on a Thursday

It's funny how life in a foreign country can become so regular. Simple. Routine. Even the crazy curveballs that tend to get thrown at you on an idle Thursday morning don't phase me anymore. This is China; and every little crazy part about it has become familiar to me now. It's almost like being home.

Today, after I finished teaching a rather hectic day (another recruiting day was held and we were told about it about an hour before we had to teach) I walked down the stairs and into the main lobby of our teaching building where I was literally bombarded by 15 second grade girls screaming "Cheltzeee teecha!"Little hands wrapped around my legs and my arms and my middle; enveloping me in hugs. Beth and Cassie dragged me outside with their jump rope and showed me their tricks; Ren and I kicked a soccer ball back and forth for a little bit and Jessie and Lacey showed me how they could swing on the monkey bars. For twenty minutes, it was just me and my kids and the China sunshine and the breeze coming off the Yellow sea.

"Chelsie," Charlotte, the head teacher, said to me yesterday, "it is clear that your kids love you. I think that they would stay in your classroom all day if they could."

And that's the beauty of it all. Yes, teaching them can be challenging and sometimes draining. But loving them? That comes without thought or any work at all. And at the end of the day; that's one of the greatest gifts these kids have given me.

I am a much better person because of them.