Care Package List

I was asked by a former professor about receiving care packages. I could've just listed items in an email. However, sending items to Ethiopia can be very expensive. Also, I was hoping to reduce the chance of getting many of the same items from multiple people (15 notebooks for example). I wanted to think of a way that people could coordinate efforts and reduce costs if they wished. Then I remembered my old blog. There is a comments section below. Please feel free to use this to coordinate care packages if you would like. (This way you can save money on shipping and reduce item overlap.)

Here are some items that would be nice to receive in a care package:

Food:

1. Chewable multivitamins (preferably gummy in nature)
2. Dark chocolate (the darker the better...overlap would be appreciated)
3. Milk chocolate (overlap is good)
4. Trail mix (overlap is good)
5. Any dry sauce mix (if they only require water that would be nice) (ranch, cheese sauce mixes, etc)
6. Peel-apart-twizzlers (feel free to overlap these)
7. Gummy Bears
8. Hot coco (feel free to overlap)
9. Random Candy!

Random:

1. Wall posters/maps
2. Interesting news/research articles (I will always be a student at heart)
3. Plant seeds (for my garden beds...a variety would be good. I can only get potatoes, onions, carrots, lettuce, and garlic here.)
4. Flashcards, notebooks, and/or good pens
5. I have many books on my kindle...if you have any suggestions please let me know 

Fun:

1. Sudoku, Word searches, brain teasers, riddles, etc. (Except crosswords...please no crosswords)
2. How-to-kits (I need something like crocheting or whittling to keep my hand busy during free time. This could be a home-made kit if anyone out there is a crocheting enthusiast.)

I would like to say this: do not feel obliged to send me anything. All of my basic needs are met here in Ethiopia. A care package would just be a great pick-me-up. If you do send something please write a letter also. I love to know whats going on back home. Pictures would be cool also. Anyway...as I said before: feel free to use the comments section to coordinate care packages to save money. :)

My address:

Michael Beltz

P.O. Box 16

Debre Elias Town

Amhara Region

Ethiopia

Friends, Best Friends, and Soul Mates?

So when you first read the title of this you probably thought to yourself "OMG! Michael has finally found a girl!". Well I hate to break the bad news...but I'm single as ever. Who would've thought. But I think that it would be good for me to write down my thoughts about all types of relationships: this would include friends, best friends, and lovers/soul mates. Seeing as I am now of legal drinking age in my country, it comes as no surprise that more and more my family is pushing me to find a girlfriend. It is not that my family continuously bugs me about it. Instead, I get hints dropped here and there. People talk about carrying on the family name. Seeing as I am the only son it is very important to some that I do get married and produce offspring. Now don't get me wrong. I hope that I will one day fall in love with a beautiful girl. After courting her I would love to ask her father's permission for her hand in marriage. There is only one problem: I haven't found that girl yet. So I must continue on with my life as I have for the majority of it--flying solo.

However, I am not really alone. I have tons of friends who are trekking through this life with me. I would have to say that I never really noticed that I was single in high school because all of my friends were single and happy. We didn't feel this ginormous longing to have someone to love. No. We were happy to spend time with each other. Some of my high school friends have followed the same path as I. Others have gone on to be in relationships. I noticed that many of us were happy to have good friends who we could call upon when we were sad or something was wrong. It is interesting that I have studied how more and more people are continuing to remain single in my country. This has led some singles to band together. This is because it can be really awkward to be the third or fifth wheel. (Trust me. I hate when I'm with my a friend and their significant other.) I think that it would be really cool to find a group of people like this: single and chillin. There wouldn't be the pressure to be in relationships or the awkwardness of going out alone in a society that values marriage and couples.

The final topic of the night is best friends. Just a couple of years ago I took the concept of best friends very literally. There can only be one who is the best. Therefore, I could only have one best friend. Although this type of thinking is grammatically correct, it stopped me from allowing myself to develop closer friendships with people in my life. Thanks to a good friend of mine (now one of my best friends) I can see that I can have more than 1 best friend. What a revelation. Duh! Sometimes I wish that I had a best friend from my childhood. However, it is impossible to go back and make friends. I guess that I can only learn from the past and change my future. Wish me luck!

I hope that you enjoyed this totally random post. If you are like me and are ok with being single write a comment below. I probably won't check it for awhile but thats ok. Peace out mi hombres!

