from Seoul
Tue, 3rd January, 2012
it's been much too long for an update. so here goes.
it's a little over two months since we landed in seoul and a lot has happened.
boo is enjoying her job very much. sohee has a new nanny set to arrive tomorrow and we're praying she will have even half as good of a relationship with her and she did with her nanny in China. all of our stuff (including car) has finally arrived so we're all unpacked and settled in. we've even had a couple of good friends from the states join us here in korea working in the local economy. and more friends from the past will come in july.
all in all, it's been a really comforting arrival to be surrounded by old and new friends as well as family.
also, i (aric), got a job in addition to being the full time stay at home daddy. i'm officially Pastor Allen at Sae Byuk Church in Bundang which is a city about 20 minutes south of Seoul. they asked me to step in as the full time English preacher to their brand new English worship service. on top of that, i'll be working on expanding my role as i pray about what God wants me to do specifically within the church. i preached my first sermon this past sunday on new year's day.
sohee is walking (with assistance) and babbling up a storm. she's fallen in love with Pororo (addictive Korean cartoon) but spends most of her afternoons on the ground with her board books babbling out some sort of plot line she has apparently made up in her head. she's eating well (REALLY well) and sleeping well---she really seems to like Korea though with the cold winter weather she doesn't get a chance to get out too much. we'll keep posting photos as she gets bigger and bigger each day. we're still waiting for her official first word though she has come eerily close to repeating "thank you" and even shouted "da da!" as i (aric) walked into the room the other day.
so, it's been a lot of changes as we start the new year and we're looking forward to what's down the line.
please keep in touch with us on video chat if you can!
it's a little over two months since we landed in seoul and a lot has happened.
boo is enjoying her job very much. sohee has a new nanny set to arrive tomorrow and we're praying she will have even half as good of a relationship with her and she did with her nanny in China. all of our stuff (including car) has finally arrived so we're all unpacked and settled in. we've even had a couple of good friends from the states join us here in korea working in the local economy. and more friends from the past will come in july.
all in all, it's been a really comforting arrival to be surrounded by old and new friends as well as family.
also, i (aric), got a job in addition to being the full time stay at home daddy. i'm officially Pastor Allen at Sae Byuk Church in Bundang which is a city about 20 minutes south of Seoul. they asked me to step in as the full time English preacher to their brand new English worship service. on top of that, i'll be working on expanding my role as i pray about what God wants me to do specifically within the church. i preached my first sermon this past sunday on new year's day.
sohee is walking (with assistance) and babbling up a storm. she's fallen in love with Pororo (addictive Korean cartoon) but spends most of her afternoons on the ground with her board books babbling out some sort of plot line she has apparently made up in her head. she's eating well (REALLY well) and sleeping well---she really seems to like Korea though with the cold winter weather she doesn't get a chance to get out too much. we'll keep posting photos as she gets bigger and bigger each day. we're still waiting for her official first word though she has come eerily close to repeating "thank you" and even shouted "da da!" as i (aric) walked into the room the other day.
so, it's been a lot of changes as we start the new year and we're looking forward to what's down the line.
please keep in touch with us on video chat if you can!
top 10 recap
Thu, 6th October, 2011
we've gone from LA to PHX and now we're in DC.
a lot of laughs.
too much food.
not enough food. :)
definitely not enough time with friends.
and now that the initial charm of the USA has maybe lost a bit of its luster...and we've been welcomed into the reality of caring for an infant with no paid help...it's made me reflect on my pinings from China about what my life in the USA would look like during our vacation.
so, here's the recap based on my previous posting of the top 10 things i would like to do while in the states...
10...
yes, i did breathe in the fresh LA air. we were blessed to have spent time with Boo's wonderful family in Yorba Linda soaking up the sun in the backyard with impromptu picnics and then lounging with the Kaos in the resort-like atmosphere that is PVE.
minimal smog.
lots of blue.
happy times.
9...
well, i didn't walk at sunset. maybe once.
but the sunrise.
oh my.
a thing of beauty. warm breeze. soft grass. sohee in my arms as we walked among roses and lemon trees.
i would say to her "remember? this is what we talked about in china? this is the good stuff"
8...
the beach eluded us for most of the trip.
but when it showed up, it did so in beauty.
white sand, soft waves, brilliant sun....
it was a trip down to San Diego with the best of friends which allowed us to have Sohee dip her toes into the Pacific for the first time.
and she did so with a beaming smile on her face.
7...
yes, i ate an enchilada.
but it came with much distress.
my friends were haters. "why would you eat at Taco Bell? why would you eat at El Torito? why would you eat at (nameless mexican chain restaurant)?"
you know what?
stuff it.
stuff it in your pie hole because i ate some pretty delicious mexican food that can't be found overseas.
and
and
my cup, chips and salsa never stopped being filled up again.
and for those who judge me?
when you live overseas where cilantro is like finding fool's gold and an avocado is more precious than an iphone, give me a call while you're stuffing a double decker taco down your mouth.
6...
sohee has enjoyed the driving but mostly because her mom is doing all the hard work taking care of her in the backseat.
still, my drives home from school with sohee playing contently in the back are some of the best times
5...
i can never have too many good friends and too many good cigars...
i've had the weather, the balcony (in DC), and the friends...but still i might wish for a few more good nights with my buddies.
but i still believe Sohee has met some great Christian friends.
4...
done, done, done, no need, done, done (though pre-mixed), no need, done, (will do).....cooking has been the joy of my time in the states.
i'm just happy there are some people who actually want to eat what i make.
3...
done, multiple times during a week that boo took sohee to arizona and i stayed behind in LA.
i enjoyed that damn view.
2...
the funny thing is....everything happened exactly the way i thought it would. perfect times with friends and family. bringing sohee to the states and having you all meet her for the first time.
though i craved the food or the places, what i really craved was the feeling you get in your get when you're around people who you love.
we had that and so much more during our time back.
1...
yes, i killed it at taco bell.
and i'm not ashamed.
not in the least.
in fact, i'll be lunching there tomorrow, thank you very much.
we love you all and are so thankful that you made time to spend with us during our time back in the states.
love:aricandboo
a lot of laughs.
too much food.
not enough food. :)
definitely not enough time with friends.
and now that the initial charm of the USA has maybe lost a bit of its luster...and we've been welcomed into the reality of caring for an infant with no paid help...it's made me reflect on my pinings from China about what my life in the USA would look like during our vacation.
so, here's the recap based on my previous posting of the top 10 things i would like to do while in the states...
10...
yes, i did breathe in the fresh LA air. we were blessed to have spent time with Boo's wonderful family in Yorba Linda soaking up the sun in the backyard with impromptu picnics and then lounging with the Kaos in the resort-like atmosphere that is PVE.
minimal smog.
lots of blue.
happy times.
9...
well, i didn't walk at sunset. maybe once.
but the sunrise.
oh my.
a thing of beauty. warm breeze. soft grass. sohee in my arms as we walked among roses and lemon trees.
i would say to her "remember? this is what we talked about in china? this is the good stuff"
8...
the beach eluded us for most of the trip.
but when it showed up, it did so in beauty.
white sand, soft waves, brilliant sun....
it was a trip down to San Diego with the best of friends which allowed us to have Sohee dip her toes into the Pacific for the first time.
and she did so with a beaming smile on her face.
7...
yes, i ate an enchilada.
but it came with much distress.
my friends were haters. "why would you eat at Taco Bell? why would you eat at El Torito? why would you eat at (nameless mexican chain restaurant)?"
you know what?
stuff it.
stuff it in your pie hole because i ate some pretty delicious mexican food that can't be found overseas.
and
and
my cup, chips and salsa never stopped being filled up again.
and for those who judge me?
when you live overseas where cilantro is like finding fool's gold and an avocado is more precious than an iphone, give me a call while you're stuffing a double decker taco down your mouth.
6...
sohee has enjoyed the driving but mostly because her mom is doing all the hard work taking care of her in the backseat.
still, my drives home from school with sohee playing contently in the back are some of the best times
5...
i can never have too many good friends and too many good cigars...
i've had the weather, the balcony (in DC), and the friends...but still i might wish for a few more good nights with my buddies.
but i still believe Sohee has met some great Christian friends.
4...
done, done, done, no need, done, done (though pre-mixed), no need, done, (will do).....cooking has been the joy of my time in the states.
i'm just happy there are some people who actually want to eat what i make.
3...
done, multiple times during a week that boo took sohee to arizona and i stayed behind in LA.
i enjoyed that damn view.
2...
the funny thing is....everything happened exactly the way i thought it would. perfect times with friends and family. bringing sohee to the states and having you all meet her for the first time.
though i craved the food or the places, what i really craved was the feeling you get in your get when you're around people who you love.
we had that and so much more during our time back.
1...
yes, i killed it at taco bell.
and i'm not ashamed.
not in the least.
in fact, i'll be lunching there tomorrow, thank you very much.
we love you all and are so thankful that you made time to spend with us during our time back in the states.
love:aricandboo
aric's USA Top 10
Wed, 13th July, 2011
as we start to organize and prepare to pack up leaving China after 2 long years, many people have asked me for reflections on my time here.
well, that will come with another post b/c--TRUST me--i have quite a few reflections. some funny, some sad, some good and some just bewildering.
but as i sit in our living room staring out over the view of Guangzhou we've been blessed with while Sohee rolls, spins and babbles on her playmat i've thought a lot about what i would do when i got back to the states.
it ranges from being focused on food to seeing old friends to certain unique experiences that i previously took for granted.
so, here goes. my top ten things to do when i get back home (editor's/aric's note: the list is very LA-centric since we will arrive there first. all apologies to other US destinations we might visit for the lack of proper representation)
10. breathe in the fresh, LA air
yes, you may laugh, but after two years of air polluting your lungs, giving you black coughing discharges and making you winded just picking up a baby you too, my friend, will appreciate the mix of smoggy beachy goodness that is LA air
9. walk barefoot through my in-laws backyard grass at sunset
to feel the cool OC breeze and wiggle my toes in the grass...ahhhhh
8. walk barefoot on the beach....any beach
notice a theme here? actually, the beach is more for sohee. i want her to hear the ocean for the first time. see a wave. let the ocean water tickle her feet and roll around under a beach umbrella
7. eat an enchilada
mmm...cheese. real cheese. gooey, dripping cheese. with clean shredded lettuce, refried beans and a waiter/waitress who never stops saying "would you like more water, sir?"
6. drive a car with my daughter in the backseat
let her listen to morrissey rolling down the PCH or bob marley on a nice day (she's partial to "no woman no cry";)
5. smoke cigars with old friends
somewhere on a balcony where bourbon is plentiful and we have the time and weather to catch up on old times. introducing sohee to our old friends in LA, DC, NY and letting her know the warmth of true Christian friendship
4. purchase and cook with the following:
avocados, fresh limes, basil, nutmeg, skirt steak, raddichio, polenta, gnocchi, mint...the list is almost endless
3. sleep in, wake up, take a 1 minute walk, and stand over the pacific ocean from a cliffside in PV
yes, kao clan, we're coming and cannot wait to party with you--though i'm sure the #3 spot will garner me much criticism (if i made you #1 there would be some serious accusations of bribery)
2. be reminded of what it means to have family and friends around
and that's the best part...if nothing on my list happens the way i want it, it won't matter. because we'll have friends, family....all there to greet us home for a short while. to relax with, laugh with, eat with, and enjoy life together. two years away has taught us that the most important thing is people. people make the place. people make the happiness. and we're excited to see you people.
1. taco bell
come on, did you really expect anything else?
(j/k...refer to #2 as the real #1)
well, that will come with another post b/c--TRUST me--i have quite a few reflections. some funny, some sad, some good and some just bewildering.
but as i sit in our living room staring out over the view of Guangzhou we've been blessed with while Sohee rolls, spins and babbles on her playmat i've thought a lot about what i would do when i got back to the states.
it ranges from being focused on food to seeing old friends to certain unique experiences that i previously took for granted.
so, here goes. my top ten things to do when i get back home (editor's/aric's note: the list is very LA-centric since we will arrive there first. all apologies to other US destinations we might visit for the lack of proper representation)
10. breathe in the fresh, LA air
yes, you may laugh, but after two years of air polluting your lungs, giving you black coughing discharges and making you winded just picking up a baby you too, my friend, will appreciate the mix of smoggy beachy goodness that is LA air
9. walk barefoot through my in-laws backyard grass at sunset
to feel the cool OC breeze and wiggle my toes in the grass...ahhhhh
8. walk barefoot on the beach....any beach
notice a theme here? actually, the beach is more for sohee. i want her to hear the ocean for the first time. see a wave. let the ocean water tickle her feet and roll around under a beach umbrella
7. eat an enchilada
mmm...cheese. real cheese. gooey, dripping cheese. with clean shredded lettuce, refried beans and a waiter/waitress who never stops saying "would you like more water, sir?"
6. drive a car with my daughter in the backseat
let her listen to morrissey rolling down the PCH or bob marley on a nice day (she's partial to "no woman no cry";)
5. smoke cigars with old friends
somewhere on a balcony where bourbon is plentiful and we have the time and weather to catch up on old times. introducing sohee to our old friends in LA, DC, NY and letting her know the warmth of true Christian friendship
4. purchase and cook with the following:
avocados, fresh limes, basil, nutmeg, skirt steak, raddichio, polenta, gnocchi, mint...the list is almost endless
3. sleep in, wake up, take a 1 minute walk, and stand over the pacific ocean from a cliffside in PV
yes, kao clan, we're coming and cannot wait to party with you--though i'm sure the #3 spot will garner me much criticism (if i made you #1 there would be some serious accusations of bribery)
2. be reminded of what it means to have family and friends around
and that's the best part...if nothing on my list happens the way i want it, it won't matter. because we'll have friends, family....all there to greet us home for a short while. to relax with, laugh with, eat with, and enjoy life together. two years away has taught us that the most important thing is people. people make the place. people make the happiness. and we're excited to see you people.
