Join The 'Pen Pals' Challenge ...

Every other Friday we will issue a new journaling challenge and post our sample pages on the blog. We'd love to have you join in with us too ... & maybe we'll pick you to be our 'Pen Pal of the Week!'

How you interpret the challenge is up to you, we will mostly create scrapbook pages - but feel free just to journal/blog post ...or maybe adapt the challenge to your art journals, cards & altered art.

Leave a comment on the challenge post with a link to your blog or gallery where we can find your work ... & if you'd like to be considered for the 'Pen Pal of the Week!' Guest Design Spot, be sure to e-mail your entry too!

Saturday 9 August 2008

Jing Jing's Entry for Challenge #1

This is such a powerful story! The journaling reads:
Have you ever gone through a period in your life when you have no idea what is happening around you or to you, when everything is new & incomprehensible?
That was me at the age of 17, the summer before I entered college. This picture, from appearance, is as if I am already well integrated into the middle class Minnesotan American life: sitting in a boat, on a lake!
What you can’t tell from the picture was that I had only arrived in the U.S a month before the picture was taken . While I already spoke English like an American native with very little accent, I had absolutely no idea or background in American life or culture. It would be years before my understanding of America catches up with my mastery of the language it speaks.

So there I was, in America! After a tumultuous and nearly capsized run at obtaining a student visa, I had arrived! It was scary to leave my parents to strike out on my own, but I was young and felt invincible. It would be four years before I would see them again, and two years before I even spoke to them on the phone! However, I was in good hands, both in God’s, and in the dear people who chose to take care of me during my college years, the Andersons’.

So there I was, in the eye of the storm, and totally oblivious. The one thing I was acutely aware of was the burden of my responsibility. Now that I was finally in the U.S. and my first year of college tuition paid for, it was up to me to excel in school. To do anything less than extremely well would mean failure and dishonor to my parents’ sacrifices. At this point, I would not know how much they would continue to sacrifice and suffer for the next four years to sustain the dream of establishing me in the American society. My future was completely uncertain and the only thing I knew to do was to study well and study hard. Everything else was not up to me, I had to utterly rely on God, faith and circumstances that He would provide.

So there I was at the edge of adulthood, only I was surrounded by all new things, sometimes incomprehensible things. After all, was I not on a boat, in the country of great wealth, with streets paved with gold? Which part of a dream was that for a girl who had loved in China and Africa? I would soon find out how much I did not fit in from what clothes I wore to study habits. I would soon enter a period of serious identity crisis in a strange world with foreign people who all thought I was born and raised in Minnesota.

At 17, my life in the U.S. was about to take flight, only I had no idea what that would be like.

Thank you so much for sharing with us Jing Jing ... we are so pleased that you have decided to join us on our new venture - glad to have you along for the ride!

Have you started on your entries yet?
This challenge runs until August 14th (midnight BST)
To enter: Send your entry, with the journaling in the body of your e-mail for a chance to win a 'wordy' prize & to become our very first 'Pen Pal of the Week' Check out all the details here

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

When I click on the picture, it stays the same size...too small to read the journaling. Can you tell us what it says?

Thanks!

Beverley Todd said...

Have now edited to include the journaling!

Unknown said...

So often we get caught up in the pretty papers and cool new embellishments when we scrapbook ... especially when we've got adorable little girls to scrapbook.

But, it's just soooo important to share 'our' story with those who love us. And, Jing Jing ... I'm so proud of you for scrapping about YOU ... and for sharing this powerful story with us.

Wow ... how scary it must have been ... and you were only 17 ... yet, obviously you were a brave and determined woman even then! It is our gain ... here in America, to have you here!

Thank you, so much, for your support and for playing along in our challenge. You're page is completely inspiring ... in so many ways!

Nancywithajones said...

OMG JINGJING your journaling is just so incredible. I cannot begin to imagine what you went through all those many emotions. I get nervous leavin out of the state I cant imagine a different country. YOu are so brave and incredibly talented. I am so happy you are here in the us of a! You rocked this to heck and back girl!

Lynnise said...

JIng-jing you are amazing in every way!! That about sums it up for me!!!