Goodbye Amurrica!!

“Every time we make the decision to love someone, we open ourselves to great suffering, because those we most love cause us not only great joy but also great pain. The greatest pain comes from leaving. When the child leaves home, when the husband or wife leaves for a long period of time or for good, when the beloved friend departs to another country or dies … the pain of the leaving can tear us apart.  Still, if we want to avoid the suffering of leaving, we will never experience the joy of loving. And love is stronger than fear, life stronger than death, hope stronger than despair. We have to trust that the risk of loving is always worth taking.” 
― Henri J.M. Nouwen

Winter break was a pretty boring five weeks for me. I spent much of it alone while each day seemed to drag by more slowly than the one before, so when I realized I would be leaving soon for Korea, I got myself together and tried to arrange ways to be with people who I won't be seeing for at least six months, some maybe never again.  In the grand scheme of things, six months out of your life is not very long. The last six months of my life seemed to go by faster than ever, and it's not like I'm moving to China for life or anything. But when I stopped to reflect on how quickly my brother is growing through his adolescent years, how my parents look older every time I go home to see them, how my friends are preparing for another semester of classes without me, six months suddenly began to feel very long and life began to feel extremely short. And for six months, life in the US will go on without me.  During my last week stateside, however, many people stopped what they were doing in their lives and reciprocated in my efforts to spend time with them. It was all very fun, and made me feel both sad and more comfortable about leaving. In my pessimism and characteristically cynical attitude towards the world, it was both humbling and reassuring to be on the receiving end of a lot of love.  I guess one way to learn to appreciate what you have is to leave it.

Right before I go to China, Dad still insists on Chinese food.  Typical.  Excuse the bad panoramic.

Center of attention, as usual.

At least most of them are pretty sad that I'm leaving.

Now that most of my goodbyes have been said, all there's left to do is pack.  I have just a little over 24 hours to do so and it's not looking good.  I think because of winter break, deadline pressure has completely lost its hold on me.  You know how procrastination makes you productive at everything except for the task at hand?  Well so far I've taken a walk, did push-ups and sit-ups, read my entire study abroad handbook, read all the advice from program alumni, asked friends how class has been going, read the entire Wikipedia page for South Korea, and put a lot of unnecessary information on this blog post.  In the process though, I figured out what my address in China will be!  Here it is in English and Chinese, respectively.  Either or will suffice, though they say to use the Chinese if you can.  I'm still a believer in snail mail, so if I know your address, you can expect a postcard at the very least. ;-)

Krista Chan
UCEAP
Zhongguan Xin Yuan
9 lou, 2 danyuan, 101 shi
Peking University, Haidian District
Beijing 92101, P. R. China

美国加州大学北京中心
北京大学，中关新园 9.2.101
海淀区，北京市 100871
Krista Chan/陈慕华 收
BEIJING, CHINA

On the flip side of things, I'll soon be in Korea and reuniting with other friends who I haven't seen for over six months.  The thought of it makes me want to leave already.  In the meantime...guess I'll start packing.

Our Greatest Gift: A Meditation on Dying and Caring (Abridged) by Nouw (Google Affiliate Ad)