Once Upon a Time in Real Life: December 2010

Friday, December 31, 2010

a year in images: part three

part one.
part two.

September 2010: Peace Bridge, UB

October 2010, Khonghor

November 2010: Mars, PA

December 2010: Chingeltei Mission Center, UB

Happy New Year!

May 2011 bring you joy, peace and love abundant.

Thursday, December 30, 2010

a year in images: part two

part one.

June/July 2010: the Mongolian countryside

July 2010: Naadam festival, UB

July 2010: building a ger, Khonghor

thousands of people probably saw the star that Christmas night in the fields. but the shepherds looked at the star and they knew. They followed it because they knew. And they found Christ in the manger because they knew.

I've been thinking about Christmas in Mongolia being a bit like the star that night so long ago.

it's there for all to see, for all to find, for all to discover but it's also just a day.

some of us know- we gather, we celebrate, we light candles and we rejoice. and then there is the rest, the majority, the large consensus that doesn't. for whom it is a normal day, a day with final exams and work and chores and...life.

society doesn't stand still here. stores don't close. families don't gather. santa doesn't come. reindeer aren't spotted in the sky.

and yet some of us come together, we sit in a crowded room and we light the Advent wreath and we sing of the angels and the shepherds and the baby and we celebrate the birthday of a Savior who was born into the mess.

we are not a club, we are not a secret, we are not hiding.

we just simply see the star and know because in the story of life and its multitudes of ways and God's grace we have come to know.

and so we celebrate even while life continues outside the doors of the crowded room. and we look to the star, to Christmas, to this holiday and we point towards it. we explain and we hope that in explaining we're doing justice to where the star has led us. to how it has changed us. to why we sit around and celebrate the birth of a baby who came into life among animals and hay and parents who were probably scared out of their minds.

it's new here. it is not a tradition or a story or a cultural consumerism event.

there are no yearly family christmas activities or santa claus theories or presents bought and exchanged.

I sat in the back of a crowded ger on Christmas day and I cried because the children of this five-month old church had decorated the circular one-roomed tent by themselves- a pouring out of excitement and joy and....it hit me.

it was their first Christmas.

their rendition of the nativity story left me in tears.

because it is all new, it is all treasured and learned and discovered and suddenly, they've seen the star.

and they are pointing too, journeying towards the manger scene because God has come and told them that a Savior is to be born.

maybe they don't know what that means yet. maybe most of us don't really know what it means. maybe most of us are still following the star, still trusting that we will figure it out one step into the dark night and over the fields at a time.

Christmas is quieter here- a celebration in the midst of a daily life that doesn't pause like it seems to in the U.S.

but the star shines in both places. and no matter what corner of the world we're seeing it from...it's still the star over Bethlehem. it's still Christ in a manger and we can still be the shepherds; walking towards He who calls us, searching for the baby who saves us and inviting others to join us on the journey.

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

a year in images: part one

In the spirit of the coming New Year and the fact that New Years is a WAY bigger deal in Mongolia than Christmas, I've decided to do a countdown of sorts.

Over the next three days I'll be posting ten of my favorite pictures from the past year (that I've taken).

I've cheated a bit in trying to choose ones that are not only "good" pictures, but that are also a good representation of some of the highlights of the past twelve months and all they've held. That said, sometimes they are just pictures that I love because of the memories or the people or the beauty of this place.

The first three:

January 2010: Angkor Wat, Cambodia

March 2010: Zaison War Monument, UB

June 2010: Gachuurt, Mongolia

Saturday, December 25, 2010

24

And on the night before Christmas, my true love gave to me...

...five hours of baking- complete with food coloring, cracked eggs, flour messes, fur hats, laughing ourselves silly, cookie cutters and the finished product of 500 cookies and five cakes with chocolate icing.

Bring it on Santa Claus.

We've got ourselves some sugar to enjoy. Or more correctly, we've got a birthday to celebrate.

And the baby being born is going to rock your world.

headless angels, one-armed gingerbread women, slightly crispy stars and all.

23

And on the 23rd day before Christmas, my true love gave to me...

...nine visits to hospice patients, Mongolian caroling, byy3 eating, tea drinking and a staff party complete with games, too much food and lots of laughter.

Saturday, December 18, 2010

crossing cultures

One would think 27 hours of travel, three flights and lots of waiting would be adequate preparation for returning to your home culture.

One would be wrong.

I was immediately overwhelmed in San Francisco by the customs lines, which were basically mass chaos of people pushing and being crowded into too small spaces after many long hours of traveling and not sleeping. The poor customs guy tried to make small talk with me and all I could do was nod, half-heartily answer and wander out into the airport.

Airports are overwhelming. After all of Holli and I's debating about what food we wanted to eat first when we reached America, I was way too disoriented to take in the endless amount of options and expensive prices and DEAR LORD the number of choices. So? I bought a banana and water and sat on the floor in a corner.

Things that used to be normal tasks that you knew you could do easily no longer are. I felt panicky while signing my name on a receipt for the first time because it felt like I was taking forever and I hadn't done it in over a year. Also weird? Paying with debit cards instead of cash. American money that includes coins.

Everyone talking in English causes brain overload and exhaustion. It is distracting and disorienting and completely nuts to go from being able to tune out a foreign language to suddenly being able to understand EVERYTHING that is going on around you.

Menus are also exhausting. I have no idea how I ever made decisions about anything when I lived in the U.S. I live in a country where everything is a variation on meat and flour. That doesn't exactly equate a lot of food options. My coping mechanism was to just generally order the first thing that sounded good to me.

So.Much.Food. It didn't help it was Thanksgiving, but still.

Grocery stores are a panic attack in waiting. It is also a doubly bad idea for the first time you go to one after over a year to be the day before Thanksgiving. Thankfully my sister, her bf and my dad were with me and they were incredibly helpful in figuring out what we needed so I didn't sit on the floor and cry. I went two more times before I left and it never really got easier. It was too overbearing to really take everything in so I also just kind of put my head down, got what I needed and got out as fast as possible.

Driving everywhere is strange. I missed walking.

Not having to wear lots of layers every time you walk out the door is awesome. SO awesome.

Worship services are so short in the U.S. -shorter than the average length of the sermon at my church every week here in fact. This is not a bad or good thing necessarily, just a weird thing to adjust to when you're visiting.

Fruit and salads ARE as good as I had remembered.

Beds in America are soft. So are couches and love seats and blankets and...yet somehow my back was missing my hard Mongolian bed. Go figure.

Jet lag totally messes with my body.

In two weeks, I:

-flew on nine different flights
-visited three different states (Pennsylvania, Texas and Ohio)
-was in five different time zones
-slept in five different places (thanks for letting me crash with you various friends and family members!)
-visited seven different airports (Chicago wins for being the airport I walked around the most in)
-saw countless friends and family members
-cooked Thanksgiving dinner for thirteen people with my sister
-ate hummus by the gallon, pumpkin by the can and yogurt by the quart
-spent a total of fifty-seven some hours in transit

I also did a lot of pondering of what it means to move between countries, cultures and places. I don't have anything figured out, but I will say that I think it's an incredibly individual and personal process each time that transition takes place, regardless of whether it's for two weeks or more permanently. This time was not like the time when I returned from Bolivia and I have no doubt my next re-entry will be it's own thing as well.

There is no magical answer for how to handle culture shock- reverse or otherwise. It is what it is. All I know is that we have to meet it in the best ways that we know how and that changes according to circumstances and situations.

Sometimes all it means is admitting that we are almost perpetually in transition to somewhere or something and having grace with ourselves in the midst of that.