Life Without Tortillas: These Are a Few Of My Favorite Things....

It seems that I've been in China for about 2 months now. I'm halfway through! It seems weird that it has gone so fast, but at the same time I can't believe how much we've been able to cram in such a short amount of time. We've seen a lot of things, worked a lot, played around a lot, and definitely learned a lot. I know that I've personally learned a lot about myself-- especially that I'm stronger than I think that I am. Also, I've found that I have such an amazing supportive sister here with me, my co-head teacher is fantastic, and I have many good friends who are very talented teachers. I am very blessed by those the Lord has put me with through this experience.

Now the kids. Wow. They're simply amazing. I love those sweet children so much, I can hardly stand it. Their cute faces and loving qualities make me want to be a better person.

So, story time. At the beginning of the semester, Susan and I had lots of questions about this one student named Danny. He wouldn't participate in class and spent a large portion of the time during class hitting his head on the wall, staring blankly, or hurting himself. Remember that this boy is about 7 years old. I had talked to this boy towards the beginning of the semester, and couldn't figure out what was wrong and why he was so sad and angry. It made me sad to see him struggle so much, but there not be much that I could do to help. Weeks went by and nothing changed. But, my amazing teachers decided that they would show an increase of love toward Danny and guess what? He started opening up! One day, he left class because he was having a hard time and I found him and played games with him and gave him lots of love and hugs. Now, he is one of my best friends and always is the first to come and give me a huge hug and tell me that he loves me. This boy is simply amazing. I'm not sure what his whole story is, but I know that he stays at the school all of the time. He doesn't go home or see his parents on weekends. It breaks my heart to know that such a sweet child who is full of love could feel rejected by his family. Again, I don't know his parent's story and what's going on in their lives, but it's still hard to think about.

I have made a special effort this week to go and spend more time with the kids. Because I'm a head teacher, I don't have students of my own (the teachers are sort of like my students), so I don't get all of that one-on-one time that the teachers get. So, I was finding that I was growing tired and forgetting the reason that I was there. I forgot that I was really here to serve them, I was just doing it another way. So, I have taken a lot of time this week to go and be with the kids during meal-times, recess, and to tuck them in to bed at night. I am happy to say that because of this, I have been much happier and I am so blessed to interact with them. They really are incredible.

So, in other news, I got my hair cut at a salon. I wasn't planning on doing it, but my coordinator was going to get it cut before we headed back to the school one day, and I decided that my hair was looking sort of drab so I decided to get mine cut too! My hour long cut/shampoo/style only ended up costing 30 yuan (less than $5!) It also looks fantastically Asian! Say hello to long bangs and sassy style!

Lastly, Andrea, Sarah, and I went downtown tonight to hang out and we stumbled upon a large marketplace called "Big World". After looking around for a bit, we decided that we'd get out nails done, so we started, then all of the sudden stores started closing and the lights all went out. We were some of the last people in the entire building!!! Still, they stayed and painted out nails, and I'm very glad that we did it. It was super fun.

Life has been good. I have been stretched to some of my stress limits, but it's still been good. I have incredibly supportive family and friends back at home as well was here, and I am so appreciative of every encouraging comment that I receive. I am seeing pretty crazy things happening back in the USA, and I hope that everyone is safe.

A student named Chocolate. What a cutie.