The Beauty of Familiar

This week is what we're considering a relatively "slow" week, meaning we will be at home for a luxurious consecutive four days. There's just something about having a space in the world that is your own . . . no matter where it is or what it looks like, it's your own. Although we have a full week of class and things to be done, we're home. In our space . . . able to rest, recharge, and reflect on all that's been swirling within and around us.

I feel like for me, I can balance a hectic lifestyle if a few constants can be sustained. This morning, after a run and trip to the market (have I mentioned I L-O-V-E the market?) - I felt like I could conquer the world. Being able to pound some pavement and chat briefly with my friend "the bean lady" was sweet to my soul. Those moments of just doing regular, ordinary things . . . afford me the opportunity to treasure how blessed we are to be here. I love being in a place and season of my life where I can't help but recognize how the Lord is truly present,  almost as if He's unavoidable.  Isn't it funny how ultimately He is most present when we aren't? And how He pours out and sustains in ways we've previously missed once we relinquish our sense of self and control?

This week's trip to the high school also provided some reassuring familiarity. The sea of faces weren't so daunting, the task of teaching English to students who giggle shyly at just saying their name didn't seem quite so impossible.  While we undoubtedly have much, MUCH to learn in so many areas, it's nice to do know you can do somethings. I know that if nothing else, I can act out vocabulary words and get a laugh from 25 SE Asian high school students.  But it's also nice to know that there are plenty of things that we absolutely cannot do or accomplish. Each day I find myself trying to live in that tension - confident in what little I can do, but humbly accepting all that I cannot and leaning fully into He who provides.

One of our views at the school . . . not bad, huh?

Thankfully, in all of this, there is such a beautiful familiarity. Blanketed across the challenges and treasures of each day, is the familiarity of a God who knows me, and has seen me through countless peaks and valleys. I love knowing that at whatever end of the competency scale that day finds me . . . I am wholly and deeply loved. I am accepted with all of my faults, fears, and failures - and am able to celebrate all that I am not with a God who is.

These days I'm contemplating just how it is that God makes a place so foreign so familiar. And how it is that when He turns the nastiness of my heart inside out, I see Him in a whole new glorious light. There are so many things about myself, God, and this place that I wonder if I'll ever understand, but for now, for today - I'm content in knowing that regardless of how dark or sunny my days are, He knows me and walks close beside. That my friends, is a truth I know and relish in any culture or language.

Whew.

Lord have mercy, where to begin.

First, let me give you a brief run down of the previous week. And this is just the past seven days, not at all counting the days previous it took just to prepare for all of this madness!

- find/sign/move to a new apartment (same city, new digs) * Tim Heinze = our hero/translator/dongxi helper/team member extraordinaire
- locate/purchase/arrange new house things into a livable state
- teach English classes at a high school a few hours away for 3ish days

- return and begin shopping/planning/cooking for Baxter's birthday bash
- have said birthday bash with 14 friends and all kinds of fun (and not to toot my own horn, but can I mention we had pulled pork, burgers, apple pie, hummus and MUCH more deliciousness for his highness? What the heck, TOOT! TOOT!)

 

- host our dear friend/supervisor from our fellowship in Texas for 2 days

 . . . and somewhere in here I think we had class . . . but honestly I'm not quite sure. So yes, things have been hoppin' around here, but we honestly couldn't be happier. We LOVE our new place, had a BALL at the party, and were SO grateful to see our buddy Dave. We're heading out again Friday for another weekend of teaching, and then hopefully/maybe/doubtfully some semblance of a routine will return.

On a random cultural note, today is Mid-Autumn Festival - which in our understanding is an excuse to get off work, eat moon cakes (get it? the autumn moon? took me a while), and celebrate with friends.  This is one of the boxes of moon cakes we received:

And here is a picture of what one of these semi-tasty goodies looks like:

I think this box was fruit flavored, which trust me, was WAY better than the meat flavored box we got. But don't worry, we have also celebrated the beginnings of fall in typical American fashion . . .

