This morning started catching up with Angie on the bus to church. She's been sick for a week, as seem to be quite a few people here. I think it has rained every day this week, and between the wet and the cold many are left with colds. I'm grateful for my health, as teaching with a sore throat just makes it that much more difficult to get better.
This morning I taught 1 Samuel 16 as part of the Sunday School lesson to a group of about 10 kids ranging from ages 3 to 12. The majority of them were probably 7 to 10, so it wasn't too much of a challenge. Two of the kids were half Chinese, half Syrian. They are part of the refugees that are here from Syria. These kids speak Chinese, Arabic, Portuguese, and now a bit of English. Wow. They had difficulty following the lesson more than the other kids, but I tried to help extra with the activities when possible. We talked about how Samuel went out to find a new king. I asked, "What do you think he might find in a king?--What does a king look like?" One boy said, "Probably kind of fat and just sits in a chair and doesn't move very much." haha...well, okay so he's probably wealthy so he eats a lot. Also, maybe big as in big and strong. He was referencing what he'd seen in movies. 1 Samuel 16:7 says, "But the LORD said to Samuel, 'Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.'" I asked the kids, "what do you think God sees in your heart?" The response from one boy, "blood." Then we got on the discussion of why the heart was used to symbolize emotion, love, thoughts, etc. when it actually does not contain such things. I compared it to the first symbolic thing that came to mind, a flag. I explained that a flag isn't actually anything more than a piece of cloth, but because we give it the symbol of a country, place, organization, etc., it represents that and has meaning. I hope that made sense...
After church, we went out to eat with a group of people because a friend of ours is leaving Macau. He is from Singapore originally, came here to do research, and is on his way to Australia next. We went to Old Taipa Tavern, which was very English. They were supposed to have these outrageously delicious fish and chips and the best burger in Macau (or so the menu claimed). Ray and I decided to split the burger and fish so that we could try each. I suppose that eating Chinese family style most of the time also has us used to eating family style and sharing. I'm really glad that we decided to split the meats because the fish was just so-so, and the burger was awesome but also awesomely huge.
After a long lunch and goodbyes, I went to the grocery and was on my way home. While on the bus in the rain, I was randomly getting dripped on by water because some of the windows at the top of the bus were open. It wasn't raining hard enough to bug me too much, but it confirmed something I had been told recently. Chinese people tend to be big fans of air circulation. Even when the classrooms are cold and unheated, you see the windows open. When the bus is freezing or it's raining, you see the windows open. While I understand that air circulation can be good at keeping the level of germs in the air down, sometimes you just need to keep the wind and rain out. I ended up moving from my seat to prepare for my stop when a lady next to me asked me in the pointing/Chinese grumble language if I would shut the window for her as she was getting dripped on. After a bit of a struggle with the difficult window, I successfully closed it. I then realized that an elderly man at the front of the bus was trying to close the window for his wife and was unsuccessful. They were difficult to close, and he was clearly fragile. I then leaned over them and was able to shut it a bit for them. There's something extremely satisfying about helping someone out when they may not be able to help themselves. Consider yourself dry, Chinese elder.
The girls went to Zhuhai early this morning, so I had the apartment to myself this afternoon. This meant a blissful 3 hour nap. Mmm mmm mmm. I'd forgotten what a wonderful routine that was. It was a great way to start a fantastic week...and cleaning when I awoke :)
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