Before she leaves the port...

Consider this the official christening of my blog. On this site I will hopefully be chronicling my new Asian life and living during my stay over in the far East. My goal is to as transparently describe my experience as possible to whoever is interested. For anyone who doesn't know, I will be traveling to China starting tomorrow, the 29th of December. Our first stop will be Hong Kong, I will be with some friends visiting a friend in China where we will learn about the Business As Missions idea. Hopefully, there will be more to come concerning all of that. The majority of my semester will be spent in the city of Xiamen, however. I will be an international student with the China Studies Program. 18 other students and I from other CCCU schools around the country will spend about 4 months discovering the ins and outs of Chinese culture, public policy, religion, society, history, along with getting to know local Chinese students and other international students.

I will hopefully be updating at least once each week. I would love lots of feedback, or just hearing how each of you are doing. I am open to questions about anything, if you were wondering something about me, or where I am or what I am experiencing please ask. I want to share this opportunity with anyone who is interested.

If anyone was wondering about the title-this may become apparent as I continue to journal- but I like being rather cryptic. It could mean than I have become rather obsessed lately with the idea of God's great grace and forgiveness and how 'far he has removed our transgressions from us.' Or it could be that I am going somewhere to the far east of here. Or it could be that while I am in Xiamen my mind may be wandering somewhere East of where I really am. Or it could be a reference to my own existential search to enjoy life East of Eden while ideas like, "...the grass is greener..." tempt me to less than disciplined ends. Or it could have to do with a certain work by an artist that I appreciate. Or it could be a mysterious blend of all of those things together. But that is just me. Anyway...enjoy!