Thanksgiving

Two years ago was the only time I was in the States during my three years in China, and it was because I got an email saying Grandmother had likely had a stroke and wouldn't survive the week.  It was a Sunday afternoon a few months before China's Great Firewall fully blocked the Gmail app on phones (everything Google is blocked over there, but at that point I could still read messages on my phone couldn't reply to them until I got on my computer's VPN).  I was on a crowded city bus in crazy weekend traffic heading home from a time of fellowship when I saw the news.  Next commenced a frenzied effort to book a last minute ticket that wasn't some crazy-insane-demand-your-first-born dollar amount, edit the rest of my students' rough drafts, holiday-ready the apartment (though somehow I left a piece of fruit on the bed in the morning... always a nice welcome home - surprise this fruit has been sitting in the tropical humidity for a month and it's happy to see you!), arrange for my students to email me their final projects, and find volunteers to mark their exams for me as the next day began final exam week.

Less than 24 hours later I began a two day journey home, with a carry on bag full of papers to grade, and finally landed in DC where my nephew Nick treated me to my first pumpkin spice latte in three years in the Dulles arrivals hall before we whisked away straight to Grandmother's bedside.  This was also the winter of Snowpocalypse, so stepping out of the terminal Mother Nature immediately reminded me what cold is.  Grandmother wasn't communicative at that point in time, but there were indications that she could hear us.  We played her favorite Gospel CDs and read to her from the Bible.  Only once did I hear her say anything -- Mom asked her if she remembered eating the Belgian chocolate Aunt Peggy had brought her in the past.  She grabbed Mom's hand, looked at her very intently, and declared "Yes, I remember!  You should bring me some!"  A few days later -- two years ago today -- Grandmother, my Dad's mom and my last living grandparent, passed into Heaven's gates and finally met her Savior at the age of 95.

But you know what?  She was born dead.  You see, she was born in 1918 during the influenza epidemic which killed 50 million people -- more than the total who had just died in World War I.  Her mom had the flu when she gave birth, and my Grandmother came out "black".  The doctor pronounced her dead and discarded her, intent on concentrating his efforts on saving her mom (which he did).  Meanwhile, her aunt took her into another room, cried out to God in prayer, and life breathed into her... for 95 years.

At her funeral, on a cold snowy day, her testimony was read.  It recounted this story and urged all of her descendants to live their lives with an attitude of thanksgiving for the miracle of life God had given her and thus given each of us.  She lived the humble life of a servant we are all meant to -- always giving and taking care of others.  She didn't do this because she was rich or because she didn't have problems -- she was widowed three times; she did it because she was thankful.

I hope I can learn to live in a perpetual state of thankfulness and to serve her legacy, Christ's legacy, better.  And I hope we can all remember to pray in faith impossible prayers as her aunt did because God enjoys the impossible.

Mary Lee Seeber

26 November 1918 -- 13 January 2014 

Fittingly, her birthday sometimes fell on Thanksgiving.

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.

Bullet Points: Sep 2012-2014

What do you do when you haven't updated a blog in two years? 
Bullet points of randomness!! But my blog title doesn't allow that... bullet points of unmethodological order or topic!!!!!!!

• I graduated from UCL! The arduous thesis journey ended!! 

• I'm beginning my third year of teaching at Guangxi University.  My first year I taught freshman English reading and writing.  My second year I taught sophomore English writing and the History and Archaeology of the Silk Road.  This year I will continue teaching the Silk Road as well as a World History survey course.  I'll also serve as the sophomore writing course coordinator again.
• I've moved into what was Kira's apartment, which is awesome because it's better than the ones I've had, but I wish she were still here this year!  (All teachers are given apartments on campus as part of their contract.)
• I have a much clearer understanding of what distinguishes Canadians vs. Americans.
• I've traveled places I had never been before: Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Mongolia as well as various parts of China and Hong Kong.
• I've discovered that Etihad and Air Seychelles are truly superb.
• I've gained cycling as a hobby and have become a fan of long-distance cycling trips.  Francesca, the one who introduced me to cycling in London, has also been working in China, so we've been able to meet up and do some exploring.  Last summer we cycled from Xi'an to Lanzhou (part of the Silk Road) in central to northwestern China, approximately 700km.  I've also done some cycling in SE Asia and other parts of China and have participated in a few mountain bike races.
  
