Weekend trip to Xi'an

Check out our latest adventure!  http://www.flickr.com/photos/ohheychina/
We went to Xi'an, one the few walled cities in China and home to Terracotta warriors (see pictures, I'm sure you've seen them on TV).  We had our first experience on overnight trains in China; let's just say that if you get the cheap tickets, you will be packed in like sardines.  People were sleeping in the middle aisle, on the bathroom sink, under the bathroom sink, cell phones going off all night, vegetable sellers going through the train at all hours, I mean, it was a whole new world.  I would recommend it for the experience of it (and they're the cheapest seats), but be prepared to be super uncomfortable!  We were able to get sleeper bunks on the way home.
In Xi'an, spent the night with friends of friends and had a great time talking about their ministry learning about their hearts for China.  We so enjoyed hearing about their lives here and their future plans.
Xi'an is also quite a lot smaller than Beijing, which made getting around a bit easier and it is a city that has kept its old world feel very well.  Some parts of it, mostly the Muslim quarter, made you feel like you were transported back in time.  Really neat.
Alright, I will leave you to the pictures.  Enjoy!

Change of Plans

Well, it's official, we are no longer staying in China next year.  You're probably wondering, "what?!  You just decided you were staying!"  Yes, it's true, we have the tendency to be fickle.  However, since making our decision to stay, we have been constantly sick -- which means at least one new illness a week between the two of us.  We've also had a few things come up at our school which were pushing us in the direction of wanting to leave.  So we began seriously talking about it, and once we allowed ourselves (mostly me, Grace) to be okay with not coming back, it was like a huge weight had been lifted off of us!  We hadn't realized how dried up we were: there's no where in Beijing that we have found where we can feel refreshed, whereas in Washington, we'd go on a weekend hike after a long week at work.  Here, it's pretty much concrete and more concrete.  Beijing is just a tough city, in a hard culture and you always feel like an outsider.

While we have no idea what we're doing in the fall,  it is such a relief to do what is best for us.  We know it could be easier the second year, we know that maybe the illnesses might eventually go away, we know that we could actually teach the positions we wanted next year (after they told us we couldn't), but as I told Chris, this is our time.  We are refusing to live where we are unhappy, and there has been so much freedom in that decision!

In the meantime, I'm looking and applying at a job in Taiwan, Chris is looking for jobs in the States, we are going to Xi'an this weekend (14-hour train ride one-way, woot!) we are planning for the summer, and guess what?!  We have an electric bike.  Oh yeah, we're hip.  The old Chinese men that sit on the side of the road always do a double take when they see us ride by... it's hilarious.  I told Chris I want to ship the bike back to the States, it's that awesome.  Probably won't happen, and now that we're leaving, we have to figure out if there's a return policy on that thing!

If you think of us, please pray for direction for the fall, we'd appreciate it!  Thanks so much for reading, the adventures continue!