The Little Things

This week was a bit of a marathon week for me.  Last Thursday I had my first weekly lunchtime class added to my schedule, followed soon after by hosting the massive Welcoming Ceremony.  The weekend was filled by spending time beyond what was expected in the city nearby, meetings, and then by reworking some lesson plans and preparing for my lecture to the Foreign Language Department on the American Revolution.

One of the other foreign teachers quipped that the day of my additional classes and special lecture that I would not have time to even use the restroom.  I retorted that since I wouldn't have time to eat or drink anything, I shouldn't need to!  That day was rife with issues - namely, the background of my PowerPoint presentation not being compatible with the school's computers.  Given the busy schedule of the day, I didn't have much time to try and sort it out.  I was extremely stressed and felt utterly unprepared.  I had also been told to "dress up and put on make-up" as they would be filming the lecture...with plans to post it online.  Goody.

Thankfully, my wonderful roommate foresaw the stress of the day and made extra coffee yesterday morning.  Judy, our dean's wonderful assistant and one of the Chinese English teachers, worked tirelessly between her classes to try and get the IT personnel to sort it out for me.  Arianne and David (another one of the foreign teachers) knew I wouldn't have time to grab lunch.  So, they were sure to pick up some tasty noodles, a tea egg (my favorite!), and a cafe nai cha (coffee milk tea - just the amount of caffeine I needed!).  Bob (yet another foreign teacher) had made PB&J sandwiches for himself and his wife, and came to my classroom to inform me that he also had one for me.  I nearly teared up at the gesture, not quite having the heart to tell him it would put me into an anaphylactic coma (which, frankly, might have actually been welcome at that point!).

Later that afternoon, as I went to give my presentation, the audience also included every foreign teacher that did not have class, and encouragement was quick to come from their lips.  I am truly blessed to have a team of people around me who give up their hard-earned, class-free hours just to support me!  We headed to Chinese class after wrapping up the lecture, and then I headed home so my feet could finally break free from their elevated prison.  I grabbed a quick dinner and watched a Glee episode before heading out (in flip flops, natch) to the next 2 hours of English Corner.  We've started a tradition of a post English Corner tea stand detox, and it certainly hit the spot last night.

I had asked for special strength to deal with the difficulties of the week, and He certainly provided in the form of noodles, a sense of calm, caffeine, and of course the amazing relationships that are being carefully cultivated.  All of them are things that are easily taken for granted as "the little things," but really, the ones that matter most.