Off again

I just unpacked, and now I'll be packing again for the next trip. This time, it'll be for the lunar new year. I'm looking forward to seeing family and friends again, but well, as everyone probably knows, sometimes being with family can be tough too. We'll see what happens this year.

Work has been going very slowly since I got back. Sigh.

I had a very vivid and long dream last night, some of which I still remember and I have mixed feelings about that. Dreams are so weird and sometimes, the very things you don't want to think about resurface in your dreams. In a  funny part of my dream, I had forgotten to tell my parents when something life-changing happened, and I kept worrying about how mad they would be because I was not telling them about my life. (This is generally true in real life.) Okay, so now every time the thoughts around this particular subjects come up during the day, I'll acknowledge them, and let them pass through without trying to repress them because I don't want them to come up in my dreams.

You know, sometimes I don't like my dreams not because they are unpleasant, but because they are simply not true. In some ways, this dream was pleasant because I was not running away from someone with a knife or carrying a burden 100 times my size. But I'd rather have dreamless sleep any day of the week.

back home again

I'm so exhausted. I feel like I fit two months of living into the last two weeks of my life. Got home at 12.30am, and today will be devoted to cleaning, laundry, grocery shopping, cooking, and TV. The best part of the trip was seeing friends and spending time with them. I didn't take a whole lot of pictures but hopefully I will be able to post some stories about the trip.

cold

Temps have dropped by a lot! Flying out today for the last leg of my trip. I am fine when I am with friends but I feel homesick when I am alone! Glad I will have a roommate for most of the conference.

2012

Traveling has always taught me a lot. I continually have to learn to deal with the visceral responses of being in an airport or sitting in a plane. Those emotions have become easier to live with, certainly, but they are still never easy. Once I leave the airport, I feel a lot more normal regardless of where I am, and I'm thankful for that.

I was jet lagged so I fell asleep long before midnight although I woke up for a bit when the neighborhood celebrated the turn from one year to the next. Reflections? I'm not sure I have the time and energy to reflect on 2011, but here are brief thoughts:

1. I started to feel more at home in HK, and being here on my trip has underscored how settled I feel in HK now. I do enjoy being here but I know I will be glad to be back in HK.

2. I miss my friends. I can't count the number of times that thought ran through my mind last year.

3. I value hospitality because I have so often been blessed by others in this area! As I type this, I'm in Friend J's little New York apt (not as little as HK's of course), and I'm so thankful that she took me in at the last minute (literally) because of complications with my travel plans. Friend J is not a Christian, and while some Christians--though not all--have been exemplary models of hospitality, I am equally amazed by the generosity of my non-Christian friends. I really hope I can bless others in this area too.

4. Work continues to be a difficult and contentious area of my life....and as I am finding out, in the lives of my friends too. God has been gracious and has sustained me this year; He has given me manna for my days. But I continue to associate work with anxiety, turmoil, and trouble.

5. This leads me to my one new year's resolution: that I would trust God more.

Ps - after my trip is over and when I have more time (haha), I'd like to sketch out portraits of the people I've met during this trip. Friendship truly has been one of the greatest blessings of my life.