Travels

Today Josh, Megan and I head off into the wild blue of the vast land of Asia! We will be traveling with Megan around some epic places in Southern China for about 2 weeks then Josh and I squirrel over to Hong Kong to catch a flight to Indonesia. There we will adventure around with Josh's two sisters, Cora and Malyssa (Malyssa is teaching English there through the SALT program). Two and a half weeks later we will head back to Hong Kong for a bit and then make our crazy way up to Shandong province to spend Chinese New Years with with my student, good friend and Chinese teacher, Fengze. Then home home home. It is intimidating but exciting and I will work my best to find my writing inspiration and leave more bits of news as we go along!

Christmas

It is Christmas day evening; I am full of sugar, sleepy, worn out. It has been an exhausting couple of weeks with a roller coaster of ups and downs. Last week I gave exams which means giving points and methodically going through each student, asking questions, to try and determine their oral English proficiency (or not). That was and is hard for me – I struggle to put numbers on an experience…arbitrary numbers. This week was Christmas. Perhaps I should say, this month was Christmas and being in a country that does not celebrate Christmas, other than as a good opportunity to hang up overly gaudy tinsel and creepy looking Santas and entice the consumer to buy, is was a very trying month and past week or so. I discovered the Christmas child within; the little Mya that anticipated Christmas with whole hearted mystery, whose Christmas trees held magic and wonder, whose joy of going to Grandma's house was surpassed by no other occasion in the year. It is a unique cultural holiday that contains music, sights, smells, tastes, parties…etc. Yet, give or take all that, the part that I missed the most was the family.

It was my very first Christmas without my mom, dad, brother and sister. Right now, they are all in Denver with the whole group on my mother's side and I remain in China; the only one not there. I spent a lot of the week in tears, contemplating my priorities that often take me away and away and away from those people and places I am slowly learning are the best, the best, and the best of me.

Still, I am glad to say I was not alone, in any sense. I have made new and delightful wondrous friends here. My inbox is packed with little emails wishing me "happy Christmas…most prosperous and good wishes for the new year….happy everywhere," and all other kinds of oddly stated best wishes from all my thoughtful amazing students. Then Sommer and I (she is studying Chinese from Colorado) spent Christmas Eve making supper, chatting the evening away and even reading the Christmas story together. This morning I had Christmas coffee with Yoko and opened presents with Megan, Millie and Bethany. We made lunch together and then ate cinnamon buns I had made (a family tradition). The evening was spent at Sommer's new apartment at a Christmas party of sorts with her classmates and teachers (Russians, Koreans, Chinese, Iranian and us N Americans) just talking in all types of languages and eating everything from cheese to a gingerbread house. At the end of the day I feel full and amazed at the simple goodness around me and so happy to have made even more new friends. Next semester promises to be good!

Yes, made it through Christmas but the question remains on my heart – what do I go away from when I go and what do I gain? It is a heavy one especially as I consider my students, my friends, my relationship with Josh, my bits of Chinese…etc. All these things are good. Being away from Josh has been so difficult but in so many ways so good. I have had a chance to be a teacher and reap the joy that comes from this noble profession. Yet, today my family sits together - crazy and quirky as we all are, all the imperfections and awkwards together - and honestly it breaks my heart to be missing it. Unexplainable really, but I just feel, strong within myself, the desire to just be close.

So this little blog is dedicated to you all; Mom, dad, Nat, Caleb, Aunt Tina, Jesse, Aunt Rachel, Uncle Jay, Jenny, Aunt Betsy, Uncle Bruce, Ellen, Rita (and Sean!), and Grandpa Melvin – I love you and miss you all! Shengdan Kuaile! From China!