It is 2 am here. I got up because I drank too much water before going to bed, to try and quell the sandpaper-like quality of my throat (possibly due to the round-the-clock trash burning going on these days that makes the air quality so terrible.) We went to bed at 8 pm, because we could see nothing much by candlelight, as the power grid had failed again for our development. The entire complex plunged into darkness on an otherwise lovely evening.
We're back to school tomorrow. Starting back on Friday, of course...because that makes sense. We will also have school on Saturday...because we had a 7 day holiday that had to come from somewhere.
We have a second try at a "big event" here on Saturday, however. The "Sport's Day/Garden Party" event, now in its second year will be taking place at our Living Quarters. Just like last year, the "foreigners" (mainly Mrs. Wu and myself), will be running a "Western Food Booth," for the purpose of fundraising for the school.
Last year we sold out every single item we'd prepared...so the anticipation is high for our performance again this year. (Even though the said "fundraising" component was not all that much to write home about.) It is a great opportunity to interface with our community and to work for hours and hours on food preparation. ;)
We'll be offering for sale once again this year: 100 tuna salad sandwiches, 100 ham and cucumber sandwiches, 450 oatmeal raisin cookies, and iced tea. We make "big attraction" with our foreign faces, so much so that this year the school is putting all their hopes in our booth alone...they've abandoned the hot soy milk stand they ran last year. (Still can't get into that beverage...especially the batch they accidentally scalded leaving that delicious blackened soybean flavor in every drop.)
The big girls, Magpie and The Bug are organizing a fundraising booth for Little Kevin (our still hospitalized friend.) They have made dozens of crafts with the Wu kids and Daddy will be making "Western-style" popcorn to sell...which generally means salty, not sugared, as is the usual popcorn seasoning. My money is on them to sell-out their wares in the first two hours or so...as their little foreign face make for an even bigger "big attraction."
Anyway, I've got a cold, feeling lousy...and we have 200 sandwiches and hundreds of cookies to prepare...after I teach a full day tomorrow. But the truth remains that this is a key day in our year to be a part of the community around us. Most often we are just taking up space around these parts. Focusing on key relationship development, language study, and keeping this family of 9 moving forward is a big job. But, on this day, we show up and have the opportunity to contribute something to our neighborhood. In year 3, we recognize more than ever that it is an chance NOT to be missed, regardless of my sore throat.
So much of living WITH people is like this, isn't it? It is inconvenient, it is exhausting, and often we could find things to do that please us far more than deliberately connecting with others in our communities. Yet, it is in community where we find out more about ourselves, identify things in us that need to be refined, and make connections with people that can ultimately have eternal significance.
With that firmly in mind, I say..."bring on the tuna!"
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