1. taco bell
come on, did you really expect anything else?
(j/k...refer to #2 as the real #1)
light at the end of the china tunnel...
Fri, 22nd April, 2011
it's taken the departure of my good friend Stuart to make me realize how much i actually miss home and all you friends.
well, we're happy to say that it's official. we're looking at a late summer arrival first on the west coast and then onto DC later.
we're very excited about the next post, but even moreso to see all of you. so, clear your calendars and expect a lot of food, laughter and cigars. it's back to America time and we're pumped!!
well, we're happy to say that it's official. we're looking at a late summer arrival first on the west coast and then onto DC later.
we're very excited about the next post, but even moreso to see all of you. so, clear your calendars and expect a lot of food, laughter and cigars. it's back to America time and we're pumped!!
my certainly content birthday...
Sat, 2nd April, 2011
it was a year ago around this day.
boo and i decided to visit the local Grand Hyatt for a steak night on my birthday in the hopes of enjoying a glimpse of American food and service.
the steak was great. the mashed potatoes creamy and the wine flowing.
it was also the night we met Sohee. she was the manager on duty and struck up a conversation in Korean with Boo which would spark a nice friendship.
it was also the night before Boo would find out she was pregnant with Sohee. of course, our chance encounter with this gracious hotel manager gave us the idea to name our daughter.
and it has been a year.
a few jobs later for me (aric). a baby later for us. a graduate degree, a wonderful time with boo's mom living with us and a whole lot of china (some good, some frustrating).
and we were back at the hyatt for a steak night again. this time the adult Sohee was pushing around baby Sohee in a stroller while Boo and I enjoyed a perfect ending to a perfect birthday.
perfect?
how so?
well, for as many years as i can remember, i have made my birthday about myself.
totally.
unashamed.
i woke up when i wanted. skipped out on work and school. met with who i wanted and enjoyed the day as i sought fit.
each birthday was great.
but it wasn't like this one.
perfect?
how so?
start with waking up and feeding your cooing 4 month old.
then roll around in bed with the (rare) China sun shining in on you, baby and mom.
then play tennis with your homeboy and, even though you get your butt handed to you, you cherish every moment of exercise in a breeze-washed day.
then enjoy lunch and a late afternoon nap followed up by suiting it up for a luxurious steak dinner.
and then go back to the beginning. the plain things. the main things.
staring at my two favorite women in the world in the early morning light made me realize why, during this whole week, i couldn't imagine a thing to do for my birthday when i previously had each birthday scripted out.
i'm content.
content. and that's all.
(oh, and i shaved my head entirely--pics to follow)
but just focus on the fact that i'm content :) :) :)
boo and i decided to visit the local Grand Hyatt for a steak night on my birthday in the hopes of enjoying a glimpse of American food and service.
the steak was great. the mashed potatoes creamy and the wine flowing.
it was also the night we met Sohee. she was the manager on duty and struck up a conversation in Korean with Boo which would spark a nice friendship.
it was also the night before Boo would find out she was pregnant with Sohee. of course, our chance encounter with this gracious hotel manager gave us the idea to name our daughter.
and it has been a year.
a few jobs later for me (aric). a baby later for us. a graduate degree, a wonderful time with boo's mom living with us and a whole lot of china (some good, some frustrating).
and we were back at the hyatt for a steak night again. this time the adult Sohee was pushing around baby Sohee in a stroller while Boo and I enjoyed a perfect ending to a perfect birthday.
perfect?
how so?
well, for as many years as i can remember, i have made my birthday about myself.
totally.
unashamed.
i woke up when i wanted. skipped out on work and school. met with who i wanted and enjoyed the day as i sought fit.
each birthday was great.
but it wasn't like this one.
perfect?
how so?
start with waking up and feeding your cooing 4 month old.
then roll around in bed with the (rare) China sun shining in on you, baby and mom.
then play tennis with your homeboy and, even though you get your butt handed to you, you cherish every moment of exercise in a breeze-washed day.
then enjoy lunch and a late afternoon nap followed up by suiting it up for a luxurious steak dinner.
and then go back to the beginning. the plain things. the main things.
staring at my two favorite women in the world in the early morning light made me realize why, during this whole week, i couldn't imagine a thing to do for my birthday when i previously had each birthday scripted out.
i'm content.
content. and that's all.
(oh, and i shaved my head entirely--pics to follow)
but just focus on the fact that i'm content :) :) :)
bolero
Wed, 16th March, 2011
When my mother lost her husband at age 42 to a fatal car accident, she did what every good “Oh” woman does to overcome grief.
She knitted.
My mother knitted a plush, intricate grey sweater and wore it every winter of my childhood. So two years ago, when she came to D.C. to take care of her daughter who had experienced the most devastating loss of her life, she took me to a yarn shop. We picked out rolls of pima cotton yarn in creamy green. And I began to knit. I took it to the Bahamas for a much needed time away, two weeks after we had sprinkled Saehee’s ashes on the Potomac. I took it on the flight to China as we embarked on a new life here. Every row accomplished told a story of healing, a long journey to motherhood.
One year to the date we lost our first born, I was pregnant with Sohee. And I stopped knitting. Honestly, it was mostly because I didn’t know what to do with the shawl that had ended up awkward and too long. But it, in a way, chronicled my time of grieving for our daughter and I felt uneasy unraveling it.
A year passes. We bring home a joy of a child. My arms are no longer empty.
My mom, back with us this time to help take care of a healthy, bouncy baby, asks me about the shawl. I shyly pull it out, explaining where I was at each row. She says – unravel it. We’ll make something better.
Within days, she had crocheted the most beautiful bolero that little Sohee would wear on her 100th day (Baek-il) celebration. Mom hovered over the tiny patch of intricate knots for hours under a lamp listening to Samson and Delilah’s “Mon Coeur S’ouvre a Ra Voix,” while Sohee cooed in her crib. She came into my home office today, in her hand the bolero hanging on a pink silk baby hanger. She said, “It is done,” and looked at me as if to say, “And so finally, is your grieving.”
She knitted.
My mother knitted a plush, intricate grey sweater and wore it every winter of my childhood. So two years ago, when she came to D.C. to take care of her daughter who had experienced the most devastating loss of her life, she took me to a yarn shop. We picked out rolls of pima cotton yarn in creamy green. And I began to knit. I took it to the Bahamas for a much needed time away, two weeks after we had sprinkled Saehee’s ashes on the Potomac. I took it on the flight to China as we embarked on a new life here. Every row accomplished told a story of healing, a long journey to motherhood.
One year to the date we lost our first born, I was pregnant with Sohee. And I stopped knitting. Honestly, it was mostly because I didn’t know what to do with the shawl that had ended up awkward and too long. But it, in a way, chronicled my time of grieving for our daughter and I felt uneasy unraveling it.
A year passes. We bring home a joy of a child. My arms are no longer empty.
My mom, back with us this time to help take care of a healthy, bouncy baby, asks me about the shawl. I shyly pull it out, explaining where I was at each row. She says – unravel it. We’ll make something better.
Within days, she had crocheted the most beautiful bolero that little Sohee would wear on her 100th day (Baek-il) celebration. Mom hovered over the tiny patch of intricate knots for hours under a lamp listening to Samson and Delilah’s “Mon Coeur S’ouvre a Ra Voix,” while Sohee cooed in her crib. She came into my home office today, in her hand the bolero hanging on a pink silk baby hanger. She said, “It is done,” and looked at me as if to say, “And so finally, is your grieving.”
done and done...
Tue, 8th March, 2011
"a lot of people go to college for 7 years."
"yeah, they're called doctors."
and with that immortal quote from the epic Tommy Boy, i'm reminded that my slow boat method of attending undergraduate and graduate programs ought to have garnered me a much more lucrative profession.
be that as it may, i'm done. i graduated from Fuller in December and the diploma is officially on its way.
and to make it even more official, my wife threw me the best surprise party a man could want. all of my good friends here in GZ crammed together at the best local Vietnamese restuarant shocked the hell out of me as I opened the door to a room full of friends, a custom banner of congratulations and pomp & circumstance filling the space. thanks to Stuart for the legwork, Brooke for a wonderful job of food ordering----but all the thanks goes to having a wife willing to bust her butt to celebrate her husband's accomplishment.
normally, i wouldn't think that such a degree deserves such attention. a lot of people get graduate degrees. and most of them have a more serious-sounding name than "Master of Divinity" (no, I wasn't awarded a robe and magic hat or anything)
but there is a certain sweetness to completing this degree primarily because of what the last 7 years has brought me while working on my masters.
i arrived in Pasadena in March of 04 bright-eyed about the prospects of going to school full time and getting a cash job to support me.
well, the job never came and i encountered the friendly world of graduate school loans.
i got a job at a church doing what i thought were good things in LA.
i then lost that job a year and a half later as the senior pastor imploded and went MIA.
still, i trudged on.
my relationship with Boo eventually saw her move from Tokyo to San Diego (and later to LA--but I'll get to that shortly).
we had long drives between LA and SD on the weekends (most of which Boo sacrificially braved). oftentimes we would meet midway at Boo's aunt's house which became a 2nd home to us--full of sweet memories and laughter.
after being burned by the church-occupation world, i went back to corporate america for a small internet company.
and, still, i trudged on--going to class 4 nights a week.
i popped the question to Boo.
she thankfully said 'yes.'
we spent the next year and a half planning the wedding.
and i kept chugging at work and school.
we got married, moved to a cozy apartment overlooking all of Eagle Rock, enjoyed the sunset from our balcony every night of the year and started to set a life together.
we were burned by church again (this time via pyramid scheme instituted by our small group leaders).
but through this we were introduced to a man who had a vision for a radical church in LA which would see recovering addicts and the homeless praising the same Jesus as the loft-dwelling yuppy rubbing shoulders with them in the congregation.
i woke up one morning after a dream with the name "New City" in my head.
and New City Church of LA was born. Boo and I worked vigorously on the church plant team to help see it become a reality.
the next year or so saw my family implode on themselves and explode on each other. Boo and I were both caught up and, sometimes, in the middle, of the aftermath of that tsunami.
and yet I kept going with school and work.
next it was off to DC for Boo's job and a final year of classes for me.
we hit a tragic wall losing Saehee but were kept afloat through the love of our close friends.
then somehow we landed in China and somehow God saw fit to bless me with the chance to finish my degree with my final internship at a local non-profit college helping handicapped students gain notarized degrees---something that is rare to almost impossible in China.
and if things couldn't get better---God upped the ante and blessed us with a little ball of gorgeous named Sohee.
and so that's where we are after 7 years after starting my journey at Fuller.
along the way, i've learned more about my faults and weaknesses as a Christian than any theological answers i might have been looking for. i've learned that i'm pretty broken and beat down but that somehow God keeps opening doors for me to serve Him.
and despite all of the fancy (and rather thick) books i now own, i'm not much closer to knowing anything more about God than when i started school.
so why pay all that money for the degree, then?
i guess i'm much closer to relying on my faith in God and His Son, my Savior, and His Spirit working in me than i was when i started school.
and if 7 years, and some sizeable loans, were what it took to get me there--then so be it. 7 years searching yourself and the support of a loving wife can be just what God needs to set you straight, i guess.
"yeah, they're called doctors."
and with that immortal quote from the epic Tommy Boy, i'm reminded that my slow boat method of attending undergraduate and graduate programs ought to have garnered me a much more lucrative profession.
be that as it may, i'm done. i graduated from Fuller in December and the diploma is officially on its way.
and to make it even more official, my wife threw me the best surprise party a man could want. all of my good friends here in GZ crammed together at the best local Vietnamese restuarant shocked the hell out of me as I opened the door to a room full of friends, a custom banner of congratulations and pomp & circumstance filling the space. thanks to Stuart for the legwork, Brooke for a wonderful job of food ordering----but all the thanks goes to having a wife willing to bust her butt to celebrate her husband's accomplishment.
normally, i wouldn't think that such a degree deserves such attention. a lot of people get graduate degrees. and most of them have a more serious-sounding name than "Master of Divinity" (no, I wasn't awarded a robe and magic hat or anything)
but there is a certain sweetness to completing this degree primarily because of what the last 7 years has brought me while working on my masters.
i arrived in Pasadena in March of 04 bright-eyed about the prospects of going to school full time and getting a cash job to support me.
well, the job never came and i encountered the friendly world of graduate school loans.
i got a job at a church doing what i thought were good things in LA.
i then lost that job a year and a half later as the senior pastor imploded and went MIA.
still, i trudged on.
my relationship with Boo eventually saw her move from Tokyo to San Diego (and later to LA--but I'll get to that shortly).
we had long drives between LA and SD on the weekends (most of which Boo sacrificially braved). oftentimes we would meet midway at Boo's aunt's house which became a 2nd home to us--full of sweet memories and laughter.
after being burned by the church-occupation world, i went back to corporate america for a small internet company.
and, still, i trudged on--going to class 4 nights a week.
i popped the question to Boo.
she thankfully said 'yes.'
we spent the next year and a half planning the wedding.
and i kept chugging at work and school.
we got married, moved to a cozy apartment overlooking all of Eagle Rock, enjoyed the sunset from our balcony every night of the year and started to set a life together.
we were burned by church again (this time via pyramid scheme instituted by our small group leaders).
but through this we were introduced to a man who had a vision for a radical church in LA which would see recovering addicts and the homeless praising the same Jesus as the loft-dwelling yuppy rubbing shoulders with them in the congregation.
i woke up one morning after a dream with the name "New City" in my head.
and New City Church of LA was born. Boo and I worked vigorously on the church plant team to help see it become a reality.
the next year or so saw my family implode on themselves and explode on each other. Boo and I were both caught up and, sometimes, in the middle, of the aftermath of that tsunami.
and yet I kept going with school and work.
next it was off to DC for Boo's job and a final year of classes for me.
we hit a tragic wall losing Saehee but were kept afloat through the love of our close friends.
then somehow we landed in China and somehow God saw fit to bless me with the chance to finish my degree with my final internship at a local non-profit college helping handicapped students gain notarized degrees---something that is rare to almost impossible in China.
and if things couldn't get better---God upped the ante and blessed us with a little ball of gorgeous named Sohee.
and so that's where we are after 7 years after starting my journey at Fuller.
along the way, i've learned more about my faults and weaknesses as a Christian than any theological answers i might have been looking for. i've learned that i'm pretty broken and beat down but that somehow God keeps opening doors for me to serve Him.
and despite all of the fancy (and rather thick) books i now own, i'm not much closer to knowing anything more about God than when i started school.
so why pay all that money for the degree, then?
i guess i'm much closer to relying on my faith in God and His Son, my Savior, and His Spirit working in me than i was when i started school.
and if 7 years, and some sizeable loans, were what it took to get me there--then so be it. 7 years searching yourself and the support of a loving wife can be just what God needs to set you straight, i guess.
and we're back...
