|
| i'll take the fact that i'm actually able to be on the 'weblog entry' page as a sign that i must update today. i've been trying to for some time now, maybe a week or so. but alas - chinese internet was impeding me. one thing i won't miss about this place.
speaking of missing stuff--i leave in one week. yep, ONE. oh. my. gosh.
the other day i received a poem from a person i never met before. he apparently got my email from a friend who met me at english corner. it went something like this:
"i live in east bank of pacific ocean
you live in west bank of pacific ocean
missing you day after day
sharing in the pacific ocean water together
when will the ocean water dry out
then my pity will end
wish our mind are the same
never let our heart down"
now if that doesnt just warm your heart and make you feel special--then i don't know what does.
i'm really in shock that i'm leaving so soon. i can't believe when i get home it will be CHRISTMAS, everywhere. we walked past a store here the other day and it was like "bam! christmas!"--it had waaaay too much tinsel and other shiny christmasy things all over the place. i'm not sure if i'm ready for all that. but i AM ready for MY christmas tree, at MY house, with my familyyyy : )
so here are some things that i love here: (aka, things i will MISS)
the weather (i'm just barely starting to wear a jacket at night)
buses
the restaurant with the hole in the ceiling that our food comes down through
walking everywhere with linked arms
chinese hospitality
poorly-translated english
the cafeteria
nai cha and hong cha (good, good tea)
all our quirky chinese professors
fruit markets!
open markets in general
friends
i'm kinda proud i can write a list like this because i spent so much time homesick in the beginning. i think there will be 10,000 other things i miss but won't know it till i'm gone--apparently that's my pattern. i think it might be overwhelming to hear english all the time in public places. i've been enjoying the elusive-foreigner status for quite some time now. (that's because i'm terribly lazy foreigner who gave up learning/practicing chinese long ago)
ok. random, yet sufficient update. i hope. love you all. see you oh so soon.
| | |
| i'm realizing what it truly means to have HOPE. and that there really is no hope outside of Christ.
for anyone.
anywhere.
even in china.
and seriously--who am i that Christ would extend his grace to ME so that i have this hope?
i have a friend whose hope is that she will get a job that pays a little less than $300 a month, where she will work about 80 hours a week, and maybe get to send a part of her paycheck home to her parents. and she's not even sure if this is possible.
i hurt for her.
| | |
| just in case you were wondering if i really went or not...
(Temple of Heaven)
(the WALL, herself)
(and Mao--of course!)
i started two new classes this week: Chinese painting, and Tai Ji. Oh, bliss. its the last three weeks of my semester and i finally am in classes that fit ME. oh well, waiting is good.
i am worried that this is all going to be a blur very soon. and i won't remember any of it.
this would be tragic.
| | |
| ooooh man it's been far too long!
this morning i was in Shanghai. now, i am in xiamen again, sitting on my balcony while my roommate is fast asleep as i use her computer with my wet laundry strung all around me. life is normal again :)
for the past ten days i was traipsing around northern china with the 20 other students in this program and our director and professor. it was pretty amazing. seriously, it doesn't matter that the Great Wall is the biggest tourist attraction in the world--it's SO COOL when you're standing on it. other things...i drank starbucks almost every day, i had to wear layers of clothing (i don't in xiamen), spent two nights on a train, ate Peking Duck (mmmm), and even rode my very first horse.
i have pictures. LOTS of them. if internet was faster i would post them on here. maybe i will if a miracle happens or something. in other news, i have less than 4 weeks left here. i can't believe it. i'm pretty sure these last 4 might be the sweetest though, because i get to have painting and tai ji classes every day. kind of like a dream come true or something.
i'm getting very excited for christmas, and my mind drifts off to that subject quite often these days. it's soon, really it is. but until december 8th its just barely fall for me, and i'll enjoy the ocean and the rice and everything chinese as much as a can until then. because its pretty wonderful.
more later, i promise.
| | |
| last week i went to this island with my chinese friend. we got lost at one point, and when my friend asked an elderly chinese woman for directions, the woman invited us to her house! ya--so we went to her big, old chinese house that has apparently been in her family for 100 years. we only stayed for maybe 15 minutes, but it could have been the greatest thing that's happened to me since i've been here.
so tomorrow my friend and i are going back there. i painted some chinese sentence that means something like "thank you for your kindness" in very poor chinese characters, and we're going to try to find the woman's house again and give it to her. she told us if we're ever on the island again to come by and have lunch with her. and that is what we intend to do. i hope we find her.
---
last weekend, i rode one of these:
and then, well...
i think this one is self-explanatory.
---
i want to express how much i really love being here right now. but its so hard to even explain it in words. it just feels good. not ALL the time of course, but a general sense of contentment is present. God is good.
all that to say--today i got a pang of homesickness. i don't know i guess i just got annoyed with all these people i have to live with for 4 months. anyway that just means i am excited to be reunited with all the wonderful people that i love and that love me. that's only natural though, right? i hope so.
zaijian.
| | |
|
