Travel {Exploring Nooks and Crannies}

“I drift like a cloud,

Across these venerable eastern lands,

A journey of unfathomable distances,

An endless scroll of experiences...

Lady Zhejiang here we must part,

For the next province awaits my embrace.

Sad wanderer, once you conquer the East,

Where do you go?” 

― Tom Carter, 

China: Portrait of a People

Back in May, JP and I went to Foreigner Street, an amusement park of sorts in Chongqing that takes kitsch to a whole new level. The place is filled with replicas of Western landmarks, a Western-style chapel, pubs, fairy-tale streets, street performers, hawkers, costume shops that take photos of you in traditional Chinese clothing, and amusement rides. In short, it is crawling with people. People have a love-hate relationship with the park, from what I have read, but for those who see the interestingness in places and things, this place is worth a visit. 

Apart from the rides and the touristy souvenir shops, there's a section of old Chinese courtyards, which were fairly quiet and had very little foot traffic, since most Chinese are probably familiar with these courtyards anyway and avoided these places for the livelier sections of the park. I was mesmerized at how real the place looked. I used to watch Chinese movies dubbed in English or Tagalog when I was younger, and in those movies, you can see old Chinese houses with courtyards that had fountains and wells and lanterns hanging outside. And I got to see the real thing here! It was surreal, actually, especially since it was very quiet and I was able to get lost in the moment, just me and my thoughts and the occasional click of the shutter (the husband was sitting in a corner, tired from all the 'splorin', haha!) When you think about it, all the history that probably occurred in this place, weddings, funerals, swordfights(!!!)---it boggles my mind. CNN has a great piece on Chongqing's Foreigner Street here. 

A few snaps of what we saw there. 

Personal {Carving Spaces}

I'm a natural homebody so I want our house to be as comfortable as possible, every room, if I can help it! I remember during one of our evening conversations I told my husband that our bed is probably my most favorite thing in the house, just because I look forward to sleeping in it every night, although I sleep alone for most of the year (*sniff sniff*). Needless to say, I've always believed that home should be a sanctuary, and that bedrooms should be a place to sleep, not to work or to study. I need to do both so I think I've unconsciously been looking for a way to have a permanent office in the house so I can avoid bringing my laptop, phone or tablet to bed with me. 

It's a good thing that we have a spare room which we use for guests. After some huffing and puffing, moving furniture and the spare bed around, I managed to carve out a small space that I could turn into an office. And voila, I got myself an office where I can park the laptop, tablet and other things that tend to keep us all awake at night. 

Carving Spaces and Relationships 

It also got me thinking about the importance of carving spaces for the important things in our lives, from friendships to work to self-improvement. Multi-tasking is over-hyped and when we grow older, we usually gravitate towards paring down activities to the essentials. I don't know if this happens to all, but I see this happening to myself and my friends, especially friends who have kids. Suddenly, quality time becomes more important, making home a safe and warm place becomes a priority, and meaningful conversations take precedence over hangouts where everybody's there but nobody's talking. I've noticed that my conversations with friends are deeper now, more meaningful, filled with questions and revelations and moments of enlightenment that comes from sharing experiences. This is the beauty of growing older I guess. We recognize what's important, learn to take away the frills and enjoy the essentials because  they're the things that really matter.

Now, I know that "stuff" doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things. However, having your own personal space, whether it's for work, rest, or reflection and meditation, does matter a lot, so here's a take on the personal space/office that I managed to carve for myself last Saturday. And, (happy surprise!!!) making a space like this is not that hard. If you have a spare room or unused space,  you just have to do a bit of pulling and pushing, and maybe get few storage boxes to store the clutter that you cannot throw out, in order to achieve something similar to what I did here. 

Personal {Brother from Another Mother}

Dogs are our link to paradise. 

They don’t know evil or jealousy or discontent. 

To sit with a dog on a hillside on a glorious afternoon

 is to be back in Eden, 

where doing nothing was not boring

—it was peace.

—Milan Kundera

So this guy spent a few days with me. He soiled the carpet, the small sofa, and made a mess of the small patch of lawn that this house is lucky enough to call its own, but it was all good. When he grins he lights up the whole room.