Thu, 27th January, 2011
landed safely and soundly in the PRC this past week.
we've been busy setting up the baby's room and sifting through the wonderful gifts from all of you. little Sohee definitely appreciates them. we've had fun dressing her up, playing with her new toys and all the other great gifts.
boo's mom has joined us to help get us back on our feet after being gone for so long. i (aric) started back to my part-time job this week while boo will get back into the flow of work next month.
the days have been hectic but still cherished as we enjoy seeing Sohee get bigger and bigger each day. she's started smiling and follows us with her eyes. i think she likes the spacious new digs, too.
we're missing Seoul and the life of luxury we had there for a few months, but it's refreshing to reconnect with our friends here in GZ and introduce Sohee to them.
thanks for all the well wishes and phone calls. don't hesitate to drop us an email or video call anytime. we'll keep posting photos of Sohee as she plumps up more each day.
love,
aric and boo
we've been busy setting up the baby's room and sifting through the wonderful gifts from all of you. little Sohee definitely appreciates them. we've had fun dressing her up, playing with her new toys and all the other great gifts.
boo's mom has joined us to help get us back on our feet after being gone for so long. i (aric) started back to my part-time job this week while boo will get back into the flow of work next month.
the days have been hectic but still cherished as we enjoy seeing Sohee get bigger and bigger each day. she's started smiling and follows us with her eyes. i think she likes the spacious new digs, too.
we're missing Seoul and the life of luxury we had there for a few months, but it's refreshing to reconnect with our friends here in GZ and introduce Sohee to them.
thanks for all the well wishes and phone calls. don't hesitate to drop us an email or video call anytime. we'll keep posting photos of Sohee as she plumps up more each day.
love,
aric and boo
eat, poop, sleep...
Fri, 14th January, 2011
well, that was the life i was promised.
and it's been going according to plan for the most part. all except for the pooping, but i have my moments.
trust me, nothing is funnier than the look on dad's face when i let loose in all my pooping glory and he is left home alone to clean me up.
apart from that, my days have been fairly routine and comfy. i have to kick mom and dad in the butts to give me my 2-3am feeding and then grandma usually takes me for my breakfast in the morning. ah, how i love to chillax with grandma after a night in the crib.
then it's onto brunch (mom and dad's downstairs at the restuarant) while i sit pretty in my stroller and enjoy the doting waitresses. man, this will NEVER get old. :)
before i know it i'm awake again and with a bottle in my mouth.
actually, that's a recurring theme in my life it seems.
bottle in, sleep down, poop out. ah, the life.
here and there i get moments of pure joy interspersed with mom and dad's caring for me. "crazy hair" competitions with dad (he always claims to win), dancing with mom, sunsets over seoul or nap time with grandma. i could complain, but about what?
i'm told that next week we're all heading back to some place called China...or Cheena...perhaps the "i" is a long-sounded vowel, i'm not really sure.
i've been told to prepare for hot weather, bad air and lots of arms holding me. the first two are dicey---but i'm definitely looking forward to the latter.
so, here's to never-ending room temperature milk, having a nightly scrub in the tub, and all the good things that come with being a tiny human with no discernable neck control :)
love,
Sohee
and it's been going according to plan for the most part. all except for the pooping, but i have my moments.
trust me, nothing is funnier than the look on dad's face when i let loose in all my pooping glory and he is left home alone to clean me up.
apart from that, my days have been fairly routine and comfy. i have to kick mom and dad in the butts to give me my 2-3am feeding and then grandma usually takes me for my breakfast in the morning. ah, how i love to chillax with grandma after a night in the crib.
then it's onto brunch (mom and dad's downstairs at the restuarant) while i sit pretty in my stroller and enjoy the doting waitresses. man, this will NEVER get old. :)
before i know it i'm awake again and with a bottle in my mouth.
actually, that's a recurring theme in my life it seems.
bottle in, sleep down, poop out. ah, the life.
here and there i get moments of pure joy interspersed with mom and dad's caring for me. "crazy hair" competitions with dad (he always claims to win), dancing with mom, sunsets over seoul or nap time with grandma. i could complain, but about what?
i'm told that next week we're all heading back to some place called China...or Cheena...perhaps the "i" is a long-sounded vowel, i'm not really sure.
i've been told to prepare for hot weather, bad air and lots of arms holding me. the first two are dicey---but i'm definitely looking forward to the latter.
so, here's to never-ending room temperature milk, having a nightly scrub in the tub, and all the good things that come with being a tiny human with no discernable neck control :)
love,
Sohee
the cars, they do move...
Sat, 18th December, 2010
our living room in the apartment here in Seoul has floor to ceiling windows which face out onto one of Seoul's busiest avenues running up and down the city.
cars and buses are continually moving here and there. sometimes brisking through at 4am during an early morning feeding of Sohee. sometimes stuck in rush hour traffic while we go about our routine as she sleeps peacefully in the next room.
they go and go. but boo and i have felt a peaceful detachment from their pace. our days are restful as we feed Sohee, play with her, put her down to nap and enjoy the solace of a quiet apartment.
for me, the cars are a sign of what our life is NOT about these days. it's not about movement, progress, deadlines, work, etc. instead, i'm learning to enjoy the calm of not having anything in the world to accomplish other than love and care for my wife and child.
for boo, the cars oddly enough saddened her. like life was changing all around her without her control. but suddenly today that changed for her. she looked out the window at the steady stream of lights in the cold Seoul air and breathed a sigh of relief.
normalcy.
calm.
it's a blessed gift.
cars and buses are continually moving here and there. sometimes brisking through at 4am during an early morning feeding of Sohee. sometimes stuck in rush hour traffic while we go about our routine as she sleeps peacefully in the next room.
they go and go. but boo and i have felt a peaceful detachment from their pace. our days are restful as we feed Sohee, play with her, put her down to nap and enjoy the solace of a quiet apartment.
for me, the cars are a sign of what our life is NOT about these days. it's not about movement, progress, deadlines, work, etc. instead, i'm learning to enjoy the calm of not having anything in the world to accomplish other than love and care for my wife and child.
for boo, the cars oddly enough saddened her. like life was changing all around her without her control. but suddenly today that changed for her. she looked out the window at the steady stream of lights in the cold Seoul air and breathed a sigh of relief.
normalcy.
calm.
it's a blessed gift.
and now...
Tue, 14th December, 2010
i have this smiling joy of a child.
i look at her and everything pauses.
i look at her and everything pauses.
A moment of peace...
Fri, 10th December, 2010
that and a good night's rest were the things Boo and I were constantly told would elude us after the baby came.
And yet the last three days have afforded us many chances to breathe in the moment, nap away the time and enjoy our little Sohee.
Of course, she's suddenly realized that food dosen't come as easily as it did in the womb, but she is the most peaceful little girl when she has had her fill and looks wide eyed at the world.
Her crying is a sound I thought was only possible with machines but the peace we have when she quietly feeds and breathes heavy breaths make those moments pass quickly.
We're back now at the hotel apartment after a few days in the hospital. It's time to unpack in our new room (we switched to a two-bedroom since Booyeon's mom is coming to stay with us and help), take a brief rest and celebrate the homecoming of our little girl.
Thanks to all of you who have congratulated us, offered us words of wisdom (trust me, we need them), and prayed for us. Mom is tired, Sohee needs to grow faster according to the doctors, but all in all we're doing quite well. We could never imagine how God could bring us through such a tragedy as before to such a triumph as this.
Cheers to that smell of a baby's fresh skin and the stare they flash to two bewildered and adoring parents,
AricandBoo
And yet the last three days have afforded us many chances to breathe in the moment, nap away the time and enjoy our little Sohee.
Of course, she's suddenly realized that food dosen't come as easily as it did in the womb, but she is the most peaceful little girl when she has had her fill and looks wide eyed at the world.
Her crying is a sound I thought was only possible with machines but the peace we have when she quietly feeds and breathes heavy breaths make those moments pass quickly.
We're back now at the hotel apartment after a few days in the hospital. It's time to unpack in our new room (we switched to a two-bedroom since Booyeon's mom is coming to stay with us and help), take a brief rest and celebrate the homecoming of our little girl.
Thanks to all of you who have congratulated us, offered us words of wisdom (trust me, we need them), and prayed for us. Mom is tired, Sohee needs to grow faster according to the doctors, but all in all we're doing quite well. We could never imagine how God could bring us through such a tragedy as before to such a triumph as this.
Cheers to that smell of a baby's fresh skin and the stare they flash to two bewildered and adoring parents,
AricandBoo
Say hi to Baby Sohee...
Tue, 7th December, 2010
Sohee Eliana Allen arrived at 9:46am (Seoul time) this morning. She clocked in at 7.1lbs and is as healthy as she can be. She's even sporting a nice head of dark black hair.
Mom is resting up after about 7 hours of labor at the hospital.
Thanks for all your prayers and wishes!!
Mom is resting up after about 7 hours of labor at the hospital.
Thanks for all your prayers and wishes!!
it's "go" time...
Tue, 7th December, 2010
we're at the hospital (5am Seoul time) and the nurses say we should get to meet Sohee sometime today.
we'll send an email and post when she arrives on the scene.
so excited!!!
aric (and boo with the epidural working in her)
we'll send an email and post when she arrives on the scene.
so excited!!!
aric (and boo with the epidural working in her)
Due Date...
Sat, 4th December, 2010
...is today...but still no news.
It's a cold, gray day here in Seoul and Boo and I just returned from a local roast chicken joint. We have plans to hit the Picasso exhibit at the art museum this afternoon and will most likely see the due date come and pass.
We are just so thankful to be talking about a due date of any sort. It's an awesome feeling and blessing to know that we'll soon be meeting little Sohee.
Thanks for checking in and keep coming back to this blog. I (Aric) plan to keep updating the site with a play by play of the events as they (when they) unfold.
Love you all,
AricandBoo
It's a cold, gray day here in Seoul and Boo and I just returned from a local roast chicken joint. We have plans to hit the Picasso exhibit at the art museum this afternoon and will most likely see the due date come and pass.
We are just so thankful to be talking about a due date of any sort. It's an awesome feeling and blessing to know that we'll soon be meeting little Sohee.
Thanks for checking in and keep coming back to this blog. I (Aric) plan to keep updating the site with a play by play of the events as they (when they) unfold.
Love you all,
AricandBoo
Where's Sohee?
Mon, 29th November, 2010
We keep asking the question of Booyeon's niece, Nahee. And she cutely runs up to Boo's belly, taps it gently and gives the belly a kiss.
We all know where Sohee is. And yet we wait eagerly for her to come meet us all in person.
As for now, Sohee is a healthy 7.2lbs and is very active. She likes to stretch out and turn over around 8:30 every night. She saps mom's energy and is getting lower and lower each day.
The Doc has said that it's "any day now" and all signs are a go.
So we wait.
We know where Sohee is and can't wait to meet her.
We all know where Sohee is. And yet we wait eagerly for her to come meet us all in person.
As for now, Sohee is a healthy 7.2lbs and is very active. She likes to stretch out and turn over around 8:30 every night. She saps mom's energy and is getting lower and lower each day.
The Doc has said that it's "any day now" and all signs are a go.
So we wait.
We know where Sohee is and can't wait to meet her.
Seoul feels good...
Sun, 14th November, 2010
I got to Seoul late last week after spending 3.5 weeks of bachelor time in Guangzhou while Boo went ahead of me to Korea.
But now that I'm here, I'm wondering why I waited so long to come.
We're holed up at the 5 star Marriot Executive Apartments in a one bedroom apartment complete with full breakfast, bathhouse and gym services. It's quite a life---all on the government's dime (thanks very much to all you US taxpayers). Ambient lounge music plays all over the place--from the waterfall lobby to the full-service gym, sauna, golf range, full pool to the terrace where space heaters keep you warm outside the library bar. It's definitely more than Boo and I could ask for.
We're spending the days running random errands, napping, going to the bathhouse and eating wonderful meals.
Ah, the meals.
Seoul offers a man anything under the sun that his culinary palette could want. My first night here we dined on pork belly meat grilled to perfection and washed down with cold soju. We made a stop at Outback to down some ribs, ate traditional Korean rice pot and most recently did serious damage at Taco Bell. My eyes are constantly like dinner plates as we whiz past street food stalls selling warm, fried goodness, European style cafes, and Korean hole-in-the-walls offering up one or two particular Korean specialities. Seeing as Korean food is my favorite type of food--with its immense diversity of dishes depending on your mood--I feel like a kid in a candy store.
A very fat kid.
But a very happy kid.
For now, Sohee is looking on the up and up in terms of her health and we're making our weekly trips to Samsung International Hospital which is one of the premier hospitals in all of Korea. The doctor is warm and helpful which makes us look forward to the day when little Sohee decides to come out.
These days, Sohee seems content to sap all the energy from her mom while she's nestling in for her delivery. We were going to post the most recent 3-D photos of her but seeing as she looks like Benjamin Button squished between 2 pillows inside Boo's stomach, we thought it better to spare you, our faithful readers.
