Early Days of China

One of the unexpected items we brought back from the US this summer was a box of old journals that I kept from late highschool through our early years of marriage. They are part of a journey-of-the-heart season, helping me re-engage in the stories of my early life. Kudos to GG who Fed-Ex overnighted them to me the day before we left!

I’ve always been a “journaler,” finding it therapeutic to process my heart through writing. But the 35 year old me reading the heart of the 20 year old me… hmmm. There have been times I’ve felt it extremely enlightening, because I can now see clearly how the dots form a line. But other times, it’s utterly overwhelming. I cannot be my own objective counselor, and the "old me" doesn’t feel that much removed from the “young me.” Schizophrenic? Absolutely!

I digress.

This last week, I read the journal from my very first summer in China--June of 1995 before my senior year of college. I haven't even read the journal from my first year yet... though reminiscing about that summer stirred up a whole hornet's nest of memories from that season of my life. Sometimes China feels so familiar that I forget what seemed strange and shocking and wonderful. Here are some of my early impressions of this baffling and marvelous land I've called home for much of the last decade...

These were the days when…

…I marveled at those with the able use of chopsticks. (If you want to learn, French fries are a great food to practice on.)

…In true self-masochistic style, I made regular trips to the post office

…My hair was what people called “blonde”

…I liked to bargain and thought I was getting good deals…I was wrong

... I learned my first Chinese words: "I'm lost"; "I don't understand"; and "I have diarrhea."

...My daily alarm clock was (not my children!) but the 6am morning exercises coming over the school intercom. Yi...Er...San...Si...Wu...Liu...Qi...Ba... repeat........................

...I was obsessed with getting my Chinese tones right. (Certainly not anymore!)

...A rickshaw was the best way to get around.

…I sat on a hillside in a Tibetan village listening to the bells calling young monks to prayer

…I couldn’t stand being stared at

…I felt a burger at the Hard Rock Café was an unjustifiably extravagant expense

…I made my first trek on the Great Wall

…I sat and cried in Tian An Men square as I thought about all that had happened there

…I lived next door to a coal factory and hung my clothes to dry with the sweet scent of coal soot

…I said I was fine with cold showers

...I shattered my first hot water bottle into 1000 peices

…I became intimate friends with my bicycle

...I experienced my first overnight train with a sleeping Chinese women in my lap and another man smoking at my feet

...I learned that cream of mushroom soup, tortillas, and chips are possible without your local grocery store.

…I delighted in Mongolian yak cheese… any cheese will do when you are desperate.

…I stared every night at the world map before going to sleep, in disbelief… “I was there, now I’m here.”

...I simultaneously rejoiced in and wanted to hide my identity as an American

…I sat for a sweet hour in the dark baking a cake with my roommate, because the oven zapped all the available electricity. Not even enough left for a 4W night light!

…Speaking of electricity… I became a self-declared electrician and came inches from setting our house on fire. Remember that Tammy? (Lesson to self: Circuits trip for a reason and thicker wires do not solve this.) It's always more comforting to be yelled at by an angry building manager when you don't know what's being said.

...I gave affectionate names to our building's rats.

...I gained exhaustive knowledge of toilet innards.

...God sent me a red leaf. (If you haven't heard this story, please ask me and I'll tell it again!)

...I gave a good friend a live chicken for his birthday... and witnessed his unfortunate demise-- (the chicken, not the friend.) This is as fresh as it gets.

…and made life long friends from all parts of the globe.

I hesitate to post this now, because the list could go miles longer. So many things have changed since then...many things I don't miss. No more cold showers or live chicken for dinner. But there was a wonder of discovery, a laugh-at-yourself making the best of your challenging circumstances, a delight in the diversity of our God that stirs my imagination afresh.