Spirit {A Time for Everything}

There is a time for everything,

    and a season for every activity under the heavens:

    a time to be born and a time to die,

    a time to plant and a time to uproot,

    a time to kill and a time to heal,

    a time to tear down and a time to build,

   a time to weep and a time to laugh,

    a time to mourn and a time to dance,

  a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,

    a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,

 a time to search and a time to give up,

    a time to keep and a time to throw away,

 a time to tear and a time to mend,

    a time to be silent and a time to speak,

    a time to love and a time to hate,

    a time for war and a time for peace.

--Ecclesiastes 3

Turning 32 is teaching me a lot of things. A LOT. There were times when it seemed like I was in the middle of an army boot camp that I didn't sign up for, crawling through mud, covered in bruises and bawling my eyes out like a spoiled brat. This year has been filled with those, and I know there's more to come. 

But, it has been filled with happy moments, too, very much like the R&R soldiers get after intense weeks of training. I have no idea where the military metaphors are coming from, but they are are appropriate, I guess.

Life is a battlefield. 

You hear that line in songs but you never really get to appreciate how real it is until you live it. There's the struggle to do the right thing in the midst of pain and anger, the struggle to discover who you really are apart from the people you love, the job you love, the things you love. There's the daily battle for sanity and peace in the midst of brokenness and confusion. 

Growing up, turning a year older, is tough! I learned so much in the last couple of months of being 31 than I have probably learned in college or in high school, most of them about being an adult, learning humility, learning forgiveness, learning how to be forgiven, and returning to the things that matter-- love, relationships, being at peace with who you are, not defining yourself by the people you love and love you, but defining yourself by His love (and what an amazing Love it is!) 

I learned that there is really nothing that we know, for sure. We think we know a lot when we're young and then life hits us with curveballs and we're cowering in the corner, frozen with no clue about what to do. That is OK, still, as long as we know who to turn to when we're all bruised and swollen and swearing off baseball for the last time (the metaphors, again!). 

I learned that there is a time for everything, that listening to the Voice that matters brings peace, and that peace transcends all understanding. Because there are things that matter more, things that demand sniper-like focus and attention, otherwise they'd be gone forever. I thrived as a multi-tasker in college, dabbling in this and that and doing enough just to get by, but now, I am being taught, "There is a time for everything, slow down, focus on the things that matter, on love and relationships and covenants that cannot, and should not be broken, no matter what the cost."

Man, training is hard. Learning is hard. But I guess that what's life is. Everyday is a constant revelation of things that we didn't know before, or things that we have learned but forgotten. But it is also necessary. There are days when I wake up not wanting to be where I am, impatient at the thought of things I could be doing and it takes focused, painful and even exhausting moments of reflection to remember and realign myself with the things that I should be learning, right here and right now. So I guess 32 will be a year of more learning and more growing up. I can't say that I look forward to it. It seems painful and muddy and I'm sure I'll be bruised along the way. But I will get through it and hopefully, I'll come out stronger and wiser. 

A few snapshots from our birthdays (being apart is also tough, but we make do. Bought the husband a small blueberry cheesecake that he blew from the other side of the screen. Talk about cheesy!) 

Personal {Loving Horizons}

“We swung over the hills and over the town and back again, and I saw how a man can be master of a craft, and how a craft can be master of an element. I saw the alchemy of perspective reduce my world, and all my other life, to grains in a cup. I learned to watch, to put my trust in other hands than mine. And I learned to wander. I learned what every dreaming child needs to know -- that no horizon is so far that you cannot get above it or beyond it.”

― Beryl Markham, 

West with the Night

There are times when I get too comfortable in one place that I don't notice how far I am from the rest of the world. The process of preparing for big battles, taking care of relationships and changing priorities all seem like monumental tasks, and it's so easy to forget that the world is out there, beautiful and near and just waiting to be visited.  

A couple of high school friends and friends from Cebu called out of the blue and dragged me out of the house for an unexpected trip to Tierra Alta, that gorgeous place up in the clouds (a bit of an exaggeration, yes, but it's the closest you can go if you're not a mountain climber or on a plane, haha!). I was *busy* lounging in my big oversized T-shirt, relaxing with the customary tea after getting some work done when they announced that they were coming to pick me up. That was, I swear, the shortest prep time I've done in my life! No regrets, however. Tierra Alta is even more beautiful since the last time I visited, with new hotel rooms and a sky lounge. Plus, I got to meet and reconnect with old and new friends and realized how much I missed just being with people!!!  

A couple of shots taken with phone and special child Canon 50D.