But, there are many photos coming as soon as I can get my computer up and running (it died on the way from China and I'm using my limited IT skills to try and revive it).
Keep checking the site and know that we are having the time of our lives during this Autumn season.
Love,
Aric (and Boo)
But now that I'm here, I'm wondering why I waited so long to come.
We're holed up at the 5 star Marriot Executive Apartments in a one bedroom apartment complete with full breakfast, bathhouse and gym services. It's quite a life---all on the government's dime (thanks very much to all you US taxpayers). Ambient lounge music plays all over the place--from the waterfall lobby to the full-service gym, sauna, golf range, full pool to the terrace where space heaters keep you warm outside the library bar. It's definitely more than Boo and I could ask for.
We're spending the days running random errands, napping, going to the bathhouse and eating wonderful meals.
Ah, the meals.
Seoul offers a man anything under the sun that his culinary palette could want. My first night here we dined on pork belly meat grilled to perfection and washed down with cold soju. We made a stop at Outback to down some ribs, ate traditional Korean rice pot and most recently did serious damage at Taco Bell. My eyes are constantly like dinner plates as we whiz past street food stalls selling warm, fried goodness, European style cafes, and Korean hole-in-the-walls offering up one or two particular Korean specialities. Seeing as Korean food is my favorite type of food--with its immense diversity of dishes depending on your mood--I feel like a kid in a candy store.
A very fat kid.
But a very happy kid.
For now, Sohee is looking on the up and up in terms of her health and we're making our weekly trips to Samsung International Hospital which is one of the premier hospitals in all of Korea. The doctor is warm and helpful which makes us look forward to the day when little Sohee decides to come out.
These days, Sohee seems content to sap all the energy from her mom while she's nestling in for her delivery. We were going to post the most recent 3-D photos of her but seeing as she looks like Benjamin Button squished between 2 pillows inside Boo's stomach, we thought it better to spare you, our faithful readers.
But, there are many photos coming as soon as I can get my computer up and running (it died on the way from China and I'm using my limited IT skills to try and revive it).
Keep checking the site and know that we are having the time of our lives during this Autumn season.
Love,
Aric (and Boo)
Autumn in Seoul
Sun, 24th October, 2010
Resting full time is a foreign concept to me. But I'm a fast learner.
In the first few days of my maternity leave, in which I have a unique opportunity to take six weeks off before the arrival of our newborn, I have sat with my feet up watching the sunset, spent an entire morning at a Korean bathhouse, and taken long walks with my mom along a tree-lined street stopping for blueberry smoothies and citrus tart. The days are short.
When I decided that I would not take any chances on delivering in China by leaving the country at 34 weeks, and that I would not work the summit in Seoul up until delivery, I essentially gave myself a month and a half vacation. Getting on the plane wasn’t easy. It was a month-long process of deciphering a 30-page cable on the complexities of a medical evacuation and all its requirements, organizing 40 pages of forms to be filled out before and after birth, and making a non-paid maternity leave situation workable. But as the plane lifted off of Guangzhou, I felt weightless and relaxed, ready to… rest.
Seoul is a vibrant city, a pace of life against which I feel strangely out of place. It’s a nice feeling though, to idly linger at a breakfast table with my sister and mother while looking out on to a busy street where people hurry to work.
Our hotel apartment overlooks a forest of trees in a park, and every morning, I see how the trees, one by one, are changing colors. Fall is about to set in with its brilliant colors. When Sohee is born, no doubt, these leaves will be gone. Here’s to a season of waiting, resting and… living.
In the first few days of my maternity leave, in which I have a unique opportunity to take six weeks off before the arrival of our newborn, I have sat with my feet up watching the sunset, spent an entire morning at a Korean bathhouse, and taken long walks with my mom along a tree-lined street stopping for blueberry smoothies and citrus tart. The days are short.
When I decided that I would not take any chances on delivering in China by leaving the country at 34 weeks, and that I would not work the summit in Seoul up until delivery, I essentially gave myself a month and a half vacation. Getting on the plane wasn’t easy. It was a month-long process of deciphering a 30-page cable on the complexities of a medical evacuation and all its requirements, organizing 40 pages of forms to be filled out before and after birth, and making a non-paid maternity leave situation workable. But as the plane lifted off of Guangzhou, I felt weightless and relaxed, ready to… rest.
Seoul is a vibrant city, a pace of life against which I feel strangely out of place. It’s a nice feeling though, to idly linger at a breakfast table with my sister and mother while looking out on to a busy street where people hurry to work.
Our hotel apartment overlooks a forest of trees in a park, and every morning, I see how the trees, one by one, are changing colors. Fall is about to set in with its brilliant colors. When Sohee is born, no doubt, these leaves will be gone. Here’s to a season of waiting, resting and… living.
hyacinths....
Sun, 19th September, 2010
I’ve always been a sucker for these Hallmark greeting type of sayings:
Dance as if no one is watching
Sing as if no one is listening
Love as if you’ve never been hurt
Live everyday as if it were your last
Years ago, when my college friend was brutally murdered, I experienced a defining moment alone in my bedroom. Reading online all the tributes made in her name etched into my mind a single truth. At the end of your life, nothing will matter except that you loved and that you were loved. The scenes that will pass before my eyes will be experiences, the life changing and the ordinary. Holding our daughter in the delivery room and getting lost in her face. Walking hand in hand down a stone alley way with my husband in a medieval Tuscan village. My sisters and my mom, four to a bed and giggling through the night. The countless sunsets over ocean horizons, the holding of hands, the hugs. It won’t be the promotion missed, the things we bought.
I suppose God didn’t want me to forget this lesson and so put my husband in my life, who reminds me of this almost everyday. Aric is a remarkably constant, grounding force in my life. When I first met him, he would casually drop one liners that struck me as so profound – which to him, was evidently just the way he lived his day to day. For example, during the first weeks of our dating, he walked me by a church garden near his office in downtown New York City and said he would sit in the empty church after lunch from time to time and take in the smell of hyacinths in the garden. He shrugged and said, “The main things are the plain things and the plain things are the main things.” This good –looking, yuppie bachelor (who looked like he walked out of a Banana Republic ad) had a favorite flower, took the time to – quite literally – stop and smell them, and knew that those simple moments are the main things in life. I still have my planner from that time, with a note to myself scribbled, "hyacinths"
Tonight, we talked about our finances as we prepare to bring our baby into the world and take leave without pay for a few months to do so. I asked him what his spending priorities are. He said, “experiences and relationships.” After we pay our bills, tithe, and put away our savings, our biggest expenses are going to new places and cooking for people, or eating out with them. Between just him and me, we could afford to do this, and we wondered how things will change as our family grows. But for now, I am touched by the way my husband so nonchalantly captured how I had always wanted to live my life since that defining moment after my friend died. I wanted to live life cherishing experiences and people. He has helped me do just that: traveling and spending quality time with people.
Thank you, Aric.
Dance as if no one is watching
Sing as if no one is listening
Love as if you’ve never been hurt
Live everyday as if it were your last
Years ago, when my college friend was brutally murdered, I experienced a defining moment alone in my bedroom. Reading online all the tributes made in her name etched into my mind a single truth. At the end of your life, nothing will matter except that you loved and that you were loved. The scenes that will pass before my eyes will be experiences, the life changing and the ordinary. Holding our daughter in the delivery room and getting lost in her face. Walking hand in hand down a stone alley way with my husband in a medieval Tuscan village. My sisters and my mom, four to a bed and giggling through the night. The countless sunsets over ocean horizons, the holding of hands, the hugs. It won’t be the promotion missed, the things we bought.
I suppose God didn’t want me to forget this lesson and so put my husband in my life, who reminds me of this almost everyday. Aric is a remarkably constant, grounding force in my life. When I first met him, he would casually drop one liners that struck me as so profound – which to him, was evidently just the way he lived his day to day. For example, during the first weeks of our dating, he walked me by a church garden near his office in downtown New York City and said he would sit in the empty church after lunch from time to time and take in the smell of hyacinths in the garden. He shrugged and said, “The main things are the plain things and the plain things are the main things.” This good –looking, yuppie bachelor (who looked like he walked out of a Banana Republic ad) had a favorite flower, took the time to – quite literally – stop and smell them, and knew that those simple moments are the main things in life. I still have my planner from that time, with a note to myself scribbled, "hyacinths"
Tonight, we talked about our finances as we prepare to bring our baby into the world and take leave without pay for a few months to do so. I asked him what his spending priorities are. He said, “experiences and relationships.” After we pay our bills, tithe, and put away our savings, our biggest expenses are going to new places and cooking for people, or eating out with them. Between just him and me, we could afford to do this, and we wondered how things will change as our family grows. But for now, I am touched by the way my husband so nonchalantly captured how I had always wanted to live my life since that defining moment after my friend died. I wanted to live life cherishing experiences and people. He has helped me do just that: traveling and spending quality time with people.
Thank you, Aric.
Restlessness...
Sun, 8th August, 2010
Restlessness. It is this sense of not yet having arrived that has defined most of my childhood and adult life. It lingered even in my happiest of moments – 21 years old, in Japan, and walking home in the summer rain breathing in the greenness, walking down the aisle to Bach’s cantata arioso, or quietly sipping hot coffee watching the sunset over Glendale with my husband from our balcony in our first months of marriage. I simply accepted it as a part of life – a certain incompleteness that makes one turn to God. “My heart will be restless until it finds its rest in you.” St. Augustine.
For the first time, I have entered a season where this restlessness is gone. This time, it’s not restlessness that keeps me reaching for God. It is gratitude and awe that Shalom has finally been given to me. A sense of peace, completeness, and contentment. Fullness of life. Aric and I often look at each other these days and say, “There is not one thing we lack in our lives. It is perfect.” Would our joy in bringing our little Sohee into the world be this pervasive had we not experienced the same degree of loss not too long ago?
To those who have mourned the death of our first daughter – Saehee – with us, I tell them that this pregnancy is one of parallel emotions. One of utter wonder and joy at this life forming so perfectly, and a reminder with each sonogram, each milestone of the life that ended before it could begin. I know that it will continue even to the day I am in the delivery room, this time holding a crying, healthy newborn, not one lifeless and still. Some look at me with sadness, wishing for me that this pregnancy would not be tainted with painful memories of the past. But the amazing thing is that somehow those dark days make today all the more meaningful. I often think that I would not have Shalom in this pregnancy any other way. Last spring, when we lost Saehee, we experienced no miraculous healing or deliverance. But we can say that for every ounce of sorrow, there was grace. It didn’t cancel each other out; they simply coexisted. And so is this season of “peace, completeness and contentment” in our lives. Memories of Saehee linger but they do not take away from the wonderful forming and birth of Sohee. They make our happiness more robust.
I’m dancing these days, friends. It’s true. He does “turn my mourning into dancing.” Psalm 30:11
For the first time, I have entered a season where this restlessness is gone. This time, it’s not restlessness that keeps me reaching for God. It is gratitude and awe that Shalom has finally been given to me. A sense of peace, completeness, and contentment. Fullness of life. Aric and I often look at each other these days and say, “There is not one thing we lack in our lives. It is perfect.” Would our joy in bringing our little Sohee into the world be this pervasive had we not experienced the same degree of loss not too long ago?
To those who have mourned the death of our first daughter – Saehee – with us, I tell them that this pregnancy is one of parallel emotions. One of utter wonder and joy at this life forming so perfectly, and a reminder with each sonogram, each milestone of the life that ended before it could begin. I know that it will continue even to the day I am in the delivery room, this time holding a crying, healthy newborn, not one lifeless and still. Some look at me with sadness, wishing for me that this pregnancy would not be tainted with painful memories of the past. But the amazing thing is that somehow those dark days make today all the more meaningful. I often think that I would not have Shalom in this pregnancy any other way. Last spring, when we lost Saehee, we experienced no miraculous healing or deliverance. But we can say that for every ounce of sorrow, there was grace. It didn’t cancel each other out; they simply coexisted. And so is this season of “peace, completeness and contentment” in our lives. Memories of Saehee linger but they do not take away from the wonderful forming and birth of Sohee. They make our happiness more robust.
I’m dancing these days, friends. It’s true. He does “turn my mourning into dancing.” Psalm 30:11
China, Handicapped
Mon, 5th July, 2010
I’m continually being surprised by life. I guess this is a good thing because it reinforces the fact that I don’t know everything (despite how I may act sometimes).
Coming to China, I was sure that I knew everything about the Chinese people. To say the least, I’ve been surprised over and over again to get to know a fascinatingly complex people who at times seem both compassionate and contradictory, intelligent and yet confusing, ambitious and giving.
One of the greatest surprises, though, has been my discovery of GETCH. The Guangzhou English Training Center for the Handicapped wouldn’t impress you at first sight. They meet in a dilapidated (yet continually renovated) old elementary school which is located down a mix of back alleyways strewn with clothes hanging out to dry. The school is located off of a nondescript road in downtown Guangzhou. They have a small staff, an even smaller budget and few students relative to local colleges.
But it’s the work that GETCH is doing which surprised me the most. The organization offers government-approved English certifications, tuition-free, to disabled college-age students here in China. It’s the first and only one of its kind to offer such a redeeming life gift to China’s vastly underserved disabled population. The school puts students through a rigorous multi-year English training program with the goal of empowering the students to overcome their handicap and achieve more than they ought to in a country such as China.
I have been volunteering at GETCH as part of my final internship for my Masters of Divinity degree at Fuller Theological Seminary. It’s been a continual joy for me to interact with the students and staff as I teach a practical business course aimed at helping the students form and grow a sustainable small business for the purposes of raising funds for GETCH. The students will create non-profit businesses which will return all proceeds back to GETCH and teach the students the practical “in’s and out’s” of starting a small business.
