too, i'm sure. he'll just hate getting there.
i'm going to flippin' love it!

nun sighting

i went to trader joe's today (usually a nightmare b/c it's so crowded w/new yorkers i want to push my cart into people's ankles) and i saw a couple of the missionaries of charity (the mo. teresa nuns) loading boxes of food from the service entry of t.j. into a van. i confirmed w/an employee, t.j. gives their excess food to the missionaries of charity. what a mazel!