It is well with my Seoul...

I left Lhasa to about a dozen students giving me kadas, carrying my bags to the car, telling me not to worry... on the drive to the airport I glimpsed a very large lizard scurrying over the rocky mountain side. Goodbye for now Lhasa.

I arrived in Beijing greeted by a dear friend whose eagerness to see me was revealed in this text which I received while I was in baggage claim: just take somebody elses.

I woke in the middle of the night in near agony that I was going to be on the move again in a few humid hours.

A dalliance if you will: It's amazing what Asia will do to you, the way that somehow it makes your brow crinkle and stomach churn at the thought of having to transition. I used to love travel, and even though I've never had a horrendous experience, now the thought nearly drives me insane. In a world that's as unstable as this one is it always strikes me as some sort of masochism to put oneself in a decidedly less stable place, thousands of feet above the air in route to some destination that is sure to be nothing in your realm of experience... I have long asked for there to be more of Him and less of me and my current understanding is that such a request requires me to travel in Asia by myself.

Enough.

I arrived in Korea with a bookbag of clothes and an extra hour, that's how early the plane was. The hour was quickly spent deciding a few things about this culture: 1. They wear flip flops 2. They don't seem to care that I'm white and 3. They are madly efficient with time... in short this is the least Asian country in Asia.

I got off the airport bus with time to spare and walked right into the McDonalds and bought a milkshake for roughly a dollar... I sat down to write about why it is that a well placed McDonalds is suddenly the latest revelation of grace in my life.

I had a random Korean girl (who spoke no English but somehow knew exactly what the phone number in my hand and pleading look on my face meant) help me call my friend, which produced a very joyful reunion. Now I'm writing to you from the fourth Asian country that I've visited in nine months... that's if you only count China as one country.

Whatever my lot (and what an unpredictable lot it's turning out to be) He has taught me to say... it is well, it is well with my Seoul.