The Blessful Day

Today has been a blessful day. I know that's not a word, but I've been teaching adjectives, so I've been going a little crazy. :)

It didn't start out so hot. I stayed up way late, grading papers and watching Project Runway with Amelia. Yes, Project Runway; it's my new guilty pleasure. I'm thankful that I'm one of those people who can do work and watch tv at the same time, for it certainly made my hours of Greek vocab memorization a lot more fun. So I stayed up really late getting things done and was, therefore, pretty tired this morning.

I dragged myself around the apartment, making my breakfast of granola and powdered milk and blearily smearing makeup on. I know that I should be able to tell the difference between my eye and the black fringe that surrounds it, but yesterday I accidentally dabbed mascara onto one of my contacts. That was fun, let me tell you. So it was another tired day.

I was a little worried about my first class today. It has been my hardest class so far. They're all individually cute kids (3-4 graders), but in my last class they were not collectively good students. I had papers flying, a child crawling beneath the table, screaming, and even (play) fighting. However much fun that was, I didn't really care for a repeat. I had been praying for a long time the night before and then that morning. I know that some stuff can be ignored or worked with; it is a tutoring center, so we shouldn't be as strict as a regular classroom. At the same time, they do need to be learning something.

Anyway, I asked God to fill me with patience and wisdom. I asked him to calm the boys and help them engage in the lesson. And he did! Sure, there still was a little bit of fighting and several paper airplanes, but I was amazed at how much better the class was as whole. I was so excited!

My excitement didn't last that long, silly me. After finishing three lessons (five hours total), I was pretty tired and hungry. I got off at three, and I hadn't eaten since seven that morning. I had to wait a half an hour for the mini-bus which usually shows up in five or ten minutes.

On the mini-bus I was planning everything that I would eat before I crashed in bed for a much-needed nap. Popcorn, definitely popcorn. A banana with peanut butter would also be nice. Oh, and I had just bought a pomelo that I could douse with honey. There's nothing better than honeyed pomelo.

Well, I got off at my stop, walked to my building, waved to the smoothie guys, and rode the stuffy elevator up to the 18th floor. Then, I rattled our locked door. Since my sister's been visiting, we've been juggling keys. Unfortunately, I was at the door, key-less, and no one was home. To say I was bummed was a pretty big overstatement.

After waiting in the hall for about twenty minutes, I decided that I needed food. Badly. I took the elevator back down and swung into the restaurant that's right next door to our apartment building. I've been eyeing them for a couple weeks. Although all of their signs are in Chinese, they recently posted color pictures of a couple of their sandwiches. Some of them look very delicious, and I figured I could point to one of them if nothing else worked.

To my surprise, the owner, a short lady in a stained, pink apron, whipped out an English menu! I promptly ordered a meal of two eggs, two pieces of buttered toast, and a soup of BBQ pork and macaroni noodles. It came with either coffee or tea, and she gave me both. The food was good, but I enjoyed watching the human interactions much more than my macaroni soup. Even though I couldn't understand what they were saying, I loved watching the grandpa (I think) wave at his grandson to come join him. The reluctant teenager ducked in through the door of hanging plastic, rolling his eyes at the proprietress who was laughing at him. A wife came in and squished onto a bench with her husband, across from who I guessed was her father- and sister-in-law. Two couples argued over the check and the bigger, balder man won.

When my dishes were empty, I headed back to my still-locked door. Self-pity abounded. I was too tired to walk around, and there isn't really a good place to go hang out in Ap Lei Chau, so I just sat down in the hall to read my Bible, the only book I had handy. I had such a great time reading! Even though I was sitting in a filthy hallway, balancing on my bookbag and trying to stay out of the way of the neighbors, I loved what i read today. So much of it just jumped off the page. I noticed things that I've never seen before, some of which are pretty hilarious.

I think God was trying to show me that self-pity should have no home in me. Sure, I didn't get to relax and sleep, but I got to visit a local restaurant I haven't had time for and spend more time in his word. Opportunities are everywhere, I suppose. Of course, that didn't keep me from wanting to crash as soon as I did get inside, but at least the time outside was well-spent.