Mo' Sibyl

희망과 사랑| The One with Poojee - On Cross-Cultural Friendships & Resilience: Episode 35 (2018)

The More Sibyl Podcast Presents: The One with Poojee

This is one episode you should not miss as it features my very own Poojee!

In this episode, Poojee aka Omonike (my mother gave her this name, and it means ‘a child to be cherished’ in Yoruba – A Nigerian language) and I gush shamelessly about the love we have for each other. Pu, as I love to call her, and I went to grad school together in Austin, and she now lives in London. If you’re my friend on Facebook, you would have seen posts of me her and together. In this episode, we explored Poo’s story: growing up (female) in India; dropping out of grad school; how she coped with managing those expectations and from others too; our friendship and its oddities; and why we will not be breaking up anytime soon.

Poo is about one of the very few friends I chased (I am usually the one being chased), and I explain why this was so and why I would shamelessly do it over and over again. Poo is as geeky and nerdy as I am and loves Korean drama too. We also both share a mutual disdain for Apple® products. Suffice to say, our friendship will irretrievably break if either one of us cheats on the other by taking a bite from any of the already-bitten Apple products that are Mac and all of its i-Friends.

TL; DR: It’s a story of an odd love, friendship, and sisterhood between two most unlikely people who share different beliefs on religion (she is Hindu, I am Christian) and food (she eats rabbit food (aka vegetarian), and I eat rabbits (aka non-vegetarian), and even personalities (she’s introvertish, and I am hella extravertish, yup it’s a word!). How we make it work and how a little understanding and radical acceptance is needed in cross-cultural friendships. It’s also a story of resilience, dealing with the fear of failure, and keeping things moving.

인도의 사랑 이야기| The One with Emily - On Being Jewish-American-Indian: Episode 31 (2018)

The More Sibyl Podcast Presents: The One with Emily

A little-known fact about me is that I grew up on a staple diet of Indian movies, and this continued shortly until after Bollywood became a global phenomenon. India, for me, will always be my first entry point into Asia and its cultural diversity, as a young child growing up in Nigeria. And still on India, this week’s guest has a unique story, especially how her love for India was forged at a young age (hint: it began in a classroom). In this episode, you will hear how her dream spurned into something glorious that has now shaped her life-course and those of the generations coming after her.

Meet, Emily: she describes herself as Jewish-ish and a lover of Jesus. She is also a wife to Jose and mother to two delightful, energetic kids. In this episode, you will learn what it means to follow your calling even when you are not sure where it might lead you. You will also hear tips on multicultural marriage and how to raise kids in such a dynamic environment, as well as its beauty and challenges.

PS: This episode was shot in my house when Emily came visiting with her kids; you may hear her daughter’s voice in the background. Shout-out and a Namaste to Daphne Raj for introducing me to this wonderful lady.

부부 선교사| The One with The Bunns - Americans Serving Internationals: Episode 25 (2018)

The More Sibyl Podcast Presents: The One with The Bunns

Meet the Bunns or like I call them, Love Bunns; they are one of my favorite dyads in the world. Despite just meeting them a little over a year ago in Oklahoma, I consider myself blessed and honored to be a part of their family and that I get to call them “fremily” (family+friends).

Charlie and Dona Bunn are also the Directors/Chi-Alpha campus pastors for the University of Central Oklahoma. Chi-Alpha is an outreach ministry to universities to reach students, reconcile them to Christ, and transform the university, the marketplace, and the world. Statistics have reported that 85% of international students have neither eaten in an American home and 75% have never been in an American home. The Bunns, through their ministry, are trying to change those statistics. For twenty years, they have been building community for international students to give them a sense of belonging.

In this episode, we explored how Americans can benefit from multiculturalism, and how internationals (students) in the US contribute to broaden the worldview of Americans. We also talked about what Americans can do to change the perception held by most internationals of Americans of being just friendly but not necessarily good friends.

마음이 아플 때| The One with Som Ghosh - On Grief and Loss: Episode 10 (2018)

Last week, I took you on a trip to India with an interview with Dr. Shah. I decided to stay longer in India to bring you this week’s episode from another Indian. Losing one parent is hard enough but imagine losing both of your parents, and in addition to this monumental grief, having to cope with the guilt of being thousands of miles away from home when this happens.

In this episode, I speak to Som Ghosh – a Tabla-playing Indian living in America on grief observed. We talked about how grief is handled by Hindus and how certain burial rites performed by Hindus might make coping with grief better, and how he has been coping with losing both parents. I also talked about a personal grief and how I was able to (and still) cope with this. We begin his story from why he decided to leave his job at Pfizer and head on to pursue a PhD in Health Economics and Outcomes Research (HEOR) and tips for those considering going back to school after working for a while.

How to cope with grief, as surmised by Som and me (in no particular order):

Let grief run its course.
Take time to mourn the loss.
Cry if you must.
Label the emotions as they come, anger, sadness, pain, anguish.
Remember that emotions are like messengers, we do not shoot them. Listen to the gifts they bear and afterwards, send them on their journey in a nice way, knowing fully well that they might come back again.
Find someone you can trust to talk to about your grief. And if you cannot find someone, just like Tennessee Williams suggested, depend on the kindness of strangers who are usually obliagted to listen to you.
Seek grief counseling or therapy.