Who Am I...?

So I was driving in my car from a friends place. As I hit a red light I began to think about my life and the changes that have been occurring since I moved away from my home. I thought about the person that I was in high school and how I am not that person anymore.

Then I realized that, before I came to college, I knew who I was as a person. I could tell you what I liked, disliked, and what i wanted in general. So what happened? When did I lose the person that I once was?

I began to think about when I first began to lose who I was. Was it when I moved to college? Was it when I didn't move home after my second year of college? No. I believe that it began before I ever moved away.

So I must now turn back time. Throughout much of my life I was never very connected to my peers. I had my own life, my whole world that was kept separate from my friends. I never had anyone that I was deeply connected with. I was me.

Then, I met my best friend. We were neigh on inseparable. It was at this time that I began to lose my identity. It shifted to include someone that I cared much about. I began to like a new type of music as well as trying new hobbies. This wasn't a bad thing. However, I was no longer me. From this point on, I have lost my personal identity.

This was one weird revelation. Now that I can see what happened, I ask myself: How do you find who you are as a person? If anyone is reading this, what do you think? How would you find who you are? Should I go on a soul-searching journey? I am going to try and figure this out. Wish me the best of luck!  

Random short stories:

Life has been going on...as per usual. But so much has happened in my life that is totally rocking! I think this may turn into a a bunch of short stories but that is ok. So let us begin!

Paying it forward:
If you don't know, I work at a grocery store. I love my job. My co-workers are amazing and the customers....well some are cool and others can be extremely rude. But sometimes they surprise you with their kindness and heart. I had a customer come through my line. She joked with the lady behind her about paying for her groceries. The second lady, after joking a little bit, said yes. The first lady was taken aback. She did not actually expect the second woman to pay for her groceries. Yet she did! She was paying it forward from a time when someone did something kind for her.

Dying Fathers and Cancer:
Sometimes customers shock you with the sad tales of their lives. I have heard two. The first was a little girl. She came to my register with three or four items. Most of them were "5 hour energy" shots. I asked her if she liked how the "5 hour energy" tasted. She responded that they were not for her...they were for her father who was in one of the last stages of cancer. He used them to stay awake and interact with his daughters.

Story 2: A lady and 3 teens come through my lane.They are buying almost $100 of our chicken. I ask the woman if there is some special event. She responds that she she is hosting a fund raiser. When I ask what fund raiser she told me that she is raising money for her son. Her son has cancer and he was about to go through his third surgery.

I cannot believe how blessed I am. These people are going through so much more pain than most of us. Even though these families have these horrible hardships...they keep fighting through it. It is a great example of the human spirit.

School:
As you may or may not know, I am a social work major. I am a Junior in college and I am in the Social Work  program. I am learning so much about the skills that I will be using in the future. The work has becoming extremely challenging. Yet it is rewarding to do well when I put forth my best effort.

New Life Goals:
1. Earning my Black Belt--I want to take tae kwon do again. I miss it a lot. It was a ton of fun. I was able to learn so much from my sensei. I believe that earning my black belt would allow me to develop my self-confidence and ass-kicking skills! ;p

2. Learn Sign Language--I want to be able to communicate with people who cannot use their voices. I feel that deaf/mute people have so much to say. I would love to be able to hear their stories in a way that they would be comfortable telling.

Nice Black Ladies:
This sounds crazy....but I love the nice black ladies who come through my line at work. They are full of respect and maternal power. They are kind and humble at the same time. So to some it up--I love my older, black customers...these ladies are so amazing!

Quick note: two of my favorite animals are the platypus and the narwhal! These animals rock our world! Some called them deformed...I call them frickin awesome!

Tattoo:
I have yet to get my first tattoo! I really want to get inked. I'm trying to figure out what I want to get. It drives me crazy. Eventually I will get a tattoo...or two.....or more!

I hope that you have fun reading this random update of my life. Keep rockin the world!  

Junior Year!

Time has once again flown by and I now find myself beginning by junior year of college. My first week of classes was pretty crazy. I'm both excited and scared for this year. The homework is gonna be a challenge. I have tons of reading, writing, and group projects in store for this semester.

In addition to all of the homework I am balancing work and a social life. I understand that I am not the only person who has to do this but this year it is going to be a challenge for me. I am also working on balancing my checkbook and keeping better track of all of my finances. Another new part of my life is living off campus! My roommate and I don't always get along but thats part of living with others: learning to be flexible and work through all of the issues.

