I had fun learning from my kids' this past weekend. On Saturday morning, we piled in the three wheeler and took off to go to McDonald's for breakfast. The context of this outing was this: earlier in the week Karis randomly mentioned to me, "Mom, did you know you can eat BREAKFAST at McDonald's? I know you can--Adah (her friend) told me that she has with her parents!" The boys look at me expectantly, waiting for me to contradict the truthfulness of this statement. The are all surprised when I affirm that yes, one can most definitely eat breakfast at McDonald's (not just lunch or dinner!). We all decided that it would be fun to try sometime; thus our outing on Saturday morning!
On the way to our adventure, we discovered all kinds of new things on our 10 minute walk to the three-wheeler's parking garage. We found flowers that were taller than Daddy (shown in photo), huge ants, and I showed them how you can lick the nectar out of honeysuckle. It was truly an adventure! I was reminded how much of life is about discovery, which often requires being open to new things and new experiences (whether that is eating breakfast at McDonalds or figuring out how honeysuckle works!). It has helped me approach this week with a new outlook, one which I hope is more open and receptive to learning new things in a new place and culture!
On Sunday, our ayi came over with her daughter (who is 19) and her niece. They wanted to "practice their English", but we soon discovered that due to the shy nature of them both, there wasn't a whole lot of English-speaking going on! We had a good visit, and the older two kids (who were the only ones not napping at this time) provided great entertainment as we all worked on threading bead necklaces together while we visited. It was a neat time to interact with our ayi on a friendship level, rather than her just serving us as she works in our home.
On Wednesday this week, I took off with a group of girlfriends after class who are all teachers at the local international school. One of my closest friends here, Holly, is returning to Dallas on Saturday after spending 4 years teaching elementary school here in China. Our whole family is going to be soooooo sad to see her go! It was her birthday, so we had a fun girls' outing, going to a huge ferris wheel in downtown Tianjin, then on to dinner and foot massages.
