Best

Wait patiently for the LORD.

Be brave and courageous.

Yes, wait patiently for the LORD.

-- Psalm 27:14

The LORD gives his people strength.

-- Psalm 28:8

I am trusting you, O LORD, saying, "You are my God!"

My future is in your hands...

Let your favor shine on your servant.

-- Psalm 31:14-16

The LORD says, "I will guide you along the best pathway for your life."

-- Psalm 32:8

Lord, help me know your leading.  Help me walk the best pathway -- not just a good one but the best -- no matter what that is.

Give me the strength and patience to know it and do it according to your plan -- not my own.

Make your desires my desires that I may stand before your holy hill.

Let your favor shine on me, shaping your best in me.

China Stories 2

After naming a lot of things I'm looking forward to in the States in my previous post it is probably appropriate to make a list of the top five things I'm going to miss about China (in no particular order except the first one).

1. People
 I've met a lot of people during my time here and will have to say goodbye to many good friends, both Chinese and fellow expats.  I think this is always the most difficult part of moving.  After living many places (including several continents), now it is impossible to be in the same place as everyone I love.

2. Cheap fresh fruits and vegetables of a large variety
 This is particularly because I live in southern China, which is sub-tropical.  I can literally eat the papaya off the tree next door, which is of course picked exactly when it is ripe not early and then shipped around the world.  Right now I live in a papaya, mango, passion fruit, banana, dragon fruit, mangosteen, lichee, melon, pineapple, and jack fruit paradise.   Pretty soon mango season will be upon us and you literally have to watch out for mangoes falling from the trees.  There are also so many different kinds of vegetables that I don't even know the English names of half of them.

3. The challenge of living in a foreign language environment 
Of course this can be frustrating at times but there is a certain triumphant feeling you get each time you overcome a new situation in that language.  It's fun and rewarding to be able to prevail over obstacles in a foreign language, whether it be arguing successfully that yes your shipment did already arrive at the train station and you know this because somebody phoned you about it or finally being able to understand that old 'auntie' who speaks with an incredibly strong country accent.

4. Cheap and efficient rail networks
 Ok so this is one area that the US is majorly behind in.  Our rail system is so outdated that it's embarrassing.  Why can't I travel across my country on high speed rail?

5. Real Chinese food
Seriously, American Chinese food is not Chinese food (just like the "Western" food here is really... well, um... not Western food.  Even if you go to P.F. Chang's instead of ordering Chinese take-out you're still eating Westernized Chinese food.  For example, the "Western" food here has been known to be things like a pizza with a sweet pastry-like crust and without any of the Italian seasonings, a Hawaiian pizza that comes with pine nuts and raisins but no pineapple, "Caesar" salad without garlic, mayonnaise and salad cream on EVERYTHING, mayonnaise trying to pose as salad cream, cakes with cherry tomatoes and peas on top that are filled with beans, the strangest ice cream flavors ever (such as corn), or a chocolate glazed doughnut filled with tuna.  In the same way, the Chinese food you think is Chinese food is not actually Chinese food.

China Stories

Well here we are again.  It's been a long time.  For those of you who don't know, I'll be flying out of China on a one-way ticket this summer.  I'll depart Hong Kong for London on July 15th, London for Iceland on August 3rd (because why not?), and Iceland for Washington, D.C. on August 7th.  It's like a nice little backtracking of my past four years abroad (except for Iceland, but hey you've got to do new things).  

Which also leads to the craziness of realizing that it really has been four years since I lived in America, and that the latter three years spent in China have only included one trip home to America.  So American friends, please deal gently with me.  I've got a lot to process.  And while I know things have changed at home and your lives have moved on, for me America is still the America of four years ago.  I've seen the changes on Facebook and in the news, but while I know these things have happened they are not my reality.

That may sound like a downer, but I am very excited to be coming home!  I'm super excited to see all of you, reconnect, and do American things (like please please please someone let's go to an O's game!!).  Another thing to make clear: as of now I have no idea what I'll be doing at home.  I don't have a job lined up or any sort of plan really.  I just know I'm going to Mom's house and I will finally be home for Christmas after missing three!  

I'm going to drive my car and eat sandwiches, fresh salads, and salty popcorn.  I'm going to raid the ice cream aisle at the supermarket for mint chocolate chip ice cream.  I'm going to rejoice just at the fact that the supermarket has literally everything I need/want/desire.  And I'm going to eat Mexican (that's American right??).  Oh and I will bask in central air-conditioning systems, people who know how to queue (hmmm got some British there), sports like baseball/softball and field hockey, chai tea lattes, blue skies, clean air, the smell of freshly cut grass, wide open spaces, anonymity (as in nobody cares what the foreigner is putting into her shopping cart), toilet paper in public restrooms, quality building construction, people who plan ahead, walls that don't sweat, gyms that use air-conditioning, sidewalks people don't drive on, drivers who check their blind spot, not needing a VPN to access all of the internet, being given cakes that don't include beans and tomatoes, sushi without mayonnaise on it (seriously -- whyyyy??), whole grain toast, clothes made for someone who isn't size 0 and 5 feet tall, not having to visit Western Union, using my drivers' license as an ID, having a drivers' license, not receiving weird looks when trying to split the bill for dinner, ice in drinks, and the list could go on.

Basically, coming home will be great, but please try to remember that just as you are not the same as four years ago, I am not the same as four years ago and am now in the process of figuring out exactly what that means (and probably will be for some time).  

So let's reconnect!  Please do invite me to do things.  Please don't wait for me to contact you.  Please do listen to my stories.  Please don't hesitate to ask.  Please do tell me your stories.  Please don't assume that my silence means I'm uninterested.

I think I'll be producing a series of "China Stories".  This is a very different blog post than the one I sat down to write, but perhaps it is the most appropriate first story as I look at China through the lens of impending re-entry.