Today marks the six months anniversary of my return back to America. Just thinking about it makes me wonder where the time has gone. In some aspects, so many things have changed; but at the same time, nothing really has.
reminisce with me a moment: half a year ago I was living somewhere in the Far East, riding my bike through the busy streets, dodging countless pedestrians while paddling for my life to escape from the crazy taxi cabs and buses. I was eating street food on a regular basis: when I felt too lazy to cook with my roommate, we would go buy some type of Asian burritos from the street vendors for 25cents, maybe some fried dumpling for another 15cents, and top it off with some bubble tea for another 25cents ... the total cost of a meal would come to be less than $1.
Half a year ago, I was spending my mornings in language classes, always arriving fashionably late for the first class and pretending not to care for the rest. My Korean, Japanese, and (the few) Caucasian classmates would joke around while the teacher tries to bestow her wealth of knowledge upon us. It would range from lessons about ancient stories of the orient, to controversial current affairs, understanding epic poems, dancing or singing random songs, and on special days (we had a lot of those) we would digress and talk about relationships, marriage, divorce ... etc.
Half a year ago, I was playing my secret-agent game, living a double life as a missionary and a student, trying to not blow my cover with my teachers and classmates, but also those I were building deeper relationships with. At random times my teacher would question what I do when I'm not in class, and when I answer "I study," they laugh and ask me what kind of secret job I really have. My older Korean classmates (wives of business men) would constantly try to set me up with their favorite girls, sometimes showing me photo albums of their nieces or whoever, sometimes bringing random girls from other classes for me to talk to... *sigh* And the other classmates ... well, that's enough of that.
Half a year ago, I was in a deep spiritual community. I was friends with people I love and admire ... spiritual giants in the faith, who were speaking and living out the Gospel every fleeting moment, oozing with genuine godliness. I was constantly being encouraged by seeing how God is moving through the world, seeing how He is changing lives, feeling His hand on me.
Half a year ago, everything felt so right, but yet He was leading me another way ... away from the Far East and back to America ...
(to be continued...)
reminisce with me a moment: half a year ago I was living somewhere in the Far East, riding my bike through the busy streets, dodging countless pedestrians while paddling for my life to escape from the crazy taxi cabs and buses. I was eating street food on a regular basis: when I felt too lazy to cook with my roommate, we would go buy some type of Asian burritos from the street vendors for 25cents, maybe some fried dumpling for another 15cents, and top it off with some bubble tea for another 25cents ... the total cost of a meal would come to be less than $1.
Half a year ago, I was spending my mornings in language classes, always arriving fashionably late for the first class and pretending not to care for the rest. My Korean, Japanese, and (the few) Caucasian classmates would joke around while the teacher tries to bestow her wealth of knowledge upon us. It would range from lessons about ancient stories of the orient, to controversial current affairs, understanding epic poems, dancing or singing random songs, and on special days (we had a lot of those) we would digress and talk about relationships, marriage, divorce ... etc.
Half a year ago, I was playing my secret-agent game, living a double life as a missionary and a student, trying to not blow my cover with my teachers and classmates, but also those I were building deeper relationships with. At random times my teacher would question what I do when I'm not in class, and when I answer "I study," they laugh and ask me what kind of secret job I really have. My older Korean classmates (wives of business men) would constantly try to set me up with their favorite girls, sometimes showing me photo albums of their nieces or whoever, sometimes bringing random girls from other classes for me to talk to... *sigh* And the other classmates ... well, that's enough of that.
Half a year ago, I was in a deep spiritual community. I was friends with people I love and admire ... spiritual giants in the faith, who were speaking and living out the Gospel every fleeting moment, oozing with genuine godliness. I was constantly being encouraged by seeing how God is moving through the world, seeing how He is changing lives, feeling His hand on me.
Half a year ago, everything felt so right, but yet He was leading me another way ... away from the Far East and back to America ...
(to be continued...)
Comments
A year ago, you were freezing your butt off with no indoor heating and I was trying to figure out how to use the radiators without flooding my apartment :)