Why Do We Go Back to the States Most Summers?

We will leave on Thursday for our Stateside visit for the summer. Thus begins the same yearly migration that many, many overseas workers, especially teachers, do. It is part of the rhythm of life for us. When I was in countries where there were many things that we did not have I always knew a furlough was coming when I started to dream about Walmart and KFC. (Not proud of what my subconscious was telling me, but it was pretty persistent.) Such is not the case in China. I can go to a very nice Walmart anytime about 4 subway stops away from my apartment. I can bike to KFC within about 5 minutes. I always have McDonalds, Burger King, Dairy Queen, and Subway within striking distance. Pizza is also available. (No Taco Bell. I think someone should open a Taco Bell franchise here in China. I assume it would be quite lucrative. And although Chik-Fil-A might be quite marketable, I am not sure the philosophical stance would fit into things allowed into China.)

There were certainly times I also was looking for some other creature comforts in my trip to the States, but I have very nice A/C, and transport here. ( I actually greatly miss being able to take my bike everywhere when I am on furlough). I also access movies, and anything on the internet. I just watched Jurassic World 2 a week earlier than it was available in the US! And only paid $3.50 for it.

So why do we disrupt ourselves, pay exorbitant amount of money, live out of suitcases, and get exhausted making the trek back to the States? Family, of course.  We definitely want to, but we also promised to come home summer and mid-winter when we accepted the appointment to China. (“Mid-winter”, because we teach through Christmas and then get off over Chinese New Year.)  We love that we can get to family this often. It is a real privilege, not one that has always been available to us.  This summer we will see Purity play rugby, take Peter’s 3 up to Massachusetts to see Paul’s, go to MN with some of the children, stay about a week with each child, etc. At this point our itinerary is SC-PA-MA-PA-SC-PA-MN-PA-SC-FL-SC. There are repeats because we will see each kid more than once during our 2 months at home. This summer we are driving, but we are home longer than usual and I hope it will be cheaper. We have our RV/conversion van. We are looking forward to it. We will be at some of your churches, and home areas. Hopefully, we can see you. Ministry is never left behind of course. Long ago the Lord told us that part of our job, maybe one of the more important parts of our job, was to communicate here to there. We love to share our experiences, and pray that it helps us listen and uphold each other more effectively.

We have cleaned out our apartment so that teachers that volunteer from our organization to teach summer school here can use our apartments. So now we are ready to make the trip, which again, most of the rest of our group and thousands of workers make every summer. I may post during the summer, if it seems to make sense, but I will not be posting on a regular basis as I have during the school year. Please be ready to hear from me again after we return here on August 25. Thank you for consistently reading the blog: 5,600 views in the past three and a half months.