Hello, Phoenix :)

Getting to China is never quite as easy of a process as I'd like (due to the lack of shrinkrays and teleporters and such) but last night Bryan reminded me of how much I have to be grateful for.  He thanked the Father that even if getting from Pittsburgh to Beijing means a lot of hours on the plane, at least it is possible to do now, and it doesn't involve months of perilous journeys.

Anyway, I am on my way.  I'm back in an airport surrounded by people going all over the place.  It's exciting, although I've decided that I'm already a little jetlagged.  At least the connection between my fingers and my brain is, judging by the number of typos I'm finding in everything I write this morning.  I am really glad that I made this trip before, and that things lined up in small ways like getting to come through Phoenix on my way to LAX again, because familiarity is lovely.  

Adventure is out there.  :)

--
overcome evil with good

zaijian

I'm not a fan of saying goodbye.  I am really excited to meet my team, and really excited to go to China, and really excited to have gotten my passport (with a new visa!) and a t-shirt in the mail today, but all of that is kind of like being given new socks when I have a headache.  The one doesn't cancel out the other.

And I am glad that I have people who I am sad to leave.  And I am glad that my friends and family are so incredibly supportive of me doing something like going to the other side of the planet for a year.  But I would really like to find something that would allow me to bring them with me.

A teleporter would work as far as I'm concerned.

Or the shrink ray from Despicable Me.

Got other ideas?

There is just so much about China that cannot really be conveyed through explanations or pictures or stories.  I want to take my friends to my favorite restaurant and show them the traffic.  I want them to meet Jill and go with us to Gulangyu, to drink milk tea and experience the craziness of doing hot pot in a dorm room.

I'm curious to see what my list of things that I want other people to experience will look like in a year.

Of course, if you do happen to have a teleporter or shrink ray laying around, I'd appreciate the loan.  Then I won't have to make a long list.