Morning In The East

As I continue on my great adventure, I miss being able to watch the villages awaken. Currently, I am living in an apartment building that is the center one of 5 identical parallel structures. The view of the countryside is severely limited from here.

The first 10 days I was in this locale, I was living in a 6th floor apartment (the top level) that had windows and a balcony facing the mountains to the east. I relished this daily routine:

Before my quiet time, I sit in the early morning darkness, observing with wonder a life foreign to my own. Small dots of yellow light indicate the day has begun in the villages on the mountainside. With the first light of dawn, ladies from the villages (some barefoot) begin their long trek down the narrow, winding roads to town, carrying their baskets of vegetables, fruits and wicker articles to market. After the onset of pedestrian traffic and just before sunrise, the road and building construction crews emerge from their temporary dwellings as smoke begins to ascend from their cooks‚ charcoal fires. Uniformed children on foot or bicycle hurry off to early morning classes.

The “old people,” as the locals call them, fill the amphitheater in the neighborhood park to exercise for an hour together with their Tai Chi instructors. A few younger and more independent souls are wielding swords or fans as they rehearse graceful dances. Some of the men are walking backward in large circles as a warm up to their workout.

The aromas of hot oil, soy sauce, rice, noodles and vegetables float in the always open windows on each puff of breeze. Punctuating the atmosphere are hawkers, taxi horns, barking dogs, crowing roosters and a very few crying babies. The boom box blares its music across the concrete for the Tai Chi participants. The single cylinder trucks chug their arrival at the construction sites while the river’s rush is drowned by the noises daily life resuming once again.

It’s not even 7:00 a.m. by this time. It’s bright enough to read now without turning on any lights. With a full heart I turn to the Creator of the beauty I’ve seen and His Word.