As I have worked with the students, I’ve been nothing short of blessed to witness their enthusiasm, joy and perseverance in learning English. For most of them, they embrace this opportunity to excel in life much further than Chinese society would otherwise let them—considering their handicaps and the social stigma attached to them. Every Friday morning as I walk the 20 minute walk across the Renmin Bridge to meet the students, I pause and look down over the Pearl River to literally contain my excitement. I’m continually blessed to have them as my students and to be a part of GETCH’s mission to help young handicapped students in China fulfill their dreams.
I’ve posted some photos on Facebook of the students from a recent fundraising festival they conducted as well as a movie-night party at my home where Booyeon and I hosted about 30 students. I hope you enjoy the photos and look to learn more about GETCH.
I think you might just be surprised.
http://www.canpei.com/en/index.asp
Coming to China, I was sure that I knew everything about the Chinese people. To say the least, I’ve been surprised over and over again to get to know a fascinatingly complex people who at times seem both compassionate and contradictory, intelligent and yet confusing, ambitious and giving.
One of the greatest surprises, though, has been my discovery of GETCH. The Guangzhou English Training Center for the Handicapped wouldn’t impress you at first sight. They meet in a dilapidated (yet continually renovated) old elementary school which is located down a mix of back alleyways strewn with clothes hanging out to dry. The school is located off of a nondescript road in downtown Guangzhou. They have a small staff, an even smaller budget and few students relative to local colleges.
But it’s the work that GETCH is doing which surprised me the most. The organization offers government-approved English certifications, tuition-free, to disabled college-age students here in China. It’s the first and only one of its kind to offer such a redeeming life gift to China’s vastly underserved disabled population. The school puts students through a rigorous multi-year English training program with the goal of empowering the students to overcome their handicap and achieve more than they ought to in a country such as China.
I have been volunteering at GETCH as part of my final internship for my Masters of Divinity degree at Fuller Theological Seminary. It’s been a continual joy for me to interact with the students and staff as I teach a practical business course aimed at helping the students form and grow a sustainable small business for the purposes of raising funds for GETCH. The students will create non-profit businesses which will return all proceeds back to GETCH and teach the students the practical “in’s and out’s” of starting a small business.
As I have worked with the students, I’ve been nothing short of blessed to witness their enthusiasm, joy and perseverance in learning English. For most of them, they embrace this opportunity to excel in life much further than Chinese society would otherwise let them—considering their handicaps and the social stigma attached to them. Every Friday morning as I walk the 20 minute walk across the Renmin Bridge to meet the students, I pause and look down over the Pearl River to literally contain my excitement. I’m continually blessed to have them as my students and to be a part of GETCH’s mission to help young handicapped students in China fulfill their dreams.
I’ve posted some photos on Facebook of the students from a recent fundraising festival they conducted as well as a movie-night party at my home where Booyeon and I hosted about 30 students. I hope you enjoy the photos and look to learn more about GETCH.
I think you might just be surprised.
http://www.canpei.com/en/index.asp
fishing for my food...
Tue, 23rd March, 2010
was what i literally did today.
my good friend, Stuart, stumbled upon a local "restaurant" where you go in, sit down with a fishing pole and catch live prawns in a small pool.
all in all it costs about $6 for each hour of fishing. and once you've caught your load of prawns, the owner fires up a grill, packs the prawns with salt and lets you roast them to pink perfection. after adding a bit of hot pepper or cumin, the shrimp go down nice and smooth.
now, why do i mention this experience?
because it's yet another reason why i freakin love this city. though we only managed to snag 5 shrimp among us (stuart came out ahead with 3 to his name), we still sat back and savored the experience of such a unique gem being placed in the middle of our city. for sure i'll try to wrangle others there for a late night fishing expedition (they let you bring your own beer and are open til 2am...nice!).
not only can i enjoy a fun-catch-your-own lunch experience
but i can also rest in the fact that, since 5 shrimp don't exactly fill you up, i can then take a $5 cab ride across town and enjoy an al fresco meal at a lakeside park near where i teach one of my classes.
as you can read from my post below, i've been in a struggle against the pollution and overall grime of this city these last few weeks. i've coughed up more phlem than i care to recount and have had to battle with 8 hour days of speaking broken english to my new students at a local university---all of which has made me reflect negatively on china (and continued news of the google battle doesn't help)
but on days like today---or this coming saturday when i'll whip around a F1 go kart race track for under $10---remind me that there is fun and beauty and more fun and more experiences to be had here.
my home.
my good friend, Stuart, stumbled upon a local "restaurant" where you go in, sit down with a fishing pole and catch live prawns in a small pool.
all in all it costs about $6 for each hour of fishing. and once you've caught your load of prawns, the owner fires up a grill, packs the prawns with salt and lets you roast them to pink perfection. after adding a bit of hot pepper or cumin, the shrimp go down nice and smooth.
now, why do i mention this experience?
because it's yet another reason why i freakin love this city. though we only managed to snag 5 shrimp among us (stuart came out ahead with 3 to his name), we still sat back and savored the experience of such a unique gem being placed in the middle of our city. for sure i'll try to wrangle others there for a late night fishing expedition (they let you bring your own beer and are open til 2am...nice!).
not only can i enjoy a fun-catch-your-own lunch experience
but i can also rest in the fact that, since 5 shrimp don't exactly fill you up, i can then take a $5 cab ride across town and enjoy an al fresco meal at a lakeside park near where i teach one of my classes.
as you can read from my post below, i've been in a struggle against the pollution and overall grime of this city these last few weeks. i've coughed up more phlem than i care to recount and have had to battle with 8 hour days of speaking broken english to my new students at a local university---all of which has made me reflect negatively on china (and continued news of the google battle doesn't help)
but on days like today---or this coming saturday when i'll whip around a F1 go kart race track for under $10---remind me that there is fun and beauty and more fun and more experiences to be had here.
my home.
black lung...
Tue, 16th March, 2010
It was something I use to make fun of…joked about as I puffed on a cigar with friends laughing about the effects that the New York air or Los Angeles smog would have on my lungs when combined with the smooth draft of a J and R Ultimate.
I’ve smoked cigars around once every two months for ten years and never felt so much as a wheeze.
I’ve lived in China 6 months and now cough up items which might be better preserved in a natural history museum for future generations to gawk at.
And as I hack and cough riding in the morning taxi at 6am to catch the bus to travel an hour outside of Guangzhou to my 2nd English teaching job at a local university, I see where my cough comes from. The factories churn and move at all hours—as does the rest of this country. A man with tired, dirty hands pushes a cart across the highway—a cart containing something covered in the standard white plastic wrapping. A motorcycle speeds by with water bottles and cardboard boxes on the back seat. And the ubiquitous buses migrate the sleeping masses to work. There seems to be no moment wasted. Everyone is in the pursuit of production.
But it’s only recently that I’ve begun to experience one, while small, of the many consequences of this blind movement towards more and bigger.
My cough.
It’s reminded me that all of this motion—the desire to have a better life—might just not be all it’s cracked up to be. Of course, being the arrogant American who’s enjoyed a life of blue skies and fresh grass, it’s hard for me to relate to a place which has weeks and months where the sun is literally blotted out by the pollution—where some days you have a hard time differentiating between the sweat, grime or rain on your face.
That aside, I hear from my students that the “air is bad” in Guangzhou at the same time that they comment how this country is growing into the next superpower. Some students are astute enough to recognize the need for environmental checks. But most feel that progress is necessary and therefore the consequences are inevitable.
I just wonder if the consequences aren’t inevitable but instead ignored.
The movement seems to distract everyone from the consequences.
That is, until you get a cough.
I’ve smoked cigars around once every two months for ten years and never felt so much as a wheeze.
I’ve lived in China 6 months and now cough up items which might be better preserved in a natural history museum for future generations to gawk at.
And as I hack and cough riding in the morning taxi at 6am to catch the bus to travel an hour outside of Guangzhou to my 2nd English teaching job at a local university, I see where my cough comes from. The factories churn and move at all hours—as does the rest of this country. A man with tired, dirty hands pushes a cart across the highway—a cart containing something covered in the standard white plastic wrapping. A motorcycle speeds by with water bottles and cardboard boxes on the back seat. And the ubiquitous buses migrate the sleeping masses to work. There seems to be no moment wasted. Everyone is in the pursuit of production.
But it’s only recently that I’ve begun to experience one, while small, of the many consequences of this blind movement towards more and bigger.
My cough.
It’s reminded me that all of this motion—the desire to have a better life—might just not be all it’s cracked up to be. Of course, being the arrogant American who’s enjoyed a life of blue skies and fresh grass, it’s hard for me to relate to a place which has weeks and months where the sun is literally blotted out by the pollution—where some days you have a hard time differentiating between the sweat, grime or rain on your face.
That aside, I hear from my students that the “air is bad” in Guangzhou at the same time that they comment how this country is growing into the next superpower. Some students are astute enough to recognize the need for environmental checks. But most feel that progress is necessary and therefore the consequences are inevitable.
I just wonder if the consequences aren’t inevitable but instead ignored.
The movement seems to distract everyone from the consequences.
That is, until you get a cough.
chinese new year photos...
Tue, 9th March, 2010
...from manila are now posted.
enjoy.
enjoy.
more daily life...
Wed, 10th February, 2010
photos for your enjoyment. plus shots of our apartment.
we're off to manila for chinese new year's. aric is hoping to complete his scuba certification and avoid getting an ear infection as water drains into the hole in his ear drum created by his last dive.
of course, boo will be sitting on the beach reading a nice book as aric swims with the fishies...
xin nian kuai le! (happy new year)...
we're off to manila for chinese new year's. aric is hoping to complete his scuba certification and avoid getting an ear infection as water drains into the hole in his ear drum created by his last dive.
of course, boo will be sitting on the beach reading a nice book as aric swims with the fishies...
xin nian kuai le! (happy new year)...
bobby flay in China???
Tue, 9th February, 2010
Aric is featured in a Chinese paper cooking a traditional American Christmas...check it out on our homepage.
playing house with boo
Sat, 30th January, 2010
I’m playing house these days, Aric tells my friends.
I am. There’s something comforting and reassuring about taking an empty space, a blank wall, then filling it with beauty.
Sprigs of tall, berry branches in a long, white ceramic vase in the corner of our dining room. Small pots of green herbs along the kitchen window sill. Photo of the first dance framed and hung in the hallway -- finally after 3.5 years. Giant throw and big plush cushion on the window seat, an area Aric has dubbed “Boo corner.”
After hanging 11 framed photos and art, which barely made a dent on our white wall space, I framed 18 more things today. Aric says that he’s afraid that I might size him up and put him in a frame too. It’s so cheap ($3-4 per medium-size frame) that going to the frame market is almost addictive.
So that’s what I am doing these days. Trying not to think too much. Trying to be still. Trying to create space in my day-to-day, in my home for peace.
Just finished China Road by Robert Gifford. Reading Andrew Murray’s Waiting On God. Starting Tocqueville’s Democracy in America – an oddly insightful narrative for a stranger in a new land.
I am. There’s something comforting and reassuring about taking an empty space, a blank wall, then filling it with beauty.
Sprigs of tall, berry branches in a long, white ceramic vase in the corner of our dining room. Small pots of green herbs along the kitchen window sill. Photo of the first dance framed and hung in the hallway -- finally after 3.5 years. Giant throw and big plush cushion on the window seat, an area Aric has dubbed “Boo corner.”
After hanging 11 framed photos and art, which barely made a dent on our white wall space, I framed 18 more things today. Aric says that he’s afraid that I might size him up and put him in a frame too. It’s so cheap ($3-4 per medium-size frame) that going to the frame market is almost addictive.
So that’s what I am doing these days. Trying not to think too much. Trying to be still. Trying to create space in my day-to-day, in my home for peace.
Just finished China Road by Robert Gifford. Reading Andrew Murray’s Waiting On God. Starting Tocqueville’s Democracy in America – an oddly insightful narrative for a stranger in a new land.
the life of a house-husband...
