My cup runneth over

I woke up this morning, excited for a day off. After a week of performing, I was exhausted. And I was discouraged and sad. Leaving my babies has been occupying my mind a lot lately, and my heart has been heavy. 

So yeah, I was excited for a day off to rest. 

Woke up around 9 am. Wandered around my apartment and was getting ready to go watch the Kindergarten performance. 

That’s when my phone rang. It was my teammate Anna, who had gone into the office that morning because she had to teach. 

When I saw her name pop up on my phone, I groaned. The first thought that crossed my mind was, “Chinese communication fail again-I’m probably going to have to teach.” I wasn’t happy at all when I picked up that phone. 

“You need to get your butt down here,” Anna said.

“Why?” I groaned. 

That’s when she said it.

“Dustin’s mom and grandfather are here in the office.”

I don’t think I’ve ever moved that quickly in my life. I screamed in her ear to make sure they didn’t leave until I got to meet them. 

And then I ran. I ran almost the entire way to the office, stopping only because some of my babies were leaving with their parents and wanted to say good-bye. 

I burst into the office, and there they were!! THEY WERE HERE!!! THEY WERE ACTUALLY HERE!!!!

Dustin's mom, Dustin, and me. Boy refuses to smile in any group pictures.

Me and Dustin with his Grandfather and Mother. I think he looks like his Mom.

Words cannot express the joy I felt at that moment! Three weeks to the day before I leave China, Father gave me this gift! It was everything I could do to keep the tears from coming. 

I love this kid so much!!

His mom can speak a little English. And I found out that his grandfather, from whom Dustin got his amazing English, only began learning English 2 years ago. And he started learning it so he could help his grandson learn English. How sweet is that?! His grandfather kept making me laugh because he kept pointing at Dustin and saying, “Naughty boy. Naughty boy.” But you could so tell he loves his grandson very much. 

His mom told me that when he doesn’t have my class, he misses me. I’m sure some of that got lost in translation, but I didn’t care.  She told me how beautiful the photo was that I gave to them. I’ve also had a cough, and when she heard my raspy voice, she was very concerned. Her exact words were, “Drink water. Lots, lots, lots of water. You must. Must, must must.”

She told me that a classmate of hers has a daughter who is going to study in Ohio-so she will put her in contact with me and Anna. Hopefully she can come see us! I told her that if Dustin ever wanted to come to America, he could stay with me and my family. Dustin got very excited about this!

After a photo shoot with the family in the office, I wandered outside with them as they prepared to leave. Dustin took me and showed me all of the little projects that were on display outside our section. He taught me a few Chinese words, none of which I actually remember now. 

Then we went to the playground on campus, and while he played with a couple of his classmates (Caleb and Grayson), I sat and talked with his mom and some of the other parents there. I laughed so hard at the boys who were running all over that playground. They had so much energy, I got tired just watching them. 

Caleb and Dustin

The most hilarious part was when they decided to “re-enact” the scene at the beginning of every class. Dustin stood there and shouted, “1, 2, 3.” And Grayson immediately sat up straight and came to attention. Then Dustin said, “Good morning, class!” To which Grayson replied, “Good morning, Meesa Lindsay!”

I about fell over I was laughing so hard at them. 

Then it was time for Dustin to go. I said good-bye to his mom and gave him a hug, thanking them. Grandfather had wandered off somewhere, so I didn’t get to say bye to him.

As I walked away, the tears started to flow. My heart was so full of joy, I thought it was going to burst. All I kept saying was “Thank you, Father. Thank you, Father!” 

Several months ago I had asked Father to give me the opportunity to meet this little boy’s family. But by now I had given up hope that that was ever going to happen. I mean, I have exactly 3 weeks left in Taiyuan, and all my weekends are completely full. I thought there was no time.

But Father … that phrase has been the story of my life in recent years. But Father planned for it to happen this way. He blessed me so much today with this gift. I know it might not seem like a big deal to a lot of you, but to me, this was a miracle. This little boy is so dear to my heart, and I’ve been so blessed to be his teacher this year. I can’t imagine what it’s going to be like without him making random comments in English, telling me whose birthday it is in class, making silly faces at me when I’m trying to teach. I love all my babies, but this one has a special place in my heart. And he always will. 

Father saw fit to bless me, and I am so grateful to Him for this opportunity to finally meet Dustin’s family.  I know it was His doing that brought them here today, and I can’t thank Him enough for it. Even now as I write this there are tears in my eyes-tears of joy and gratitude. 

Today I can honestly say, "My cup runneth over."

 

JAI YO MEESA LINDSAY!!!! JAI YO!!!!

Imagine.

Heart pounding, ragged breathing, wind whipping my hair, eyes focused on the track ahead. 

Waiting. 

Gun goes off. 

