爱

爱

Sacrificial Patient

Hoping Praying Trusting

Covers over a Multitude of Wrongs

Love

好朋友

Hao Peng You=Best Friend

Who knew two years would make you someone's best friend? It has happened over and over again in my life though!

The most recent "best friend" is Jenny (Zhang Yi). She and I get together any chance we can. She is the sweetest girl I've met in China...my first local friend when I got here two years ago.

Jenny was born and raised in Kunming. She has lighter skin that most and beautiful eyes that are slanted to perfection! Her complexion is gorgeous and her dark features magnify her beauty. Jenny is beautiful inside and out. Her heart seeks justice and truth. She loves what is right and good and will only stand for those things. I have never once wondered or questioned her integrity.

Jenny plans on marrying Shen Kai (Dave) next March (even though her parents would rather have them wait until the summer). They have (unusually for Chinese people) bought an apartment that is being built, joining their money together to make things work; money they don't have! Most Chinese women would wait for the man to pay for the entire apartment before she'd even consider marrying him. Tradition! Tradition! (makes me think of Fiddler on the Roof, no lie)! Shen Kai is in the army and will have to live 10 hours away, a 200-300 yuan bus ride or train ride away. She will stay here, work (teach) and possibly raise kids (if they have any--we had that conversation tonight), while he works in the army until he gets discharged. ...That's in 2018! By then, she'll be 35 and they'll finally be finishing up their 2nd year of actually living in the same place during their marriage. ....Tough life!

We had a great dinner tonight--stinky tofu, beef with mint, cucumber and egg soup, and another purple veggie that is wild (not sure about the Chinese name, and I doubt it has an English one), and then she came over and showed me her wedding pictures that she and Shen Kai just had professionally taken. Our time together is precious and I really do consider her a best friend here. Sometimes, I'd rather hang out with her and get to know her heart and her thoughts, as opposed to being around "foreigners."

Tonight as she returned to her dorm, she texted me that she arrived safely and to have a good night. I said, "晚安! 好好梦." (wan an- good night! hao hao meng- sweet dreams)...to which she replied (in a very nostalgic tone) "I missed the day we study chinese together so much" (this was before shen kai was around--he was 10 hours away then, and she and I spent much more time together than we do now. Currently, I think I've been with JUST her ....one time! Tonight! The two of them are totally in love and always together. It's quite cute and comfortable, actually.... Not two minutes later she texted again, "You will leave next year but we are so busy this year. We need together more." :'( To these I wrote back, "Aww! Jenny, you are going to make me cry! I miss those days too. :-) I am so glad we are 好朋友! Let's try to hang out as often as we can. :-)" "Sure we can! Shen kai will leave after you! I will lost my 好朋友 and my husband at the same time so sad :-(" I took the opportunity given to me and told her I'd lift her up and ask that He would provide someone for her.

....This is just to remind you loner people out there that, ....you're not alone! AND take advantage of every moment with those around you, especially 好朋友们. You never know how long you'll have. :-)

Fu Nv

Technically, Fu Nv should be: Fu Nu with two dots on top of the u, but Chinese people would type it with a v to distinguish it, so I'll do the same.

It's Wednesday morning, and I'm forcing myself to get out of bed on my day off to go downtown to meet my Chinese teacher at Starbucks. I'm supposed to meet her at 10 and it's already 9:45. I'm still in my neighborhood, or xiao qu, and it takes a good 45 minutes to get downtown on the bus, which was my choice mode of transportation for the day.

I call her, "Ni hao! Wo zai gong gong qi che, ke shi, wo ying gai shi yi dian wan. Deng wo dao le de shi hou, wo gei ni da dian hua, hao bu hao?...Bu hao yi si!" (translation: Hi. I'm on the bus but I'll probably be a little late. When I arrive, I'll call you. Okay? Sorry...)

During the bus ride, I read a book, look out the window here and there or watch other passengers (I'm a bit ADD when I'm out in public...) and I arrange for an afternoon 'outing' amongst friends. (The 'outing' half-way fell apart while I was at class...long story)...

I arrive and I call her. I order a tall mocha latte "zai zhe li" (here). She comes in and we begin class. Meanwhile, the plans for the afternoon are falling apart and I'm a tad annoyed with text messages every 5 minutes!

In walks a foreigner that I've never seen before (there must be 1000 foreigners in Kunming...I'm always amazed when I don't know one though, considering I have connections to the vast majority of the families here through the school)...he's kinda cute too. Hmm...totally had ADD during class too.

Ready for the FU NV moment. Here it is. I tell her I'm going home for Christmas and I'm really excited. I'm buying the tickets hopefully tomorrow. It's really expensive "tai gui le!" ....and then BAM! Out of nowhere, she invites herself home with me for Christmas. AWKWARD! (and...actually, really odd in Chinese culture to do that...) So what do I say? NO? Um....??? This is what came out: "I think the visa will be hard" "What about your daughter? What will she do?" With both of my statements came responses that were still plowing through with determination to accompany me home for Christmas; my first Christmas home in two years!

I didn't give it much thought after that. I thought it was just part of the conversation, and she'd not mention it again except for, "Oh, I'd love to go to America! Wouldn't that be fun?!" BUT, I was wrong.

Skip forward to Saturday. Saturday morning I get on Skype. I have a message from Chen laoshi (Teacher Chen) and she's asking if it's really okay for her to come home with me. Do I agree? Can she stay at my house? She talked to the officials and the visa will be hard to get, but she'd do it if I said okay.

Oh dear. Panic. A tad bit of shock.

Typical Chinese woman? I don't really know. All I know is....weird. weird. weird.

In case you're wondering, she won't be on the plane from Beijing to San Francisco or the one from San Fran to Miami! She'll be in Kunming. With her daughter. Teaching other foreigners.