“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down
from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of
turning.” – James 1:17
This literally hasn’t even been a whole day in the beautiful country of China, yet I felt like the Lord wants me to say something about my half day travel day and half day China day. I’m just going to type without really thinking and see what God has for us.
It started really at midnight when I was still packing to leave. But let’s leave my habit of procrastination out of this.
Me and Pablo woke up late (6:50AM) and began putting our things together and cleaning up. The other 19 girls in the sanctuary were all over the place: eating cereal, finding sports bras, waiting to go to the bathroom, all the while packing their bags up.
At 8:10 we were all ready to go to the Ulaanbaatar airport. I scored a sweet seat next to my good friend and trusty driver Bill, who I met at a baptism service a few days earlier. Myself, and the other three girls with me were quite sleep deprived but Bill’s love and joy and life kept us awake and laughing the whole way there. On top of that, one of the closest people I met in the Mongolia (Zoslo) came to say goodbye to us at the airport.
And THAT guy is also a hoot and a half! In one of the English classes earlier in the month we were teaching them adjectives. And the Racer who was teaching asked the class to say a word that described, ‘Hunter.’ Zoslo got up right away and said, “Hunter is beautiful!” #mademymonth
So you can say that we had quite a sendoff to China.
The flight literally made me pee my pants. Kind of. First off, the takeoff took way too long. There was some intense turbulence while I was in the middle of going #2 (which made me get pee on myself.. just trying to keep the tale going). And we kind of swerved when we landed. #rookiepilot
We arrived in Beijing, China at 4:45PM China Standard Time. It was polluted, polluted, polluted… and a little foggy! So we didn’t have the best view leaving the airport to our hostel for the night. But things got real once we started seeing the Chinese alphabet and turning down tight streets with 1 bike for every 3 people on the street.
When we arrived at our hostel it was the classic look of China that I’ve seen in movies. It had those cool Chinese lookin’ archways, red everywhere, and of course Chinese people.
We didn’t have much food that day so we all left looking in the direction of the closest ATM for some food. During the short 5 minute walk, our senses were picking up everything! The lack of loud noise (which was weird for a big city), the smells of garbage combined with unique food, green trees arching over small buildings. It was so different and yet so beautiful.
Now, before I admit what happened when we found the ATM, consider the facts that I was very hungry and quite exhausted. When we turned the corner, behold! The golden arches shining high and bright like a beacon in the sky calling all American’s to it’s treasures! So yes, instead of pampering myself like a tourist should and try some REAL Chinese food IN the country of China, I ate McDonald’s. #noregrets
After we consumed the mighty treasures that China offered us (from America) we took a different route home to scope out where we should buy food before we take off the next day. We saw full roasted ducks (whole head and neck still attached), chicken feet, insane fruits, more Chinese alphabets, the Chinese Filming Society, and more and more of what this small street offered.
And now I’m here typing telling you about my day. Maybe you just needed to hear what a travel day looks like (easiest one ever by the way). Maybe you needed to see from an inside perspective of what China looks like. Or maybe we all needed to be reminded of exactly how many spouts of joy appear in our day from my best friend Jesus. Because looking back, there’s a lot. And I cut many more out of the story.
