星期天

It starts with a camera innocently pointed your way.  They're trying not to be obvious but not really succeeding.  You see them snapping pictures nonchalantly out of the corner of your eye.  You know what's coming.  They'll want to talk to you pretty soon.

Sure enough after a few minutes they approach.  "Where are you from?"  "What do you do?" "How long have you been in China" "Have you got used to China yet?"  This is where my mood determines my behavior.  If I'm feeling friendly I politely answer the questions and try to hint that I was on my way to dinner and am getting pretty hungry.  If I'm feeling less humorous I pretend that I don't know any Chinese and "ting bu dong" my way out of the situation.  Lucky for me yesterday I was in a good mood and wound up being approached by a newspaper man.  He wants to take pictures of me for some YiChang paper.  No idea what for.  A few days before that it was a video camera, so we could be in a commercial for some local company who wants to show their international friendliness.  I wonder if my face will be plastered all over posters like Yao Ming's is.  I sure hope not.

Aside from being treated like a movie star one of the things that warms my heart is seeing new faces on Sundays.  It's like taking a mustard seed and watching it grow into a tree.  Sure makes life worthwhile.

Also someone wished me a "Happy Mother's Day" today.  That's the first time I've ever gotten that one considering I'm not a mother.  I really don't know how to respond.

"There is a wonderful mythical law of nature that the three things we crave most in life--happiness, freedom, and peace of mind-- are  always attained by giving them to someone else."

-Peyton Conway March