sidenote

about the food discussion from last friday.
during that talk about traditional Christmas food, I muttered, "Junk food..." the Chinese guy sitting next to me immediately responded, "Yes! I think so!" which threw me into a panic of "Oh no! I just reinforced a negative stereotype. NooOOOOooo!" so I backpedalled to, "I mean I get a stocking of candy and we eat cake. But we eat a lot of vegetables, too." and I starting thinking upward, "Father, I sure hope someone invites him to a Christmas meal and they serve him HEALTHY food so he doesn't spend his whole life thinking all Americans eat are hamburgers, pop and candy."
which may have been my own lack of confidence. Evidently, the moments when I feel Chinese matter-of-factly looking down on anything about my heritage e.g. "Americans only eat junk food...Americans have lousy family values...Americans pollute more...Americans are inferior at this or that." insert emoticon with frown and steaming head, i.e ~>:[

In final thoughts, even the place I love the most, there is discomfort, as our only true home is in that Other Place, where He is. Going somewhere else on Earth is longer an escape, but a real journey away from something good into something difficult, though wonderful.