Dim Sum on the Aeroplane...What a beautiful thing.

Ahhh. I love the humidity. It's almost an obsession, but that feeling walking off the plane, hitting that thick, warm air is probably one of the best feelings ever.
Don't judge...I know some of you like the smell of gasoline, and that's SO much worse than the near-suffocating delightfulness of extreme moisture.

Look! It's Annamarie and Sarah wishing me luck on my adventures. :)

On May30th, I began this party with a flight from Denver to LA, and then a long haul from LA to Hong Kong. Lucky me, though, as I was placed next to a couple of super awesome people from Fort Collins (shoutout to Jason and Abby!)...and even before takeoff, we'd already gotten into some great conversations about God and free will (my topic of choice, of course). Both of them studied youth leadership at a Christian college in CA, thus providing me 13+ hours of insightful, honest, and just plain hilarious chatting. I love strangers. :)

Long flight, but I made it with the help of the afore mentioned, and also several movies, which I will now rank on a scale of 0-10:
1. Music and Lyrics: 6. Eh. Funny parts, and Drew Barrymore was pretty lovable, but it was a little cliche for my taste (and you know I like my cliche). Argh, and I HATE that the main song got stuck in my head, even though it's not that amazing.
2. The Holiday: 8.5. I liked it...a lot. People are funny. As are relationships...?
3. Aladdin: 10. Need I say more? No.
4. The Freedom Writers: 10. EVERYONE SHOULD WATCH THIS MOVIE. It made me cry, several times. And, no, that wasn't just because I was tired. It was pretty inspirational. Especially the "home" part.

And thus we arrived at the Hong Kong Airport, which is the shiniest and cleanest place imaginable(Go Tasha?). I settled into an extremely large, red couch-thing with my new-found friends and passed away another couple hours. The flight to Taiwan was not as much fun, as there was no one sitting next to me. :( Sad day...

However, it was then that I realized I am perceived as an American. The stewardesses spoke to me in English without prompting or anything, which led to some deep, heavy thoughts (and questioning of apparel?). But have no fear! The pensiveness wore away because...

THEY SERVED DIM SUM ON THE AIRPLANE!*
*airplane is spelled 'aeroplane' in the title due to artistic license

I arrived in Taiwan, and definitely felt a wave of emotions...it's foreign, yet familiar, old yet new, exciting yet unbelievably calming. For the first time in a long while, it feels OK to just let time pass, and not do anything specific to guide that process. Family, wandering, relaxing, eating good food...check, check, check and check (the mango was divine).

I love seeing my mom and grandma after many months, and the rest of the family. I am awestruck by the view (which will be documented soon), the lushness of the forest that rests by my uncle's place. I love that speaking Chinese is part necessity, part challenge, part shame at now knowing, but part pride as well. It is a whole other world here in every way. Every single way.

In an attempt to fight jet lag, I am extremely sleep-deprived right now...so sleep is tugging away at me. Tomorrow potentially includes church flower arranging and fishing. And I'm not even kidding.

P.S.