Another evidence that this is year two: I'm less inspired to blog this year; most things seem normal, and I no longer can tell what might be interesting for others to read or see. So today, I'll write about the beautiful things that have surprised me in the middle of the mundane. We've had a "hollerday" (as Lydia says) this week*--it's a term break at the international school, so Lydia has been home, and there have been no classes at ITC. Jeff still has to go to the office, but I haven't had to lesson plan and teach this week. It's been a good opportunity to slow down and spend time with people in a different context.
We started out the week bright and early on Monday morning with a trip to the local market with five ITC students. I haven't been able to go to the market as regularly this semester because of our schedule, so I enjoyed the opportunity to go, even though I had to hold Lydia the entire time. My arm was aching by the end! She is still not a fan of being at knee level with much of the hustle, bustle, and dirt of the market. That night, Jeff's "Care Group" was coming over to cook dinner, and the next morning my English class was coming to cook lunch. We left the market loaded with meat, fruits, and vegetables, and ready for the cooking extravaganza later.
That night, our kitchen was overtaken by a whirlwind of cooks from all around the world: Filipino, Kenyan, Chinese; they chopped, bossed, cleaned, tasted, added, and whipped up some delicious concoctions. It amazed me to see so many cooks in my narrow kitchen, happily sharing my limited cooking equipment. When I cook, I like to have space, but these students were elbow to elbow, and smiling all the time! They cooked from 3:30 until almost 7, when the food was ready and we could enjoy.
The next morning, we picked up my English students who had decided to make Chinese dumplings. I have 5 Chinese students in my class, and so they oversaw and directed the dumpling making process. They mixed dough, cleaned and chopped vegetables, and then rolled out the dumpling dough. And rolled and rolled and rolled. They offered to let me try to roll out a dumpling and close it up, and I soon discovered that this was a skill that they had made look easy through years of practice. My dumpling took about 3 times as long for me to make, and it looked far from beautiful. I was instructed to pinch it tightly along the top so that the insides wouldn't escape and this wouldn't become dumpling soup. Soon, almost all the students were in on the dumpling rolling, stuffing, and pinching process.
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| Hard at work! |
When the table was almost completely covered in filled dumplings, we started putting them into a huge pot of boiling water. They needed to rise to the top, swell, and then we had to wait another 7 or 8 minutes for them to be done cooking. Plate after plate of dumplings were carefully nudged into the water, plate after plate of cooked delicious dumplings were scooped out and tasted. In the end, we (and I use we lightly because my contributions were so very minor) had made 20 dumplings per person, with 15 total adults eating! That's a lot of dumplings! The dumpling making process took a little over 3 hours. I could see why this was a special holiday event not undertaken every day!
Besides dumplings, another Chinese student made a sweet pumpkin soup that was delicious, and another Cambodian student made a delicious Cambodian chicken dish. We all ate and ate and ate. I had baked an apple pie for dessert, but the students could hardly cram another bite into their stomachs after the meal. It's always telling to find out what people choose to bring with them when they move to another country. My Chinese students had brought their dumpling rolling pins.
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| My 5 Chinese students directing the process. |
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| More cooks and assistants! |
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| The whole dumpling making group! |
Not only did we enjoy some delicious food homecooked in our kitchen, our kids enjoyed some much loved attention. I'm continually blessed by the love the ITC students show to our kids. Every time we have ITC students over, Lydia is quickly befriended by at least one of the students, who she then leads around by the hand, and happily bosses to do this or that. Elias is a little bit harder to win over, but the first night, he sat in rapt attention watching some of the students play guitar and playing drums, and the next day even though he was extremely crabby, he fell asleep in the arms of one of my English students, and then slept for the next three hours while everyone cooked.
Another morning, several of the students who live in an apartment together took Lydia and Elias for me for a couple of hours so I could get some work done. Lydia came back with a new beaded necklace she'd made, fingernails and toenails painted, and beaming. She felt like a little princess. Another morning, she came back with new pictures drawn of the family and friends that she proudly said she'd done at "Sarah's Tower." (The students live in a tall apartment building up on the 35th and 36th floors). Elias is hardly still, and climbed, kicked and threw his ball, walked and ran all over their apartments!
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| Thrilled about the beads! |
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| Playing with his ball. |
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| Look at that spa treatment! |
Not only were we blessed by the ITC students, but my beginning English students have surprised me this week as well. Yesterday, one of them came over and taught me how to make an Indonesian style of Sushi. It was delicious! What a gift, not only for her to give me the food and make it for me, but to teach me how to do it, so that I am empowered to make them next time! Later that night, I was surprised when I came downstairs after putting the kids to bed to find a stack of homemade tortillas and something rolled up in banana leaves sitting on my counter from another student. It struck me again--sharing food is such a gift. These gifts of food made me feel so welcomed, appreciated, and humbled. That they would take the time to make the food for me, and then share it from their limited resources. When I am tempted to lament the amount of time it takes for me to make something, and how quickly it is eaten, I need to remember what a gift it is to the receiver, if offered in a generous attitude.
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| Gifts of food from my beginner English students. |
And in between these more noticeable gifts, there have been other small gifts. Elias learning how to knock on the door, giggling as he sees water slosh out of his cup onto the ground, starting to play chase with Lydia and Jeff at night. Lydia's pictures becoming pictures of people with eyes and legs and feet, hearing her endless inner monologue on the outside and getting a picture of what's going on inside. Having her become so in tune with her feelings (thanks Daniel Tiger). "Mommy, Elias wants to take my bread with honey from me and now I'm so sad!" As she bursts into tears. "Mommy, are you angry?" She can see right through me! "Lydia, why aren't you answering mommy?" "Because I'm frustrated."
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| One of our children likes the water more than the other. |
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| Lydia's favorite thing to do these days is draw or paint. |
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| Very focused on her artwork. |
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| Mr. Crazy himself! |
All of these precious gifts have left me with a full and thankful heart, and with just the overflowing cup I need to continue into the second half of the semester. God is so good, and so generous with us. I pray that our family will be able to live out this same generosity to those in our community.
*Note, this was written two weeks ago...only now finally finishing and posting it!
