Vacation Time!

We're leaving on a trip tomorrow to Xi'an. I'm looking forward to it, and I'm also kind of looking forward to testing myself to see how I can keep up with my requirements. It will be pretty interesting to stay mindful of my training. I also hurt my wrist a little bit, so I'll be modifying some of my pushups. But anyways, I hope to come back feeling refreshed.

Trash

So living in a small Chinese town(city?) has it's pros and cons. As I think of things to do on my day off I'm always saying to myself "why don't they have more parks with grass and trees like at home?" Most of the areas in town where people congregate are just concrete and stone and I find them very uncomfortable and uninviting. In the past year or two they've finished renovating the temple that we train at. They've planted gardens and grass and all kinds of beautiful trees and now on the weekends there's literally hundreds of people who just want to spend some time outside. The people can be irritating when you're trying to train, but because there's not really any other parks, I've always understood the attraction of coming to the temple.

On Sunday we had the day off for our annual disciple ceremony. When we went back to the temple on Monday, I walked through the doors and I was shocked and disappointed. There was trash everywhere. It really brought down my spirits. I was thinking about littering and about how China in some ways is so far behind the West. But then I started thinking about it more and I realized that in so many ways we're no better. Just because we pick up our trash and put it in the bin doesn't make us smarter or more conscious consumers. At home, so often the mentality is out of sight out of mind, so once it's out of our garbage bins, people don't want to think about where it's going to. So many people don't think about taking their own bags to the grocery store, or how the things they're buying are packaged, or produced. Maybe it's better that you can see the garbage on the ground. Once in a while it might inspire a change of heart.

MoMo

I'm not normally the type that's a sucker for small children, but I've been completely sucked in by the cutest 4 year old Chinese boy. His name, as you can guess, is MoMo and he's ridiculously adorable. He's staying at the school with his mom and dad and has been training full time with the traditional Chinese kids' class. He's incredible coordinated for his age, but certainly more than a little spacey, so if you watch him in training he varies between being amazing and looking really silly staring off into the distance.

Funny story. I made him cry. Not just a little, but slightly hysterically. That cry where his face just crumpled and he slowly lost his composure. Boogers running out of his nose, while he's trying to eat his lunch and explain to his mom why he's so upset. So, I might have just very lightly scolded him for hitting our mangy kitchen cat on the head with a metal plate. But I think because there were a lot of people around he was very embarrassed and cried about it for at least 10 minutes. I don't know when I've ever felt that guilty. But my friend pointed out that it showed that he had a conscience, which was a good sign. Made me think even better of him. I was afraid he'd never speak to me again, but luckily he's 4 and has a short memory.

Next day, it's like we're the best of friends again. Although half the time I can't understand the things he says to me. The real kicker is that shy smile he gives. You all know the one. The cute shy kid that just looks at you and smiles but can barely contain themselves. It was his birthday on Wednesday and he gave everyone candy in class. Such a cutie. He makes me smile every day.