Going on hour 10 of this 13-hour flight. It’s been a while since I took a 10+ hour flight. If the bus ride to DC provided ample time to think about my life, this flight took it to the next level. I would guess around 85% of the passengers on this Boeing 777 aircraft are Chinese. I haven’t been surrounded by this many Chinese people since… well, 2009 when I last went back to Taiwan. And this is only the beginning. I’m about to step foot onto a country where there are 1+ billion of them!
Already, I feel very much like an outsider looking in. I imagine to some degree, this is what African-Americans who serve in the Peace Corps in Africa feel like. I am similar in my looks, but so different on so many levels.
Sink or swim. I took a moment and re-watched my Peace Corps video. Reminding myself how I did it the last time around. Remembering what it felt like to create a community, to experience life in a way unimaginable to my current self. It’s the kind of rewarding, fulfilling experience that makes life interesting.
I think back on how I ended up in this exact moment, and for once, I am extremely grateful for everything that did NOT work out. I am truly glad for all the jobs that I did not get, and the relationships that did not work out. Had any one piece of the puzzle worked out differently, I wouldn’t be here, 38,000 feet above the Pacific Ocean, heading to Shanghai.
Who knew that all the disappointments in life could actually turn out to be blessings in disguise? Timing is everything, and this perfect timing of not being tied down by anything or anyone, doesn’t come by often. When opportunity like this one presents itself in front of us, seizing it is the only way.
I have no idea what to expect beyond the next three hours, and it is most exhilarating.
Good Luck Wendy, and enjoy.