First Full Day

Oct. 20, 2016
11:20 pm
Beijing, China

It’s still so weird to think that I’m actually here. I know that seems really funny because obviously I am, but it just doesn’t feel like it. I’m in a constant state of, “is this real or am I dreaming?” Someone needs to continuously pinch me to convince me that this is actually happening. But it’s true! I am here in Beijing, China.

Today was an interesting day. The first thing we did was go to get our new SIM cards for our phones. It took FOREVER!  There are 26 EF teachers in our group. They had to take us back one-by-one, check our passports, take our picture, and do who-knows-what else to get us the SIM. And the plan they gave us is really bad, but we can change that for fairly cheap before the start of next month. After half of us got our SIMs, one of the ladies helping us lead us to the EF headquarters a few blocks away. There, we were able to ask some questions and get some lunch. After lunch, we signed our contracts and heard a couple presentations.

This evening was really fun. We were supposed to go do a bit of sightseeing, but we only got a quick glance of Tian’anmen Square before it started raining. So we learned how to navigate the subway system, and only lost one person in the process. When we returned back to the hotel, a group of us got together to grab dinner. I and a few other girls thought we were going to a cheap noodle place, but the teachers from the UK had other ideas and took us to an expensive restaurant. For those of you who don’t know, in China you share meals. So if you have a group of 12 (like we did tonight) you usually buy 4 meals and share them between you. Then one person pays the waiter and everyone else gives their share to that one person. Well the group I was with decided they all wanted to just get their own meals. Unfortunately, that would have been around 50 元, which is too much for my budget.

There were three other girls who went to dinner and didn’t want to stay at that restaurant. They were all vegetarian and there weren’t many cheap vegetarian options. So the three of us decided to go somewhere with a better selection and less expensive. We found a noodle place close to the hotel and ate there. The noodles were delicious. I put some chili oil on mine. Not the best idea, but an experience I had to have 😉

Today was a good first full day in China. But I’ve learned that I know absolutely no Chinese! It’s just so hard when you’ve never practiced it in context and when people are speaking so quickly. Hopefully I will learn soon. And luckily there are a few teachers in our group who are almost fluent, so they help a lot.

Our words to remember today are a little confusing to me. The passage is Joel 1:8-10 (or all of Joel 1, it’s not very long). It talks about a famine that hits a nation and does more than just physical damage. This is used to explain corporate sin, or sin committed by an entire community or nation. The challenge today is to take stalk of our corporate sin and to lift those sins to Abba. Recognize the wrongs that our community is making and give them to Him. That is my challenge for you today, even if I don’t quite understand the meaning.

Talk soon!
Bless,
Kristen