Much Ado About Nothing

 Adapted from my journal, June 24, 2013

Just got back from the morning market with Aki’a, Grace, Zach, Rebecca, and TaylorAnn!  I love the market so much.  Let me paint a picture of it for you:

It’s early morning, and you’re walking down the street toward the market, when you begin to hear the low hum of many conversations occurring simultaneously.  The humming grows louder as you draw nearer.  You hear several sharp, high voices cut through the general murmur, and you realize that these voices are calling out prices and wares in a language you vaguely understand, but don’t connect immediately in your brain.  You round a corner, and see rows and rows of people, carts, animals, and cars trying to navigate a single street.  Beyond the fruit and vegetable vendors, you see dead animals being chopped up and sold by the leg, pound, ounce, whatever.  Your surprised eyes take in the chaos that continues far down the street, and you begin to feel overwhelmed.  Slowly, you notice that the longer you stare at the scene in front of you, the more your brain is able to process it.  You observe that the vendors line both sides of the street and form a line down the middle.  If you tilt your head and cross your eyes a little bit, you see that it resembles two aisles in the grocery store, only with people and carts instead of shelves dividing the food.  The people calling out are the signs that inform the shopper what they are selling and how much it will cost per pound.  The animals that are weaving in and out of the shoppers and vendors are like the small children that want to sample everything and take it home with them—even though they are repeatedly told to stop asking for a taste of everything you pass.  The meat being chopped up is the butcher along the side aisle.  You realize that the drone of conversation is nothing more than the sound of shoppers discussing amongst themselves which recipe this ingredient will complete, how that fruit will serve as the perfect snack for their kids when they come home from school, and what from their list they still need to purchase before their weeks shopping is completed.   Yes, the morning market is just another day at the grocery store.  Can you see why I love it?  It reminds me of home :) 

Being at the morning market just makes me feel like I know what I’m doing in this country.  Ironically, it also shows me just how much I still have to learn about the language and culture of China!  It seems that the more I learn, the more I have TO learn haha, but I guess if it got easier I would get bored.  One way that the morning market is different from a grocery store in the States is that once you buy something from one vendor, you can eat it while you walk to the next vendor.  Just like at the farmers market.  I bought some yak yogurt (yeah… basically everything that we would get from a cow, they get from a yak! It’s basically the same, but I don’t think the consistency of yak milk is as smooth as the consistency of cows milk.  This made the yak yogurt have a kind of… cheesy aftertaste, but it was still delicious.) from a lady in the middle of the street.  It was pretty tasty, although scraping butter off the top of my yogurt was a new experience.  I also bought a crunchy-crepe-egg-wrap thing from a vendor.  IT’S SO GOOD! And guess what they call it here??  A Chinese burger! Haha I love it. 

I don’t know what I’m going to do when I get back to America and there aren’t any street vendors anymore.  The best I can hope to do is find a hotdog stand, but it just doesn’t compare.  I wish street vendors didn’t break nearly every health code regulation in the book.  Maybe then they’d stand a chance at home!

(end of journal entry)

It’s a good thing that the food in China is so delicious.  Without it, I doubt that I would have been quite so energetic while climbing all these mountains!  So far, my team has climbed three mountains.  Two were just outside the city, and one was at Qing Hai Lake. 

RABBIT TRAIL!!!

Ok, so funny story.  My Chinese prof here at the University was teaching us about Qing Hai Lake. She was telling us how it was the largest fresh water lake in China, how the province was named after the lake, and how it was so far above sea level… lots of stuff right? So then she just stops and looks at us.  She tells us that the pronunciation of “lake” in Chinese is “hu” (sounds like an owl: hoo hoo).  Then she says, “knock knock!” we respond “Who’s there!” “Qing Hai” “Qing Hai who?”  Before the “who?” is even out of our mouths, we realize what she’s done, and we all begin to laugh uncontrollably!  I’m not usually a huge fan of puns, but when you understand them in another language, it just adds something special, you know?? Hahaha I still smile and/or laugh when I think of that knock knock joke.  It has become my favorite :D

End of rabbit trail :)

The mountains that we’ve climbed so far have been absolutely breathtaking (in more ways then one)!  They never look especially steep from the ground, but once you start climbing, you’re out of breath in just a few minutes!  It could have something to do with the high elevation, but I like to think that I’d be winded climbing up a mountain in the States as well!  Especially when you consider that Rebecca, Zach, and I literally sprinted up the side of the mountain!  Well, technically I only sprinted for like half of it because I felt like I was going to pass out and die.  I really didn’t feel like plunging over the side of the mountain because I, you know, kicked a poorly placed bucket or something.  In that moment on the mountain, the only thought going through my head was something along the lines of, “I (gasp, wheeze pant) am DYING! I (suck in air) refuse to die on a mountain!  I’m (heroic effort to breathe deeply) going to walk starting…..NOW!”  Haha aren’t I a champion? ;)

No matter how often I walked though, I always made it to the top, and I never once regretted my decision to continue the trek.  Seriously, when you climb up that high, you can’t help but marvel at God’s creation!  I mean, my God created those mountains.  He spoke them into being.  He walks on them.  He is SO MUCH MORE majestic than the most awe-inspiring mountain on Earth.  And what’s more, He’s bigger than them. All.  Put together.  I mean, for goodness sake, if He “holds the whole world in his hands” than those are some seriously huge hands!  Yet, He also made me.  He knit me together in my mothers womb.  My God creates details in big things, and details in small things.  He sees the big picture, as well as the thoughts and desires of my heart.  MY heart, one among billions currently beating.  I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, my God is a beast.  He’s the most awesome, most amazing, most mind-boggling…..thing EVER! He’s freaking GOD! Seriously, how does that ever cease to blow my mind??  Whew, when he tells me not to worry about tomorrow, I should seriously listen.  He doesn’t mess around!  And if he can create everything so perfectly, and so intricately, and so beautifully, I’m ridiculous for being reluctant to give everything to him. 

I love that God is showing me this right now, because this past week I’ve been so frustrated by trying to figure out what specific career I want to pursue when there are SO MANY different options.  I have no idea how I’m supposed to narrow it down or make wise decisions, however, as I just stated many times, God is totally in control.  He’s always been in control, and he always will be in control.  He has plans for me, and because I want what he wants for my life, I don’t have to worry.  His plans have a knack for becoming reality… in his time.  That’s as frustrating as heck sometimes, but at least it takes some of the pressure off.  God’s got me.  As long as I keep seeking him and diligently research how the desires he put in my heart line up to a career and what it will take to get into that career, I don’t have to worry.  So you know what, I won’t worry.  Life is smooth sailing when God is your captain. 

You know, I love sailing.  I’ve never steered a ship, but it’s so relaxing to just sit and enjoy the waves, the salt air, the wind, and the sun…  Similarly, God is inviting me to relax as he shows me bit by bit the life that he is preparing me for and directing me towards.

Aren’t you guys so glad that I have a blog so you can see how my thought processes work?  I mean, life just wouldn’t be as fulfilling for you if you didn’t understand how I could go from talking about climbing mountains to sailing a ship with a pit stop in trusting God with my future!  haha jk, but seriously, you’re welcome ;)

Rebekah