CoMO...

"You're sending me to South America?"

I'm glad those aren't the first words that came out of my mouth when my supervisor asked me to consider moving to for my InterVarsity internship. I didn't know that Mizzou was in Columbia, Missouri (as opposed to Colombia the country) so I was definitely thinking it but since I was in shock, I didn't say anything. When my supervisor then continued by saying that that was where the University of Missouri was, I breathed an internal sigh of relief and committed to taking a trip out to visit. On my way back from that visit, I said yes to moving to CoMO and things have only moved forward from there.

My experience with Missouri was St. Louis. My dad grew up on the North Side of St. Louis so when we visited as a kid, that was where we went. I have an aunt who lives in West County so I know that area a little bit too. When I went to school in Missouri, it was in St. Louis (Go Bears!). I had been to Kansas City once or twice to eat BBQ maybe but to me, St. Louis and Missouri were synonymous. When I moved out to CoMO, I saw that there were other parts of Missouri than just St. Louis and that those other parts are VERY different.

At first, it was a shock. Why am I surrounded by White people? Why is everything so close? You mean I can bike to ANYWHERE in the city? Why are there so many rocks and trees and parks and lakes and such? It only costs HOW MUCH to golf here? Over the past 10+ years of living here, I've learned to really love this town and it has very much been my home. Here are a few things I'll miss the most.

- Biking everywhere. For the past 10 years, I have literally biked everywhere. I've biked to campus more times than I can count. I've biked to church. I've biked to go play golf. I've biked to go fishing and to go swimming. I've biked to eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner and I've biked with a grill attached to my back wheel so I could tailgate. CoMO is such an amazing town for biking. The drivers for the most part give a wide berth. There are bike lanes everywhere. The hills are present but not terrible. As someone who devoted an entire blog to the money he could save by biking places, CoMO really was a dream.

- Mizzou. Growing up in Southern California, college allegiances made some sense but not a lot. I knew USC folk, UCLA folk, UCI folk, Cal State Fullerton folk, and so on. Throw the Lakers, Clippers, Dodgers, Angels, Kings, and Ducks into the mix and there really wasn't any dominant team that captured the entire fan base. In fact, you found just as many haters as you did fans of any particular school or team. Not so here in CoMO. Everyone bleeds black and gold and it is so great. I love seeing that everything is named "Tiger" something as an homage to the team. I love being able to talk to random strangers about the game last night because we all watched it. I love being able to go anywhere downtown on gameday and be pretty sure I can get a discount of some sort because everyone does a discount on gameday. I'm not an alum but you'd better believe I'm M-I-Z all the way.

- Hard conversations. Let's be real. Being a person of color living in CoMO has been hard, especially these past few years. It's not easy feeling like you have to represent your entire people group because you're the only Chinese American a lot of people know. It's kind of exhausting getting into disagreements and fights with people about issues of justice and racial equality. It's been hard hearing the comments, the names, and the dismissals from people when I try to share about my experiences as a POC living in CoMO. But you know what? It's been really good. I've been stretched. I've been humbled. I've learned. I've been loved well and I would like to think that I have loved well in return. I can better talk about issues of race and justice now because I had to constantly do so while living here. I don't know what Omaha will bring but I know I'll be more ready than when I first moved here.

- My spots. People know that I'm a creature of habit. I have my spots. I have my golf course. I have my restaurants. I have my chairs at the library. I've spent the past 10+ years figuring out what my spots are but now that I'm leaving, it's going to be hard to say goodbye. So long, LA Nickell Golf Course. I never broke 90 but sure had fun golfing you. Goodbye, Plasma center. Thanks for all the extra fun money. Adios to my downtown restaurants l