Some things never change - Happy Mid-Autumn Festival and Roll Tide!!

Meet Ma'Lady

She's a beaut, isn't she? 

As Baxter and I are about to move to a new apartment, we realized we both could use some wheels to aid us in getting around. Let's just say when I saw this little lady I was done shopping. I call her Tink, partially because of her lovely little bell that I thoroughly enjoy using, but also because she does have some "clankety-clank-TINK" type noises she lets out to let me know a large hill is not easy on a one-speed.  Used is used, but I am THRILLED with my new wheels - it's amazing how much smaller the world becomes with a little mobility! Well, me and Tink are off to conquer another day of moving. She moved my mop and cleaning supplies like a champ, but I wonder if she could handle a microwave . . . hmmm . . . .

The Potty, The Perv, and the Wardrobe

Sheesh, my life is good - if for no other reason than I can have blog titles like that. And yes, that title does in fact describe some of my recent experiences.

We are in the process of looking for a new apartment as the lease (read: prepaid & FREE) on our current location is about to expire. It can be a bit of chore to find a place, and as is true anywhere, it's all about whats available when - and how much you're willing to pay for said availability. Thankfully, we have wonderful friends and teammates who recently made moves of their own, and are willing to help us negotiate the finer points of contracts and "ma-tongs". (This is a word we love - its the word for Western toilet, which literally translates as horse bucket. Fantastic).

The whole process is really quite similar to the US, you meet some agent at a real estate office who shuffles you around to various apartments, all in various states and ends of your price range. Like many homes for sale or rent, previous owners leave a sundry of items behind . . . occasionally making you wonder if that particular locale is inhabited by squatters. And if I'm entirely forthright, the left behind "treats" have always given me the creeps. When you're looking to buy or rent something, you're trying to picture it as yours, not try and figure out what was for dinner based on the dirty plates in the sink.

Last week we had the pleasure of looking at one such apartment, and despite the remaining personal items strewn about, it was a great size and layout.  It was advertised as as a 3 BR/2 BA (I know! We're moving up in size from the 'Ville!), but after an initial walk through we only found 1 bathroom, and not with the advertised horse bucket.

That is, until Baxter opened the built in wardrobe in the master bedroom. Yes, exactly like the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe . . . a secret world lay behind those doors. Unfortunately, it was a secret world we wished we'd never seen. Our friend Tim walks in first (I'll admit, I was already freaked out, it was really dark!) and just dies laughing. He tells us he's found the bathroom and the matong, but we weren't too sure when he emerges with tears in his eyes doubled over in laughter. After steeling ourselves for what might lie ahead we all nervously shuffle in, totally unsure of what might be so funny. Sure enough, there on a TILE on the wall of the shower, was a picture of an asian woman . . . and not just any picture, but you know, one of "those" kind of pictures.

(Yes, this is way WAY more tasteful than what was in the shower.) After our own uproarious/uncomfortable laughter, we came back into the bedroom to realize . . . hmmm . . . the bed is on a funny platform . . . and what are those bottles next to the bed . . .NOPE, definitely not going to look around ANY more!!

Thankfully, that was one of the more eventful apartments we've looked at, and we feel quite confident we can find an apartment WITHOUT such "personal" items left behind.  I thought all such silliness was behind us, until today I passed a butt/buck (your choice) naked man walking down the street.  I couldn't decide what was weirder, that he was naked walking down the street in a city full of clothed people, or that he was tan everywhere. But don't worry, he passed me heading right towards the block where the police station was . . . I doubt his "personal" parade made it much farther.

Here's to hoping for week without seeing any naked Asians . . . or naked anyone for that matter!

A New Normal

It's Saturday here.

Today was filled with what many Saturdays have been and will be across the globe.

Sleeping late, a delicious cup of coffee drank leisurely, grocery shopping, laundry, and dinner with friends.

And sure, I woke up to small Asian voices loudly greeting the morning and someone pawing through the trash outside.

And yes, I had to use an electricity adapter to grind my locally grown coffeebeans. (Shameless plug HERE).

