Updates!

            Oh GOODness… Let me catch my breath!!!!!

            Has it been a busy week! Or rather… last two weeks… last three weeks…

            Needless to say, time blurs when you’re having fun.

            Anyway, Fall is in the air here in Beijing. Red and yellow have flushed the land, and the air is thick with… well... something is burning… and it’s not necessarily a comforting or pleasant smell, like the autumnal wood-smoke of home. Either way, I’m glad to be wearing scarves and coats and boots again.

            We are apparently at the end of “mosquito season,” although I refuse to believe it. However, I must say that one good result of such an abundance of the tiny monsters has bestowed upon me extraordinary skill in the production of mosquito wall art…. In other words, I have killed so many that the smudges on my walls (left by the miserable bugs’ corpses) have begun to look a bit like some abstract painting.

            Tonight my family and I had an impromptu dinner party. Helen (I will call my Chinese mother “Helen” for security purposes) invited her mother… a small, walnut-like woman with a happy face and very particular taste for sunflower seeds. My uncle’s family also joined us. I met my cousins, the 5-year-old Timothy, and the 6-month-old… ah, I’ve forgotten his name. It was long and Chinese... Well, one thing I do know about the child is that he was big. VERY big. Carrying him was more like carrying a sack of flour than a six-month-old human child.

            Dinner was a sumptuous affair… fish, “meat dragons,” steamed red and green peppers, bing (a type of pancake), date-and-rice porridge, and cold duck. Delicious!

            The evening ended violently.

            Don’t be alarmed. I shall explain.

            This is the account of the transpired events as translated to me by my sister, Diana. Prior to her explanation, I had been reeling underneath the weight of intense confusion… and the weight of three small, violently inclined children.

So, according to Diana, after dinner, my younger brothers, Mark  (7) and Eli (4) and my cousin, Tim (5) decided to establish a make-believe kingdom in the laundry-room. Mark immediately declared himself undisputed ruler and appointed the other two as his trusted generals.

            I, innocent and clueless, needed to hang some wet laundry from earlier in the day, so into the royal court I ambled. Sidestepping the three (who evidently had been busily plotting a war of some kind) I began the harmless task of hanging wet jeans and various sweatshirts on the clothesline. Before I had finished hanging the first pair of pants, the room was suddenly full of shouts and I was under heavy attack! Chaos! Violence!

Now, Chinese children learn kung-fu at a young age. And those little fists can be vicious. It was anarchy. Hair-pulling was involved. Mark bludgeoned me over the head with a large bottle of laundry detergent. I’m pretty sure someone even tried to stick a Lego up my nose. Thankfully, my sister, Diana, came to the rescue.

            She graciously explained to me afterwards that naturally, since I had entered their secret kingdom (the laundry-room…) I was, of course, nothing other than a spy and had to be dealt with. And for Mark, dealing with spies obviously meant death-by-mob-beating. Or severe-injury-by-three-miniature-kung-fu-masters.

Oh, siblings.

Just another new (and slighty life-threatening) world for me to explore.

Life otherwise has been fairly peaceful. Teaching continues to be a joy. While most of my friends probably have learned to drive and maybe even have cars of their own, I can say with great pride that I have recently obtained… wait for it… wait for it….

a bike!!

A real-life, squeaky-geared, rickety bike (in typical Chinese fashion) with a basket and everything!

But, honestly, it’s so nice to have a way to get out and go! I can now visit the market at any time, Kristin’s apartment is no longer an uncomfortable walking distance away… I can even fit in (sort of) with the locals, who seem to prefer a bike over almost any other mode of transportation.

We celebrated Kristin’s birthday on the 19th! We went all out… It involved a surprise breakfast, massages at a small, local spa, an extremely spicy mystery dinner… good times, good times. LOVE YOU KRISTIN!

I (along with my brothers) came down with a fever this weekend, but will be working again tomorrow morning, I think!

Kristin and I are busy this week planning for our up-and-coming trip to Japan! If you have any recommendations on things to do, places to go… please let us know!

As for home… Oh, I miss home so much!

But… not in a way that would diminish from the passion and love in my heart for this place. China has taught me so much, inspired me in ways I can’t yet describe in words. Faith, hope, love, family, friends… my whole world is suddenly bigger, and growing in size with every passing day! A strength rumbles in the ground here, and it shakes me to the core of everything I am… I’m humbled and awestruck and eager to see how the Story unfolds, and how, if there is any way, God could bring the same deep fervency with me home.

But acorns before oaks. I’m not going home for another 8 months. And frankly, I’m glad. There is so much more to explore... so many more ways to grow in strength and peace and joy, so many things to learn, so many places to see, so many people to know and love... before I go home.

But, all truth be told, my mind no longer has to stretch itself very far to convince me that this place…

China itself…

…could become home.