The interesting thing about keeping people in the loop about the events in one’s life is that, with each passing experience, it is harder and harder to update. I fret about what to include and what I can reasonably exclude. I’ve even written blogs that I forgot about and left by the wayside. Now, after a few complaints from about 3 of my 4 readers, I figured it’s time to please the majority and let you back in on life here in the East.
This second term has been flying by and becoming warmer and warmer. The weather always tends to dictate people’s moods on a certain level and things around here are certainly getting warmer, easier and a lot more flowery. Speaking of flowers, I started a little garden last month and I think we are just about to see the flowers bloom – in the next few weeks at least. Taking care of the garden has been a delightful go to chore for me. It is just naturally ingrained in a man to work for something and see the fruits of his labor. Those little green buds have brought me a lot of joy and they are always more than happy to listen to me play the guitar or ukulele. I have a plot of land secured out behind our school’s library and that’s where the plants will be transplanted to in about a week. I’m currently constructing a tomato rack out of bamboo and hope to get some tomatoes toward the end of the season and then turn the garden over to some worthy gardener, assuming I’m not here next season.
And that brings me to my next point. Where am I going in 3 months? Good question. I applied to a grad program in Brussels, Belgium and though I was accepted, finances are the other part of that story and that, at this point, is an unknown for me. Besides that, staying here in China another year or heading to the States for any job leads is my current position.
In other news, Jared and I just overcame a stomach flu that lasted nearly 4 days. It’s always humbling to lie in bed with aches for days wondering if you will die. Of course, I’m being dramatic, but I’m sure there’s some lesson to be learned with any virus. Our friends were more than happy to come to our side and take care of us in any way possible and fortunately, our infliction was not at the exact same time but only overlapping one day. Must be that Spring wind.
As for the community, well, things have become pretty consistent. We have the same crowd that we’ve had for some time and now we are approaching some much more serious topics in the good book. Even as we read with them, it is easy to see how dramatic the call to change is as laid out by JC. We have all been more than challenged by our friend’s questions and together, throughout the whole year of being here, started developing a true sense of life calling. Every single day we are reminded of why we are here and what we are doing – even when it doesn’t quite fit what we think we want to do. I think we are all learning that decisions have to be made and made with confidence knowing that they’ll expand His kingdom. We are all in a period of decision making and so we all request your prayers as we seek His direction.
This has been a strictly “update” blog and so I know it lacks my typical writing style; but, let me conclude on this cool note. Though I have given up the formal practice of TaiChi (I still practice on my own) I have just recently taken on a new activity. I sought out an activity that was a little more physical in nature and that didn’t require me to wake up at 4:00am every morning. Fortunately for me, our university’s Kung Fu Association meets at 8:30pm on the school grounds, which means I just have to walk a few hundred yards two or three times a week for this new training I’m undertaking. Oh, what is the training you ask? Nunchaku. That’s right, I’m developing nun-chuck skills and yes, it is making me a lot cooler than I was before.
~Johnny Young
This second term has been flying by and becoming warmer and warmer. The weather always tends to dictate people’s moods on a certain level and things around here are certainly getting warmer, easier and a lot more flowery. Speaking of flowers, I started a little garden last month and I think we are just about to see the flowers bloom – in the next few weeks at least. Taking care of the garden has been a delightful go to chore for me. It is just naturally ingrained in a man to work for something and see the fruits of his labor. Those little green buds have brought me a lot of joy and they are always more than happy to listen to me play the guitar or ukulele. I have a plot of land secured out behind our school’s library and that’s where the plants will be transplanted to in about a week. I’m currently constructing a tomato rack out of bamboo and hope to get some tomatoes toward the end of the season and then turn the garden over to some worthy gardener, assuming I’m not here next season.
And that brings me to my next point. Where am I going in 3 months? Good question. I applied to a grad program in Brussels, Belgium and though I was accepted, finances are the other part of that story and that, at this point, is an unknown for me. Besides that, staying here in China another year or heading to the States for any job leads is my current position.
In other news, Jared and I just overcame a stomach flu that lasted nearly 4 days. It’s always humbling to lie in bed with aches for days wondering if you will die. Of course, I’m being dramatic, but I’m sure there’s some lesson to be learned with any virus. Our friends were more than happy to come to our side and take care of us in any way possible and fortunately, our infliction was not at the exact same time but only overlapping one day. Must be that Spring wind.
As for the community, well, things have become pretty consistent. We have the same crowd that we’ve had for some time and now we are approaching some much more serious topics in the good book. Even as we read with them, it is easy to see how dramatic the call to change is as laid out by JC. We have all been more than challenged by our friend’s questions and together, throughout the whole year of being here, started developing a true sense of life calling. Every single day we are reminded of why we are here and what we are doing – even when it doesn’t quite fit what we think we want to do. I think we are all learning that decisions have to be made and made with confidence knowing that they’ll expand His kingdom. We are all in a period of decision making and so we all request your prayers as we seek His direction.
This has been a strictly “update” blog and so I know it lacks my typical writing style; but, let me conclude on this cool note. Though I have given up the formal practice of TaiChi (I still practice on my own) I have just recently taken on a new activity. I sought out an activity that was a little more physical in nature and that didn’t require me to wake up at 4:00am every morning. Fortunately for me, our university’s Kung Fu Association meets at 8:30pm on the school grounds, which means I just have to walk a few hundred yards two or three times a week for this new training I’m undertaking. Oh, what is the training you ask? Nunchaku. That’s right, I’m developing nun-chuck skills and yes, it is making me a lot cooler than I was before.
~Johnny Young