More waiting. 

Watching as my teammates speed around the track.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see my babies jump to their feet in anticipation. I look back and there she is, running at me, waving the baton in her hand. I stick my hand back, feel the plastic touch my fingers. 

Then it’s all or nothing. 

288 Chinese babies roaring, “JAI YO MEESA LINDSAY!!!! JAI YO!!!!”

Feet pounding the track, muscles screaming, heart ready to burst. No looking back. Eyes on Xiao Wu and his big ears. Hand the baton to him and barely spit out the words “Jai yo!” before he takes off.

Look back-all my babies are on their feet still shouting “JAI YO MEESA LINDSAY!!! JAI YO!!!”

And that, ladies and gentlemen, pretty much perfectly describes my time in China.

Jai yo is how Chinese say “Come on!” when people are competing in a race or athletic event of some kind. It’s a phrase I never knew until Sports Day. 

Sports Day is basically the most awesome day of the school year. Technically is should be Sports Days because it was actually a 2-day gig. 

So why is Sports day the most awesome day of the school year, you ask?

BECAUSE I GOT TO SPEND TWO DAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING WITH MY BABIES!!!!! OF COURSE IT’S THE BESTEST, WONDERFULEST, MOST FANTASTICAL DAY EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I got to play all sorts of games with my babies, watch them play with their parents, watch them stuff their faces with snacks brought by their parents, and of course got to be the star of about a bajillion photo shoots by parents. 

One of my favorite things was watching the parents and the kids play what I call the “balloon-butt-pop game.” Dad would blow up balloons, put them in between kid and Mom’s rear ends. Mom and kid would then try to pop the balloon by pushing on it with their butts.

Balloon-butt-pop

Let’s just say it was pretty freakin’ hilarious. The poor dads were about ready to pass out after blowing up so many balloons. 

The kids also participated in 4-legged races with their parents. It pretty much consisted of the parents picking up the kids and rushing across the field with them. 

I saw this going on and got a crazy idea. So I ran and grabbed Anna, then ran and grabbed my Dustin. So yeah, poor kid got dragged across the field with the rest of them. But he loved every minute of it.

I got to watch my babies run in the 60m dash and the 200m dash. They did several class relays-one where they had to run and then crawl under 3 hula hoops, a traditional baton relay, and the some weird race on these little cars that they had to scoot across the field. 

My boys starting the 60m dash

My girls finishing their 60m dash

Aubrey crawling through the hula hoops

Dennis beasting his way through the hula hoops

Cooper running the relay

Dustin running his heart out for class 3

I even got to compete in the 4 x 100m teacher relay. The English department was all ready to go, our line-up was Anna, Sylvia, Me, and Xiao Wu (we call him Big Ears because he has the biggest ears of any Chinese person I have ever seen. And we don’t call him this to be mean, it’s just a fact. Dude’s got big ears-I think they’re adorable). So there we were, ready to compete against the other departments in Section 3. 

When another one of the foreign teachers here, who is not on our team, come up and demands to be part of the line-up. We didn’t want him to be, but finally the Chinese teachers just gave in. So Sylvia ducked out for him. 

Well not two seconds after the gun goes off, he falls flat on his face and can’t run anymore. So were we disqualified from that race. 

I have never seen so many Chinese women so mad at one guy before. Fortunately, he was smart and left the field quickly so as not to incur the wrath of our Chinese English teachers. 

Anna and I were bummed because we thought we wouldn’t get to race again. That’s when our teachers went and asked our beloved principal if we could run it again. She loves us foreign teachers, so of course she said yes. But the other departments didn’t want to race again. So the principal called for any parents who wanted to participate in the race to come down to the track. 

And that’s where the beginning of this post picks up. We ran against parents and school administrators. And of course we creamed ‘em. It was fantastic. 

Needless to say the whole event was pretty hilarious.

But I think my favorite part was just being able to hang out with my babies. We took so many pictures together-I wish I could post all of them to this blog, but that probably cause my internet to crash and never come back again.

I got a series of pictures which each class. All I did was go over to the kids while Hailey just snapped picture after picture on her camera. The results are pretty hilarious. So, ladies and gentlemen, for your viewing pleasure, I present:

Meesa Lindsay

And

Class 1

Where is Meesa Lindsay?!

There she is!!

Back at the beginning of this post, I mentioned how that whole scene perfectly describes my life in China. This is why: my babies. No matter how much I’m giving, no matter how tired I am, my babies inspire me to keep going. They are for me, always cheering me on with kisses, hugs, “I love you’s”, and of course a lot of “Jai yo!”

27 days left in Taiyuan … 20 days until I teach my last class on Friday the 13^th (go figure).

Here’s to making this last month count! JAI YO MEESA LINDSAY!!!