Because You Never Know Who You Might Meet...

I once read a quote somewhere along the lines of 'you should never go out of the house without make-up on because you never know who you might meet'. Well...I met Superman the other day. He was pretty much everything I had ever imagined Superman would be like...cool, suave, and very 'cute'. The only thing was...he was a little bit shorter than I was expecting...and much younger. As my fifth grade class introduced themselves to me at the beginning of the morning, I was slightly taken aback as one of the tiny boys pulled out his muscles and whispered his name dramatically - "Supermaaaann." The class all cracked up at my reaction as I laughed and then raised my eyebrows a little. I went over to look at his name tag, and sure enough, his name really was 'Superman'. Over here, English names are given and taken by necessity without really a second thought, and you can also change your name as many times as you want. On the whiteboard in our office we teachers have a list of the more unique names of the children that come through the EV. Among them are 'Watt', 'Rock', 'Jizzle', 'Skill', and 'Tank'. They sound like nick-names from an eighties war movie! The whole English vocabulary is pretty much up for grabs when it comes to what you want 'the foreigners' to call you. If you could pick out any name for yourself in the English language, what would you choose?

I got back on Sunday from a trip to Nantou, located in central Taiwan where we have another team of teachers working. We went to an American church in Tai-chung, and it was the first time that I have been around that many 'foreigners' since I have been here. It was rather a strange feeling as I looked around during the service to see so many people like...well...me! You could definitely sense an 'American feel'. I felt a little bit out of place, and wondered if that's just part of being away from home for so long. It also occurred to me that by the time I get home it will be a new thing for people I talk with on an everyday basis in the store or at the train station to be talking to me and me actually understanding them... and then realizing that "Oh yes, I can say something back..."

God has shown me more and more while I have been here how important kids really are to me... and how if I was doing anything else right now, I would be crazy. I hate to say this, but I don't think that I ever fully realized the value in a tiny little kid. I have learned to appreciate so much about them, mostly their innocence, and openness... I know that may sound cliche, but it is striking me for the first time. They reach out to learn so willingly and with so much excitement that it makes me want to be able to teach them better. I thank God so much for this chance to be here even though I know that there are others much more qualified than I am.

We taught our largest school ever last week... there were almost 120 students. All of us teachers play the clapping game with them for the introduction, and when we say goodbye, many times the students will stand and as a group give us a thank you cheer in Chinese. When we are sent out into schools in the city, after each class period, my kids will bow and say thank you in English to me before they run up and confiscate my flashcards to quiz me the vocabulary words in Chinese that I just taught them in English. God has used each child I meet here to show me how precious it is to work with them and help them learn for the tiny bit of time that I am with them.