We just got home from a training on how to transition to a new culture... one of the most helpful things we've done so far to prepare for our move to China!
This is the place we stayed...
It was a beautiful area. :)
Crazy clouds! Picture courtesy of another couple we met there who are also moving to China!
We learned a lot about processing grief and loss as we say goodbye to people here, and being willing to get outside of our comfort zone and learn about Chinese culture when we get there, plus lots more.
It's hard to illustrate heart-level topics like this in pictures, but here are a couple things we learned that were easier to photograph.
Living in Paradox
(Pair of Ducks!)
There are things that make us SO excited about moving to China... especially since it's been a dream for so many years! But at the same time, I (Rachel) have had some really good cries over the last year as I contemplate saying goodbye to my family and close friends.
To give us (and the kids at the trainings) some fun vocabulary to process these paradoxes, we were introduced to a Pair of Ducks (get it?): Yay Duck and Yuck Duck.
This particular Pair of Ducks will get to move with us, a gift from our new China friends!
We'll have them along as we experience eating delicious food (yay!), sticking out as foreigners (yuck!), creating a new home and getting to know our neighbors (yay!), missing everyone here and what's going on in their lives (yuck!), learning a new language (yay!) and pronouncing everything wrong all the time (yuck!).
Transition!
We talked a lot about the process of transition, too. We talked about it in terms of transplanting a flower (even having to break up the root ball, so it will grow in it's new home... ouch!) as well as like crossing a bridge.
The first stage is Settled.
Notice the paradoxes about even staying home in the U.S.!
We don't feel like we're really in this stage anymore though... we do too much living out of our car to say that.
Next is Unsettling.
Welcome to the world we're in right now. :)
Here's what we have to look forward to in the next couple of months: Chaos!
The arrows represent different people's interpretations of when actually getting on the airplane intersects with Unsettling or Chaos. For Josh, the airplane means the beginning of Chaos. For me, I think the airplane with mean we're finally nearing the end of Chaos...
The great thing about going through Chaos at different times is we can support one another in the midst of it. One of the illustrations we used in our training was an actual, physical "bridge" to represent the stages.
Below is Josh poised to help a girl move from Unsettling (chairs that rocked when you stood on them) into Chaos (big balls stuck together).
We'll need lots of support as we go through this!
Then, Resettling.
And finally, someday... New Settled.
That 60% is there to represent the fact that even when we're settled and feeling at home in China, at our best we will still only function at 60% of our previous capacity. It'll be a humbling way to live!
We'll be sharing more about this process as we experience it!
On a totally different note... one of our Yay Ducks during the training was ping pong! Josh organized a ping pong tournament that got the whole place excited. He and I were both out in the first round... there were some fantastic players!
This was during the quarterfinals.
Josh was referee/score keeper at the end (his head's not in the picture but we're both there in the background).
Anna, one of my sisters, came and visited us, and left us a ping pong surprise in our room to find after class...
The players...
The ref...
And the fans. :)