• My Chinese is way better than it used to be.
• I ran the Singapore Sundown Marathon last year.  Since Singapore is pretty much on the equator it began at 11pm to avoid the heat.  The goal was to "beat the sun", which I and my running buddy Anete from Estonia did.
• I've become a huge fan of passion fruit, dragon fruit, and papaya.
• I presented research at the Sixth Worldwide Conference for the Society of East Asian Archaeology in Ulaan Baatar, Mongolia this past June.
• I really like Vietnamese coffee.  And the kind that comes from cat poop is the best.
• I've successfully baked a cheesecake in a toaster oven.
• This past January we said goodbye to Grandmother, my dad's mom, and my last living grandparent.  She was 95!
• I've learned to drive an ebike.
• My weekends this year will be Sunday-Monday.

Summer Adventures 2012: Recap

I have NO idea why I didn't post this two years ago, but it has a nice crazy airport story so I'll post it now for your reading pleasure.  Let me take you back to the summer of 2012..

30 May - 19 June: Virginia, USA

I had three weeks to balance seeing people, dropping winter stuff at home, gathering English camp necessities, and progressing on the dissertation.  I really enjoyed getting to see many of you again!  It was really difficult to balance getting work done though.  I kind of wished I had gone for a shorter amount of time and just purely focused on visiting.  I couldn't do that for three weeks though.  A few highlights in chronological order:

- Seeing my cousin Sharmayne who is a missionary in Mexico for the first time in three years.  Seeing family and friends in general that I hadn't seen in 6 months to a year.

- The look on Kenny's face when I crashed WBC, getting to meet the girls that would soon come over for a UK visit, paying £1 for two cupcakes rather than $1.50, and being introduced as 'from England' - HA.

- Longwood Archaeology Field School Alumni Weekend

- Finding out that I didn't need a new visa for English Camp even though it would expire before I would exit the country.  Apparently you just have to enter the country before the expiry date and then you have your 30 days max stay as usual.  So since camp was earlier than usual I was able to use the year-long multiple entry visa I got last year.

- Seeing the Messersmiths on Facetime from their mother/grandmother's house.  Jake's comment, "Grandma, just so you know... WE WANT HER BACK!"

- Orioles game at Camden Yards with my sister Becky, her friend Emma, my friend Alexa and her nephew Isaiah.  Isaiah is a huge baseball fan and it was his first professional game.  He was super excited and it made it that much more exciting for the rest of us I think.  Oh and the O's won like 7-1.

- Hertzler Pig Roast.  Enough said.



19-20 June: Washington-Dulles International Airport

This deserves its own section.  It's seriously the most ridiculous airport experience ever.  Instead of the usual overnight flight to Europe, I booked an early morning flight that would have me arriving in London around 11pm because I really dislike trying to get a night's sleep sitting up.  This meant getting up super early to plow through the DC rush-hour traffic.  When I got there I went to the self check-in and scanned my passport.  A large exclamation point came up on the screen, so an airline assistant came over to look at it.  She said it was because my middle name was on my passport and not my booking, so she just had to confirm that it was me.  Fine.  She did her thing, punched a bunch of buttons, checked my bag, and handed me my boarding pass.  I head to security.

I get to security, hand the guy my passport and boarding pass.  He says, "Um, this isn't your name."  I say, "If it's the middle name thing we've already been through that."  He says, "No, it's not your name.  Look."  I look and it says Alison something.  While I'm staring blankly at it he's like "I can't let you through with that.  You'll have to go back to checking."  I go back to the check-in counter.

