Learning to let go

First a shout out to my wonderful mother. Happy Birthday, Mom!! I'm sorry you have to spend it on airplanes, but I'm so glad you could come!!

So where to begin? The past several days have been incredibly blessed with my family here in China with me. As I write this they are on their long journey home to America. My family got to experience daily living in Nanchang. My students absolutely loved them, and I know my family also loved them. Mom and Andrea helped me see everyone here in a new perspective, especially since I feel a little jaded after 2 years. They met my students, helped teach some classes, and got to hang out with some of our fellow Chinese brothers and sisters.

This past weekend we traveled with my Chinese friend Reborn by train/taxi/bus/foot to northern Jiangxi province where we visited a famous mountain, Lushan. I've never seen such a beautiful, natural, trash-free place in China. Apparently it is the "Switzerland" of China, minus all the white people.

The journey to Lushan was almost more exciting than the scenery. It turned out to be a lot more work to get there than I realized, even though we traveled with a Chinese person. First we had to travel to Jiujiang, a dirty little industrialized city a couple hours away from Nanchang by train. It had an earthquake five years ago that killed several people. I think pollution, however, is more likely to kill you than anything else. After leaving the train station, Reborn had to haggle with about a dozen curious taxi drivers who looked like they had never seen a foreigner in their lives. Somehow we got a taxi driver to take us the foot of Lushan, which is really a series of mountain peaks.

It was dark by this point, and there actually weren't any hotels at the foot of the mountain. So after haggling with the driver some more, and in between bouts of Reborn getting car sick on the side of the road every so often, we winded our way up the mountain in the pitch black. It took an hour and 400 curves in the road to get there. We were so thankful to arrive in one piece. Our taxi driver, who ended up being quite nice and helpful, dropped us off at a Chinese hotel, which was only $10 a night.

At first the lady at the hotel wouldn't let us stay, because no foreigners had ever even tried to book rooms there before. Apparently the limited amount of foreign tourists prefer to stay at the posh resorts. Finally she relented, and we got to sleep. I was too excited, however, and slept only about an hour.

In the morning we hiked and trekked around Lushan, taking in some amazing scenery. We were above the clouds, and the mountains were encased in fog. We saw thousand-year old trees, visited spots where Chairman Mao apparently had been photographed, and enjoyed a lot of lakes and waterfalls.

On the way back from Lushan we took a rickety old bus down the mountain, and then boarded a train that was even more interesting than the last one. Most of the passengers looked like migrant workers, and were very poor, but sweet. They sat and stared the entire time. There was one elderly man in particular who stared. He was precious. He had a shock of gray hair that stood straight up. He never moved his smiling eyes from us, unless it was to rub his feet, which were in very hole-y old socks. He had the thread-barest suit on ever.

So we managed to have plenty of adventures with Mom and Andrea even up until their last hours here in Nanchang. I called a bread van driver to take us to the airport so they could catch a plane back to Beijing and then America. I wasn't sure we were going to survive, just like usual in China. It was pouring down rain, and we were on extremely muddy, unpaved roads in a tiny little vehicle. We were following behind huge construction trucks which threatened to careen off the road at any moment. I practically hit my head on the ceiling every other minute, and watched as I saw other vehicles get marooned in seemingly bottomless pits of mud.

Thankfully we arrived there safely, but their flight to Beijing was delayed for a long time, causing them to miss their flight to America. They ended up having to buy brand new tickets back to the U.S. I was so upset yesterday when I discovered this. I kept thinking of "I should have..." and "If only I had..." But I realize that as long as they're safe and well, that's all I can ask. It's a reminder that life isn't in my control, and I just have to trust Him.

Please think of my family as they are finally on the way back to the U.S. and had to unnecessarily pay a lot of money to do so... And if you ever see my Mom, make sure you say "happy birthday!" :)


(Taking sticky pics with my family and good friends).


(Andrea, Reborn, and Nicl and their new t-shirts).


(One of the mountains at Lushan).


(Beautiful Lushan).


(We were above the clouds!)


(Misty lake).


(Train from Jiujiang).