Thu, 28th January, 2010
i remember reading an article in a LA paper shortly before leaving the states which had a detailed story on a "new breed" of men in America...men who were content to stay at home, help raise the family and forego their careers for the sake of their wives.
i forget the exact wording, but the article seemed to take special note of this phenomenon because the men had sacrificed that which was so dear to them; their careers. and with that came the sacrifice of their reputations, their status and, somehow, an essence of their manhood.
well, i thought, if i ever found my manhood sitting in a cubicle under glaring neon lights providing "strategic direction" on the next big project for the sake of innovation in ______ industry, then i should take that manhood back for a refund.
now, for those who know me, i'm definitely no hunter-gatherer type. i wouldn't know a carburetor from a carbon atom (though i'm quite schooled in the way of cigars and whiskey i must add). i'm not one to say that to be a man you ought to pound your chest and build a house from scratch (but that would be a nice skill to have).
instead, 4 months after "losing" my career to pursue a life abroad with a wife as an FSO, i've thought a lot about what it means to be a house-husband. or, to be more precise, i've thought a lot about what others might think about being a house-husband.
see, in boo's line of work, there are many men unwilling to compromise their careers or livelihood for the sake of the girlfriend or even spouse. there is a fork in the road which sadly often ends in the wrong direction. and i understand there are many valid reasons for this.
but one reason i just can't wrap my head around was what the newspaper article i read insinuated---that it was so difficult for a man to give up his career for a woman and succumb to being the financial second-fiddle in the relationship.
i mean, if we draw our value from size of our office or paycheck---if it's that hard to let go of the rung we've hung onto on the corporate ladder for so long---what does that say about how we view our relationship or marriage?
don't get me wrong. i'm not one for absconding from personal responsibility. this is probably the reason i'll soon have two different jobs teaching English (don't laugh, it's the best gig available to a whitey out here) and continually keep my options open for the future. i'm by no means opposed to working in order to sustain the family and ease the financial burden.
it's just that i'm still troubled by the intertwining of manhood with a dominant paycheck. i think i'm more troubled that this intertwining is so pervasive among people just like me. we all yearn for the day when we can relax each morning, pursue a hobby and enjoy life without the grind of a daily commute and the annoynance of office politics.
and yet we look down on those who have just that.
so i guess i refund my manhood.
and in return i get the happiness of leisure, the satisfaction a good day's work and a life i could of only dreamt of with the very woman of my dreams.
i forget the exact wording, but the article seemed to take special note of this phenomenon because the men had sacrificed that which was so dear to them; their careers. and with that came the sacrifice of their reputations, their status and, somehow, an essence of their manhood.
well, i thought, if i ever found my manhood sitting in a cubicle under glaring neon lights providing "strategic direction" on the next big project for the sake of innovation in ______ industry, then i should take that manhood back for a refund.
now, for those who know me, i'm definitely no hunter-gatherer type. i wouldn't know a carburetor from a carbon atom (though i'm quite schooled in the way of cigars and whiskey i must add). i'm not one to say that to be a man you ought to pound your chest and build a house from scratch (but that would be a nice skill to have).
instead, 4 months after "losing" my career to pursue a life abroad with a wife as an FSO, i've thought a lot about what it means to be a house-husband. or, to be more precise, i've thought a lot about what others might think about being a house-husband.
see, in boo's line of work, there are many men unwilling to compromise their careers or livelihood for the sake of the girlfriend or even spouse. there is a fork in the road which sadly often ends in the wrong direction. and i understand there are many valid reasons for this.
but one reason i just can't wrap my head around was what the newspaper article i read insinuated---that it was so difficult for a man to give up his career for a woman and succumb to being the financial second-fiddle in the relationship.
i mean, if we draw our value from size of our office or paycheck---if it's that hard to let go of the rung we've hung onto on the corporate ladder for so long---what does that say about how we view our relationship or marriage?
don't get me wrong. i'm not one for absconding from personal responsibility. this is probably the reason i'll soon have two different jobs teaching English (don't laugh, it's the best gig available to a whitey out here) and continually keep my options open for the future. i'm by no means opposed to working in order to sustain the family and ease the financial burden.
it's just that i'm still troubled by the intertwining of manhood with a dominant paycheck. i think i'm more troubled that this intertwining is so pervasive among people just like me. we all yearn for the day when we can relax each morning, pursue a hobby and enjoy life without the grind of a daily commute and the annoynance of office politics.
and yet we look down on those who have just that.
so i guess i refund my manhood.
and in return i get the happiness of leisure, the satisfaction a good day's work and a life i could of only dreamt of with the very woman of my dreams.
new pictures
Tue, 19th January, 2010
now that the Dallas Cowboys have fallen to the earth in a thud and Aric's obsession can take a back seat to morbid boredom, he finally decided to post our Taiwan photos.
we spent a wonderful 7 days on the island visiting with old friends, making new ones and generally experiencing a great city.
it's true when folks describe Taipei as the "Chinese Tokyo"...it has everything and everything is packaged nicely. there were night markets to explore, out-of-town trips to the hot springs, and laughter to mark each night.
we got history lessons, a break from the mainland and about 5-10 unwanted pounds (a direct result of the amazing Taiwanese street food).
thanks to our hosts for not only letting us crash in their home, providing us detailed city maps, lending us metrocards, taking us out to dinner and...well...you get the point. they were quite possibly the best hosts ever invented.
enjoy the photos and feel free to let us know where our artistic eye left you hanging.
-aricandboo.com
we spent a wonderful 7 days on the island visiting with old friends, making new ones and generally experiencing a great city.
it's true when folks describe Taipei as the "Chinese Tokyo"...it has everything and everything is packaged nicely. there were night markets to explore, out-of-town trips to the hot springs, and laughter to mark each night.
we got history lessons, a break from the mainland and about 5-10 unwanted pounds (a direct result of the amazing Taiwanese street food).
thanks to our hosts for not only letting us crash in their home, providing us detailed city maps, lending us metrocards, taking us out to dinner and...well...you get the point. they were quite possibly the best hosts ever invented.
enjoy the photos and feel free to let us know where our artistic eye left you hanging.
-aricandboo.com
pics from taiwan...
Sat, 9th January, 2010
will be posted soon!!!
we're sorry for the delay.
it's saturday night here in china and Aric is eagerly anticipating the Dallas Cowboys football game tomorrow morning....the game has definitely distracted him from posting our Taiwan pictures, so we apologize.
we miss you and keep our Skype account open regularly to stay in touch with us.
love,
aricandboo.com
we're sorry for the delay.
it's saturday night here in china and Aric is eagerly anticipating the Dallas Cowboys football game tomorrow morning....the game has definitely distracted him from posting our Taiwan pictures, so we apologize.
we miss you and keep our Skype account open regularly to stay in touch with us.
love,
aricandboo.com
feliz navidad...
Wed, 16th December, 2009
We'll be moving into our new apartment this weekend and then heading off to Taipei for Christmas. So, much to the chagrin of you--our most loyal readers, this web site won't be updated for a week or so.
Since I know this will leave many of you heart-broken, please enjoy our new Christmas e-card. It's environmentally-friendly and fun for the whole family.
Have a Merry Christmas and remember to drink some egg nog for us!
Love, The Allens
Since I know this will leave many of you heart-broken, please enjoy our new Christmas e-card. It's environmentally-friendly and fun for the whole family.
Have a Merry Christmas and remember to drink some egg nog for us!
Love, The Allens
footsteps in the sea
Thu, 10th December, 2009
The early morning shuttle I take to work is always parked along the Pearl River. These days, I like to climb into that shuttle a few minutes before everyone rushes in. I like to watch the stillness of the morning hovering over the river as the sun slowly rises high up into the sky. It’s been rainy lately, and this morning, I sat there idly watching the red orange sun make its way through the grey clouds. It set the scene for these words I would hear through my ear phones as I walked along the tree-lined streets of Tianhe on my way home:
I move in a mysterious way
My wonders to perform
I plant my footsteps in the sea
And ride upon the storm
Blind unbelief is sure to err
And scan my works in vain
I am mine own interpreter
And I will make it plain
Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take
The clouds you so much dread
Are big with mercy and shall break
With blessings on your head
Oh the clouds I so much dread. They are big with mercy. These words seemed to embrace what was hard and numb until they were breathing again.
I can tell you that my day to day here is filled with so much activity. What seems like an unending series of conversations through the visa window for four hours in the morning; a relaxing lunch with coworkers who are now my friends; listening to Wilco or Karen Ann or David Gray on my earphones while catching up on backlog cases and emails in the afternoon. Then a quiet walk back home or dinner with friends. Weekends are a whirlwind of following my husband around the city, exploring gems he discovered during the week.
But quiet moments -- moments such as the one I had this morning, and later among a crowd of people on my way back home – call to who I really am. I am a mother who lost her baby 8 months ago. I long for that day when my arms are no longer empty. Today, however, I had a comforting thought. That one day, I would look back on these days of waiting and surrendering, and see that it mattered how I would pass through this season. It would matter how I waited, that as I did, I would be changed.
I move in a mysterious way
My wonders to perform
I plant my footsteps in the sea
And ride upon the storm
Blind unbelief is sure to err
And scan my works in vain
I am mine own interpreter
And I will make it plain
Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take
The clouds you so much dread
Are big with mercy and shall break
With blessings on your head
Oh the clouds I so much dread. They are big with mercy. These words seemed to embrace what was hard and numb until they were breathing again.
I can tell you that my day to day here is filled with so much activity. What seems like an unending series of conversations through the visa window for four hours in the morning; a relaxing lunch with coworkers who are now my friends; listening to Wilco or Karen Ann or David Gray on my earphones while catching up on backlog cases and emails in the afternoon. Then a quiet walk back home or dinner with friends. Weekends are a whirlwind of following my husband around the city, exploring gems he discovered during the week.
But quiet moments -- moments such as the one I had this morning, and later among a crowd of people on my way back home – call to who I really am. I am a mother who lost her baby 8 months ago. I long for that day when my arms are no longer empty. Today, however, I had a comforting thought. That one day, I would look back on these days of waiting and surrendering, and see that it mattered how I would pass through this season. It would matter how I waited, that as I did, I would be changed.
thanksgiving in korea
Mon, 7th December, 2009
photos are posted for your viewing pleasure...
making eye contact...
Thu, 3rd December, 2009
before arriving in china, i heard from many people that the chinese were a stubborn bunch. abrasive, rude, and exclusive--always putting up walls against westerners to keep them out of chinese social life.
for as much as the chinese looked to the US for ideals and were entranced by American culture, i was told by some, the chinese people were a highly closed culture as it related to western folks. while the chinese had big hearts and much warmth, it was often too frustrating for westerners to chip the facade of social ice in order to uncover the goodness of chinese people.
of course, i decided to put this little theory to the test.
as i've mentioned, i play football (read: soccer in the US) about twice a week at the major sports center located in the 'new' business district of the city--not far from boo's office. a few folks have remarked not at the fact that i play football there but who i play with--see, i play with only locals which i guess makes some people wonder 'how?' since i only speak about enough chinese to get me into trouble at the supermarket.
of course, i get the requisite gawks and stares from passers-by as they see this lone white man running (well, more like jogging) amongst about 14 chinese men. the language barrier has provided some interesting moments (how do you say "hey idiot, i was wide open on the right flank?" in chinese?) and i'm sure causes frustrations from my teammates who have to yell, whistle and attempt speaking english just to tell me where to line up.
but in playing with the guys each week (wednesdays it's a group of bartenders from area bars and saturdays it's with a fellow believer who works in the area), i've learned a lot about how far simply making eye contact can take you. because this is how i was invited to play. a few days a week, after first arriving, i decided to go to the fields with my cleats in hand and simply watch and wait. i watched and waited quite a bit without one invite. no one looked at me, talked to me or otherwise noticed the white dude sitting on the sidelines by himself.
see, in contrast to those with a negative opinion of the chinese, i was also told by others before coming "oh, they'll ALL want to play football with you and practice their english" which i've found to be the most untrue statement about coming to china. no one on the field cares where i'm from or if they can throw out their best-known english phrases. they don't want me to correct their grammar or watch me kick a ball.
they just wanted me to make eye contact.
after i did so with the first player to walk by me, he quickly smiled and motioned for me to rotate into the match. not a word was spoken until i netted my first goal and he, whose name is Shao Wu, walked up to me, shook my hand and said "good ball" in his best english.
after that moment, i went back to the fields regularly. i always made sure to engage them with a smile and look right into their eyes--as if to communicate some respect before simply trying to hone in on their game.
and each time i've been asked to play in varying levels of english ability.
though all of this sounds rather obvious, it's been a learning experience for me. to see that before i assume some sort of superiority or that i'm a commodity in demand as a westerner living in a city largely devoid of white faces, i need to first just smile and make eye contact. the rest will take care of itself.
for as much as the chinese looked to the US for ideals and were entranced by American culture, i was told by some, the chinese people were a highly closed culture as it related to western folks. while the chinese had big hearts and much warmth, it was often too frustrating for westerners to chip the facade of social ice in order to uncover the goodness of chinese people.
of course, i decided to put this little theory to the test.
as i've mentioned, i play football (read: soccer in the US) about twice a week at the major sports center located in the 'new' business district of the city--not far from boo's office. a few folks have remarked not at the fact that i play football there but who i play with--see, i play with only locals which i guess makes some people wonder 'how?' since i only speak about enough chinese to get me into trouble at the supermarket.
of course, i get the requisite gawks and stares from passers-by as they see this lone white man running (well, more like jogging) amongst about 14 chinese men. the language barrier has provided some interesting moments (how do you say "hey idiot, i was wide open on the right flank?" in chinese?) and i'm sure causes frustrations from my teammates who have to yell, whistle and attempt speaking english just to tell me where to line up.
but in playing with the guys each week (wednesdays it's a group of bartenders from area bars and saturdays it's with a fellow believer who works in the area), i've learned a lot about how far simply making eye contact can take you. because this is how i was invited to play. a few days a week, after first arriving, i decided to go to the fields with my cleats in hand and simply watch and wait. i watched and waited quite a bit without one invite. no one looked at me, talked to me or otherwise noticed the white dude sitting on the sidelines by himself.
see, in contrast to those with a negative opinion of the chinese, i was also told by others before coming "oh, they'll ALL want to play football with you and practice their english" which i've found to be the most untrue statement about coming to china. no one on the field cares where i'm from or if they can throw out their best-known english phrases. they don't want me to correct their grammar or watch me kick a ball.
they just wanted me to make eye contact.
after i did so with the first player to walk by me, he quickly smiled and motioned for me to rotate into the match. not a word was spoken until i netted my first goal and he, whose name is Shao Wu, walked up to me, shook my hand and said "good ball" in his best english.
after that moment, i went back to the fields regularly. i always made sure to engage them with a smile and look right into their eyes--as if to communicate some respect before simply trying to hone in on their game.
and each time i've been asked to play in varying levels of english ability.
though all of this sounds rather obvious, it's been a learning experience for me. to see that before i assume some sort of superiority or that i'm a commodity in demand as a westerner living in a city largely devoid of white faces, i need to first just smile and make eye contact. the rest will take care of itself.
what are you in the market for?