At the check-in counter I hand my passport and boarding pass to the airline guy and ask for my boarding pass because this one isn't mine.  He's confused as to why I have this one.  I tell him one of his co-workers checked me in and I don't know what she did.  He looks me up in the system, prints a new boarding pass, I check the name (it's mine), and I head back to security.

As I approach, the same security guy is there and jokingly he and the others are laughing like "We were expecting you!  Did you get it sorted out?"  I'm like "Yeah" as I look down and start saying "It's the correct name..." Then I notice the destination.  It says Frankfurt.  WHAT??  So security dude says, "I could let you through with that, but you might want to get that fixed..."  Back to check-in.

Long story short:  Airline people are confused because in their system my booking is for Frankfurt even though I'm adamant that I'm going to London.  I explain that I go to school there and that this is the second leg of a round-trip from London Heathrow to Dulles and back.  I have my confirmation e-mail.  They still say I'm booked for Frankfurt.  Eventually, they are finally convinced that I have no intention of getting on that plane so then they have to go rescue my checked bag from it (because even though I was given a London boarding pass with the wrong name the first time, my bag was checked under my name for Frankfurt).

They say I was on a waiting list, so I must have gotten bumped.  That was when I pulled out the confirmation e-mail... which says CONFIRMED in big letters.  Then they say I was initially confirmed, then cancelled, and then tried to rebook twice and that's when I got on the waiting list.  I'm like "Um no, I never tried to rebook because I was never cancelled that anyone told me about.  And I certainly didn't book myself for Frankfurt.  I have never booked a flight for there.  I have no reason to be there."

They play with the computer some more.  They tell me that I'm booked to fly to Frankfurt that morning and then fly from Frankfurt to Paris five days after that.  I'm just baffled at this point.  I wasn't even routed to London through Paris on this schedule.  It just ended there, so I'm like that makes absolutely no sense with the waiting-list-I-got-bumped-to-a-different-flight theory.  My line at this point is, "As much as I would love to visit those cities, it just doesn't work for me right now."

By the time they're convinced I'm supposed to be going to London, it's too late to make the flight.  And that Alison girl whose boarding pass I originally had had the last seat... whatever happened to her, I have no idea.  So then I'm told that I'm being put on the 6pm flight (so much for no red-eye flight).  I waited all day and then that flight was delayed three hours.  Facepalm.  Basically I didn't get to London until lunchtime the next day.  RI-DI-CU-LOUS.


20-30 June: London, UK

Dissertation.  Oh, and I may or may not have assisted the visiting Marylanders in filling all four of the up-stairs bedrooms with balloons before the Messersmiths got back from Spain.

1-26 July: China

This post has gotten really long... I think I'll make a separate post for this one.

27 July - Present: London, UK

I got to see the last leg of the Olympic torch relay on my first day back.  It was being rowed down the Thames under Tower Bridge.  Attempts to get into Olympic events failed.  Had to work on the dissertation anyway.  Did see Lebron James, Yohan Blake, and a variety of athletes/coaches walking around and riding the tube though.

And... dissertation, dissertation, dissertation...

Hello World

Wow, I don't even know what to say.  It's been two years (and remarkably Blogger hasn't changed!).  How do I even begin to describe to you what life has been like?  At first I didn't know what to say, so I didn't post.  Then it got to be so long that it seemed like too much of an ordeal to try to update.  Then I forgot about it all.  And now it's rediscovered.

Have you ever rediscovered a journal that you wrote years ago?  You're like WHOA and sit down to read it, unearthing things you had forgotten about, things that make you laugh, things that make you shake your head, things that make you think 'how silly I was', things you're amazed that you wrote, things that make you miss people, things that still really connect with your life today, things that make you wonder 'was that me?'...

I still don't know what to say, but I hope by posting this I can bring this blog back to life.  Perhaps after this two year hiatus I'll finally find something to say.