I am so happy to let you know that I am once again safe and sound in Beijing China! In this newsletter I want to take you on an adventure, not just any adventure but one that begins as many adventures do on a public bus. Brooke Katie and I head out for this particular adventure on a humid hot day at the end of august. The sun bakes the pavement and our heads as we wait for the long awaited bus. We push the push the hair off our perspiring for heads and fan ourselves with the masses as we peer down the traffic clogged road. Finally the bus emerges on the horizon barreling out of the smog to stop neatly in front of us. We immediately push and are pushed aboard the bus only to be scooted of the bus by a bus attendant to who informs us that this bus doesn’t go to our stop but another will be along shortly. Finally our bus arrived and after pushing and being carried aboard the bus by a human stream of passengers we were on our way to the other side of town. But a bus ride is never a bus ride with out a few interesting sights along the way. On this particular bus ride I witnessed an older Chinese woman forcing a very unhappy dog into a pair of split pants (young children in china don’t wear diaper rather they wear pants that have a handy slit in the crotch) then placing the disgruntled dog into a rather large stroller. Later as we passed a large university I watched as a clown (complete with makeup and big shoes) make a call on his cell phone while clutching two dozen roses that were liberally dusted with gold glitter. Who was the clown calling we will never know I prefer to imagine that the clown was calling his girlfriend who was also a clown …. But that is a story for another day.
We had finally arrived at our destination yi jia jia jue or as we call it in America IKEA. Now you may view a trip to IKEA as a mundane even boring trip, but in china it is a chance for a unique intersection between east and west. For us the expat community of Beijing a trip to IKEA is like a trip to a theme park complete with food and fun and exciting thing to see. My team had decided that heading out to a huge store with free air conditioning was a perfect way to spend a hot afternoon, and as we found out upon entering the store we were not alone in our decision the store was filled with customers many of whom were there trying to escape the heat and humidity of late summer. As we made our way through the labyrinth like aisles we were greeted with many sights that you would never see in a stateside IKEA. It is common to see a person curled up in a display bed, shoes of and eyes closed taking a nap with complete abandon. In every department there are more people taking pictures of and with products than actually buy the product. Through the whole store there is a theme park like sense of euphoria, perhaps it’s the minimalistic furniture or maybe its just the meatballs but whatever is in the air the mood is light as if we were all on a collective holiday. The excitement of the day was too much for us so we pushed our beleaguered cart (three girl’s one cart poor cart) to the cafeteria to enjoy the interesting assortment of food IKEA had to offer. As we began to eat our mashed potatoes a strange and foreign sound begins to permeate the air. What was it? It was music and believe it or not it was live and it was not ABBA! As I strained my ears to hear over the clatter and crash of the dishes I could make out some very familiar lyrics. Then it was as if someone plugged in a speaker and suddenly we were surrounded by the music of Eric Clapton. As we stood there in the middle of IKEA and listened to live music pour forth it was the perfect way to end a surreal Beijing adventure.
I am so grateful to him for putting you all in my life. I had such an amazing summer getting to reconnect with some of you. I am so sorry that I wasn’t able to meet with you all; I would love to hear from you. I miss you all and would genuinely enjoy hearing about what your up to or what is going on with your families. We are planning to start teaching on Tuesday however with China it is always good to start with a plan B. Please continue to lift up our new teachers as they begin the adjustment period, also please be keep our students in mind as they leave their parents and move into the dorms after a long summer at work. This week we have been doing team building activities; please ask him to make the way known and apparent to us as we begin to discuss what the vision of our team should be. I have been so blessed with your support and faithful thoughts. I would to hear from you, you can email me:)
We had finally arrived at our destination yi jia jia jue or as we call it in America IKEA. Now you may view a trip to IKEA as a mundane even boring trip, but in china it is a chance for a unique intersection between east and west. For us the expat community of Beijing a trip to IKEA is like a trip to a theme park complete with food and fun and exciting thing to see. My team had decided that heading out to a huge store with free air conditioning was a perfect way to spend a hot afternoon, and as we found out upon entering the store we were not alone in our decision the store was filled with customers many of whom were there trying to escape the heat and humidity of late summer. As we made our way through the labyrinth like aisles we were greeted with many sights that you would never see in a stateside IKEA. It is common to see a person curled up in a display bed, shoes of and eyes closed taking a nap with complete abandon. In every department there are more people taking pictures of and with products than actually buy the product. Through the whole store there is a theme park like sense of euphoria, perhaps it’s the minimalistic furniture or maybe its just the meatballs but whatever is in the air the mood is light as if we were all on a collective holiday. The excitement of the day was too much for us so we pushed our beleaguered cart (three girl’s one cart poor cart) to the cafeteria to enjoy the interesting assortment of food IKEA had to offer. As we began to eat our mashed potatoes a strange and foreign sound begins to permeate the air. What was it? It was music and believe it or not it was live and it was not ABBA! As I strained my ears to hear over the clatter and crash of the dishes I could make out some very familiar lyrics. Then it was as if someone plugged in a speaker and suddenly we were surrounded by the music of Eric Clapton. As we stood there in the middle of IKEA and listened to live music pour forth it was the perfect way to end a surreal Beijing adventure.
I am so grateful to him for putting you all in my life. I had such an amazing summer getting to reconnect with some of you. I am so sorry that I wasn’t able to meet with you all; I would love to hear from you. I miss you all and would genuinely enjoy hearing about what your up to or what is going on with your families. We are planning to start teaching on Tuesday however with China it is always good to start with a plan B. Please continue to lift up our new teachers as they begin the adjustment period, also please be keep our students in mind as they leave their parents and move into the dorms after a long summer at work. This week we have been doing team building activities; please ask him to make the way known and apparent to us as we begin to discuss what the vision of our team should be. I have been so blessed with your support and faithful thoughts. I would to hear from you, you can email me:)
