I leave on Thursday. Thursday! I am a huge mixture of emotions. Mostly excited, with a twinge of anxiety. Although I feel like the only thing I can think about right now is packing. Man I hate packing.
So stay tuned blogosphere! I'll be sure to update often, and let you all know what's going on in Hong Kong. I'll try to post some pictures when I can, but hopefully this will just be a place where I can talk about how good God is.
Oh but one last thing before I go, I am going to have to ask you not to text me after Thursday afternoon at 3:15 as I will have to pay for them since I will be international. I'll keep my phone on periodically because I can use the WiFi feature, but I won't be able to make calls and/or send/receive texts. So that means I'll be expecting e-mails and facebook messages! Preferably encouraging ones! Thanks for all the prayers and support. See you on the flipside!
New Life Goal
I just stumbled upon some guy's blog and found this picture and his plans to hike all 4 trails in one calendar year. He is going to start on Jan 1, 2011. I am impressed and inspired. I didn't even know that half of those trails existed or were that long. It's already one of my goals to do the Appalachian Trail all the way through at some point but now I want to do all of them! Not necessarily in one year, I wouldn't mind spreading them out.
My problem is, as soon as I graduate from college I will (God willing) get a real job. Maybe even a career. I do not know what that job will look like... it could be anywhere from some crummy sales position to something in the non-profit sector to something entirely different. Then what? It's not like these places will just give you several months off at a time so you can just go out and hike across the country.
So I'd have to wait until I retire to do it, but then who knows if that would even work. What if I'm too old or I have health problems or I'm married and my husband doesn't want to go with me? I don't want to have to put things like this off.
Now I've been talking to Maureen lately about my dream job of moving to Arizona and running the Colorado river like the trip I went on with my family last summer. Now I could only do this job in the summer, and then I would move to like Colorado or something and work at a ski resort. There are several issues with this plan: 1. I don't know how to run a river. 2. I can't ski well enough to be a ski instructor. 3. None of this requires a college education so this whole college thing would have been a waste. However, a life like that seems like it would be more conducive to accomplishing things like the Appalachian trail and other things as well. Like relationships with people. I imagine the people that I would meet doing jobs like that would be pretty interesting and they would have such a different perspective on life than my own. I love meeting people and getting to know what makes them tick... It's just a thought.
To my dear parents who are probably reading this and freaking out because they are worried I'm going to drop out and move to Arizona: Don't worry. I'm just thinking. I'm just trying to picture my life in 10 years and I'm concerned because I have no idea what it looks like... and I refuse to go into sales. I don't want to grab the first job offered to me just because I'm afraid there won't be another one. I want to build relationships with people and feel like I'm doing something meaningful with my life.
Chinese Culture
Not praising the worthy prevents contention,
Not esteeming the valuable prevents theft,
Not displaying the beautiful prevents desire.
In this manner the sage governs people:
Emptying their minds,
Filling their bellies,
Weakening their ambitions,
And strengthening their bones.
If people lack knowledge and desire
Then they cannot act;
If no action is taken
Harmony remains
I am attempting to study for my Chinese Culture exam tomorrow, which could possibly be one of the most intimidating exams of my college career to date because it is not all multiple choice! It also has fill in the blanks, short answer, and essay questions! I haven't taken an exam like that since my AP days and I am quite nervous. I am pretty fascinated with Chinese history so far, which is incredible because I am NEVER fascinated by history. I love learning about their different religions (the above poem is a Taoist poem) because you get a better understanding of why they are the way they are today and what events and thought processes influenced them.
That being said, some of this stuff is pretty scary to think about. Taoism is all about non-action. Meaning it is best to just accept what life has offered you because striving for something new distorts your own nature. I can't imagine having that kind of outlook on life. I can't imagine simply accepting my circumstances and not striving to be the best I can be in everything I do. Ambition is a driving force in my life, not necessarily for my own selfish gain, but hopefully for the good of those around me. I don't know what I want to do with my life, but I hope I can do something that changes the circumstances of those around me for the better. That is why I am in school. To gain knowledge that will feed my desire to do something. Because, "If people lack knowledge and desire, they cannot act."
Not esteeming the valuable prevents theft,
Not displaying the beautiful prevents desire.
In this manner the sage governs people:
Emptying their minds,
Filling their bellies,
Weakening their ambitions,
And strengthening their bones.
If people lack knowledge and desire
Then they cannot act;
If no action is taken
Harmony remains
I am attempting to study for my Chinese Culture exam tomorrow, which could possibly be one of the most intimidating exams of my college career to date because it is not all multiple choice! It also has fill in the blanks, short answer, and essay questions! I haven't taken an exam like that since my AP days and I am quite nervous. I am pretty fascinated with Chinese history so far, which is incredible because I am NEVER fascinated by history. I love learning about their different religions (the above poem is a Taoist poem) because you get a better understanding of why they are the way they are today and what events and thought processes influenced them.
That being said, some of this stuff is pretty scary to think about. Taoism is all about non-action. Meaning it is best to just accept what life has offered you because striving for something new distorts your own nature. I can't imagine having that kind of outlook on life. I can't imagine simply accepting my circumstances and not striving to be the best I can be in everything I do. Ambition is a driving force in my life, not necessarily for my own selfish gain, but hopefully for the good of those around me. I don't know what I want to do with my life, but I hope I can do something that changes the circumstances of those around me for the better. That is why I am in school. To gain knowledge that will feed my desire to do something. Because, "If people lack knowledge and desire, they cannot act."
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