Weekend in Wuchang

           Well it has been another crazy weekend. On Friday after Chinese lessons the three of us (Amber, Charlene (Lulu), and I) packed ourselves in a taxi and went to see Hollie and go shopping at the night market in Wuchang (you say it Woo Chong). Our poor driver had no idea were he was going and asked like three or four people how to get to the campus. We finally got there and he dropped us off at the farthest gate possible.  So Hollie had to come find us to get us to her place. So she showed us around campus there and we took crazy pictures (thanks to Amber for remembering a camera), then we went to dinner which was so good at that point cause we were starving!!! After we did the craziest thing yet…we took a sketch van…by that I mean that they are not exactly a recognized way of travel. We went to the crazy, awesome night market and saw the most adorable puppies as we entered the street. Of course we all held one and wanted to adopt them in a matter of nano seconds but alas none of us are allowed to have dogs…plus none of us have ways of bringing them home in the summer.

           Then we went to several shops with hair stuff and we all bought pretty things for our hair. I saw a knock off Louis Vinton that I fell in love with but it was 200 qui that I really didn’t want to part with…right now if I budget something like that in I won’t feel so bad. Right now though I am looking at having to buy a new cord for my computer because it is seeing its last days…then again so is my computer and it makes me a little worried cause I need it to do my power points for class. If it dies that is so much money I have to come up with for a new Mac…hang little lady just a few more months; ok 6 more just hang on 6 more! So after that we saw a stand that had these funnel cake/ donut things…they were delicious. I had one of those in one hand and in the other I had a lovely stick with fruit on it glazed in clear sugar…here are some of the reasons why I love China street food is so good…shady at times but so good. Like Trevor pointed out this is the only place you can get trash can bread from a guy in an alley and its all legit. I am safer here in China then anywhere in the States…no really I have been out at 12:30am and you never feel in danger you can walk home and your fine, I can’t say the same for back home I’m pretty sure something bad could happen to me that late at night.

            So it was a great night at this point and we were all shopped out and ready to go home (Hollie’s). We got back to there place and started walking back to the hotel (she lives in a hotel on campus) well Hollie, Mark, and Tristan decided to go get something to drink before heading back so Lulu, Amber, and I decided to do the Chinese thing and link arms as we walked back to their place. Well we are walking along when all of a sudden Lulu starts screaming, which makes me scream and then Amber joins in. We turn around to see a shadowy figure in a black cloak behind us…its Mark (he doesn’t wear a coat but a cloak think Lord of the Rings). He was coming to let us in the building but he is so quiet that he ended up scaring us instead I even peed my pants a little it was that bad.  We finally got inside and it took a few hours for Lulu and Amber to calm down after that…all in all it was a very memorable weekend. While in the sketch van we sang Christmas songs and looked at the Christmas lights they have put up. So I got to keep a childhood tradition alive in a very odd and slightly illegal way. My life is so random and crazy over here but I would change in it.

         When it comes to my kiddos in English Corner (we call it QQ club) we watched Peter Pan because my kids had never seen that movie and that is a travesty again childhood!! Now they can grow up and be well rounded not to mention they loved it I have never heard them laugh so hard before…they study so hard I wanted to give them some down time to just be kids and blow off steam. In my other classes I have lots of new kids trying to read and talk in English and I am so proud of them for trying. Even if I have to help them with every other word I am so proud of them for being brave and giving it a try. As always I got hugs and I think I heard ‘Becky you are so beautiful’ like 20 times this week. Sometimes even though I am trying to be the hands and feet of JC to these kids I think they are His hands and feet to me. My third graders are learning about soft and smooth, rough and scratchy, opposites so a bunch of my little girls came up and started to pet my arm, ‘Your coat is soft and smooth’. I love my kiddos so much I might not ever find a cure for cancer, or write a great novel, or became someone famous or important, but that’s ok because to these kids I am loved. Sometimes being the least of these is the best feeling ever because I am making a difference even if its only in the lives of my kids because I don’t know who I am teaching, there is great potential in my kiddos. I will leave you with that thought you never know whose life you are touching and changing with your simple acts of kindness they never go to waste and they never just stay in that moment they keep effecting others straight into eternity, so live and love extravagantly hold nothing back!

Eph. 5:2