And So It Begins

The day has finally come! January 7, 2012 began another adventure of a lifetime, but unfortunately my body has decided to get sick, causing our 13 hour flight to be uncomfortable and restless. After few hours of sleep on our first international flight, we missed Sunday arriving in Beijing after 12 am. Sunday we flew over the North Pole, over Russia, and into China, seeing no sun that day. In Beijing Capital International Airport (PEK) we met an M named Rob. There we jumped in a large van taking us to our homes for the next two nights. I was with Rob and his family along with Trisha, Ali, Megan, and Ashley. Despite my cold I was able to sleep the whole night through.
The first few days gave us a little taste of Beijing, where we will be living later on in our journey for six weeks. Our first morning in the city we had a bit of a struggle getting money out of the ATM, but we all made it. After that we had a brief devotion and meeting time before going back out into the city. We first went out to buy and try some of the street food, such as jianbing, joutsa and boutsa, and candied strawberries. We also spent some time praying on a nearby street where there are four brothels where women are in bondage and have no other hope but to sell their bodies into prostitution. My prayer is that they would be set free and that their hope would be renewed in the Father.
We have walked miles, taken city buses and subways, and a few have tried to catch a taxi. We visited The Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, a shopping mall, and a few other small stores here and there, one being a bookstore where we purchased our Chinese textbooks. On our first night we had our first real Chinese food and it was amazing! We had sweet and sour chicken, garlic broccoli, fried rice, garlic green beans, an eggplant/potato/pepper dish, a weird fungus (mushroom dish), and a few other things. It was all good minus the mushroom one. It was definitely a new experience eating everything with chopsticks, which is going to take a lot of practice.
My first impression of Beijing was not the best. The city looks so dirty because of the smog and dust that fills the air. People are also constantly spitting because of the dust and throwing their trash on the ground. Also, at first glance the people seem to be a bit unhappy, but more often than not if you smile and say “ni hao” they will do the same in return. Many of the people also where masks like a doctor would on their mouth and nose so not to breath in the dust. It has been such a blessing to stay with the M’s and I pray that their work in Beijing would thrive as long as the Father calls the there.