(xaris and shalom)

I’ve mentioned before how the gate guards and I attempt to make up for our mutual lack of understanding in each other’s language by pouring on the volume.  It’s very amiable and I really get a lot of enjoyment from it (which is one thing that makes me question how I’d do long term in Laos.)  Recently, as I left our complex to go to the store, we had our most memorable yelling interaction to date. —BACKGROUND —  Background: when I started at Geneva, all of the Dag people were talking about Firefly .  All the time.  And asking me if I had seen it.  All the time.  My answer, as it is with most TV shows, was no.  Then the guys from the Greek class started asking me if I had seen Firefly .  Since I spent a lot of time with them, they decided to remedy my ignorance by showing me some episodes.  It’s cowboys in space, has a great theme song, a little terribly mispronounced Chinese, and loads of snark.  I fell in love. My mom is a knitter.  So at some point in the last year or so,

“TIA,” Danny Archer in Blood Diamond  says, offering this acronym as an explanation for a seemingly inexplicable situation.  “This is Africa.”  Although I’ve never been in Africa, my life has plenty of TIA moments.  This is Asia. I was thinking about that acronym during our Wheaton classes in Chiang Mai.  The wifi in our classroom was apparently of the hold-your-tongue-just-right variety, and as we had better things to do than think about the position of our tongues, it was unreliable.  For me, this mostly meant that my ability to multitask and chat with people on Facebook while taking notes on the class was curbed; for one of our professors, it was a major annoyance.  He’s used to internet that works reliably so that students can upload assignments and group projects within seconds of completing them, and they can be displayed for everyone in the class to discuss.   We ended up passing around a flash drive to compile projects on.  It got the job done.  None of us were sur

I'm back in China at long last, with about a week until classes start. It feels good to be home. Mini-explosion of random thoughts. Laos was lovely -- the perfect vacation spot for someone who typically lives in China.  It was beautiful and quiet and *happy sigh*.  SO GOOD.  Also the LP team was incredibly hospitable, down to answering my many many  culture questions. If I die in traffic (which is to say, while crossing the road,) I don't think it's going to be the fault per say of any particular country that I spend time in.  It's just going to be a failure on my part to adapt quickly enough to how different the traffic is in different regions.  I never  get used to Thailand and never feel like I've figured it out.  China is actually probably my favorite, because the "flow" mentality is fun to work with... but it has an adjustment period.  And America, thanks for following rules, but why is everything so fast? Only in China... ...am I so

I've been gone from my home at Chuan Wai for almost a month now, and it will be another ten days before I'm back.  It has been a full, exhausting, refreshing month full of learning and questions and laughter and rest and wonder.  I am continuously surprised and amazed at the life that the Father has designed for me.   Is this my life right now?  And the answer is yes.  And it's so overflowing with gifts.  Some of the gifts in my life are certainly not the ones that I would have chosen for myself; others are ones that I never could have imagined. So. There were two weeks jam-packed with MA classes.  The cohort of people in those classes are some of my favorite, and although the pace is exhausting, I enjoy the opportunity to study and learn and think with that group. "I like it when you think because fireworks go off in your head and light up your eyes." We learned about creating and designing materials and curriculum, about crafting assessments: