"UnexpectedOpportunities"

So far this trip has been one where we should be ready for anything and today was no exception! Mom and I only had one obligation today since it was Saturday. We were to meet with the summer camp coordinator to find out our schedule for next week. Our morning was free time to explore, we found a market, a park, and a great breakfast of more noodles with eggs and chicken. No Special K here. That's ok. When in Rome....

But the unexpected surprise came tonight. There is a team here from Omaha! I knew we might run into them but I didn't know we would be able to spend a good deal of time with them. There are 10 of them and one of the families has kids that go to school with Jake. Their team was prepared to host a free English class for all ages up at the center and we were invited to come observe. After dinner, the 9 of us went up and prepared to do just that. They had an opening with introductions including teaching the 100+ Chinese a little about Nebraska. They taught them about where Nebraska is and what 2 things our state is famous for.....Corn and Husker football. It was surreal to think that here we are in China listening to other folks from Omaha talk about our home. Who wouldhave guessed that?

But the icing on the cake came after the opening. I mentioned to our coordinator that Mom and I would be more than willing to help if they needed it and she told us to find a room and we might be able to be help out. We popped our head in a room and it happened to be the room of beginners. They were between the ages of 6-11 and they were just learning so they didn't have any American teachers in that room. The Chinese woman saw us and we asked if we could help. She said yes and "Oh, would you please be our teachers tonight?" Well, you didn't have to ask us twice! We were thrilled and even though it was on the fly-we had a BALL! The kids love Mom! It just goes to show you that it is just something about her. At one point 3 of them just ran up and hugged her. It was so cute! We winged it for an hour. We talked about American holidays, fruit, colors, names of clothing and body parts, and sang some songs. There was probably a dozen kids and some of the moms. It was such a thrill! I'm sure those moms were laughing at us and thinking we were crazy! We were up there dancing around and making "gobble gobble" sounds when we talked about Thanksgiving....I'm sure you can imagine!

So I'm including some pictures and maybe a video if it works. The first picture is of the center (do you notice what is on the top of the building? That is another unexpected surprise), the next picture is of the rooftops of the houses around the center, then we have a picture of Mom and me in front of our improve English class, and if it works also a video (I had no idea the children would know "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes" but they sang right along with us!)