Mon, 30th November, 2009
it's easy to simply become an engulfing consumer while here in GZ...
there is literally a market for everything and discovering the rows and rows, building upon building of goods for a quarter of US prices for anything from tea to kitchen goods to leather items to plants gives you a certain sort of satisfaction.
guangzhou is a vastly spread out city (think Los Angeles but with no center/downtown and multiplied by about 5). there is no central district to visit per se if you are looking to buy something.
instead, you have to rely on hopping in a cab, handing a business card to the driver and ending up at a mecca of ______(insert desired product).
and i think that's the beauty in the chinese style of efficiency. you don't trek across the city and back again to compare prices on a beautiful copper pot or pan. just simply walk to the next stall.
the trouble with the market-style shopping, of course, is the simply overwhelming nature of it all. you can get lost (literally) and turned around backwards navigating the endless hallways and buildings. you try to think of all the things you need and want but the sheer quantity surrounding you brings about a dizzying effect.
one of the more redeeming parts of this city--apart from the warm food, warm people and general grittiness--is the idea that anything can be had. and for cheap. but in that i think there lies, under the surface, something to be said for china--or guangzhou at least. that it's a place where opportunity abounds (often in excess) and yet a place where asthetics sometime take a back seat to practicality. going to the markets is a fun experience, no doubt. but i would hardly say it qualifies as a relaxing or beautiful experience as would, say, going to a new shopping district in the states. there are no coffee stands offering whipped up cappucinos or shops dishing out warm cookies. there is little attention paid to such frivolities that might actually draw in and keep customers.
instead, the markets are designed for maximum output. stores are crammed to the ceiling with goods with no space wasted. case in point, today i stopped in at a store to buy a cold drink after walking for hours--it turns out that the refrigerator i grabbed the drink from was also one of the products being sold.
there is a blunt practicality and efficiency to this place which is refreshing and yet challenging. just one of the many complex dualities of china that makes it--and its people--that much harder to summarize to the western mind.
but something in me thinks being summarized is not what the chinese want---but rather just for me to purchase my $9US wine carafe and move on...or to smile and respect their pursuit towards a better life...
there is literally a market for everything and discovering the rows and rows, building upon building of goods for a quarter of US prices for anything from tea to kitchen goods to leather items to plants gives you a certain sort of satisfaction.
guangzhou is a vastly spread out city (think Los Angeles but with no center/downtown and multiplied by about 5). there is no central district to visit per se if you are looking to buy something.
instead, you have to rely on hopping in a cab, handing a business card to the driver and ending up at a mecca of ______(insert desired product).
and i think that's the beauty in the chinese style of efficiency. you don't trek across the city and back again to compare prices on a beautiful copper pot or pan. just simply walk to the next stall.
the trouble with the market-style shopping, of course, is the simply overwhelming nature of it all. you can get lost (literally) and turned around backwards navigating the endless hallways and buildings. you try to think of all the things you need and want but the sheer quantity surrounding you brings about a dizzying effect.
one of the more redeeming parts of this city--apart from the warm food, warm people and general grittiness--is the idea that anything can be had. and for cheap. but in that i think there lies, under the surface, something to be said for china--or guangzhou at least. that it's a place where opportunity abounds (often in excess) and yet a place where asthetics sometime take a back seat to practicality. going to the markets is a fun experience, no doubt. but i would hardly say it qualifies as a relaxing or beautiful experience as would, say, going to a new shopping district in the states. there are no coffee stands offering whipped up cappucinos or shops dishing out warm cookies. there is little attention paid to such frivolities that might actually draw in and keep customers.
instead, the markets are designed for maximum output. stores are crammed to the ceiling with goods with no space wasted. case in point, today i stopped in at a store to buy a cold drink after walking for hours--it turns out that the refrigerator i grabbed the drink from was also one of the products being sold.
there is a blunt practicality and efficiency to this place which is refreshing and yet challenging. just one of the many complex dualities of china that makes it--and its people--that much harder to summarize to the western mind.
but something in me thinks being summarized is not what the chinese want---but rather just for me to purchase my $9US wine carafe and move on...or to smile and respect their pursuit towards a better life...
questions to answer
Tue, 24th November, 2009
weather here has turned towards fall but continually turns back to summer where guangzhou feels most at home...
my students say this is the best weather and to enjoy it each day...have tea, see friends and take walks in the numerous parks of guangzhou....
i feel boo and i have done all these things with minimal aplomb...looking forward to more and more.
we're off to korea for turkey day (btw, trying to explain Thanksgiving to my students ended in me projecting my belly outwards and commenting about gluttony....all to which they just smiled and shook their heads side to side :)
but before we set off, thought i'd answer some of the most FAQs....
1. do they only show Iron Chef on TV?
actually, there is no such programming. we have about 40 channels mixed between (British) CNN, (British) Discovery, (British) ESPN---notice a theme here?, to the ever informative CCTV (google it to find out more)
2. what is something weird you've noticed?
this list could comprise a short anthology. mothers holding their babies over a small shrub with an open hole in the onesy to defecate on the street...anywhere they choose....men rolling their shirts up to just about nipple-level in the heat to let the sweat roll down their bellies.........but the award goes to: old women who feel it's their right to ignore convention and simply push, shove, bite and pinch their way into any line they see fit.
3. have you learned Chinese yet?
--yet---implies i've actually tried....
actually, i've been taking lessons and trying to perfect my accent so as to not tell the local folks i'm trying to "sell" them my watch as opposed to trying to "buy" my watch....it's all in the tones....
booyeon is my guide into and amongst the foray of chinese cuisine, chinese transportation, chinese navigation and pretty much anything which, without boo's assistance, might end me in a random fish market, penniless and destitute.
4. well, if you've read this far you have questions of your own.
post them here and we'll answer. i know both boo and i regret that we can't chat with you all face-to-face right now....we miss the long talks on a balcony in LA, or by the fireside of Big Bear, or in the quiet solace of a spacious NY apartment.........in the meantime, please talk to us via cyberspace as much as you can....
love with love,
boo and aric
my students say this is the best weather and to enjoy it each day...have tea, see friends and take walks in the numerous parks of guangzhou....
i feel boo and i have done all these things with minimal aplomb...looking forward to more and more.
we're off to korea for turkey day (btw, trying to explain Thanksgiving to my students ended in me projecting my belly outwards and commenting about gluttony....all to which they just smiled and shook their heads side to side :)
but before we set off, thought i'd answer some of the most FAQs....
1. do they only show Iron Chef on TV?
actually, there is no such programming. we have about 40 channels mixed between (British) CNN, (British) Discovery, (British) ESPN---notice a theme here?, to the ever informative CCTV (google it to find out more)
2. what is something weird you've noticed?
this list could comprise a short anthology. mothers holding their babies over a small shrub with an open hole in the onesy to defecate on the street...anywhere they choose....men rolling their shirts up to just about nipple-level in the heat to let the sweat roll down their bellies.........but the award goes to: old women who feel it's their right to ignore convention and simply push, shove, bite and pinch their way into any line they see fit.
3. have you learned Chinese yet?
--yet---implies i've actually tried....
actually, i've been taking lessons and trying to perfect my accent so as to not tell the local folks i'm trying to "sell" them my watch as opposed to trying to "buy" my watch....it's all in the tones....
booyeon is my guide into and amongst the foray of chinese cuisine, chinese transportation, chinese navigation and pretty much anything which, without boo's assistance, might end me in a random fish market, penniless and destitute.
4. well, if you've read this far you have questions of your own.
post them here and we'll answer. i know both boo and i regret that we can't chat with you all face-to-face right now....we miss the long talks on a balcony in LA, or by the fireside of Big Bear, or in the quiet solace of a spacious NY apartment.........in the meantime, please talk to us via cyberspace as much as you can....
love with love,
boo and aric
back in full effect...
Mon, 16th November, 2009
took a weekend jaunt to "the New York of China" otherwise known as Shanghai and have some photos for ya'll to check out....i'll also be posting some local shots of our neighborhood to get a feel for how we're shopping here to find the best vegetables (and avoid the slimy snakes)...
it's like when you start dating...
Sat, 31st October, 2009
every day, week, month....is a milestone
right?
so as with us but in a different sort of way.
we've been here almost two months now...a new place and yet some things already feel old.
we know our way around town yet are still surprised by a good friend showing us a new hotpot restuarant tucked away in a shopping mall...
we learn to love the tiny local chinese restaurants and are still happy to enjoy a western dinner on a 3rd floor rooftop with friends...relaxing to samba music above the Pearl River...
we hate, hate, hate the sound of spitting on the street...yet we're continually refreshed by the smile and "HALLO!!" of a young child in the street.
so, what's new with us?
aric: i spend a good amount of my time just trying to catch up on school work now that my books arrived, but i'm also having a lot of fun. i've found a nice job teaching business english for about 10 hours per week. i try to steer them away from corporate corruption and point them towards the excess of capitalism. seriously though, we have fun talking in English and learning from each other. i've got solid football games twice a week which keeps me out kicking the ball. apart from that, i try to get out to see the city as much as possible, plan our future trips and generally see how many back alleys i can walk on a given day. there are some opportunities for me to work on a more consistent basis in the next few months which is promising. i'll be sure to keep you posted.
boo: i'm getting the hang of talking to a long line of chinese people who want more than anything to pay ya'll a visit. i suppose that's what an authentic applicant and a fraudulent one have in common -- they want a taste of america. or as they spell it in chinese, the "beautiful country." it's a humbling experience -- having that kind of power. i am sure i will feel more so when i arrive on the immigration visa line. one visa officer can change a kid's life, like it did mine and my sisters. as i write this, i'm trying to blink away a nagging headache from a cold i caught this week. so lift up a prayer for me that i will be back to 100 percent by monday. tomorrow afternoon, i am giving a visa presentation to hundreds of chinese students wanting to study in the U.S. it's my third one in the past two weeks, and i'm beginning to realize that i really do like talking to people - one or 200. this week, i started taking the metro back from work instead of the shuttle. for one, the weather has been more pleasant and dusk is my favorite time to take a walk. secondly, it is an attempt to step out of the bubble from time to time to allow for a "when in rome..." moment. granted, by the 10th stop, i'm huddled in the corner with my iTunes for some respite from the crowd. but it does remind me of riding on chuo-sen in tokyo and i enjoy that time to think, and with joy anticipate walking through that door and seeing my husband. the coming home. he is the lens through which i see this country now, and without him, i would find no true rest here. tonight, we're enjoying a peaceful evening, with a little surprise aric found on his way home from work today -- a real shiraz! -- and thinking of you all.
right?
so as with us but in a different sort of way.
we've been here almost two months now...a new place and yet some things already feel old.
we know our way around town yet are still surprised by a good friend showing us a new hotpot restuarant tucked away in a shopping mall...
we learn to love the tiny local chinese restaurants and are still happy to enjoy a western dinner on a 3rd floor rooftop with friends...relaxing to samba music above the Pearl River...
we hate, hate, hate the sound of spitting on the street...yet we're continually refreshed by the smile and "HALLO!!" of a young child in the street.
so, what's new with us?
aric: i spend a good amount of my time just trying to catch up on school work now that my books arrived, but i'm also having a lot of fun. i've found a nice job teaching business english for about 10 hours per week. i try to steer them away from corporate corruption and point them towards the excess of capitalism. seriously though, we have fun talking in English and learning from each other. i've got solid football games twice a week which keeps me out kicking the ball. apart from that, i try to get out to see the city as much as possible, plan our future trips and generally see how many back alleys i can walk on a given day. there are some opportunities for me to work on a more consistent basis in the next few months which is promising. i'll be sure to keep you posted.
boo: i'm getting the hang of talking to a long line of chinese people who want more than anything to pay ya'll a visit. i suppose that's what an authentic applicant and a fraudulent one have in common -- they want a taste of america. or as they spell it in chinese, the "beautiful country." it's a humbling experience -- having that kind of power. i am sure i will feel more so when i arrive on the immigration visa line. one visa officer can change a kid's life, like it did mine and my sisters. as i write this, i'm trying to blink away a nagging headache from a cold i caught this week. so lift up a prayer for me that i will be back to 100 percent by monday. tomorrow afternoon, i am giving a visa presentation to hundreds of chinese students wanting to study in the U.S. it's my third one in the past two weeks, and i'm beginning to realize that i really do like talking to people - one or 200. this week, i started taking the metro back from work instead of the shuttle. for one, the weather has been more pleasant and dusk is my favorite time to take a walk. secondly, it is an attempt to step out of the bubble from time to time to allow for a "when in rome..." moment. granted, by the 10th stop, i'm huddled in the corner with my iTunes for some respite from the crowd. but it does remind me of riding on chuo-sen in tokyo and i enjoy that time to think, and with joy anticipate walking through that door and seeing my husband. the coming home. he is the lens through which i see this country now, and without him, i would find no true rest here. tonight, we're enjoying a peaceful evening, with a little surprise aric found on his way home from work today -- a real shiraz! -- and thinking of you all.
hong kong pics...
Wed, 14th October, 2009
for those of you who subscribe to this blog feed, just letting you know we posted photos of our recent jaunt over to hong kong...
home sweet home
Tue, 6th October, 2009
back now from Hong Kong to the mainland of stinky tofu, smiling faces and bustling traffic...
i'm not bold enough to claim that i'm enitrely sure i'm fit for this lifestyle, but i am sure of one thing...that my history of a nomadic life has enabled me to call 'home' wherever i rest my head. moving from place to place as a child into my adult years--whether it was the hot summers in Dallas as a child, the cool fall weather of Cleveland growing up, the frenetic pace of college in New York or the repose of married life in Los Angeles.....it's all forced me to see each new place as 'this place'...my place, my refuge, where i rest my head and make my home.
there's a solace in knowing i have no 'Plan B.'
families are always welcoming. and you as friends would gladly have us stay for a while...right? right?!?! :) :)
but still there is no place for us to retreat to other than here, and i'm glad for that. nomadic life seems to breed the embrace of necessity, i imagine.
i found myself in Hong Kong wishing to go home..to this place. a place we're making our own in a certain sort of way.
it's ripe with inconveniences...you can't trust the ice in the water, you can't trust taxi drivers with money and, oh well...you generally can't trust anything with anybody...
but when you see the smile of a child speaking english to you at a decibel fit for a rock concert, or witness the romantic precision of an unrecognized local symphony, or enjoy the beauty of a meal cooked with simplicity yet dripping of complexity, you truly can see a place worth digging (to paraphrase the words of my much more eloquent and beautiful wife)...
i'm not bold enough to claim that i'm enitrely sure i'm fit for this lifestyle, but i am sure of one thing...that my history of a nomadic life has enabled me to call 'home' wherever i rest my head. moving from place to place as a child into my adult years--whether it was the hot summers in Dallas as a child, the cool fall weather of Cleveland growing up, the frenetic pace of college in New York or the repose of married life in Los Angeles.....it's all forced me to see each new place as 'this place'...my place, my refuge, where i rest my head and make my home.
there's a solace in knowing i have no 'Plan B.'
families are always welcoming. and you as friends would gladly have us stay for a while...right? right?!?! :) :)
but still there is no place for us to retreat to other than here, and i'm glad for that. nomadic life seems to breed the embrace of necessity, i imagine.
i found myself in Hong Kong wishing to go home..to this place. a place we're making our own in a certain sort of way.
it's ripe with inconveniences...you can't trust the ice in the water, you can't trust taxi drivers with money and, oh well...you generally can't trust anything with anybody...
but when you see the smile of a child speaking english to you at a decibel fit for a rock concert, or witness the romantic precision of an unrecognized local symphony, or enjoy the beauty of a meal cooked with simplicity yet dripping of complexity, you truly can see a place worth digging (to paraphrase the words of my much more eloquent and beautiful wife)...
under construction
Wed, 30th September, 2009
we just loaded up on a vietnamese meal that would have made us weep tears of joy...
