Oct. 29, 2016
11:30 pm
Beijing, China
Oh, hello there! What’s you’re name? Oh, hello, Happy. My name is Kristen. Happy, how old are you? Are you 4? No? How about 6? No? Oh, you’re 5?! Would you like a piece of candy? You can have one, yi ge. What color is that? That’s right, it is green. Can I have a high five, please? Thank you! It was nice to meet you, Happy.
That was what I spent the entire night tonight saying. And, yes, Happy was a real person I talked to, although she was only 3 and wasn’t able to have that much of a conversation with me. Why did I have this conversation multiple times tonight, you may ask. Well tonight was my center’s Halloween party. I was invited to come and help out. It was my first time actually getting to interact with the students from my center. It was probably my best night in China, so far.
For those of you who don’t know, I love Halloween. I like dressing up and seeing little kids in their costumes. To me, Halloween is the epitome of childhood innocence. Even though Halloween started as a scary and frightening tradition, it’s turned into a night where everyone is a child’s best friend. I just love it! As a result, I was quite worried that I would miss Halloween completely when I moved to China, especially since I’d heard that a lot of schools had already celebrated Halloween. Still, I packed my kangaroo onesie, so I had a costume if necessary.
Turns out that was a good thing to pack. The first day I visited my center, the other teachers informed me of the party and told me to find a costume. I asked if I could wear my onesie, which was something they found hilarious but they still said yes. So this week has been a bit of countdown, at least in the back of my mind. And today was the actual day!
This morning I actually got to sleep in until around 10, when housekeeping woke me up. Then I hung around the hotel until 2 when Taylor and I went to do more apartment hunting (another disaster, but I think you’re getting tired of hearing about those by now). Then, at 4:15, it was time for me to head to the party! I got there a bit early with a few of the other teachers and changed into my costume. The kids were already there a half hour early! They were so excited to see all of their teachers in costume, even me whom they had never met.
The night was spent handing out candy and just interacting with the kids. If they spoke English to me, they got a piece of candy. Many kids came up multiple times, which was really fun, because then they had to answer different questions. Two kids, Lucy and Kyle, kept coming up and pulling on my tail. Two other little girls (I feel bad because I don’t remember their names) went and got me a lollipop after I asked them about theirs. And there was a girl named Nina who loved to come up and tell me different things. She was excited for me to teach her new sentences to tell me. Overall it was a super fun night!
After Brian and I got back to the hotel, I was able to FaceTime my family for a while. It was great to see everyone, except Lauren. (I love you, LoRo! Good luck in your last game today!) I even got to see Christine’s kids, except Wrigs :(, and talk to them for a little while. So, all in all, today was a great day! And sorry about the really long post, but I just had to share this!
Words to Remember: Psalm 96:7-10
Challenge: Praise Abba today! Turn on the River (or whatever is the equivalent Christian radio station if you’re not from central/southern Ohio) and listen to a few songs. Spend a few minutes just praising Him in p__yer. Don’t ask for anything or tell Him about your problems. For the next half hour, try to think of the blessings He has given you and the wonder of this world He has created.
Happy Halloween!
Bless,
Kristen
