To the East

This past December I was given the chance by my company to go to China for 1 week. It was incredible. It felt like a HUGE blessing from the Lord that I was able to go because the way in which I got to experience it was exactly the "dosage" of travel I was craving. Don't get me wrong, I ALWAYS love exploring new places. But Eastern Asia (China, South Korea, Japan) has never overly intrigued me. I mean I love the history and wanted to go dee the Great Wall etc. But wasn't sold on it the way I am for SE Asia, Middle East, etc. But because this trip was 1)five days long  and 2) with my company -- I got the chance to see all the incredible "must-sees" in Beijing and Shanghai while still leaving me wanting to go back for more actual culture the next go around!


We know I could write forever about any given thing - so i'll just do a quick day by day write up with pics.

Day 1 - Arrival
This day was just a lesson in how crazy traffic is in Beijing. We got through the airport, and then took a few hours to get to our fairly close by hotel due to the INSANE amount of people on the road. But, upon getting to the hotel we were able to grab food, explore the rooms and get some sleep before a big next day.

Gifts from our tour guides.

Day 2 - Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City

                   

                                         


Day 3: The Great Wall!!
This was an incredible experience. My biggest takeaways were:
1. it is TRULY built on top of a mountain. You had to take a ski lift to get to the top and the fact that the wall was created by people walking up and putting dirt up there to begin with is unreal.
2. Being able to ACTUALLY see the wall for miles in every direction is such a testament to the people that built it. It really is an incredible structure.

Day 4: Eating in the Hutongs
Hutongs are literally narrow streets with houses along them. The houses look like the wooden structure shown below, but are now divided into small sections for different families as opposed to one family owning all of one as they did before. The family who fed us was wonderful and the food spectacular. It was interesting to hear about the history of the Hutongs which go back to the Yuan dynasty and worth thousands today even for as small as they are.

Hutong example -- people only live in quarters of them these days

Making dumplings

Day 5: Temple of Heaven and Bullet Train to Shanghai

Square = Earth and Circle = Heaven, 9 is the number of the emperor's so you see lots of this everywhere.

Bullet train - awesome, but no wifi yet! Great to see the various landscapes of China along the way however.

Day 6: Old City Shanghai and the world's largest starbucks

Day 7: Zhujiajiao Water Town

Let it Shine--- Psalm 21:13

Tonight was eye-opening. Sorry for starting close to every post with some variation of that statement but that's sort of how my summer has been going. It has been a constant onslaught of realizations about myself, God, my relationships and Christianity. It's AMAZING.

Okay, so onto tonight! This evening we got to enjoy an "International Dinner". Unfortunately, because they want to be able to keep this a surprise for future SDSP members, I cannot give you full details of what went on. What I can dish out however, is that it was extremely enlightening. One of the countries that I specifically got to focus on tonight was China. At first, i'll be honest, I was disappointed. My heart is for Europe and the countries there like Germany, France and Italy that are so terribly dead in their faith. It breaks my heart. Now, most people know that Chinese are known for being hard workers and doing well in school. We've definitely got that stereotype down, but that stereotype stems largely from truth.I won't delve into stories here, but there are quite a few about kids doing horrible things because they failed to meet expectations. For me though it was not until tonight as I was learning about china and thinking of the stories I've read and heard that that reality truly sunk in. Perfection is an idol for the Chinese. Suicide is one of the biggest problems in China, and the reason can often be traced back to a failure to meet the standards of perfection society and families have set up for people.

As all of that was racing through my mind tonight, I kept coming back to how blessed we are. Do people in the US struggle with the need to be perfect? Absolutely. In fact I go to a school where many people feel the need to have done something great with their lives by the time they've graduated, a school where people literally camp out in the library for days at a time, and a school where i have seen people in tears over getting a "B". So, when I think of China that's what I see. Kids who are asked to meet a standard that is unattainable and pay for it in countless ways. It's a predicament that is so incredibly out of the realm of my understanding. Even when I see it at my university it's hard for me to comprehend. Let me give you some background here: my parents are teachers. Trust me when I say I know what it feels like to feel the need to do well. But, on the other hand, my parents are also the people who, when I flip out over a bad grade in a class, tell me that there are bigger problems and that failing one class doesn't matter and that, in the end, school and grades are NOT WHAT IS IMPORTANT. Do you need to graduate to get a good job? yeah. it'd help. But in the end, as Christians we are called to something so much greater than worrying about grades.

 It breaks my heart to think that within the Chinese culture the idea of grace we hold so dear within Christianity is really an unheard of concept. The idea that regardless of what we do we are loved? Nope. That doesn't make sense. But then, I guess it is crazy isn't it? Christ calls us to a ridiculous love. It's nonsensical. Loving people who don't deserve it. Loving people who mock and ignore and curse us. Yet, when you know that love, there's nothing more you want others to experience.

And so, began my second thought explosion....   Isaiah 6:8
 If you know me at all you should know that travelling is something i'm passionate about. I cannot even begin to imagine a life with the inability to travel. TORTURE. There is so much to do, see and experience in this world. So many cultures to explore and stories to hear and people to meet. I've always known I loved travelling but it wasn't until a couple days ago when I realized how much I desire to help others get that same experience. I LOVE watching people experience something completely out of the realm of normalcy for them. It's simply incredible. hahah i'm smiling just thinking of it. I don't know how that's going to work into a career for me. I've kind of been assuming I might end up working with a tour company, or maybe a study/work/volunteer abroad organization. But this evening, I realized that regardless of where my passions take me I have one more unshakable passion that will always work it's way in. I want others to know the love i feel in Christ.

I am broken. I have been hurt. I have seen immense pain. I have experienced terrible situations. I have hated myself. I have hated others. But, more importantly, I have been loved

Loved in a way  that cannot be completely described other than to say it makes you want to sing to the God who created it. So, no matter what I end up doing, I pray that God will continue to work through me and allow me to be apart of others getting to know the love that takes care of everything.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79055I6o-NQ