The currency that Macedonia goes by is called the DENARI....For about 20 Euros ($25 American dollars) you get about 1,200 denari. Fruit and veggies cost between 40-150 denari. Eating out at restaurant costs between 200-600+ denari. Shoes cost between 500-2,500+ Denari. So as you can see the exchange rate with American dollars and Euros is very good.
I wouldn't consider myself to be an impulsive spender of money, and being in Macedonia really opened my eyes and changed my perspective on finances.... My missions team spent a week in the village of Shutka, putting on a vacation bible school for the children there, and it happens to be one of the poorer villages in Macedonia. The people of Shutka, (Romani who live on the outskirts of of Skopje, Macedonia) make about 300-500 denari OR LESS per day...my heart was left speechless. For having barely anything, they are such a happy people. Garbage surrounds the village of Shutka, it's on the streets, the grasslands, everywhere. Life is not easy for the Romani, but they still somehow manage to put a smile on their beautiful face....I honestly had one of those moments where I thought to myself, what am I Aiste, doing here in America, attending a Christian college that costs $25,000 per year, while my dear brothers and sisters of Shutka, are suffering? My heart was stung by this thought....think of what $25,000 converted into denari could do for this lovely village of Shutka?.....I was seriously DISGUSTED that I had somehow managed to spend this money for only 1 YEAR of a college "education".....Just thinking how the rest of the world, and how they don't even spend as close to that much money for college as America does....it leaves me speechless....
This is the point where my life as I knew it turned completely upside down. I started reconsidering EVERYTHING and why I do what I do....Why do I spend $25,000 per year for education? Is there a more financially savvy option to go about getting a degree? Is it even worth getting a degree, or should I go straight to the mission field? Should I even stay in America to finish college? Should I move overseas to where my heart is for my dear Lithuanians, Europeans and Russians? Those thoughts murdered my soul.....
I just knew that something in my life at that very moment was going to change, and oh was that change going to take everything I once knew, and crumple it up like a piece of paper, get thrown away, and leave me in a new place, a new world, a new time zone, with a new passion and perspective....When I got back to America, I decided I was going to commit to living a SIMPLE life as possible. It's disgusting how much "needed stuff" that I brought with me to college my first year. I told my parents when they picked me up from the Minneapolis airport at the beginning of this June to just leave all the luggage, and boxes that I gave to them at the beginning of May at home. So instead of 2 luggage's of clothing I now have just one....On my Macedonia missions trip we were only allowed to take 1 carry on and a backpack for 28 DAYS. I thought my professor was BEYOND INSANE...How I was I going to survive with just a freakin carry on and backpack for 28 Days!?!?!?! Dear friend, let me tell you, I am living proof that this is ENTIRELY POSSIBLE. I don't know how I managed to do it, and still dress as European as possible cough...cough..... when I could...(we were kinda forced to wear these terribly UGLY angry bird shirts for several days... that just murdered and scarred my Lithuanian fashion soul for life, dear friend, that's just the start of it, writing about all the European fashion crimes I unwillingly committed while in Macedonia...that is for another blog post...=P) Another really PATHETIC memory I look back on is when I visited Rome, Italy for 10 days 2 years ago with one of my church youth groups. I PACKED A FREAKIN LUGGAGE FULL OF CLOTHING FOR 10 DAYS....Seriously....my packing perspective for international trips has forever been altered....
Going back to the perspective of "The Art of Living Simple"....I'm so glad God placed this issue on my heart. I make every effort I can to save every penny and spend my money in a more wiser manner. I try to buy only the basic essentials of what I really need wither it be food, clothing, paying rent, bills etc. I'm very much a HIGH FASHION young Lithuanian woman, so stylish clothing in some aspects, is still one of my weaknesses...=P Speaking of clothing, I noticed that the people of Shutka, literally dressed like a "million bucks" as the saying goes. You could never tell that they are from a poor village. I seriously thought they dressed alot better than I do when it came to European fashion.....which screams ALOT. It's interesting, I also noticed that a European would rather spend their money on quality fashion clothing than food....So different from America...=P
It is my goal every day from now on to just simply enjoy life. Getting to know my dear brothers and sisters throughout the world for who they are...their beautiful souls and hearts...and simply being thankful for what I have and not focusing so much on the materialistic side of things...Simply building genuine lifelong relationships with God's creation and learning to live with a little....with a HUGE smile on my face....
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