Hey Hey Money Go My Home!

Fun Fact on Chinese culture: KTV is huge. You think you know, the movies have spoofed it or you’ve seen Lost in Translation… but really… I don’t think it’s something that can be adequately conveyed unless you’ve experienced it. We sang, we dance, it was basically a cardio-aerobic exercise for 2 hours... with the Hokey Pokey, some sort of Penguin dance (that everyone else knows… except America), My Heart Will Go On, a song where the chorus SHOUTS "Hey Hey Money Go My Home!" etc. Samantha said: “We all have so much fun at KTV. We are crazy, we all go mad!!” PS – I love Samantha.

Last few weeks have gone really well. Classes are going ok, my 5^th graders are the most adorable students and so well behaved! I like them. A lot. My 2^nd graders are cute… but scoundrels. I’m actually typing this as I’m in the office, racking my brain for a song for us to sing today. Oi.

See? Cute. OUTSIDE the classroom.

Susie and I explored a lot of Taiyuan on Saturday. We’re pretty impressed with ourselves. We don’t know a lot of Chinese, but we were able to get a taxi to Parkson’s (a massive import store that is wildly overpriced but fun to look around… but seriously, 150RMB for a pint of Hagen Daas? That’s over 20USD. Nope). THEN we walked to WalMart (that’s right – WAL MART) by asking directions, got a taxi and went to Wo Yi Square where we somehow found a jeweler and got my necklace cleaned… and found an underground shopping center! I love these places. They are legit - but literally underground! This one was pretty good too – lots of purses and clothes and scarves and even an art store! Also… GIANT busts of Alexander the Great. Just in case you needed one.

Yesterday we had Fellowship, then a wonderful dinner and then games at one of the ladies apartments! And… she has cats! Now, I’m not particularly a cat person, but these were clean and cute and cuddly and so completely different from the cats we see around the school. It was a great evening.

I’ll keep this short, because I’ve already rambled a lot. It seems that this year has been the year of learning that I can’t fix everything. There are so many issues that come with this lesson (my favorite: pride. Ouch.) & I can’t even begin to explain how much I’ve learned in these areas already, and how much further I need to go. Superficially, it’s ok to want to fix Tanya’s toilet (and shower and washing machine and curtains), but if I can’t, that’s fine. But with heart matters, I seem to get in the way a lot. It’s ok, even healthy to want to help a friend, be a listening ear or shoulder to cry on, but I can’t erase or fix those wounds. I can't heal that grief. I can only point to the One who can, in relationships here and at home. We’re living in an incredibly dark city in a fallen world. I’m just Asking for opportunities to point to the One who can… without getting in the way.