It's all about the relationships . . .

 

Teaching is only part of what I do here in China. It's my hope that whatever I say and do in the classroom will go far beyond the desks and chalkboards. That long-lasting relationships will be built and that hope for a future can be taught to these future leaders of this great land.

This is a student from my first year here. She has since married and has become a mother. We recently had lunch with her family, including her almost one-year-old daughter. Yao-yao is quite used to her family members (grandparents, second cousins, etc.), but like any other infant, is wary of strangers.

All throughout lunch, I played peek-a-boo with Yao-yao. She would just laugh and laugh at the sight of me hiding behind my hands, asking where the baby was. At the end of the meal, she was ready to leap into my arms and wouldn't even leave to go to her beloved grandfather! Her mother (my former student) was relaxed and she asked me for some parenting tips.

We ended the meal with further plans to get together again . . . not as teacher and student, but as two mothers sharing life. Sharing ideas. Sharing experiences.

Yeah . . . relationships. That's what life is about.