Well this has been quite the weekend. My
week went pretty well as you already know I have great little artist in my
classrooms! Some of my kids gave me their art so it is not on my wall, I
decided to have a wall of just my kids art and I love it!!
Now its time for a
funny story (although at the time it wasn’t funny and I finally had my I really
hate China moment and cried) So I skyped with my mom and got to see all the
Christmas decorations around the house…I miss Christmas it’s not really a
holiday here and I teach 4th graders all day on Christmas…anyway
after talking with my mom it was time to visit the little girls room before all
the kids got out of class. I forgot to pull out my mobile out of my back
pocket…yeah you can see it coming can’t you. Well because TIC we have squatty
Potty’s down where the kids are this is normally not a problem until Friday
when all at once I heard ‘plop’ in the water and thought ‘O crap my phone just
feel down the toilet.’ (the toilets are on a slant so I had no chance of saving
my phone if I had tried)
I was soooo ready for
pumpkin pie that night (I went to Aloha for Thanksgiving with Sabrina it was
fun and really good. I don’t think I will go for Christmas and I doubt I will
do that again next year but for my first year it was nice.) I actually have
enjoyed these past few days without a phone I find we are becoming way too
attached to our electronic lives. This will now be phone 2 Sim card 3 I am glad
this was a cheap phone and not an iPhone then I might have thrown up as well as
cried. In the midst of feeling like a complete idiot it was now lunch time (cue
some well needed perspective) at least 3 or 4 of my little boys who seem to be
very in love with me gave me hugs as well as 3 of my little girls. A little guy
from one of my classes had a class on the 4th floor were I live (yes
there is a giant classroom next to my apartment I never really leave school)
his teacher wasn’t there and he had gotten turned around so on Tuesday night he
knocked on my door. I thought it was Amber or Amy instead it was him. I helped
him find his classroom and all was well. Well (this would be the perspective)
he came up to me and told me “Your apartment is so cool!” This is when I
remembered how blessed I really am even here in China. I have heat, which back
in the States seems standard but here in China my babies bundle up at night
because their dorms don’t have heat. I have a kitchen and a really nice TV and
DVD player, a fridge, and a washing machine. I realized in that moment that
losing my phone down the toilet was a small problem compared to some of the
things that people here in China deal with everyday.
When you go for a
walk you will see the tents of the migrant workers looking for any kind of job,
its starting to get really cold outside and I wonder how they manage to stay
warm. A phone is replaceable (hopefully there are few language problems when I
do it) but it is a small thing compared to what is happening all around me.
I
have always loved how the Father sends me hugs from my kids when I really need
them they make my heart smile. On a random side note for the next 4 hours after
it dropped down the toilet it glowed every time you flushed till it died. So
this weekend I re-learned what it means to truly be grateful. I come from a
society that dictates self-importance and greed. They started Black Friday on
Thanksgiving the day we are suppose to be counting our blessings we only think
of what more can I obtain…it makes me kinda sick. Living here for even 3 months
has taught me that less is more, I live pretty simply here and I have found
that my life in some ways is better. In China they do think of life as the
whole, your actions not only effect you but those around you…no China doesn’t
have it all right but when disaster strikes here everyone is patient and works
together when things happen back in the States we demand that things happen instantly and have it our own
individual way always thinking ‘me first’. There are things about my own
countrymen that make me cringe. I have a feeling next summer things are going
to be different for me. It’s hard to live somewhere else and not change, Adam
was right when he told us that China would change us. It stretches you and
pushes you sometimes to your limits, but it also strips away all the things you
thought were important you find really weren’t. I don’t make that much
according to Chinese or certainly not American standards and yet I find all my
daily needs met more then enough. I am learning what it need and what is want,
it reminds me of the verses in the Good Book were the Father talks about the wildflowers
and the animals and how He takes care of them and their daily needs are met, I
find I am perfectly content with my simple life. So this Thanksgiving I found
myself being truly thankful instead of just thinking that I am. Ps. Thanks for
the Poptarts mom they are amazing!! (It’s the little things, honestly you
should see us when someone gives you cheese its like giving the Hope diamond).
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