And like every week, I was the only brown-headed, fair skinned whitey at the market.

And my laundry did in fact dry outside this afternoon.

But this is our new normal.

And I have to say, I love it. As I elbowed my way through the market around stares to bargain over sugar snaps, Asian pears, and a host of other delectable goodies, I thought about how much I loved this moment, this new routine in my week.

Sure, there are frustrating days . . . days when I tell someone I'm going to meet my clothes instead of my husband, days when I probably pay too much for garlic just because of the color of my skin, and days when I wish my air-dried towels weren't so crunchy . . . but this new normal suits us well. (The past two days of 60 degree weather haven't hurt either.)

In the new as well as the normal lies an opportunity be stretched within and without, and I hope I never tire of either.

At Our House This Week

There was a significant intake of these . . .

This was a common site so that A) one or both of us could more easily access a nap and B) pajamas were always at the ready

And this is one more reason of which I am thankful my parents paid for years of acting lessons, my pantomime skills came in quite handy at the pharmacy when communicating what I needed. 

But per usual, these items were rarely out of arms reach.

I think it's safe to say -  

Southeast Asian bacterias: 1         Team Bentley: 0 

Thankfully antiobiotics only run us a steep $3.00, so we're on the mend. And currently I am growing some kefir grains in my fridge, and have begun reading up on this. (I mean, why not?) So have no fear, while we may have lost this round, I'm building up our immune systems for the war! Granola/rabbit/hippie health freaks UNITE!

There's No Place Like Home

WHEW. These past few days (weeks maybe?) have been quite the whirlwind. We had to take a little jaunt over to Hong Kong for a visa run, and had a fantastic time eating and seeing everything that HK had to offer.  While it was a remarkably full and occasionally stressful trip (FYI - no you still cannot take butter knives on a plane in your carry-on, even if you just bought them for very cheap in a very cute set from IKEA that you CANNOT get in country, and you completely, utterly forgot they were there), I thought I'd just cover the highlights of our past week or so.

Fun with friends in our city . . .

Enjoying the fruit of the trees outside my window . . .

And don't worry Southerners, it only took me the better part of a month to realize those big things were POMEGRANATES, and I just realized last week that the little guys were FIGS. Seriously, where do I live?! Asia or Eden?

This is what we later came to call "the divine pump fake". Imagine our elation when we got bumped up to first class on our flight to Hong Kong, and how that continued to elation escalate as about 50 (!) 3rd grade students in matching badges and backpacks filed past us on our their way to coach.

We got to our hotel around midnight, with plans to get up early and head to the consulate by seven . . . so imagine the abrupt end of our elation when this happened around 2:30 am. 

Yep, we got to make our way down 5 flights of stairs (did I mention it was around 2:30 A.M. ?!) to stand on the streets in our jammies for about 30 or so minutes. Thankfully Triple BBB has a little more where-with-all in the middle of the night than I do - he at least thought to grab our passports, all I managed was a shirt over my pj's.

I think my favorite part of the whole ordeal was the random man who meandered his way into our befuddled and bedraggled group, and calmly sipped his beer and listened while the firemen assured us it was a false alarm. And no, he was not a guest at our hotel.

His Hotness perusing the madness/fabulousness that is Hong Kong . . . 

And this my friends, would be the UNBELIEVABLE Indian food we had here one night.

The next day we had some delectable dim sum here (sure, we were there for a new visa, but we had to eat, right?) A Chef from the Four Seasons hotel opens a hole in the wall restaurant where lines can be up to 3 hours but cost less than $20 US Dollars? Yes please!!

Overall, it was a wonderful whirlwind of a trip, but we are so glad to be home. Not only because of the MUCH cooler temperatures (hate to break it to you folks, but we've yet to really crack 90 degrees), but because this place has become exactly that - home. We are grateful for time away us to get things done and experience unique things, but that also allowed us to miss the sights and sounds that are our life here.

There truly is no place like home, no matter where it is.