January 9, 2009

Today. A mixture of good fellowship, great texts, disturbing news from home via CNN.com.

Had lunch with two friends, good food and good conversation. Got to listen to a loud argument at the grocery store. Got a very sweet text from a Chinese friend telling me she hoped we would have a chance to take more pictures together with our "smelling" faces, obviously meaning "smiling". And then there was gratitude for the UN Resolution on a Cease-Fire in Gaza where I noted that instead of blocking something by veto that for once the US abstained. And then there was frustration at seeing what the US Senate is passing -- totally condemning Hamas and not giving an iota of responsibility to Israel for the carnage that is happening right this very minute in Gaza.

So I have come home and buried myself in travel preparations for the upcoming weeks. I am seasoned enough a traveler now -- thanks be to God! -- that I know I will be able to (eventually) find the hotel in Lanzhou, Gansu on Monday. I do hope I can find the bus station in Nanjing to take the airport shuttle to the Nanjing Airport in time for my flight....and then the frustration of trying to book a flight on-line from Manila, Philippines, to the city where my friend lives that is about an hour and a half away by airplane from Manila. The credit card was rejected, but when I called my bank they said it wasn't them. No phone number on the airline website to contact them about it. Okay, so here I am in China and life is life.

The good part of things is that I am eating miniature Dove bars and am going to go read more in Silent Cry...that book is so deep that I cannot zip through it, which is kind of a blessing in its own way. The point of the book is intentionality and I have to read it intentionally, hmmmmm.