$10 per person US and plates kept streaming out...curried broccoli, fried tofu, seafood soup, and rows and rows of glistening grilled pork...i feel i gained more pounds than i paid for the meal...
but the best part wasn't the taste of the dishes or the relatively low cost of the meal...but being able to enjoy it in the company of a few good friends who were welcoming enough to show us how to order proper vietnamese food in guangzhou.
and from good friends to good friends we go.
we'll be in Hong Kong this weekend visiting one of Boo's co-workers--hopefully spared from the madness of the national holiday here. stay tuned for photos and blogposts when we get back...until then, enjoy the new tracks on the homepage and the last page....
$10 per person US and plates kept streaming out...curried broccoli, fried tofu, seafood soup, and rows and rows of glistening grilled pork...i feel i gained more pounds than i paid for the meal...
but the best part wasn't the taste of the dishes or the relatively low cost of the meal...but being able to enjoy it in the company of a few good friends who were welcoming enough to show us how to order proper vietnamese food in guangzhou.
and from good friends to good friends we go.
we'll be in Hong Kong this weekend visiting one of Boo's co-workers--hopefully spared from the madness of the national holiday here. stay tuned for photos and blogposts when we get back...until then, enjoy the new tracks on the homepage and the last page....
a city worth digging
Sat, 26th September, 2009
It's Boo.
Tonight, as we were sipping on Aric's mix of passionfruit Vodka sunrise overlooking the Pearl River from our living room, we talked about how settled we feel here in China after only two weeks.
Two weeks -- and Aric has a cell phone, a new friend, a part-time job and a lead on another. He found a vast green field downtown and a soccer league. (For those of you who know him, you know what a God-sent this is.)
For me, Monday through Friday flies by. Love the workplace, poised to be challenging yet fulfilling. My bosses are capable and caring, co-workers welcoming and easy-going. On weekends, Aric and I explore market places, concert halls and new restaurants.
Minus the food and its proximity to Hong Kong, some say Guangzhou doesn't have much else to offer. For the most part, it's a concrete jungle with traffic congestion that puts L.A. to shame. But we have found little pockets of beauty in Guangzhou - an evening stroll along a tree-lined board walk, a modern concert hall where its symphonic orchestra gave a jaw-dropping performance of Grieg's piano concerto in A minor. The ticket? Only $12. A one-hour $10 mani-pedi isn't bad either.
Guangzhou is a sophisticated, metropolitan city -- in the making. We feel as though we've arrived just as it is catapulting into a world-class metropolis. A friend described this city to be a place where you have to dig to find treasures. Aric and I are excited about what we may find here in the next two years.
Tonight, as we were sipping on Aric's mix of passionfruit Vodka sunrise overlooking the Pearl River from our living room, we talked about how settled we feel here in China after only two weeks.
Two weeks -- and Aric has a cell phone, a new friend, a part-time job and a lead on another. He found a vast green field downtown and a soccer league. (For those of you who know him, you know what a God-sent this is.)
For me, Monday through Friday flies by. Love the workplace, poised to be challenging yet fulfilling. My bosses are capable and caring, co-workers welcoming and easy-going. On weekends, Aric and I explore market places, concert halls and new restaurants.
Minus the food and its proximity to Hong Kong, some say Guangzhou doesn't have much else to offer. For the most part, it's a concrete jungle with traffic congestion that puts L.A. to shame. But we have found little pockets of beauty in Guangzhou - an evening stroll along a tree-lined board walk, a modern concert hall where its symphonic orchestra gave a jaw-dropping performance of Grieg's piano concerto in A minor. The ticket? Only $12. A one-hour $10 mani-pedi isn't bad either.
Guangzhou is a sophisticated, metropolitan city -- in the making. We feel as though we've arrived just as it is catapulting into a world-class metropolis. A friend described this city to be a place where you have to dig to find treasures. Aric and I are excited about what we may find here in the next two years.
i'm throwing my arms around....GZ
Tue, 22nd September, 2009
while we sat at starbucks last night (yes, starbucks---it was our 'give in to the fact we're westerners' night), we discussed our top surprises after our first 2 weeks.
without further ado, here goes:
1. the heat
2. the humidity
3. the head AND humidity. i mean, really people---how many showers can a person take in 1 day???
4. the spitting. you can read all you want about the habits of Chinese men, but until you see the deadening accuracy and complete aplomb with which they hurl their saliva at great distances and with equally reverberating noises, you can't quite get the picture.
5. the phenomenon of men who believe it will greatly cool them down on a 123 degree day to pull their shirts up past their belly and below their chest--revealing much, much more than ever need be seen.
6. the green. it's green everywhere. lush and overflowing. i guess that's what you get with a sub-tropical climate but, still, it's refreshing.
7. K-pop playing over speakers at a public park. see the Photos section for more on that.
8. the price of delicious food. again, you can read all about this. but until you pay US$12 for two people to eat a fresh and authentic Cantonese meal which smells like some angels in heaven decided to get together for a potluck dinner, it will never fully sink in.
9. the fact that nothing we've bought here in China actually says 'Made in China'
10. the hospitality. from the smiles of folks on the street to the willingness of Boo's coworkers to help a couple just landing on the ground here in Guangzhou, the welcome has been more than we could have asked for.
without further ado, here goes:
1. the heat
2. the humidity
3. the head AND humidity. i mean, really people---how many showers can a person take in 1 day???
4. the spitting. you can read all you want about the habits of Chinese men, but until you see the deadening accuracy and complete aplomb with which they hurl their saliva at great distances and with equally reverberating noises, you can't quite get the picture.
5. the phenomenon of men who believe it will greatly cool them down on a 123 degree day to pull their shirts up past their belly and below their chest--revealing much, much more than ever need be seen.
6. the green. it's green everywhere. lush and overflowing. i guess that's what you get with a sub-tropical climate but, still, it's refreshing.
7. K-pop playing over speakers at a public park. see the Photos section for more on that.
8. the price of delicious food. again, you can read all about this. but until you pay US$12 for two people to eat a fresh and authentic Cantonese meal which smells like some angels in heaven decided to get together for a potluck dinner, it will never fully sink in.
9. the fact that nothing we've bought here in China actually says 'Made in China'
10. the hospitality. from the smiles of folks on the street to the willingness of Boo's coworkers to help a couple just landing on the ground here in Guangzhou, the welcome has been more than we could have asked for.
settling in...
Mon, 14th September, 2009
4 days in China...
Number of western meals eaten: 6
Number of Chinese meals eaten: 2
something's horribly wrong here :)
if I had my way, I'd be carting Boo off to every back alley in search of the best crispy pork or fried noodles. as it's been, though, we've found ourselves eating a fair share of western food which is pretty decent around here.
we've found we are good for about a 3 hour trek somewhere in the city each morning before we're dripping (literally) with our own sweat and have to retreat to the cushy confines of the creature comforts at our hotel.
a dip in the pool can cure all ills.
boo started her orientation today. feel free to email her to get the skinny on her day-to-day work.
as for my day-to-day "work," it's been filled with learning how to stream NFL games on my computer, walk to the furthest corners of the city and otherwise think of nothing beyond my next meal. life's good that way.
but reality is setting in as i have to order my textbooks tomorrow for my last course at Fuller via distance learning. after this fall, i'll do a short internship and should have my degree by next fall (pause for the crowd to shout "finally!!")
we just returned from a nice event with the Washington Wizards celebrating 30 years of diplomacy between China and the US. many good photos of that as well as our outing to a gigantic local market this weekend (on what other blog can you find pictures of George Muresan and dried medicinal seahorses??).
check the photo section for them either today or tomorrow.
oh, and things we miss so far about the states:
water at the table WITH ice
napkins that don't come in little child packages
all you guys
:)
Number of western meals eaten: 6
Number of Chinese meals eaten: 2
something's horribly wrong here :)
if I had my way, I'd be carting Boo off to every back alley in search of the best crispy pork or fried noodles. as it's been, though, we've found ourselves eating a fair share of western food which is pretty decent around here.
we've found we are good for about a 3 hour trek somewhere in the city each morning before we're dripping (literally) with our own sweat and have to retreat to the cushy confines of the creature comforts at our hotel.
a dip in the pool can cure all ills.
boo started her orientation today. feel free to email her to get the skinny on her day-to-day work.
as for my day-to-day "work," it's been filled with learning how to stream NFL games on my computer, walk to the furthest corners of the city and otherwise think of nothing beyond my next meal. life's good that way.
but reality is setting in as i have to order my textbooks tomorrow for my last course at Fuller via distance learning. after this fall, i'll do a short internship and should have my degree by next fall (pause for the crowd to shout "finally!!")
we just returned from a nice event with the Washington Wizards celebrating 30 years of diplomacy between China and the US. many good photos of that as well as our outing to a gigantic local market this weekend (on what other blog can you find pictures of George Muresan and dried medicinal seahorses??).
check the photo section for them either today or tomorrow.
oh, and things we miss so far about the states:
water at the table WITH ice
napkins that don't come in little child packages
all you guys
:)
arrival and exploration
Sat, 12th September, 2009
after 14.5 hours in the air over to Hong Kong, and then a short flight over to Guangzhou, we landed safely into our new home.
well, at least our temporary home. we're put up in a hotel next to where our apartment will be once it's done being renovated.
overall, we can't complain. we've been waking up to the sunrise through palm trees, a living room view of the Hawaiian style pool and the quiet comfort of little Shamian island...an oasis of peace and calm from the heated bustle of Guangzhou's downtown.
we crashed from jetlag at 9pm on the first night and figured we'd explore our little island the next day. our morning walk found us strolling past colonial buildings built by the French and English during the post-Opium War period when they occupied the island and were barred from entering the mainland.
mixed among the buildings, palm trees and lush plants are old men and women practicing tai chi, swatting badminton or generally doing any sort of leisurely exercise. i'll be sure to post some photos soon. entertaining stuff.
today (saturday) we decided to be more adventurous and head to Yuexiu Park which is the largest urban park in all of China. the photos can't communicate exactly how muggy it is here. i was bathing in sweat by the time we reached the front gate (but God bless the man or woman who designed the Guangzhou metro and it's hyper-super-luscious air conditioning system).
the park was a good walk and as our legs began to fail us we left the shady confines of the park and headed down the main street in search of Cantonese food--our first Chinese meal in China.
what we found was a BBQ restaurant specializing in snake roasted right at the table (think Korean BBQ but with a fresh snake). after viewing the snakes in the cage by the front door, we opted for a safer route of beef, fried rice, and gelatin noodles in soy sauce. actually, we had little choice since those were the only pictures on the menu which we actually understood. all that combined with a beer larger than my arm only ran us $11 US. i have a feeling i will be 500 lbs by the time we roll out of China.
lastly, some good news: Boo just got our next post confirmed--we'll be in Seoul from fall 2011-2013.
for now, love, peace and hair grease ya'll. we'll be sure to keep you posted as we explore more of China.
well, at least our temporary home. we're put up in a hotel next to where our apartment will be once it's done being renovated.
overall, we can't complain. we've been waking up to the sunrise through palm trees, a living room view of the Hawaiian style pool and the quiet comfort of little Shamian island...an oasis of peace and calm from the heated bustle of Guangzhou's downtown.
we crashed from jetlag at 9pm on the first night and figured we'd explore our little island the next day. our morning walk found us strolling past colonial buildings built by the French and English during the post-Opium War period when they occupied the island and were barred from entering the mainland.
mixed among the buildings, palm trees and lush plants are old men and women practicing tai chi, swatting badminton or generally doing any sort of leisurely exercise. i'll be sure to post some photos soon. entertaining stuff.
today (saturday) we decided to be more adventurous and head to Yuexiu Park which is the largest urban park in all of China. the photos can't communicate exactly how muggy it is here. i was bathing in sweat by the time we reached the front gate (but God bless the man or woman who designed the Guangzhou metro and it's hyper-super-luscious air conditioning system).
the park was a good walk and as our legs began to fail us we left the shady confines of the park and headed down the main street in search of Cantonese food--our first Chinese meal in China.
what we found was a BBQ restaurant specializing in snake roasted right at the table (think Korean BBQ but with a fresh snake). after viewing the snakes in the cage by the front door, we opted for a safer route of beef, fried rice, and gelatin noodles in soy sauce. actually, we had little choice since those were the only pictures on the menu which we actually understood. all that combined with a beer larger than my arm only ran us $11 US. i have a feeling i will be 500 lbs by the time we roll out of China.
lastly, some good news: Boo just got our next post confirmed--we'll be in Seoul from fall 2011-2013.
for now, love, peace and hair grease ya'll. we'll be sure to keep you posted as we explore more of China.
they will go two by two 'til the world's end: step by step and side by side. -Alfred de Musset
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