I know I know…really? I’m thankful for China?!?!?!? Am I
crazy? Those of you who know me well know that YES I’m extremely crazy, but that’s
beside the point. This country is starting to grow on me.
We have now been in China just a week shy of 8 months. In
that amount of time I have to say that we have changed quite a bit. We have
adapted more in some ways but yet in some areas we are still not fully there.
But for all the things we have learned, I’m thankful. I know God is doing some
crazy things in our lives here and growing us day by day…even when we don’t
want to be stretched.
When we first got here I was CERTAIN that I would not take a
taxi with Aiden. I hated people coming up and touching Aiden without
permission. I hated feeling like we were an exhibit in a zoo all the time. I
hated going grocery shopping at the bigger markets here and preferred to go to
smaller and to Jeffrey’s chagrin, more expensive stores. When I did go to the
bigger and more common markets, I was so timid in the produce area that I never
came home with everything I needed. It took me FOREVER to open up my box of
Rosetta Stone and really want to learn.
Now…some of these things are still true, but others, not so
much. I have mastered taking taxis and most of the time I quite enjoy it. Though, I do have to say, I got in the taxi
today with a woman driver with whom I feared for our lives! But that’s pretty
normal here. With Aiden I have just learned to say that I don’t want them to
touch his face or I keep wipes handy when I feel like I need to wipe down his
hands. Little things I know, but they have gone a long way in helping me cope
with being crowded around all the time. Still not a fan of feeling like an
exhibit in the zoo, but I’m learning to deal with it better and not get so
annoyed. Just keep moving and they have a hard time crowding!
As for grocery
shopping, it’s funny the changes that have occurred there. I was talking to
Julie a few weeks ago about a few things I was needing from the store (we tag
team shop quite a bit, if I’m going I get what she is needing or she gets what
I need) and I told her that I had a hard time finding good apples. All the ones
we normally get looked not so good and when I went to look at others I just
thought they were too expensive. This gave us a good laugh! 8 months ago we
would NOT have cared one bit about what we were spending on food…we just wanted
the good looking ones. Man how times have changed! Also, when going into the
produce section I’ve just learned to know in advance what I want and not to
take a buggy in with me. Otherwise my aggressive side comes out and I start
playing bumper carts with them! Ha!
And if we had not come to China, I would not have met the
amazing people I have. I would never have had the desire to learn Mandarin. I
would never have eaten jelly fish. I wouldn’t be drinking so much Starbucks. I
wouldn’t have seen all the crazy things I have seen. So for all of this I’m
thankful!
Learning daily about trust as well. It does take a lot of
faith being here and leaning on the Lord daily! That is being an interesting
lesson for both Jeffrey and I. It’s a work in progress.
If we have changed this much in 8 months, I’m anxious to see
what God does in our lives over the next 2 years! Gonna continue to be a wild
ride, of this I am sure! Its been a fun month of thankfulness, though at times
I confess I was struggling to come up with WHAT on earth I was thankful for
here in China. Thanks for sharing my journey with me…we’ll see what next November
looks like as I plan to do this 30 days of Thankfulness again in 2012.
Bring on December!!!