I also have a new job. I am no longer an RA at the dorms. I am now a cashier at a grocery store. I love my new job. My co-workers are great and my managers are a hoot. They also do a great job of working with my schedule.

Random thoughts: I really want to get a tattoo in the near future. I'm not sure what I want but I have a few ideas running through my head. I am also thinking a lot about the future. I still don't know what God has in store for me but I am ready to go on a journey. After my journey is done then I will be able to look back and see the steps that He had ready for me! I think I'm gonna go to bed. Good night interwebs!

Jury Duty, Finals, and Facebook

So life has been crazy. The craziest thing was being called for jury duty during my finals week. At first i considered using my finals as a reason to get out of jury duty. But I decided to try and stick it out and see how it would all turn out. The case was supposed to last 3 weeks...crazy isn't it? IT was a civil case where 4,000 employees were suing Nebraska Beef for what they believed was unpaid labor. Doesn't sound too bad right? On Monday we had jury selection. Usually the jury is selected by 12 pm...our jury was finished at 5 pm. The next day the judge read 20+ pages of instructions to read into the record for us. Then we finally made it to opening statements. After lunch we finally started questioning. The rest of Tuesday was spent questioning one person. This might sound like we actually got somewhere. But we didn't even get through the prosecution's questioning. We still had 3 more rounds of questioning for this one person. The judge told us that they would try to speed things up the next day.

In leu of all of this I was trying to reschedule all of my finals around jury duty. It looked like I would not be able to take my final for one of my classes till the jury duty was completed. So I was getting super stressed. Additionally, jury duty was messing up my summer school and my future camping trip.

Now comes along Wednesday. We were told to be in the jury deliberation room at 8:20 am. We were not brought into the court room until 9:20ish. We were told that we did not need to bring in our note pads (we used them to take notes about what was going on in the court room). The judge tells us that there has been a snafu with the evidence. He let us go for the day so that they could work through some legal stuff so that we could actually finish the case in 3 weeks. We were also told that there was a possibility that we could be called back in.

I was super excited because now I had an opportunity to take the final that I was having issues rescheduling. I emailed my professor and setup a time to take the final. Later that afternoon I headed to go take my final. While waiting to take the final my phone began to wring. I didn't recognize the number. When I answered it was someone from the court house. She asked me how my final went. I responded that I had yet to take it...I was scared that I was being called back to court before I could take my final. But she gave me different news...the trial was done. It had ended in the mistrial. I was OVERJOYED! God had made everything amazing: my plans for summer school and camping were now back in action AND I was able to experience jury duty.

One of the coolest things about jury duty was getting to know the other jurors. Within three days we were getting comfortable with each other. We were all going through the same experience. We came from many different backgrounds. Some were parents, others grandparents, and two of us were college students. It was crazy that within two days some of the adults were helping each other by giving advice about dealing with angry teens. A few of the adults started passing around family pictures. I think that it was a great to spend time with my fellow jurors. A little less important was seeing how real courtrooms work. They are NOTHING like what you see on tv. The judges and lawyers are very careful about everything in case someone tries to repeal the case.

Now I am done with jury duty and finals. Overall, I'm feeling pretty good.  Random note...tonight will be the end of my facebook fast. At 12:01 am I will log on for the first time this entire semester. I really don't think that I'm gonna like it it as much as I use to. But thats ok. There is more to life than facebook.

Thats my life as of right now. I hope your life is amazing...and learn from my experience...God will make everything workout! Have a great day/night (pending on when you read this)  ;p

Wild at Heart

I joined a guys group at my college church group. In my small group we are reading the book titled "Wild at Heart: Discovering the Secrets to a Man's Soul." Its a phenomenal book that every man on should read. Its easy to read and it speaks truth about what it means to be a man. I haven't finished the book yet but I highly recommend it to all guys.

I thought that the book would be really good for one of my friends so I bought him a copy. About a week later he sent me a text message that said: thanks 4 getn me that book. its life-changn. It brought me true joy to know that someone that I really care about had such a powerful experience from reading the book.

If you have a few extra dollars and there is a guy that you care about, consider buying him a copy of this book. (P.S. I am not getting paid in any way to post this.)