Khashkhar pictures

Here are some pictures from my Kashgar (khashkhar) trip last summer.

Bloggerooni

I've really fallen out of the blogging spirit lately. I finally switched over my domain to this blog, so it's accessible by kealist.com . I will try to write some interesting things from time to time, and be more active overall

Photography for connecting the world

For those of you who have never watched any of the vids at TED.com, I would recommend that you do so. I've been looking to start to make photography part of my daily routine so I can improve my composition skills.

It begins again

I am starting this new blog, and it will hopefully be some fun. I will see if I can import entries from my old blog or not.

blessings

So, it's been a while since I've updated. Spent the last week at Bear Trap Ranch near Colorado Springs. It actually felt like the first vacation I've really had for around a year and a half. The trip to China didn't really feel like a vacation last summer because it was so exhausting. But I just had fun. Felt some Joy, that I haven't felt for a long time. I also got to meet some really great people, by whom I am very blessed. It feels kind of lonely to go back to living in my apartment by myself after being in tight quarters with people for a week. That should be changing as I start to move this week. Had fun hiking every day and also rappelling. Lead a family group bible study, and it was good. I hope that I did an okay job with it. But I've made a lot of new friends and I am especially glad for one. I miss them all.

Had band practice last night which was fun. Soon we will get a demo down so we can play some shows.

Need to stay organized with 中文, so I can have fun :)

Here is one of my favorite poems:

Gary Soto - "Oranges"

The first time I walked
With a girl, I was twelve,
Cold, and weighted down
With two oranges in my jacket.
December. Frost cracking
Beneath my steps, my breath
Before me, then gone,
As I walked toward
Her house, the one whose
Porch light burned yellow
Night and day, in any weather.
A dog barked at me, until
She came out pulling
At her gloves, face bright
With rouge. I smiled,
Touched her shoulder, and led
Her down the street, across
A used car lot and a line
Of newly planted trees,
Until we were breathing
Before a drugstore. We
Entered, the tiny bell
Bringing a saleslady
Down a narrow aisle of goods.
I turned to the candies
Tiered like bleachers,
And asked what she wanted -
Light in her eyes, a smile
Starting at the corners
Of her mouth. I fingered
A nickle in my pocket,
And when she lifted a chocolate
That cost a dime,
I didn't say anything.
I took the nickle from
My pocket, then an orange,
And set them quietly on
The counter. When I looked up,
The lady's eyes met mine,
And held them, knowing
Very well what it was all
About.

Outside,
A few cars hissing past,
Fog hanging like old
Coats between the trees.
I took my girl's hand
In mine for two blocks,
Then released it to let
Her unwrap the chocolate.
I peeled my orange
That was so bright against
The gray of December
That, from some distance,
Someone might have thought
I was making a fire in my hands.

beauty

Today there is a poem for the beautiful one.

Early in the Morning

While the long grain is softening
in the water, gurgling
over a low stove flame, before
the salted Winter Vegetable is sliced
for breakfast, before the birds,
my mother glides an ivory comb
through her hair, heavy
and black as calligrapher's ink.

She sits at the foot of the bed.
My father watches, listens for
the music of comb
against hair.

My mother combs,
pulls her hair back
tight, rolls it
around two fingers, pins it
in a bun to the back of her head.
For half a hundred years she has done this.
My father likes to see it like this.
He says it is kempt.

But I know
it is because of the way
my mother's hair falls
when he pulls the pins out.
Easily, like the curtains
when they untie them in the evening.

I am still trying to figure things out, but I could not do with without friends to support and criticize me where I am failing. The Living God will bring what he has started to completion. I am sick of sin and tired of it's enslaving nature. May He lift up all those who are stuck under those who are in power. May those in power be faithful with what they have been given. Not to use and exploit the poor and needy but to serve them as a true leader would do. Even more, may I be faithful with what I have been given, for I have not been. As a son of God, I accept God's grace for the wrongs I have done, and I have the Holy Spirit acting in power in my life. There is no longer any room for sin inside my heart, take away these bonds and replace them with love.

I can't change my own heart!

It's too wonderful for me

So, I am going to make an effort to make my blog slightly less boring in terms of it only being about studying. The last half a year or so has been a little crazy, and at times I've been in a kind of funk, but I've been doing really quite well lately. This week, my mind has been focused more on important things, such as God and friends and life and discipline rather than laziness and lust and boredom.

I am excited about things that are going on here.

Church is interesting, we had our service in a bar/club this Sunday, and I would hope that we may be able to move there permanently. We are outgrowing the arts center with more than 200 people. Such a change from maybe 50 people two years ago. There are so many more people I don't know. A few of us have talked about how to encourage diversity. I try to bring some international folks, but I think because of people's busyness that it's just as hard as Americans to get involved on a deeper level. But it's exciting.

Conversation / bible group with Z has been great this semester. It's good to get to know folks and to talk to them about deeper spiritual things. It has been encouraging to approach scripture and see kind of how strange it is and wrestle around with it.

Looks like I'm headed back to China for the summer. Hopefully things will all come together for it, visa and all.

I've thought a lot about singleness and the future. The potential of a relationship is pretty exciting, but time will tell. I think I must continue to be patient for now and see how life progresses post this summer.

Will I ever finish my degree? I'm not so sure at this point. Maybe it would do me good to get some teaching experience before I do, so I could actually work on a thesis that would be good. I've personally been experimenting with language learning methods the last half a year, and I have learned a lot. I am finally performing my experiment of reading through Anna Karenina in Mandarin, and it's been surprisingly helpful. We'll see once I've put in 40 hours or more.

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